David N. Walker's Blog, page 25

Abrahamic Covenant

All too often, we Christians want to complicate Christianity. We come up with rules we think must govern what it means to be a Christian. We make up rituals and rites and all manner of complication that have nothing to do with the Christian life.

It is our purpose in this series to cut through all the rituals and rules and expose the true essence of Christianity. Hopefully, by the time this series is complete, everyone reading it will see how truly simple Christianity is.

If you have not read the earlier posts on this subject, find the “Categories” list in the right-hand column of this page and click on “Christianity 101.” This will pull up all the previous posts so you can read through them in order.

We’ve looked at the Adamic and Noahic Covenants. Today, we take a look at the Abrahamic Covenant, which is stated in the first three verses of Chapter Twelve of the book of Genesis.

In this discussion, it’s important to remember that Abraham did not receive his name until after the time of this covenant. Although we call it the Abrahamic Covenant, his name was still Abram when God made this covenant.

1. Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you;

2. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing;

3. And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

To initiate this covenant, Abram had to show his faith by doing what God told him to do. He had to leave his home country and his relatives and his father’s family. How many of us would be willing to do that? Many Christians answer the call to the mission field, just as Abram answered this call, but most of us are too comfortable in our regular surroundings to uproot ourselves and our families like that.

For the small price of obedience, God gave Abram a tremendous blessing. He was well up in age at the time and had no children, but God said He would make of him a great nation. What a wonderful thing. He also said He would bless him and make his name great so that he would be a great blessing.

Think about that for a moment. Here’s this unknown man from Ur, a man with no great things going for him. He wasn’t a great ruler or a wealthy merchant, but God made his name so great that we still honor him over 3500 years later.

The promise of this covenant would have been great if God had stopped at the end of verse 2, but He didn’t. In verse three He gave Abram a promise that still holds an important place in world affairs today.

In the first two verses, He talks about blessings to Abram himself, but now He extends those blessings to all who bless him. And He didn’t apply this only to Abram as an individual. He applied it to him and his progeny.

When we talk about progeny over a period of several millennia, how do we know exactly who is a direct descendant and who isn’t? I’m not sure we can, but we don’t need to. We know that his progeny in general applies to the nation of Israel and to those born to Jewish parents.

When I bless Renee Schuls-Jacobson or Nina Badzin or other Jewish friends, I am blessing Abram, and God promises to bless me because of that. When the United States blesses the nation of Israel, we are blessing Abram, and God promises to bless our nation because of it.

But let’s not forget, that same sentence goes on to say that God will curse those who curse Abram—or the nation of Israel or individual Jews. Those politicians in our government who would withdraw our support for Israel are playing with fire. Almighty God is watching, and the moment we turn our support to enmity, God will turn His blessing to curses.

We try to walk a fine line to maintain our support for Israel while not making enemies of the sheiks and other tyrants who control the oil over there, but we need to do that very carefully. If we ever get to the point of having to choose sides in the middle east, I’d rather have the blessings of the Creator of the Universe than to incur His wrath by supporting the enemies of His chosen people.

Yes, I realize Arabs claim their heritage to come from Abram also, and I’ve never known just what to make of that. All I can say for sure is that they descended from the bastard son, not the legitimate son, and that they made themselves the enemies of God’s chosen nation Israel. If God wants to bless them because they are Abram’s descendants, so be it. If, on the other hand, He wants to curse them because they curse His chosen people, so be that. It’s not something you and I have to decide about.

God’s final statement in verse three is that in Abram all the families of the earth would be blessed. That’s a pretty neat promise. All the families of the earth. I’m not sure I can explain how that pertains to the Orient, but the very fiber of Western civilization rests on Judeo-Christian ethic, and the Judeo part came long before the Christian part.

Having gone through this long-winded explanation, how do we apply this covenant in our lives today. The main thing I draw from this is security.

Because of Abram and the covenant God made with him, I can rest in God’s arms, secure in the blessings He promised me through Abram. That’s been a comfort our forefathers could rest in for over 3500 years now.

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If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

Filed under: Christianity 101 Tagged: Abram, Blessing, Christian, Christian Fellowship, Christianity, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Faith, Fancy Series, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, Grace, Heaven Sent, inspiration, Israel, Jesus, Nini Badzin, Renee Schuls-Jacobson, Works

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Published on November 12, 2013 03:00

Fall Gathering of Authors

Last Friday and Saturday, November 1st and 2nd, I was in Texarkana, Texas, for The Fall Gathering of Authors. Charity Kountz and Rich Weatherly from my writers’ group also attended. In fact, Rich was the one who got Charity and me interested.

This was the fourth year this annual fund-raiser for St. Jude’s Hospital has taken place. Taken place? No, it didn’t just take place. It was put together by Tammy D. Thompson, shown below, who puts her heart and soul into this event—along with no small amount of her time and energy. There were twenty-six authors involved. Most were from Texas, but there was a smattering from elsewhere.

We started off with a mix and mingle session on Friday afternoon, where all the authors who were available sat around getting to know one another a little bit. Then, on Friday evening, there was a banquet honoring authors.

Yes, we were part of that, but there were some very important authors from the local community. Each year, a group of students—primarily middle-schoolers—write stories to be put into a book, which is sold at the event. They write about events in their lives, people who are important to them, and so forth. That evening, four of these kids who were judged to have written the best stories received awards and read their stories to us.

Probably the highlight of the evening featured a family who testified about St. Jude and how the hospital helped their son who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of nine. Now twelve, he is cancer-free.

In case there’s anyone on the planet who is not familiar with St. Jude, it’s located in Memphis, and its mission is to provide free treatment for children with devastating diseases. They even provide free room and board for the families of the patients. I have a cousin who’s alive and cancer-free today because of this hospital.

Saturday was the book-signing. All the kids with stories in their book were there to sign copies for everyone who bought one, and I promise they sold a lot more copies than the rest of us put together. Here are some of the kids involved.

Our part on Saturday was pretty standard book-signing fare, except that Tammy and her assistants served as sorta cheerleaders, urging people to visit our tables and buy our books. They also had a number of giveaways for people who had bought the lucky tickets.

There were many other locals helping Tammy whose names I didn’t get. One of her main assistants, however, was Connie Thomason.

Connie spent a lot of time with a microphone in her hand, conducting the lottery for the donated prizes and encouraging people to buy our books. She was a real sweetheart.

Charity Kountz and I shared a table with good visibility for people coming into the building, which helped us both sell some books. We were among the first to arrive, which allowed us to get this spot.

On the right side of the photo, you can see the sign Tammy made to identify us, along with the easel she provided. I brought my Heaven Sent and Fancy Vol 1 to sell, along with one copy each of volumes two through seven.

You can see both of our signs in this photo, which includes our new friend Patty Wiseman. Unfortunately, Rich was the photographer (He told me he took well over 100 pictures.), and we didn’t end up with one which included him. By the way, the empty tables are because the photos were taken before the event started. They all filled up by the time the public arrived.

All in all, it was a fun weekend, raising funds for a worthwhile organization, selling some books, and meeting some new friends. If you have a book to sell and an opening in your calendar, join us next November for this wonderful event. You’ll enjoy the weekend and be treated like royalty.

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WANA: We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Advice, Authorship, Caring, Charity Kountz, Connie Thomason, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Fall Gathering of Authors, Fancy Series, friends, Heaven Sent, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Richard Weatherly, Self-help, St. Jude's Hospital, Tammy D. Thompson, Texarkana

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Published on November 08, 2013 03:00

The Noahic Covenant

All too often, we Christians want to complicate Christianity. We come up with rules we think must govern what it means to be a Christian. We make up rituals and rites and all manner of complication that have nothing to do with the Christian life.

It is our purpose in this series to cut through all the rituals and rules and expose the true essence of Christianity. Hopefully, by the time this series is complete, everyone reading it will see how truly simple Christianity is.

If you have not read the earlier posts on this subject, find the “Categories” list in the right-hand column of this page and click on “Christianity 101.” This will pull up all the previous posts so you can read through them in order.

Last week, we looked at the Adamic Covenant, wherein God promised that Eve’s descendant (Jesus) would bruise the head of the serpent (Satan). This was a wonderful promise of hope, assuring us of eventual conquest over Satan and his forces of evil.

Today, we’ll be talking about the Noahic Covenant, which is located in Genesis Chapters 8 and 9. Starting with verse 20 of Chapter 8, it goes through verse 9 of Chapter 9, as follows:

20. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21. The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.

22. “While the earth remains,

Seedtime and harvest,

And cold and heat,

And summer and winter,

And day and night

Shall not cease.”

1. And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

6. “Whoever sheds man’s blood,

By man his blood shall be shed,

For in the image of God

He made man.

7. “As for you, be fruitful and multiply;

Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”

8. Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,

9. “Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you . . .

You’ll notice I skipped verses 2-5. Although those verses are a part of the covenant, they go into detail that detracts from the main thrust of the great promise made to Noah and, through him, to all his progeny. Since every human being except for Noah’s family was wiped out in the flood, we can all trace our own lineage back to him, so any promise to him and his seed includes us.

In Chapter 8, verse 21, God promises He’ll never again destroy every living thing. Right in the midst of this promise, He acknowledges that the intent of every man’s heart is evil, and yet He makes the promise anyhow.

Why is that important to me? It reminds me that I don’t have to hide myself or my sins or my sin nature from God. He is well aware of these things and chooses to bless me anyhow. What a wonderful God! Did Allah or Buddha or any of the other gods men have dreamed up ever make such promises? No. They are all about making people strive to reach them rather than reaching down to the people and lifting them up.

He goes on to promise in verse 22 that seasons and crops and cold and heat and day and night will not cease. Any farmer can tell you that crops can fail in any given year, but in the long run, God promises that crops will be there.

In recent years there has been much scientific discussion about global warming. I’m quite certain God gets a good belly laugh when we come up with things we’re so certain of which He knows aren’t so. He promised hot and cold. As far back as history has been recorded, there have been periods in which the earth warmed a bit and periods in which it cooled a bit. Always have been and always will be. We’ve got God’s own promise of that right here. We don’t have to be fearful just because a group of scientists or a former Vice President tell us we should be. We can trust God instead.

In verse 1 of Chapter 9, God tells Noah and his sons, as he told Adam and Eve, to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. We’ve been doing a pretty good job of that. The evidence is clear every time I try to get on a freeway and go somewhere. We have multiplied, for sure.

In verse 6, He says anyone spilling the blood of a human being shall have his own blood spilled. Do we need to look any further to find God’s will about capital punishment. He commands us to shed the blood of murderers.

Finally He spells out the fact He is establishing this covenant with Noah and his sons and their descendants. That’s you and me. Comforting to know.

How does it make you feel to look at these promises God made in His word, especially when you realize He specifically applied them across the centuries to you and me?

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If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

Filed under: Christianity 101 Tagged: Christian, Christian Fellowship, Christianity, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Faith, Fancy Series, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, Grace, Heaven Sent, inspiration, Jesus, Noah, Noahic Covenant, Works

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Published on November 05, 2013 03:00

Sneak Preview

My friend Angela Wallace announces her new book in the Dreamwalker Saga. In addition to writing novels and blogging, Angela also formats other people’s books for e-pubbing. She’s done all my books for me. Check out her announcement here, and take a look at her website, too.

Falling asleep has never been so dangerous…

Lexa has spent the past five years training the princess of Teltania in dreamwalking, but with Taryn’s eighteenth birthday approaching, the girl has increasing royal duties and Lexa is getting ready to retire yet again. This time she’s looking forward to settling down and sailing with Sir Neil Duram—until his ship barely survives a raider attack.

The raiders have been hounding Teltania’s coast and their victims are falling into comas. With Neil’s crew at risk, Lexa sets out to find a cure. But things aren’t what they seem. She discovers that the comatose have been snatched from their dreams and stolen into the dreamscape.

The scattered cases soon become a potential plague, and Lexa has to find the connection between the waking world raiders and the dream snatchers. Is there a third dreamwalker out there, or something much more sinister? Lexa’s desperate search for answers will drive her to the edge in order to save everything she cares about.

COMING NOVEMBER 13 2013

Add the book on Goodreads

Adamic Covenant

All too often, we Christians want to complicate Christianity. We come up with rules we think must govern what it means to be a Christian. We make up rituals and rites and all manner of complication that have nothing to do with the Christian life.

It is our purpose in this series to cut through all the rituals and rules and expose the true essence of Christianity. Hopefully, by the time this series is complete, everyone reading it will see how truly simple Christianity is.

If you have not read the earlier posts on this subject, find the “Categories” list in the right-hand column of this page and click on “Christianity 101.” This will pull up all the previous posts so you can read through them in order.

Last week, we discussed the importance of understanding covenant in order to understand Christianity. Today, we begin looking at the major covenants God made with His people. The first covenant, which we call the Adamic Covenant, is set out in the third chapter of Genesis, as follows:

· 14. The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life;

· 15. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”

· 16. To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”

· 17. Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

· 18. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you will eat the plants of the field;

· 19. “By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

At first glance, this may sound more like a curse than a covenant. Women will have pain in childbirth and will be ruled over by their husbands. Men will toil and sweat for their food.

In a way, this was a curse. In the garden, Adam and Eve didn’t have to work. They simply reached out and plucked whatever they wanted to eat off the plants. No sowing, tilling or reaping. Life was idyllic.

But when they sinned, they discovered sin has a price. No longer would they have the lives of leisure they had enjoyed. They would have to work. Whatever crops they planted would have thorns and thistles in them.

Eve had not experienced childbirth yet at that time, but when she did, it would be much more difficult than it would have otherwise. Adam treated her as his equal up to that time, but now he would rule over her.

In verse 17, God said “. . . cursed is the ground because of you . . .” This meant Adam would have to toil for his food, but I believe it meant more than that. I believe “the ground” represents nature. When Adam and Eve fell, nature fell with them.

Before the fall, there were no earthquakes or hurricanes, no cancer or heart attacks. But the fall introduced all manner of natural phenomena detrimental to man. We have sickness and pestilence, storms, crime—all sorts of ill which did not exist before the fall

So there was definitely a curse involved in the fall. The repercussions are still with us to this day.

However, God gave Adam and Eve an irrevocable promise in the midst of the curse. From that day forward, the serpent (Satan) would have to crawl on his belly. And the woman’s seed (Jesus) would bruise his head, and the serpent would bruise man’s heel.

Satan was loosed upon the world to pursue his agenda, which is to steal, kill, and destroy. He began immediately, and he continues to this day. However, a far greater power (Jesus) was promised as part of Eve’s seed. He would come and establish dominion over the serpent.

As He so frequently does in our lives, God took a bad circumstance and promised to bring good out of it. Several thousand years later, He’s still busy honoring His covenant and bringing good out of it. Notice that God did not require Adam and Eve (and through them, us) to do anything. He bound Himself to a one-sided covenant. He makes the sacrifice and does the work, and we get the benefit.

How secure does it make you feel to know Jesus has dominion over Satan and all the evil he can throw at us?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

Filed under: Christianity 101 Tagged: Adam and Eve, Adamic Covenant, Christian, Christian Fellowship, Christianity, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Faith, Fancy Series, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, Grace, Heaven Sent, inspiration, Jesus, Works

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Published on October 29, 2013 04:00

Dumb & Dumber

Back in August, I awarded myself the Dumbass Award. Click here to read that blog. I had managed to disable my central air conditioning in the middle of August in Texas and decided that was about the dumbest thing I could remember doing.

Never let it be said that I’m not competitive. I think I outdid myself recently. As I announced awhile back, I’ve changed all the titles of my Fancy series novellas to make them more recognizable as a series. For instance, the original title of Vol 5 of that series didn’t even contain the word “Fancy.” How confusing was that?

The changes were minor. The introductory volume, previously called Fancy, is now titled Fancy Vol 1. Changes in the others were similarly small. Making the changes was a relatively simple matter—just submit the new covers and new text with the new title reflected.

As far as I knew, everything was just fine. All were accepted by the respective websites. Good to go.

Then, I ordered 20 copies of vol 1 to take to a book signing event, and I received 20 copies of vol 2 instead. I called CreateSpace, and they apologized and agreed to resend the order. Again, I received 20 copies of vol 2. Another phone call, and again they agreed to send the proper books.

For the third time, I received 20 copies of vol 2. I now had 60 copies of the wrong book. Livid, I called CreateSpace once again, this time asking to speak to a manager. When he came on the line, rather than quickly agree to send new books, he said he would look into why this kept happening.

It turned out they had the cover for vol 2 attached to the interior of vol 1. I looked at the ones I’d been receiving, and, sure enough, they really were vol 1. They just had the wrong cover. The man told me to resubmit the cover and they’d replace the order once again.

When I tried to open the cover in Adobe to be sure I had the right one, I got a message that the file was corrupted. I couldn’t open it, so I still couldn’t tell whether I’d sent them the correct cover and they’d screwed it up somehow or I’d actually sent them the wrong cover. I got in touch with my cover artist, and he sent me a new, uncorrupted file, which I then submitted to CreateSpace.

Unfortunately, anytime you change anything about a book with CreateSpace, they take it back through their entire examination process. I still don’t have the book with the proper cover on it. Hopefully, it will be approved in time to get the books to me for the book signing event.

Meanwhile, I’m left scratching my head over how this could have happened. Am I the dumbest author in the history of self-publishing, or is all of this their fault? I don’t suppose I’ll ever have the answer to that one.

Meanwhile, I’ve got 60 copies of a book I can’t sell or even give away publicly. I can give a few to personal friends, but what about the rest of them. My wife has already told me they’re not going to sit around our house for the next millennium. We don’t use our fireplace, so I can’t use them for that. Anybody need some paper for starting fires?

Speaking of Fancy Vol 1, as I recently announced, the e-versions are available on Smashwords for free. Click here to download your free copy.

By the way, in case you missed it, Susie Lindau posted another of her “Use Me and Abuse Me” days yesterday. Click here to see her blog. Read it and leave a comment with a link to a favorite blog of your own. And while you’re there, check out some of the other blogs listed in other people’s comments.

Hey, I’m getting tired of being the dumbest author around. Tell us about some move you made which turned out to be somewhat less than brilliant. Inquiring minds want to know.

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WANA: We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

——————————————

For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Advice, Authorship, Caring, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Fancy Series, friends, Heaven Sent, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Self-help

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Published on October 25, 2013 03:00

Covenant

In order to understand who we are and our place in this world and in God’s Kingdom, we need to understand covenants. We have a covenant relationship with God, and we must understand His covenants with us. This only makes sense if we understand the nature of covenants and covenant relationships.

A covenant is an agreement between two parties, but it involves a much stronger commitment than a signed legal document. If we lease an apartment or a store, or if we promise to pay a certain amount of money in return for some specified benefit, we sign a legal document setting out our promises with pen and ink.

If we enter into a covenant with another party, there is no written agreement, no ink on a paper. A covenant involves the shedding of blood. Commonly, when two men make a covenant, each cuts his wrist and holds it with the other’s wrist so that his blood will comingle with that of the other. This comingling of blood signifies an unbreakable bond between the parties. The idea is that if I should break this covenant, may my life be taken from me.

One covenant we’ve probably all heard of was that between David and Jonathan. They committed themselves to protect each other against any and every harm that should try to befall either of them. At the time of the covenant, the threat of death to David from Jonathan’s father, King Saul, was very real. The covenant covered that threat plus any other threat that might ever arise.

A covenant relationship such as that established between these two men bound them not only to each other, but to each other’s descendents. Jonathan was killed before David became king, but David remembered the covenant.

One of David’s first acts as king was to find out if Jonathan had any offspring still alive. He discovered Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth, who was taken into hiding by his nursemaid, who feared that a new king would want to wipe out the entire family of the old king.

It took some time for David’s men to find Mephibosheth, who was hiding in a remote place called Lo-debar. When they found him and told him they were taking him to the king, he feared for his life. Everyone around him had told him David would have him killed if he ever found him, but that’s not what happened.

David hugged Mephibosheth and told him of the covenant he had with Jonathan, and he made the boy a part of his own household. From that day forth, Mephibosheth lived in the palace and ate at the king’s table.

That’s what covenant is all about. It is a very serious matter, one which both parties swear to uphold to the death.

God made several covenants with His people over the centuries. Next week, we will take a look at the Adamic Covenant. Then we will look at other covenants, one week at a time.

How do you feel about an agreement so powerfully binding a surviving partner would spend years seeking the descendents of the deceased partner and then make him a part of his own household? How do you feel about a God who would do that same thing, applying it to YOU as one of the descendents?

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If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

Filed under: Christianity 101 Tagged: Adamic Covenant, Christian, Christian Fellowship, Christianity, Covenant, David and Jonathan, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Faith, Fancy Series, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, Grace, Heaven Sent, inspiration, Jesus, Lo-debar, Mephibosheth, Works

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Published on October 22, 2013 03:00

Words of Wisdom

Today, let’s share some general wisdom on life:

Sometimes I need to remind myself to look at my blessings rather than dwell on all the things that have gone wrong—or that I may think have gone wrong.

How much we miss while trying to do FOR our families instead of WITH them.

We can’t even control our own behavior most of the time. Why do we try to control other things or people?

We’re always trying to put round pegs into square holes.

These two are particularly meaningful to me as I have lived through my sixties and into my seventies.

This may be the best of the bunch. Amor Vincit Omnia.

Words of wisdom we all need to remember.

I hope these little sayings have been meaningful to you. Each one of them has an important meaning to me.

What can you take from these and apply to your own life? Which was your favorite? What other such sayings are important to you?

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WANA: We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

——————————————

For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Advice, aging, Authorship, Caring, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Fancy Series, friends, Heaven Sent, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Self-help

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Published on October 18, 2013 03:00

Why Are We Here?

Last week we asked the questions “Who are we?” and “Why are we here?” From the first chapter of Genesis, we answered the “Who?” question. We found that we are created in the image of God and after His likeness.

Today, we are going to take a look at the “Why” question. This one doesn’t lend itself to a simple citation of a specific scripture. It requires taking a look at God and His nature and at all He has created, and then applying a bit of common sense.

If you ask 100 Christians why we are here, chances are a majority—possibly the vast majority—will say to serve God. Yes, the Bible does use the term serve God in several places, but I don’t think it means serve him in the same sense that a waiter or waitress serves a diner.

Long before God created man, He created millions, and probably billions, of angels. These angels live for no reason other than to serve God—to do His bidding. He sends them at times to save us from some disaster we’re about to bring down upon ourselves. In the Old Testament, there are numerous reports where He sent one of them to carry a message to one of His prophets.

There’s no telling what all uses God has for these angels. For all I know, He may have them to bring Him tea. The point is, they are His servants. That’s their only reason for being. He didn’t need to create a new species of being to have more servants.

He created us to fill a position the angels couldn’t fill. God is self-sufficient, and as such, He has no needs as we define the word. Yet God apparently felt something was missing, a position was vacant which no angel could fill.

God wanted a people who would voluntarily choose to fellowship with Him. The reason the angels couldn’t fill this need or desire is that they have no volition. They have no freedom of choice. This is why those angels who joined Satan’s rebellion are not redeemable. We have a right to sin, although it saddens God when we do. Because sin is within our rights, we are redeemable from that sin. The angels have no such right.

Lacking the right of free choice, no angel could decide to love God, to fellowship with Him, to worship Him—to be part of His family. Only a being with the right to free choice can volunteer to do anything. The angels do what they do because it’s their lot, not because they decide to do so.

Just as an earthly father wants a family to gather around himself, God wanted a family to gather around Himself. That’s why He created us: to be that family.

God knew when He created us that giving us freedom of choice was dangerous. He knew the nature of the being He created. He knew Adam and Eve would exercise their freedom of choice to disobey Him. And He knew that likes beget likes. Sinners beget sinners. Sin was in Adam’s nature, and it’s been in the nature of every person born of an earthly father since then.

An inerrant God doesn’t create something and then say, “Whoops.” He knew what He was doing, and He knew how He was going to provide a way for man to overcome that sin nature. We’ll get into that in future sessions. For now, the point is—the answer to the “Why” question is—God created us to fellowship with Him.

I could go into a lot of implications from that last statement, but in the interest of keeping this brief enough maybe you’ll come back, I’ll stop here. We’ll have more sessions to explore these things.

How do you feel about being created to fellowship with God—that He thinks you’re important enough that He wants your fellowship? What does this say to depression and thoughts of unworthiness?

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If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

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Published on October 15, 2013 03:00

Language

Every time I go to get a pedicure (yes, men do get pedicures), I’m reminded of one of my pet peeves. In my experience, employees of nail salons are about 99% Vietnamese. Most speak just enough English to determine whether I want them to work on my feet or my hands. Beyond that, it gets pretty iffy.

They love to chat with one another in Vietnamese while they’re working. As a customer, I’m insulted by this. They are saying to me, “You don’t really exist. Just let us get paid for doing your pedicure and don’t try to talk to us.” It’s like they’re telling secrets behind the backs of their customers.

This is an abridgment of common courtesy. Sometimes common courtesy gets trampled in the rush of exercising our rights. At other times, it is ignored because of laziness.

There is nothing in the Constitution of the United States that requires you or anyone else to speak English, but I don’t understand the resistance on the part of many immigrants to learn our language. Most people who immigrate to our country do so in pursuit of better opportunities than they had in their home countries.

I applaud their gumption and willingness to face a whole new country in order to give themselves those opportunities. Why do those same people limit their own access to those opportunities by refusing to speak our language.

If I want to be a banker in an American bank, I need to be able to communicate with the bank’s customers. By and large, they speak English, as do the people I’m hoping will hire me and who will be my bosses if I am hired.

If I want to be a cashier at Wal-Mart, I need to be able to communicate with the store’s customers. By and large, they speak English, as do the people I’m hoping will hire me and who will be my bosses if I am hired.

If I want to be the night clerk in a convenience store, I need to be able to communicate with the store’s customers. By and large, they speak English, as do the people I’m hoping will hire me and who will be my bosses if I am hired.

See a pattern here? Failing or refusing to become fluent in the predominant language of your country of residence hurts your chances of succeeding. It makes no difference whether you’re the CEO of a major corporation or the guy out mowing lawns in the summer heat—you need to communicate with the people you deal with.

We do a disservice to immigrants when we force our businesses and/or state and local governments to provide instructions in languages other than English. This helps these people avoid facing the need to learn English. It helps keep them in poverty-level jobs because they can’t communicate with the establishment.

When I’m omitted from a conversation because you don’t want or don’t know how to speak my language, it is a minor offense to me. It’s a major handicap to you, though, if you can’t communicate with the general population of our country.

Yes, I realize English is a difficult language to learn. We seem to have more exceptions than rules in our grammar, and our spelling frequently makes little sense, even to us natives. But it can be learned. There are on-line courses, CDs, and other venues available. Can’t afford them? Most public school districts offer adult education classes in English as a second language for free. All you have to do is enroll and show up for classes.

You have the right to get tattoos on your body, but if you have tattoos of Satan all over your body, your chances of being hired as pastor of a Christian church will be a bit diminished. You have the right to wear jeans with holes in them and torn t-shirts, but you probably won’t be hired as a maitre’d in an upscale restaurant if you insist on wearing them.

Similarly, you have the right to refuse to speak the language of our nation. But if you do, you will most likely confine yourself to the most menial jobs with the least opportunity.

How do you feel when people whose services you are paying for fail or refuse to communicate in our language? How do you feel about using your tax money to make it easier for people who come to our country to refrain from learning its language, thereby minimizing their chances of getting good jobs and improving their economic lot?

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WANA: We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.