Fatherless Cntd.

So who are the fatherless? If we don't know who they are, then how can we help them? The NIV calls them fatherless, and the NLT calls them orphans. Perhaps we can see farther. Farther into the worlds hurt and trouble through the eyes of God. He can help us understand. History says that in the times of the Hebrew, each of the children would be fed and nurtured by the mother, and taught by the father. The father would teach them everything they know as soon as he could. This is crucial, because they didn't live long then. A Hebrew would learn under his father until he died. His father would teach him to run the business. Jesus' father would have taught him about all the different types of wood that a carpenter should know: their uses, their strengths, and weaknesses. He would be there at the first carving, as Jesus messed up his most beautiful masterpiece, and He would watch His father carefully carve a new one. Without a father he would have been hopeless. He would have lacked the skill to make something sellable and provide for himself and his widowed mother. Hopeless. In our society, divorce is worse than ever. The fatherless, boys and girls need the church to come along side and teach them how to live. They need an individual to come along side them and help them learn to survive and thrive in the world. Even if they have God there will be feelings that need dealt with, and they will be looking for someone to fill that void. If there is someone that you know who has lost a father figure, or a mother figure, it is your mission to help them find out what worth they are and to fight for their cause. They feel abandoned, and it’s time a Christian stepped into their life. Maybe you can't go and help out at an orphanage. Maybe you don't have room in your house for an extra child, but you can be a mentor.

Fatherless Commentary

I was doing a bible study on the Fatherless. I found that passages on the fatherless start in Deuteronomy and continue through the Minor Prophets. All three of the Major Prophets (Is, Jer, & Ez) have a few verses on it. When a verse mentions the fatherless, it always mentions at least one or two of the following: the widowed, the oppressed, and the alien. I consider Isaiah 1:17 to be the central verse about these stereotypes. I want to focus on the fatherless just for today. Here are eight verses:
Isaiah 1:10-17
Listen to the Lord, you leaders of Israel! Listen to the law of our God, people of Israel. You act just like the rulers and people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
[11] "I am sick of your sacrifices," says the Lord. "Don't bring me any more burnt offerings! I don't want the fat from your rams or other animals. I don't want to see the blood from your offerings of bulls and rams and goats.
[12] Why do you keep parading through my courts with your worthless sacrifices?
[13] The incense you bring me is a stench in my nostrils! Your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath day, and your special days for fasting—even your most pious meetings—are all sinful and false. I want nothing more to do with them.
[14] I hate all your festivals and sacrifices. I cannot stand the sight of them!
[15] From now on, when you lift up your hands in prayer, I will refuse to look. Even though you offer many prayers, I will not listen. For your hands are covered with the blood of your innocent victims.
[16] Wash yourselves and be clean! Let me no longer see your evil deeds. Give up your wicked ways.
[17] Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the [fatherless]. Fight for the rights of widows.
This is deep, and I have to cut a lot of stuff out. Sorry about that, but you don't want a whole exegesis on your hands and I don't have the patience or time.The reason why Israel is sacrificing so much is because they sin a lot. God doesn't like it because he the sacrifices are not changing them. There is no repentance involved, the way it was meant to be. Therefore they offer useless sacrifices. This is symbolic also. Their sacrifices are a symbol of the innocent; they sacrifice them, but since there is no repentance makes them irrelevant the blood of the innocent ram is on their hands. Same with the innocent public. They sacrifice the lives of innocent people (probably the fatherless, widowed, alien, and oppressed, or just even the remnant), to keep their consciences clear, and make their lives comfortable. They put them down to make themselves feel better. All this ritual is nothing with out a true turning away from evil to do good. True righteousness is to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the [fatherless]. Fight for the rights of widows. God cannot accept them if they are doing the opposite or are doing nothing. The ritual is just a façade. God wants the real thing. There is nothing wrong with the ritual. It's the heart and the things on the side that are bad.
More about the fatherless to come.

Signs

Sarah finally came home for thanksgiving. We had a good time last night. Watched a movie, but I didn't care so much about the movie as I did being with her. Hmm, i'm invited to their thanksgiving. Sounds aggressive. Her mom really likes me, but I don' t know. Then again it would really help Sarah to cope with her recent losses if I was there. Oh well.

New Horizons

All this thinking about my career has really caused me to think. Well, perhaps it sometimes it God leading my thought process. Actually that's what it is for sure. I think I may change my major from youth ministry to something like communications or political science. A graduates degree in perssuasion sounds good too. Of course I still want to be ordained. Being a youth pastor will not be fullfilling to me. All I know is that I want to see justice done. I want to be a religious leader that will stick up of the fatherless on a more larger scale, but I can't do that. However, I can influence other people who have the skills, training, and means to do it. I know I should really pray about this, and I will. I want nothing but God's will, and to do what I love. I don't want to be a president or a congrassman. Please don't take it that way. The problem is that when I think of the two subjects, religion and politics, I only think of one man. Rev. Jesse Jackson. Just to go on the record, he is not my role model. I'm sure that he has some good attributes to him, but I don't think we compaire very much.

Here is a wonderfull picture of God's Saints straight from a secular book, "Gathering Blue" a book in the same series as 'The Giver."
"They were just people. But they are people like me, who were damaged. Who had ben left to die...they had come from all over,those who had been wounded. Some traveled very long distances. It's astounding to hear of the difficult journeys...They had formed their own community. They help each other. We help each other...Those who can see? They guide me. I am never without helping eyes...Those who walk? They are carried...There is always someone to lean on, or a pair of strong hands for those who have none...The village of the healing has existed for a long time, wounded people still come...And we have others who have found us and stayed because they wanted to share our way of life."
Bibliography:
Lowry, Lois. Gathering Blue. Main: Thorndike. 2000. Pages 242-243

Where I Know I Am Going But Sort of Really Don't

Here is where my pastor is going with his new ministry. I want to be a part of it because that is where I know Jesus is. That's where I feel Him leading me. Funny, that makes me much less uncertain about the order of my future. For a time now youth min has been faiding out of view b/c it draws teens away from their parents, when youth pastors are - a lot of the time - less dependable. However i still planned to finish my degree at MVNU. Now I do not know what to do because God is leading me away from a ministry salary. In other words, I need to learn a secular trade or degree as well as a ministerial degree. Funny, maybe I should go full time to owens. Welding sounds fun. I don't know. I want to do something physical, but who knows. How am I going to explain this to my academic adv. Bruce (who has help plan my return to MV)? How am I going to explain this to my beloved profs at MV? It truely is a place of inspiration. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! I'm not a nazarene anymore! Yay. Soon I will be sunning a lot of people by withdrawing my membership. You know, I was going to be ordained in the church of the naz.

Some of my favorite profs
Serrao, Sanders, Varughese, Sivewright, Kennard, Houck, and of course the great Joe Noonen. But not to forget Bruce, but he is up there^