Musings From A Rolling Eyed Turtle

Who best? If you had an important message to share that was designed for all people, who would you share it with who might best represent all people?  Perhaps it could one of the following: The political leaders; The religious leaders; The rich; The powerful; The social elites; The influential.   But it seems to me that those listed above only represent certain segments of society.  In some ways those segments also represent the top echelons of the population.  Typically, access to such is severely limited. In the realm of mathematics, there is a term called the “common denominator”.  It is defined as a feature shared by all members of a group.  In some non-mathematical settings, it is something that is the same for all the  members  of a  group  that might  bring  them together. When we look at those top echelons of the population, they actually represent the “lowest common denominators”, that is, the level ...

Won’t – it’s the contraction for “will not”.  It’s often used as in “I won’t do it.”  The shortened, emphatic version is “ I won’t!” But it can also be used as a question that suggests longing or desire or anticipation, such as “won’t you join me?”   There is a profound question that starts with the word “won’t” and longing and desire and anticipation are deeply embedded in the context.   While the exact words of the question may not appear in the passages below, they are yet at its core and the answer to the question is life changing.    Won’t you come?   This had been asked through the ages by God as an invitation for us to come to Him:   “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.   Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.”   (James 4:8) Won’t you come?   This had been longingly asked by people who were waiting for the promised Messiah:   “For to us a child is born, to us a son...

Worth – the value of something measured by its qualities or by the esteem in which it is held. Consider what the Bible has to say about what has real worth: “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing   worth   of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ.” (Phil 3:8) The worth of knowing Christ surpasses all else.   In fact, everything else should be considered as loss.   Worthy - having sufficient worth or importance; having or showing the qualities or abilities that merit recognition in a specified way. To find out what is truly worthy, we should look at God, who is the epitome of worthy: “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”   (Rev 4:11) Only God alone is worthy to receive all glory and honor and power.     Unworthy - not...

When you face critical events, isn’t it great to know that someone has your back?  Perhaps it’s even better when that person is a leader. Of course, not all leaders have your back.  Some might be focused on power or prestige or just being in charge.  Sometimes leaders can be aloof or unapproachable and you don’t find them hanging out with those they lead unless absolutely necessary.  None of all that really gives you any real assurance that they have your back! I really like the account of Joshua, a leader of Israel , and what he did on the eve of what was expected to be a major battle: “So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the ambush site and waited between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But he spent that night with the troops.” (Joshua 8:9) The troops probably needed to know that Joshua had their backs and to demonstrate that he did have their backs, he spent the night with them.  But it didn’t stop there, the next verse shows that he actively...

A pile of rocks to help you remember?  Really! Well, these were big stones, the ones you had to carry on your shoulder.  Perhaps that would make it more memorable.  And there were 12 of them, one for each tribe.  That might help even more in going down memory lane! God had commanded that these stones be set up as a memorial to help Israel remember what He had done.  Here’s how the passage reads: When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.” So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan . Each of you is to take up ...

“Remove your sandals from your feet!” In many Asian and Middle Easter countries, it is considered a mark of respect if guests remove their shoes when they enter someone’s home.  Aside from that mark of respect, removing your shoes before entering a home is an easy and courteous way to keep from tracking in mud and dirt.  This helps keeps the floors clean, especially carpeted areas of the home. In the Bible, Moses and Joshua were both told to remove their sandals: “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.”  (Ex 3:5)   The commander of the Lord ’s army said to Joshua, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. (Josh 5:15) In both cases, they did exactly what they were told to do, they removed their sandals.    And while we can likely eliminate the possibility that i...

“Are you for us or against us?” “Neither!” We seem to have this predisposition to want to know whether people are for us or against us.  If they are for us, meaning they are in agreement with what’s important to us, then we can associate with them.  If they are against us, then we can’t associate with them. In this day and age of polarization, the “for or against us” predisposition seems to be even more prevalent.  Compounding it all, we seem to focus our “for or against us” on single issue items.  Perhaps it’s being for or against abortion or where we fall on gender and sexuality issues or our level of commitment to the environmental or our position on immigration.  But polarization really understates things as positions have become even more extreme and entrenched.  There doesn’t seem to be any room for common courtesy or looking for common ground or trying to understand the positions that we disagree with. So if I am asked if I’m for something ...