Are we celebrating the birth of a nation or the death of society? It’s hard to tell the difference this year.
America celebrates its 244th birthday today. The fourth of July. The day the Declaration of Independence was signed by America’s forefathers. Thinking back on my childhood, Independence Day meant picnics and barbecues, fun and fireworks, and spending time with friends and family. Articles and television broadcasts covered the valiant struggle to achieve Independence. But as a child, I focused on the fun aspect of the day and not on the battles or the loss of life. Most, if not all, of those childhood memories, have been shattered by a deadly virus that has claimed the lives of more than 132 thousand people. On the heels of this deadly plague, we have the destruction of property and monuments through protests and violence.
Focusing on the good times of the past and trying to enjoy the day is a dream when I can’t visit my community’s gorgeous outdoor pool because I need to make an appointment and have a limited time frame for that visit. Do I even want to attempt to schedule a time (if there are any available) or do I just stay home and possibly go see fireworks to have a celebration?
Most, if not all the firework displays have been canceled. So that’s out. But maybe there will be displays on television that I could watch, but it’s not the same. Parks and beaches are closed. Boat ramps are closed. Many restaurants are closed or are open to half capacity. We’re destined to stay home just as authorities dictated. Nothing is as it was.
Over fifty years ago, I spent a summer in Europe. I remember thinking how grateful I was to live in America and couldn’t wait to come home because there were so many conveniences that were lacking. Amenities I missed. Now I’m wondering if that gratitude was misplaced.
What happened to the country I love? Could it be that we’re entering the final phases of an industrial societal collapse? Based on the 10-year-old, 8,000-word essay by Peter Goodchild, there are 14 parts of the demise of a society. They are interrelated and cascade into one another.
So what are they? The shortage of fossil fuels, metals, and electricity. The scarcity of basic life needs such as food and fresh water. The transportation and communication infrastructure crumbles. Societal relationships in government, education, and labor deteriorate. Finally, true anarchy forces its way into our lives with crime, cults, craziness, chaos.
Based on this list, I’d say the United States is well on its way to complete destruction. But, wait. Do we want to give up our way of life because research has shown this happened in the Hittite Empire, the Western Roman Empire, the Gupta Empires in India, the Han and Tang dynasties in China, and the Mayans? Or do we fight like the ancestors this nation fought for a well-earned liberation?
Our first independence was fraught with the sound of cannons and guns, but I would hope today’s fight would be fought on our knees. I’m but one of the millions who have been praying for our nation, our leaders, and our people. All people.
I often pray this verse:
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chron 14:7 KJV
Won’t you join me today and pray for the healing of our land? It’s the only way.
A writer friend of mine suggested we share memories of Christmas but since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I’d like to share my Thanksgiving memories with you.
My Italian grandma usually cooked the other holidays but Thanksgiving was my mom’s baby, although I think my grandmother may have made the pies because she was an expert pie maker. And, my mom did everything else. So it worked.
Mom made the stuffing the day before. Her special recipe that took a lot of time and effort. We all loved that stuffing. And because we only got it once a year, the years she made it a different way got mixed reviews even some thumbs down.
I spent most of the morning watching the parade on television back when there was a parade on every channel and we only had three of them. After dinner, we’d play cards.
After dinner, we spent hours as a family playing board games. We had so much fun during those years. Everyone participated, and no one had phones in their hands (no cell phones) and no computers back then either. The kids, all in junior high or high school didn’t even ask to watch television or a movie. It was family time. we all enjoyed one another’s presence.
Despite that crazy memory, I’m grateful for all those tremendous Thanksgiving dinners filled with laughter, great food, and wonderful conversations. The memories are bittersweet. Mom turned 90 this year and no longer cooks nor does she want to leave her home to celebrate holidays. Dad passed and our children’s families live far enough away that celebrating Thanksgiving isn’t as easy as it once was. But, we will always have our memories and we are blessed to have had them. I am grateful and will always cherish them.
Let’s look at the context for the book of Joel and today’s verse. Joel was one of the twelve minor prophets in the Bible. The Bible doesn’t tell us anything more about him other than his father’s name, Pethuel. Sometimes the Bible gives the reader enormous detail about certain things and other times, it does not. If the Bible repeats something many times, it’s important and the reader should note it.
This wasn’t the only instance in Israel’s history where there were swarms of locusts. In the book of Exodus, we see swarms of locusts when Pharoah would not let the people of Israel leave Egypt. In 1915 a devastating plague of locusts covered what is modern-day Israel and Syria. The first swarms came in March, in clouds so thick they blocked out the sun. The female locusts immediately began to lay eggs, 100 at a time. Witnesses say that in one square yard, there were 65,000 to 75,000 eggs. In a few weeks, they hatched, and the young locusts resembled large ants. They couldn’t fly yet and got along by hopping. They marched along 400 to 600 feet a day, devouring every speck of vegetation along the way. After two more stages of molting, they became adults who could fly—and the devastation continued. And we will see, this same devastation in the time of tribulation in the book of Revelation which mirrors the time of Exodus.
The middle east is not the only place where locust devastation has occurred. The U.S. had its own devastation back in the 1870s. Here is a link to a great article on U.S. devastation: 
In Genesis, God promises Abraham that He would make Abraham the father of nations. This verse shows that God kept His promise to Abraham and the children of Israel. Generations had passed from the time of Abraham to when the book of Hosea was written. God is the same, yesterday, today and forever. We can trust in His promises. Hold His promises in our hearts.
The most recent example of the genocide inflicted upon the children of Israel was the Holocaust in Germany during World War II. We visited the death camp, Dachau, when we lived in Germany. That camp was the model for all other concentration camps. The Germans were told these camps were to rehabilitate. They were not told the Jews would be used for various and inhumane medical experiments or that they would die horrible deaths in gas chambers. When Dachau was finally liberated in April in 1945, there were thirty thousand Jews in a camp designed for only six thousand. I stood in the massive compound where Jews stood for hours on end and cried. This cruelty has been inflicted upon the Jews throughout the centuries.
But God has always kept a remnant of His people. And He will continue to protect His people regardless of the political climate. His word tells us they are His people. He will bless those who bless Israel and He will curse those who curse Israel. We need only look at the influx of the children of Israel to the land of Israel over the last thirty years. God is bringing His people back to the land He gave Abraham. They have come full circle. His word is true.
In church Sunday morning our pastor treated us to a video from Israel. The pastor felt it appropriate for the message that day. And it was. The video was a music video from a movement that’s been growing in Israel. Had the pastor not received the video or shared it with our congregation, we would not have known about it. Even with the internet, we miss a lot of news because of the daily dissemination of the sheer volume of information. But I’m so glad our pastor chose this video to share.
Koolulam is a movement that started in Israel 2017. The founders, three young people, wanted to develop connections with strangers. Singing in unison at the Western wall birthed the Koolulam idea. People from all walks of life and all ages get together to sing and has worked to change Israel’s fractured society. The attendees meet new people at every event.
While God is speaking about Jeremiah, this tells us God knows each one of us before we were formed in the womb. A comforting thought. He also tells Jeremiah, He has ordained him to be a priest. Jeremiah existed in the mind of and plan of God before he ever existed in his mother’s womb.
Forty years ago, I wrote a novel. I sent it in for publication. In those days, manuscripts were typed on a manual typewriter, publishers accepted novels directly from the writer, and those aspiring authors received physical rejection letters. Not today. While some publishers accept a manuscript from a writer, most of the time, a writer needs an agent to navigate the perils in publishing, and often aspiring authors get rejection letters. Most of the time, the publisher and/or agent doesn’t respond unless you have a personal relationship with them. And it takes an enormous amount of effort to find the right agent.
If you’re young, hold on to your dreams…and if you are older, keep dreaming. Life is too short not to follow the path in your heart.
Isaiah is one of the major prophets in the Bible. His name means “Salvation is of the Lord”. In Isaiah’s day, Egypt, Assyria and Babylon surrounded the tiny country of Israel, much like today, Israel is surrounded by Egypt, Iran, and Syria. In his day Israel was in the center of wars between those nations. Again, much like it is today.
God wants us to repent from our sins, but isn’t that what we should do in our daily lives and not just toward God but toward our fellow man? We should cease to do evil. Whether in our homes, our workplaces, community or our nation. Taking stock of who we are and shining a bright light on our frailties as humans is difficult. It’s terribly difficult. We don’t want to do it. We don’t want to see how far we’ve come from that child-like innocence to corrupted adult.
And we will struggle with it for the rest of our lives but turning to Him is the only answer. He loves us. He loves you. All you have to do is ask. God sees it all, anyway. 
My husband lost his job right before the holidays in December 2007. His job defined him and thought he’d one day retire from it but God had other plans. When the dreadful recession of 2008 picked up steam in California, jobs dried up. It was all we could do to keep making the mortgage payments on our dream home. Little by little his retirement fund vanished and desperation set in.
curb appeal it needed but, in a market where there were thousands of homes for sale, the prospect of selling seemed bleak. Room by room, I sorted, packed, and pitched. But I kept praying. Praying for favor from buyers and wisdom for the sale.
In July, he made that long trip back, and we put the house on the market. It took months to sell the house, but it sold when no houses were selling and most of them were selling for less than the owners’ mortgage. This was a miracle given the Sacramento area was one of the most hard-hit of recession areas. When our house finally closed on December 31, 2008, we were overjoyed because it sold at a profit. Unheard of. We knew God showed us favor in the house sale and He’d continue to show favor with a job.
I wasn’t thrilled with picking up and moving across the world to a foreign land but if God wanted us there, we’d go. We had valid passports and no house to sell. A perfect situation for us and his future employer. But we could only take so much with us. Our decision to rid ourselves of all the gardening equipment housed in the storage POD meant we had to dispose of it.