Wanderings

Finally finished the book of Exodus. There were so many things that piqued my interest. Things like acacia, and how much a talent was (75#)? When the report talked about “talents” of gold, my mind was boggled doing the math. Remember, these people were slaves who when they left Egypt asked for and took gold and silver from the Egyptians who had seen God’s mighty power at work.

Not only did the Israelites bring gold out with them, they gave offerings to be used in building the Tabernacle. Just imagine if you will, that they gave 2175 pounds of gold. At today’s value of gold (approximately $1000 per ounce), that would be $34 million dollars – from slaves! Remember, this was not all the gold they took out of Egypt, just their offerings to build the Tabernacle.

That was based on the account at the end of Exodus where all the work to make that portable building was completed. This was the record. The repetition was that at the end, all the work was just as God had commanded Moses. Somewhere, I had mentioned that if you think God is not interested in the details of your life, you are sadly mistaken! When you take a look at the book of Exodus, you can’t miss the details. God gave Moses not just the dimensions, but very clear instructions on how the Tabernacle was to be build, down to almost the last nut and bolt (okay, so they did not have nuts and bolts back then, but I think you understand).

What’s most amazing about this, and really repetition is the phrase “just as the Lord had commanded.”

That was the key to their accomplishments – doing what God said to do! Whenever they failed in their trek through the desert (that’s coming) or in the centuries ahead, it was because they did not do what God said. You don’t have to believe me, you can read it for yourself. As you read through Exodus 39 and 40, you find it repeated over and over.

Doing what God says is not difficult, it’s just that we make it difficult. Perhaps it’s because what God wants of us (we think) will make us look ridiculous, or not politically correct, or not in touch with the times, community or family. But God does not call us to meet the criteria of the world or our civilization. He called us to do what He says. As difficult as that might be, He leaves us no room. He does not “suggest” or “ask” us to do something. His words are “do this.”

So, at the end of our lists, will you and I be able to put “just as the Lord commanded“?

Reading through the Bible has gotten me to Exodus. Forget the fact that I do not remember all the names that were in Genesis. That trip through Genesis was fun though! Names, numbers, places and lots of history. Many names of places took me to the computer to look for “where is that?” It’s interesting that the battles still rage over exactly where something is or was. Eventually archeology will make a great discovery under the sands or earth and we will know.

What I find of even greater interest (just the way my mind works) is that so many of the places mentioned in the Bible have actually been found. And even with all those places being documented after years of “there is no such place,” people still dispute what the Bible says. For me, it’s just more questions to ask when I get to heaven. Who knows, maybe by then, it won’t make any difference.

So, here I am working my way through Exodus, and seeing the amazing display of how stupid people can be. Just think about it – we keep on cheering our sports teams on, even in the middle of a 5-10 year losing streak. But there were the Israelites, coming off an exit that scared all the people around them. Everybody heard about what the God of the Israelites did, and didn’t want anything to do with “those people.” After all, “if their God could beat the living daylights out of the mighty Egyptians, we don’t want to mess with them.”

Okay, so their natural enemies didn’t want to challenge them, but leave it to the people who got delivered to turn around and “dis” that same God. It’s biting the hand that took care of them – “did you bring us out here to get us killed.” “You forgot to bring any food Moses, and we’re hungry.”

Kinda like us – we forget too quickly what wonderful things someone has done for us and complain about the little nagging thing they forgot to do. You know, maybe they didn’t even think that they had to do that. Makes me think of Paul’s words, when he was challenge believers to “think on (remember)” the good things in Philippians 4. Too soon we forget, and maybe that is because we did not work at a constant remembrance of the good that we have or got.

That’s right, the whole book. Many of my friends are in the process of reading through the Bible this year, but I got started late, so just decided to take the list and see where it went. Needless to say, my schedule (when I started) had over a month to go just to catch up. Then, there was the double readings every day. So, my decision was just to start reading.

Discovered some very interesting things in Genesis, and did not try to get bogged down in searches or “why” type things. Usually we read parts and parts as story, with no connection other than “it’s from Genesis.” Yes, we read the creation story and Noah and Joseph, but they seem so separated.

My reading was continuous. So many bits of good news, and there were times when I stopped to find a map just so I could get a little centered. Almost makes me want to be an archeologist, searching for the places mentioned. After all, there are few if any maps from that long ago. It would be like a treasure hunt. I can almost see it now, stumbling into the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, or Joseph’s tomb (perhaps a pyramid) in Egypt.

But the real catch came in the last chapter. Usually when we think about prophecies about Jesus, they come later in the Bible, but right there, Jacob (aka Israel) said “(from Joseph) is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel.” (Gen 49:24) What an awesome reminder that even that far back in time (over 5000 years ago), God was already planning great things for ME! Not that it was for just me, but we each need to claim His promise for ourselves.

Amazing what a little reading can do for you. There were mornings when I did not want to stop reading because the story went on and on – “what’s next?” kept creeping into my mind. I’m glad the book is still available for us to read, and that I live in a country where that can happen without having to hide or be ashamed. Better yet, I’m thankful that He still speaks to us through old words – all we have to do is open our minds and let him speak.

There it was – some noise as I lay in bed at 8 a.m. What was that? Oh…it was my cell phone stuffed in my pants pocket. Grabbed it just in time to see that the call was from area code 405 – Oklahoma, but too late to answer the call
It was Gladys and I missed the call!
She left a message as I stumbled out of bed to start another day. Before I could get that feeling out of my mouth and head, the house phone rang and Karen said “somebody named Jones.” I of course knew that it was Gladys not giving up in reaching me.
Thank goodness she didn’t. It has been over 40 years since we had seen or talked to one another.
Just so you get the flavor of history, Gladys was like my grandmother’s adopted daughter in Pauls Valley, OK. When I was a little kid (in elementary school), Gladys was like an older sister, and my grandmother would have he babysit my sister, brother and I. This woman was like a star singer in church, and sang in churches all around Pauls Valley. I have many memories of sitting in church (yes, kids set through church back then) and listening to her sing.
We had an absolutely amazing time talking about how we have been trying to find one another. At one time, she and her husband were even Pastoring in a church in Richmond – I just happen to find that 2-3 years ago on the internet. From Richmond, they moved to Carson, CA, and I could just never seem to make connection.
Even when we were in Oklahoma for a reunion in 2005, we tried to find anyone in Pauls Valley who knew anyone that I remembered, all to no avail.

• How Did We Connect Now?

While working on the move of my blog, there was a post about Bethlehem Baptist Church in Pauls Valley, and I wanted to test the link, and got to their website. Found that there was a new pastor, and that the history of the church was still posted. While re-reading the history, saw Gladys’ name, and started searching the internet again, but wasn’t able to find anything (not even the link that mentioned her in Richmond).
Went back to the Bethlehem Baptist website and saw that there were Newsletters. Started reading, and was surprised to find Gladys’ name listed as one of the “Mothers” of the church on the list of people who were presently serving (Deacons, Ushers, etc.). Okay, that meant she was alive and must be living in Pauls Valley. Found a link for Pastor Eaton with a FaceBook address, and fired off an email to him. Asked him that if Gladys was indeed in Pauls Valley, would you please let her know that an old friend was looking for her, and gave him my phone numbers to pass on.
So, there it is in a nutshell. This has been a fantastic day! Gladys had tried to find me, but been stymied, and was so glad to connect. We spent 20-30 minutes on the phone going over (as best we could) the last 40+ years of our lives. Her kids and grand kids have done well. In fact, one of the grandkids plays for the Indianapolis Colts (after attending Stanford).
Can’t wait as we begin sharing pictures and family information back and forth. So thankful that this time, I persisted in trying to find and contact her. There’s a lot of family history to catch up on, so I’m sure we will be spending a lot of time on the phone and sending pictures back and forth.
What a way to begin a day!

Back when I changed my blog software to Simple PHP Blog (see this POST). I thought it was the most fantastic thing running on my web server (other than my web pages). Especially after “Bloxsom”. Even then, it looked like the developer was still working on improvements, since there was a forum and other discussion groups. That turned out to not be the case when I started looking for some updates in early January 2010.

The software was still listed on SourceForge (the open source repository for software), but all links to the author or forums gave blank pages. Even messages directly to the author and others on his development team got no response.

And so the search began for a replacement. Did find another blog software that used “flat files” to store the information (you can read those with a text editor and don’t have to manage a database). Before jumping, I emailed the developer, and he actually responded and said that due to his work constraints, he had stopped development. He did recommend another blog software, but after checking it out, I kept looking.

Finally bit the bullet after discovering that WordPress would run on my server, and never turned back from that point. Both my blogs are up and running, although there is still some cleanup of my posts that needs to be done on this blog.

Looking forward to many years of posting all kinds of stuff – check out “ABOUT”