Circle The Wagons, Boys!

Usually I'm off on Wednesdays, but John, who teaches the morning classes, had a funeral to attend so I filled in for him.
Wednesday is also work detail day at Rapha. After lunch, the guys pitch in and cut grass or rake the volley ball court or whatever needs doing. It being as hot as it has been, I thought a treat was in store for them, so I brought ice cream. You'd thought they'd won the lottery. Ice cream bars, cups of ice cream, Popsicles..it was a good time. The one thing I wanted the men to understand, was to learn to appreciate and enjoy the simple things in life.
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Verse Of The Day:
Deuteronomy 2:2
And the LORD Spoke to me (Moses), saying, "you have skirted (or gone around) this mountain long enough. Turn northward.

Apply this verse to our past.
We have done the same thing over and over and over.
Each time hoping that the result would be different. That is what some people call "insanity".
We keep making bad decision after bad decision, all the while growing angry because of the results or consequences. God is saying, "You have lived like this long enough...turn." Another word for turn would be "REPENT!" To turn from say.......addiction /  the destruction we have created / The relationships we have destroyed....and seek him (God) for a new way to do business and live.

The stubbornness of Israel is almost beyond comprehension. I say "almost" because I still can see myself in the way they acted toward God. Bottom line was that God had promised them a new life and a fresh start once they left Egypt. The entire nation marched out of Egypt singing and shouting and praising God. It didn't take long for the "mumble/grumbles" to set in.  They kept it up at every turn and eventually God said, "enough is enough. You know what? I'm going to march you around this wilderness until all of you are dead. Then I'm going to take your children into the land I have promised you." Even in this, God was trying to show us what is expected in this new life He has provided for us.

Deuteronomy 1:39 reads:
Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims (or will die here in the wilderness) who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there (to the promised land). To them I will give it, and they shall possess it.

Didn't Jesus tell us in the New Testament that we had to be childlike to enter the kingdom of God? I think so.
What does that mean "to be childlike?" It means that we believe our heavenly Father. We take every word that He has spoke as truth. Why? Because He is trustworthy. In the 39 years of marriage, the one thing that Vicki and I have truly learned is that the Word of God is trustworthy. More than that is the unerring fact that God, who spoke the word, will never fail us.......never leave us........will always guide us.......and loves us beyond measure. I think I can take that to the bank.

You know what?
I'm tired of circling this mountain.
I think I'll try a new direction.

God on you....
mb