I Received an Award

KC, My dear brother from down south, has nominated me for the "nice matters" award. I think he really deserved it because he is always very nice. (Then again, there was that ONE time .... hehe)

Thank you, KC!

Messianic Prophecy

14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (Matthew 2:14-15)

I was looking over this passage. Matthew says that Mary and Joseph took Jesus to Egypt so that the prophecy from Hosea would be fulfilled. So I decided to look up the actual scripture reference in Hosea that Matthew was using: (I am doing this more and more lately)

1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him,
And out of Egypt I called My son.
2 As they called them,
So they went from them;
They sacrificed to the Baals,
And burned incense to carved images. (Hosea 11:1-2)

Do you think that the Jews knew that Hosea 11:1 was a Messianic prophecy?

The Funniest Video I Have Ever Seen

YouTube - Granny Air Bag

Tony Blair or Barack Obama?

On a trip to Great Britain while he was President of the United States, Bill Clinton had a meeting with Queen Elizabeth. During that meeting he asked her, "How does one manage to run a country so smoothly?"

"That's easy," the Queen replied, "You surround yourself with intelligent ministers and advisors."

"But how can I tell whether or not they are intelligent?" asked Bill.

"You ask them a riddle," the queen replied, then pressed a button and asked the attendant

"Please have Mr. Tony Blair come in." When Blair arrived, the Queen said, "I have a riddle for you. Your parents had a child and it was not your sister and it was not your brother. Who was this child?"

Blair replied, "That's easy. The child was me."

"Very good," said the Queen. "You may go now, and thank you."

Evaluating his wife's chances for the success of her presidential bid, and thinking back on his meeting with the queen, Bill Clinton spoke to Hillary. "I have a riddle for you, and the answer is very important. Your parents had a child and it was not your sister and it was not your brother. Who was that child ?"

Hillary blinked, then replied, "Yes, it is clearly very important that we determine the answer. Can I deliberate on it for awhile?"

"Yes," said Bill, "I'll give you four hours to come up with your answer."

So Hillary called a meeting of her campaign team, and from top to bottom asked them to solve the riddle. However, after much discussion and many suggestions, none of them had a satisfactory answer. Hillary was quite upset, not knowing what she would tell her husband, the former President. As she was leaving the meeting, she ran into the most formidable challenger to her presidential nomination, Mr. Barack Obama.

So she said, "Mr. Obama, can you answer this riddle for me? Your parents had a child and it was not your sister and it was not your brother. Who was the child?"

"That's seems pretty easy," said Obama, "I think the child would be me."

"Oh, thank you!" said Hillary. "You just may have ensured my nomination for the Democratic Party's candidate for the Presidency of the United States!"

So Hillary went back to Bill and said, "I think I know the answer to your riddle. The child was Barack Obama!"

"What the?...no, you dummy!" shouted Bill. "The child was Tony Blair..."

Wrapping Up Romans 9 and what is not a "Terrible Decree"

27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved. 28 For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth."

Paul is certainly talking a lot about Israel. He references Isaiah 10:22. After reading that chapter - Isaiah is telling the people of Israel not to worry about the Assyrians because the LORD will deal with them after He has used them for His purpose of chastising His people. Even though they are so many... as the sand of the sea... He will save a remnant of Israel. They are not to have expected to float through the times of the Gentiles as a "successful nation" without chastisement for having turned from the Lord. They had prepared themselves for this destruction. When the kingdom comes, as described in chapter 11 of Isaiah, there will be a remnant. There had been chastisement and destruction, but there will also be fulfillment of the promises and mercy.

29 And as Isaiah said before: "Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And we would have been made like Gomorrah."

Paul goes back to Isaiah 1:9. In that chapter, the Lord opens the book of Isaiah expressing His wrath toward the people of Israel in no uncertain terms. If God had not shown mercy for their shortcomings, the nation of Israel would be no better of than the worst of the gentiles! He also calls them to reason together how their sins can be washed away.

What is Paul's point in referring to these passages in Isaiah? As Paul has been saying all along, some of the Israelites are receiving mercy at this time ... but so are some of the gentiles! The Jews did not deserve to find favor with God. Jacob wasn't any better than Essau. The gentiles do not deserve to find favor with God, either. No one deserves this mercy and grace. All have fallen short. He points out that the nation Israel has failed in faithfulness, in large part. This is to put to rest the idea that the fellowship of believers is a Jewish thing. Yes, the Jews will find mercy... and so will the Gentiles... through faith... which is not a Jewish thing like law was, but a thing that transcends the law, and the nation.

30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness 32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. 33 As it is written: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."

There Paul turns to Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16. This is why we are in this age, the times of the gentiles. The Jews had, by and large, stumbled at the Rock, but all those who believe in Him will be a part of the church, the current expression of the household of God, in faith.

This chapter was not about "the terrible decree."
It was about God patiently working through history,
through His chosen people the Jews,
through His own intervention in what they had made to be a mess of things,
through his Son, Jesus Christ... to make a way for all people to come to Him in faith, both Jew and gentile.

"You are not My people"

Just to remind me where we left off:
22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

(More on Romans 9):25 As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved." 26 “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘ You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God."

OK, so I am back looking at Romans 9, but again, it is taking me to the Hebrew Scriptures. Here looking at the first and second chapters of Hosea, I see that God is giving a description of the unfaithfulness of his people Israel. He speaks of their horrors and how they had sold themselves to the Baals. He says that He will win them once again and will woo them and that they, who had been unfaithful, will be faithful then. He says very plainly in Hosea 1:9 that they are not His people anymore... and He is not their god. This is perhaps the destruction that is spoken of in verse 22 of Romans 9. It is a separation of God and His people Israel. But wait! They will once again be known as the chosen people of God, they will once again find mercy. Paul uses this passage to say that God had planned to show mercy to a group of unfaithful people - the Jews. These Jews were receiving mercy in the prophecy of Isaiah. God had divorced them in a sentence, but He said He would restore them in the next!

Paul says in like manner, the Gentiles who had served other gods would also receive mercy in spite of their errors. Hosea is not talking about Gentiles, but Paul is applying the mercy Hosea speaks about to the Gentiles. At first glance, I thought Hosea's point was more that of Paul, but after reading it over and over and the Romans 9 over and over again, I get a different picture. What do you think? Here: go to Bible Gateway and read chapters 1 and 2 of Hosea and see if he is talking about Gentiles there.

A Public Service Announcement

Hi those who read this blog! Thank you for visiting here. I am going to continue and finish my study of Romans 9 this week. I just got done posting on UoG and now I need to be a parent - school is out today, teacher in service day. So maybe I will start on that later. I just wanted to let you know since I haven't posted in almost a week. Thanks!

Meeting a Blogger from California

With my husband’s blessing, I took the baby Levi on an airplane and went to California last Wednesday for my neice’s (sister’s daughter) wedding. She got married on Laguna Beach, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, on Friday. It was simply beautiful. My other sister was also there from Colorado with her 15 year old son, as was one of my brothers from here in the Toledo area, and my mother. John stayed behind to care for our other three children and hold down the fort while the baby and I were away.

We all stayed in a hotel right on the beach for three nights during the wedding festivities, as my sister lives about an hour from there. The weather was lovely.


On Saturday, I met Antonio da Rosa – you know – the one with the blue book “Absolutely Free!” as his avatar. I drove halfway… and Antonio drove halfway… so that we could meet for lunch. We went to a “Hawaiian Barbeque.” I had chicken. Antonio ate three different things. One of the things looked like a jelly roll, but instead of jelly, it had spicy pork inside. The other was cabbage and shredded pork, and I can’t remember what the third thing was. Antonio was such a gentleman – he picked up the tab so graciously.

We talked about our group blog, about Antonio’s upcoming missions trip and about our families. He prayed in such a touching way. I had told him about my mother and how Catholic she is. He prayed that the light of Christ would shine through me and that she would desire to know Him, because of watching my life. (This was actually a very convicting prayer, even though I did not tell that to Antonio at the time.)

I have received emails from Antonio since almost right after he began blogging. My husband and I have spoken to him on the phone several times, so I already knew that he was very kind. He was even nicer in person and very unassuming. My husband describes him as ‘on fire for the Lord.’ I think that is a safe description, after having gotten to know him. I know he has taken a lot of guff for some of his beliefs and there are some things that I even take issue with, but certainly Antonio is a gift from God to all those who know him.

On my trip home I was pulled aside in the security line. I had to be wanded with the metal detector as I held the baby in one arm and lifted the opposing arm, and then switched. This security lady patted me down thoroughly. It must have been quite a sight! I suppose it was the coins in my pocket that caused all the trouble.

I had a wonderful time in California seeing my family and watching my niece get married. I also had a great time meeting one of my blogging friends. Still, nothing beats the familiarity of one’s own bed!