A Thirsty Tongue

“In love the paradox occurs that two beings become one and yet remain two.”~~Erich Fromm
“Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.”~~William Blake
(BrainyQuote)

Today’s WotD, from Dictionary.com, is commodius. While it may sound as if it is referring to a particular piece of bathroom furniture (in a Roman form, even? “Marcus, I must visit the commodius!?), it, in fact, means “spacious and convenient; roomy: ample or adequate for a particular purpose.” Perhaps you have a commodius house, or a commodius office at work.

Today is White Chocolate Cheescake Day. Why? Because chocolate!

We had a very nice time at the Irish Festival, yesterday. We drove to a nearby train station in Dallas and hopped on the Dart Rail for $10 ($5 each for two Day Passes). The train dropped us off right in front of the gate of the Fair Park. Parking at the Festival was $15, and we probably would have had to walk a mile to get there from the car. So that was a “win/win” situation. I realized, while on the train, that a $5 Day Pass also provides some people with a pseudo comfortable place to sleep for the day. You never know what you are going to see when you ride the train. The important thing is to not panic and realize that anything you might see on the train is “normal.”

The festival was fun. We heard a lot of good music as we walked around, even though we never really stopped to listen to any for a significant length of time. It was just everywhere. There were also a number of food booths with free samples. We even bought some of the food products, too. We bought some really good jelly/jams, some salsa mix, and some beef jerky for Rachel. Then I got a nice Celtic “Circle of Life” t-shirt and a new hat. I’ll be wearing those to church this morning. The hardest part was deciding what to eat, though. I finally settled on a Scottish sausage sandwich, and some “gravy french fries.” I was disappointed that the gravy was brown, but they were okay. The sausage was okay, but not great. Christi got a patty melt at one booth that was out of this world. She shared it with me. Afterward we bought a funnel cake and a couple of Diet Cokes. The miraculous thing is that we planned it out and didn’t have any of the food/drink coupons left! That never happens!

The one thing that disappointed me is that they didn’t have any Mead this year. The closest thing that had was some apple cider, so I had a cup of that. It was pretty good. But I really wanted mead. Oh, well. Scarborough Renaissance Faire is right around the corner.

This morning, we have our worship gathering at 10:15. Christi isn’t running the Mac today, so we don’t have to be there early. Our church, The Exchange, meets at the Northpark YMCA, at 9100 N Beach, in Fort Worth, TX. Come join us if you are nearby.

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
Psalm 33:6-9

“Do words really make any difference?” Eugene Peterson asks. “Does talk ever cause anything to happen?” I doubt that, when he wrote that, he knew that I would be reading this in the middle of one of the strangest and, perhaps, worst Presidential campaigns we have ever experienced; one where words seem trite and meaningless, and, at times, even obscene and insulting. But they are words that are definitely attached to deeds. Empty promises. But the words of God, that’s a totally different story. We have here, “a biblical witness that traces the very world we live in to the word of God.”

“O God, by men who make promises that they never keep and by people who make statements that they do not mean, I begin to treat words as ‘mere words.’ And then I look around at what happens in creation and in salvation when you speak, and I’m ready to listen again, especially to the ‘Word made flesh’ in whose name I pray (John 1:14). Amen.”

On second thought, maybe he did write that during a Presidential campaign!

“A thirsty tongue is liable to be a murmuring one. When Israel was not satisfied, she tested God with her lips. So with me, and how often I have known this, when I have not been wholly satiated with the water of life in the morning, the tongue is apt to move loosely in criticism of God’s children, His ways of leading, His apparent slowness to provide.” (From The Journals of Jim Elliot, March 6, 1948)

Father, I see the truth in what Jim Elliot has written here. I pray that the eyes of my heart would be satisfied in you. May the times that I spend in your word burrow deep into my spirit, satisfying me so that my tongue does not wander into territory that it unseemly. I cannot count the number of times that my loose tongue has gotten me into some kind of trouble. Tame it, my Lord, in the name and power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Come, Lord Jesus!

Grace and peace, friends.