Musings From A Rolling Eyed Turtle

There are some word pictures that have been bringing me encouragement and peace and yet I feel like I am only scratching the surface of them.  They can be seen in Psalm 139 and Isaiah 52: You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.   (Ps 139:5) For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.    (Isa 52:12) The phrase “You hem me in, behind and before”, means that God completely surrounds us.  And in the context of this verse, it suggest guarding a valuable object. The phrase “and lay your hand upon me” points to the Biblical picture of the laying on of hands.  The laying on of hands was a significant act, often associated with blessing, commissioning, or imparting authority.  In this case, it represented the hand of God bringing blessing by directing and sustaining. The phrase “for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will b...

No sugar-coating here, just the brutal reality of conspiracies against political leaders: “His officials conspired against him and assassinated him at Beth Millo, on the road down to Silla.”  (2 Kings 12:20).  One definition of “conspire” is to join in a secret agreement to do an unlawful or wrongful act.  That definition most certainly applied in that situation! And take a look at the perspective of one to whom conspiracies were targeted.  King David wrote this: “For my enemies speak against me; those who wait to kill me conspire together.”  (Ps 71:10).  Imagine living as a political leader knowing that you could be surrounded by conspirators just looking for the right opportunity to get rid of you!   Conspiracies have been occurring for millennia and continue today.  But perhaps overshadowing and outnumbering actual conspiracies are conspiracy theories.  Conspiracy theories are defined as a belief that some influential or controlling o...

The words were scary and intriguing at the same time: “A pattern of deliberate obfuscation.” In order to make my way through what that phrase could mean, I decided I needed to start with defining each individual word: Pattern :   any regularly repeated or reoccurring arrangement, design or sequence. Deliberate :   done consciously and intentionally; characterized by or resulting from careful and thorough consideration. Obfuscation :   the act of making something less clear and less easy to understand, especially intentionally; the action of making something obscure, unclear or unintelligible; t o throw into shadow. Putting those definitions together, perhaps this is what the phrase likely means:   a repeated intentional effort to make things unclear so that people are not aware of what is actually going on. By the way, I originally saw the phrase in an investigative journalism piece.   The journalists concluded, after they had investigated an enterpr...

A first-look is an exclusive opportunity or agreement that allows a person, company, or organization the chance to view or consider something before anyone else. In the world of weddings, it’s the moment a couple sees each other for the first time in their wedding attire.  It is supposed to be a moment marked by great anticipation and excitement. As we think of Christmas and the baby Jesus, who got the first-look at the long anticipated Savior, other than his mother and father? It could be that it was a bunch of animals.  After all, Jesus was placed in a manger (feeding trough) after His birth because there was no room for them in the inn. But if we want to consider who it might have been, as in people, that got that first-look, then we should take a look at what Luke recorded in his Gospel.  And from that account, that exclusive opportunity to view the baby Jesus before anyone else was given to a bunch of shepherds.  Come see: And in the same region there were sheph...

I am usually far behind the trends.  The “Keep Calm And Carry On” meme (and it’s many variations) hit the scene but has been fading and I am just now starting to appreciate it! If you do a bit of research, its roots date back to 1939 when the “Keep Calm And Carry On” quote appeared on a motivational poster created by the British government.  The intention was to raise the morale of the British public as they were threatened with air attacks during the war.  Then in 2012, one of the original posters was bought by the Antiques Roadshow and was made public.  The nostalgic saying quickly caught on and it appeared on things like posters, t-shirts, mouse pads and mugs.    Yet there is actually a “Keep Calm” that significantly predates 1939.   Take a look:  Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Rem...

While I won’t reveal my exact age, my white hair certainly provides indicators that I am no longer young.  Some would even say that I am so far over the hill that they can’t even see me anymore.  While others might say that I have many good years left in me. Regardless, I am feeling the aches and pains of an aging body.  I am finding that my stamina and energy have significantly decreased.  In addition, I don’t have the strength to do some of the things I once did.  And, if I ever get sick or suffer an injury, the recovery time seems to take so much longer than in the past. While my body testifies to the truths of 2 Cor 4:16 “Though our outer self is wasting away”, I don’t know that I always enter into or appreciate the phrases that surround the reality of what that verse points to.  The phrase that follows those words is “our inner self is being renewed day by day.”  The phrase that precedes those words is “So we do not lose heart.”  So in many...