More Rain! Hallelujah!

More Rain! Hallelujah!

The Lord has showered His blessed rain upon our unjust land according to His merciful grace yet again.  Earlier this past week we received about 1 1/2 inches and another 1/4 inch this morning.

The Lord promises that He sends His rain both upon the just and the unjust.  Thankfully, even this statement is one of pure grace, for no one is truly just except by the Lord's declared righteousness imputed to those who have been generated into His kingdom of righteousness through Baptism.

How wonderful this association is, that with this statement concerning His gracious outpouring of life giving water from the heavens to refresh the earth for both the just and the unjust, so also this reminds us of His gracious outpouring of life anew in His kingdom through Water and Spirit.  In Titus 3 St. Paul calls this a bath or washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.  And for the soul that hungers for the Lord's righteousness, this is refreshment indeed!

Nevertheless, the rains are cause for immediate thanksgiving.  TB2G!

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TB2G! It’s Raining!

Thanks be to God!  It’s Raining!

We very much need the moisture.  The hot sun and winds have dried the landscape.  The rain is falling, very gently, but it is falling.  Thanks be to God!

Moreover, the temperature dropped into the 70s, upper 70s, but 70s nonetheless.  It is actually cooler than at 5:30 this morning.

When the sun shows itself again, it will surely become very muggy.  That’s OK with me.  The volume of rain will likely be slight, but it will be measurable.  Relief is wonderful, even when slight or brief.

TB2G!


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HOT!

Hot!  Scorching!  Roasting!

It has been over 100 degrees, several days of 105, 103, and the like.  Of course, working under the sun is considerably hotter still.

This is definitely weather requiring super hydration for anyone working outdoors.  I carry 3 gallons of water and it is usually mostly depleted by end of day.

Sweat.  Sweat.  Sweat.

It is amazing how much body energy is required for sweating.  It can be exhausting.

Work a few minutes and drink.  Work a few minutes and drink.  The weather is scorching, but with is pattern of working one can make it through the day without overheating, especially when one is accustomed to such working conditions.

Of course, those who work in air conditioned offices all day will need to be cautious when doing weekend duties in the sun.  The body needs to acclimate to the conditions over a period of time.  Shorter work periods for weekend duty warriors are advisable.  Work a few minutes, drink, rest, work a few minutes, drink, rest.  This is the cycle.

Most people are at least aware of this, but such things are often forgotten and neglected once the work begins.  “Gotta get done!”

Heat exhaustion or fatigue is serious and heat stroke can be fatal.

The old-timers remedied this quite successfully back home in Florida.  They would shower with the hottest water that a person could endure.  This opened the pores and drew out the heat from the body, allowing it to recover.

Anyway, it has been very hot.

Heigh ho!  Heigh ho!  It’s off to roast I go!


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Weekly Sermons

For those who are interested, I have again started posting the weekly sermons at the  Bride of Christ ELC website.  The weekly sermon is posted here.

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Independence Day!

Today I happened to visit Cyberbrethren where he has posted the article Festival of Mary’s Visit to Elizabeth in which he includes this wonderful artwork displaying the visit of Mary to Elizabeth:



Since he did not give the information crediting the author, I cannot give it at this time either.  But it filled my heart with joy to see this representation of this blessed event.  This artist truly portrays these women as the Holy Spirit moved them to know and respond to the salvific activity that the Lord was working in and through them.

Upon seeing this artwork my heart was immediately moved to pray, “Oh Lord, how dear Mary must have needed this visit and this encouragement that You provided her through this encounter.  Such an unusual and heavy burden she bore as the one through whom You came into the world to save us.  Yet this is the joy that You give to those in whom You are at work to save and to bring Your kingdom to mankind!”

I considered these things and thought that this truly is a fitting graphic for July the 4th as the Independence Day celebration.  For this surely is the true independence that mankind should happily celebrate.

I find it amazing that according to our sinful nature we look for independence with the mindset that we must set ourselves free from being dependent.  But as this wonderful graphic displays, truly joyful independence is being set free to be dependent upon the One who truly loves us and provides all good things for us from above.  Like a newborn babe, happily dependent upon mommy and daddy for all good and joyful things, so the regenerated believer in Christ Jesus is happily dependent upon the one true God, having been baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit to live in the perfect and holy Communion of the Lord forevermore.

Christ came into the world to set us free from dependence upon the things that prevent us from partaking of this blessed dependence upon our loving God.  For only in trusting Him do we realize the true freedom that our hearts long to know.

God grant us a happy and blessed Independence Day!

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And That’s Enough

It seems today that nearly everyone calling oneself a Christian has adopted a new creed:


I believe in Jesus Christ
as my Lord and Savior,
and that’s enough.
This seems to be what is heard again and again, without fail.  It seems that whenever a person is confronted with Scriptures that clearly teach that this confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is clearly defined by further specific doctrine, people fall back to this as the only confession and doctrine that they will permit.

Well, there is, of course, this:

   
I cannot judge what is in another person’s heart.
It seems that people forget that the entire point of the Gospel is salvation for sinners who by Adam’s refusal to trust God’s Word have died to God and the life that is in His Communion.  They seem to forget that the preaching of forgiveness means preaching that people have an actual need to be forgiven.  They seem to forget that the primary cause of the need for forgiveness as proclaimed in the Holy Scriptures is the unbelief and false belief of people.

How can the forgiveness of unbelief and false belief be preached and administered without clearly declaring people's unbelief and false belief?

Why do so many sects exist within what is known as Christendom?

Is it not on account of the diversity of beliefs concerning what the doctrine of the Scriptures really is?

Is it really possible to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior while redefining what He says that this means?  Is it really possible to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior while openly denying what He says concerning the means of salvation?  Is it really possible to trust with true faith in the Messiah or Christ while opposing the very means through which the Scriptures teach that He builds His Church and works in it and through it to save the lost?

Who can even begin to speak of saving the lost without identifying them as the lost?



This group, The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, clearly identifies, even with pictures, those whom they are hoping to save from their lost condition.  How many people consider this to be unloving?  How many people say, “Oh no, I cannot judge these children as being lost”?

If a child is born with spina bifida, do people say that one cannot judge the child as having this deficiency in gestational development?  If someone insisted on calling the diagnosis of such children as cruel, would this not be counted as irrational and even absurd?  How can corrective surgery be pursued for such a child without judging or diagnosing the child as a sufferer of spina bifida?

Yet concerning the most serious broken condition of all, people are inclined to judge that such a condition must not be clearly diagnosed.  They treat the matter of spiritual brokenness to be a matter that should not be diagnosed in absolute terms.  Rather it is said to be a “personal matter.”

Who is really the uncaring and cruel person?

Is it not the person who refuses to acknowledge what has already been clearly diagnosed by the true Physician, the one who truly knows the condition of brokenness of mankind and openly declares both the cause and the cure?  Is not the truly cruel person the one who redefines both the condition and the cure so that neither are rightly recognized?  Is not the truly cruel person the one who administers the cure in an adulterated form that either has no efficacy or may even make the condition worse?

The Lord Jesus through His apostle declares the necessity of speaking the truth in love, saying:

       

     I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)     

      And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.    (Ephesians 4:1-16)

Therefore it seems absolutely necessary to ask:

      Is it really enough to direct people to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior without actually defining clearly and in unmistakable terms what this belief means?

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Old and New

This weekend as I studied and prepared for the divine service, I examined anew a passage of the Scriptures that I have pondered many times previously.

Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.  (Matthew 13:52)

As I read the text in the Greek language I noticed something that I’ve never noticed before.  Here is a literal translation of the text:

Then said he unto them: Therefore, every scribe having been discipled into the kingdom of heaven, same essence is to a man, a  housemaster, which throws out from the thesaurus of him, new and old.

The word that most prominently caught my attention is the word that we usually translate as treasure.  This treasure is Thesaurus.  Remarkable!  The word is actually Thesaurus.

Moreover, this treasurehouse of words is a source of both old and new declarations for the scribe who has been discipled into the kingdom of heaven.  The scribe, the student of the Scriptures, who has been truly discipled into the kingdom of heaven, truly looks to the Scriptures as storehouse of the revelation of the living Word of God.  Every time that this true disciple of the kingdom of heaven enters the storehouse, he throws out to the household of faith new and old proclamation.  The old never changes.  It remains the treasure of the ages.  But along with the doctrine that has been rightly preached time and time again, he also throws out to his hearers new riches from the thesaurus.  The old and the new are in perfect agreement.  The new is a fresh perspective and application of the doctrine of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, offered to the Church through the means of grace.

How can such a message ever be regarded as anything less than a rich treasure?

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Judge Not?

Isn't it amazing how many people will say:

"No one's perfect!" 

and then go on to say

that they can't judge others?

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Inflation Low?

Does anyone in the entire world actually believe this nonsense?

Does anyone who actually purchases real life staples buy this line of nonsense?

What honest person would ever even consider using a gauge of consumer prices that deliberately excludes food and energy?  Are these not the very things that people need the most?  Are these not the largest portion of their spending?

Moreover, 1.1 percent?  Does anyone believe this?  The prices of my purchases have increased dramatically.  The high price of fuel is driving up the price of everything.  The insane increase in governmental interference and regulations, especially for the trucking industry, also is driving up the prices.  Even things like trash service are increasing, and not by 1 or 2 percent, but by 20% or more!

Fuel and oil, fuel filters and oil filters, products made of plastic, products made of steel, products made of aluminum, all of these continue to rise.

The only thing NOT rising is the income of the people!

And the number of people who say that they cannot find real work has never been higher in my encounters.

When will we ever hear that the FED, a private banking cartel, is taxed on their income?  When will we ever hear reported their level of income?  When will we hear an explanation regarding why the FED is allowed to charge interest for the nation's money?  Why are they allowed to tax us through inflation?  Why have they been given control of the nation's money supply when the Constitution entrusts this to Congress so that there would be almost no inflation and no income taxes and no raping of the poor and the making of the poor through centralized banking usury?

The practice of usury is forbidden by the Lord for this very reason.  But because of the idolatry of greed, even common people have accepted usury and gambling (both as gaming and as playing the stock market) as the way of life.  And so they allow their idolatrous greed to enslave them.  Instead of looking upon their fellow man as their brethren for whom they are responsible, they seek to steal from one another through usury, gambling, and other forms of dishonest and selfish gain.  Usury produces nothing but enslavement of the borrower to the money controller/lender.

But people in general have accepted this as the way to provide for themselves.  Thus we have inflation that robs us of everything that we earn, everything that we build or invent or create, everything that we save.

It seems amazing, even incredible, that people actually give their trust to the Federal Reserve.  Most people do not even know that this is a private corporation that makes huge profits.  Rather, they trust the media's lies and propaganda about how small business people should pay more taxes, which of course causes MORE inflation and MORE debt and MORE loss and MORE poverty.  The people have accepted that instead of caring for one another directly in love and care, that the facade of government should take care of their brethren and that paying taxes releases them from their debt of love for their fellow man.

In less than two weeks the Fourth of July celebration of Independence Day and the Declaration of Independence will again sweep America.  Yet most people have no idea what the Declaration of Independence declares that the fathers of this nation fought to overthrow.  It was the British oligarchy's enslavement of the people through taxation without representation, which means, taxation through the inflation and debt manufactured and forced upon the people through the centralized banking cartel.  This is the worst kind of tax for everyone because it never goes away and it impacts absolutely everything that people need for their daily living.

In the meantime the Obamas take a 100 million dollar vacation to Africa to help spread and ensure the control of the globalist and banking elite, aka, democracy.  This control over the people is the real agenda of the so-called Green Movement and the pretense of protection from terrorism and the so-called spread of democracy.

It is indeed amazing to realize that the ordinances of the Lord were established to prevent this sort of abuse.  The nation of Israel had NO taxes under the Lord's ordained ways.  They had no wars for as long as they lived in accord with His ordinances.  Only when they put their trust in princes and government did they have these terrible troubles to face.

As the above article Inflation at 53-Year Low Gives Bernanke Time to Press on With QE says, the FED was created through the use of the lie that it would stabilize the economy and prevent the very troubles that it creates.  The truth is that the FED was created to allow the global elite to usurp control of the world's resources and people.

And the people of the world buy it, putting their trust in the very thieves from whom they need protection.

Accident

It has been a while since I have taken the time to post.  In large part this is due to the fact that I have been scrambling to recover from an accident in which my chipper truck and chipper were totaled.

On March 8 I was merging from westbound Kellogg onto northbound I-235.  Apparently, as I was looking back to prepare for the merge, I must have drifted to the left, because I found myself headed for the dip/ditch between the merge lane and the highway.  Attempting to correct this situation would almost certainly have caused the truck to flip, so I chose to continue onward through the ditch and make the correction on the other side.  But the ditch was too much for me and I ended up in the median against the guard rail on my side.









Thankfully, my preparations for merging were blessed by the Lord so that no one else was involved.  Moreover, the Lord carried me through this incident without serious injury to my body or person.

The recovery time has primarily involved replacement of the truck and chipper and the many challenges involved in this process.  I finally have things restored to a point that I am able to function nearly normally again in my tree business.  I still have more to do, but at least I am able to begin servicing the needs of those who are requesting my services.

So, for those who care to know about what has happened, this will provide at least a snippet of the story.

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American Citizen Imprisoned in Iran

If you desire to sign the petition on-line, click here.

It seems strange that such a petition would be necessary.  Saeed Abedini is an American citizen.  Both Congress and Obama know of his illegal arrest and imprisonment.

But then the same is true here in America, where citizens also are known to be innocent of the crimes for which they have been convicted and are nevertheless still held in prisons.  Such cases, whether here at home or in far away Iran, should be addressed with urgency.

Quirky Google Blogger & IE

Having been informed that viewing my blog in IE (Internet Explorer) the margins are askew, my apologies to anyone frustrated by this problem.  It works perfectly in Firefox and Safari when I check it, but in Internet Explorer it does go haywire.

I gave up on IE long ago when it kept presenting security hazards.  But it also seems to be very quirky and unstable when playing/working with other browser compatibility issues.

It seems that the problems for my blog appeared with the last post that included the embedded code for the tag program.  I am wondering whether this post may cause an override.  If not, I will delete the other embed code to see what effect it has.

---

OK. It seems that the issue was with Internet Explorer, or at least with IE and Google's Blogger. But as usual, other browsers functioned correctly while IE refuses. Other browsers seem to accept the embed codes without any problem. Why do so many people still use IE?

??????????

Freedom Banned in Washington

CATO Institute has an article entitled: Freedom Banned in Washington.  The article shares that in Washington DC there are limits to what a person is allowed to use on vanity license plates.

FREEDOM is one of the banned words.

Apparently a person can use the method below to test various words to learn whether or not the words are permitted.

(embeded code for tag test deleted due to conflicts with IE)

Try it here.

Indeed, Freedom is not permitted.

I tried a number of others that would surely be more controversial and those particular ones were deemed to be OK.  But Freedom is not OK.

Try it yourself.

Among a few others that I tried that turned out to be banned are:

LOVE
GRACE
DAUGHTR
BELIEVE
NO
YES
MY
JES
JUSTICE
SALVATN
SATAN
UP
BOO
WOW
OMEGA
BUM
NUT
CRAZY
BLUE
EVE
CRIB
GAS
FROG
BUT
DEACON
SERVANT
(but Slave is OK)
CRUD
STAR
MUDDY
QUACK
BLOOD
SWEET
JET
GUN
JOKER
DRUGS
IRISH
SCOTCH
BRITISH
MEXICAN
LAMB
WIN
DORK
SHEEP

Can You Believe THIS?

At the government site for the State of Maryland’s Health Department here is what is posted:

Can you believe this? Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Mental Hygiene?

Is this another term for Brainwashing?

Is this getting scarey yet?

Better than Obamacare

Yesterday I was reminded of a previous post, God’s Grace in Injuries & Healing .  The following picture was displayed after my knee injuries had healed.



I was surprised by the comments that were made, seemingly oblivious to the statements that I had made about how wonderfully and marvelously the Lord had granted healing.  I was left wondering if they read my words at all.  Their display of concern and caring was nice, but did they read what I said?

Here is a picture taken today of the same injuries.

I had not really paid much attention until today as I have had no pain or other cause to pay any attention to my knee.  I was rather amazed to realize that the scars are so negligible that even with close examination I hardly notice them.  In fact, my scar from when I was a youngster and fell on a freshly sharpened lawn mower blade is far more noticeable, even though it, too, has faded over the years.

At any rate, I wish to share this with whomever may be interested.  I did not rush to the emergency room and pay outrageous fees.  I received no stitches, no pain meds, no powerful antibiotic shots or pills.

I thank God for the functions that He has built into my body.  I thank God that I do not need the Federal government to mandate what my body needs.  If only the Federal government would stay out of my life and let me and my neighbors live in peace.

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Assisted Living Facility where Assisting to Live is Forbidden

I find what is shared in this video at The Blaze hard to believe.  A nurse speaks to a 911 operator, calling for emergency assistance for a dying woman, but refuses to help the woman.  The facility’s policy forbids doing CPR to save a resident’s life.



I cannot imagine anyone signing such a restrictive policy.  Well, Obama or Sebelius or Feinstein, yes, but well . . .

This is hurtful to my soul.  Moreover, it is becoming commonplace.

It is hard to imagine that on Facebook and other social media that people post endlessly about abuse of animals and saving the lives of dogs and cats, even old and decrepit dogs and cats.  Meanwhile the daughter of this woman, a nurse, says that she is satisfied with the care that her dying mother received.  What care did her mother receive?

Perhaps this 87 year old woman did not want CPR.  Perhaps she did not want to be assisted.  Perhaps this is why she came to live at this facility.

Was this the case?  Is it my place to speculate?  Is there a time when such a decision is appropriate?

And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

   (Genesis 49:33)

And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

  (Genesis 50:22-26)

As I ponder what has been reported, and consider the statement of this woman’s daughter, perhaps I really should be careful about presuming to know more than I do.  After all, this woman lived in a very comfortable environment.  She did receive assistance in her day to day needs.  She was blessed to live to 87 years of age.  Her body was weakened.  Her bones were frail.  She elected to live in a facility where the policy was stated that the rigors of CPR would not be performed.  Does this policy take into account the low success of CPR on such older people?  Does this policy take into account the likelihood of deep and painful bruises, possible broken ribs, and even possible rupture of blood vessels?

Perhaps I am wrong to presume to judge these people of whom I know so little.  After all, they did not withhold food or drink from her.  They did not administer lethal drugs.  They did not refuse to call for paramedics who have the defibrillation and other equipment.

If this is the way, then perhaps this should be explained to the EMS people so that they are not put in the horrific situation that this creates.  As I listened to the audio, my heart ached for this dispatcher.  It seems that at the very least, facilities such as Glenwood Gardens should be required to list their policy with the EMS and explain why CPR is not practiced.  These facilities often are frequent callers of EMS.  The dispatchers should be given better information, both for their own conscience’s sakes as well as to avoid such ugly misunderstanding.

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Drones Will Become Such a Routine Part of American Life That They Eventually Will Be Used to Find Lost Dogs and Cats

The quote is found at 1:30 and following:





More on this is reported at Drones used to find lost dogs, cats?.

For Good or Not

Here is a tool that could frighten a person not knowing its purpose:

It is actually quite a wonderful invention, despite its rather intimidating appearance.  It is a tool designed to grant comfort and relief.  It is a shoe stretcher.  It is designed to be used to alleviate pressure on bunions and other troublesome areas of the foot.  It is used to stretch the area of the shoe that would cause pain to the bunion or other oddly shaped part of a person’s foot.

Of course, if applied incorrectly to the shoe, or in some other way misused, it could actually become an instrument of pain or torture.  It could be used to increase agony rather that to relieve it.  Even if used with good intentions but misapplied, it could work the opposite for which it is designed.

For example, if the stretcher is used improperly so that the area is not sufficiently stretched, and yet the suffering person is coerced to wear the improperly stretched shoe anyway, the condition of irritated bunion could be worsened.  If the person is told that the pain is not real and that the stretcher has removed the cause of pain, the person may be further injured emotionally.

Sadly, the Gospel, while not a tool, but nevertheless a means of comfort and relief, is often used improperly so that the result is a worsened state of suffering rather than relief.  It is not the fault of the Gospel that this happens.  Rather the fault is in the misapplication of the Gospel.  Often it is not only misapplied, but entirely misrepresented.

Imagine if the shoe stretcher were given to a person and told to use it to apply pressure to the bunion to reshape the foot to relieve the problem.

As outrageous as this sounds, it is very similar to how many apply the Gospel.  Instead of proclaiming the Gospel as God’s work to address and remove sin and the guilt of sin, people are told to use the Gospel as a means through which they must reshape their lives and eliminate sin and guilt by their own endeavors.  When these attempts fail or make matters worse, then the Gospel itself is reshaped and redefined to make it feel less powerful when it is misused.  Eventually it becomes defined as nothing more than a placebo, a sugar pill in which people hope for relief.

When the shoe stretcher is used rightly, it does provide the promised relief.  It can even reduce the swelling and inflamation.

The Gospel, when used as it has been given to be used, does much more.  It actually heals the disease.  It not only addresses the symptoms but actually restores to the true spiritual health that has been lost.  But this does not happen when those who use it do not believe the efficaciousness of its proper use.

Another example can be gleaned from my experience as an arborist.  I often observe where someone has pruned a dead limb from a tree.  However, it has not been properly pruned and so while it temporarily has a better appearance than having a dead limb extending from the trunk, it nevertheless does not properly close.  The dead stub remains and the fungal growth finds its way into the heartwood of the tree rather than sealing the area against such infection as normally occurs with proper pruning.

From these three crude drawings the contrast can be observed.  The first shows the tree with the dead limb.  The second shows the limb pruned as is commonly seen by those who either don’t know better or don’t care.  The third shows the limb properly pruned near the growth collar, so that the natural compartmentalization by the tree is complemented by the pruning so that the cambium grows over and seals the wound in the least amount of time and without the fungal acids that would be produced by the fungi growing in the dead stub which would digest the tree’s waxy protective sealant.

Improper pruning is no more effective than leaving the ugly dead limb.  Both result in the fungal growth that eventually may infect the heartwood of the tree.  Both result in the cambium improperly growing outward over the remaining dead material so that a hollow area is produced that catches moisture and fungal spores.

The proper pruning eliminates the deadwood, thereby eliminating the fungal growth.  The cambium grows straight across the wound, sealing it properly.  Heart rot from such a pruned limb is much less likely.

The Gospel is something like this, but even better.  One who hears the Gospel for what the Scriptures actually declare it to be will readily see the comparison.  The Gospel actually does much more than mere pruning of deadwood or diseased limbs from a tree.  It actually restores life where death and decay have already occurred.  But that only happens when and where the Gospel is actually administered in its purity and as it has been given to be used.

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The Toolbox Daddy’s Little Boy Made

When I was a little boy, my father decided that I should have a toolbox of my very own. So he told me that I would make a toolbox for myself. It would be like some of the other toolboxes that he had.

He supplied the materials. He carefully measured and sawed the wood to precise specifications. He applied the glue. He drove the nails. If I remember correctly, he gave me the nails to hold for him and then had me help him to hold the pieces of wood in place. When it was securely fastened, he gave me some paint and a brush with which to apply a couple coats of paint. When it was dry, he secured the hardware to the box along with some leather straps to hold the lid open.

When all was done he told me what a good job I had done. Now my box was ready for my tools, my own hammer and saw and screwdriver, which Daddy also gave to me.

This is how God does with His children, too. He performed the work of redemption and salvation. He established His Church for preaching of the Gospel and administration fo the Sacraments. He generates faith in the heart through these means. He baptizes the child into His Church. He gives His Holy Spirit to call, gather, enlighten, and sanctify His children. He supplies all that is needed, even the faith by which His children believe. Then he gives them some paint to brush on, that is, He gives them the good works that flow from their faith-filled hearts to embellish their lives, and he gives them the tools for their lives of faith. In the end, He tells them what a good job they have done.

I still have the toolbox that my daddy made for me. It has been through quite a bit of abuse over the forty-five or so years that I have used it. It still functions perfectly. I still hear his words telling me what a good job I did.

I also still have the faith and life that the Lord built for me. I continue to believe in accord with that faith and to live in accord with that life. And I still hear Him tell me what a good job I have done. He is our true Father and we are His true children. He provides all that is good and then tells us what a good job we have done, even though it all has been worked by Him.

This wonderful perspective is what He declares in the Aaronic Benediction:

The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and grant you peace. Amen.

I especially love the look upon my wife’s face every time that she hears these words, especially after I explained them in fuller detail. The first sentence seems to be understood fairly easily, although its richness is certainly greater than most people first realize. But the second and third reflect the Lord’s attitude toward His children over and above His gracious blessing and providence and protection. Here He promises that He lifts us up from our guilt and shame, having proclaimed His Gospel to us and having fed us at His Table of forgiveness and life, and He makes His face to shine with the loving pride that He has as our Father who has declared us to be righteous with the righteousness of Jesus. He promises that rather than looking down upon us with the disgust that we have earned for ourselves, rather than looking down and away from us as we deserve, He lifts up His countenance so that we see how He loves us and takes pride in us and calls us to Himself so that we receive that peace of His Holy Communion. The divine service closes with His promise that He lifts up His countenance upon us, showing us His smiling face of love and mercy, so that we have the peace that surpasses all understanding that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

God does it all for us and then He says to us: “Look and see how pleased I am with you, my wonderful children.”

+ + +

From Children to Adults

Adults are children

who have accumulated more years
and have learned more bad habits.