Everyone seems to think there are dark, sinister forces behind the bad things that are going on in the world. Well there are, they just aren’t what most people speculate. This is where conspiracy theories come from — speculation about what is behind the evil in the world.
John the Baptist lost his head over sticking his nose into the king’s private business. King Herod had an affair with Herodias, his brothers wife, and he ended up taking her to be his wife. John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry her” (Matthew 14:4). Herod had wanted to kill John over this, but he feared the people who thought of John as a prophet (which he obviously was). But when the daughter of Herodias won the king’s favor by dancing for him at his birthday party, he promised her anything she wanted, and at the insistence of her mother, she requested the head of John the Baptist.
The mockingbirds are back. They are amazing. The average mockingbird has around 200 different songs. Most of them they have picked up from different birds (thus their name). Some of their sounds mimic even non-bird sounds. One bird in our neighborhood must have been around someone who is very thankful because he has a part of his song that is a dead-ringer for, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” It’s an incredible natural reminder to live a grateful life.
While the ministry continues to serve the Catch community each and every day, the “Catch” is taking a “time-out” this week to meet a request by a known film producer to complete the screenplay for one of John’s books, Saint Ben, a story about two young boys who become locked in a futile attempt to save one of them and the 1958 Edsel from extinction, where both become classics in the process. While the results could be an extraordinary opportunity to present our faith on a secular stage, the recommended script enhancements require a concerted focus to succinctly thread the many parts together.
On another exciting note, we are thrilled to announce that the talented voice actor Bob Souer is currently lending his voice to bring Saint Ben to life in the form of an audiobook. His expertise and dedication to the project are sure to make this adaptation a memorable one.
So don’t sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! Clear the path for long-distance runners so no one will trip and fall, so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle. Help each other out. And run for it! Hebrews 12:12-13 MSG
Lest you think this is our own manipulation of the word of God in order to wake everyone up, it’s not. It’s from Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible known as The Message, and what he is trying to capture here, in modern vernacular, is not his own interpretation, but the essence of what is in the original manuscripts. These verses harken back to the opening statement of Hebrews 11 which urges us to jettison any excess baggage and run with perseverance the race that is before us. (That would be the race of our lives.)
What have I ever done to deserve even one
Of the pleasures I’ve known?
What did I ever do that was worth loving You
For the kindness You’ve shown?
from the song “Why Me, Lord?” by Kris Kristofferson
Jesus calls us to run to Him. He tells us to come, and come now! This is not just intellectual assent to Christ as the Son of God or even accepting Him as our savior; it is about running to Jesus and throwing ourselves entirely at His mercy. This is realizing that no good thing dwells in us. We are unworthy to even be in His presence. Yet He calls us to Himself, and because of His death on the cross on our behalf, wonder of all wonders, He accepts us. When you realize His forgiveness, you come running. You want to get there before He changes His mind. (He won’t, but that’s how it feels!) Continue reading
“Run to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
Yes, I know that it actually says “Come to me,” but I looked up the derivation of the word “come” and found it is the Greek word, “deute” which is an exclamatory statement that translates to, “Come! Come now!” That sounds a lot like “run” to me. It is an active, passionate word. You run to the Lord when you realize He is your only hope. You run to the Lord when you realize He wants a personal relationship with you. You run to the Lord when you are being threatened on all sides by enemies. You run to the Lord when no one notices you — you feel invisible — but He sees everything. He’s always there for you. You run to the Lord when you know He is waiting for you with open arms. No dillydallying.
I have been asked to write a new song — a song of deliverance and hope — “a song that will bring testimony of God’s glory, and that will cause those that have no hope to hear and run towards the Lord and not away from Him.”
When I first heard this word proclaimed to me, I was inspired by the last line — that those with no hope might run towards the Lord and not away from Him. The way I took it was that there were currently those without hope who might be led, for whatever reason, to run away from Him, and I was to turn that around with a song — a song that would lead those with no hope to run to Jesus.
“Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others.” Habakkuk 2:2
Two words stick out to me in this directive to Habakkuk. “Plainly” and “correct.” I wonder why God thought it important to include them. Write it “plainly” says to me, “Don’t complicate the message. Don’t embellish it. Don’t be smart about it.” And it’s something you can actually get down on a tablet, so it’s not long and involved. And the second word probably fits with it, because if the message is plain and uncomplicated there’s less of a chance of it being misunderstood.
Habakkuk had a complaint against God. If I’d been given a name like Habakkuk, I would complain, too. Actually, in his native tongue, Habakkuk is a beautiful name that means embracer, or one who embraces. It suggests the picture of a father whose son has been injured by some passing bully and he gathers up the hurt child and comforts him while bitterness enters his own heart, crying in perplexity, “Why doesn’t God do something? How can a just God permit such wrong?”
John Fischer The Catch 