Aye, eye Doctor!

This morning I went to the eye doctor. My visit was paid for, in part, by my secondary insurance policy, courtesy of Delta Airlines (I avoided crashing for more than twenty years).

It was a good experience. Not only is my vision improving, but my eyeballs seems healthy and therefore, according to what I understand, other parts of me may be healthy also. Did you know that during this routine exam, the doctor can see blood circulation in the retinal area and tell something about one's circulatory health and by inference, the condition of other parts of your body? Sure beats sticking something into you (in various indiscreet orifices). An added bonus, the Doctor doesn't have to take off his wristwatch!

What a difference between my exam this morning and the one I endured several weeks ago at a new (in more ways than one) dentist. There, I spent the greater part of an hour's time listening to his office manager declare that my insurance will pay for almost NONE of the care I need. Actually, I had made an appointment for a simple cleaning and exam. Spreading the fear of God in my heart, she let me know that $1500.00 would solve the insurance shortfall. You know what? I got a second opinion! Have you ever gotten a second opinion from a dentist? Well maybe you'll start after age sixty-five, when your insurable human mouth changes into a cash cow.

Now for today's Spiritual input…

"A merry heart does good, like a medicine…" Proverbs 17:22

and you don't need a reimbursement form.

verses? VERSES? We don' need no Biblical Verses!

Way back in the second half of the last century, when I encountered the claim of Christ upon my life and received Him as Savior, there was this song.

"Seek ye first" was the title. It was taken from the Gopel of Matthew, chapter six, verse thirty-three. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Karen Lafferty had set it to music in the heady days of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa CA. God's Spirit was a real presence there and in the lives of many who came to know Him under the teaching of Chuck Smith.

The verse is straight-forward and understandable, the tune is simple and memorable, the effect is wonderful. For all of these past thirty some-odd years (and some were), the tune has resonated in my mind bringing the Scriptures very close. A verse for my life, if you will.

I have sought to seek His Kingdom in the many things I've done. Husband, parent, teacher, pastor and friend, keeping my search in mind. Explaining too, as best I could, the meaning of the words. Even proving - by by pointing to "these things".

But the righteousness?

Lofty Pressures

The last several days have been hard for me. I started a new journey through a daily Bible read-through and the subject of most days has been "Have you done God's bidding?". When a day's reading starts in Nehemiah, rebuilding the wall, you know you'd best get busy!

I have been either disobedient or woefully naive. Probably both. The full realization of this is beginning to make it's way into every morning's prayer and Bible study time. Nehemiah obeyed God at a time when things looked as if they were beyond Divine intervention. God didn't make it easy, but He did make it smooth. The pieces and people all fell into place once Nehemiah's passion was mixed with obedience.

Is this something I should pay more attention to? Passion and obedience - together? No thought for consequences? Results, if any, in God's careful timing? 

The apostle Paul said to King Agrippa in Acts 26:19"… I was not disobedient to the heavenly visions."

Have I been…?