How He Loves

Good morning. It is Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, November 28, 2014.

Did you know that, in 2010, a Canadian man rescued a baby from a dumpster, only to find out that he was the father?

Haha!! Today is Buy Nothing Day! And, yes, it always falls on Black Friday. Just take a look at our culture and what happens on this day every year. Personally, I think it’s shameful. Some of the videos I saw from last year were horrifying. While I may not succeed in “buying nothing” today, I certainly do not participate in the horror that is “Black Friday.”

We had a most excellent Thanksgiving Day yesterday!! Christi’s family all showed up, along with Rachel and Justin, as well. The food was delicious, thanks to Christi and Karen (Karen is Christi’s sister, and she brought a corn casserole that everyone loves, and some oogy green jello salad stuff). I had made the dump cake Wednesday night, and baked the frozen pumpkin pie yesterday morning. We also had a pecan pie that was fully cooked, and only had to be thawed. Everything was delicious, and I ate too much. We watched some football for a while, and I was delighted that the Eagles gave a sound trouncing to the Cowboys, beating them 33-10. After everyone else left, Rachel and Justin stayed behind for awhile, and we played Cards Against Humanity. I won’t link the website, because there is currently a “bad word” on their front page. This game is awful and hilarious, and you should never play it. Unless you can turn off every single one of your offense filters. That’s pretty much what you have to do. We laugh so hard, and then feel so guilty about it.

This morning, Christi is back at it, cooking more stuff, which we will take over to Mineral Wells in a couple of hours. Rachel and Justin went home last night, but plan on meeting us in Mineral Wells, later. I think they might be spending the night here, tonight.

(Source: This Day In History)

It was on this date in 1925 that The Grand Ole Opry began broadcasting. Originally named The Barn Dance, after a broadcast in Chicago, it was started on WSM radio in Nashville. The four-and-a-half-hour program (wow!!) became “one of the most popular broadcasts in the South.”

Today’s birthdays include Jon Stewart, Judd Nelson, Berry Gordy, Ed Harris, Randy Newman, Ryan Kwanten, William Blake, Hope Lange, Aimee Garcia, Paul Shaffer, Margaret Tudor, John Bunyan, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jeff Fahey, Dave Righetti, and John Burkett.

William Blake was was an English painter and poet, born on this date in 1757. One of his most famous poems (or at least best known by me) is probably “The Tyger.”

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And water’d heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Here is a song by my favorite group, Daniel Amos, that pays tribute to Blake, who had a tremendous influence on their main songwriter, Terry Scott Taylor.

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL

(From The Divine Hours)

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!
Psalm 96:8
Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.
Psalm 119:135
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
Psalm 9:1
There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.
Psalm 86:8
The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:7-8
I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.
Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?
You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples.
Psalm 77:11-14
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Today’s Gospel Reading

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?” And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.
Matthew 15:32-39

For years, I guess I didn’t realize that there were two separate miraculous crowd feedings, even though they are both recorded in Matthew. This one, there were about 4000 men, in the first one, there were 5000. I guess the thing that sticks out most in this account is that the disciples have obviously forgotten about the first one. Again, they ask the question about where they are going to get enough food for this many people. I mean, shouldn’t they just have been bringing what they found up to Jesus, and saying, “Here you go! Do that thing you did again!” Unfortunately, it appears that the disciples were too much like me, basically pessimists.

Today’s reading in Reflections for Ragamuffins is “A Personal Encounter with God’s Love.”

Brennan speaks of a “silent retreat” that he directed for “six women in Virginia Beach.” As the retreat began, he met with each woman and asked them to write down “the one grace that she would most like to receive from the Lord.” One particular woman, a married woman around 45 years old, who was well known for prayer and service to others, said that “she wanted more than anything to actually experience just one time the love of God.”

I will quote in its entirety the next paragraph.

“The following morning this woman (whom I’ll call Winky) arose before dawn and went for a walk on the beach. She noticed a teenage boy and a woman walking in her direction. In less than a minute the boy had passed by to her left, but the woman made an abrupt ninety-degree turn, walked straight toward Winky, embraced her deeply, kissed her on the cheek, whispered ‘I Love you,’ and continued on her way. Winky had never seen the woman before. Winky wandered along the beach for another hour before returning to the house. She knocked on my door. When I opened it, she was smiling. ‘Our prayer was answered,’ she said simply.”

He will love you, bless you, and multiply you.
He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground,
your grain and your wine and your oil,
the increase of your herds and the young of your flock,
in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.
Deuteronomy 7:13

Father, I thank you for this testimony of your love. We can never be too sure about how you are going to display your love to us, and that is one of the things that I love most about you. Yes, I love your grace and mercy and all the blessings that you have thrown into my life, but this thing . . . this love that you show us, and the oftentimes weird ways that you display it, I love that part about you the most, I think. I pray, Lord, that everyone who stumbles across this blog entry today will experience that love from you. I pray that they will sense it in whatever expression you choose to show them, whether it be in the actions of a total stranger, or in the beauty of creation, such as a sunrise or sunset that is more brilliant than anything they have ever seen before. I simply pray that you show your love to them and fill their hearts with wonder.

I pray for this day, that we will have safe travel to and from Mineral Wells. I also pray for safe travel for Rachel and Justin. I pray that our time together with my parents will be a blessing to them, and to us as well. May we always be thankful for the blessings you have granted, and for our time with each other. Let us not take these days for granted.

While I’ve never had a stranger kiss me on the cheek and say, “I love you,” I have most definitely experienced the incredible, overwhelming, crazy love of God. There is nothing like it. I pray you can experience that love today.

“And we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If his grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about the way…

He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves.”

Grace and peace, friends.