A Little Walk With God

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

About five years ago, I thought extending our porch into a patio and covering it with a cedar pergola a great idea. Although I hadn't meant to start the project in the middle of July in San Antonio, my brother-in-law came to visit and cut down a couple of trees that were in the way of the patio my wife and I envisioned someday. Then he built a frame for the concrete.

Only one problem. He left. The form wasn't strong enough to hold the fill dirt and ten yards of concrete needed, and it was still July in San Antonio.

For anyone who hasn't been to San Antonio in July, let me share that July and August are our hottest months, with most of those days in triple digits. Unlike West Texas, San Antonio humidity stays relatively high compared to all but the east and coastal regions. We don't have that much rain but have many streams and rivers that converge in the city to keep the humidity enough to make outside feel like a sauna.

So, at the end of July and through August, I started extending the patio and building my cedar pergola. After shoveling twenty yards of fill (that's four dump trucks of dirt and gravel) into the forms I had to rebuild, I did get smart and hired experts to pour the concrete and set the twelve-foot tall, six-inch thick cedar posts in place that would support the pergola. What I wasn't smart enough to do was hire someone to build the rest of it.

Because I wanted to get it done and out of the way and most of my friends worked full-time jobs, I figured I could tackle the job on my own. It sounded simple enough. Attach the frame to the house and the upright posts embedded in the porch, then attach the slats on the frame, and it's done. Only I didn't consider the weight of those six by two by twelve- and fourteen-foot pieces of cedar. I didn't think about what a chore it was to lift them into position in the first place, then hold them there steady enough to attach them to the frame.

I'm not sure how many times I screamed out to myself, "Why did I start this? This is stupid! I'm going to kill myself or at least break something trying to put this stupid thing together, and it's so hot out here, no one will use it anyway! What was wrong with the way it was in the first place?"

My wife, Carole, would come out occasionally and encourage me, telling me what a good job I was doing. Maybe I should wait and call someone to help. But I ignored her advice, and I carried on, grumbling all the while.

I started sounding a lot like the Israelites in Exodus. We hear them complaining to Moses and Aaron again in chapter 16:

2 There in the desert they all complained to Moses and Aaron 3 and said to them, "We wish that the Lord had killed us in Egypt. There we could at least sit down and eat meat and as much other food as we wanted. But you have brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death."

4 The Lord said to Moses, "Now I am going to cause food to rain down from the sky for all of you. The people must go out every day and gather enough for that day. In this way I can test them to find out if they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they are to bring in twice as much as usual and prepare it."

6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, "This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt. 7 In the morning you will see the dazzling light of the Lord's presence. He has heard your complaints against him—yes, against him, because we are only carrying out his instructions." 8 Then Moses said, "It is the Lord who will give you meat to eat in the evening and as much bread as you want in the morning, because he has heard how much you have complained against him. When you complain against us, you are really complaining against the Lord."

9 Moses said to Aaron, "Tell the whole community to come and stand before the Lord, because he has heard their complaints." 10 As Aaron spoke to the whole community, they turned toward the desert, and suddenly the dazzling light of the Lord appeared in a cloud. (Exodus 16:2-10 GNT)

The Israelites met Moses and Aaron and complained about everything. No water, no meat, no bread, no house, no bed. You name it, they complained about it. Moses led them out of slavery, but that wasn't enough. They wanted him to provide all their needs. Give me, give me, give me. And if you don't, expect to hear about it.

Ouch. That gets too close to home for too many of us when we think about how we approach God. Hey, God, give me the job I want. Hey, God, fix my finances after I've ruined them with my poor money management. Hey, God, heal me after I've failed to do the things that I should have done to take care of my body. Hey, God, do something with that boss that doesn't seem to like me. Hey, God,…

We come to him with our complaints, our want list, our petitions of what we expect him to do for us, without thinking about who we're talking to. Could you imagine walking up to the President and saying those things? Well, maybe in this country, since we failed to teach each other to respect authority over the last few generations. But if you did that in North Korea or Russia or China or most other countries around the world, you would at least find yourself in prison if not six feet underground in your permanent resting place.

But we do that with the maker of the universe and think nothing of it because we forget who he is. We don't stop to consider the creator of all things allows us into his presence, and cares enough about us to hear our prayers and act on them. Sometimes he doesn't answer the way we would like, but he answers in the way that best fulfills his plans. And that is always best for us in the end, too. We may not see it now. We may not see it in this life, but I can assure you that God has our best in mind when he answers our prayers. We just need to consider who we ask those questions when we pray. It would make a huge difference in how we pray, I think.

So what happened to the complaining Israelites?

11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 "I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them that at twilight they will have meat to eat, and in the morning they will have all the bread they want. Then they will know that I, the Lord, am their God." (Exodus 16:11-12 GNT)

God answered their prayer. In fact, he answered it the way they asked, which is sometimes dangerous. God gave them quail that night for supper. And the next night. And the next night. And the next night. Until it was coming through their teeth is how later verses describe it. If you think about that a minute, the only way quail comes back through your teeth is in liquid form, already chewed and mostly digested. I'll let you figure out how that quail returned through their teeth, then. Exodus tells us many died with the quail between their teeth.

The morning after God answered their prayers; they received manna for the first time. They could use it in a lot of different ways. They could make bread with it. They could boil it and make a kind of mush. They could mold it and roast it, I guess, but it all tasted like manna. It looked like coriander seed and tasted like honey. I don't know about you, but after a couple of tablespoons of honey, I'm done. The overwhelmingly sweet taste means I can't handle much more than that. But the Israelites got to enjoy manna from heaven every day, at every meal, for the next forty years.

Sometimes it's better to let God figure out what's best for us instead of telling him what we need, don't you think? You might just get what you asked for like the Israelites did. God provided, just like they asked. Many died eating the quail, and I'm sure many would like to die on a steady diet of manna. I wonder what kind of cookbook was passed to the next generation after eating manna for forty years.

In case you're interested, the pergola turned out well. Days of hard work and fewer complaints let me finish, and we get to enjoy the extended patio during the months with an "R" in them. The rest are still too hot to handle until just before the sun comes up.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation®: Scriptures taken from the Good News Translation® (Today's English Version, Second Edition) Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.         

19 Next, the angel of God, who was going ahead of the camp of Isra’el, moved away and went behind them; and the column of cloud moved away from in front of them and stood behind them. 20 It stationed itself between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Isra’el — there was cloud and darkness here, but light by night there; so that the one did not come near the other all night long.

21 Moshe reached his hand out over the sea, and Adonai caused the sea to go back before a strong east wind all night. He made the sea become dry land, and its water was divided in two. 22 Then the people of Isra’el went into the sea on the dry ground, with the water walled up for them on their right and on their left.

23 The Egyptians continued their pursuit, going after them into the sea — all Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and cavalry. 24 Just before dawn, Adonai looked out on the Egyptian army through the column of fire and cloud and threw them into a panic. 25 He caused the wheels of their chariots to break off, so that they could move only with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Adonai is fighting for Isra’el against the Egyptians! Let’s get away from them!”

26 Adonai said to Moshe, “Reach your hand out over the sea, and the water will return and cover the Egyptians with their chariots and cavalry.” 27 Moshe reached his hand out over the sea, and by dawn the sea had returned to its former depth. The Egyptians tried to flee, but Adonai swept them into the sea. 28 The water came back and covered all the chariots and cavalry of Pharaoh’s army who had followed them into the sea — not even one of them was left. 29 But the people of Isra’el walked on dry ground in the sea, with the water walled up for them on their right and on their left.

30 On that day, Adonai saved Isra’el from the Egyptians; Isra’el saw the Egyptians dead on the shore. 31 When Isra’el saw the mighty deed that Adonai had performed against the Egyptians, the people feared Adonai, and they believed in Adonai and in his servant Moshe. (Exodus 14:19-31 Complete Jewish Bible)

God’s angels are an interesting study. They appear periodically in scripture, sometimes to share a message from God, sometimes to guard or protect, sometimes to destroy. These created beings perform tasks at God’s bidding and their power, through God, always amazes me.

In this instance, God’s messenger acted as both guide and protector for the young Israelite nation. Around him stood a cloud by day and a fire by night, visible to the entire encampment who fled Egypt. Also visible to any who happened to be anywhere near the Israelites. I expect the vision of the cloud and fire surrounding God’s angel must have looked like an isolated storm cloud rising from the ground instead of falling from the sky. We’ll come back to that in a moment.

Other instances of God’s envoys include the two men who visited Abram and told him about their mission to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. God gave them the task of destroying the wicked cities and the plains in which they were located. Their mission, rain down the fire and brimstone we hear about and ensure God’s plan happened.

Later, Jacob wrestled with one of God’s messengers who obviously took it pretty easy on him by only touching his hip at the end of a long night of Jacob struggling with him. Just a single touch and Jacob limped the rest of his life, while Jacob wore himself out trying to overcome this angelic being.

One of God’s warriors went through all of Egypt and killed all the firstborn in every household without the Passover blood painted on the doorpost. One of God’s warriors went through the Amalekite camp, killing many, and creating such chaos among the rest that they killed each other. Another of his warriors killed 185,000 Assyrians laying siege at the walls of Jerusalem as Hezekiah prayed to God for deliverance. Gabriel brought the message of Jesus’ coming birth to Mary and Joseph. Michael fought Satan’s warriors before delivering God’s answer to Daniel’s prayer.

Angels sat atop the stone at Jesus’ resurrection and caused an earthquake as they touched ground, frightening the tomb guards to a state of unconsciousness. A legion of angels stood by ready to rescue Jesus from the cross should he give the word. Angels transported Lazarus to Abraham’s bosom in the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The only story Jesus told with names instead of using terms like “there was a man, or there were certain men, or there was one.” Perhaps not a parable after all, but scene he saw before his incarnation.

So, let’s go back to the angelic guide God sent to the Israelites to protect them from the Egyptians right after their escape. Pharaoh changed his mind, as God knew he would. Cheap labor (just the cost of enough food, clothing, and lodging to help them survive) was as important in Pharaoh’s day as it seems to be in ours. After they left the country, he realized his cheap labor disappeared and it would take conquering another country to enlist more slaves, something he was not ready or willing to do.

Probably few besides Moses had left Egypt and knew anything about the wilderness they traveled. They needed a guide to get them to the place God promised their ancestors those centuries earlier. The tornado of a cloud in front of them, provided that compass. Then the chariots came. Horses move significantly faster than children on foot. The angel became more than a guide, he became a fence.

I can picture the scene as the Egyptians see their prey just ahead and then this wall lifts from in front of the Israelites and lands yards in front of them. It looks like a cloud but is impenetrable. Scouts try to push through the fog in front of them and as soon as they enter, they seem to lose all sense of direction and come out exactly where they went in. They try other means to get through before darkness overshadows them, but to no avail. Every time they try to go through the cloud, they find themselves right back where they started. They can’t get through.

Darkness falls. On the Egyptian side of the cloud, it’s the darkest night they’ve seen since the plague of darkness that struck the country weeks ago. They can’t see anything, even when they try to light a candle, the light seems swallowed by the unusual blackness. On the other side of the cloud, the Israelites face light as bright as daylight coming from the same wall. God’s envoy provides darkness and a wall to the Egyptians and light for the Israelites. Moses tells them to head toward the Reed Sea to continue their escape. The people look dumbfounded. There are probably not enough boats in all of Egypt to carry them and their cattle across the sea.

Then Moses holds out his rod and the east wind picks up speed. It’s hard to stand in the tumult. It’s not just a breeze, but one of the strongest winds they’ve ever seen blazing across the sea. Moses gives the order to march. The first of those reaching what should be the shore start to yell, praising God for his great power. The nation crosses on dry land. But the Egyptians follow.

The cloud has once more moved in front of the Israelites leading them across the sea and into the wilderness toward their promised future, but perhaps the angel leaves the cloud for a moment to break those chariot wheels, add a little water to the sea basin creating a little mud for the chariots and horses. Maybe he cut a few reins and loosened a few shafts. Whatever happened, the Egyptians didn’t fare well when they crossed the sea and suddenly, they faced the onslaught of the rushing water pouring over their armor-clad bodies.

Why all this talk about angels? To remind us that as we walk through the days ahead, God remains in charge. One of his names is God of Heavens Armies. Note that it’s not just one army at his disposal, but armies as in many. If one angel can create the kind of protection we see for the Israelites, or Elijah, or Jesus, imagine what an army of angels could do. And God has armies of angels at his disposal to do whatever he wants done.

Should we worry about the state of the world? No. God has it under control. He gave us a mission to take care of it for him. We haven’t done a very good job of it. He takes care of his children. We don’t do a very good job of that based on the headlines around the world. But God can at any moment intervene to guide and protect those who follow him. Will he take us out of the predicament we face? Not always.

Sometimes we get into them by the choices we make and so suffer the natural consequences of those choices. Sometimes we suffer at the hands of others. Why? I don’t know. I don’t understand, except that we live in a fallen, broken world, far from the one God created when he said all he made was good. We’ve kind of messed it up. But God is still God and just like with Moses and the Israelites, just like with Jacob and Mary, and Daniel. God can and does make his plans known and executes them with or without us through the agents of his creation, human or angelic.

Maybe knowing God has a plan for you and has incredible resources to put at your disposal when you need them will help you get through whatever you face today. He will never let you face more than you can handle when you follow him. He knows us better than we know ourselves and we can’t see around the bend in the road to know how he will use what we face today to help us or someone else tomorrow. Trust him to do what is best for his people.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked CJB are taken from the COMPLETE JEWISH BIBLE (CJB): Scripture taken from the COMPLETE JEWISH BIBLE, copyright© 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. www.messianicjewish.net/ jntp. Distributed by Messianic Jewish Resources Int’l. www.messianicjewish.net. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

God said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “Mark this month as the first of all months for you – the first month of your year.” (Exodus 12:1‑2 The Voice)    

When I read those words from the lectionary this week, it started me thinking. That’s always a little dangerous, but I began to think about those moments in my life in which the dates permanently fixed themselves in my mind. Things like my birthday. I don’t remember the first one, but I’m told I was there on June 22nd more than a few years ago.

I remember my wedding day, December 4th, 1976. This year my wife and I will celebrate forty-four years together in December. Not many can say that in a country with a divorce rate over 50%, and that among the Christian populace because many of those outside of religious institutions just live together instead of getting married.

I remember my kids’ birthdays. Even though the Army only let Carole and me enjoy nine of 30 anniversaries together during my career, I was there for both my daughter’s and son’s births. Those two days and the hours before that special time will stick in my memory forever.

I also remember the day we began the ground campaign in Desert Storm. The Air Force finished its bombardment of Iraqi fighting positions after almost a month of daily raids, and the Army crossed the border into Iraq on my wife’s birthday in 1991. I called her to wish her a happy birthday. She knew something was about to happen because my voice sounded different than at other times. A few hours later, the ground war began. That day pressed itself into my memory.

I also remember the day I finally told God I would obey his call on my life to pursue ministry for him. It was Sunday night, August 5, 1979. God and I had a long discussion all day about my future, and I finally figured out God knew a lot more than I did. I need to follow his direction in my life if I planned to succeed at anything. That’s the night I said yes to his call. It didn’t surprise my wife or very many people who knew me. I think it surprised me more than anyone else. The journey keeps getting more exciting and more interesting as time goes on. God gave me several occupations to put food on the table, the Army being the primary source for thirty years. But I’ve had the same vocation since that time, paid by his grace and the knowledge I’m doing as he asks.

Big days. Important milestones. I could name many more that stand out as monument moments that press themselves into life never to be forgotten. No doubt, you can do the same. Normally, life doesn’t flow past uninterrupted with no bumps or ripples. In the stream of life, we find a few calm peaceful places where we relax and enjoy the time we spend there. But we also find rapids and waterfalls and places where the water runs so much faster than we think it should.

Life is like that. Always different around the next bend in the river. Never really knowing what to expect. We can prepare for some of it. Sometimes it just hits full force and we hang on hoping the turbulence ends before it dashes us against the rocks.

God came to Moses and Aaron with the command to mark their deliverance as the first month of the year. He told them what would happen that night, but I’m not sure they really grasped the significance of his words. The Israelites obeyed, sacrificed a lamb, ate it in their family or with a neighbor, smeared its blood on the doorpost, and watched through the night. Most probably didn’t realize the vast reach God had across Pharaoh’s domain and the might he would display in that night. All the firstborn dead by morning. With only those spared housed behind the mark of the blood on the doorposts.

It sounds unbelievable. Almost silly. That God could distinguish between believers and non-believers by the act of putting blood on the door. And that the warrior angels he sent could even see the blood in the dark of the night and know which homes to spare and which to enter to kill the firstborn children and animals. But God created everything. From nothing, he spoke everything into place. How he did it is up for debate. Whether you believe he accomplished that task in six 24-hour days, or in six periods of time that correspond with eras to create light, elements for life, then life itself, doesn’t matter to me. What matters is acknowledging someone put it all together from nothing in that first moment of time. He is the great creator of all things.

If God can create a universe as remarkable and almost unbelievable as we can see through our most powerful telescopes, certainly he can send his envoys to distinguish which homes to pass over, and which to enter and do his bidding, in judgment against them. He is God. I have seen things man cannot explain. Will they one day? I don’t know. I’m not sure. God seems to defy the natural laws he created on occasion. Those are difficult to explain away. You can call them fairy tales unless they happen to you. You can call them coincidence until you see them firsthand. You can wish them away and think they never happen, but too many people witness them to say they don’t.

So, what should we do with those monumental moments? How should we handle those times and dates that stick in our mind that never go away? Some of those dates bring incredible joy. Some bring sorrow or terror or other extremely negative emotions. How do we address those times? For the Israelites, their deliverance became the first month of the beginning of all months. In essence, God said, this is the beginning of new life for you. This is the birth of a new nation, a new age. This is such a monumental, God only kind of deliverance that can only come from me, that you will need to start over from this point.

That’s how it is when he remakes us through his forgiveness. That’s how he can use those monumental moments in our lives. That’s how, as I look back on them, every one of those dates that stick in my mind, changed me in ways I would never imagine. God used each of them to mold me into the person I have become today. I would like to forget some of those days, but I also know they were important in shaping my character and helping me discover things about myself and my relationship with God and others than I could not have discovered otherwise.

Like Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites, remember those moments. Use the monumental things in your life to understand how God shapes you to be the person he wants you to become. Who knows, there may be a date that you mark as the beginning of new life for you. Not just making new resolutions or turning over a new leaf, but the month to begin all months. A new start. A fresh beginning. A new creation because of his work in your life. God does God-sized things when we let him. Try it out. He will amaze you at times. That’s just the way he works.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked THE VOICE are taken from the THE VOICE (The Voice): Scripture taken from THE VOICE ™. Copyright© 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

Well, it feels like we're snowed in one more day in Central Texas. The coronavirus seems to make it feel like that, anyway. People are staying indoors a lot more than they used to. But folks are learning to get around a little better with social distancing. Schools opened in many areas with varying degrees of success – some with masks, some without, some online, and some hybrid in-person and online. These are strange times, indeed.

At least in San Antonio, our hospital census continues to drop from COVID-19 cases. The danger stays with us, and we can expect another spike with school starting, but we hope trends continue with kids less susceptible to the disease. Then with good hygiene practices, we hope families can keep it from spreading from the schools to their homes. We will soon see.

Of course, fall and winter are almost here, with the expectation of a second wave of the virus. Scientists talk about a vaccine, but getting one in 12 to 18 months when they usually take 11 to 14 years to pass FDA standards makes one a little leery of what might come out of the laboratories. How effective will they be, and what side effects will they have that are unknown after just a few months of testing?

The pandemic in this country seems like the good news right now. The thing that fills the headlines everyday concerns the politics of the riots and upcoming elections. What's suddenly different about the post office that delivery might be delayed by weeks? Why do they need to $25 billion when they asked for $2.5 billion, and their profits and cash flow have been positive for the last five years? But since the newscasts tell us they can't deliver the mail, it must be true, despite their balance sheet figures and their ability to fill my box with enough junk mail to fill my 70-gallon recycle bin every week.

I mentioned last week, we need to stop listening to the news and social media and do our homework. This is one of those areas. Find the numbers and the statistics about the Postal Service testimonies that go to the Government Accounting Office, not the questions that make it to C-SPAN, and you'll see an interesting picture. It's also interesting to read the Congressional Budget. That's the legislative branch that spends our money. Talk about fascinating reading! It is unbelievable where taxes go every year.

Enough about that. Time to turn toward the words that hit me from the lectionary this week. Paul wrote to Christians in Rome to talk about how they should act living in that pagan city. The church felt heavy persecution. The Roman government wanted to destroy mystic religions, defined as those worshipers did not bow to idols crafted for their gods. Any invisible god was no god to them. Christians and Jews were particularly singled out as atheists because they believed in a single god. How could one God control the world? It required pleasing a pantheon of gods to make sure things progressed correctly.

Paul had this to say in Romans chapter 12:

9 Love must be real. Hate what is evil, stick fast to what is good. 10 Be truly affectionate in showing love for one another; compete with each other in giving mutual respect. 11 Don't get tired of working hard. Be on fire with the spirit. Work as slaves for the Lord. 12 Celebrate your hope; be patient in suffering; give constant energy to prayer; 13 contribute to the needs of God's people; make sure you are hospitable to strangers.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless them, don't curse them. 15 Celebrate with those who are celebrating, mourn with the mourners. 16 Come to the same mind with one another. Don't give yourselves airs, but associate with the humble. Don't get too clever for yourselves.

17 Never repay anyone evil for evil; think through what will seem good to everyone who is watching. 18 If it's possible, as far as you can, live at peace with all people. 19 Don't take revenge, my dear people, but allow God's anger room to work. The Bible says, after all, 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.' 20 No: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. If you do this, you will pile up burning coals on his head.' 21 Don't let evil conquer you. Rather, conquer evil with good. (Romans 12:9-21 NTE)

The emperor didn't know what to do with that. How do you persecute people who are feeding the poor, the widows, and orphans? How do you get the populace to turn against individuals who refuse to fight back when attacked? How do you get a Roman soldier to think it okay to run a spear through a mother who gives him a blessing as he does so?

Love wins. Unfortunately, what we see in social media and on the streets of our cities today is not love. We see a lot of hate. The riots, violence, destruction, disregard for human life in our major cities, says we don't care about each other. And too often I see some of those actions coming from people who call themselves Christians. I am not God, but I expect many of those will be among that crowd. Jesus turns away and says, "I never knew you."

And they will say, "But didn't we bomb abortion clinics in your name? Didn't we face the mob in your name? Didn't we defend our rights in your name? Didn't we stand up for our laws in your name? Didn't we march in the streets for your name? Didn't we scream at midnight as the voice for the voiceless in your name? Didn't we try to right injustice in your name? Didn't we try to rid the world of socialism in your name? Didn't we try to swing the vote right or left in your name? Didn't we…?"

And he will retort, "Sorry, I never knew you. You might have used my name, but my name means grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, just as I showed you. You never showed those characteristics in your zeal for what was right in your own eyes. Now I stand in judgment. I never knew you. Turn aside."

It doesn't matter which side of the issue you support. Going about solving it in unchristian ways still results in unchristian behavior and brings consequences. Paul tells us to love. Replace evil with good. In fact, he says to go further than that. He says if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. Let God be your avenger. He will do a much better job in the end, anyway. His justice is perfect. Ours is not.

So, here is your homework. It might be really boring, but it is really important. You will hear about some crisis happening in the government today or tomorrow that is about to make some department collapse. Don't listen to any news reporter or pundit talk about it. Instead, go to the official reports of that department, the one they must give to Congress and the Budget Office. Not their talking notes, but their report that goes into the record. Take the time to read it. See what about their numbers say. You'll probably find that both sides take pieces out of the report to fit their agenda. They will use one chart or one graph to make their point, whether representative of the whole report or not.

Fake news? Yep. Both sides of the fence. That's why this year, more than any before, we have to do our homework for every candidate. Know who they are and what they stand for. Find the one who demonstrates love for their enemies, who returns good for evil. That's the person you want. But don't trust the media's take on who that person is. Find out for yourself. Do your homework. And while you're at it, pour a little good on your neighborhood.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked NTE are taken from the NEW TESTAMENT FOR EVERYONE: Scripture are taken from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011.

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

The lectionary this week included these verses from Paul's letter to the church in Rome.

So, my dear family, this is my appeal to you by the mercies of God: offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Worship like this brings your mind into line with God's. 2 What's more, don't let yourselves be squeezed into the shape dictated by the present age. Instead, be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you can work out what God's will is, what is good, acceptable and complete. (Romans 12:1-2 NTE)

Paul has painstakingly taken his readers through arguments explaining the fallacy of the leaning on the law and how it can never help us find right standing with God. It can only point out our flaws. It shows us our wrongs; worse than that, it leads us into temptation by enticing us into doing things we would not have known before.

Paul takes us through a series of steps to find that place of peace, salvation, redemption from the creator. Often called the Roman Road, it begins with acknowledging our sins, confessing them, and realizing we cannot absolve them ourselves. Then asking forgiveness from God, the one who can make us whole, and acknowledging him alone as God and Lord of our life.

When we confess him as Lord, that means he rules our life. He is in charge. We don't use those terms much in our day and age because it brings back memories of the slave trades, masters, and slaves – dark days we want to forget in our history. But the relationship Paul talks about between mere mortals, us, and God fits. He is God; we are not. He deserves and demands our undivided devotion and attention.

We miss that point in trying to cover up the relationship, particularly with the current crises in our land today. With the turmoil broiling across the country, assuming all whites are guilty of racism and all blacks are protesters and rioters, we refuse to talk about slavery in spiritual terms. We've let the world hijack so many words we seldom know what generations talk about anymore. Here are just a few GenZers have taken over - extra, snatched, wig, bet, fire, cap, shade, salty, slay, shook, tea. I'll let you figure out the new meaning, or just ask your teenager.

What happens, though, is we talk around each other instead of talking to each other. We fail to understand what each side means when we hear words spoken because what we hear is not what is said by the other person. No communication happens because we speak different languages even though the words sound like English. That's part of our problem with generational gaps. We try to talk to each other but don't hear each other's side.

How do we get back to some common ground, so we fix the divide tearing us apart?

First, go back to Romans 12. Stop letting the world determine how you live your life and how you think. The media too often shapes what we believe, and various outlets are blatantly biased. And we tend to choose our favored side instead of listening to all the facts and deciding for ourselves. We instead let someone else think for us and blindly follow the rhetoric fed to us rather than spend time researching facts.

So, don't be shaped by the world, but let God's spirit in you transform your mind. Allow him to change you. How do you do that? Spend time in His word. Don't pick favorite verses or the out of context verses each side uses to prove a point but absorb large sections of God's word each day to understand what he wants to get across to you. Did you know that just spending fifteen minutes a day reading the Bible, you would read it through in a year?

That's about the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee, so during that next coffee break, open God's word, and just start reading. Ask him to help you learn from it and how he wants you to apply it to your life today. You will be amazed at what he brings to mind as you go about your day if you really mean those words. You will begin to realize the transformation in your thinking and understand what Paul talks about in knowing God's will. You'll see evidence of the change in your life as you see others in a different light. You'll see with eyes of compassion; you'll desire others know the truth of God's word the way you begin to discover it from your time with him. You'll long to know more of him each day.

Next, make it a point to listen to those around you. But really listen. Don't just hear words spoken, because we know words have taken on new meanings over time. We can hear words and not know the intended meaning of the speaker because of the changes. Take time to listen and ask questions to make sure you understand.

I've used this illustration before that I shared with officers when they joined my units in the Army. What does it mean to 'secure the building?' It depends on your Service. In the Marines, it means storm the building until nothing is left standing. In the Army, it means to surround it with concertina wire, guard posts, and soldiers, so nothing comes near it. In the Navy, it means to find the owner and purchase it. In the Air Force, it means to turn out the lights and lock the doors.

It's a humorous illustration, but it points to the fact that misunderstanding a single word in communication between two people can have disastrous results. If, as an Army officer, I gave that command to a Marine without further explanation, I could suddenly find a pile of rubble instead of a heavily guarded building for a headquarters. The same words, but a significant difference in the outcome.

The same happens in our communications today when we fail to stop and listen, ask questions when there might be some confusion in our understanding. Ask the question, what do I have to believe about that person to think he or she would say or do what I think they said or did?

Stop and think about that just for a minute, we hear the leftist decry Presidents Trump and Bush constantly. We also hear the right blast Presidents Obama and Clinton the same way. But why would anyone want to become president other than to help the country? Since President Regan, every president always wears a bulletproof vest outside the White House. Secret Service surrounds them constantly, so they have no privacy – ever. The press hounds them as much or more than any Hollywood celebrity. Their opponents take apart every speech and look for any slight to use against them. Worse, statements are edited and twisted to make even the point opponents would agree on turn against them.

They give up lucrative positions to become prisoners to impossible schedules. Yes, we see them on vacations and golf courses, but what we don't hear during those "vacations" is the rest of their calendar. The round of golf is sandwiched between hours of briefings, meetings with governors, senators, and other leaders in the area, mounds of paperwork that came with them. We never hear about the fourteen- and sixteen-hour routine they face every day.

Who would want to be president? There are reasons why after eight years in office, a past president looks twenty years older than when they took the oath. The stress and pace of leading the nation take a toll only someone dedicated to making the country better would want. Each party looks at different ways to do that, but the man in the office has the same ideal, make America a better place for the next generation. So, before blasting the person, stop and think. What do I have to believe about him to think he would say or do what is reported. You'll probably figure out reports are half-truths at best, and if you read transcripts or full reports instead of the snippets from any mainline media, fake news might be a pretty good description of what happens today on both sides.

The Democratic National Convention just ended. Political campaigns for the November elections will start in full force now. I suggest whenever a campaign ad comes on, you mute your radio or television or whatever you might be listening to at the time. Whenever the news talks about something political, I recommend you mute whatever you're hearing. Whenever someone on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter start a political rant, don't read it, just skip it or block it.

"… don't let yourselves be squeezed into the shape dictated by the present age."

Instead, do some homework. I know, it sounds like school. But that's okay. Our country's future is at stake. When you hear about a speech, find the whole speech, and read it, don't listen to someone's abstract. When you hear about legislation, go find out what it says and how your candidate thought about it. If they are in office, why they voted the way they did. Did they vote no because of amendments tacked on to the original bill? We often don't hear about that, but often, those amendments cause the problems in whether bills pass or not.

Find out what candidates believe, find out what they say they will do, not what they think about their opponent. Then think hard about whether what they say they will do is realistic. A candidate can promise a lot, but everything costs money, and who pays for it? When they say a corporation will, that sounds good, but corporations aren't people, they are businesses that make money by selling things to us. We pay their taxes by purchasing their goods. When their taxes go up, their prices go up. We pay their taxes. Free health care sounds good, but someone pays for it? Who? How will promises be kept? Find out about the fine print as you think about the candidates you choose.

You have time to consider. Do your research. Don't be stuffed in a box. Don't just follow the crowd. Don't pull a party lever. Know the reasons you choose the person and the character behind the person. Mostly, spend time with God every day. Let him help you discern your walk in every part of life, even as a good citizen.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked NTE are taken from the NEW TESTAMENT FOR EVERYONE: Scripture are taken from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011.

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

The verses from Psalms in this week's lectionary bring back some childhood memories for me. I thought they depicted a pretty disgusting scene. Here's what the psalmist wrote in the 133rd Psalm:

How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the LORD ordained his blessing, life forevermore. (Psalms 133:1-3 NIV)

I don't know about you, but I always thought pouring oil on your head sounded a little weird. But both the Old and New Testament use the act as something extraordinary. It's the mark of kingship, the beginning of a priest's official duty, the recognition of God's anointing on a prophet. The pouring of oil indicated something special about a person.

You and I would probably run to the shower to try to get all that greasy stuff off us. Or at least that's what I thought until I started traveling around the world thanks to the Army. My military duties took me to a few countries where people still use oil as a unique mark of distinction. There you saw only the rich and powerful, or religious leaders, or someone paid special tribute covered with oil infused with fragrant spices.

Reading through scripture, you find the oils used for anointing also had fragrant spices mixed with them. And in those countries, and in biblical times, I discovered why pouring oil on someone held such significance. No one used deodorant. Spices were expensive. People's body odor can get pretty rank when soap and water are scarce; there's no deodorant, and nothing to cover the smell.

So, the rich, those in power, special occasions, like weddings, embalming the dead, anointing kings, prophets, and priests with fragrant oils, made them smell good for at least as long as the oil stuck around. It might be greasy and make us turn our nose up at the practice here, but when you've visited a country with plenty of body odor, you relish the anointing oil practice and wish more would participate in it.

Well, I changed my mind about the oil pouring down a person's hair and beard as an adult as I read these and other verses like them in the Psalms. But I haven't changed my mind about that first verse. "How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!"

Too often, relatives split apart over the most insignificant things. Infighting among siblings happens over something someone says. Or at the death of a parent fights break out over the distribution of an inheritance. But what do those things matter in the larger scheme of life? Material things disappear. The person who left the stuff behind couldn't take it with them, and neither will anyone fighting over it. It is just stuff, after all. Only relationships last.  

Little things get blown out of proportion. We refuse to apologize to each other. Years go by, and we don't even remember what the original issue was, but we're too proud to make a move to restore the relationship, so the divide continues—what a sad state of affairs.

I don't think the psalmist talks about just our immediate family, though. We tend to narrow his meaning to include only those within our that small group, or maybe to our extended family of aunt and uncles and cousins. I think, though, that David extends his thoughts well beyond even that group when he talks of unity among kindred.

David thought of kindred as encompassing at least the nation of Israel, the twelve tribes that descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I believe David even thought further than that, though. David longed for peace for his nation and his sons, who would follow him on the throne. He wanted unity among all those living not just in the land he ruled, but with all those lands around him.

What a great lesson we could learn by listening to the voice of the psalmist. We experience nothing but violence around the world between tribes and nations. Now we see it in our country. Nightly, a group of radicals damage buildings and destroy businesses men and women spent lifetimes developing. City governments seem either helpless or unwilling to stop the violence in some areas.

Since the 1970s, we have seen the country's party rhetoric divide us further and further apart. The left and right get more egregious and today refuse even to discuss what the nation needs. We no longer hear debates, only deafening screams from one side or the other followed by violent outrage ending in injury and death to innocent people.

I'm not sure what happened to us in the last 40 years. Well, yes, I do. Some will argue it's because we took prayer out of schools. But that isn't the problem. Some will say it's because we compromised and started using "Holiday Season" to describe Christmas. But that isn't the problem, either. Some will argue the problem started with some of the Supreme Court decisions on abortion and other laws Christians oppose. But even those laws are not the problem that pushed us where we are today.

I would argue it isn't even racism or systemic racism or the Jim Crow Laws or the segregation or the Civil Rights movements or any of the things being said by either side in the protest groups today, that caused the problems we face. We are where we are today because we lost prayer in the home. We lost our Christian view. We no longer believe Jesus saves and provides the best answers to life. He says, give all you can to help others; we say, get all you can to help yourself.

How do we go about finding that unity David finds so precious? First, we need to confess our part in the relationship problem. We live in a broken world. Whether we want to believe it or not, each of us holds some responsibility for the brokenness we see around us. All of us, whatever our color or political persuasion hold prejudices we don't even recognize in ourselves. But they exist, nonetheless. So, first, we need to let God shine his light in our hearts and confess our part of the relationship problems to him.

Second, we need to ask his forgiveness for our part in the struggle and accept that forgiveness. Will we change our old habits and thought patterns overnight? Maybe, maybe not, but with confession, true repentance, and God's help, we can begin to change them. We can become less extreme in our views and able to see why the other side thinks the way they do. Then we can perhaps be more understanding. We don't have to agree, but we can be more understanding. And that begins to heal broken relationships.

Third, we need to learn to listen. Both sides of an argument must stop the screaming, cool down, and determine to listen to each other to gain that understanding and come to a mutual agreement, even if it is to disagree. At least after hearing each other, both sides will know why each takes the position they make, and most often, through collegial discussion, some solutions will rise that will resolve the primary issues at hand.

While violence, screaming, refusal to dialog, uncompromising demands on either side exist, dialog and resolution cannot happen. And quite frankly, until we bring God back into our homes, little hope exists for healing in our nation or our world. Our country is not a Christian nation; neither was the Roman world in which Jesus died and commanded his disciples to spread his message of peace and hope.

Perhaps as we watch the events of the past couple of months unfold around us, it's time to pick up the mantle Jesus gave his followers those many years ago. Perhaps it's time we spread the message of peace and hope to those who need it most. It made a difference in the pagan Roman world 2,000 years ago. Perhaps it will make a difference today, too.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

Seven months of this year are behind us. Seven months of events hard to believe could happen as the year began with the dropping of that crystal ball atop the tower in Times Square on New Year’s Day. We’ve experienced a pandemic with more than 16 million cases of COVID-19 resulting in more than 650,000 deaths worldwide, so far. It’s not slowing down. Scientists tell us we haven’t started the second wave of the virus yet. That still faces us this winter and spring. We’ve had locust plagues across Africa that destroyed crops.

Racial tension erupted in our country causing billions in damages and dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries in our major cities. The tensions spread across the western world into Britain, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Australia. New threats of violence rise from Russia as they encroach on the Polish borders and launch satellite killing technology into space. China and North Korea flex their muscles and threaten the Pacific rim, posing their ideologies against their neighboring countries’.

Now we have more news about the bubonic plague coming out of China and a new mutation of the H1N1 flu that proved so devastating to the world in the 1960s. So, we wonder what’s next as we brace for the next five month and maybe look forward to this year ending sooner rather than later. Maybe next year will hold a little more promise than this one. But then again…

As I’ve mentioned before, some of the things we faced this year we could do little about. Pandemics and plagues wash through the world no matter what we try to do to stop them. A new virus or bacteria or mutated something spreads from one person to another and suddenly it is out of control. Look back through recorded history and you will find evidence of plagues and pandemics that touched humanity in frightening numbers. This one, in fact, has been relatively mild in terms of the devastation compared to many. We just have much better communication and our news outlets publish only the worst stories they can find instead of the best. Bad news sells much better than good news.

But some of the things we faced this year we caused. And the more I read and try to understand, the more I see the root causes of some of the issue we face within our nation and our world. I don’t agree with the riots and destruction of property taking place in our cities, but we need to stop and listen to the problems. Is there systemic racism in our country? Begin to read. Search out why things are like they are. Discover the disparities among the cultures. Determine why the divide exists between whites and people of color.

As I have studied more over the last couple of months and tried to listen to the stories of those not like me, I must admit, I wanted to be defensive and give pat answers to the disparities. Go to school. Get a job. Work hard. Anyone can get ahead in America. What I’m finding is that has not been and still is not true in any fair sense. And it is the policies those in authority put in place to distinguish between races. Before anyone thinks it is one political side or another, both sides of the aisle are equally guilty. Study the legislation of both parties and you’ll find laws, policies, and principally budget discrepancies that put money into the hands of whites at the decrement of not just blacks, but all people of color.

For blacks, however, it began immediately after the Civil War when vagrancy became a crime, but the law was imposed primarily on black males without jobs. Then jailed black men were leased out to plantation owners. So, freed slaves found themselves working for almost nothing on the same plantations on which they had been slaves, but now the owners had no vested interest in caring for them because they were leased labor instead of property. For many, conditions worsened instead of improved as freedmen.

Redlining, a practice the Federal Housing Authority put in place to determine areas in cities at high risk for federally insured loans under the FHA and GI Bills identified primarily urban, black neighborhoods in those redlined areas. So, blacks could not take advantage of FHA loans or VA loans when those programs began in the mid-twentieth century. It wasn’t until 1980, the Realtor licensing codes allowed realtors to actively comingle races within neighborhoods without risk of losing their license. We created the divisions with our policies.

I’ve even thought about our stories lately as I’ve asked you to sit with someone not like you and asked you to really listen. I’ve mentioned before at my grandmother’s funeral, ninety-six of her family members gathered to honor her. I think at the time, twenty-three of them engaged in full-time ministry. The rest participated regularly in church, not just attending, but teaching, singing in choirs, sitting on boards, and so forth. My family descends from three brothers who came to the shores of this country in the 18th century on a mission to spread the gospel in this new world.

Now listen to the story of someone my son’s age, but not like me. He has been arrested twice. Once for possession of a marijuana joint, and once for resisting arrest when he refused to lay face down in the mud. He his mom about his father asked about his father when he was younger; he’s in jail for possession of drugs. Second offense laws under the Clinton administration allowed for lifetime sentencing. He was one of those hit with that inexplicable punishment. His grandfather was also an ex-con, but he was killed coming out of a bar he cleaned to make extra money – a robbery gone bad. His widow thinks he was on his way home with his weekly pay of less than $40 in his pocket.

Then his story gets remarkable worse. His great-grandfather worked as a sharecropper. His share of the crop was 30%, the owner took 70%. The family barely survived in the rundown shack with no electricity or running water. His great-great-grandfather was a freed slave under Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation but couldn’t get a job. The vagrancy laws at time said any black man without a job went to jail. The irony is, the plantation owner who owned him as a young slave took pretty good care of him as his property. As leased labor from the jail, that same plantation owner didn’t have much concern for the welfare of his hired “darkies,” he sometimes called them. His family history goes no further. Families split on the auction block or when sold between plantations. Property goes to the highest bidder when slaves aren’t people.

I can trace my family history back into at least the middle ages with some proud history and a few dishonorable characters in the mix as well. He can trace his family only to the Civil War and no further. His race wasn’t not considered human, so it was okay to tear families apart, sell working aged boys and girls (six and seven) to others so your bill for upkeep wasn’t so high. Most of us can begin to imagine a history like that. We can’t imagine living in an area marked as dangerous and unfit for home loans or even loans for home improvement because someone decided the color of our skin automatically made us a financial risk.

My baby boomer generation took advantage of policies that brought great economic boosts to almost every city across the country through federally insured loans, cheap education through the GI Bill, affordable housing in the suburbs, and more. But all those policies also had a dark side most of us never knew existed or most of us would have shouted about the injustice. As an example, in Georgia after WWII, 3200 soldiers received GI Bill funding to advance their education – 2 were black. Of the 67,000 total students receiving funding in the first years of the GI Bill, less than 100 were black. More than 1 million black soldiers served in WWII. The disparity in numbers are not because they didn’t want to take advantage of the funds, it was the discrimination in colleges and universities that kept people of color out.

Do we have a problem in our country with systemic racism? We absolutely do. I have black friends. That’s not what this is about. I invite my black brothers and sisters to anything I go to or anything I enjoy. That’s not what this is about. I’ve worked with and for blacks with no problem. That’s not what this is about. It’s not even about police brutality or George Floyd. We have a problem in our country about recognizing the rights of all people.

We did not condemn the Italians to the same fate as immigrants to this country. Nor did we condemn Greeks or Jews or Hispanics or Syrians or Swedish or any other immigrants except those with ebony pigmented skin. Those we segmented as lower-class, less privileged, high risk. We did it starting 400 years ago.

I’m beginning to understand why the Black Lives Matter movement began and the just cause of its original founders. I’m learning about the inequities my race placed upon other people of color in this country, especially blacks, though policies and laws I never realized until I took the time to stop and study their real affects. I’m beginning to realize why other races talk about white privilege and white supremacy because of advantages my race created for ourselves at the expense of others.

I still condemn the riots and violence. That is not the way to bring a solution to the problems we face. I condemn the Marxist and communist groups hiding behind the Black Lives Matter movement trying to overthrow our government. This is still the best country in which to live and to be able to resolve problems like this one. But it is huge. Not insurmountable, but it will take all of us relooking at our history and understanding what we did to pe ople not like me. We will need to come to the place Paul came when he said:

Now let me speak the truth as plainly as I know it in the Anointed One. I am not lying when I say that my conscience and the Holy Spirit are witnesses to my state of constant grief. It may sound extreme; but I wish that I were lost, cursed, and totally separated from the Anointed—if that would change the eternal destination of my brothers and sisters, my flesh and countrymen. (Romans 9:1-3 The VOICE)

When we begin to feel compassion for each other and understand the role we all play in the life of this country, good and bad, we can begin to find solutions to our problems. As a nation, we are truly blessed. It’s time we find ways to resolve the internal shortcomings we created while becoming the economic powerhouse of the world. We cannot continue to call ourselves an economic answer for the world if we allow our policies to slight a large segment of our own.

I don’t know the answers, but I know if we stop the violence, sit down and debate alternatives, we can find solutions. Americans are known for their ingenuity and inventiveness. Why don’t we put those characteristics to work and solve this great problem before we tear ourselves apart.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked THE VOICE are taken from the THE VOICE (The Voice): Scripture taken from THE VOICE ™. Copyright© 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. Allrights reserved.

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

As many of you who have listened to my podcasts for a while know, I often use scripture from the lectionary for the focus of my thoughts. I’m amazed at how often the scriptures seem to point to the very things I need to hear. And as I hear from others of you, it seems the scripture often relates to something going on in your life at the time as well. It is uncanny the way God works, but he is God after all.

Well, this week’s Old Testament focus was no different. It comes to us from 1 Kings 3 as Solomon takes the throne succeeding his father David. You’ll remember David became the model against whom every other king was measured. He wasn’t perfect by any means. We know about his adultery, his attempts to hide it, and ultimately his plot to murder his mistress’ husband to cover his sin. David’s life wasn’t one spent in dark, hooded robes mumbling prayers in the sanctuary. He was king. A battle-hardened warrior. He expanded Israel’s territory and rooted out its enemies from its cities. But God called David a man after his own heart.

Now Solomon has gained the crown. God comes to him and we pick up the story from there as Eugene Peterson describes it in The Message:

4-5 The king went to Gibeon, the most prestigious of the local shrines, to worship. He sacrificed a thousand Whole-Burnt-Offerings on that altar. That night, there in Gibeon, God appeared to Solomon in a dream: God said, “What can I give you? Ask.”

6 Solomon said, “You were extravagantly generous in love with David my father, and he lived faithfully in your presence, his relationships were just and his heart right. And you have persisted in this great and generous love by giving him—and this very day!—a son to sit on his throne.

7-8 “And now here I am: God, my God, you have made me, your servant, ruler of the kingdom in place of David my father. I’m too young for this, a mere child! I don’t know the ropes, hardly know the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of this job. And here I am, set down in the middle of the people you’ve chosen, a great people—far too many to ever count.

9 “Here’s what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?”

10-14 God, the Master, was delighted with Solomon’s response. And God said to him, “Because you have asked for this and haven’t grasped after a long life, or riches, or the doom of your enemies, but you have asked for the ability to lead and govern well, I’ll give you what you’ve asked for—I’m giving you a wise and mature heart. There’s never been one like you before; and there’ll be no one after. As a bonus, I’m giving you both the wealth and glory you didn’t ask for—there’s not a king anywhere who will come up to your mark. And if you stay on course, keeping your eye on the life-map and the God-signs as your father David did, I’ll also give you a long life.” (1 Kings 3:4-14 TM)

What maturity Solomon showed as he expressed his wish. Give me the wisdom to judge these people. Help me to know the difference between good and evil. If you want me to lead, then give me a listening heart.

Don’t you wish more of our leaders would pray for a listening heart to know the difference between good and evil? It seems we live in a time more like the beginning of the book of Judges when everyone did what was right in their own eyes. This “cancel culture” that sprang up from somewhere that decided if I don’t like what you say or what you do, you become invisible. We make you disappear from the world. What you stand for doesn’t count. What you believe doesn’t matter. You are hereby canceled.

How does that fit into what God wants for us? Do we think we can add him to part of the “cancel culture?” I know there are those trying – pulling down statues of Jesus, desecrating churches, synagogues, temples, and other houses of worship. We see an “I believe in me” culture rising. But God cannot be canceled. Nations tried before to their destruction. We can try to rewrite the past. We can try to remake a belief system. We can declare we will rise on our own strength. Many tried. Many failed.

A relatively small group decided they want a different government here. I’ve heard too many times, “We’ll burn it down if we don’t get what we want.” How does that help anyone? If everything has been burnt to down, who will rebuild? Who will expend the energy to watch it come tumbling down again? Who wants to risk the threat of careless vandals destroying a life’s work again? And who will have the funds to do so? When the government changes, so does the money. The meaningless coins and paper that we pass to one another in exchange for something. We think money has value, but it doesn’t.

If you think money has value, ask the Argentinians who went through month after month of triple-digit inflation when prices became so high the last three zeros on every price tag were removed. But salaries didn’t change. Income didn’t rise with the same inflation. Ask the Venezuelans who experienced triple-digit inflation not so long ago. Money didn’t mean anything anymore. Did the government help? No. Did the change in leadership make things better? No.

It seems to me we have an awful lot of people trying to get into this country for it to be such a terrible place to live, work, and raise a family. I see millions trying to come in every year, but I don’t see millions trying to leave to go to some other country. Why is that? Maybe it’s because in the past we thought about more than ourselves. Maybe in the past, our elected officials remembered their office wasn’t about making money or becoming popular or even getting reelected. Their office was to pray Solomon’s prayer and ask for discernment so they might have a listening heart.

As I watch most votes in the House and Senate, it seems no one has a listening heart anymore. Most votes split across party lines. Why? Because no one listens. Is every Democrat good? No. Is every Republican bad? No. We will find good and evil among every party, every race, every economic stratum. We will find racism in the same places. No section is exempt. I will say, or write, or do something that I’m sure someone will think is racist. So will you. Why? Because we are. We think in the culture in which we live and work and play. And whenever we come in contact with another culture, it doesn’t matter what color their skin or what language they speak, we will do something someone in that culture could take as offensive.

But when do we act like Solomon and stop and listen with a discerning heart? When do ask the question, “What do I have to think about the person I know to believe he or she said or did whatever it was to intentionally hurt me?”

When we ask that question before we blurt out a response, most of the time, we know the answer will be they didn’t intend harm. I took something wrong. I didn’t understand. There is miscommunication between us. How can we learn from each other so we can avoid bitter feelings? Then talk to each other and listen to each other – but not on Facebook. Pick up the phone. Go to lunch. Really communicate. Don’t scream that you know what the other person thinks. You don’t.

Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived knew he needed a listening heart to discern the good from the bad. How much more do we need to pray for such a thing in this day? How much different would the streets of our city be tomorrow if all of us sincerely asked for a discerning, listening heart, then sat down with those not like us and heard their story? Maybe we would learn something. Maybe we would care. Maybe we would find some directions to take that would ease the growing tension in a country where millions come to find freedom from oppressive governments.

Is our nation perfect? Not by any means. Is it terrible? Talk to those who escape from those nations led by dictators and politburos. Can we make improvements? Not until we stop and listen to each other and decide we want to do what is right, not what is politically advantageous. As we begin to approach elections in the fall, I encourage you to get information about the candidates. Don’t listen to the news or social media or the campaign adds. Find out about their character. How did they vote on critical issues and why? What do they say they believe and do their actions support it?

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked TM are taken from THE MESSAGE: THE BIBLE IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH (TM): Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE: THE BIBLE IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH, copyright©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

The headlines haven't changed. Two things dominate our attention; the coronavirus, and the riots. Both tragic events consume us with the number of deaths created in their wake. The pandemic, we can do little about in the short term. It will ravage the world until we either build enough herd immunity from victims or a vaccine. The early rhetoric that a few weeks and it would be over have been proven false, and we seem to be in this pandemic for the long haul. Many predict at least two years, and some say five or more.

The second event does not have to continue, though. We can do something about it if we want. The problem is that, for the most part, I don't think we do. In this country, the divide grows more extensive, and we refuse to enter into reasonable debate with each other. We no longer know how to listen to each other. We yell our position in each other's faces and refuse to stop to understand the other side of an issue.

What's happening in the protests when no opportunity presents itself for a reasoned dialogue appears on our screens and in the newspapers daily. Screaming at each other. Vandalism. Burning. Riots. Violence. Innocents dying. And what is all of that accomplishing? A deeper divide between the factions. No good will come out of the continued violence happening across the nation.

I expect the majority of us agreed with the brutality involved with the arrest and death of George Floyd. How many innocent people died since then? How many more must die before we stop? In some of our major cities, the cry to defund and dismantle the police, those called to protect the citizenry, found traction. The results in each of those places where city councils chose to reduce budgets stagger us. Crime increased in staggering amounts, double and triple the number of violent crimes from just a year ago, or even just before the pandemic began.

We can blame whatever we want, but I think the real answer is found in a parable Jesus gave found in Matthew 13. His disciples asked him to explain it after he was alone with them. Here is what he said:

36 Then Jesus left the crowds and went into the house. His disciples came and joined him.

'Explain to us,' they said, 'the parable of the weeds in the field.'

37 'The one who sows the good seed,' said Jesus, 'is the son of man. 38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one; 39 the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels.

40 'So: when the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, that's what it will be like at the close of the age. 41 The son of man will send out his angels, and they will collect together out of his kingdom everything that causes offense, and everyone who acts wickedly. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. If you have ears, then hear!' (Matthew 13:36-43 NTE)

Somewhere along the way, intermingled among us came those ready to fight at the slightest criticism or perceived wrong. Our "it's all about me" culture assumes everything said or written or created aims specifically at me. And I can interpret those words or artistry any way I choose because the world is all about me.

The world is not about any of us. God created it. It is his. He chose to create human beings with a mission in mind. From the first, he commanded us to take care of his creation. He created us to live in relationship with him and each other. (We don't do any of those things very well.) He came to live among us and show us how to do it. We hung him on a cross rather than accept what he said. Why he still loves humanity and wants to have a relationship with us, I don't understand, but he does.

Jesus told us his kingdom is near. He ushered into this world with his death and resurrection. He sent his spirit to live in us. Where he is, his kingdom reigns. So, here we are as his followers, good seed among weeds. What are we to do? What can we make of the mess going on around us?

First, recognize God still sits on his throne. Nothing happening now, in the past, or in the future surprises him. He doesn't need to confer with anyone to determine how to handle the problems. He is in control. We may not see it. We may not understand. But we can be assured God is still God and loves his children.

Second, remember Paul's words from Romans 8:

18 This is how I work it out. The sufferings we go through in the present time are not worth putting in the scale alongside the glory that is going to be unveiled for us. 19 Yes: creation itself is on tiptoe with expectation, eagerly awaiting the moment when God's children will be revealed. 20 Creation, you see, was subjected to pointless futility, not of its own volition, but because of the one who placed it in this subjection, in the hope 21 that creation itself would be freed from its slavery to decay, to enjoy the freedom that comes when God's children are glorified.

22 Let me explain. We know that the entire creation is groaning together, and going through labor pains together, up until the present time. 23 Not only so: we too, we who have the first fruits of the spirit's life within us, are groaning within ourselves, as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 We were saved, you see, in hope. But hope isn't hope if you can see it! Who hopes for what they can see? 25 But if we hope for what we don't see, we wait for it eagerly – but also patiently. (Romans 8:18-25 NTE)

 The world is groaning under the problems we see today. Creation waits to be freed from the decay that began with that first act of disobedience. It is on tiptoe with expectation waiting for the harvest when the weeds will be cast away, and the wheat will be gathered. And we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our body. We were saved in the hope of the resurrection. All this will come to an end one day. And Paul says, "The sufferings we go through in the present are not worth putting in the scale alongside the glory that is going to be unveiled for us.

I don't know how that looks. I don't know what awaits us. I don't know what he has in store for us. But until then, we have a mission to share the good news with as many as we can. To do that, though, we must stop and listen to the story of those around us. They won't listen to our story if we are not willing to listen to theirs. But when we do, we will hear how God can work in their lives and give them the peace and joy only he can bring to them. The legacy of peace Jesus promised.

What happens next with the two major events in our headlines? I don't know. I hope God sees fit to slow the first about which we can do little. I hope we, who call ourselves followers of Christ, will listen to the stories of those not like us, and from there, share the good news that can heal our land and bring peace to our world.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked NTE are taken from the NEW TESTAMENT FOR EVERYONE: Scripture are taken from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011.

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

A story in the Book of Genesis reminds me of what I'm seeing across the United States today. It goes like this:

Isaac, Abraham's son, had two twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau, the older, became Isaac's favorite, a hunter, rugged, and ruddy. Jacob was Rachel's favorite. Based on the rest of his life, I wouldn't call him a "mama's boy," but he stayed around the camp more than his older brother.

Esau went hunting one day and came back from the fields hot, tired, and hungry. He found Jacob cooking a stew and demanded of his brother, "Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I'm famished!" (That's when Esau got the nickname Edom, which means Red in his language.)

Jacob saw an opportunity and said, "Sure, for the price of your birthright."

We don't understand what that means in this country. Our parents make wills and usually divide their property evenly among their children, and that's the end of it. Or they might give specific amounts or specific assets to their children or grandchildren, but their wills dictate how the state will dispose of their assets on their death. It didn't work like that in Jacob's time.

Three thousand years ago, no one wrote wills. Instead, communities developed traditions as to what happened to assets when the patriarch in the family died. The birthright was pretty important. The oldest son received the birthright, a double portion of the assets of the father. That meant since Jacob had two sons, when he died, his possessions were split three ways, and Esau, as the oldest even though by just a few minutes, would receive two-thirds of the inheritance, and Jacob one-third. The oldest son became the new patriarch as part of the birthright. Of course, in those days, daughters received only a dowry to get them married off to a groom and nothing else.

So, when told Esau despised his birthright, that is a harsh statement. It means Esau cared nothing about his father or his father's name. He essentially said Isaac's assets and the role of carrying on the family names of Abraham and Isaac meant less to him than a bowl of soup. Remember, by this time, Isaac had become one of the wealthiest men in the region. He had hundreds of flocks, cattle, and workers to care for them. For Esau, who could have it all, he just gave it away.

How does that story fit with what goes on today across the country?

In every major city, we see groups tearing down statues, vandalizing buildings, shouting about our slave ridden history. Now children die in our streets at the hands of some of these same insane thugs. The problem with removing history is that we forget. And when we forget, we will repeat what happened.

Is everything in our history bright and shiny? Of course not. There are some bleak times all of us would like to forget. Some of those statues being removed would provide great teaching points that remind us never to forget those dark times in our past. They would tell us never to go back to those days and make those mistakes again. They would remind us we can be better and live brighter lives.

Instead, we create enormous divides between us, particularly as this cry of "Black Lives Matter" reaches across the country but says nothing about stopping the crime raging against their own. I agree black lives matter. So do brown lives, and white lives, and red lives, and all lives. God created a menagerie of human beings and desires for us to build relationships with each other. How can we hope to have a relationship with a holy God so unlike us, if we cannot have a relationship with our fellow humans who are exactly like us except for the color of our skin? It boggles my mind.

We sell the best and worst parts of who we are as a nation for a bowl of soup. Is that what we really want? Across the last 244 years, we built an economy like no other in the world. Some can scoff at it if they like, but no other country provides the support and relief we do when a disaster hits somewhere in the world. We come to leveryone's aid like no one else. We do it not just because we can but because we desire to help others in distress.

We have this outcry about poverty in our nation. Across thirty years of active military service, I've been privileged to see parts of the world; most Americans do not get to see. I've seen poverty. It's not here. Visit Haiti. Visit Africa. Visit places in Central and South America. Visit places where tyranny under the hand of countries where socialist and Marxist ideologies prevail, and you will find real poverty. But that's as far as my political thoughts will take me today. The reason is Jesus lived in an age of tyranny and never spoke out against his government. Paul lived under the cruel hand of Nero, but never spoke against him.

My treatise is to remember history. Don't let the past disappear because right or wrong, it has made us who we are today. We are quickly slipping away from them influential force we have been for the last 75 years because we are choosing to forget those lessons. We are choosing to let forces intervene and tear our country apart by trying to wipe away our history, the good with the bad. We despise our history and sell it to the lowest bidder – for just a bowl of soup.

Esau felt the consequences later. As Isaac neared death, he called Esau in to give him his blessing. Jacob had deceived Isaac with Rachel's help and took the elder son's blessing. Now Esau lost the birthright and would serve his younger brother. Centuries later, as we follow their bloodlines, those two brother's descendants still fight each other.

Will we forget our history, and allow ourselves to fall into another civil war? Will we forget the past and end up with sides aiming at each other with ever-increasing lethality? We have a short window of opportunity for leaders to sit across a table with level heads and listen to each other. We can make a difference through dialog, understanding, embracing change. We will not make a difference through violence. We will only see more lives and families and communities destroyed if violence continues.

We must all stop. Learn from the past. Listen to our counterparts. Really listen. Quit thinking my way is the only way. It isn't. Neither is your way the only way. The only way is God's way if we could only realize as a nation and as a world that he made it, and he has a plan for it. If we will seek him, find him, and go wherever he is, we will find peace.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.