The Savage Five

Geckos seemingly defy gravity.  They have the ability to scale walls and even hang upside down from the ceiling without falling to their fate like the rest of us would.  So what gives them the ability to walk in a  seemingly super natural manner?  The secret lies within their feet.   A gecko's foot is designed in such a manner that they not only have hair like protrusions called setae but these hair like protrusions have smaller protrusions called spatulae.  This intentional structural engineering by the Creator, gives way for intermolecular forces to come into play, allowing a the gecko to "stick" on surfaces in order to climb to knew heights in search of their next meal.    Vänder Waals Forces is the term used to describe the distant dependent attractions between molecules. The geckos rely on these forces as their spatulae come in close contact with the surface they are trying to climb.  These temporary bonds are weak and m...

Last week my boys and I had the distinct honor of witnessing our friends become United States citizens in a federal court naturalization ceremony. It was such a privilege to see 53 people from 29 different countries, smile their way into our free country by renouncing and abjuring all allegiance and fidelity to any other power besides the United States of America. Such strong language was recited by all during the process that I thought of what becoming a citizen of heaven through Jesus' sacrifice entails. As they repeated the swearing in oath, they renounced any and all allegiance and fidelity to any; foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty by which they had been a citizen or a subject. They exchanged their allegiance to their previous country's power and rulers for allegiance to the United States of America. As I heard the words potentate and sovereignty, I could not help but think of Jesus.  Being an avid King James Version for many years brought to mind ...

We have been following alongside these two sisters, Mary and Martha this week, looking at the difference between their response to Jesus in both Luke 10 and John 11 . We find that Martha refuses to sit at Jesus' feet, she is all about 'doing' rather than 'waiting', she is  easily offended, she thinks she is doing the lion's share of the work and grumbles about others, she has all the answers yet she questions the Lord and accuses and even points out His fault.  She says with her mouth she believes that Jesus is who he says he is but continues to doubt him when he proceeds to do his next powerful miracle. Martha had a critical heart, yet John 11:5 says; Jesus loved Martha,... God loves all the Martha's thankfully because we too can be just like her. We grumble or accuse based on our own discomforts without realizing that in all our 'doing' we are serving the Lord not people.  We think too highly of ourselves in our pride and think we know or...

Knowing all about Jesus without knowing Him intimately throughout the course of our lives is troublesome and can cause a false sense of understanding when we read the Word of God.  Human beings are hard wired to manipulate from the time they realize they have, not only needs but, desires and through these desires comes the ability to sin. Yesterday, we saw Martha run to Jesus questioning Him and being questioned by Him and while it appeared that she had a deep understanding of who Jesus was she was lacking the ability to rest in His presence.  Even when Jesus was about to raise Lazarus from the dead she warned Him that the body would no doubt smell horrible. But let's back up a little and look at something I have never noticed before.  Immediately following the Lord's question; "Do you believe this?"  Martha answered that she did indeed believe that He was the Christ, the Son of God, who would come into the world. What struck me as odd was how Martha turned fr...

As I look at the life of Martha in John 11, recalling that her name means "she is rebellious",  I read line: Now Jesus loved Martha,... Martha refused  to sit at the Lord's feet, she wanted to 'do' instead of 'wait' on the Lord for His leading in her life.  She was anxious about many things and yet the very place where she could find rest, she avoided. Jesus addresses the religious Jews in John 5:38-41, declaring that they have never even heard the voice of the Father and implying that they have no knowledge of God because they refuse to believe and come to Jesus as Lord. and you do not have his word abiding in you,  for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.   You search the Scriptures because you think  that in them you have eternal life;   and it is they that bear witness about me,  yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.   Jesus is saying that you can read the Bible all you want but it is not your s...

We saw yesterday, Mary and Martha in the presence of Jesus, where one sister chose to wait on Jesus by sitting and waiting to hear the words that He would speak.  Martha, however, was going about 'doing' all the work, thinking about her load, comparing it to her sister's lack there of and being offended with not only her sister but Jesus as well, claiming He did not care about her. The name Martha, in Greek means, she was rebellious .   This gives us insight into Martha's heart.  She was unwilling to sit an receive from the servant of all.  She rushed to him to make her complaint without realizing the great treasure that awaited her in the waiting. When we are unwilling to sit and be still before the Lord, waiting on Him, refusing to allow Him to serve us by listening to His instructions and insight that are available to us through the reading of His word, we too are rebellious. In busying ourselves for the sake of the gospel, without allowing the gospel to e...

Recently, I have been studying and praying about Mary and Martha.  So when my pastor mentioned Martha on Sunday, I felt a clear leading from the Lord to write about my findings this week. Recall,  Mary and Martha were sisters of Lazarus, the man whom Jesus raised from the dead.  At the tail end of Luke 10 we see Jesus being welcomed into Martha's home.  Martha's sister, Mary, sat at the Lord's feet listening to His teaching.  But Martha was distracted with much serving.  And she went up  to him and sad,  "Lord, do you not care  that my sister has left me to serve alone?   Tell her then to help me." Immediately we get a glimpse into Martha's heart by what she is saying. Lord, do you not care ... that I am serving alone? So one of the first things, aside from Martha being distracted, is that she accuses the Lord Jesus of not caring.  She obviously has bitter resentment toward Mary for sitting and listening inste...

While running down the path yesterday, I spotted a tree that I wanted to take a picture of so I stopped to point and shoot.  I started to run again and turned to look up at the leaves rustling in the breeze and I was taken by surprise when my entire body began to rotate, headed into  a downward spiral toward the asphalt.  I slammed down, twisting my ankle, hitting my shoulder, and scrapping my hands and legs. I had encountered the force of gravity!  Gravitation is a natural phenomenon where by all things with mass are brought toward one another.  The center of gravity is the balancing point in an object about which a body will balance without the tendency to rotate.  My center of gravity had shifted just enough that it was no longer over its area of support and so my body obeyed the natural law of rotational physics. As my shoulder aches this morning I am reminded that when I try to run ahead of God, determining my own support area, I rotate into a down...

There is such an onslaught of imagery that bombards our field of vision each and every day from the news, social media, television, magazine covers, Pinterest, and internet searching. We truly are a society where information and messages stream across our field of view continuously throughout our day unless we step out of the stream of traffic. The human eye was made to behold beauty and wonder in the world around us in order that we would  turn and worship God for all He is and all He has done. The enemy wants nothing more than to disrupt this worship and as the god of this age, he accomplishes his task by giving us a cornucopia of things to look at, that then distract us from worshiping and cause us to contemplate lesser glories. One thing I ask from the LORD, that will I seek after:  that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,  to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.   To gaze upon here means: to ...

As I rouse myself out of my sleep this morning, I ask the Lord... "What do you want me to write about today?" I hear Psalm 8:9 clearly come through my conscious mind like a stream. O' LORD our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! That word majestic comes from the Hebrew word ' adder .   Great, majestic, of waters of sea, wide, large, powerful, famous and glorious are just a few of the English adjectives that give us insight into what this word connotes. My mind immediately travels to the my experience at Niagara Falls in 2016. Those wide, majestic, powerfully, glorious, famous great waters are just a literal drop in the bucket to the majesty of our Creator, yet while there I stood in awe of the power and might of the rushing waters. As we approached the falls, we could not even hear each other speak.   I yelled at the top of my lungs; "The voice of the LORD is like the roar of many waters !" Creation declares ...

After a good downpour, there will be places in which the water runs where it is normally dry and accumulates debris. Once a  torrential rain occurs, these previously dry areas become preverbal river beds, where the water courses through, lifting the debris as it travels to the lowest ground, seeking to find rest. As the water runs over these areas, most of the debris begins to align itself, conforming to the coursing water as it washes past the chaff. The kinetic energy of the water effects the litter by its force, pushing it along the streamline.  The seeming mission of the water is to get everything traveling in the same direction. Our dry, debris filled hearts, need the power of God's word and Spirit to course through, disrupting the litter that accumulates there, in order that our lives would be conformed to the power of His Word and the movement of His Spirit. But in order for our debris ridden hearts to be effected by the powerful energy that is evident in Hebr...

Have you ever seen these pretty berry bearing plants in the fall?  The red color of the fruit produced by the bush honeysuckle is deceptive in that this is an invasive species whose seeds are dispersed throughout the landscape by the birds that eat their fall fruit. Although the birds gain some nutritive value from these berries, compared to other wild fruits, these are likened to eating potato chips. Honeysuckle may appear beautiful and fragrant in the spring as it spreads out its branches, rapidly invading the understory of a woodlot.  However, this species has a longer growing season than trees and so is able to crowd out young saplings who aspire one day to reach the canopy. As honeysuckle seeds are planted throughout the landscape, they grow rapidly, soon forming an inpenetrable thicket, that serves as  a blockade to developing trees.  This non-native invasive bush competes with developing native tree species eventually preventing our native forest species...