The 11th Hebrew letter, Koph

The palm of the hand. The palm is the "wing" of the hand. The child of God lives in the refuge of the shadow of the wings, the hands of God... in His hands where our name is written (Is. 49:15).

Many who are dear to me believe that we can walk away from God, loose our salvation. They have good doctrine for making their point. But I have security in knowing that no matter what, my name is written on His palm, and as surly as there is a nail scare, there is my name, never to be forgotten.

In Hebrew, the hand is where the power is actualized. That is the reason we are to put our palms together when we pray. Palms together suggests calling on the power of the Spirit to be made manifest in our lives. It is the reason we are to lift our hands to the Lord, ready to receive his power when we praise his Name, a confession that our power is actually His.

We are his hands (and feet) in this world. We can do nothing on our own, but because of the sacrifice of the Son of God, by His nail pierced hands, we stand clean, ready to do His work in this world by his power.

Here I am, ready to start my day, with all my ideas, plans, hopes... but until I put my hands together in prayer, to seek his will rather then my own, to live by faith rather then sight, I have no power to accomplish the will of my Lord. No doubt he keeps me, no doubt I cannot be snatched from his hand, and often that is enough. Yet, on days like today when I long to do His will, to know that when I see Him face to face I can know the joy of "well done thou good and faithful servant", I take a moment, put my hands together and seek his face in the shadow of his hands.

July 11, 2009
Mrs. Hagerty

Chris and I took the dogs to Mukilteo Beach for an evening walk. Beautiful night after a blah day. I did not think that I would like this park once the city took it over from the state, but they have done a lovely job with it. The tide was in so we could not go far. Still, we had to go somewhere. Bible Study is canceled until August because of vacations.

I love Wednesday night Bible Study. Maybe even more then I like Sunday morning church. The time spent in a home with dear friends, studying the Word, praying, even just laughing. It gives me a charge that I need to keep my heart from turning inside of itself.

We are in the book of Luke, and probably will be for a long time at the rate we go. But I like the pace. Slow enough to keep up with serious study in the midst of our busy week. At least one question came up last week, maybe two. I'm not sure if one of them was my own, unspoken question or if it came up in the group.

Our passage was Luke 4:31-44. The first question has to do with understanding the word, "rebuked" as in;

And Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet and come out of him!"... Luke 4:35a

Zodhiates tells me that Messiah censored (to suppress objectionable content) the demon.

I understand that He did this to the demon, but why? Where is the harm in the proclamation that Jesus is, "the Holy One of God!"? Shouldn't that be a help to him?

I have noticed that the congregation was amazed by his authority. Authority looks like a theme in Luke chapter 4. The chapter begins with the devil's temptations. The second temptation has to do with authority. The devil has authority over all of the world. He gained it from Adam, the rightful steward of the world. But Adam lost it when he sinned. Now, in Luke 4, the devil says that he will give the authority of the world to Jesus if only Jesus will bow down and worship the devil. Instead, Jesus resists the devil and the authority that he already has begins to shine. People see it and are amazed. So, what (you may wonder) does this have to do with the rebuke of the demon who says that he knows who Jesus is.

I was born-again in a little Pentecostal church in Lake Stevens, Washington. The congregation had a practice of rebuking demons in Jesus name. But they insisted that they did not have authority over the demon unless they new who it was by name or title. I did not much buy into the practice. But I wonder now if that is not exactly what the demon is doing. When he tells Jesus to mind his own business (what do we have to do with you?) he adds that he knows who he is, in the same way the Pentecostals did back in Lake Stevens while engaging in spiritual warfare. Was this his way of trying to assert authority over Jesus?

Jesus shut him up. The one who shut the mouth of lions for Daniel, shut the mouth of the wicked. This same Jesus has promised to never leave me, to never forsake me. The truth of his voice sets me free from the roaring lion of Peter. Truly, what can anyone say to discourage me.

Let me hear your voice my dear Jesus!

Picnic at Ben's house

It was a rare, brilliant day in the PNW for Independence day 2009. Ray and I took the dogs out in the morning for a run to Spencer Island to place Ray's Geo-Cache. Then we went to Robe Valley to pick up Jason and have a picnic at our nephew, Ben's home.

Jason and Dennis had hiked up to Pinnacle Lake that morning. You can see Jason's new do for the day. His poor head was all sun burnt where there used to be hair.

Dennis with Rebecca's son Derick at the kid's table.

Don and Doreen were their with Don's dog, Toby. Chris came later in the day.

Rebecka's Red, White and Blue Shortcakes.

Surprise

Sometimes work has an immediate reward!

I'm out hacking away at the mess that has grown outside of the fence when the glisten of rubies catches my eyes. Now I wonder if these will be pie or just sprinkled on ice cream? Either way, yum. These little black berries that we prize in the Pacific Northwest are all up and down the bluff outside the fence.

Burrrrr

Happy Birthday Darrin!

It is also Johnny Appleseed Day... I think I'll make an apple-spice cake to celebrate

From the Bearing Sea

I really should get out and fill the bird feeders. The wind came swooping down from the North West and we have snowige.

My mom and I were going to get out and walk one of the parks this morning, but we changed our minds. Instead I think I'll make cookies. She sent me my grandma's Overnight Cookie recipe. That should make the house smell good. Bread in the machine, soup on the stove. How many more days do I really have before that pleasure is gone? A live Jars of Clay is providing the background and I have plenty of school work to do. My kind of day.

Fear Not. The phrase for the month. On that theme, here is the word from Amy Carmichael for today, March 9.

Psalm 147:6 The Lord lifteth up the meek

"Temptations are oft-times right profitable to man, though they be heavy and grievous, for in them a man is meeked, purged and sharply taught... Learn to obey, thou dust! Learn to meek thyself, thou earth and clay." (to "meek" is an old verb meaning to "humble".)

Our natural thought does not connect meekness with strength. Our natural thought is all wrong there. the truly strong are the gentle, the Strongest of all was the gentlest: "I am gentle and lowly in heart".

As I pondered this word from the Psalm and thought of our Lord's life, always triumphant, never cast down by disappointment, by weariness, by apparent
failure, or even by the certainty of suffering swiftly drawing nearer, I wondered if the cause of our cast-down hours is not the hardness of the way (as we are tempted to think it is), but some flaw in the inner spirit which makes it impossible for our God to lift us up. If so, praise Him, it need not remain so: There is a lifting up.

Aaron and Lindsey came to church yesterday. They are home from their mission in Senegal for a year. They told of warfare in the spirit realm and in the community. Bless them Ha Shem as they blessed me. Most of the time that Lindsy was in Africa she was sick; but when she came home the sickness was gone, she felt healthy again.

There is a man who has been working with Aaron, helping him with language when he works on Bible lessons, giving him aid in developing illustrations and follow-up lessons. His name is Juno. He is also under pressure from the elders of the village to deny the Messiah after verbalizing his delight with the Word of God.

Lindsey told of three different women who were coming daily to learn the Scripture. One of them began to ask thoughtful questions about her sin. Under pressure of the elders, she suddenly quit coming to learn. God bless this dear woman and give her a deep longing with understanding from what she has already learned.

Fear not Lindsey and Aaron

For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
Hebrews 6:10 NKJ

The Beach at Howarth Park

Balmy. If I had to describe the weather in one word then balmy is the word I would choose. Brilliant blue sky, sweater weather, throw open the windows fresh air. Living in Western Washington I know that if the rain stops then I must get out. Too quickly the wet comes back.

I look for evidence of green on bare branches almost daily. It is starting to feel like watching a pot come to a boil. A few bushes, Forsythias I think, along our morning walks are showing the little green mouse ears of spring, but the trees are holding off. Creation knows when the time is right.

I have not wanted to be sitting in front of a computer monitor and my spirit feels empathy for all of my students who are forced to do just that when the breeze calls the heart to come and explore the gentle land outside the window.

This Sabbath morning I can hear the song of rain on the roof and am suddenly wishing I had taken just a few notes to refresh my mind on the details of the past few days. They have been such good days. The dogs and I have explored the neighborhood while Ray has been away at work. In the evening, Connie and I chat away as we walk, finding new places close to home and catch up on each others day.

The first day that Connie and I walked from her house to Howarth Park Beach I took Rudy along. Val had been sick and needed rest desperately, so I did my work from her computer at school. She has a great group of students this year, it was fun to meet new faces and get reacquainted with the students I have known from their elementary days. But poor Rudy had to stay home for the day. I couldn't just leave him again. Usually he doesn't come with us because Connie is so allergic to pets. As long as he was outside, she was fine.

It is just a bit over a mile to the trail head that leads to the beach. Rudy was fine. The tower from the trail to the beach was no problem for him or for us. Where we went, he went without complaint, over the driftwood and the boulders of the retaining wall to the sand and pebbles of low tide at Howerth. When the sun started to get low on the horizon we thought it might be wise to head back. Climbing the tower was not a problem for Rudy, but I was wishing that I had brought a water bottle for him. We got back to the road and were headed up the hill when Connie mentioned that her sciatic (sp?) nerve was starting to bother her. She is a lifetime bus driver and that is a job that is hard on a girls body. I offered to call Chris to come get us, but she was sure she could make it. Connie has never been one to give up when she is determined to accomplish something.

More then once, we had noticed a woman at the beach with a camera on a tri-pod. She stopped her car next to us on the road just as we were praying for the umph to get back up that hill, "Would you Ladies like a ride?"

In theory, we absolutely did not want to give up our walk and ride. But the reality was the pain was coming on and could easily overwhelm. We settled into her comfortable back seat. After the introductions she told us, I just couldn't see you forcing that poor little puppy to walk all the way up the hill."

Sometimes kindness comes from places in the heart that take me by surprise.

Deborah... still laughing