21 Mar 2014, Pure Heart and the WORD
Happy Nozoor!
(Persian New Year) As a tradition in Iran, the new year (1387 I think on the Iranian calender) is a sign of rebirth. As a token they free some prisoners. Please pray for my friend, Pastor Saeed Abedini, (who is an american citizen arrested almost 2 years ago in Tehran for his Christian faith. Pray that they release him in honor of Nozoor. ´Nozoor´ is the farsi word for ´Year´ or ´año´ Go figure. Words are difficult to understand. Especially written words. Especially EMAIL words. Especially when handled by someone like me. The word, ´WORD´ is even more complex.
When I first learned spanish, I would say mañaña (the later part is baby talk for a very disgusting thing that they do) instead of Mañana. I called my friends ´hormigas´ (ants) instead of amigos. I had ´mucho hombre´ instead of ´mucha hambre´. I called adultos (adults) adulterios (adulterers). My words were horrible! I often thought of myself as a slaughterer of the language. (Still am probably). When I would speak, people would get the funniest looks on their faces. Kids would shreik with laughter. The worst mistake ever was when I got circled by a gang. They were getting ready to ´beat the bark off of me´ (I hate that when that happens). I kind of walked right through them and said ´excuse me ´caballos´ (horses) instead of ´caballeros´ (gentlemen). But I wasn´t angry. Actually I love the street people down here. So although my words should have gotten me lynched, I got away. They saw that I wasn’t trying to insult them, I was just scared, They thought it was funny (most of them anyway) and they gave me a pass. But in general I really haven´t offended many with my spanish words. I get along with almost everyone down here (except for religious of course) because they know I care, and that my intentions are good (usually).
Probably the wisest and most sincere people I have ever met aren’t very fluent with words in any language. When they talk, people laugh at their choice of words. But once the people get past their words, they see that these guys have WORD. When these people give their word, it sticks. Down here the word used so such people is that they have ´palabra´or in english word, ´WORD´. Eloquent ´wordsmiths´ usually don´t have much word.
Christians usually call the Bible (The Scriptures) the Word. King David said that he kept the WORD hidden in his heart to help him not to sin against God. But all King David had in His time were scrolls that made up the first 5 books of the of the old testament. As a matter of fact that´s all that any of the 40 different writers of the cannonized Bible had.. There were some good things in there, but over all, a very difficult read. However, those five books do show us that God is faithful, honest, just and good. God is good to his WORD because HE DOES NOT LIE: Just my humble opinion, but I don´t think that memorizing any words keep anyone from sinning. I think understanding God´s character, and HIS WORD do. His faithfulness is what helps us to walk the walk. Through the ´words´ in the Bible. we learn that God is good to His WORD. The WORD as in the WORD (Jesus) Made Flesh (John 1). Jesus, the Son of God, God the Son. Jesus as He walked among us showed us God´s character. Jesus shows us who He is. He shows us how can we represent Him. He shows us how can we identify with God and His love for us.
Although we’ve all failed in the past, God is forgiving. He is the God of second chances. As WE have ´palabra´ or are good to our WORD in our own lives, we will reflect Jesus to the kids at PURE HEART. We are teaching the kids how to have honor, character and truth in their own lives.
here´s pictures of us doing what we do this week,
God bless and keep
Dean