We had a storm a few days ago.  That in itself is not unusual.  Summer afternoons in Florida often include thunderstorms that go as quickly as they come.  But it reminded me of one we had a few years back, when Magdi, our first Australian cattle dog, was still alive.  It was not an ordinary storm. 
            You could hear it coming for about an hour, thunder in the distance, black clouds boiling in an increasing breeze that brought the smell of rain and ozone.  Finally the bottom fell out.  You could hardly see the bushes right outside the windows it was raining so hard.  Afterward, checks on the clock and the rain gauge would show that it rained 1.9 inches in 20 minutes.  Before long, we saw the fruit of Keith’s hours and hours of backbreaking labor, hauling dirt with a shovel and a wheelbarrow, creating a berm around the house.  It looked like we were on an island in the middle of a river, its strong current at least four inches deep as the water rushed down the slope, around the house, and toward the run to the east of us.  It would keep running nearly two hours after the rain stopped, and we drained just fine, but meanwhile I found myself humming, “The rains came down and the floods came up…”
            Suddenly lightning struck in the trees just across the fence to the north.  The clap was so loud I screamed, and even Keith, out in the shed without his hearing aids, heard it, and saw a ball of fire at the top of a pine at the same time.  He said Magdi shot out from her favorite place under the porch, eyes wide as saucers, circling here and there in the pouring rain looking for someplace safe.  He called her into the shed, normally a forbidden place, and petted her dripping and quivering sides until she calmed down.  We never saw Chloe until after the storm, but when we did, her tail was plastered down hard between her legs, the end of it curled up under her belly.  It didn’t come back up for two days.
            That reminded me of the Israelites’ reaction to God at Mt Sinai.  They were so terrified of the darkness, thunder, and lightning that they begged Moses that God would no longer speak to them.  I find Moses’ reply interesting:  Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you that you may not sin, Ex 20:20.
            I think that might just be our problem.  We aren’t afraid enough any more. 
            I can remember when a certain phrase was not only forbidden in polite society, it was certainly never said on television or radio.  It was considered “taking the Lord’s name in vain.”  Now I hear it all the time, even from children.  When ten-year-olds have an abbreviation for it in their text messages, “omg,” something has been lost in our reverence for God.
            The Word of God is called a book of myths, even by people who claim to live by it, even by some who claim to be its ministers.  Religious people are pictured in fiction and drama as bigots, fanatics, hypocrites or maniacs. God, Jesus, Satan, and the struggle against sin are used as comic foils by entertainers.  When I start thinking about how far we have gone down this road, it’s a wonder to me that lightning isn’t popping around us constantly.
            We, the people of God, have even taken the concept of “the fear of God” and watered it down to the point that it means nothing more than the respect we might show our own fathers.  Isaiah, when he had seen merely a vision of God said, Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, 6:5.  Isaiah was feeling a whole lot more than simple respect.  If there was ever a time when he could overcome sin more easily, it was probably in the weeks and months after that vision. 
            I have a feeling that if we ever stood in the presence of God we would finally understand what the fear of God is all about.  Some day we will.  I just hope it is not too late.
 
Any one who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.  How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?  For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine.  I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, Heb 10:28-31.
 
Dene Ward

This is the continuation of a series begun by guest writer, Lucas Ward, in January.  Due to the two month hiatus caused by my broken computer and waiting for the part in the midst of a worldwide shutdown, you might wish to familiarize yourself with the earlier posts.  If so, just go to the right sidebar and click on the appropriate month.  The earlier posts appeared on January 15, February 17 and March 16.

It seems to me that a logical first step on the road to learning to be wise is to remove the foolishness from our lives.  So I have collected quite a bit of what Proverbs teaches about "the fool" so that we can learn what to remove from our lives and what to avoid in the future.  

The Mouth of the Fool.
Prov. 10:8  "The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin."
Prov. 10:14  "The wise lay up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool brings ruin near." 
The foolish person talks incessantly.  He never learns anything because he won't shut up long enough to listen.  The wise person, on the other hand, receives, or listens to, commandments.  He lays up knowledge.  The fool who babbles eventually brings ruin because he has no knowledge.  Because he would never be quiet.
Prov. 18:2  "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion." 
Have you ever met someone who never listened to what you said but rather just waited for you to finish so he could talk?  Solomon says that kind of person is a fool.  He never learns because he never listens.  He is more interested in what he is about to say.
Prov. 14:3  "By the mouth of a fool comes a rod for his back, but the lips of the wise will preserve them." 
Prov. 18:6  "A fool's lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating." 
Prov. 18:7  "A fool's mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul." 
A fool is constantly in trouble because of his foolish mouth.  He receives official punishment (a rod for his back from the king) and street justice (walk into a fight).  His mouth brings him to ruin because, as a fool he can't control it and doesn't know what to say if he could control it.  If we want to avoid foolishness, we must learn to control our mouths (a proverbs lesson on that later).
 
Flaunting Folly.
Prov. 10:23  "Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding."
Prov. 13:16  "Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly." 
Prov. 14:16  "One who is wise is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and careless." 
Prov. 17:12  "Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly."
The fool refuses to think, and just acts, often with disastrous results.  He is reckless and careless and more dangerous than a she-bear separated from her cubs.  What's worse?  He laughs about the trouble he causes and wears his foolishness like a crown.   Obviously, the answer here is to think before we act.  To consider how our actions affect others (the definition of being considerate).   The prudent acts with knowledge and the wise is cautious, and that should be what we are aiming for.
 
Refuses Teaching.
Prov. 12:15  "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice." 
Prov. 15:5  "A fool despises his father's instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent." 
Prov. 17:24  "The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth." 
Prov. 18:2  "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion." 
There are many more passages about the fool's refusal to listen, but since we just discussed the need to listen in the previous lesson, I'm only touching on it here.  A wise man becomes wise by listening to instruction and the fool marks himself as a fool by refusing to hear teaching.  The fool thinks he is right and refuses advice.  He won't listen to his father, he is daydreaming during class and doesn't care to understand.  If we don't want to be foolish, we need to listen to the wise and consider their teachings.  It is the only way to grow.
 
Vexation of:
Prov. 12:16  "The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult." 
Prov. 20:3  "It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling." 
Prov. 27:3  "A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty, but a fool's provocation is heavier than both."
Personally, I hate Proverbs 12:16.  It hits a little too close to home.  When I am vexed, people know about it.  Solomon calls that the mark of a fool.  The prudent ignores the insult.  The honorable man keeps aloof from strife.  This is definitely one of the things I need to work on to become more wise.  To know when to ignore the insult, to avoid strife, to let things be.  The more we improve ourselves at this, the better are those around us because the fool's provocation is heavier than stones or sand and weighs down everyone near him. 
 
The first step to learning wisdom is to understand Solomon's description of fools and to try to remove that foolishness from our lives.  The less we act the fool, the greater our chance at becoming wise.
 
Lucas Ward

From my journal:
 
 Monday, June 13, 2005.
This is the big day.  “Terrified” pretty well says it all.  We began it with a prayer and that prayer continued on silently through the day for both of us. 
              Today I will undergo a surgery that has never been done successfully before, using a newly invented device that has never been used before.  If it works, my vision will be saved for awhile longer.  If it doesn’t, I will be blind in that eye.  If we don’t try it, I will be blind in both eyes, probably before the year is out.
              We arrived early, expecting a wait, but they took me straight in, after I signed some special consent forms upstairs.  Since the FDA had not approved this, “you will have to sign your life away,” the doctor told me, but what choice did I have?  I signed page after page, and then initialed some handwritten lines added along the side of the form.  One of them said, “I understand that no one knows how this material will interact with human tissue.”  Finally they sent me back downstairs to the surgical floor. 
              When the nurse called me in, Keith and I shared a long hug.  I am sure that no one else there understood why we made such a big deal out of this, but it was possible that I would never see him out of that eye again, and maybe not the other before much longer.
 
              That was quite a day and quite an experience.  I was indeed terrified.  You don’t sign your life away like that unless you are desperate, unless the only other choice is a bad one.  I did it, and it gave my left eye another year and a half of vision before we had more difficult and painful surgeries to go through, which have spared me yet again.  The right eye, the one that took the plunge first on this day in 2005, is still hanging in there.  Signing my life away has given me many more years of vision so far, years no one expected even if the surgery worked, and who knows how much more to come before the medications stop working and the shunt is compromised.
              That level of desperation is the level you must feel in your spiritual life before you will “sign your life away” to God. 
              And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison-house were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened: and every one's bands were loosed. And the jailor, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do yourself no harm: for we are all here. And he called for lights and sprang in, and, trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?  Acts 16:26-31.
              Do you think that jailor wasn’t terrified?  Do you think he wasn’t desperate?  Imagine how that plea sounded coming from this trembling man who thought his life was over.  “What must I do to be saved?”
              Desperate people do desperate things—like commit their lives to God.  If you never felt that desperation, chances are your commitment was not real.  Chances are you will fall when times get tough, when sacrifices are demanded, when you lose more than you bargained for.  Desperate people do not bargain.  They take the first offer and take it immediately.
              How desperate were you when you were offered salvation?  If you “grew up in the church,” you may never have felt it.  Doing what everyone expects of you is not desperation.  Wanting the approval of others, especially one particular “other” is not desperation.  “Just in case” is not desperation.  You have to recognize a need and know there is no other way of taking care of that need.  You have to know what it means to stand a sinner before a holy God—and it doesn’t mean you feel guilty because you stole a cookie from the cookie jar.  But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord, Luke 5:8.  That, standing a sinner before a holy God, is the recognition you must come to.
             Signing your entire life away to God is exactly what He expects of you.  So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple, Luke 14:33. Nothing and no one can be more important to you than Him.   I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me, Gal 2:20.  Your entire life is no longer yours to do with as you please, but since you know that is your only hope, you do it gladly.
              How desperate were you?  How desperate are you now?
 
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory, Col 3:1-3.
 
Dene Ward

Fret not yourself because of evildoers…Psa 37:1.
 
              Psalm 37 is one of several psalms that takes up this perennial problem among God’s people.  We become outraged when we see the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer, when we see a government ordained by God try to push Him out of our lives, when we see it run over the faithful in favor of any and all who claim He doesn’t exist.  Especially in today’s political environment, how many times do you find yourself caught up in arguments that leave you steamed and incensed, a fire burning in you to undo the wrong and fix the problem at any cost?  You see, that’s what “fret” means. 

              At first glance I pictured someone pacing the floor and wringing their hands.  “Fret” sounds so trivial.  The Hebrew word is anything but. 

              …And Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell, Gen 4:5.
              …And let not your anger burn…Gen 44:18.
              And my wrath shall wax hot…Ex 22:24.
              …And his anger was kindled...Num 11:1.
              …And all that are incensed against him…Isa 45:24.

              All these words are the same word translated “fret” in Psalm 37.  It is not a mild word, but it accurately describes the way so many of my brothers and sisters work themselves up into something they want to call righteous indignation over the way the world works.  Stop, the psalmist says by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  In fact, he says it three times in the first 8 verses of this psalm. 
              And why?  Because it robs God of the things we should be doing and the kind of people we ought to be.  It turns us into the very people we are complaining about.  The psalmist goes on to tell us exactly how to stop all this fretting.
              First of all, consider where the wicked will wind up in the near future.  They shall soon fade like the grass, v 2, and In just a little while the wicked shall be no more, v 10.  It may not seem “soon” to us.  It may seem more like “a long while,” but don’t we trust our Father to do what He says He will?  Fretting over these things is nothing more than a lack of faith in God to handle things, and denial of His control over this world. 
              In fact, the psalmist tells us to concentrate on God.  Trust in the Lord (v 3), delight yourself in the Lord (v4), commit your way to the Lord (v5), be still and wait for the Lord (v7).  I defy anyone to do those things and still be able to “fret” about the wickedness in the world.
              Then he tells us to use all that energy we’ve been expending to “do good” (v 3).  As long as we are busy with negative thoughts and actions, we will never do anything positive. 
              Then he gives us this little bit of wisdom:  Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil (v8).  Anger and wrath are sure paths to sin if you are not very, very careful.  It has been so since Cain and Abel.  As we saw in Gen 4:5 above,  Cain “fretted,” that is, he became “wroth,” and God told him that as long as he was in that mood “sin couches at the door.”  Satan has you right where he wants you when you let things of this world upset you so much that you become “hot” over them. 
              Zorn says, “Do not let what happens [with the wicked] interfere with your own faithfulness to God nor to your commitment to what is right.”  Christians do not mind the things of this world.  They set their hopes on the next world, on the eternal existence they have waiting for them.  What difference will all this injustice we keep fretting over make then?  You might as well believe you can take your wealth with you; you might as well believe in a physical thousand year kingdom on this earth; you might as well believe that your fretting will matter when you first feel the fires of Hell.
             
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting…” John 18:36
…for the wrath of man works not the righteousness of God. James 1:20
 
Dene Ward

As a child I never thought anything of it, especially growing up here in Florida.  Most women didn't, even Christian women, because of what they were surrounded with daily.  Not having grown up in the church, my parents were not taught either.  I was a married woman before it finally came to me that there really is no such thing as a modest swimsuit, at least the ones you can find in the department stores.  I put together some strange outfits made up of ordinary clothes that covered me neck to knee and were modest even when wet, and I got a lot of strange looks for my trouble.

              Thanks to demand by Christian women, you can now find truly modest swimwear.  Below are some links to help you with the hunt, along with some notes on what I found as I searched. 

https://www.modestlyyoursswimwear.com/styles
              Modestly Yours is almost all swim dresses with attached knee or capri length bottoms.  Be sure to read the "About Us" page.  You will find yourself wanting to buy from this site.

https://modli.co/swimwear.html
              ModLi features swim tops with sleeves, swim bottoms that approach the knee and are covered by an opaque short skirt around the hips, as well as swim dresses with attached bottoms.

https://undercoverwaterwear.com/
              Undercover features swim dresses, full coverage tops, dark tees, and sarongs.  They have both women and girls styles.  In fact, several of these sites have both.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CaribbeanSplash
              Caribbean Splash has primarily knee length swim dresses with attached bottoms.  They feature bright colors and patterns, and have matching mom and daughter outfits which would be helpful for the girl who doesn't want to feel "weird."

https://hydrochic.com/collections/active-modest-swimwear?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1ZSL4Nqf6AIVRdyGCh0ppQbVEAAYASAAEgKp1_D_BwE
              HydroChic has swim dresses, full coverage tops, swim skirts, and both knee and capri length bottoms.

http://www.coverupforchrist.com/
              Primarily tops and knee length bottoms with a skirt around the hip area.  As of the time I originally wrote this, the site was "on vacation" so check it every so often.
             
                There are others listed.  Just google "Christian swimwear."  Oh, how I wish I had this when I was young.  Look at every one of these and you will find something cute, I guarantee it.  Other people will even think they are cute.  But more than that, they will understand that there is something different about you—you are a godly woman and don't care who knows it.
 
But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.  (1Pet 3:4).
 
Dene Ward

I just pitted two pounds of fresh cherries.  I knew there was a reason I liked blueberries better.
            Even with a handy-dandy little cherry pitter, it is still quite a chore.  You have to do them one at a time, well over a hundred, and sometimes the pit does not come out the first try.  You have to fiddle with the cherry until you get it in there just right—so the little plunger will go right through the center.  Then there is the clean-up as some of those wayward pits bounce across the counter and floor, staining everything cherry red.
            Not worth it you say?  You have obviously never had a cherry pie made with anything but canned cherry pie filling!  Some things are worth the trouble.  Like children.  Like marriage.  Like living according to God’s rules.
            Satan will do everything in his power to make it seem otherwise.  He will tell you his reward here and now is greater, like a ready-made store-bought pie.  He will tell you that God’s reward is mediocre, like a pie you can have in the oven in 10 minutes with canned filling and refrigerated pie crust.  He will tell you God’s reward does not even exist, that there is no such thing as a pie with a homemade crust and fresh cherries—it’s all an illusion.  Everyone knows pies come in a box in the freezer case!
            But God’s reward is real; it is better than anything this life and that Enemy have to offer.  It takes some effort.  Sometimes we fail and have to try again.  Sometimes people make fun of us.  Sometimes we work till our backs ache and our fingers cramp up, but when you put God’s reward on the window sill to cool, everyone knows it was worth it.  Even the ones who won’t get to taste it. 
 
Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.  Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, great is your reward in Heaven.
So that men shall say, “Truly there is a reward for the righteous; truly there is a God who judges the earth.” Luke 6:22,23; Psa 58:11
 
Dene Ward
 

I had to look twice to be sure.  The cardinal that flew up to the small azalea limb a foot or two off the ground was bright red with the black Zorro facemask and his crest stood up straight and true, but he had no tail feathers at all.
              I wondered what consequences that might bring, but did not have to wonder long.  He flew out to the first feeder, perhaps fifteen feet away.  He almost hit the ground as he began and just barely made it to the feeder's perch about three feet off the ground, flapping harder than I have ever seen a cardinal flap in order to make the last foot.  He managed to eat a few pecks, but one of the other birds flew at him and he just managed to get away before he fell, swooping barely above the ground to a spot beneath the largest azalea.  Obviously, flying was difficult for him.  The next time I saw him, he came at almost dark, when the other birds had left and he could eat in peace.  Still, he had trouble getting up to the seed, and ate most of the time what had spilled onto the ground beneath the feeder.
              So I looked it up.  Why do birds need tail feathers? I asked Google.  And, as it does these magical days, Google answered.  For lift and stability at take-off, for steering in flight, and for balance when perched.  Without a tail, flight distance would be reduced, they could not soar, and they would have less lift and agility.  All those things I saw as I watched that cardinal that day.  The information went on to say that some birds would be helpless.  Hummingbirds would crash and sea birds would splash.  Doesn't sound like too good an idea to have no tail.  Probably this little guy lost his in a territorial battle or perhaps to a predator who wound up with tail feather for dinner instead of cardinal meat.  So in one sense, I guess he was lucky.  But it certainly made his life more difficult and his future survival chances less. 
              I think it must be obvious that our tail feather, so to speak, is the Word of God.  What helps us steer our way through life's obstacles?  What keeps us balanced and steadfast when we must perch on a precarious limb?  What gives us a lift when we need it and the ability to soar?  When we ignore the Word, when we think a thirty minute sermon once a week is enough, we might as well pull out our tail feathers and try to make it on our own.  Even with those feathers, a baby bird has to learn to fly and often tumbles from its nest on the first try.  Without them, he has little hope.
              Trying to make it as a child of God while ignoring His communication with us is spiritual suicide.  If you want to soar high above the predator over longer distances, perch easily and safely to nourish your soul, and steer around the trees rather than smashing into them, make that Word a daily part of your life.  Otherwise you are no better, no safer, than a cardinal without a tail.
              I didn't see that cardinal today.  How long will we see you?
 
Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.  (Isa 40:30-31).
 
Dene Ward