Heaven on Earth

One lucky gentleman experienced a taste of heaven on earth, at least my version of heaven. Darmin Garcia treaded warm 110 degree chocolate for two hours, waiting to be rescued from the factory vat. I'd be 600 lbs by the time I got out, that's for sure.

Another Useful Idiot

Great commentary from Dennis Prager about CBS's Mike Wallace's interview with Iran's President.

Power for Today

I have been blessed by a publication called "Power for Today," a quarterly series of daily devotionals. These short reflections on God and His word are utterly transforming. They are heavy on the truth and reverent to God. I encourage you to subscribe:

Write to:
Power for Today
P.O. Box 40304
Nashville TN, 37204

It's only $9.95 for a year! If you have even less than 5 minutes a day, you too can be blessed by these devotionals. If you like them, why not get your church to distribute them too?

God bless!

Jesus' Response to a Leper

Mark 1:40-44

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."

Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: "See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to th epriest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them."

My God is a god of compassion. Some people question why Jesus would heal people and then command them not to tell anyone else. Wouldn't he want others to hear about the son of God walking among humankind and bestowing miraculous acts of healing on them?

Jesus did want to draw men to God, but he had a timing for those things. I believe that this instance and those of others shows that Jesus was so filled with love that he healed people out of compassion, even when he knew that those people would alter the timing of events.

This is proof that God does not inflict people with disease because he's a cruel being up in the sky. No, Jesus longs to be gracious to us.

Thinking about Leprosy

I've set aside Dicken's The Old Curiosity Shop for a day or two to begin reading The Colony, a true story concerning the leprosy colony of Molokai, written by John Tayman. From what I can tell it is going to be an upsetting read as I learn about those who were left but for dead, miserably existing on an island not fit for human habitation. Sadly, some of the "lepers" who were banished to the island did not even have the disease.

Today we know that the disease is actually a bacterial infection, modernally known as Hansen's disease. When reading about the sad state of existence of those on the Mokolai island, I know already that my mind is going to refer back to those in ancient Israel who were bound by Mosaic law to remain exiled for life. Why would God allow this, much less command it? My answer for now is that I presume God knew the Israelites were not ready to receive a medical identification of leprosy, much less a detailed remedy, which today consists of a drug cocktail therapy. Although few people are genetically able to catch leprosy and of that minority only some are in the active contagious state, God wanted to protect those other genetically susceptible people from ever being exposed to the disease and banishment for that day and age was the best way to stop a spread of leprosy.

And I'm positive that God was with those banished lepers. If your child was a leper living away on a remote island from the general public, wouldn't your heart be continually thinking of your child? Think how much more God's eye was certainly on those stricken sparrows.