find the matching (or not-so-matching) siblings

The Yellow Cave

It may come as a shock to many, but humans are still cavemen. Let me explain. We build rock edifices of brick, stone, or concrete and then end up spending the majority of our lives inside these carved rock passageways. We even make caves to get to caves. These mobile caves allow us to arrive at caves of eating, amusement, or even sleep. Thus man has not overly advanced in the last century, but has merely modified an old theme.

I was party, of recent days, to one caving expedition that involved a yellow cave of eating and two cavewomen and one caveman (myself).


Cavewoman 1 (Christy Kurtz-below left)

Cavewoman 2 (Sarah Paris-above right)




Within this cave were expert hunter gatherers that fed two of the party fine cave food.





An industrial age instrument was played to the delight of the hunter gatherers.




One of the hunter gatherers chanced to allow a hair to fall upon the food of my fellow cavewomen. It was with the greatest of revulsions that I carefully removed the unwanted protein globule.
It should be noted that a combative cavemen entered the cave after feeding time for my fellow cavewomen was completed. I was then grateful for accompanying my fellow cavewomen to the cave of eating that was yellow.

Womankind

From the departure from Adam's side, to the eating of the forbidden fruit, to the seduction of her husband, Eve started a pattern of descent for women. The result was a curse in child birth and subjection to the husband (Gen 3:16).Following the fall, out of the two human members, the weakest was the woman. In society women have been for most of time behind or under the shadow of this curse. But as John Bunyan relays in the Pilgrim's Progress: the valley of humility is where Christ loved to dwell. In women's humility, Christ's power was demonstrated to turn any curse into a blessing. Through Christ women were restored to higher then they were before the fall. The amazing character of the gospel is manifested thus. Instead of remembering that a woman brought sin into the world, it will be remembered that a woman brought Jesus into the world! Furthermore, it was women that ministered to the hunger of Christ (Mat 27:55, Mar 15:40-41, John 4, Luke 10:40-41). It was a woman that cried on his feet preparing him for burial (Matt 26:7-13). It was women that sought first to continue to anoint his body after his death (Mat 28:5, Luk 24:22). It is ultimately a woman that is made to represent the church (Eph 5:23, Ezek 16). In Christ the curse has been lifted (Gal 3:10,13). In Christ, the verse is made true that she shall be called blessed and no longer cursed (Luke 1:48,Gen 30:13, Prov 31:2,Luke 1:45, Jdg 5:24).

Lion Kiss

A good forward? (Is it possible?)

Little Zachary was doing very badly in math. His
parents had tried everything... Tutors, Mentors, flash
cards, Special learning centers. In short, everything They could think of to help his math.
Finally, in a last ditch effort, they took Zachary
down and enrolled him in the local Catholic school.
After the first day, little Zachary came home with a
very serious look on his face. He didn't even kiss
his mother Hello. Instead, he went straight to his
room and started studying. Books and papers were spread out
all over the room and little Zachary was hard at work.
His mother was amazed. She called him down to
dinner.
To her shock, the minute he was done, he marched back
to his room without a word, and in no time, he was
back hitting the books as h ard as before. This went
on for some time, day after day, while the mother
tried to understand what made all the difference.
Finally, little Zachary brought home his report card.
He quietly laid it on the table, went up to his room
and hit the books. With great trepidation, his Mom
looked at it and to her great surprise,
little Zachary got an "A" in math. She could no
longer hold her curiosity.
She went to his room and said, "Son, what was it? Was
it the nuns?"
Little Zachary looked at her and shook his head, no.
"Well, then," she replied, "Was it the books, the
discipline, the structure, the uniforms? WHAT WAS IT
ALREADY?"
Little Zachary looked at her and said, "Well, on the
first day of school when I saw that guy nailed to the
plus sign, I knew they weren't fooling around."

Merry Tossmas

Davidian Obsession

What is it that God is obsessed with? What is it that makes the "heart" of the omnipotent throb? Perhaps discovering what obsessed the mind of a man whose heart was like God's will prove a fruitful study.
The Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart (1 Sam 13:14, Acts 13:22).
And the Davidian obsession was...the sanctuary. Here's why I think so.

1. He really really wanted to build the sanctuary, but God said no.
(2 Sam 7)

2. He saved up all his money and was the source of the funding for Solomon's temple."set my affection on the house of God"
(1 Chron 29:1-4, Mat 6:21, Luk 12:34)

3. He writes of the sanctuary over and over again in the Psalms, here are a few eg's:
Psalm 63 -in a land devoid of the water of life, the sanctuary restores his soul
Psalm 73 -didn't understand until he went into the sanctuary
Psalm 77 -God's way is in the sanctuary

4. Organized all the priests of the temple for Solomon (1 Chron 23,24).

5. He drew up the plans for the sanctuary, "which God showed him" (1 Chron 28:11-19)

How does the sanctuary show what makes God tick?
The sanctuary is the way back to heaven. Once we get to heaven the sanctuary is gone (Rev 21:22). Why? Because it has served its purpose. The obsession of God, like David, is the sanctuary. More specifically it is the end, which the means or the sanctuary provides that is the reason that the sanctuary is God's obsession. And the ends, well, that was the joy set before Christ (Heb 12:2, Isa 53:11), the jewels that make up the crowns of evangelists, bible workers, and pastors (Mal 3:17, 1 Thess 2:19), one of only two things that we can take to heaven, something that won't be able to be numbered (Rev 7:9)......SOULS, that is God's obsession, that was David's obsession, is it your obsession?