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“1 God blessed Noah and his sons: He said, “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth! 2 Every living creature – birds, animals, fish – will fall under your spell and be afraid of you. You’re responsible for them. 3 All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else.
(Genesis 9:1-3, from The Message).

The NIV uses fear and dread in the place of fear in this passage. I have found that respect and awe are also synonymous with fear.

I thought of how animals fear us. I understand that undomesticated animals are afraid of us at first.
They are likely to flee or fight when they realize we are near. I think it is only when they realize we are in dominion over them that they willingly submit to us out of respect and awe.
They will gladly obey us and even risk their own lives in fighting for us if they realize we love them.

My fear and dread of God is similar to that of animals for mankind. I was originally afraid of God, but I wanted positive relationship with Him. I eventually realized I could not please Him in my own strength. Only then did I see a need to me to trust Christ for my salvation. Now, in awe, I love and serve Him because He first loved me.

“8 But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.” (Romans 5:8, from The Message).
Now my fear is only when I know I have displeased Him. That is taken away when I confess my sins and realize He has already forgiven me because of the faith in Christ which He Himself gave me. As the old hymn expresses, “What a wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord.”

Was someone right about worry? “It must pay to worry. Most of the things about which I worry never happen.”

I have resolved to try to read and meditate every day in 2010 on at least one reference in the Bible about worry or fear. There are more than one for each day of the year.

I believe I read a story like the following in one of the daily jokes e-mailed me from “You Make Me Laugh” from crosswalk.com.

A pastor knocked on a church member’s door Saturday morning. No one answered the door. He wrote the reference, “Matthew 7:7”, on the back of his business card and wedged it between the door and the door jamb. That verse contains the promise, …”knock and it shall be opened to you.”
The deacons found the member’s business card in the offering on Sunday morning and gave it to the pastor. The member had written another reference on the back of his card, “Genesis 3:10”. That verse includes Adam’s reply to God when God asked him where he was after he ate fruit from the forbidden tree, “He said, ‘I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid.’ “(Genesis 3:10, from “The Message”)..

That is the first reference to anyone being fearful or afraid in the Bible. Adam was afraid when he had sinned. I am also afraid when I realize I have sinned, but I also praise God. The death of Jesus Christ paid God’s just penalty for all of my sins in the past, the present, and the future. “Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing!” (Ephesians 2:8-9, from “The Message”).

Celebrate the New Year

Celebrate the new year as a new opportunity to glorify God with the rest of your life. We can not change the past. We can not guarantee tomorrow.
We only have this moment, today. Praise God! Today can be the day of salvation for eternity for someone to whom God leads us!
David Kesey often told me, “Trying to live the Christian life in our own strength is just the flesh dedicating the flesh.” Please pray with me that I will always be sensitive to trust and obey God’s Spirit, to love and serve Him in His power, and thus glorify Him every moment of every day of this next year. Please pray that when I often fail, I will soon realize it, confess it to God, thank Him for His already forgiving me, confess it to whomever I have wronged, and ask them to forgive me also.

I posted “To the Only God” on May 12, 2008. The very next day, my son, Jonathan, very graciously corrected his first wedding anniversary date as being April 28, 2007.

It has taken me a long time to realize I could just post the correction instead of trying to figure out how I could correct the date in the post and make it look like I had never made a mistake, when Jonathan’s comment at the end did a pretty good job.

I have waited until I could get the correction posted to write anything more–and have been busy doing other things, as well. Ach! That is my natural human behavior! I make excuses for my sins until I finally realize I can do nothing to make them look good. I can only confess them, thank God He has forgiven me, and admit my wrong along and ask the forgiveness of whomever I have wronged.

A few days ago Jonathan and Laurie’s celebrated the first anniversary of their wedding, which was on March 28, 2007.  Time has passed much too quickly the past three years–but the past three years have been wonderful demonstrations of what God can do as we do or do not trust Him.  

I remember reading the one chapter book of Jude about the time of their anniversary.  The benediction or doxology is often said in churches.  I felt it very much described our lives in the past three years and one week (as of March 28) since our middle child, Amy Elizabeth, fell asleep on this earth and her spirit woke up in the arms of Jesus.  God got us through that rough time.  We still grieve and miss Amy, but we know where she is and that she is eternally home where we know we also will be with Christ because of His glorious saving grace which changes our sins from red as scarlet to white as snow. 

Our family has grown by a son and daughter since then.  Kara married her lifetime only boyfriend, Tim Ellcey.  Jonathan met and married the girl who answered his prayers as well as ours, Laurie Turner.  We do not have a new son-in-law and a new daughter-in-law.  We have a new son-in-love and a new daughter-in-love-plus all of our immediate families are one in Christ Jesus!    Jude 24-25 is more than just a benediction.  It is an affirmation of the wonderful grace and goodness of God, resulting in His “glory, majesty, power, and authority through Christ Jesus our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore!  Amen.”  Jude 24-25 (NIV)

Check it out!  (double click on the reference) Jude 24 starts with “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy–(25) to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power, and authority through Christ Jesus our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore!  Amen.”  Jude 24-25 (NIV)

Not only does God deserve all the glory, majesty, power and authority, He is “the one who is able to keep” us “from falling and to present” us “his glorious presence without fault and great joy!”  I do not know about you, but that will be quite an accomplishment for God in relation to me!  Hallelujah!  Praise the Lord! Amen!

Please go to http://www.Nigeria2006.blogspot.com to see some of whatGod is doing in the church in Jos, Nigeria with a group hich is mostly from Lakepoint Baptist Church in Rockwall, Texas. Our son and a very close friend of his are in the group from Texas. God is definitely working in the lives of the people whom they contact as well as in the lives of the people in the group.

Please pray for God’s will to be done in the lives of the group from Texas and in the lives of the people they contact in Nigeria and as they travel home.

He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. (Luke 10:2, NIV)

“Today’s ethics question” was posted by my son, Jonathan, at http://jdblundell.blogspot.com/2006/09/todays-ethics-question_19.html#comments.

What arguments can you provide that concludes that homosexuality is not wrong or that homosexuality is wrong?
And I’ll add a second part to it from previous discussions…
What arguement, other than Scripture or Religious beliefs, have led you to the conclusion that same sex marriage is wrong?
posted by Jonathan Blundell at 10:50 AM on Sep 19 2006

You can read the two original comments on Jonathan’s blog, but I have added my own comments to this blog as well as Jonathan’s. The following comments are mine.

The question of homosexuality being wrong or not wrong is an interesting question which should be answered. Is it possible to even define wrong without scripture or religious beliefs? There must be absolutes. You may say, “There are no absolutes.” That is making an absolute statement and therefore it proves itself false and its antithesis must be true. There are absolutes. Look at the two questions logically as those things for and against them.

What is wrong or bad for me may be right or good for you, depending on our respective perspectives. It may be wrong for me to have more money than you, in your opinion. Therefore, in your opinion, it could be right for you to take my money from me. I may not think it is all right for me to have more money than you, but I definitely would think it wrong for you to take my money from me. That does not mean that right and wrong are relative. It only shows how some people would think of them as relative instead of absolute. Let’s look at the question from other perspectives.

Another issue must be considered. Sexual relationships are only the thermometer of the relationship. They are not the air conditioner which relieves the sweat of the day. They are not the heater that warms the chill from the outside world. A temporary port in the storm gives short term relief, but it is nothing compared to the securtiy, relief, comfort, provision, peace and satisfaction of being safe in one’s home port. The question then becomes, “Do you want many relationships without depth, or one in which you and your partner are intimately commited to each other in every way for your lifetime?”

Look at the positive benefits of the opposite of homosexual practices. Proponents of “free sex,” as they have called it, have actually researched, surveyed, and reported that those men and women in monogamous heterosexual relationships are more satisfied and happy than those people indulging in the “free sex” world of multiple heterosexual or homosexual relationshipos.

Those couples in monogamous heterosexual relationships also report greater satisfaction, greater sexual intimacy, and more frequent sexual intercourse than those engaging in multiple heterosexual relationships. Therefore, multiple heterosexual or homosexual partnerships are not the best or the most enduring sexual relationships.

If wrong is defined as not good for you, then homosexual relationships are just as bad for you as multiple heterosexual relationships. Sexual relations with any one means that you are exposed to the same sexually transmittted diseases (STD’s)to which that partner has been exposed. Therefore, it is as dangerous as having sexual relations with all of that partners’ sexual partners.

Consider “same sex marriage.” Male homosexuals live to an average age of less than 45 years. Their lifespan is shortened by the STD’s, other diseases, and injuries brought on by their homosexual practices and the high number of partners with whom they engage in unnatural sexual relationships. The male body is not made for such acts. I do not think I need to explain that statement.

The average life span of lesbians is not known by me–but they definitely live a shorter life and have more STD’s than those in monogamous heterosexual relationships. The female body is not made for homosexual relationships. Lesbians suffer from STD’s even as their male counterparts.

Same sex unions (I will not equate them with marriage.) are not nearly as good, compared to heterosexual monogamous marriages even if monogamous and for the lifetime of the people so “united.”

Have you ever heard of anyone or is there anyone who can point to any same sex union in which both partners have never had sexual relationships with anyone else?
Men and women interact differently than men with men or women with women. VIVA LA DIFFERENCE!

It is far easier (and better) to intimately know and become known by one partner in one’s lifetime than to try to even be satisfied or satisfy more than one partner.

You can decide if homosexual relationships are right or wrong. You can decide if you are willing to suffer the consequences of repeated cheap thrills or if you are willing to commit to realizing the ultimate relationship among humans on this earth.

I thank my Lord Jesus Christ that he will enable you to realize the best relationship among humans and with himself if you will trust him and commit your life to him.

“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

(The question of right or wrong can best be answered from Scripture because it portrays God as he has revealed himself to us. Would you like that answer?)

Sometime I may try to tell what has been going on the last ten days since I have “journaled” in my blog. I have realized that it takes quite a chunk of time, but it is definitely worth it because it helps me meditate on God’s Word and communicate better with God in prayer, through the day and the night, too.

The following is what I wrote in reponse to a question my son posed on his blog, Stranger in a Strange Land.

“If you were stranded on a desert island what book of the Bible would you bring with you and why? I finally chose Psalms. Laurie chose James or Isaiah. Leave your comments below. You can even do it annonymously if you must.
posted by Jonathan Blundell at jdblundell.blogspot.com/2006/08/todays-assignment.html”>9:33 PM

“Thirty to thirty-five years ago I heard Billy Graham recommend reading five chapters in Psalms each day and one chapter in Proverbs each day as a minimum Scripture reading plan. (That completes both books once a month.) He said to read the Psalms because they can teach us how to relate to God and the Proverbs because they can teach us how to relate to other people. God has used that plan to greatly bless me and help me know Him better since then. I have read through the Bible a fair number of times and have other favorite books of the Bible. If I was indefinitely limited to one book for an indefinite time, I would choose Psalms.

God has used it as an almost daily inspiration to me through the last 30 to 35 years. The Psalms contain many scriptures related to Christ, ranging from his first coming, his life and death on this earth, the end times, Christ’s second coming, the millenium, and eternity with Him in heaven, or apart from him in hell. There are many major themes of theology represented there. I have been thinking of doing a study to annotate how the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith is presented in the Psalms.

I remember Pastor W. A. Criswell preaching that the scarlet thread (of salvation) runs through every book of the Bible. I do not remember all of the specifics in Psalms, but I am confident the doctrine is plainly and completely presented in the Psalms.

The reference, Psalm 34:3, is inscribed on the inside of my wife’s and my wedding bands, along with our initials and the date.

“O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.”

I will have worn that wedding band thirty years ago on this next October 1. I repeat,

“O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.” Hallelujah! Thank you, Father, for my wonderful wife! Praise the name of Jesus! You are my wonderful Lord, my Savior, and my soon-coming King! Amen! Amen!”

The pediatric cardiologist said that Matthew’s heart sounds fine, now. Either he did not have a murmur to begin with or it was while we were praying. Frankly, it sounds very much like God often quickly answers prayer in ways we cannot imagine, as in Jeremiah 33:3, “‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” (NIV). He also answers sooner than we think possible. “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24, NIV).

The cardiologist wants a follow-up appointment in six months, but is more concerned about Matthew being so sleepy that he has not been taking much nourishment.

Thank you all for praying and we praise God for answered prayer for Matthew’s physical heart as well as for God giving peace to Matthew’s immediate family as promised in Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (NLT).

As in the doxology:

“Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above you heavenly hosts.
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen. Amen”