The question mark is there because there are no responses to either of the developers of my blog, the web site returns a blank page (with no HTML code), and the forum for users has simply gone away.

While I know it has been a very long time since I updated anything, I had hoped to keep this going almost forever. Now, it looks like I will have to change software. But in the process, need to find a way to migrate all my old posts to whatever I choose. Right now, it looks like I will be moving to WordPress, but need time for testing.

So now the question is, "Do I install new blogging software or replace the server?" Replacing the server was on my list BEFORE I got Windows 7. Now that I build a new computer that is super fast, that leaves me with a motherboard that would make one heck of a server. After all, OS/2 does not have the speed and memory requirements of Windows, and yet can outperform Windows.

We shall see...And, I'll keep you posted

Some would ask "Who cares?" Others would probably wonder who "He" is, and others would wonder what this was about.

Mostly, it's about feeling that no one cares - you know, that feeling you get when there are too many things to do for too many people in too little time, and there isn't going to be any time left for "ME?"

That's when we need most of all those words from I Peter 5, where Peter reminds us all that when it looks like life is going down the tubes or we just don't have enough of whatever it is that brings a little joy and happiness in our lives - then is when you need a helper. Then is when you and I need to end our pity party and let the ultimate party planner take over.

The image/vision that comes to my mind is when the supermarket bagger asks if you "need help out?" Most of us shrug our shoulders and mumble "No" and go on our way. In our minds, we have all kinds of imagws about what people will think about us if we ask for help. Worse yet, we'll either look old, infirm or just plain wimpy for letting someone help us. We cannot bear the thought of "not being able..." and other people knowing or seeing that we are may not so able.

Maybe that is the crux of the matter. We are afraid to let other people see that we can't do everything. "Why, they might think less of me."

What Peter says in verse seven is actually the culmination of verses five and six where he talks about pride ("I am the greatest...") and humility. When you look back to verse 6, he says "exercise a little humility - let people know you ain't the greatest thing since sliced bread. When you do that under the great, fantastic, awesome direction of God, then He will shine a light on you at the right time so people can see how great you are." (my translation)

Therefore, put all your cares and concerns about whatever on HIM - let Him figure out the "how" and "when" and "where" about your life, so you can get on with it and just keep moving.

He (God) isn't going to do all this for you because you pay Him, or hire Him, or contract with Him. It's because He loves you. Period! And it's His love that makes Him care about you - meaning He wants the very best for you.

As long as we carry all that baggage about us on our shoulders, we keep him from carrying it for us. I can remember being on board ships when they "cast off the lines." If you have ever been on a little boat, and someone cast the line to you as you left the dock, you knew there was no way you could get back on your own. The currents or wind carried you away from the dock. You were loose!

That's what this verse is all about - letting go! Can you? Will you?

Remember when you used to get in trouble with your mom or dad. First choice for what to do was go somewhere and hide. Friends, neighbors, basement, treehouse - just get away somewhere, and hopefully mom or dad would cool down. Then, there was the dreaded Principal who's path you dared not cross.

As we grew older, we found that there were others who's path we dared not cross or world we better not mess with. Yes, there were the neighborhood bully (male or female). And then, there was the old man or lady down the street who seemed to have it in for all the kids in the neighborhood.

Then all of a sudden, you were out on your own and there was the dreaded boss, almost like a slave driver. At least that was the feeling you got every morning as you prepared to head off to that "awful place" called WORK. You trudged in prepared to face not only the boss, but the customers and co-workers who's demands on your life outweighed the rights you may have thought you had.

Got to one of the shortest books in the Bible - Philemon. All twenty-five verses of it. So, the thought occurred to me as I started reading, that this should be a no brainer.

NOT!

Here was Paul, in prison in Rome, along with Mark, Demas and Luke. In comes this slave (yes, there were slaves way back then - still) who had stolen from his master Philemon. Who knows what he took - that was not the important thing. What was important, was that he got to Rome and must have looked up Paul and paid him a visit. He knew Paul, because his master was someone whom Paul knew from Colossae when he was ministering there.

So, here's this guy Onesimus (the slave), who knows he's in trouble and he pays a visit to Paul, and probably tells him what he has done. Paul ministers (works?) with/to him enough that he becomes a Christian - gives his life to Jesus. Scary!

It was scary, because as Christians, we are supposed to "make it right" with those we have harmed. But Onesimus is probably a lot like us. You know..."I can't go back and tell them I'm sorry, or that I did them wrong." Almost as though admitting we did anything wrong will instantly erase our relation with Jesus.

Not true!

What Paul was doing in this little letter to Onesimus was laying it all on the line. Read verse eight through seventeen. Paul takes a shot across the bow when he says "I...could order you to do what is proper, but instead I appeal to you..."

YOu have to ask yourself, "what is proper and right?" Read on, and Paul passionately reminds Philemon that Onesimus should be reconciled to him, even as we Christ followers are reconciled to God - not because of how good we are, but because of how good and loving God is.

Paul kind of puts it all on the line when he says to Philemon, "Okay, you see me as a partner with you, then accemp him (Onesimus) just like you would accept me."

If you had been robbed, mistreated, spat upon (so to speak) like Philemon, what would you say to Paul?

On the other hand, if you were Onesimus, could you say "I'm sorry - please forgive me"?

Hard choices aren't they?

If you have been following this, you probably wondered when we'd get to the end. The hard thing is that there is so much to Job. As you listened to his friends Bildad, Eliphaz and Zophar more or less put him down as "you had to have done something wrong." In every case, Job's response was "I didn't do anything!" Yet, his friends persisted, based on their supposed knowledge of how life is - ie: "you do something bad, and something bad happens to you."

So after all the older, wiser men had their turn, a young guy named Elihu jumps in. He was courteous and let his elders speak first. But when he jumped in with both feet, he was not on the same page as the old guys. He starts with a sharp reminder that God does not do wickedness or wrong. His words must have cut like a very sharp knife when he declared "Surely, God will not act wickedly, and He will not pervert justice." In other words, justice will be justice - it will not be twisted or corrupted. God cannot do anything but be "just".

That is a far cry from where we humans exist. "Justice" becomes revenge or takes on a relative side. It's like saying that one plus one is two unless you are adding ____________, and you fill in the blank. Elihu seemed to have the message - "Our God is an awesome god - there is no other like Him." Remember Elihu in 37:23 said "Even if we cannot find Him, He is still above anything else we know of, and He not only cannot, but will not change what justice is." Maybe that's the key point.

Finally, after all God had to say in chapters 38 through 41, Job stops. His mouth forms the words "surrender" and he admits "I talked about what I really did not fully grasp." Job lays his life before God and says "Okay, I'm going to shutup and let you instruct me."

While the end of the story is about God rebuking Job's friends and then restoring all Job's fortunes, the real story is how God and Job treated one another.

Job stepped back from a precipice and simply said "You are great, and I know that I am nothing. Teach me so I can change." He was willing to listen and change.

God laid it out to his friends and said "Make an offering and have Job pray for you and I will accept his prayers and act justly." God accepted the prayers and God accepted Job and did not smash them for their foolish words. Not only did God restore what job had, he increased it twofold. Can you imagine the headlines (if there had been newspapers then)! "Richest man's fortune doubles overnight."

When God blesses, He blesses. All it took was recognizing who God is and letting Him show the way. Job decided to listen - to change - to follow.

What about us?

Right now, in chapter 40, that was about how Job had to be feeling. Not only has God already said "put on your fighting clothes", He has been sparring with him. Now, comes the real test.

"Since you have found so much wrong with Me (God), and you know everything that is wrong with Me and what I do, speak!" (verse 2)

Job knew he was in a corner and in deep trouble. He recognizes that he is nothing (the word was "insignificant"), and as a result he said "Hush my mouth!" After all the words of Job and his friends in chapters 1 through 37, Job is speechless. Not only that, his friends don't even utter a single word. There were probably scared witless as they watched and heard their friend being "drawn and quartered" by God.

This was not going to be pretty!

God kind of joked with Job by telling him again to get his "war clothes on" and face the test of your life. God said "I'm gonna ask some questions (like because I am dumb) and you teach Me." It's interesting here that God just by making that statement says again "You are so smart, tell the world!"

With the four questions in verses 8 and 9, God stretches Job's knowledge beyond it's limit...

• Do you have the ability to change what I have decided?
• Can you condemn Me so that you look right?
• Who's arm is bigger - yours or mine?
• Can your voice roar and rumble like thunder?

There is was...Job had no where to turn. He was boxed in. It's surprising that he did not just run for his life.

Job listened well here in chapters 40 and 41 as God reminded him again about His handiwork as he created the animals that bring fear to mankind. The real question was buried in the statements, but nonetheless, Job understood. He could well have uttered the words we hear in Psalm 8 verse 4 - "What is man that You even want to take time to think about him or even care about him."

Even in all his suffering, Job got the message - but will we?

God, in chapter 40, gives Job another chance to vent. Here it was, the opportunity again to tell God off! God gives Job an opening big enough to drive the proverbial truck through, and Job does not take it. God has been speaking using questions about natural things - clouds, weather, animals. Job has listened, but after all his desire to condemn God for punishing an innocent man, he is mute.

It is as though God says "You say I am wrong - me the Almighty? Well then, let the one who critizes God answer these questions I have been asking."

It's like some tough guy or gal who always bullies anyone who is not as strong as they are. They never really do anything physical, it is just the threat. And then Chuck Norris walks into the room and says "So you are a good fighter - let's go a round." Do you really think the bully would do that? Not in a million years.

We humans all know our limits. We talk a good game, but when it comes down to it, we really don't want to go up against some people. We know we'd be "dead meat."

Job finally got the message somewhere in these two chapters. Kind of like us when we finally are willing to admit we don't know everything. Or when our world is falling down around us and we are willing to admit we can't control everything. Job finally says "Look, I am like nothing - insignificant. What do I know that I can say to you?" He says he will slap his hand over his mouth and sounds like the accused in the room with the cops..."I ain't got nothing more to say."

God has come, not for the put down of all time, but rather to demonstrate that He is still in control. It was a wake up call for Job and his friends.

The picture here, as God asks "Do you have an arm like God, or a thunderous voice like His?" shows God reaching out. It shows that when God speaks, nothing can not hear. God is saying "I am here!"

He may not be finished with Job yet - there are still lessons to bring to his mind. Images of His greatness and power.

Imagine that you were Job. Would you have cracked? Would you have expected God to come down after all you had said and not just smash you? Imagine what Job is thinking about now in his life.

Now that God has started, He continues with more questions. It's like He has already said, "You know everything, so here's some more easy stuff!"

Job is (like we would be) probably squirming. Thinking to himself "what did I do, raising questions about God?" After all Job's words of protestation about his righteousness and goodness, and his questioning why God would do this. Job might expect some answers, but instead, God has questions and more questions.

Poor Job. Almost ready to yell out "Okay! I get it!"

But God, as God, wants to make sure that Job and his friends do not miss the point. "I Am God and there is no one like Me!" God wants to emphasize in every area of their and our understanding that we control nothing. We may think we are great, but what we are and what we control is nothing compared to "I Am".

"Listen Job, can you make a horse, and put a mane on it? How do you make it to leap like a giant grasshopper?"

It wasn't enough that God questioned Job about horses, He moves to the hawk and eagle. But the real insight comes when, just as about the weather, God asks "Do you command the eagle to build it's nest high up on a cliff?" The question is out there, and although asked of Job, I am sure his friends were a little afraid that God might ask them something. After all, they had poked their wisdom out at Job and for everyone to hear and see.

The real question is how we are feeling about a God who controls only what we could imagine. After our lambasting God, how would we answer His questions?

After all, we said we "knew."

But do we really?

Remember when you were "hot stuff." Everyone in high school or college looked to you for all the answers. You were the "know it all" of everything. People seemed to just naturally feed on your statements and repeat them.

And then IT happened!

One day, someone not only dared to question you, they actually factually embarassed you - in front of everybody. You were "dead meat" on the highway of what used to be your life. All the facade you had built came tumbling down around you. You had been put in your place. You really wanted to crawl under a bench or rock and get lost.

That's what it was like for Job when God got started in chapter 38.

Right out of the chute, God says "Since you understand and know everything there is about who set the measurements of the earth and how they did it, tell us!"

BAM!

That hurt! Job and his wise friends were now really up against it. God actually started out by saying "You are a man, so put up your best stuff like a man, not like a little kid. I'm going to ask you some questions, and since you are so smart, you instruct Me!"

Remember when you were a kid and your mom or dad put you in the corner over something you had done. If they did not use this tactic, then you missed a very important lesson in life. I, me, you are not the most important people in the world. We are not the smartest, baddest things that roamed about our home, neighborhood or school.

We may have thought (actually, some of us probably think we are) we were the greatest thing since sliced bread, or the iPod. How sad to see our vision of ourselves come to a screeching halt.

Take some time and read chapter 38. It is amazing how God uses the natural things like clouds, seas, hail, light and dark to make His point. We cannot measure or control them. We cannot define or declare where they come from or when they will arrive. We are powerless.

The power is His!

I love God's show stopper in verse 34 - "Can you yell at the clouds and make them drop a lot of water on you?"

God is not done. It's like "Now that I have your attention, there are some other things you need to remember or understand."

Not your age, but rather Job 37 where Elihu is reminding Job and his friends of something they seem to have forgotten, and that is "Just who God IS."

Elihu paints a might picture of God. Maybe one day, some songwriter or photographer will find a way to capture this for us all. I'm no poet, songwriter or world famous photographer, but here is my shot at what he said.

His voice thunders and the earth shakes at the rumble of his voice. It has majesty and is like very loud thunder. He causes lightning when His voice is heard, and there is no way we can understand the power of that voice.

Look carefully, for He has placed his mark on every person, just so that every person will know what He has done. There can be no mistaking it, because of that mark. We among all creatures on the earth are unique - we are different!

He breaths and ice is made - the waters are frozen. Then, he puts water in the clouds and uses the clouds to disperse His lightning. The clouds and lightning turn at His command. It falls on the earth, whether for correction because we have done something wrong, or just because He loves us. Remember, it is He who makes it happen, not we.

Think deeply about the world and the entire universe. They are the handiwork of God. While you think with all your might about them, ask yourself if you know how He made them? Ask yourself if you are able to move the clouds or make the winds blow.

Remember, He is awesome, and above everything.

Too long since I have written here. After the blessing of the week away at Mount Hermon, it seems that many other things got in the way of just some daily time with my Bible and in prayer.

There are so many things (good things) that have been happening all around me that I so desparately want to share with everybody. Our new Worship Pastor, Joy Saquing is doing a fantastic job. He and his wife Kim are still working at getting up to speed, but that can be expected. Complicated by the fact, that not only does he come in as Worship Pastor and have that to do, he needs to learn the "how and what" of setup every week.

Mount Hermon was just the most amazing week. First of all, we were part of the witness of Mount Hermon's first "woman as a main speaker" week. Jill Briscoe just did a super fantastic job presenting God's message in a very special way. I remember her saying "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans." Or, "If you will mind your mind, God will mind your heart."

Today (Labor Day 2009) will be a better day because it is starting with God!