“The Miraculous Draught of Fish” by Raphael, Photo by M. Chohan (PD-ArtlAge-Over 100 years)
Chapter 21 of the Book of John describes the Apostles’ fruitless efforts to catch fish until the Lord intervened, after which their net overflowed.
Ministers generally focus on that part of the chapter – rightly so, since we are helpless without the Lord’s intervention. However, the chapter is entitled “Breakfast by the Sea” because the Lord not only observed the night’s toil but, Himself, made breakfast on the morn.
The Lord was so concerned for the welfare of His followers as to lay a fire and bake bread for them, with His own hands. Even in His resurrected form, even while teaching a spiritual lesson, He anticipated and responded to their ordinary, physical needs.
As He does with us.
“Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread…Jesus said to them, ‘Come and eat breakfast’ ” (John 21: 9, 12).
Lord Jesus, Your loving care surrounds us. You sustain us through darkest nights, when our best efforts have proven futile. You know and meet our needs – great and small – before we recognize them, ourselves.
Nourish us in body and spirit, Lord, that we may be the fishers of men You desire.
Bring us safely to shore when our work is done, for we know You await us there.
Amen
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
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Screenshot from “Bende Sira” (a 2007 short film about a group of impoverished Turkish boys), Setphoto by Firat Demir (CC S-SA 3.0 Unported)
“Arise, cry out in the night,
At the beginning of the watches;
Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him
For the life of your young children,
Who faint from hunger at the head of every street” (Lamentations 2: 19).
In cities across this country, there are children living in abject conditions. Each day that passes, another day of their lives is lost to poverty. Each day, another generation is being lost.
Not Just Numbers
According to the US Census Bureau, 46.5 million people in America lived below the poverty level as of 2012. More than half are children. The figures do not take into account children in foster care, prisoners, the elderly in nursing homes, those living in military housing, or the homeless not in shelters.
I could cite other statistics. According to a 27-city study by the US Conference of Mayors, requests for emergency food assistance had increased by an average of 14% during 2004, in other words, even before the real estate crisis and ensuing recession. About 20% of those requests went unmet.
The situation has only grown worse in the 10 years since. These are not just numbers. They represent real, live men, women, and children. Read more…
Rain on Grass, Photo by Adrian Benko (2005) (CC A-SA, 3.0 Unported)
It seems that God presented the newly made universe to His angels for comment. The angels remarked favorably on one aspect of creation after another. Finally, however, an angel pointed out that the universe lacked the sound of praise.
So God created music. This is the reason the wind sings in the trees, the rain falls softly on the grass, and the seas roar.
At least one study has shown that there are, in fact, enormously beautiful and complex rhythms contained in the sounds of the natural world. Not only do mourning doves cry in a certain range and crickets chirp at a designated frequency, there is a vast and harmonious chorus at play – heard and unheard by human ears.
Combined, these rhythms are not cacophonous…merely a symphony beyond our ordinary comprehension.
“I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being” (Psalm 104: 33).
Lord God, we join with creation to sing Your praises! You are the great King over all the earth, and reign on high. You have chosen for us a rich inheritance, Lord. You have made us Your sons and daughters. We give You thanks!
Amen
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
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“Freedom of Speech” by Norman Rockwell (1941-1945), National Archives at College Park (NAID 513536) (PD)
“Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.”
– John Milton, Areopagitica
Tolerance once meant we lived side by side with one another, without resorting to violence. Despite our differences, not because of our uniformity.
Tolerance once meant we were permitted to defend our opinions (sometimes actually arguing with and convincing opponents of our viewpoint, other times swayed by their arguments). That was considered free speech. Now it is considered in bad taste.
All viewpoints are today taken to be equally valid. All should be tolerated without comment, lest the mere opposition to them be classified as intolerance or, worse yet, terrorism.
Where differences do exist, we choose to ignore their merits, falling back on the mild observation that “each man to his own”. This may suffice where the differences are insignificant. Vanilla v. strawberry ice cream. Not all opinions are, however, so harmless.
- Hitler considered extermination of the Jews a worthwhile goal.
- The North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) views sex between adults and minors as acceptable, even beneficial, to the children being violated.
- The Southern Poverty Law Center currently lists 993 hate groups operating in the United States. These include Neo-Nazis, skinheads, and black separatists like the Nation of Islam, all of whom advocate racism.
Tolerance on these distorted terms is, in fact, extremely dangerous. It allows evil to take root and thrive unimpeded. It undermines rather than extending freedom of speech, leaving violence as the only recourse when differing opinions morph into actions impacting the rights of others. Hitler had concentration camps – and ovens – constructed. NAMBLA lobbies to eliminate “age of consent” laws, and decriminalize pedophilia. Read more…
Brazil and Mexico Match, FIFA World Cup 6/17/2014, Photo by copa1214.gov.br (CC Attrib 3.0 Unported)
The World Cup has been the focus of much attention, with the courage and perseverance of individual players on display. But these qualities are not just found on the playing field.
Five thousand miles from here Sixcel (not his real name), a Turkish Christian, has been arrested seven times for his faith. A former Muslim, Sixcel more than once attempted suicide before his conversion to Christianity.
In an interview with Voice of the Martyrs, Sixcel cheerfully commented on his arrests:
“If you ask me, ‘Where is a good place to share the Gospel?’ I can say to you, at the police station. Because the police’s job, his work, is to ask. And I’m a Christian: My job is to talk about Jesus Christ! It is a good meeting place to talk. At the time [of one arrest], I shared the Gospel with 48 policemen.”
Do we ask enough of ourselves? Or do we throw in the towel when things grow difficult? Sixcel got it right. Our “job” is to talk about Jesus Christ, and live what He taught – most especially in the face of adversity. That should be our joy, as well. The Lord is after all our prize, greater than any title or award to be won in an earthly competition.
“…[F]orgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3: 13-14).
Lord Jesus, You are our strength and our goal. Your grace saves and sustains us.
Help us focus not on our past failures, but on You. However daunting the obstacles, however long the struggle, revive us when we grow weary that we, too, may press on toward the prize.
We pray at this time for Sixcel, and all Christians like him, who are being persecuted around the world. Protect them, Lord. Give them courage for their ordeal. Let them know they are not forgotten.
We ask this in Your holy Name.
Amen
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
Wintley Phipps powerfully tells the story of black spirituals and the hymn “Amazing Grace”.
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
“Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people?” (Jeremiah 8: 22).
By the time I left New York, every street corner was occupied by homeless individuals in rags, offering to wipe the windshields of passing motorists for small change. Men and women of all ages, in all weather, sat along the sidewalks, their few tattered belongings piled around them, as well-heeled shoppers hurried by.
Deinstitutionalization
New York was among the cities that undertook a mass psychiatric discharge in the ‘70s, in an effort to rescue patients from large facilities where neglect and abuse were not unknown.
Unfortunately, the attempt to transition psychiatric patients from in-patient to out-patient care was unsuccessful. The community mental health centers and halfway houses which would have made this a viable alternative were never established. NIMBY (“Not in My Backyard”) was one factor.
Shortage of Psychiatric Beds
The problem only deepened after that. Nationally, the number of publically funded psychiatric beds was reduced from approximately 400,000 – 420,000 in 1970 to an appalling 50,000 – 57,000 by 2006 [2][2A]. Since the Great Recession, states have cut mental health funding by an additional $5 billion or so [1].
As a result, the system has been overwhelmed. Patients in dire need of psychiatric hospitalization have been left to the mercies of homelessness, prisons, and hospital emergency rooms.
The retention of highly disturbed patients in emergency room settings – sometimes wandering the halls, while they wait for a bed – is so common today that a term has been coined for it: boarding [3]. Nationally, there are some 2.5 million emergency room visits by psychiatric patients each year [2A]. In Maryland, as an illustration, emergency rooms may see as many as a dozen psychiatric patients per day, and board as many as a dozen psychiatric patients for up to a week [3] [4]. Read more…
Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) in flight, UK, Photo by Tony Hisgett, Source Flckr Golden Eagle 2A (CC Attribution 2.0 Generic)
Hawks and golden eagles have re-established a foothold in Pennsylvania. These magnificent birds of prey can be seen circling high overhead on the updrafts generated by heat from our asphalt highways.
The sight seems living proof that there is a God. Who else could have designed such wonders? Who else could be holding them up?
Job must have felt much the same way. He reported God as having asked rhetorically, “‘Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, and spread its wings toward the south? Does the eagle mount up at your command, and make its nest on high?’” (Job 39: 26-27).
Watch the next time how confidently these birds throw themselves against the air. Keen as their vision is, they cannot actually see the wind. Yet they know with certainty it is there. Trust their very lives to it.
Is our faith a match?
Father, we are both awed and humbled by Your creation. We are so small and insignificant by comparison. Yet You loved us enough to send Your Son to die for our sakes. How can we respond, but fall to our knees?
We have nothing of worth to give You, nothing at all except these wounded hearts. Take and purify them, Father.
Strengthen our faith. Guide us as you guide the hawk through tractless climes. Give us confidence to follow Your direction, when we falter. And know that we love You, even then.
Amen
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
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George “Duke” Robinson (hospital birth of son), Photo by Sickofbs2009 (CC A-SA 3.0 Unported)
The client was in his late 20s, his face impassive, revealing nothing. He came to the legal clinic prepared, bringing along rent receipts carefully retained.
He told a story we had heard many times before: a layoff, promises to a landlord and partial payment of rent, then eviction. In this case, the poignant detail was added of his returning home from the job search to find his sons on the porch with their mother, the door to their apartment padlocked.
We discussed his limited options. It was only at the end of our session with him that the topic of fatherhood came up. We were deeply impressed by his faithfulness, his efforts to protect his family against the hardships of poverty. When we told him so, the dam burst.
He spoke with passion of having been abandoned as a young boy by his own father, of leaving home by his early teens, and fathering his first son within two years. He spoke of feeling a failure, of the temptation to leave, walk away as his father had.
We did what little we could. He needed a job and a roof over his head more than he did a lawyer.
But he stands to this day as an example for me of what fatherhood should be. It is the reason I am reminded of him on Father’s Day. His sons – the evidence of his existence, the personification of his desire to do better than his father – I am certain were blessed by his presence and his character.
I know I was.
“So Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him” (Gen. 35: 29).
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
People are searching desperately for a system of belief that will make sense of the world around them.
Over the past few weeks alone, we have had news of a New Jersey father tossing his toddler off a bridge to her death [1]; two children, 6 y.o. and 7 y.o., stabbed in an elevator, at the New York housing project where they lived [2]; two 12 y.o. Wisconsin girls knifing a friend 19 times [3]; sex by a 30 y.o. Pennsylvania teacher with her 14 y.o. special education student [4]; and the murderous rampage of a California narcissist dissatisfied with his social life [5].
Little wonder that people are struggling to make sense of things. It seems as if the entire world has gone mad. The confusion is heightened by predictions from various sources – including that renowned spiritual mecca, Hollywood – of Armageddon and the end of days. Read more…
A Lawyer's Prayers 