For thousands of years, people have tried to accurately predict the weather.  Beginning at least as early as the Babylonians in 650 BC, they have used things like cloud patterns, astrology, the movement of the winds, lunar phases, and even the "signs of the times" as Jesus mentions in Matthew 16:2,3.  The invention of the telegraph in 1835 finally put us in the age of modern weather forecasting.  Word of coming weather could reach a town almost instantaneously.  However, even that was sometimes too late for people to prepare adequately.
            In the mid-1800s, Francis Beaufort and Robert FitzRoy are credited with developing weather forecasting (meteorology) as a science.  As Royal Navy officers in England, they had many contacts in both the Navy and government so even though the press ridiculed them, their work gained the credence it deserved in a short time.  The first ever daily weather forecasts began to be published in the London Times on August 1, 1861.  The methods may have been upgraded, but almost all weather forecasting today is based upon the work of Beaufort and FitzRoy.  Yet weathermen have one thing against them—one really big thing.
            A few years ago we had a rainy winter, and then a rainy spring.  The summer isn't such a problem because the subtropical sun boils the water out of the ground fairly quickly in spite of constant afternoon thunderstorms.  But on cool days, even with much lower humidity than summer, puddles and boggy ground last much longer.  Rivers and creeks overflow.  Sometimes country roads become impassable.  Farmers lament their inability to get into the fields where there is standing water here and there and miry bogs everywhere else, and know that even if they could plant, the seed would rot in the saturated soil instead of germinating.  And all that water can breed mosquitoes almost overnight.
            So on a weekend when we had already measured over three inches of rain and a 90% chance of "heavy rain" was predicted for two more days, we were a little concerned.  We prayed hard for God to send us clear skies and no more rain.  That is exactly what He did.  The puddles dried fairly quickly, and the dark, wet ground began to look like pale gray Florida sand again. 
            And that is the poor old weatherman's problem.  For a week he had predicted heavy rains those two days, and he turned out wrong.  Was he wrong because his science was wrong?  No, he was wrong because he is not the one in control.  We make fun of him all the time—"He never gets it right"—which is probably not accurate in itself.  He does get it right fairly often.  But think of what he has going against him.  Think of all the Christians out there praying that he will be wrong, and a Heavenly Father who listens to His children and often does what they ask.  The weatherman doesn't stand a chance.  That he gets anything right is a notable thing, and once again only due to a Father who has ordered the world to run in a certain way, on a certain timetable of seasons, fronts, and heat waves.
            Or do we believe that?  I think I have some brothers and sisters who don't.   Then why do you pray at all, may I ask?  Maybe we don't get what we ask for because we don't truly believe it is even possible to receive it.
            Who do you believe?  God or the poor, old weatherman?
 
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him (1John 5:14-15).
 
Dene Ward

The Second Continental Congress met in May of 1775.  One of the many things that group accomplished was the forerunner of our current postal system.  It seemed obvious to everyone that there needed to be a reliable line of communication between the Congress and the armies.  Thus Benjamin Franklin was named the Postmaster General on July 25, 1775.  Since he was still serving at the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, he is considered the first Postmaster General of the United States of America.  The postal system may have changed some since his day, but we have come to take it for granted as we complain mightily about everything from costs to service.  But that system has meant a lot to me through the years.
          When we first moved over a thousand miles from my hometown, I eagerly awaited the mailman every day.  As the time approached, I learned to listen from any part of the house for that “Ca-chunk” when he lifted the metal lid on the black box hanging by the door and dropped it in.  Oh, what a lovely sound!
            My sister often wrote long letters and I returned the favor, letters we added onto for days like a diary before we sent them off.  My parents wrote, Keith’s parents wrote, both my grandmothers wrote, and a couple of friends as well.  It was a rare week I did not receive two or three letters.  This generation with their emails, cell phones, and instant messaging has no idea what they are missing, the joy a simple “clunk” can bring when you hear it.
            I was far from home, in a place so different I couldn’t always find what I needed at the grocery store.  Not only were the brands different—and to a cook from the Deep South, brands are important—but the food itself was odd.  It was forty years ago and the Food Network did not yet exist.  Food was far more regional. 
          The first time I asked for “turnips,” I was shown a bin of purple topped white roots.  In the South, “turnips” are the greens.  I asked for black-eye pea and cantaloupe seeds for my garden, and no one knew what they were.  I asked for summer squash and was handed a zucchini.  When I asked for dried black turtle beans—a staple in Tampa—they looked at me like I was surely making that one up.
          So a letter was special, a taste of home in what was almost “a foreign land,” especially to a young, unsophisticated Southern girl who had never seen snow, didn’t know the difference between a spring coat and a winter coat, and had never stepped out on an icy back step and slid all the way across it, clutching at a bag of garbage like it was a life line and praying the icy patch ended before the edge of the stoop.
          Maybe that’s how the Judahite exiles first felt when they got Jeremiah’s letter, but the feeling did not last.  They did not want to hear his message.  They were sure the tide would turn, that any day now God would rescue Jerusalem and send Nebuchadnezzar packing.  But that’s not what Jeremiah said.
          The letter…said: “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare… For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. Jer 29:3-8, 10.
           You are going to be here seventy years, they were told.  Settle down and live your lives.  It took a lot to get these people turned around.  Ezekiel worked at it for years.  They may have been the best of what was left, but they were still unfaithful idolaters who needed to repent in order to become the righteous remnant.
          Which makes it even more remarkable that they had to be told to go about their lives, and especially to “seek the welfare of the city,” the capital of a pagan empire.  To them that was giving up on the city of God, the Promised Land, the house of God, the covenant, and even God Himself.  And it took years for Ezekiel to undo that mindset and make them fit to return in God’s time, not theirs.
          But us?  We have to be reminded that we don’t belong here.  We are exiles in a world of sin.  Yes, you have to live here, Paul says, but don’t live like the world does.  This is not your home.  Peter adds, Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims… 1Pet 2:11.  Too many times we act like this is the place we are headed for instead of merely passing through.
          How many times have I heard Bible classes pat themselves on the back:  “We would never be like those faithless people.”  But occasionally even they outdo us.
 
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Heb 11:13
 
Dene Ward

Samuel Colt, the founder of the Colt Patent Fire-Arm Manufacturing Company was born in Hartford, Connecticut on July 19, 1814.  Perhaps his most famous gun is the Colt Single Action Army Peacemaker.
            Isn’t it ironic that “peacemaker” is the name of a gun?  The Peacemaker was designed in 1873 and the standard military service pistol until 1892.  I sometimes think we must have the same definition for “peacemaker”—a weapon of war. 
            More and more I see people starting fights over things not worth fighting about.  More and more I see people not only excusing their aggressive behavior, but justifying it as righteous.  Maybe it is because I am older now, but “zealous” no longer means “quick to fight” to me, and I think it never did to God.
            “Blessed are the peacemakers,” is not a concept foreign to the old law.  God’s people have always understood that righteousness is not about contention.  David is a prime example.
            He refused to harm Saul, whom he called “the Lord’s anointed,” even though Saul had sworn to kill him, 1 Sam 24:6.
            He bowed before Saul, even though he himself had been anointed king, 24:8.
            He promised not to harm Saul’s heirs, even though they might have tried to claim the throne God wanted him to have, 24:21,22.
            It’s easier when those around you have the same attitude, but David even managed to keep his peacemaking attitude when surrounded by warmongers, Psa 120:6,7.
            Yet this is a man who did fight for God, who lived in a time of a physical kingdom that fought physical wars against physical enemies.  He bravely went into battles and killed God’s adversaries, so much so that he was not allowed to build the Temple with his blood-stained hands, so we cannot call him a wimpy, namby-pamby by any means.  He simply knew when it was time to fight and when it wasn’t.  Like Paul in Acts 16:3 and Gal 2:3-5, he depended on the circumstances to help him decide what justified either action in exactly the same issue, and never let his passion for God push him further than he knew his Father would want.  It wasn’t about having his own way, about not allowing anyone to tell him what he could and couldn’t do.  In all things the ultimate mission, God’s mission, was his goal, not saving face.
            Jesus’ mission was the same—peace.  He brought peace between men (Eph. 2:12-14) and peace between man and God (Rom 5:1-2).  Then he told us that was our mission too—bringing peace to the world. 
            Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.  Whose children are you?
 
It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Prov 20:3; Psa 34:14; Heb 12:14; Rom 12:18; 2 Cor 13:11.
 
Dene Ward

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."
            The above sentence is not the official motto of the United States Postal Service.  Yes, it does appear on the James A. Farley Building—the New York City Post Office—in Manhattan.  But the line came from Book 8 of The Persian Wars by the Greek historian Herodotus.  The Persians had created something similar to our Pony Express and it was said that a message could go from one side of the empire to the other—roughly India to Greece and Egypt—in a week's time.  The architect for the New York Post Office Building was the son of a Greek scholar.  He read Greek just for fun, and he was the one who decided to have the line placed on that particular post office.
            Still, it was the line I thought of that December of 1989 when we had ice on the roads and an inch of sticking snow on the ground—here in north Florida!  That particular Saturday we tromped through the white stuff to the highway where our mailboxes were all lined up to save the letter carrier some time.  While we waited, my three guys got a kick out of running down the road then stopping and sliding as much as ten or fifteen feet on the icy patch in the middle of it.  It was a cold, gray day, never rising above 30 as I recall and the sun never peeking through for an instant.  Our lightweight jackets, by Northern standards, barely kept us warm.  Finally we gave up and went back home, freezing feet, runny red noses, chapped hands and all.  The mail never did run that day.  So much for "Neither snow…"
            As I was doing all this research on the "motto," I came across another interesting tidbit.  During the Cold War of the 80s, the public was understandably worried.  People believed that nuclear war would destroy the world as we know it, that it was not survivable at all.  They were probably correct, but the administration of the time did their best to dispel that idea. 
            Nuclear war is not nearly as devastating as Americans have been led to believe, said Thomas K Jones, Deputy-Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.  To that end, the Federal Civil Defense Administration began their campaign to show people how to survive the Bomb.  They created scenarios for ways they would care for "all the survivors," tacitly promising that there would be a great many of them.  Two of their more ridiculous promises were:

1) Nuclear war would not prevent checks from clearing banks—including those drawn on destroyed banks—or their credit cards from being accepted. 
And, the one we are most interested in,
2) Postal employees would be moved to remote areas in order to maintain service.  They would have in reserve millions of emergency change-of-address forms, including a line to complete if the recipient were dead.  Imagine that.

            Most people who are aware of this inanity know it like this:  On July 12, 1983, FEMA promised that survivors of a nuclear war would still get their mail!  (If you want to read more on this, look up "Thinking the Unthinkable" by Professor Jon Timothy Kelly, Ph. D., West Valley College.  The original paper should pop up.)
            Talk about outrageous promises.  But understand this, that is exactly what many of your friends and neighbors think about you and your faith in God's promises.  What they do not understand, and simply will not see, is all the evidence we have of God keeping His promises for millennia. 
            Abraham waited twenty-five years before he began to see even a shadow of the promises God had made come true in the birth of Isaac.  His descendants waited another 430 years before they received the land.  The Jewish nation waited another millennium and a half for the Messiah, and are waiting still, while we enjoy being in his kingdom and under his watchful care and leadership. 
           Then there are the many instances of fulfilled prophecy.  Nation after nation came and went as God said they would, again and again.  "The most High rules in the kingdoms of men," Daniel says four times, and then proves it.
But those are only the big promises.  God makes us promises every day—and keeps them.  If we don't see them, we simply do not want to.
            No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1Cor 10:13)
            Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name…Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. (1Pet 4:16-19)
            Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Heb 13:5-6)
            For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:38-39)
            But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2Cor 12:9-10)
            I could keep going, but do you know what the problem is?  We don't like the things these promises imply.  In order to receive these promises we have to suffer for His name's sake.  We must be tempted, we must endure hardships, we must be content with a life that may not be what we had imagined, especially in this wealthy country.  We must be willing to be persecuted.  We must face tragedies.  That is when we see His promises come true.
          I no longer have absolute faith in the postal system—I saw it fail that December of 89.  But I have never seen my God fail me in a lifetime of ups and downs, good and bad, happiness and sorrow.  My neighbors have sometimes failed me.  My government has failed me.  Even my brethren have failed me.  But never God. 
          Maturity has helped me see that.  A growth in spirituality has made it easier.  Knowledge of the Word has been the greatest help.  You will never understand His help, nor will you even recognize it, until you learn about Him and how He works, until you become more like Him and see things as He does—not in a carnal way, but in a spiritual way. 
           For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; ​but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” (Heb 10:36-38)
          God has yet more promises waiting for you.  Nothing will stop Him from delivering them.
 
In hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began (Titus 1:2)
 
Dene Ward

I did a little research one day and discovered that the Liberty Bell, the bell that rang on July 4, 1776 when this country declared its independence from England, received its celebrated crack on July 8, 1835, while tolling the death of Chief Justice John Marshall.  Then I did a little more research and found nine more stories about what caused the crack, and even evidence that this was not the first one.  I do have a small model of that bell among my dinner bell collection and there is the crack for all to see.  It’s probably more famous for that crack than it is for celebrating freedom.
            I thought then of another “crack,” one far more important.  And Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom…Matt 27:50-51.  The veil in the Temple that separated the holy place from the most holy place also separated men from God.  Only one man could go through that veil and that only once a year, the high priest, Lev 16.  God “dwelt” behind that veil and man was not allowed access under penalty of death.
            Rather than nine different stories about how the veil of the Temple tore, only one is recorded.  The fact that it tore “from top to bottom” means someone had to be in the anteroom to see it, perhaps several “someones,” and that would have been the regular priests going about their daily duties.  Imagine their feelings as the accompanying earthquake began, and they watched an unseen hand rip that sacred curtain.  Imagine their terror as they wondered if they would die now that it hung open and they could see inside.  I think it is likely they were the very ones who later accepted the new teaching.  And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. Act 6:7.  It would have taken something monumental for those men to give up their livelihoods, their heritage, and their sacred privilege as priests of Jehovah.
            We all know that the rip in that veil symbolized the new access we now have to God.  Since we then have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God… let us draw near with boldness to the throne of grace…Heb 4:12,14.  This access was not given only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles, as prophesied in Isa 25:6,7.  “The veil that is over all nations” is “swallowed up.” 
            The Liberty Bell bears this inscription:  “Proclaim liberty throughout the land,” Lev 25:10.  We have a far more important liberty, the right to approach God when we need him, the privilege to call him Father and enjoy his care and protection and company! Adam lost that privilege a long time ago, and man suffered for it for thousands of years.  Don’t take it for granted now.
 
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Heb 10:19-22

Dene Ward

On June 15, 1215, on the banks of the Thames River at Runnymede, England, King John of England was forced by a bunch of rebellious barons to sign the Magna Carta.  Although it was annulled by Pope Innocent III two months later, it set the foundation for the future English legal system and influenced our founding fathers in the writing of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  Precisely because of the Magna Carta we have freedom from unlawful search and seizure, the right to a speedy trial, the right to a jury trial, the writ of habeas corpus, and protection against the loss of life, liberty, and property without due process of law, among other things.  For a "failed" document, it certainly accomplished a lot.
            However, as we often point out, while we should be grateful for our rights under law, claiming our rights at the expense of souls is wrong, not right.  For instance…      
            When Covid began its ugly reign, we had a problem.  Wearing a mask was everyone's handy-dandy solution.  Not in this house.  When one of you is deaf and needs to read lips, it simply won't work.  And then there is the issue of claustrophobia I have had my whole life.  Warm stale air equals suffocation to my mind.  HOWEVER…
            When we go out, when we buy groceries, when we have a doctor appointment, when we assemble with the saints, if we are asked to wear a mask, we do.  Some people think that makes us "sheep."  Why would we act this way?  It's simple if you read your New Testament.
            When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!  (1Cor 6:1-8).
            No, masks have nothing to do with suing one another—at least that I have heard of yet.  (But give it time.)  The passage is not really about that.  The prohibition against making lawsuits against a brother is just one specific example of ceding my rights because the mission of the church and its reputation in the community around it is more important than anyone's rights!  It is the Lord's church and the mission He gave that body of believers that matter.  Notice what Paul says:  "Why not rather suffer wrong?"  When I demand my rights about anything that hurts the cause of Christ, I have forgotten not only who I serve, but the very definition of being a disciple—following in your Master's footsteps.  What if he had claimed his rights as Creator instead of climbing up on that cross?  Where would we be then?  He suffered wrong, and was defrauded, to save us.
            Paul goes on to say in that passage above, that when I claim my rights regardless of the consequences, I am actually defrauding my brethren because of how I have made them look to the outsiders around us.  I am the one who has wronged them.
            When I do wear a mask, I am being the follower of the Suffering Servant, who, by the way, was called the Lamb of God.  If voluntarily wearing a mask makes me one of His lambs, I am happy to be called a "sheep."
 
A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. (Matt 10:24-25).
 
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.  (1Pet 2:21-24).
 
​To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.  (Luke 6:29).
 
Dene Ward
 

I bet you have all used them sometime in your life, maybe even every day.  Leo Gerstenzang, who was born in Poland on June 3, 1892, invented the cotton swab.  He sold them under the name "Baby Gays."  We know them as Q-tips, but did you know that the Q stands for "quality?"  And despite doctors' warnings, I bet most of you stick them in your ears.  The doctors may not like it, but sticking a spiritual Q-tip in your figurative ears is a good idea.
           Jesus once made a statement that has always made me flinch.  After the parable of the sower, when listing all the various soils and what went wrong with each hearer, he added, as Luke records it, Be careful therefore, how you hear, 8:18.  In a society big on blaming everyone but ourselves for our problems, this is truly one of the biggest.  Unlike the early church, which seemed to thrive on helping each other overcome problems with confessions and exhortations, we seem to think that no one has the right to tell us anything that might even slightly indicate that we might need to change.  Or we “wear our feelings on our shirtsleeves,” as the old saying goes, so we can be offended at the least provocation.
            Jesus makes it plain in this passage that how I take what people say to me is entirely up to me.  It only makes sense when you think about it.  If I had no control over my reactions to what others say, then it would be to my advantage for people to say hurtful things to me, wouldn’t it?  In fact, getting my feelings hurt would be the ideal way to go.  Then I could be angry and strike back with no qualms at all. 
            I could ignore the rebukes others offered for my sins as long as I felt insulted, and could keep doing them, couldn’t I?  But Paul says in Rom 2:6 that God will render to every man according to his deeds, not according to how someone corrected me.
            I could ignore the one who tells me I am wrong about what I believe if I thought he had evil motives and bad intentions, couldn’t I?  But Paul also says of those who preached with bad intentions, What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed and therein I rejoice, Phil 1:19.
I could hear false teaching and not have to worry about checking it out, right?  But Jesus said in Matt 15:14, they are blind guides and if the blind guide the blind, they both fall into a pit.
            So here is my obligation:  Listen to what others say, and evaluate it based upon truth, not upon how they say it, who they are, and whether or not I like them or their teaching.  Judgment Day will not dawn with three groups of people, including a group who “got their feelings hurt,” or “didn’t like the preacher,” or “were provoked,” and because of that did not do what they should have done.
            There will only be two groups:  the ones who did right and the ones who did not.  Let’s get out those Q-tips and clean out our ears.  Be careful how you hear.
 
He who corrects a scoffer gets to himself reviling, and he who reproves a wicked man gets himself a blot.  Reprove a scoffer and he will hate you; reprove a wise man and he will love you.  Give instruction to a wise man and he will be even wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning, Prov 9:7-9
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who is wise listens to counsel. Prov 12:15
 
Dene Ward

Both solar and lunar eclipses, while easily explained by science, were in the past viewed as frightening omens. 
           Herodotus records that on May 28, 584 BC, a solar eclipse occurred, having been predicted by the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus.  This happened during the sixth year of a war between the Medes and the Lydians and so impressed them that they stopped their fighting and immediately began to work on peace plans.
            On August 2, 1133, a solar eclipse lasting nearly five minutes occurred in England and was taken as a sign of an important upcoming evil event, possibly an important death.  Sure enough, King Henry I, who had traveled to Normandy around that time, died the same year on December 2.  Despite being four months removed, it was immediately connected to the eclipse.
            All this superstition and fear led Columbus to use it against the Arawaks in Jamaica.  He had run out of food for his crews and he "foretold" a lunar eclipse, using an almanac he had studied.  He told the chief that his Christian God was angry with them for not sharing their food with him and that in three nights He would obliterate the moon and it would be "inflamed with God's wrath."  On March 1, 1504, his "prediction" came true.  Needless to say, the Arawaks were terrified and readily agreed to support Columbus and his men with all the food and supplies they needed.
            But some good things have come from eclipses too.  On May 29, 1919, an eclipse occurred, viewable in a path across South America that included Brazil.  Sir Frank Watson Dyson conducted an experiment there that proved a portion of Einstein's theory of relativity because during that eclipse, several stars that were too close to the sun to be seen and their distance measured, could be while the sun was dark.  Somehow it involves bending light rays, and while it is far too complicated for me to even understand much less explain, I am told it was the most important eclipse in the history of science.
            But there are even more important eclipses than that.
            In a study of faith I did, I found this passage:  I made supplication for you that your faith fail not…Luke 22:32.  I looked up “fail” and found this Greek word, ekleipo. 
            I’ll have to admit—I saw nothing at first.  Finally I looked up other uses of the word and found, just a page over in my Bible, Luke 23:45:  the sun’s light failing.  The context was the crucifixion when, according to the verse just above that one, darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.    
            “Aha!” my feeble brain said, “an eclipse,”--ekleipo.  The light of the sun failed because something overshadowed it.  Now how do I use that in my study of faith “failing?”
            Twenty years ago I woke up with what I thought was an earache.  I called the doctor and he prescribed an antibiotic.  The next morning some of the ache was gone, but enough remained for me to discover the true source of the pain—it was a tooth.  I had developed an abscess and the pain had simply radiated to my ear, but the medication at least knocked it back to its original source. This time I called the dentist and left a message.  It was late on a Friday afternoon and I needed to see someone before the weekend. 
            By that time, nearly 48 hours into this, I was moaning on the couch, totally unable to function.  I hadn’t even thought about dinner, much less started cooking it, even though I expected Keith home within the hour.  I hadn’t finished putting the clean sheets on the bed, or washed any dishes all day long.  I hadn’t accomplished any bookkeeping, or filled out the forms that were soon due for my students to enter State Contest.  Nothing mattered but that aching tooth and the sore lump now swelling on my jaw line.
            A few minutes later the phone rang, and I eagerly snatched it up, expecting a dental assistant.  It was an ex-Little League coach of my sons’.  Keith had suffered something resembling a seizure while riding his bike the thirteen miles home from work, and was lying right in front of his house, in the middle of the rural highway. 
            “The ambulance just arrived,” he said.  “I think if you hurry, you can be here before it leaves.”
            What do you think I did?  Lie back down and moan some more?  I was out of that house in a flash and did indeed beat the ambulance’s departure for the hospital.  I sat in that hospital for five days. 
            You can think your faith is important to you.  You can think you would never let anything “eclipse” it.  You can be positive that you are strong enough to handle the most intense trial or the most powerful temptation.  You can be absolutely wrong.
            I have seen men who stood for the faith against the ridicule of false teachers commit adultery.  I have seen women who diligently withstood the long trial of caring for a sick mate become bitter against everyone who ever tried to help them, and ultimately against God himself.  I have seen families who were called “pillars of the church” leave that very group when one of their own fell and was chastised. 
            Look to that passage I found:  I made supplication for you that your faith fail not.  Jesus was speaking to Peter, who subsequently declared, “I am ready to go both to prison and to death,” but not many hours later, denied the Lord when those very things confronted him.  He was not prepared, and his faith was eclipsed by fear.
            Just as surely as my worry over my husband’s health totally eclipsed a very real and intense pain in my physical body, just as certainly as fear eclipsed the faith of a man like Peter, the events of life can eclipse your faith, causing it to fail.  Carnal emotions can overshadow you—lust, bitterness, resentment, hurt feelings among them.  It’s up to us to keep those things in their proper place, to allow nothing to detract from our faith in a God who promises that none of those things really matter because of the spiritual nature of the life to come.  It is, in fact, up to us to be spiritually minded, instead of carnally minded, to put the physical in the shade and let the light of the Truth shine on the spiritual.
            With a spiritual mind-set, nothing can eclipse your faith.  Your faith should, in fact, eclipse everything else.
 
 If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth. For you died, and your life is hid with Christ in God, Colossians 3:1-3.                                                                                           
 
Dene Ward

When I was a city girl, over forty years ago, I was scared to death of snakes.  I still don’t like them.  The difference is I can tolerate a non-poisonous one on the property now, trusting they will pay their way with all the rodents they keep out of my house; and when a poisonous one comes along I don’t freeze or run around in circles, screaming in hysteria--I just dispose of the thing.
            You know the best way to kill a snake?  Well, it may not actually be the best way, but the city girl in me thinks it’s perfect—a shotgun full of number one shot.  For those of you who are still city folks, that’s a load for large animals, like deer.  We had a rattler once when Keith was at work, and even though I kept from freezing or panicking to the point of uselessness, I still forgot to unload the larger shot and replace it with number eight, a load for smaller animals.  That means when I shot that snake with that huge shot, I blew it to smithereens.  As I said, I was extremely satisfied.
            Well—mostly satisfied.  The thing kept right on writhing.  Yes, I knew all about their reflexes and that they thrash about after death.  But that thing was flexing and re-flexing entirely too much to suit me.  So I got the .22 pistol and put a few more shots in it.  Then I was satisfied.  When I picked the thing up with the tines of the rake to throw it into the burn barrel, it hung in chunks connected only with a few strings of skin—and it didn’t wiggle at all.  Best looking rattlesnake I ever saw.  The boys can make fun of me all they want, and laugh about it as they have for the past thirty-something years, but that snake was dead and there was no question about it.  And now I have evidence that I might have been right in the first place.
            On May 27, 2018, Jennifer and Jeremy Sutcliffe of Lake Corpus Christi, Texas, were cleaning up their yard for a barbecue later that afternoon.  Jennifer reached into her flower bed and found a four foot Western diamondback rattler who was not happy to be disturbed.  She screamed and Jeremy came running.  He chopped the head off the snake and killed it.  However…
            A few minutes later, he went back to dispose of the head and when he picked it up, the snake bit him.  Jennifer rushed him to a hospital as he was already having seizures, and he was life-flighted to one that had the antivenin he needed.  He went into a coma and it was four days before the doctors thought he might survive after all, which he eventually did.  But we almost had the headline:  "Man Dies of Bite by Dead Rattlesnake."
            So how does something like this happen?  Bryon Shipley, a rattlesnake researcher says, "It is a known fact…that one of the intriguing physiological oddities about snakes and other reptiles is the slowness of the death of…nerves and brain cells…The brain…may remain capable of controlling eye movement, jaw movement, venom gland compression, and even tongue flicking for an hour."  (havesnakewilltravel.com)  Bottom line:  Before you go picking up a dead rattlesnake, you need to wait at least an hour to make sure it's dead.
            Some of us don’t do that.  In fact, we not only leave it writhing, we put it somewhere for safe keeping just in case it isn’t dead after all.  That’s how we treat repentance.  I know I shouldn’t be indulging, so let me put it up on the shelf instead of down here on the counter top where I can see it every day.  No!  Let’s get it out of the house altogether!  Whatever it is.
            It doesn’t have to be a huge sin of the flesh.  It doesn’t have to be a bottle of booze or a stack of pornography.  Sometimes it’s a gossip-fest.  I know that my friend always dishes the dirt, but I still make plans to see her every week.  Or, if for some reason I must see her, then I go with no plan for how to avoid the sin, and yesiree, it pops up and I just couldn’t help it, Lord.  You know how she talks—and how I listen. 
            Whatever it is, God expects me to kill that snake (temptation) and make sure it’s dead.  Another one may come my way, but I should be doing my best to monitor my surroundings so it won't spring back to life.  If it does, maybe I didn’t use the buckshot--I just shot a BB and missed.
            Don’t cuddle up to a rattlesnake.  Kill the thing, and make sure it’s dead.
 
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Romans 13:11-14
 
Dene Ward

On May 8, 2019, Amanda Eller, a thirty-five year old physical therapist and yoga instructor, went for a hike in the Makawao Forest Preserve on Maui.  The reports I have read seem unclear, but it sounds like she went for a jog, lay down to rest and when she woke up was somehow disoriented enough to go in the wrong direction.  Evidently no one was within earshot of her and that evening she was reported lost.  Her car was found in the Hunter's Trail parking lot.  Over 1000 volunteers searched for her for 17 days.  The search helicopter flew over the area again and again.  Finally, 17 days later, on May 25, the pilot decided to go a little farther out and there she was, standing in a creek bed between two waterfalls waving her arms.  Overall she was in good condition, but she was sunburned, had swollen feet, a leg injury (at least two articles I read mentioned a "fracture"), and she had lost 15 pounds.  She had survived on berries, moths and other edible creatures, and rainwater.
            We have been lost a few times ourselves, once in the woods of a North Georgia State Park the story of which you can find in the Camping category, and another time a couple of years ago.  Neither time was life threatening, but they were both a little unnerving. 
            About that last time:  It had already been a frustrating day.  Our Google Map directions had brought us straight to the town we were visiting, but once we hit the city limits, those directions became increasingly vague.  The street we were to follow suddenly ended and we didn't know which way to turn to find our hotel.
            So we headed down the busy road in the direction that seemed right.  The street changed its name at least three times.  No hotel.  We stopped at a gas station, found a man sitting in his car who was willing to help.  He didn't know the hotel but knew where the street was—or so he thought.  Ten minutes later we pulled into a different hotel and they gave us good directions to their competitor.  Turns out the hotel was off the main drag behind two restaurants on a street with no road sign.  You wonder how they stay in business.
            So then it was time for dinner.  We have a favorite restaurant in that town, but it had been many years and things looked very different.  The desk clerk gladly looked it up and handed us directions.  And once again the street we were looking for was not there.  We wound up at exactly the same gas station.  This time we went inside and none of the workers there knew either the restaurant (it has been there for 50 years!) or the street. Finally, as we walked dejectedly out the door, a young man with a Smart Phone chased us down and looked it up for us.  We weren't far away and the directions were simple.
            Then it was time to return to the hotel.  Based upon our memory of the man's phone map, the restaurant road ran parallel to the one the gas station was on and should have led us right back to the hotel road, coming out even closer to the hotel.  But that road curved every which way, was full of forks, and we came out somewhere entirely different—which we did not realize at first because now it was too dark to read street signs and had begun to rain.  By the time we figured out our error, we were so far out, no one could direct us.  "What road?  Never heard of it."
            Finally someone had heard of it—the fourth one we asked, and we did make it back.  What should have been a ten minute drive had taken over an hour, and we had gone through the gamut of emotions—from frustration to aggravation to desperation.  Fear and hopelessness were just the corner, kept at bay by my stubborn refusal to become a drama queen, whining and blubbering my way into senseless hysteria.
            But it made both of us stop and think about those who are really lost.  What is it like to be out there looking for direction and getting no help at all?  I'm afraid my view of that town will forever more be that none of the roads are straight, they all change names confusingly, and none of its populace has any idea where they themselves are either.
            We all need to be like that young man with the Smart Phone, not only willing to help when asked, but going to the trouble of chasing down someone in obvious need.   They may not be in dire physical need, but everyone is or has been lost in a spiritual way that is far more serious than even Amanda Eller's plight.  There are lost souls out there, people.  Frustrated people, fearful people, desperate people who need our help.  A lot of Christians are so wrapped up in themselves, in their own earthly destinations and goals, that they don't see those who are wandering around, hopelessly lost.  And quite a few of them don't know where they are either.
            Pay attention today.  They may not wave their arms to get your attention.  You may need to fly over more than once or twice.  Make sure you know where you are first and then be on the lookout for others.
 
I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you… (Rom 1:14-15)
 
Dene Ward