Eating scrolls

EZEKIEL 3

1And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” 2So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.

3Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.

The imagery here is actually pretty great. Eat/digest the words you are given. Let them become part of you, let your “meal” be healthy words, words that are delicious, words that should be shared with other people. Words that give nourishment that are good for the soul. 
 

I first heard this term a while ago, but didn’t really pay it much attention until a year or so ago when a friend of mine’s dad contacted me about taking some photos for his ministry. And his websites name is Warp and Woof. So I decided to find out what it means. 

Apparently the warp and woof of something is the fibers, the pieces that make up a whole. The warp goes one way, the woof goes the other, so like fabric it’s woven together. It’s strong because everything fits together perfectly, like all the small pieces were meant to weave just right. 

So when Mark Eckel writes on his website www.warpandwoof.com, he’s writing to help all people understand the pieces, fibers if you will, that fit together in God’s word. So there can be better understanding of the questions we have about faith and God and all the parts.

Www.Bible.com

 

warp and woof

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The essential foundation or base of any structure or organization; from weaving, in which the warp — the threads that run lengthwise — and the woof — the threads that run across — make up the fabric: “The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are the warp and woof of the American nation.”

yin and yang ☯️

A friend of mine and I were recently talking about things that could be positives and negatives, and he described his experience with a certain topic as yin and yang. This made me curious. I’ve always had a curiosity about the reason for YIN and YANG, and what they really refer to. Obviously, it’s a popular visual, but the meaning and where it came from are intriguing.  

In Ancient Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (/jɪn/ and /jɑːŋ, jæŋ/; Chinese: 陰陽 yīnyáng, lit. "dark-bright", "negative-positive") is a concept of dualism, describing how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.^[1] In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of Yin and Yang and formed into objects and lives. Yin is the receptive and Yang the active principle, seen in all forms of change and difference such as the annual cycle (winter and summer), the landscape (north-facing shade and south-facing brightness), sexual coupling (female and male), the formation of both women and men as characters and sociopolitical history (disorder and order).^[2]

Www.Wikipedia.com

conversation - ugly entitlement

 

Writing back and forth to a friend of mine, a conversation that can be had and should be had and thought of by all:

Being honest, your flawless beauty is intimidating today. I felt the need to put on coverup because of my breakout. I feel fine now. I’m blaming you for being beautiful. 

We tend to see our own humanness in a bad way. It’s not even flaws, it’s just being human. 

Just another reason for us to feel like we’re not enough, right? As if somebody outside of ourselves has a right to create our own expectations. Probably another reason I loved the rugged beauty of nature. Nobody tells everyone is ugly, how would they, how dare they. 

Nobody tells nature that it’s ugly. And we are nature. 

Because humanity has a voice and we process differently than everything else in nature, we feel like we can say whatever we want and a have an entitlement to be heard. And if people don’t act in what we consider a positive change according to our own voice, we see that as negativity and ignorance. 

Entitlement and privilege are a major human problem. 

Words 1

The sound of the crackling radio, the air as it splits on the window thats rolled halfway down. The rumble of the tires let me know that I am moving, that I am pushing the pedal, that I am nearer to my destination as I was a second ago and further away from the silence and the cool of a minute ago. Torn between the two worlds… The busyness of my family home and the rustling openness of the weeds in the breeze where humans are not.

The different worlds constantly clashing in my mind, letting me know that I am part of them both, it’s a pull back-and-forth like red rover as a child. Or maybe it’s more like tug-of-war where I want to be both places but I can’t be split down the middle. Not unless I’m a paper doll. 

I take a deep breath and blow back out, feeling like it was forced exasperation, but at the same time also trying to force myself to be calm, help me with the tightness from anxiety I feel in my chest. I am almost there.

I’m halfway home. Train tracks that beckon me to take a turn and drive a more rocky road.

I want to stay out until dark, and then when I go home to where I lay my head, I would like to take a drink of the wine in the box that is waiting for me for the right time. But I would like to do that in the silence of an empty house. That will not happen… For I have a family. Family that I love… Really I do. They are a blessing, not a mistake, but at times there’s just too much.

The church steps to my left mock me with the fact that nobody is running up and down them, they are silent and still. The street light that tells me to turn right, for that is the right way to go. Right, right?

It’s so hard to know that true peace can only be found in the silence with my hour in the morning when I am the only one awake… True peace can only be found when I sit by the heater with my Bible open and know that my soul can be at rest because I can connect with the most amazing force of being.

Mom mom mom mom Cami ding buzz ding I need you. I need you mom. I need me too… Sigh. Time to get out of the car.

Why does God want us?

This excerpt from "The Ministry of ordinary places" (book I'm reading right now) by Shannan Martin

very much needed to be shared.

The question begs.. why does God use us? 

Why doesn't He just do it himself? Things would be so much smoother if God plowed through his plan without us in the way. But then there would be no reason for making us.. 

My takeaway (one view) is that He created us out of love, and if he didn't really want a relationship with his creation, then he would have no need to create. But he's a loving God and we are made in his image to show who he is in all aspects to the whole world. Because he is so complex and wonderful.

About Rahab in the Bible

"I personally think it's enough to call her a human, doing her best in spite of her hardships and occasionally leaving a trail of wreckage. Isn't that all of us?

God stationed Rahab in Jericho for a reason, with specific work to do. The same is true for me and you. 

The day will never arrive that I am not astonished by God's eagerness to carry out his plans through the likes of us. His methodology for getting things done is a head-scratcher for the ages.

With us by his side, everything is guaranteed to take one thousand times longer along a path potholed with our mess-ups and general antics. It would be so much more efficient to just do it all himself while we were napping or something. 

He doesn't tire of us. He doesn't write us out of the script or make rash decisions about our fate. 

He hitches his glory to our ruin and keeps on trucking, 

delighted by every tiny step we make in the right direction."

We really truly are like children to Him. He loves on every aspect of us, and takes joy in watching us grow and stumble and learn and find, and he rejoices with us in our own joyous moments.

 

40 days in the Bible - what gives?

the ark- Noah

Jesus being out alone in the desert

what's with the 40 days?

https://www.guideposts.org/inspiration/miracles/gods-grace/the-number-40-in-the-bible#:~:text=%20The%20Number%2040%20in%20the%20Bible%20,of%20Judea’s%20sins%0AThe%20prophet%20Ezekiel%20was...%20More

"“Forty days” means “forty days,” but it does seem that God has chosen this number to help emphasize times of trouble and hardship. " 

and 

" Answer: The number 40 shows up often in the Bible. Because 40 appears so often in contexts dealing with judgment or testing, many scholars understand it to be the number of “probation” or “trial.”. This doesn’t mean that 40 is entirely symbolic; it still has a literal meaning in Scripture. “Forty days” means “forty days,” but it does seem that God has chosen this number to help emphasize times of trouble and hardship." - gotquestions.org

This is actually a specific number of days. 

"After all, it pops up in the Good Book 159 times , across both the Old and New Testaments."   - guideposts.org

This reminds me of a month of probation or a month of test and see what happens.