Musings From A Rolling Eyed Turtle

“Lift up a signal against the walls of Babylon ; post a strong guard, station sentries, p lace men in ambush!   For the Lord has both purposed and performed what He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon .”   (Jer 51:12). Purpose - something set up as an end to be attained Perform - t o carry out an action God both purposes and performs and they always come to pass and they always prevail.   Butt not so with us! We can come up with things we want to attain or accomplish and some might be realistic and some might not be.   But even with the realistic, where we often don’t succeed is in the area of performance.   Sometimes we don’t even get started or, we start but don’t finish.     I’m intrigued by Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”   Is it a type of reality check?   That is, we have lots of plans but don’t always get them done or see them throu...

Double entendre:   a word or expression used so that it can be understood in two ways.   For example: Seriously struggle with sin : 1.   Some people seriously struggle with sin.   That is, they see how easily sin entangles and they take their struggle with sin seriously and overcome it. 2.   Some people seriously struggle with sin.   That is, sin easily entangles them and they have serious struggles with sin and they never seem to overcome it. The example is not just theoretical, it is real.   And it is likely that many of us have experienced both over the course of our lives.   But whatever you have experienced, I have some more double entendres that follow a bad news/good news format: 1.   Sin is costly .   The cost is spiritual death.   But we have a Savior who paid the cost with His own life so that we can live spiritually. 2.   Sin has consequences . The consequence of sin is eternal separatio...

During some of the recent political spats in Washington D.C. , one political party was taking a particularly strong stand on an issue.   But the pundits totally dismissed the stand claiming that the political party had no endgame in sight. So what does “endgame” refer to?   I think it’s a way of saying things like goal or outcome or desired result. In that light, endgames are not just a recent human invention, God has had them and continues to have them: “The Lord works out everything for His own ends – even the wicked for a day of disaster” (Prov. 16:4 - NIV). “There shall be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.   The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this” (Isa 9:7 - NASB). “There shall be no end…” it seems that some of God’s endgames actually have no end!   While that might be incom...

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.   According to the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, internally displaced persons (also known as "IDPs") are "persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized border." (The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) See if the person above fits that definition: He was often homeless in the later part of his life. He was despised and rejected. As a teacher of the things of God, he was hated by the religious establishment leaders. He was told he was demon possessed. He had so many followers that the religious leaders, out of envy and ...