Last Week Was Something Old… Today, Something New…

 I’ve just completed studying the book of Jonah and a question that came up for me: Where is Jonah spiritually, at the conclusion of his book? A book that recounts his journey to Nineveh to preach not so much repentance, but… damnation for their “wickedness”. Brother Jonah went in the opposite direction of Nineveh because some speculate he preferred to see them burn - without warning.

Nineveh was an evil wicked place. The people were not of the children of Israel, but pagan and had conquered and enslaved them. Suffice it to say, Jonah did not like them and receiving the Word from God that they would be destroyed was good news to his ears, but the glitch was that God wanted him to tell them of their impeding doom. I’m supposing Jonah saw this Word from God as a bittersweet Word… Kinda like when Jesus says, “Love your enemies… pray for those who persecute you, …And whoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain… Forgive as I forgive you…” … You know those Words. Nice Words in theory but in practice… You get it - bittersweet.

So… the story goes that Jonah left for Tarshish, (opposite direction from Nineveh), but through a series of events, falls into an oddly deep sleep, during a violent storm, (sent by the Lord),… When awakened by the frightened “shipmaster”… seasoned sailors, after they threw their cargo into the sea; suggested that everyone prays to his own god for assistance rather than perish. Jonah, (“the sleeper”), offers the solution of throwing him overboard, (aka a sacrifice of sorts but, also an assisted suicide… Because, it seems that Jonah would rather die before going to Nineveh… (How many of you have said, “I’d rather die than do such and such…” Of course, you probably didn’t mean it, but you said or thought such…). However, Jonah really meant it. Violent storm. Out in the open seas. No life preservers… Sounds like a death wish to me. Jonah, answered their questions concerning who he was, what he’s supposed to be doing and WHO he serves - this was after they casted lots and it fell to Jonah… So game up Jonah! You are running from THE GOD!… The sailors seemed to realize this…and eventually had a come to God moment… and prayed not be held accountable for what they thought was sure death for Jonah… (The sailors “…feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.” Yeah! Conversions!)

But God…

…Sees His child Jonah at his last grasp on reality and has “… prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah”. I’d say reality is not a thing for Jonah at this point - to me this is the stuff of nightmares - for three days and three nights. 

Utter darkness! 

Separation from God.

Separation from people.

Separation from solid ground and stuff of earth.

Stomach acids.

Decay.

Hell.

And seemingly not ending - so what “feels” like an eternity - 

Jonah prays… admittedly not like “They that observe lying vanities, [forsaking] their own mercy.”… But finally being willing to sacrifice with …thanksgiving and do what he vowed and that his salvation is [only] of the Lord… And Jonah [was] vomited upon dry land… 

Jonah! Goes! I’d say he ran to, Nineveh…and preached, (text says, “…and he cried”. Again I don’t think it was for the lost of Nineveh - but sure fire and damnation, because he had had a foretaste of hell), that in 40 days they’d be toast… thus saith the Lord… He was a sight for sore eyes… Remember he had been in stomach acid for 3 days and nights and utter darkness… He had an odor as well… I’m sure he did not care to clean himself up nor get new clothes… Nope. He was just as he was after being vomited upon the dry land… Nothing fancy! Just straight Word of God! And they believed GOD! Everyone… Fasting, sackcloth and sitting in ashes… AND of course, “TURNING from [their] evil ways, and from the violence that [was] in their hands…” Pleading with God to have mercy… and He did… (just like He did with Jonah)…

BUT Jonah was “displeased… exceedingly, and he was very angry”. With GOD!

Dear Brother Jonah made himself a shelter on the east side of the city to watch what would become of the evil Ninevites… God seems to reason with Jonah as he sits and complains about God’s mercy for the people he hates and doesn’t hold anything back about how kind, merciful and gracious God is towards these people… You can almost hear Jonah saying, “I knew You’d do this craziness… It’s why I didn’t want to even bother with them, because of how I knew You were…” Then Jonah wants to die again… saying it’s better to die than to live!…

God: “Really Jonah?”

Then God extends mercy to Jonah, to deliver him from his grief, (provides a fast growing BIG gourd - God likes big sometimes… sometimes small too - enter a worm that causes the gourd to wither)… Jonah gets angry again, and wants to die… Then God questions Jonah, I believe, to help him see the err of his thought processes… The sailors come to know of Jonah’s God and make vows, (perhaps to live for God and share their unbelievable story of salvation). The city of Nineveh repents, “… more than six score thousand persons”. That’s some major preaching that Jonah did and God brought the increase into His Kingdom… 

But dear poor Brother Jonah… is just angry with God and displeased… A good friend of mine said, it’s an open-ended question to the reader… Which is a good thought. 

Where are we when folks we don’t like or care for, change via the power of the Holy Spirit? Do you as a believer, desire folks to go to hell? (I’ve heard believers say some crazy things…). Do you pray for their eyes and hearts to be opened to the things of God? Hell is a real place. Strangely, rarely have I heard sermons on hell, sin, and/or Heaven… You’d think all three topics don’t exist. Truly, a major lie of the devil… causing folks to believe all we gotta do is exist on this rock called earth.  Just exist - to get more stuff, do more stuff… Anything but consider that there is eternity in one of two places - hell or Heaven, and so not even bother to tell folks of these choices… Remember choices have consequences… and we will get to answer for what we did or didn’t do… that were opportunities to share - like Jonah…

 But where is Jonah at the end of his only story in the Bible? And are we like him - at the core… Are you pissed with God when bad, evil people repent? It sounds crazy, but not for some… I wonder if there are shepherds/pastors out there who see their “lost” flocks as - job security - and so keep them “underfeed” and so lost? 

I’m just asking questions… 

Soli Deo Gloria 

Nina 

Another New Year -2025 - Such Potential - Really…

 Greetings to you… 

You’ve stumbled across this blog by divine accident… I am in the process of reviving this blog started over a decade ago… Initially, I started the blog because of a continuing education class I took at Dominican University in River Forest, IL. The things I talked about then was tech stuff for education but after the class, I saw possibilities… Then life happened - more than my life bookshelves could handle and some of the “books of life” fell to the floor because of a lack of bookends - to contain life, (spoiler alert: there was just too much of life to contain)… If you desire to know what books of life fell, you are welcomed to peruse previous postings… Life changes.

With this new year I’ve desired to share mainly questions and ramblings in my head - usually Biblical topics, in hopes of sharing dialogue. I’m also toying with the idea of sharing snippets of a novella I wrote during 2020 - but I think everyone wrote something during that dark time. Still, with my introduction into technology back in the day, I’ve been able to write a plethora of notes at anytime, anywhere on my iPhone. 

The notes/thoughts below aren’t specifically Biblical in nature but, I started them in 2016 which is as far back as this iPhone goes with my recording of thoughts and where I was - a timestamp would be my blog postings during 2016: 

Beginning: 

Summer of 2016

Passing Time - Some live their lives in imaging various scenarios. To me this seems like daydreaming. It passes time, but literally time is indeed passing… consider what could have been accomplished in doing rather than dreaming about something. Of course, unless one is imaging possibilities for actual movement forward then the dream is profitable. It becomes a tool for a step to reality. 

Sadly, I see  too many people stuck in the wheel of going no where - those that are fixated upon sometimes detrimental stuff or worse - lies they tell themselves - and so sink in quicksand.

Here’s one thought that I had for my students:

It’s important to take students out of their comfort zone, so they can learn from mistakes and flat out failures and so encourage them to stretch and reach for something more or even better from within themselves - (raise the bar for themselves, how novel a thought). It’s important to make them think, ask questions - to play out their thoughts and understand that choices have consequences - always.

This last thought comes from March 2017, (It was a thought for a book about my family):

The substance of Clay, is forgiving…  

Afterthought:

Some may be wondering why not start a new blog? 

Father God always works with a remnant - He waste nothing - not even the bad, the old, out-of-date, the castaways, useless… Father sees amazing potential.

Enough said for now…

Soli Deo Gloria

Nina

This is me arriving for pickleball, with my friends in the background 🙃

Who Do You Say You Are?

Father God has always- ALWAYS been faithful... From the rising of the first sun to the moon's arrival on the horizon as the sun began to set... The stars movements, the cool breeze of the noonday, the gusts of wind, the storms, and even the calm of the weather - Father God has done such since the beginning.

 He has NEVER missed a beat. Father God is Who He ALWAYS has been and forever will be… However, it is the goal of the enemy to get everyone to doubt his or her identity and so doubt Father God and then to live in fear. It's what satan did to Adam and Eve, Jesus and so with us… Everybody else… With us it only takes small seeds of doubt - that eventually grow deep from the “fertile” soil of this earth to touch our souls… 

Then sprouts disorientation and then fear… But God! Being IN - immersed - in the Word of God daily is paramount. It’s like being battle ready. If one doesn’t know “who” they are even minimally - having some peace about self - they go through life “trying” out various “selves” to see what “seems right unto themselves” - and so screws self and others - who get mixed up in their search… Woe to those who are trying to be what others say they are… 

 Hence, having the WORD of GOD as one’s foundation is the Bedrock… It’s Truth - God’s Truth. He alone LOVES perfectly and sees who you are! As for me, I am a child of God, a follower of Jesus Christ… Firmly planted in the Word of God. Nina Soli Deo Gloria

"Even in the Shadows" by Nina B.

I walk a tad over a mile to get to Bible study and of course, the same distance to return home. I don’t mind walking, (all the attendees walk - just from varying directions). It’s in the evening and sometimes I get that weirded out feeling, aka fear. The neighborhood has had its share of gang activity, robberies and more - the basic ills of a big city - crime,... Still, I have always believed I am never alone, because my God is with me… One night, as I walked home, on the main street, which is more lit and busier than the residential areas; I had a start, as I saw out of the corner of my eye a shadow. I laughed as I realized it was my own. Father reminded me, I am never alone… He said, “We are always with you”. It was then that I noticed the streetlights casted three shadows at some times and other times one, but as I moved forward and passed streetlights, leaving them behind me, so did my shadows - move… Sometimes at a slant behind me, elongated in front of me, directly to one side of me… Singularly, twos and threes…but always with me because of the light. Likewise, Father is always with me… as close as my breath and even in my shadows. I just need to whisper His name - Jesus, and know that He is with me… with you. Soli Deo Gloria, Nina

"Surely Someone else MUST Have Thought This - "... Because there was no room...""

Today is Nov 22, 2021. I paused before going for my daily walk.(The pic is from a walk from last week). An advent devotional on my table,"Prepare Him Room" by Susie Larson, given by a friend; caught my eye, and so this thought: The stable in which my Savior was born into, literally was and is the condition of the human heart! I know the scripture references as to why there was no rooms in Bethlehem, and why Mary and Joesph ended up in barn, (Luke chapters 1 and 2 a good read to chew upon)... But, so did Father God and I think He likes to use everything to tell His stories and make His points. Of course, I was not in the stable where Jesus was born, however, like most barns anywhere it was anything but pristine - in other words not clean. To be sure there was a dirt floor, complete with bugs, animal dung, half eaten animal feed, (hay, grains, maybe leftover food from the inn given for the animals to finish off - and so maggots). I'm sure the beams/woodwork, gates and stalls were worn, old, weathered. The nails used to hold pieces of wood together were rusted, if they used iron nails. They may have used wooden pegs that may have been broken or burrowed through by termintes... And let's not forget that the barn was dark, OPEN to the elements and public and had ANIMALS... I think you've got the picture. Not a five star Inn. Would Mary have tried to tidy her sleeping quarters - was that a possibility - she was "great with child"? Did Joesph try? They had just traveled some miles for days... I suppose they were both overwhelmed to put it mildly... They both did their best to clean up and settle end for the adventure that was just beginning... But in the barn... Where Jesus the Son of God came into the world... into the heart. Hearts before Jesus are: dark, dirty filled with unwanted vermin, oddly some invited. Without care or concern the heart hardens, breaks, turns cold... Some hearts are so deep in need of repair that people don't even believe they are in need of anything... It is into these hearts, (everyone), that Jesus desires to come. He makes every effort to make a home in such places... He desires to wash such hearts with His very blood - the only thing that can "prepare him room". Jesus is the ONLY ONE who can prepare His room - our hearts. No more could Mary and Joseph prepare the stable for His birth, can we prepare our hearts. It is only Jesus - His grace via His Blood. Soli Deo Gloria, Nina B. I should note: The formatting of this post and others are off! It bothers me a bit that I do not see the paragraphs or breaks I've used prior to pulishing. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but no doubt it's the age of this blog and there was something I was supposed to do a while ago and didn't...But it's ok... :-)

Another Year

Another Year By Nina B.

On the eve of another birthday, I give thanks - always to my Father God… I hear the words of my mother, “You’re not supposed to be here.” She was referencing my near death experience sometime before my first birthday - I had developed double pneumonia as the story goes and children of the fifties and low birth weights didn’t usually survive, but I did… Father God had other plans and I, like everyone, am supposed to accomplish something for Father God’s Kingdom. I remember other near death experiences - the attack of a dog as I walked to St. Dorothy’s Catholic Church for a Girl Scout outing. I remember running across the street in front of a car, falling and then sliding on my hand-sewn plastic mat… I gasped as did others,... my attending angels as well… The rabid dog I think they anticipated… Me running in front of the car took some quick thinking and unseen action… Then there was the one that was seen, some years later - another trip - this time as a high school senior to Jamaica and I was bored with my friends and their antics and I decided to leave the group and went for a walk… in the dark, up a hilly road... with nothing but my Pentax single-lens-reflex camera… I may have had my library card as identification... What was I thinking? Clearly, I was not! At the top of the hill there was a man that I was not afraid of passing, so as I walked passed but he extended his hand and kindly said, “Hey soul sister.” I extended my hand to shake his hand but he held onto my hand, (which did alarm me), and said calmly, “Soul sister, you better get back down the road to your friends.” He didn’t need to say it twice. I didn’t question why, but obeyed. I walked at first, but then skipped into a jog… Turned of course, to look back, but he was gone… Some quick thinking and a seen action… I have written about how Father God takes care of babies and fools… Thank You Father! So on this eve of a not so momentous birthday… I have cause to reflect - which I do often, I just rarely write about any of my thoughts these daze… As a Christ follower, I simply enjoy and give thanks for the quiet and the time to think - I am retired from teaching, but certainly not life… I am very careful about how I spend my time. Remember no one - not one, can buy more time. So, I live my life and days and try to be respectful of others living their lives. I choose to read, do art and go outside and walk for hours everyday and talk and smile at strangers… This is something that many people don’t do anymore, seemingly out of fear… but we all make choices… I have noted as I have gotten older, along with family and friends, and especially those who have died; there are some things I don’t want to be remembered for: Living in fear is definitely at the top of my list. Being known for how clean my house is - to the point of having a museum for a living room. Having things that I couldn’t part with and so holding onto stuff as if it were mine. Leaving people untouched - physically and emotionally - this is horrid and sinful. I want people to know that I would and do Speak truth Stand firm Do what is right according to the Word of God - the Bible. And love my Father God with all my heart. When I was young I used to wonder about what I would get for my birthday, but as I got older my query turned into what did I do with the time I was given… Have I done what I was supposed to do, since in mama’s words, I’m “not supposed to be here.”? Truly, only Father knows and as long as He gives me life, I get to do something for His Kingdom everyday! Everyday is a gift! Soli Deo Gloria, Til He blows the final trumpet… Nina B.

Time is Short and Hell is Hot

 Time is Short and Hell is Hot

By Nina B.

 The beach where I walk - Dec. 2020 Chgo.

On the cusp of nearly two years ago I posted a blog - "Steppin' into Sixty and More..." and wrote these words along with lots more, (I like words):-)

Beauty Queens:

Weathered beauty wrapped up in layers of cloth - old and dusty... One never knows who has sat in the seat where you chose to sit.

I am sure most folks had not a clue what I was talking about. When I rode the trains to work, (I'm retired now and so walk whenever I wish-instead of riding); I would see, what seemed to be, two really old women. They were homeless sisters - so I discovered. There used to be three. Their mom was one of them, but had died, per my train engineer acquaintance. They were not usual homeless people. They, like some, seemed to have chosen their path and were determined not to venture from their course. They moved about with purpose and intent - more so than some folks with more "stuff" and a place to call home. They were dignified and sophisticated. You could barely make out their faces through the layers, but what they did share of themselves was clean, calming and caring.

My mind wandered back to this posting because, I encountered a person who either was unsure of themselves or wanted to impress me. It's not necessary to go into the details, but I got to thinking about what was shared and what was not... This person seemed void of a meaningful relationship with the only being that matters - God. It makes them empty and only left with "stuff" about themselves that really in the end, matters little - quite literally - has no saving grace. It is not my intent to be condescending - what was shared was admirable accomplishments, however, talked about in a boastful manner. (I think you had to have been there). 

Sometimes people have asked about my family... I have six kids, then ... human judgement befalls me... The next question is... "Well what of your husband?"... "You're divorced?!?"... "Well, what did you do?"... "What's wrong with you?"... "But, you're supposed to be a Christian?" ... There's a whole lot of ugly and humiliation and contempt... and scorn... Sometimes from the church and sometimes just nosey people... So I tend to keep to folks who are within my inner circle, (my youngest son teases and says, "I have no friends..."), or who are here online, who I hopefully will meet in Glory or sadly, not at all...

Which brings me to the "Time is Short and Hell is Hot"... The person I initially spoke of, who thought of themselves rather highly, spoke about how they were exploring other options of divinity. They kinda sounded like they had made a judgement about what I had offered in terms of Jesus as Savior and so, what they were "exploring" seemed more appealing - I guess! They admittedly glanced at the packaging and kinda gave the impression... "Jesus... Nahhh!... Not my style... I'm good"... 

Now the connection to the "Weathered Beauties"... One never knows what's inside the gift unless you receive the package... The enemy, that wily devil, is gonna make his package look appealing on the surface - It's sure to be shiny and pretty and have all the bells and whistles of a new truck... But, did you look at that engine...It was loud, shaking, smoking and did you see the oil leaking? I know the enemy told you not to bother about those little incidentals... But, it will surely rust and become broken and old, (really fast), and will not deliver in the end - to the end... When you need it most.

Father God is and has been pursuing you relentlessly... even while you made the poor judgements... He saw you fall so you could learn to bounce back... but, to HIM! It was He, that whispered your name. It wasn't just the old lady that saw your lostness through Father God's eyes. He had the story of your ups and downs all written out before time even started... It was He that extended The Gift, Jesus...

Don't believe the lie from the devil that you too can be enough with-out God and worse - that you can BE as god! That's what got the devil kicked out of Heaven, (aka HOME). The devil wants you with him! ...Standing condemned to hell, (NOT HOME). The devil would have you believing, what you foolishly believe as truth, (that by the way - doesn't hold water), as something that would "cover" your sin - hide your sin from GOD. That didn't work for Adam and Eve! and it never will work... I could go back over biblical example after example, but I know you're already tired of reading... SO... READ the BIBLE! The Holy Spirit will guide you... Old Testament -Isaiah, Daniel, Psalms; New Testament - Luke, Acts, Romans, Ephesians... just READ! 

Time IS short... and hell IS HOT! I don't want anybody to go there... I truly don't... Get over yourself and surrender to Father God - please. During the final daze of this 2020 year... Grab hold to the outstretched hand of Jesus. Please - for yourself.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Nina B.

Along the broad walk - Dec. 2020 Chgo.