On my many walks around the neighborhood, I captured the variety of Halloween yard decorations. Here are a few observations:
Pumpkins ruled this year. Creative jack-o-lanterns abound. Most are happy, some are scared, and of course, some are cats.
Creepy decorations include the scary clown, a floating hand, zombies, and a giant skeleton trying to control a couple of dog skeletons. (Skeletons were a close second to pumpkins this year.)
Cute ghosts and Buc-ee round out this year’s decorations near us and around our son’s Texas neighborhood.
So where do you store all this stuff the other eleven months of the year?
“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil” (Luke 4:1,2). During that time, Jesus ate nothing, so he was in very dire circumstances when tempted. In contrast, we’re often tempted when we’re blessed, when things are going well, and when we have few worries.
The thing about temptation is you rarely see it coming. It looks good, sounds appealing, promises to be beneficial, and is within reach. After the fact is when you think, “I wish I hadn’t done that,” “I shouldn’t have said that,” and “I should have known better.” In these matters, your hindsight is indeed 20/20.
Here something from Enduring Word that I never thought about: “The presence of temptation only relents when we give in.” Until we succumb, temptation from the influences around us, our own desires, and yes, Satan himself, will press in on us.
Jesus is different. He knows exactly what the devil is attempting to do, and heads off each temptation at the pass with guidelines from God’s word. After several failed attempts, the devil gives up until another time. We have a hero who resists temptation, pays the price for every time we’ve given in, and shows us that there is always a way out through faith in him.
In his gospel, Luke mentions a man name Simeon who is waiting to see the Messiah. “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:26). In faith, he knows he’s immortal until he puts eyes on the Savior. Imagine what you could do with a promise like that!
I’m a math guy, but I never considered that Simeon did the math when he went to the temple on the very same day when Joseph and Mary showed up with Jesus.
The shepherds who saw and heard the angelic announcement and praises about the Christ’s birth had told everyone what they had experienced (Luke 2:17). News like that spreads quickly.
Simeon was righteous and devout (2:25). He knew the Old Testament statute that after circumcision, a woman would come to the temple with her son in thirty-three days for purification (Leviticus 12). The Spirit of God, working through the Word, gave Simeon a good idea of when the Messiah would show up at the temple. This was not an accidental encounter. God had arranged for this meet-up a long time ago.
I’m smiling as I write this. My undergraduate degree was liberal arts, but I majored in math. Years later, God led me to the seminary to prepare for pastoral ministry. To some, math and ministry appear to be thousands of miles apart. For me, they are next door neighbors!
I cut my math teeth on algebra in eighth grade. I helped all my friends get through ninth grade geometry. Functions, trigonometry, and calculus all made sense to me in high school. From statistics to topology, God prepared me for graduate study in theology. By God’s grace, I love numbers almost as much as I love him!
I know enough about math to know that you can’t calculate when Jesus will return. I also can’t assume that the little bit you have won’t go a long way, as it did with the feeding of the five thousand. My age may be a finite number, but nothing about God is. The concept of infinity simply leads me to worship the eternal God and look forward to eternal life.
Math got me some awards and college scholarships in high school. Math prepared me to help my daughter excel in high school calculus. Math gives me the chance to tutor my home-schooled grandsons. Math gives me perspective when people try to use statistics to their advantage. Math reveals a creator who numbers my days, knows the how many hairs I have on my head, and constantly gives more than I ask for or imagine.
A trip to Sykes Family Farm in Elkton, Florida wasn’t cheap, but it was a fun way to spend a cooler-than-usual, perfectly sunny, post-Halloween, last-weekend-of-the-season Saturday afternoon with three granddaughters.
Seventeen bucks person was okay, I guess, with a few bucks off for my senior citizen ticket and a freebie for the two-year-old. A few St. John’s county sheriff’s deputies were on hand to guide us into the parking area, which was already full fifteen minutes after opening.
We started at the two huge inflatable bounce pads filled with energetic kids.
A good-sized turkey wasn’t very happy that it was November, but he was a good sport and posed by the fence for pictures.
A corn pit? What’s a corn pit? The girls loved the circular bin filled with dried corn. Who wouldn’t like to be buried under corn and make corn angels?
The hayride was okay. The tractor took us out through the sorghum fields and and acres of sunflowers. Longer than many I’ve experienced.
The food was pretty reasonable. Our lunch was three orders of fried mozzarella sticks, a hamburger, pepper and onion smothered hot dog, a bag of Fritos, and some bottle of water. Thirty bucks.
Rows of picnic tables adjacent to the food vendors was next to giant connect-four, plinko, and tetris tumble games. The kids loved these. (We’re going to try to find some online.)
Next, we went to the bubble barn. Sticks with ropes dipped into suds produced impressive giant bubbles drifting across the field. So much fun!
A ride on the “cow train” was a string of cars pulled by a small John Deere tractor. Thrilling for the littles!
We gave the girls a choice: something from the store or face-painting. the two youngers chose a stuffed unicorn wearing a Sykes Farm T-shirt. The older opted for very nicely done purple pixie face-painting.
We climbed on a spider web, slid down some dark irrigation tubes, pumped water for duck races down half-pipe PVC, and passed on the corn maze, pumpkin painting, and take-home sunflower.
At just about every activity, the operator offered the kids candy. It’s the last weekend; lots to get rid of! We accepted, but pocketed it for later. Face painting, pumpkin painting, and s’mores cost extra. Cash only, but a few ATMs were onsite.
I asked the guy at the drink booth how things were going. He said it was a slow day so far. They had only been rained out one day in October, so it was a good year.
The event was supported by several corporate sponsors. I’ll bet this is their biggest money-making event of the year.
And [Jesus] sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums.And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny.And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box.For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:41-44)
This woman gave “all she had to live on” (12:44). Really? Why?
I get it. Jesus’s point? Her offering was huge. It was everything she had. It was a ridiculous sacrifice. God doesn’t require this. He never asks for this. He doesn’t love her more because of her offering.
So what’s going on here? Who gives everything they have to God? Or to anyone else?
I might do that in a moment. I may have five bucks in my pocket. I’ll give that away. Does that count? It’s not everything I have. I’ve got more in the bank. I can always resupply my cash at the ATM.
At what point would giving everything be a virtue? What about your responsibilities to feeding your family, mortgage payments, credit card payments, insurance premiums, utility bills, taxes, pets, cell phone carrier, prescription medications, gas for the car, semi-annual air conditioner maintenance, doctor co-pays, haircuts, and Chick-fil-A?
God never asks for everything. He requires ten percent in the Old Testament. Sacrifices might have been one bull, one lamb, two pigeons, or some other prescribed offering. Something substantial, but never your whole portfolio.
This woman’s gift put the rich people’s contributions to shame. Fair enough. Is that what we aspire to, or is that simply a lesson in humility? Only one gave up everything, even his life for us. Jesus did that so we would be free from any obligations to God. How great is that?
When I take my Great Dane out for a walk in the morning, we have a choice. We can walk the usual two-and-a-half mile loop around our neighborhood, or we can explore some rarely walked cross streets. Regardless of which I choose, there’s much to notice.
If we take the longer route, I notice those things that have changed. Curbside trash announces a remodeling project. Seasonal holiday decorations appear each week. “For Sale” signs appear overnight. A carefully balanced pile of shingles precedes the arrival of roofers. That must a have been a great party in front of the vacant lot filled with beer cans and food wrappers. Out-of-state license plates reveal who’s got company. We know where every dog lives along this route.
On the other hand, if we zig-zag through some of the cross streets, we’ve got a new collection of houses, cars, and yards to notice. I see an older home with a one-car garage. There’s a driveway with two antique cars. Folks who just moved in have a mountain of cardboard boxes stacked up at the end of the driveway. I can see the backs of the houses I frequently pass on the longer route. The barks of dogs inside these houses sound unfamiliar.
No matter which route or direction I choose, I will notice something interesting to take a picture of and write about. I will notice something fascinating about a home I walked by a hundred times or the first time. I will hear cars, dogs, music, air conditioning units, children, birds, and sprinklers. Some I expect. Some surprise me.
I took a quick picture after I stuck our bakery business card in the middle of this bulletin board in a coffee shop in Bar Harbor, Maine. I ran across it today and marveled at the diverse people and businesses. See if you can spot them all.
A “horror artist”
Professional cellist
Old-time fiddle lessons
“The Broth Alchemist”
A “death midwife”
Flight instruction
Body piercer
Level 3 Reiki master practitioner
Chiropractor
A wellness lounge
Tattoo artist
DJ
Chainsaw art
Watercolor artist
Life coach
Masonry contractor
Golf professional
Various writers
Peer support specialist
Custom cookie bakery (lol)
Graphic arts
I really want to contact some of these people and request, “Tell me about your business and your trip to Maine.”
Some “through the bible” thoughts from Mark 7 and 8.
“And taking [a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment] aside from the crowd privately, Jesus put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue” (Mark 7:33).
“[Jesus] took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him…his sight was restored” (Mark 8:23-25).
So far in Mark’s gospel Jesus healed with his voice and his touch. Why does Jesus use his spit in these two healings?
Some commentators say that Jesus did miracles in a number of ways to avoid leaving any kind of formula for others to copy. Others write of diseased eyelids stuck together and dry tongues, loosened in part by saliva.
Or maybe Jesus turned the custom of spitting from an insult to a blessing. When arrested, Jesus would be spit on and mocked, but also turned that a blessing as taking our shame and guilt upon himself.
When do you spit? Infants spit out that first taste of pureed green beans. I spit out a bug that flies into my mouth. Toothpaste after brushing. Mouthwashing after rinsing. Whatever that junk was you coughed up. A little spit might get a small spot off your shirt. Ever get so angry you could spit? Lukewarm church members make God want to spit you out like old, warm coffee.
God created you with salivary glands so you’d have plenty of spit for digestion, dental hygiene, and talking. Fully human just like us, Jesus put his spit to good use, healing like no one ever has.
In the Gerasenes, Jesus encounters a man possessed by a legion of unclean spirits. The spirits beg Jesus to allow them to enter a herd of two thousand pigs. The possessed pigs rush down a steep hillside into the sea where they all drown (Mark 5:1-20).
Before you know it, the man is dressed and in his right mind. But here’s my question: Why did Jesus let the demons destroy the herd of pigs?
I did a little reading and came up with a few possibilities.
We’re definitely in a Gentile region. There’s no way you’d find a herd of pigs anywhere near Jewish town and villages. Pork was forbidden by Old Testament dietary laws. Jesus, a Jewish man, would have no problem getting rid of a herd of pigs, keeping with Jesus law and life.
Once the demons entered the pigs, we see exactly what they wanted to do to this man. Their objective was to destroy not simply possess him. The number showed the severity of this possession. Nevertheless, though outnumbered, Jesus has complete authority over the unclean spirits. They could only do what he allowed them to do. And he didn’t even break a sweat.
Spiritual freedom comes at a cost. Ultimately, Jesus will pay the price with his life on the cross to defeat Satan and all his minions. This day, though, the price was a couple thousand hogs.
In the end, the people were more afraid of the one who had authority over the demons than the possessed man who lived among the tombs, who could break any shackles and chains that bound him. They begged Jesus to leave. And Jesus did. But not until he commissioned the man to make sure everyone knew what Jesus had done for him.
Waite for it... 