Deep Calls

" A voice is heard in Ramah,  weeping and great mourning,  Rachel weeping for her children  and refusing to be comforted,  because they are no more." Matthew 2:1-18 The old man stood in the shadows, leaning on the doorway, letting it bear his weight. He gazed at his wife as she sat in the corner of a now dark room. She held a small boy in her lap; she hummed and stroked his hair. He looked back over his shoulder, turning as the door opened.  "Oh Anna! You have come again. Thank you. "Is she going to be alright? I do not know   ...  I . . .              do not know.          ...  will any of us  ~ ever ~ be alright? This is a nightmare ~ we are all living in a nightmare! She sits and rocks him -- will not put him down. The first nights she slept by his bed ~ when she slept.  Thank you, Anna, thank you so much for coming. I could not leave her w...

Such a sweet couple...I won't forget them, that is sure! I wonder about them... I saw them last before the slaughter.  I wasn't there when they came. So much to do with the travelers and the Romans in and out. And Eli -- I could not believe! He put them in the stable!!!! Said he didn't even see she was with child ~ the LUNK!! He thought they looked tired, and just as he was about to turn them away, he thought of the stable. HUH! He could have put those camel drivers in the stable...how could he not have seen?? It was in the night...a funny night it was...it had been cold and drear all the week, but that night the stars shone so it looked almost like day. And there was music in the night ~ Eli said it was a dream, but I heard it clear as clear ... even above his snoring! It was in the night I found out about them. After the music, I heard a commotion in the yard, yammering and talking and the baaing of sheep. "oy! and what now??" We went, Eli and I -- thin...

  "And there were shepherds living out in the fields near by...an angel of the Lord appeared to them ..." "I have always loved this view ~    the hills green, dotted with the sheep." "I especially love being here on this side when it is their night where I can look  up  into these stars.  It is so quiet for them -- such a silent night." "Look! The shepherds are asleep...hmmmm, well, mostly . . ." "Wait, there  -- see a few  -- there and there -- are on watch. Their eyes like eagles scan the darkness for shadows moving where they should not, but --" "We have no shadows!" They are a wonder ~ men ~ don't you think?" "Remember David, sitting there alone?" "Yes, just there  ~ with that harp, singing to his sheep, and to Him on all those dark nights." "He is to call Himself David's Son, you know. It is, I think --  it is for him, for David, that we greet these men with this ne...

Pain subsiding. Breathing out, she opened her eyes and looked into his. His eyes were dark with concern, stormy with his fear for her, and for the baby. His jaw set. "No, Joseph. I am OK. They are  ~ well ~ not close." She turned her hand and held it to her belly, "There! See, he kicks and plays. We are fine." A solid smack hit squarely on Joseph's hand, making them both laugh. As she readjusted her seating, Joseph gripped the lead and lengthened his stride. "Not long now. We will be there before the nightfall. Then a room and a bed .... " She saw beyond the smile he gave with his mouth to the storm in his eyes. " Oh, he has more to carry than I."  She remembered their story in flashes : The first time she saw him, setting down a load of wood, to lift a tiny girl from the dust where she had fallen, his voice tender, his eyes soft. The first time she caught his eyes. She had looked up from the well into his eyes. The world had st...

The Old Scroll "Alexi !!!  Here you are! When you were late to dinner ... again ... I finally came looking. I must say Sari is annoyed. She made lamb.  Reading the old scrolls again, Alexi...ALEXI!?" Looking up as if coming from a long way off and just now noticing his friend, "Ah Beltzi. . . .OH DINNER !!  I am sorry. I just meant to stop by for just a moment. Ahhh...its dark.!  Oh, I am so sorry! Come, is it too late? May we stop on the way? I must bring a gift to Sari to apologize." " ... and then the camels spit, right on the bundles ~ Alexi, are you even listening? Where are you? What has come over you lately?" "It is the scrolls, the old ones ... " "The scrolls? Again the scrolls? I love study as much as the next man, and I always thought MORE than you until ... what is it?" "I don't know, I swear they haunt me! I ... i dream of them. No, don't laugh ~ I do! I think of them all day and find no peace ti...

This is how Gad starts the end of the story of David: These are the last words of David: 2 Sam 23:1-8 "The oracle of David son of Jesse, the oracle of the man exalted by the Most High, the man anointed by the God of Jacob, Israel's singer of songs:  "The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; his word was on my tongue. The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: 'When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth.' "Is not my house right with God? Has he not made with me an everlasting covenant, arranged and secured in every part? Will he not bring to fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire? But evil men are all to be cast aside like thorns, which are not gathered with the hand. Whoever touches thorns uses a tool of iron or the shaft of a spear; they are burned up where the...

This is how Gad starts the end of the story of David: 2 Sam 23:1-8 These are the last words of David: "The oracle of David son of Jesse, the oracle of the man exalted by the Most High, the man anointed by the God of Jacob, Israel's singer of songs:  "The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; his word was on my tongue. The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: 'When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth.' "Is not my house right with God? Has he not made with me an everlasting covenant, arranged and secured in every part? Will he not bring to fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire? But evil men are all to be cast aside like thorns, which are not gathered with the hand. Whoever touches thorns uses a tool of iron or the shaft of a spear; they are burned up where they...

I am going to be reposting some old blogs. (Who is reading this? I wonder... ah, well, who ever you are, I am not even sure why I am telling you this. It just feels more honest to admit this.) I have been in a dry spell ~ the place inside that can hear creative words, that place has been silent for a long, long time. Going into that place inside me, it is echo-y, vacant. But I would like to try again. So, the best way I can think to do that is to re-read, and re-post some old blogs that catch my eye and heart. I am hoping for a spark that will help me fill that place inside again, with  ~  who knows what.

Psalms 34  Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.                                                                                                                                                    ...

Jonah  is a short book: 47 verses long. You can read it, quite literally, in minutes even if  you read v    e    r    y  slowly. But ~ so much happens!!! Jonah gets instructions from God. Jonah says, "No way!!" and goes on an extended trip. God chases Jonah with a storm. Jonah gets confronted by some VERY angry sailors . . . and ultimately he suggests that he should be thrown overboard. God sends a big fish to swallow him. Jonah prays a wonderful, very worshipful prayer...after sitting in big-fish stomach guck for 3 days. ( can anyone say 'stubborn'?!?) Jonah goes to Nineveh and gives, like, a 1 sentence ultimatum-esk prophecy against the city. Nineveh repents!!!! Jonah throws a fit, sits up on a hill in a snit, and God confronts him...with poignant wit. THE END My summary may even be longer than the whole book. Right? Ahhhh! But it's the  story!! So...things I love about this story!! 1) Jonah tells G...

OK...see the map?   1 <--------------  Hamath:   way  up here <----------  between Dan and Mt. Hermon : northern-most border of Israel...most of the time <---------  Samaria : capital of Israel, the Northern Kingdom <--------- Sea of Arabah way down here "Yeah...", I hear you saying. "WHY do I care?" Well this blog, as you obviously know, from the title, is about Jeroboam II and Jonah...Jonah, the "I got swallowed by a whale" Jonah. That help? No? OK. Well I included this map because I have been reading and thinking about the Jonah story. Just about everyone ... even if they are not a Christian ... likely has at least a sketchy idea about the Jonah and the whale story. (If for some reason you do not have working knowledge of the book, or even if the last time you read it was...well, maybe Sunday School ... go now and read it. It isn't long.) It is taught in every Sunday school class; it is used as a common metap...

Jonah is a short book: 47 verses long. You can read it, quite literally, in minutes even if  you read v    e    r    y  slowly. But ~ so much happens!!! Jonah gets instructions from God. Jonah says, "No way!!" and goes on an extended trip. God chases Jonah with a storm. Jonah gets comfronted by some VERY angry sailors . . . and ultimately thrown overboard. God sends a big fish to swallow him. Jonah prays a wonderful, very worshipful prayer. Jonah goes to Nineveh and gives, like, a 1 sentence ultimatum-esk prophecy against the city. Nineveh repents!!!! Jonah throws a fit, sits up on a hill in a snit, and God confronts him...with poignant wit. THE END My summary may even be longer than the whole book. Right? Ahhhh! But it's the story!! So...things I love about this story!! 1) Jonah tells God, "NO!" Jonah is a prophet!!! He clearly loves God...know Him well. The book starts with a prophet refusing to obey God....

The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish.   Jonah 1:1-3 I can see him... stomping through his room, stuffing things randomly into a bag. His hand grabbing his mantle. Then he freezes. His jaw clenched, he clutches his mantle in a tight fist and he hesitates . . . in the bag? leave it behind? The word God told him to take to Nineveh was the last straw.  " Find yourself another prophet! ", rages through his head, but sticks in his throat. To leave the mantle, the symbol of his anointing and ministry as a prophet...it would be final, really final. Shaking his head, Jonah stuffs the mantle into the bag, and storms off, slamming the door. We can guess pretty safely that he had been living in or near Samaria since he did in fact give Jeroboam the word about expanding the territory. I think that th...