What doth the Lord require of thee?

Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

There are many creeds, doctrines, and beliefs that bring human reasoning into the question "What doth the Lord require of thee?". First, our human nature typically spins the question to "What doth the Lord require of ________? (fill in the name of someone else). Another spin we typically put on it - figure out what we want to do then find scripture to justify what we want to do. Yet another spin is to do what we want to do then ask "Where can you find thou shalt not ________ (fill in the blank) in the Bible?".

Micah specifically lays out three three things that the Lord requires of us. A requirement is not a suggestion. A requirement is needed, essential, and is a condition for meeting a goal. If heaven is our goal, we are required to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly. Let's take a look at them individually:


Do Justly

The human tendency - make excuses for our actions, blaming our reaction to other events/people. However, this requirement requires a lot of self examination. No finger pointing is allowed here. The word just means lawful - God's Word is our law and we are to abide by the Word. If someone else breaks the law, we still have to follow the law. If we break the law, we have to correct the problem the lawful or Biblical way. For problem solving, see Joshua 22 & Matthew 18.

Love Mercy

It is way too easy to become self righteous and lift ones self up above others. We put on our "robes of righteousness" and think that our wardrobe gives us judicial authority. With gavel in hand, you can bang on the old sounding block, making a lot of noise and giving out guilty judgments against anyone who doesn't see things the way you do. This is not mercy!

Mercy can be defined as not getting what you deserve. God sent his Son to extend mercy to the lost - you and me. By accepting Jesus, we are accepting the mercy of God on our eternal soul. As true Christians, we are striving to be Christ-like, and should be extending mercy to people even though we may not think they deserve it. A great example in the Bible is Jonah who finally went to Nineveh to preach but then expected God to pass judgment even though the city repented of their sins. God used a gourd to help Jonah see the error of his way.

Walk Humbly

Humility is often missing from the Christian walk and many are led astray because of their own pride. Looking at current conditions in congregations, I sometimes reflect on what might be different if men had humbled themselves and made minor corrections. If the element of humility is missing from your walk with God, then it seems to be impossible to do justly and love mercy.

Webster defines the word humble as expressing a spirit of submission, ranking low in a hierarchy or scale, and not being proud or haughty. Ephesians 5:21 tells us to submit to one another. 1 Peter 5:5 instructs us to be subject one to another.

To help us really grasp the words of Micah, we need to be asking our self this question - What does the Lord require of me?

Took a weekend trip to the New River in WV. Good time, great laughs ... what a blast. You'd have to see the video to beleive it. Peeling out in a rafting boat was not suppose to be so scary or so fun. I'm so glad everyone is safe - I think I was the only one that came out up stream and I couldn't tell if everyone was OK or not. Jump Rock was another experience - I wasn't scared until my feet left the rock. Not being in the water very often leaves me a little skeptical and tense when I do get in the water, especially when your floating down or jumping into a body of water you are not familiar with. But like I said, it was hilarious and a great adventure.

I'm really wanting to get more involved in the Haiti mission. I've been looking into various sources where I could make an impact. The financial needs are great and oversight of such a project is critical. I don't want to throw money into random insanity. I want to make a difference in the lives of the people. I'm not for spending all my time at a convention, as some are already filling that need. My burden is to help the people with their daily needs. I want to support a medical team in the orphanage. If given the opportunity to go back myself, I'd like to use my hands to make a difference in someone's life. Not sure of God's plan for me in this mission, but I'm needing to hear from that still, small voice. It takes a group of people to make everything happen, and unfortunately church groups in America are so splintered that they can work with their own neighbor, let alone an overseas mission. God's plan might be hindered by our failures, but God always finds a way to get the job done. Lord help me to do my part.

After the recent news rants concerning Sgt. James Crowley arresting Henry Louis Gates Jr., I couldn't help but chip in myself. I guess what really stirred me up was President Obama's comments about a subject he failed to look into. What kind of leadership was shown by commenting in this manner? And then to pile on racial comments!

Now the president is the head of the Executive Branch of our government. This branch is responsible for enforcing the laws of the land. Sgt. James Crowley was enforcing the laws of the land - from the information that is being reported. So I guess if you are doing your job, you are "acting stupidly" from BHO's point of view. For those of us who still have a job in this economy (thank the Lord I do), are we to slack up so we don't act stupidly? Only if we want to further jeopardize our employment status. What about those who see Obama's policy decisions as "acting stupidly"? Oh - were are not suppose to criticize him.

Let's take a look at the racial element that has been heaped on this subject. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick called this "every black man's nightmare." Obama gave us point #3 - "No. 3 — what I think we know separate and apart from this incident — is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that's just a fact." I thought he was going to unite the country, not divide it - specifically along racial lines. It is tough enough to try and unify two political parties, and it would seem the President has enough work to do in the occupation he chose to pursue. He holds an elected office which is appointed to serve all Americans. Not just his friends, not just his political party, and definitely not one specific race. Mr Gates is a highly educated man, and possible has endured some racial issues in his life. But that does not appear to be the case. I can't find anyone pointing out specific acts of racism against Mr Crowley.

So why was Mr Gates arrested after showing ID? Based on the reports I've read - it was because of his attitude. I can image any cop of any race being called to a situation not knowing if he/she will be shot at, and trying to maintain a calm composure in spite of the unknown. The officer checks out the scene, finds out it is not a burglary (in this case) and then has to deal with a bad attitude from an innocent person. That would make me upset. I'd guess a lot of people are arrested just because they displayed a bad attitude to the officer. I beleive some officers will actually give you the benefit of the doubt just for cooperating. There have been several times I've been pulled for a speeding violation and the officer either 1) issued a warning, or 2) told me how to take a safe drivers class to keep points off my insurance. I don't think they would have been so understanding if I was bad mouthing them.

In this case, Mr Gates displayed a bad attitude. Cooler heads could have prevailed, but they didn't - and the bad attitude is overlooked by Mr President. Thank you Mr Crowley for doing your job.

My Visit to the Dentist

Our nephew Randy spent the night with us. So this morning they are playing dentist and guess who had an appointment - me! They actually were very accurate - in some regards. I had to wait in the room and did not get to see the dentist until I fussed to the first assistant (Garrett) and the dentist (Randy) who kept telling me I had to wait half and hour! There were however, some things I've never experienced at the dentist. First, the second assistant (Levi) jumped on top of me! I can say that is definitely a first and I am still laughing about it. Next, I finally persuaded the dentist to take a look. The first thing he wanted to do was check my temperature and informed me that my temperature was "average at 102". After getting a shot and prescribing some vitamins, I was cleared to go by the dentist and told to stay 8 days and ten nights by the first assistant (thankfully the second assistant was not asking me to spend the night - LOL!) Well, I got out of there as quick as I could. Next time, I hope to have my teeth checked!

Blah Blah Blah

What is it with me posting at this time of night? I'm fighting to get some internet time (like I need more) since I don't have to work tomorrow - at least not in the office.

My finger is still numb and gets irritated from time to time. Still can be very painful if hit just right. Thankfully that does not happen often.

I'm thankful for the time I got to spend with my Grandma before she died. We were able to go up and see her for a few days. I'll remember her responding to my voice by squeezing my hand. When I kidded with her about not hurting my fingers, she immediately let go. Her hands were very warm, and at times she would rest them for a minute, then go searching for my hand resting on the bed beside her. I had hoped to get up and see her on mothers day, but she passed about a week before. I'm glad my last memories of her were not of her suffering.

The job is going great - but you can still see signs of the economy hurting the industry. We had a company outing with a big customer and it was pretty cool - fast go carts, good food, and a live band. Of course, I had to deal with the beer that others thought was necessary - but it is nice to not need an extra buzz to have a good time. I left early but it sounds like everyone kept things under control. It seems sometimes we are taught as a church going person that we should avoid such gatherings, but if we can't be in the world but not of it, then we are in big trouble as Christians.

I finally got my storage building/workshop and am working to get my tools cleaned out of the basement and organized. There are a few of my bigger tools that were a haste to use so I just let them collect dust rather than tangle with them in the basement. Now maybe I can be a little more creative - and not have any more accidents with sharp tools. Lol

We had a great weekend. Left out Friday for the Ravenswood All Day Meeting. Stayed the night in Ripley, then went to the first service on Saturday. I originally want to go and see Bro Nathan Dieudonne, but through our email correspondence, I found out he would be going to Haiti instead. They need a lot of prayers for the conditions in Haiti. Besides the poverty within the country, there are several forces at work here in the US that are working against the people there. In some cases, it is spiritual warfare, in others it is hindering the medical outreach - how sad. Any ways, I thought it would be good to go and support Bro Cummings and the congregation. Seen a lot of people I have not seen in a long time - many I can't even remember their names, I just smile and ask how they are doing - sorry.

Well ... gotta go make a to do list for this rainy week we are suppose to have. I'd like to have some sunshine to mow and work on outside projects. But at least the garden is getting the rain!

Answered prayers

Both fingers are healing really well. I was worried about the one that had stitches. The doctor pulled them after nine days - they were in-grown and it hurt as bad as the day I cut them. It is still numb and very sensitive.

Update on the prayer requests I mentioned before. God really worked some things out for us. I got back from Guatemala on Feb 3rd and my job was terminated on February 5th. Very bad timing I thought. We were so blessed to have been able to make it through almost 2 months without any income. According to everyone I've talked to I should have been able to draw unemployment but because it was an out of state employer, there is some extra red tape to trip through. So we are still waiting for the results of that headache to come in.

Started my new job on March 30th, and am enjoying it so far. I am back in the office/plant daily, and enjoy being out of the house more. However, there are some things I miss about working from home. The boys seemed to adjust well considering they both were used to me being home all day, almost every day. At least they are excited when I come in the door each day.

New prayer request - please pray from my grandma in Ohio. They believe she had a stroke today. Not too many details are know at this time. Pray for my parents and sisters as they travel up to visit and we plan on going up for the weekend as well.