Scripture

All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

~Hebrews 11:13, LSB

Quote

There is only one good thing I can say about the devil: he is always busy.

~Source Unknown

Being faithful to Christ is like a fish swimming upstream, we are always facing the current. Daniel was captured when he was a teenager, carried to Babylon and most like castrated. He spent the rest of his life in a foreign land. He was a pilgrim and a stranger to the Chaldeans. Daniel was an Orthodox Jew who worshipped the one true God Yahweh. He stood out among the pagans in Babylon. He was odd to the them and faithful to God. He was a friend of God but found few true friends in this world. Matter of fact, many of the Chaldeans hated Daniel and did everything possible to destroy him. Daniel not only survived, he thrived. He was a pilgrim who made progress.

Being a follower of Christ in this world is not an easy task; it requires faith and commitment. It is like growing old, it is not for the weak and faint hearted. In order for Daniel to be faithful to his commitment to Yahweh, he could not eat what the Babylonian ate, drink what they drank or worship what they worshipped. This made Daniel stand out; made him look like an odd ball, yet Daniel never wavered; he was faithful to the finish. Some one was talking to me just the other day about the best men in the Bible and I mentioned Job and Joseph; the other person said, “I was thinking of Joseph and Daniel.” I agreed that he made a good choice. There is nothing negative about Daniel in the scripture. Daniel handled his alien status well. He was faithful to his generation in a land that was hostile to his faith. May the LORD give us the strength and courage to be faithful in our generation.

Extra

I consider it an honor and privilege to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ and I thank Him for two opts to do so yesterday: GOD IS GOOD! I am also thankful for good friends and good fellowship. I go early on Sunday morning so I can sit on the porch and talk to my friends. I get to end the day at DBC talking to friends. I love Jesus and my friends. Of course June and I get to have lunch with our children and grands practically every Sunday and we were very thankful to have them all back under one roof. GOD IS GOOD!

While He has blessed us far beyond anything we could ever deserve, we have friends who are hurting and we remember them today. I can’t remember if I have mentioned it but Ken Nelson has colon cancer. There are others that I am not at liberty to call by name. Just remember, today will be very hard for some.

I sat some live traps Saturday evening before going to bed. I caught one coon and I executed him when we got home from lunch. I caught one but there must have been a dozen others: they destroyed our corn patch. I was heart broken. I had hoped the neighbors dogs would have kept them away but those two dogs are worthless. I bet there are a million coons in Morgan County. I don’t have a single one here: they are all married and have children. The patch of woods behind us is a coon camp ground.

Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.