Monday, May 25, 2009


Who “invented” the TV dinner?

Several individuals developed the TV dinner.
Like many creations, the story of the development of the TV dinner is not straightforward. Many people and companies played a role in the development of the concept of a complete meal that needed only to be reheated before eating. The invention of the TV dinner has been attributed to at least three different sources, primarily Gerry Thomas, the Swanson Brothers, and Maxson Food Systems, Inc.

Maxson Food Systems, Inc. manufactured the earliest complete frozen meal in 1945. Maxson manufactured “Strato-Plates” – complete meals that were reheated on the plane for military and civilian airplane passengers. The meals consisted of a basic three-part equation of meat, vegetable and potato, each housed in its own separate compartment on a plastic plate. However, due to financial reasons and the death of their founder, Maxson frozen meals never went to the retail market. Some feel that Maxson’s product does not qualify as a true TV dinner, since it was consumed on an airplane rather than in the consumer’s home.

Following in the footsteps of Maxson Foods Systems was Jack Fisher's FridgiDinners. In the late 1940's FridgiDinners sold frozen dinners to bars and taverns. Frozen dinners did not take off, however, until the Bernstein brothers came on the scene.

In 1949, Albert and Meyer Bernstein organized Frozen Dinners, Inc., which packaged frozen dinners on aluminum trays with three compartments. They sold them under the One-Eyed Eskimo label, and only to markets in the Pittsburgh area. By 1950, the company had produced over 400,000 frozen dinners. Demand continuted to grow, and in 1952 the Bernstein brothers formed the Quaker State Food Corporation. They expanded distribution to markets east of the Mississippi. By 1954, Quaker State Foods had produced and sold over 2,500,000 frozen dinners!
The concept really took hold in 1954 when Swanson’s frozen meals appeared. Swanson was a well-known brand that consumers recognized, and Swanson launched a massive advertising campaign for their product. They also coined the phrase TV Dinner, which helped to transform their frozen meals into a cultural icon.

But this is where different stories begin to emerge. Until recently, the most widely credited individual inventor of the TV dinner was Gerry Thomas, a salesman for C.A. Swanson & Son in 1953. For example, the American Frozen Food Institute honored him in their "Frozen Food Hall of Fame" as the inventor of the TV dinner. However, his role as the inventor is now being disputed.

Conversely, Betty Cronin, a bacteriologist who was also working for the Swanson brothers at that time, asserts that it was the Swanson brothers themselves, Gilbert and Clarke Swanson, who came up with the concept of the TV dinner, while their marketing and advertising teams developed the name and design of the product. Cronin also worked on the project, taking on the technical challenge of composing a dinner in which all the ingredients took the same amount of time to cook, also called synchronization.

So who really invented the TV dinner? It depends on your definition. One thing is for sure, though: the first company to use the name and successfully market the TV Dinner was Swanson.

My Text

Weren’t T.V. Dinners great? As a kid I had my fair share of them. The Chicken was good, but I liked the Salisbury Steak. The veggies and mashed potato’s were OK, but the desserts were tasty and not enough of it.

BUT… they were nothing like “mom’s cookin’ ”. Her fried Chicken was “to die for” as they say today. I’m not sure if you could call it “Salisbury Steak, but when she pounded out the Round Steak and threw in salt and pepper and some other spices, of course known only by her, it was mighty tasty. With potatoes and carrots it was quite a meal.

Mom knew us and wetted our taste buds from early childhood. She knew what was good for us, because she knew us best. She knew how to get us through illnesses, without going to the doctor. She had those “home remedies” that were handed down from her mother and her mother-in-law, and back and back and back. The chicken soup, the tea and crackers were part of the regimen for wellness, if you were sick.

No, we didn’t have steak or chicken every night. We had beans with cornbread and beans with beans, we weren’t rich. Mom had taken a job in a factory, and dad came back from war. As a child, and not knowing all the “family factors”, I guess we needed the dual income. You see, my dad was a drunk, he did not want to be called an “alcoholic” because he said, “Alcoholic’s had to go to meetings and drunks didn’t”. So, he drank up a large part of his income and mom had to work to finish paying the other bills and feed us kids.

Thus enters the T.V. Dinner…. They were quick and easy. Out of the freezer and into the oven and within 15 minutes you had the full meal. It also became popular to watch the evening news while eating these dinners. There was no conversation because adults wanted to hear what was going on around the world, and of course the kids had to be quiet. T.V. dinners were only part of the families decline. And as they say on T.V, “Stay tuned for “Part Two of Our Mystery Series”.


T.V. Dinners Part Two

Please let me say right up front, that I do not blame the decline and fall of the family unit on T.V. Dinners. There are many, many factors that attribute to the issue and I will only discuss a few.

The break down of the family is the man’s fault. He has not taken his rightful place as head and leader of the family and led them to Christ. It is the woman’s fault in not supporting and encouraging the husband to do so. It was Adam’s fault for not setting the guidelines more clearly with Eve. It is Eve’s fault for not listening to her husband.

Ephesians Chapter 4 verses 11-16 : And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers. For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

It’s the apostles, it’s the prophets, it’s the evangelists, and it’s the pastors and teachers who are at fault for the demise and downfall of the family. It’s the dad’s and mom’s fault for the downfall of the family. In essence, it’s the church that has been directly responsible for the breakdown of the family. You see, the church is “the people”. The church is not the building; it is where the church (people) meets. But it is the responsibility of the people to “make things work”.

How do we know what we are to do? We ourselves are ultimately responsible for knowing Him, Jesus. It is the role of the pastor-teacher to help us grow and understand, so that we can “feed ourselves”, so that we can feed others, so they can grow and feed others, etc, etc, etc.

How does all of this connect, T.V. Dinners and the body of Christ? It’s simple to a somewhat warped mind like mine.

In the past few decades, I’ve seen a trend taking place all over the United States. It has intensified in the past few years. That being, some churches having success in an area of church functioning and prayer has gone into it for their church. What do we need and how do we go about it. Some might call it a “business model”, plan the work and work the plan. Then another church will hear of it and bring that model to their church. It seems to be working for them and they tell a friend or a sister church to use it also, etc, etc, etc, thus the T.V. Dinner. I’ll just warm it up and serve it, “It’s just like momma use to make”. Or was it?

The problem I see with this is, the Pastor is not truly in touch with his people. The Lord is my Shepherd…. As a Shepherd, He knows His sheep and calls them by name. He binds up their wounds and anoints them with oil. He will sometimes carry them on His shoulders to keep them close and learn to know His voice and His smell, so when around other shepherds they will not stray. The real shepherd will not serve you a T.V. Dinner, something that another has taught his flock, he will teach you “according to the proper working of each individual part”. The real shepherd will not care about what is going on across town or across the country because he knows his sheep and what they need.

There’s enough fault and guilt to go around. Just concentrate on you own. T.V. Dinner, anyone?

Following the Shepherd,
Ron
reskewsquad@blogspot.com

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

2 Chronicles 7:11-14

Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the King’s palace, and successfully completed all that he had planned on doing in the house of the Lord and in his palace. Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayers, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My Name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and heal their land”.

The context of this passage is that David wanted to build a building, a house, for God. The Israelites were no longer roaming in the desert and yet God was “still dwelling in a tent”, while David lived in a great palace. David had brought the Ark of the Covenant back from Kiriath-jearim. So David started gathering material from all across the region. God told David, he was a man of war and could not build Him a building. Solomon wanted to honor his father’s wishes to build a house for God.

One thing struck me as I re-read the passage. God had already selected this place for Himself. Then it was to be a place of “sacrifice”. In the dedication, Solomon had offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep for all the people. That’s quite a sacrifice.

Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice on the cross; One, for all. So you might think or have heard that it is no longer necessary to make a sacrifice. Then why are we told in the New Testament, offer up a sacrifice of praise?

Now, to the main body of the text. If My people… who are called by My Name…. In the Old Testament God’s people were the Jews. In God’s economy in the New Testament, those who have ask Jesus to forgive their sin and looked to Him as Savior, “are God’s people”. So this Old Testament passage can apply to the New Testament believer. And because that is so, we must pay close attention to it.

The next phrase is, “will humble themselves”. Humble means: absence of pride, meek, modest. In the context, it means knowing one’s position before God.

Then God tells us to “pray”. What do we pray about? In the previous chapters, God has been reviewing the Jew’s “shortcomings”, their sins,
and is in essence saying, “Don’t do that”. He’s reminding them that they have just offered up a sacrifice of 142,000 animals and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin, i.e. Jesus blood on the cross. Pray daily for the forgiveness of sin. Pray to walk closer to the Lord. Pray for others so that they may do the same.

“And seek My face”. Do you pray for your wants and needs and then hang up the phone? Or do you truly seek God’s face? Seek His will? Seek His mind?

This is where most people go on to God’s response… “Then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and heal their land”.

Let’s take this one from the top. “And seek my face and “turn from their wicked ways”… “Then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and heal their land”.

Turn from whose wicked ways? God’s people are to turn. God’s people are the problem. Yes, God is angry with the wickedness of the worldly people but, He is more upset and angry with those people who say that God is the Father and Jesus is His only Son and then go on their merry way and live as they please.

Those of you who “name the Name of Jesus” as Savior and Lord, you are the ones whom God is asking to turn from “your wicked ways”. If you think you are OK, then you’re not looking at God enough. The more you know Him, the more you see yourself, and it ain’t pretty.

Romans 12:1 I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God that you present yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God which is your reasonable and spiritual service of worship.

Walk with God,
Ron
reskewsquad@blogspot.com

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Open My Eyes Lord

Music has always been a part of my life. I don’t just listen, I think. Two songs of my past hold the key, “Open the eyes of my heart Lord”; and “Open my eyes Lord”.

Open the eyes of my heart Lord, Open the eyes of my heart, I want to see You, I want to see You.

“Open my eyes Lord, I want to see Jesus, to reach out and touch Him and say that I love Him”.

Are we even looking to see Jesus better? Are we seeing, knowing and growing into the image of Christ? Are we seeing and sensing the unseen world that is as real as what we see?

My text for this message is 2 Kings 6. Elisha had been given the “mantel” of the Prophet of Elijah. As per usual, Israel was at war, this time it was Syria. Elisha had prophesied against the King of Syria, the King didn’t like it. The King was going to attack Israel and the Prophet. Great fear had overtaken most of Israel. But, Elisha, the man of God, knew his God.

2 Kings 6:15-17 Now when the servant of the man of God (Elisha) had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “Alas my master! What shall we do?” So Elisha answered him and said, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them”. Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see”. And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (Bold for emphasis).

Have you ever asked the Lord to open your eyes in this manner? Have you even thought of such a question? Is your “vision” limited to only what your physical eyes see? Have you ever had a dream, so real, that you knew God was speaking to you? Are you comfortable going to church on Sunday and as you leave thinking, “I’ve done my duty this week”? Do you go to church and as you walk through the doors a magic wand scans you and you put on that “happy face” that says I’m doing fine, no problems here? When in reality, your life is falling apart. And when you leave, that wand scans you again and now you can go back to the way things were.

My questions are a part of a reality check and seeing what is true about life on this planet. Do you ever pray, “Open the eyes of my heart Lord”? Do you ever pray, “Let me see Jesus”?

Do you, as Elisha, see beyond the physical world into the spiritual world? Remember, only one third of the angels fell and follow Lucifer, Satan, the Devil. So, that leaves two thirds that are servants of the Most High God. I am not talking about angels, per say, or in specifics in this writing. My message is for you and what you see and or what you are looking for. Do you see the world as it really is or do you see it as you want it to be? Polly Anna or Rose Colored Glasses will not show you reality. Knowing Jesus, studying the Bible, and having someone to bounce your thoughts off of will help.

Do you “see” what I’m saying? Do you think christianly? I write and few respond. A fellow traveler asked me just yesterday, “Are your writings changing the lives of those to whom you send them.”? I had to tell him, “I don’t know”. Do I make sense? Do you “blow me off as a nut”? Does anything I say touch your heart? Does anything I say, change your way or challenge your way of thinking?

Hebrews 11:1-2 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

Open the eyes of my heart Lord!

Following the Shepherd,
Ron
reskew@aol.com

Saturday, May 16, 2009

On Eagle’s Wings

Isaiah 40:28-30 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable, He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.

As I have written this passage, I sit and think; “What more can I say”? Of course the answer is, “Nothing”. This is God’s word; it stands alone and speaks for itself. But… with that word written on my heart, I must unwrap and un-package the nuances of it.

First of all, do we understand that God is the Creator? We and this world are not just “random chance” happenings. We were created in His image, to worship Him and for His purposes. Do we understand that He does not grow weary or tired? On the other hand, I grow weary and tired because I am not God. Yet, He gives strength to the weary… me. The “normal male” has strength and vigor, yet because of the limitations of that manhood, he will become both weary and tired. That’s why we have to sleep, that’s why we have to eat. God does not do either and we loose our strength, we stumble.

We have just had a Mini-Marathon (13.1 miles) in Indianapolis, Indiana, setting off the month of May and the Indianapolis 500 Race. Though people train for the event some will stumble because of lack nutrition or lack of water. Others may stumble because of unevenness of the road.

On our spiritual journey, we will also stumble and grow weary. There will be something in the road that will make us detour or make us slow down or take us off our pace. Then we will have to refocus and get our pace back in order to continue our race. Maybe we stubbed our toe and will continue the race, but in pain. We may grow weary because we see others going around us, bettering their position. We may grow weary because we have not trained well enough. Maybe the weather is hotter than we would like and the heat is taking energy and nutrition out of us faster than we expected.

That’s where the second part starts. Yet those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. There will be times in your spiritual journey when you need to wait. And for most that have been running well, you will have difficulty. The phrase will be on your tongue over and over again, “But I… but I… but I”. But I was doing so well… but I was doing Your will… but I thought….

Maybe you stumbled; maybe you didn’t take in proper nutrition, God’s Word. May it wasn’t even something “you did”. But, it is a time to refocus, rethink, reconnect and recommit. And for sure, it is a time to wait upon the Lord.

Because He wants you to “mount up on wings like eagles”, and that brings me to part three. What does that mean? Back to my nature stories; most of the time when you see nature stories about eagles, you see them perched on a branch of a tall tree or soaring in the sky. Sometimes you see them swooping down on a lake to catch a fish and then fly off somewhere to eat their dinner.

When they are sitting in a tree or their nest, what are they waiting for? Or, for what are they waiting? I think God has created them with a sense that few other birds have. I think that is a sense of “being”; knowing who they are, knowing why they were created and knowing their purpose. That may be a stretch for some to grasp, because we are told that animals don’t sense of feel or think, they just have instincts. But I think there is a lot we don’t know. They don’t have big ears sticking up on the sides of their heads, yet I’m sure they have ears. To spot a fish swimming in a lake from a hundred feet in the air and then maintain that vision until it has the fish in its talon’s, is also an amazing fete. Waiting on a branch of a large tree is for the air current to be right. A few flaps of the wings and the eagle can soar for hours. Why? Because he waited for the wind to be right, then the natural design of the wings will carry aloft a large bird.

Another aspect of the eagle’s wings is that at a point in their development, the feathers will regenerate. At this point, the eagle can not fly. The old feathers fall out and the new ones grow in, but they are not fully developed or mature. So the eagle has to wait.

Does this bird think highly of itself for all the great and wonderful things it can accomplish? No. As one of God’s creatures it simple does what it is designed to do. It is designed to make people look and wonder, to look and wonder… what makes this bird so majestic? What makes this bird so regal? And conversely, what about the sparrow, seemingly one of God’s simple birds, what makes it so special? They both point us to Him, both are mentioned in scripture and God takes care of them both. God uses both in His great plan.

The analogy is this; our waiting is for the purpose of the Spirit of God to be the One who lifts us up. The word for spirit is wind. When God’s Spirit lifts us, we will not struggle, but soar on His wings, His wind. But… we must wait. The analogy may goes like this; You have been do exactly what the Lord has been asking, and now for no apparent reason, you find yourself, as it were, sitting with nothing to do. You wait, you pray, you read, you study, yet nothing happens. Has the Lord forgotten me? Am I being punished? Am I done? The last thing us humans want to do is wait… but we must. We must wait for His Spirit to uplift us and energize us.

Following the Shepherd,
Ron
May 6, 2009

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Elvis Has Left The Building

The phrase, “Elvis has left the building” was two fold in nature.

One reason was for his safety. If you are old enough to remember how popular Elvis was, then you will recall the fans (girls and women) swooning at his concerts. Then you saw the film footage about how he was guarded and could barely make it to the “limo” with all his clothes on.

I think the second reason was that those “loving fans” would want him to continue to sing and perform all night. He would do “curtain call” after “curtain call”, after “curtain call”. So the promoters had to come up with something that would let those loving fans know it was time to go home.

I guess, that’s what it’s like to be a star, everyone wanting a piece of you. There is no time for you. You can’t go out into the public without being mobbed. You can’t have a peaceful dinner with friends without being mauled by someone or several someone’s, wanting your autograph. You can never be yourself; you always have to be that person everyone expects you to be. I see actors, male and female, in movies and think they are “that type of person”. Then I see them being interviewed by a reporter or a talk show host and they come across as a jerk. In many ways, I think it would be a sad life, and that is why so many stars become addicts. That is not where I’m going with this writing.

If you have received other writings from me, you know I am going somewhere with this… don’t you? Should I drag out the suspense longer or get right to my point?

OK… OK… I’ll get to my point….

Do we hold up our Pastors and our worship leaders to the realms of “Rock Stars”? Do we continue to applaud for “one more song”? Do we put our pastors on a pedestal as someone above the norm? I know they should the men of integrity and intelligence, but I mean in a rock star fashion? I think not. Do we clamor for one more point in his sermon? Do we applaud him at the end of his message? Or are we giving thanks for a message delivered by God Himself?


Now, to the point of all points for this writing.

An analogy: Elvis has left the building.
The Holy Spirit has left the building.

The question has been asked for decades, If the Holy Spirit were to leave your gathering, would you know it?

Just because we feel good after being together for a couple of hours, how is that different from going to a basketball or football game and yelling and screaming for three or four hours?

How do you know you have met with God? Do you tell yourself, “I can’t wait to get back next week to feel good again”? Do you have to come back to get another “high”, just to make it through the next week? Does feeling good mean the Holy Spirit was there?

Have you ever asked a person why they attend a certain church? Have you ever asked a person who goes to church, what the Pastor is teaching? Have you ever asked a person what type of music they have? Can “said” person tell you more about the music than the Pastor’s sermon?

How would you measure that person’s ability to sense the Holy Spirit in themselves or the local church?

The Holy Spirit is a co-equal part of the Trinity. We hear sermons on the Father in many forms and fashions. We are always being directed to Jesus via the Sermon on the Mount, or at Christmas or Easter, but what about the Holy Spirit? Has He left the building? Has He left your building, your body, your life?

In John chapters 16 and 17, Jesus tells us that He is going to send us a Comforter, One just like Him. He will lead us into truth, righteousness and judgment to come. How’s your relationship with the Holy spirit?

Grace and Peace to you in the power of the Holy Spirit,
Ron

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The Court of the Honorable Judge of the

Here and Now, the Here and After, and the
Hear say, of Hear say, of Hear say of Heresy.
Is now in Session, all rise!!!
(The Judge walks in)

Court is now in session, you may be seated.

During this session we will determine the future of several people.
Each story has its own unique challenges, so you will need to pay close
attention to the details, in order that you may render a sound judgment to
each case. You will need to evaluate even the smallest details.

We have three people in various stages of life, who think they have been
“misunderstood”, or don’t understand why they are in the position they are
in. Before we get started, it behooves me to help you better understand the term and the concept of Compassion.

From Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Fifth Edition, compassion is defined
this way: Sorrow or pity excited by the distress or misfortune of another;
sympathy, mercy.

Looking further we see that it is a compound word, signifying that more can
be learned.

Com: A prefix from the Latin preposition cum signifying with or together; in conjunction with.

Passion: An enduring inflicted pain, tortures or the like; the suffering of Christ.

When we think of “passion” we usually think of a good feeling or a deep
interest or even love. These don’t appear until the sixth definition.

“THEREFORE”, the conclusion we must come to, in rendering our
judgments today, is that, compassion is a togetherness with a person who is
going through deep pain.

Let’s look at the first case!

A man in his late 30’s early 40’s, he has become an investment broker and
Has been making a very nice living, for 10-15 years. He has had a few problems with some of his clients, but has managed to work them out. He has assured them that “their money is safe with him”.

He send statements out on a regular basis informing the clients of the
progress of their accounts. Along with the statements and “pie charts”
indicating the investment analysis of each portion of their portfolio.
Then… one of his clients dies, unexpectedly. The clients widow decides she
needs some cash out of the in the investments to pay for the funeral and other related medical expenses. The young man is trapped! There is no money, there are no investments, there are no funds with which to pay the woman, or any other client for that matter. He is caught “red
handed”, and that is why he is in my court today. The decision is yours, “Oh men of the Jury”. Does he deserve compassion or not? Guilty or not guilty? Write down your answer.

Our next case is a young woman.

As a little girl she would play with her dolls and have those “make believe”
tea parties with special invited guests, which only she could see. She had been daddy’s little girl” and could wrap him around her finger. By her early teens she has grown out of playing with dolls. Now her fancy had turned to boys. By the time she was 16, she had started drinking and had thoughts of using other drugs to get a better high. Now she’s 30, looking like she’s 50. Drugs have taken their toll and to support her drug habit, she’s turned to prostitution. Last week she was arrested for prostitution and possession of drugs. She sits in jail right now awaiting her sentencing. What is your verdict, guilty or not guilty? Does she deserve compassion? Write down your answer.

Our final case before us today is a little boy

He has no real crime, but we are unsure as to what to do with him. He comes from a lower middle class family where the father is an alcoholic and sometimes violent. His mother works to help provide for the for the families financial needs. So there is no one home after school to watch the little boy. There are also two older siblings.

What would be your recommendations for the court? Foster care or leave
him in the home? Render your verdict, compassion or no, leave him in the home or send him into the “foster care” system.

You may be saying to yourself, what do these stories have to do with
compassion? God looks down from heaven every day and sees this same kind of stuff going on.

What were your emotions doing as you heard these stories? Did you reflect on your own lives or the lives of your children? Did your life parallel any of these stories?

The Bible tells us that, “there is nothing hidden from God”.

In Jonah 4:2, it says, “You (God) are gracious and compassionate, slow to
anger and abounding in loving kindness”.

In Matthew 9: 36 it says, “And seeing the multitudes He (Jesus) felt
compassion for them, because they were distressed and cast down like sheep
without a Shepherd”.

Remember our definition of compassion?

Com- with

Passion- affliction and torture

In the book of Genesis, God shows his patience, long suffering and
compassion, over and over and over.

Adam and Eve: If you eat the forbidden fruit you shall surely die.
They ate it and immediately they died spiritually and eventually they died
physically. If they would have eaten form the tree of life in that condition they would have lived forever condemned, forever separated form God.
God had compassion on them sacrificing an animal to cover their nakedness
And removing them from the garden so they couldn’t eat from the tree of
Life was a very compassionate thing to do.

Noah and the Ark: God waited 120 years for Noah to get the ark built and
then, only saved 8 people and animals and birds by pairs. Clean animals in
7’s and unclean in 2’s. The people had time to repent and the Lord would have had compassion on them.

Moses and the children of Israel: Wandering in the desert for 40 years. God
could have killed them all on the first day, but he chose compassion,
remember… affliction and torture with…. God chose to suffer along with His people

What was Jesus response to His people? At one point the looked out over Jerusalem and said, “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, and he wept”.

Compassion!!!

Jerusalem had been suffering under the Romans for many, many years.
Jesus knew their pain, He knew their sorrows.

Now we are learning about Compassion. Who in your life needs your compassion? Who needs you to enter into their pain and suffering?

What really happened to these three people?

Let’s start with the Broker who bilked many people out of their investments and savings. He was sentenced to 15 years in jail and required to sell his assets and repay his clients. While in jail, he heard about Jesus and His saving grace and His compassion for mankind, resulting in his salvation.

The young woman had just taken a large hit of her favorite drug and went into convulsions while in the back of the police car. She was rushed to the hospital where the ER team pumped her stomach and gave her an anti- serum. Before she passed out she cried out, “God, don’t let me die”. He heard that cry and if you would see her in church today you would never expect that her past was what it was.

The little boy is writing this to you. From the time of that incident in my life God has shown compassion over and over again. Life was never easy with an alcoholic father and a mean one at that, but God’s grace and compassion went beyond the tears and abuse to heal, even to the point of forgiving my father.

What does this compassion look like? It looks like the nail pierced hands on the Cross. Jesus was so interested in you and me that He gave Himself up to death, even death on the Cross. He took upon Himself the sufferings of mankind, with suffering, to release your suffering. You need to ask Him to take them. You have to call upon the Name of the Lord, Jesus. Then turn away from what has controlled for so long. Turn and Follow the Shepherd. No matter where you’ve been or what you have done, God’s grace, mercy and compassion will wash it all away. You can become a new person in Him. Look at me.

Ron Eskew
reskew@aol.com

Monday, May 4, 2009

Detox

Detox is a short form of detoxify, which means… to remove a poison from.

We hear it used in the context of people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol when they are attempting to quit. In more serious cases, we hear of “withdrawal” associated with that event.

Detox is a process where the person will want to stop the addiction and possibly go into a treatment center to be helped and monitored during the withdrawal. They will be in the process of ridding their bodies and minds of the toxin or poison.

Health guru’s have now looked at the “normal” human and their “normal” life styles and said that “normal” people need to detox every now and then. They are saying that in everyday life the body takes in toxins that are poisonous and need to be removed. The lungs and smoking are main targets, and I don’t need to talk to you about that because you are bombarded with ads to quit and the “whys”. Their next target is the colon. I must say that I agree with them… most of the time. They are even developing products that will help you do this very thing.

Of course, most of you know that I am going somewhere with this topic. So, here it is….

If the body needs detoxifying, do you think the soul and spirit need detoxifying? My answer is a resounding, “yes”. Then you may ask, “How do I do that”? And I say, “I think it would look something like this….”

There are things we call spiritual disciplines, prayer, fasting, meditation, solitude and worship. The Bible tells us, “when you pray” (not if you pray), and then goes on to tell us a facet of prayer and what it means to us in our walk with the Lord. In the same manner the Bible says, “when you fast, don’t put on a long face”; or for meditation, “when you meditate”,
Psalm 119 is replete with the word meditate of meditation. Now to the “how do I do it’s”.

I look at it like this…. Basic fasting is for the purpose of detoxifying the body for spiritual purposes. A person would go without food for a period of time in order to focus on God. For those on medication, check with your doctor for recommendations. Most might do a one day fast, while some can only do a one meal fast. Start somewhere and work up the next time. Drinking water, a lot of water, will flush the system of toxins, usually one or two gallons a day. A one day fast will help, but two to three days will accomplish more. Again, check with your doctor if you have certain medical problems and are on medications. When you feel the urge to eat, it is time to pray more and focus on the Lord even stronger. Some may need to do it on a day when you can be alone, not at work; while others will be able to work and fast. But remember that the purpose is for spiritual reasons; you want to hear from God.

Another aspect of detoxifying is a hot bath or shower, as hot as you can stand it. The hot water opens your pores and allows the bodily toxins to be released. As you bathe or shower, this is the time for prayer and meditation, asking God to “open your pores and open your eyes to Him”; take away the toxins that are hindering you in your life. Pour out your heart to Him, tell Him “where it hurts”. Remember, He weeps with those who weep. I won’t make a list for you that’s between you and the Lord. Stay as long as it takes for what the Lord wants to do. Pour out your heart to Him, let Him cleanse you, let Him wash you, let Him purify you. End with a cold shower, this closes the pores. Spiritually, it “seals the deal”. It says, Yes Lord!

Love to all,
Following the Shepherd,
Ron
May 2, 2009

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Swimming Upstream

Saturday morning at about 7:00 a. m., a group of men meet in an old barn to discuss poetry, past history and current events. These men range in age from mid twenties to mid sixties. It’s like the “Dead Poet’s Society”. What do you believe? What has spurned your thinking this week? How’s your life going?

This meeting has been taking place every Saturday for seven or eight years. The group’s size has varied from near fifty to only four. It’s not always the same group of guys. There is normally a core of about five or six and the rest vary to an average of now ten guys. No, it’s not a secret society; it’s a group of guys from the church I attend. We discuss the Bible and other current books in light of today’s thinking in order to challenge each other to “keep the faith” and “walk the walk”. This writing comes as the result of Saturday, April 25, 2009.

I want you to think about that often seen animal adventure scene where the salmon are swimming and fighting to get “upstream” to lay their eggs. Think of the one particular scene where they are trying to jump the dam. You see the salmon jump and fall back, jump and fall back, jump and fall back. It seems like an eternity before one salmon makes it over the top of the dam to continue his journey to the spawning ground. You keep watching and you find yourself silently encouraging them to keep going, you’ll make it. Once over the top the struggle doesn’t end. The current of the river is just as strong above the dam as below. Can you imagine the determination and energy it takes to continually work at jumping the dam until you make it over the top; just to find out the struggle is not over?

In light of my Christian faith and current events of the day, I see the struggle to fight the fight of and for the faith and continue to swim against the stream.
Society and government are so different than when I was a boy that the tenacity of the journey is increasingly more difficult. What does it take in today’s society that makes you continue to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord Jesus? Do you know what you believe about the Bible, about God, about Jesus? What is your “worldview”? What set of “rules and guidelines” do you use to fashion and guide your life? Or do those rules and beliefs change as society changes it perspective? This leads me back to a previous writing about “Lines and Dots”. If you have not received that writing, let me know and I will send it along.

Now back to swimming upstream. If you have asked Jesus to be your Savior, you’ve finally “jumped the dam” but, your journey and struggle is not over. The current is still flowing “down stream” and you still have to exert energy and effort to continue your journey, to fulfill you mission. You see… the salmon when he gets past the dam in on a mission to get further up stream to lay its eggs in a more calm part of the river. And as most of you know… the calm part of and river is where the water is deep.

Here’s where the discussion yesterday went deep. How much effort did the salmon have to exert to swing “upstream”? It’s efforts had to be more than the current was flowing “downstream”. How much more? Would it be fifty percent more than the current flowing downstream? Could it just be twenty-five percent against the current? Could the salmon get by with just one fifth effort of the downstream force?

What about your (and my) Christian life? As we see the forces of society flowing in the wrong direction, against God’s laws, how hard do we have to swim upstream? It’s even sad to think that we’ve gotten to this point that we have to swim at all. If you swim at fifty percent you will be going upstream, but at a very slow rate. If you only swim at the twenty-five percent rate it will take you longer to get where you want to be. My thinking is that if you are swimming and less than twenty-five percent, soon you will only be maintaining your position in the river, you will not be moving “upstream”. And as society grows more cynical and devious you won’t even be able to maintain your place in the river. That means you will be pointed in the right direction, but you will be moving downstream. You will be loosing ground.

What is God’s will and God’s plan for your life? Is it just struggling to maintain or does He want you to succeed in your mission? I think He wants you to fight the fight and overcome the dams in your life and to swim as hard as you can to make a difference in your own life and in the life of others. I think He wants you and me in the spawning ground, in the deep places with Him. Do you have a group of people who are discussing the deep questions of life and the Bible? Others who struggle with you and for you to help you over the dams in your life?

Following the Shepherd,
Ron