In Hebrews 12, there is a contrast of two mountains where people go to God.  In verses 18-21, the scene is Sinai, which refers back to the Exodus moment where God came down to Mount Sinai.  The people were warned to stay away from the mountain, to not go near it, to not touch it.  The top of the mountain was covered in fire and smoke, like smoke from a furnace.

Isaiah 2:5   "Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord"

"Psalm 89:15  "Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, Lord

John 8:12  "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

1 John 1:7   "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin"

I used to think that when someone was grieving, it was my job to try to cheer them up. When I lost my father, I was able to understand this passage better. When we lose someone close to us, it creates an emptiness within us. Even if we know the departed is in a better place, we still feel a loss.

About a week ago, I was peacefully lying supine in my comfortable bed, drifting off to sleep, when my eyes suddenly opened to Dan standing over me. Closely over me.

“WHAT are you doing?” I inquired, irritated.

“Uh – making sure you’re still breathing,” he said sheepishly.

So this is where we are. Shocking.

How much would you pay for the best bowl of soup in the world? For the best bowl of soup in the world, I might go up to $100, but if it’s more than that, I’ll have to pass. What about for an average bowl of soup? How much would you pay for that? Not very much. Probably just a few dollars. Well, one time a guy bought an average bowl of stew using his birthright.

In the book of Ruth is a story about a lady named Naomi.  She moves to a foreign country, where her husband dies, and her two sons die.  She is left a widow, a beggar, with no form of support.  She moves back to her home town, and her daughter in law, Ruth, accompanies her.  In their hometown, Ruth catches the eye of Boaz.  Naomi tells Ruth that Boaz is their “kinsman redeemer” and enacts a plan that leads to Ruth being married to Boaz.

It must have been about the fifth or sixth grade.  I had a couple of friends who began to brag about how they had started stealing candy from one or two local stores.  They kept telling me how easy it was and how, if you did it right, you wouldn’t get caught.  As I recall, doing it right meant cramming several pieces into your pockets when no one was looking and then picking out one or two other items and paying for them.

In the 1980’s, Burger King had a promotion where a fellow named Herb would appear at random Burger King restaurants across the country.  The first patron to spot him would win a prize.  One of the goals of the promotion was to increase visits to Burger King restaurants.

When teaching Interior Architecture students how to draw architectural floor plans, I began by taking the class to an unoccupied house where they took all the interior and exterior measurements needed for the floor plan. I would ask two students to measure the width of a room, rounding their measurement to the nearest quarter inch, and then write the measurement on a slip of paper.

A few days ago, it was the start of a new year. And with that often comes a new resolution to start things off right. For us that usually comes in the form of healthier living, learning something to better ourselves, taking up a new hobby, reaffirm a commitment to philanthropy or religion, etc. All very good and noble pursuits.

Before I address the aspect of joy I find in some words, I'd like to reflect for a moment on joy in the Word, as in the Bible.  I note that the angels announced to the shepherds "tidings of great joy" as opposed to "tidings of great happiness." That prompted me to do a little research. I found that joy is listed 50 times in the New Testament; happiness not at all, although I did find six references to happy. This indicated to me that there is a subtle but important difference between joy versus happiness and that joy is the better choice to pursue than happiness. The Christian martyrs who suffered in Rome's Coliseum, as well as other scenarios, were certainly not happy about their circumstances but surely possessed sufficient joy from being a follower of Jesus that allowed them to endure persecution.

Think of a time when you were in such heavy darkness you could not even see your hand when you held it in front of your face. The darkness almost seemed to diffuse a visceral weight. That depth of darkness unsettles the mind and can easily trigger anxiety. You may even fidget in the place you read this just thinking about that consuming level of darkness.

On Sunday, our minister began his weekly sermon by welcoming everyone, launching into a gentle rendition of "It's a Beautiful Day," the theme song from “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Faithfully changing into a red cardigan and running shoes, he playfully tossed a shoe from one hand to another in homage to the ritual Fred Rogers performed for the camera 895 times.

In 1963, the US Naval Academy’s football team went to Notre Dame stadium, and behind Heisman trophy winning quarterback Roger Staubach, won the game 35-14.  The next year, Notre Dame played the US Naval Academy and won 40-0.  That victory kicked off a streak that stands as a record in college football.  Beginning that year, Navy and Notre Dame met in football over the next 43 years, and each year Notre Dame won.  Some of the games were close, but each time Notre Dame would pull out a win.

As far back as I can remember I always wanted to work with computers.  I’m not sure why that became my life’s ambition but when it came time to declare mine for my senior yearbook I said, “to go to college and become a computer technician.”  This was way back in the day before there were personal computers, smart phones and the Internet available to everyone.  When I went to college, they didn’t even have a computer degree so I settled on math and hoped I would be able to parlay that into a computer career.  My first experience with a computer was a remote connection through a phone line with the phone receiver resting in a modem cradle and my only means of communication a modified keyboard and a printer that allowed me to send and receive commands from the system at the other end.

God wants to listen to our prayers–he is deeply interested in our lives, and he seeks to hear us, understand us, and truly know us.

But we still ask questions. “Is God really listening, when I know he is so high and lofty? Could he really, truly care for little, old me?” Yes, he truly is and yes, he truly does. But a second question we might ask is this: “Is God really listening, when I don’t know what to say or how to say it?” On the one hand, we wonder if God is even listening given who God is (so high above us); but then in our deep insecurity, we wonder if God is even listening given who we are (bumbling and stumbling in our prayers).

You could see the smile on Sam’s (not his real name) face. The eyes were bright. His torso was tensed. Then it all exploded. Too late to stop, as other high school students were exiting the rehearsal hall toward the marching practice field, Sam began playing short cadence riffs on his marching snare drum. Ear-splitting fireballs of enthusiastic sound were shot out, meant to push the irritation button of all fellow students in the vicinity. His feeling of success was evident. Sam had potential musical ability; he could quickly learn and play parts others could not play. Sam had leadership potential; he was always surrounded by a following. Sam had intellect; he could think up more clever mischief than ten other students put together.

One of my favorite Bob Seger songs, in fact one of my favorite songs, is “Like a Rock.” Many of us see our lives in those words sung mournfully, even wistfully. Old men, like me, think back and with eyes born of memories, see and remember those days where we knew, didn’t we, we were going to live forever. We willingly tackled anything because there was nothing we couldn’t do, no task we couldn’t accomplish. We were like a rock.

When I was a teen, I played the game “mercy”. In this game you would hold hands with someone and try to bend each other’s wrists backwards until one of you couldn’t stand it anymore. It would end with the defeated person halting the game by yelling “Mercy”. Looking back, I realize it may not have been the best game to play but what more can I say, I was a teen. My point for bringing this up is that in real life extending mercy to someone who has hurt you can be even more painful. God did exactly that for each of us.

Have you ever gotten an idea or a thought or something in your head, that once it got in there, you had a hard time removing that thought?  If you tried to divert your attention elsewhere, this idea or thought would keep bubbling back up?  No matter how you tried to distract yourself or move on to something else, this thought would keep intruding and come to the forefront.  Sometimes a song or a tune can do that, but I’m not going to talk about that.  But hopefully this idea connects, and you know what I’m talking about.