Saturday, October 15, 2011

WELCOME

Don't forget to check out God's Computer Manual 1
Old Testament computing was never like this.  

Please note the posts in this blog have been reordered to a top-down order and grouped all within one month for your convenience. The posts give a better read when the #1 etc. sequence is followed.

These posts are only suggestions you may use at your own discretion.

The guarantee you'll want to hold tight to is quoted here from Psalm 126:6

He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

My own mission is in the "Grandfather's Psalm" 71:18:
 
Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

1. How Things Add Up

This is so awesome, we'll have to build up slowly to the spreadsheet numbers blast. I'll give JUST A TASTE, and then we're going to let Ol' Zeb and his Mop Room Gang take us to the tops in 'Cross-Foot Spreadsheet Calculating' in the Old Testament. You'll enjoy every bit, or is it byte?

Get your calculator, ipad, computer, or smartphone number-cruncher out, and point it toward the Old Testament book of Numbers. It follows Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus. Put one eye on the first chapter, and the other eye on your keyboard.

Remember now, this is just a taste...
Oh yeah... a "score" equals 20.

God's precious word, in chapter, gives us the first nose-count of the people in each of the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel.

Begin with verse 21. Type in 46,500. Verse 23, type in 59,300. Plug in the totals for the other 10 tribes and add them up. It's all in chapter 1. What'd ya get?  If you hit all the right buttons, it should match verse 46. 

Isn't that a neat first taste?  And who said God's word can't be trusted. People that don't like lots of the Old Testament scripture 'cuz it's too boring... just don't know how to crunch numbers... in the book of Numbers.. .grin.

Ok, so let's check in with the Zeb, Smokey, and the whole Mop Room Gang and see more Bible goodies you just can't hold back from sharing with others.

2. Smokey and the Mop Room


You won’t see the precious gold on the regular fire house tour, even though the tour is a whiz-banger for sure. The children all get special treatment on the tour. They get to wear a real fire hat and sit in the driver seat of the hook and ladder truck that’s bursting with gauges, levers, and buttons. As you tour you can easily see all the boots, fire hats, and other fire clothes all set in order for a hasty but proper exit from the fire house to save lives.
 
The two emergency medical trucks were lined up all ready to race to where someone needed first aid and a fast ride to the hospital. There was nothing about them that made you think of the people that drove them and all their study, practice, and rules they had to follow.
The kid’s tour always involves lots of lovin’. That’s right. No kid with any heart at all could ever pass up loving Smokey the fire dog and all his enthusiasm. From the tip if his tail wagging in high gear to a big red tongue and sparkly eyes he says, “I need some huggin’. How about you?” 

Smokey thinks he is in doggy heaven every time he’s see a big yellow school bus stop outside and lots of excited school kids head toward the fire house.
But to see the real gold, that golden service at the fire house, you have to visit around 4:30 pm every Thursday. And then you won’t notice anything unless you enter the fire house mop room. There really isn’t anything special about the mop room either. The walls are all lined with rows of hooks for hanging things and enough cobwebs to make a rug. 

Two worn out mop pails were turned upside down and a heavy board set between them made a bench for the kids to sit on. High on the wall a banner hangs by one corner among those cobwebs. Left over from a parade long ago it still says, “Freedom Fire Department Gives Aid and Comfort.” Maybe that’s the purpose of this old firehouse mop room… comfort. That could be it. While the trucks, firemen, and Smokey give aid to people in danger, this mop room gives comfort to others in a quiet way. That must be the golden service provided at this Freedom Fire House.

Ol’ Zeb has as much or more loyalty to the fire house and the men and women that run it than possibly anyone else in this small town called Freedom. A few years ago he came into the fire house with chest pain worse than ever before. All the response team went right to work as they’d trained, to check his vital signs and get him to the nearby hospital. If they hadn’t, Zeb might be a lot worse off than just the slight limp in his walk and a left hand that doesn’t always do what is asked of it.

Usually a few minutes after 4 each Thursday the dozen or so 11 to 16 year old boys and girls begin showing up and head straight for the mop room. Every Thursday Zeb would already be there in the ‘comfort corner’ already praying for the children and the things they’d talk about this day. Everyone that knew anything about the Thursday mop room meetings began calling it “The Comfort Corner”. Even Smokey sensed that the Comfort Corner was no place for horse play. He would always lay quiet between some old boots with his eyes always staring into the eyes of children that truly need a Comfort Corner far more than we may sometimes realize.