PEN ART - A BEAUTIFUL POEM AND A LOVELY SONG

(Commentary by Sheila Gail Landgraf, poetry and song lyrics by Allen Levi)

Today's Pen Art is not my own, I must give all credit to Allen Levi, who has blessed us with the following words of a very poetic song:

  

Golden Choir of Aubiere,

( by Allen Levi)

Rows and rows of bowing heads,

Sunflowers say their evening prayer,

A congregation of the field,

The golden choir of Aubiere.

Dawn to dusk, they only turn

Up to heaven where God lives,

Every face a separate light

Reflections of the love He gives.

 Lord of colors, Lord of light,

 Won't you teach me how to pray

 Like the flowers of Aubiere?

 Won't you guide me through the day?

Rose and lily grow so fair,

But, Lord, make me like the sunflower,

Looking always to your face,

Seeking you from hour to hour.

 Lord of colors, Lord of light,

 Won't you teach me how to pray

 Like the flowers of Aubiere?

 Won't you guide me though the day?

Rows and rows of bowing heads,

the golden choir of Aubiere,

the golden choir of Aubiere.

 As winter sweps across the landscape turning everything brown and gray, I long for the bright vivid colors of spring.  A song is forming in the caverns of my mind, and I catch myself humming....hopefully.  

I seem to need a large dose of it today as I look out the office windows and think of other places I would rather be.  The first place that comes to mind is the place in the song I hum, a place called Aubiere.  I know it is in the south of  France where the sunflowers and the lavendar are said to grow side by side for miles and miles.  

No, I’ve never been there, except in my imagination while listening to Allen Levi’s song.  If I could go though, I would head straight for the sunflower fields and check out the rows and rows of praying heads. 

If the sunflowers stand next to a contrasting purple lavendar field, all for the better!  The lovely contrasting flowers are like the two countries they hail from; each beautifiul in their own unique way.  Those beautiful yellow rows of color were such a sweet gift from America to France by the Spainards back in the 1600's.  Funny how people think of France when you mention sunflowers because it was the American Indian that first cultivated the flower.  What a gift to the land they have been, for both countries.

Everyone has a favorite song, poem, story, piece of art, right?  Golden Choir of Aubiere has always been one of my old favorites, as much for the words as for the melody.   Thank you Allen Levi for blessing us with the melody.  

There seems to be some mystery behind the lyrics that I cannot get to the core of, something that has not yet been revealed, but it doesn't stop the lovely haunting music from capturing my heart.   The simple beauty of the song has resided a tresure inside my mind from the first time I heard the poetic lyrics so many years ago.    

I first experienced the rich, poetic words and the simple tune inside my welcoming ears during a time when I was missing the joy of being constantly surrounded by anything of  beauty or grace.  In my state of struggling through much day-to-day dullness, these words lent the essence of what I found missing from my surroundings.  The slow soft lyrics and the bright vivid word pictures helped me to hold on until better days arrived.  They made me lift my head and become grateful in the midst of all circumstances.  They made me long for the simple life of the sunflower, one of joy, one of worship and faith.  That is what sunflowers do, they pray and worship and look up to God.  They are always patiently beautiful and cheerful no matter their surroundings.  They pop up in the most unexpected places and make your day just a little bit more special.  I learned back in those bleak times how to be a sunflower.  That lesson has made such a difference in the outcome of my life.  

I can now look back on those days and smile and know that God was forming and shaping my character into the person He wanted me to be.  He was teaching me to leave my own visions behind and look at the better vision He had chosen to give to me, one of simple beauty, joyous praise and thanksgiving.  We never realize how important these qualities are until we have lived in the place where they do not exist.   I pray that your days are all filled with sunflowers!

 

There is a field somewhere  in Aubiere where constant praise is being offered.  

Oh that we could all live like that lovely golden choir all the time!  

Oh that we could teach out hearts to sing the song that Allen Levi sang while (I suppose) he was there observing the beauty of his surroundings.  

There is a place like Aubiere out there for all of us.  We must not get lost in the hurry of our days and forget to pause in the place of peace and beauty and give thanks for the simplicity of God's plan.  

It all becomes very simple when you observe the Golden Choir of Aubiere.

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 108 FINISHING GENESIS AND LOOKING TOWARD EXODUS

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

So we know that Joseph dwelt in Egypt throughout the remainder of his lifetime.  He lived happily in the land with all of his relatives surrounding him.  He lived to be 110 years old, and he saw his grandchildren and his great grandchildren grow up.   

Four generations had now come and gone since the great famine and the people of God were still living in Egypt.  They multiplied and filled the land but they lived in different ways from the natives of the land.  They were godly people, keeping the covenant of God with Abraham. 

For the most part, under the leadership of Joseph, the Sons of Israel and their ancestors remained true to the teachings of Abraham that had been passed down to them from their father.  They were prosperous shepherds.  There were many of them and they were blessed. 

The time came when Joseph knew he was going to die.  He turned to his brothers and his children and grandchildren and said “I am dying; but God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.”  

So, through Joseph, the promises of God to Abraham were passed on.  Nothing was forgotten or forsaken.  The children of Jacob knew their heritage and did not forget it.  They knew and understood all the promises that God had made to Abraham.  Each generation was taught by their own father.

Joseph was well known among them for his great gift of prophecy.  His people had all lived to see his dreams from God fulfilled with their very own eyes.  They now respected all that Joseph told them about the future.  They understood his words were from God.

 

Because of this “knowing” of Joseph, the Sons of Jacob were never completely at home in Egypt.  They were always thinking that the day would come when God would find a way to lead them back to the land where Abraham and Sarah had lived and worshipped.  They did not forget or forsake the ways of Abraham. This loyal line of thinking began with them in Egypt during the days when times were good for the people, way before any thought of slavery happened to the ancestors of Abraham in the land of Egypt.  Things went well for them for a very long time and they prospered under Joseph’s leadership.  

Joseph clearly had this vision of return to the homeland and he never let them forget it.  He made his people take an oath before him that when the day came, and they returned, that they would carry his bones with them. 

So after a long, full, blessed life Joseph died.  They embalmed him and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.  His bones were not buried, but kept in a box that could be moved whenever the people moved.

With Joseph’s death the book of Genesis ends. 

What an amazing journey we have had walking together through this book with the eyes of a child!  Together we have explored the very old, old roots of Christianity.  

Let’s stop here for a moment and think of all the things that this awesome first book of the bible called   Genesis has taught us:

We have learned that God exists and he existed first, before anything else ever existed.  We know that he created the world and all that is in it and he formed man from the dust of the earth and drew woman from his ribs.  We have seen that God is the original source of all life.  We know that originally God walked and talked with man in paradise and intended that we always be in such communion with him forever.

We discovered that Satan also exists, and through Him sin entered the garden.  He was in the garden and he tempted the man and the woman to disobey God.  We discovered how sin came into the world and how mankind fell to a state that kept them from communion with God.  We learned that the wages of sin is death.   

 We learned  that the only way God could exist with sinful men after the fall was through a “covering” or a holy sacrifice that would blot out sins from God's eyes and provide a covering for men making them acceptable to stand before a Holy God.  This was first accomplished in the Garden of Eden with the sacrifice of an innocent animal and the blood and covering of animals has been used by men since that time as a way of sacrifice to draw closer to God.  At that time offering a sacrifice was symbolic of repentence. This symbolic, yet unperfect act, would prevail until the perfect, once for all, sacrifice of a Messiah happened.  Adam and Eve and every generation after them looked for such a Messiah.  God had given them that hope even as they left the garden in shame. 

We learned of the generations of Adam and all the stories of both good and evil sons who lived up until a time when evil prevailed on the earth in the days of Noah.  That was when God sent a flood to destroy so much evil and give those few left who were good and righteous a new life on a renewed earth.  A covenant from God was given to Noah after the flood in the promise of the rainbow.  

 After Noah, we watched generations of mankind progress up through the days of Abraham.  Abraham offered God sacrifices and worshipped God and turned from the evil idols worshiped by his family.   Abraham was willing to leave all he knew and step out into the unknown in pure obedience to follow God.  God loved Abraham and gave Abraham a covenant promise that his ancestors would fill the earth as many as the sands of the sea and the stars of the sky.   God promised to give Abraham and his children the land where God had led him through faith.  

We saw the generations after Abraham come forth.  We saw how each patriarch contributed to the formation of the Great Family of God.  We watched as God led them out of Canaan and into Egypt through an odd occurrence of events.  We saw how the life of Joseph was a foretaste and a perfect shadow of The Messiah to come.  

We have left the Children of God in the land of Egypt now, after Joseph’s death with the promise that they will one day return to the land that was long ago promised to Abraham by God. 

After Genesis we come to Exodus, both as the title of a book and as a way of surviving life as a child of God. 

This is a perfect time to go back and review any of the lessons you missed.  They are all available anytime you need to read them in the archives found within the indexes of this blog.  I am also condensing them together into a book format and I will have more details about that later in my freelance writing blogsite called Wordcastle Publications.  If you are interested in obtaining the condensed book called A CHILD'S WIDE-EYED WALK THROUGH GENESIS, please send your contact information to wordcastlepublications@gmail.com.  If I receive an e-mail note from you, I will let you know when the publication is available and provide ordering information at that time.  

I'm excited to be opening my own freelance content writing company where I will be sharing more and more of these stories as well as other Christian writing samples to the public.  I will keep you posted; but in the meantime I'm also excited to be starting the next part of this COME AS A CHILD blog study on Exodus within this blog beginning on next Thursday!  The Exodus posts will come out on Thursdays, in a similar fashion to how the Genesis posts were revealed, once a week.  

Let us continue this journey together and take the Exodus through the wide open eyes of a child.  

Let's step out bravely to see what God will teach us along the way.  I'm sure if we studied for a million years, He would always have something else to teach us.  That is what happens when your God is eternal and forever!   

Dear readers, be kind and have courage; for all things are possible when we put our trust in God.    

PIECES OF THE PUZZLE - THE MYSTERIOUS STORY OF THE RED HEIFER

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Have you ever felt compelled to study the details of the sacrifice of The Red Heifer?  The study is fascinating and I keep coming back to it year after year.  If you’ve never heard of it, this was a sacrifice of a perfect Red Heifer that God commanded of Moses to make for the people in order to cleanse them before entering the Tabernacle in the wilderness.  Apparently, the ritual was put into place immediately as the Tabernacle came into use as God had instructed Moses. 

The requirements were that the heifer must be three years old and perfectly red; it must be physically free from any blemish or defect; it must never have been used to perform any physical labor; it was to be taken to a specific place outside the camp where it was slaughtered and burned; its ashes were mixed together with pure spring water to make a mixture to be sprinkled on the people for purification.

This practice started with Moses and was carried on all throughout history until the last temple was destroyed.  There have been nine red heifers and the nation of Israel is waiting on the 10^th to appear. 

Originally the people were contaminated and became impure because of the making of the golden calf.  You can read the story in Deuteronomy, Chapter nine of your bible.  To make it very short here it was a time when Moses had ascended to the mountain of God to receive the commandments of God.  The people were tired of waiting on their leader to return.  They were bored and restless, and they appealed to Aaron, whom Moses had left in charge to create a golden calf.  Miriam’s son Hur tried to persuade the people that this was wrong and they killed him for standing up to them.  Now bulls were a pagan symbol of worship in the land of Cannan and also in some areas of Egypt from where the people had just been released from slavery.  Aaron, probably afraid of the same fate as Hur, complied with their wishes and made the calf that they wished for him to make. Many scholars have pointed out too that there were Egyptians that had tagged along with the crowd as they left Egypt and that they had been secretly conspiring, persuading the people to make the calf.  Aaron was said to have stalled for time, thinking that Moses would soon return.  When that didn’t work he was said to have commanded that the people bring all their gold for it, thinking they might be stingy and not want to give it.  They complied.  It is unlikely that Aaron actually intended this calf be an idol, as he proclaimed a Feast for Yahwah after he finished making it.  (Exodus 32:5). 

At first it appeared that the people worshipping the calf seemed to associate it with the God who brought them out of Egypt.  It was said by some that the Egyptian conspirators knew magic tricks that made the calf appear to jump out of the fire.  Many believe that this was when the people’s hearts turned from worshipping God to worshipping the golden calf.  They allowed themselves to be tricked into believing a lie by sensational magic.  What ever the circumstances leading up to this, there are many theories, as time went on the truth came out.  Most of the people had wanted Aaron to make them a God to lead them because Moses had tarried so long on the Mountain.  They had allowed themselves to be deceived.  Whatever their original intentions, it becomes clear in Exodus 32:8 that the people immediately fell to worshipping the calf and violated the first commandment that God was giving to Moses on the Mountain (Thou shalt not have any other gods before Me.)

Now, God is omnipresent.  He could see the people in the camp and tend to Moses on the Mountain at the same time.  He KNEW this was going on the whole time, yet; He was giving Moses instructions of His will.  God informed Moses of his displeasure with the people and that they would die for their sins.  He told Moses that a new people, descendents of Moses would take their place and carry His will with them to the nations of the world. 

Moses was very distressed.  He prayed for God to forgive the people, reminding God of the covenant with Abraham and begging for mercy.  God decided to be merciful. 

Moses had promised the people that he would return in 40 days.  When the 40^th day arrived, Moses returned at sunset with the Commandments of God in his hands.  His assistant, Joshua was waiting on him at the foot of the Mountain.  They returned together at the end of the 40^th day after receiving the Revelation of God, just as promised.  When they approached the camp and saw what was taking place Moses threw the tablets of the commandments on the ground in frustration, breaking them into a million shattered pieces.  He took the golden calf and ground it to dust and spread the dust over water and made the people drink it.  This was his way of showing them the worthlessness of their idol and the lack of power it had.  Moses then stood at the entrance of the camp and told everyone who worshipped God to stand with him.  The entire tribe of Levi came. He then commanded those who were of God to slaughter those who had worshipped the golden calf, no matter how important those people were to them.   That day three thousand of the children of Israel lost their lives because of the sin of idolatry.

Moses went back up the mountain and prayed to God for the next 40 days while the people mourned their dead and atoned for their sins before God.  When the 40 days were up God told Moses to hew another set of tablets.  Moses ascended to the mountain a third time for God to inscribe the commandments.  Over the next 40 days God inscribed the commandments and told Moses that He had forgiven the children of Israel.   As Moses stood on the mountain with the commandments in his hands God taught Moses how the people could make atonement for their sins through repentance and prayer.  God proclaimed thirteen attributes for the people to recite in the days of their repentance.  These are a story unto themselves, but you can read of them in Exodus 34:6-7. 

After all of this Moses invited God to go before them and to use them as His people again.  God promised a covenant to Moses.  On the tenth day of the month of Tishrei (Yom Kippur) Moses returned to the camp and brought the commandments and told the people of God’s covenant with them.   God had promised them many blessings and miracles.  Moses’ face shinned so bright that the people were frightened and looked at him in awe.  Moses veiled himself and proceeded to teach the children of Israel the Torah.

Well……I tried to make that explanation as brief as possible, but you can’t leave much out and have the whole story.  Getting back to the reason for the Red Heifer, can you see how this ritual would signify the reversal of the sin of the golden calf? 

There are many mysteries surrounding the thought and ritual of The Red Heifer.  It was originally used to purify the people, especially from the contamination of death.  Death was considered the worst impurity of all impurities, life was considered the most sacred of all pure.  Sin had brought the death of three thousand people.  Think of the form of sin here.  They let others in the culture persuade them of untruth.  Can you see that around us today?  They didn’t just get up one day and decide to be disobedient to God, it seeped in on them from worldly influences.  Are you getting a picture of this now?  Could we in the United States of America be guilty of the sin of idolatry too?  The answer is not hard.  Do we too need to be made pure from the water and ashes of a red heifer?  Well, it did happen.  Just like God was merciful to the People of Israel who followed Him, He has looked down on us today and provided a way for us to be cleansed of the impurity of death from association with the ways of our current culture.  Our Red Heifer came in the form of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. 

After years and years of God teaching His people the story in a million different ways, God sent His Only Begotten Son.  The Son of God lived out the story in every aspect of His life on earth.  Can we not look upon His life and see that He was our sacrifice, our salvation, our only hope?  The church stands like Moses and says, you who believe in God come to my side.  Take a stand and live out what you believe no matter how hard the turn may be for you.  You may have to give up some things that are dear to you in order to come out of the world.  The answer though, on the other side of the cross, is life!  Life is worth it all. Eternal life is the final gift of God to His people.  Jesus died that we may live forever.  It is a pardox, much like the paradox of the Red Heifer.

Those who administered the ashes of the Red Heifer had to contaminate themselves outside the camp with the death of the cow.  This made them impure.  In taking on these impurities from death though, they were able to cleanse the people that they served. 

In considering this I think of the people today who have willingly made the sacrifice in risking their own lives to give medical help to those who have possibly fatal diseases, such as the doctors and nurses who have recently been in the news for treating cases of ebola.  I have noted that those who know God and have gone to their jobs with the backing of prayer and the heart of a servant of God have fared much better.  Is this a coincidence?  

Such was the case with our dear Jesus who took on our sins before God on the cross.  Sin is the greatest disease there is.  He took on all of our sin.  He was pure, but he became impure for a time  with our sins on the cross in order to cleanse us from the sin we have brought on ourselves.  

The priests of the temple went through the same ironic service year after year, always teaching in their actions the mercy and justice of God.  Mercy and justice existing together are yet another form of paradox we must consider in this story.

This is only a small sampling of the stories behind the mystery of The Red Heifer.  It is said that the whole Torah can be explained just from this one story.  It contains so much more than man can even begin to understand.  It is all about being obedient and faithful to God even when you do not know or understand what is going on in your circumstances.

The amazing story of The Red Heifer is a wonderful thing to consider as we make our way through a pagan world. 

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 107 WHAT JOSEPH AND CINDERELLA HAD IN COMMON

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

On the long, long journey to and from Israel's funeral, Joseph’s brother’s probably had a lot of time to think about what would happen to them in “life after father.”   

Odd as this sounds; these facts reminded me of Cinderella!  

I recently watched a modern-day version of  the "Cinderella" story.  It was very well done and the production really impressed me.  I loved the way the whole story emphasized the fact that Cinderella learned how to be herself and not try to impress others with false and superficial ways.  She learned not to be a people-pleaser and to require those who loved her to accept her for the beautiful person that she really was. 

 In this particular version of the old fairy tale, I loved how they added so many extra little details about Cinderella's life, including her thoughts.  She too had come to a sad time in her life, just like Joseph in our story today.  They both had lost the father they deeply loved.  Cinderella's  father's death was devastating to her.  It changed her world completely.  It was so similar to Joseph's story in that now there was a whole new set of circumstances for her to live through and many changed relationships that she must now deal with.  These circumstances were not easy.  She bravely faced the hard changes with love and courage.  She would miss her father so much!  Nothing would ever be the same again.  I could not help but think of Joseph.

Because they had stayed with their father and done everything the way he wanted basically so they could live underneath his blessings, Joseph’s brothers were now were living at the mercy of the hand of Joseph.  They were foreigners and strangers, living in a foreign land, much like Cinderella’s step-sisters when they had come to live in Cinderella's father's home.  They really had no right to anything in Egypt now, but because of their relation to Joseph, they had come into a rich and rewarding life in that land.  They probably appreciated this about as much as Cinderella's step-sisters.  Until Israel's death they took all of this for granted and simply thought they were entitled, but they surely did not want anything to happen to make them lose the blessings they had gained.

Joseph’s brothers depended on Joseph’s heavily blessed provision from God to survive.  Joseph had shared all he owned freely with them, holding back nothing.  They couldn’t take it all from him like Cinderella’s step family did, because Joseph had grown very powerful in the land; but they needed some type of reassurance that Joseph would always continue providing. They were very afraid of losing this easily gained good fortune that they had not worked a day in their lives for.

 

They knew Joseph had said long ago that they were forgiven, and he had never shown signs of holding a grudge against them for the way they had wronged him, but now; since Israel had died, they wondered if Joseph would become bitter and remember how they had treated him.  

Would he realize how different life could have been and might still be if none of their terrible evil deeds had ever happened and he had grown up in the land of Canaan knowing the constant love of his father and his other relatives?  

Maybe they had even  seen Joseph showing his two Egyptian sons the special places associated with his childhood days in the land of his birth during the time of Jacob’s funeral.  Perhaps they had seen a longing in Joseph's eyes that frightened them as he thought of “what could have been?”

  

The weaker brothers became very afraid of their grieving brother, and they decided to take action based upon their fears.  They all got together and sent word to Joseph asking him to consider that their father had requested before he died that Joseph forgive the wrongs they had committed against him. They knew Joseph would never question his father's last wishes.  

When Joseph received this message, he sat down and wept.  

At this point in our story, one cannot help but think of the shortest verse of the bible; that verse of just two little words: “Jesus wept.”  Joseph must have suffered a sadness similar to the sadness that Jesus felt as he looked upon those that he loved, yet he knew they had betrayed him in their weakness and in their humanity.  He loved them so much; yet they had hurt Him.  They had broken his heart.

The stinging tears of Joseph might have also been over a lot of the things he had lost; his father, the goodness of faithful brothers growing up, his home, the wasted years he had spent in prison for false acquisitions, the fact that his own sons did not really know the people that were his ancestors.  So much must have come to mind at the time and  many things such as this must have given Joseph great sadness and he wept.  

 As he wept, he must have prayed.  

Can’t you imagine Joseph talking to God as he was weeping and asking Him how all of this could be?  I’m sure his prayers were full of emotions and questions.   Even in his questions, it seems he trusted God to provide whatever answers he needed.  He did not lean on his own understanding.  He waited on God to guide him.  

At some point he came to himself and felt the peace of God within.  God must have spoken to him; because it is evident in the way he once again handled the very underhanded treatment of his brothers.  I say “underhanded” because it is clear that the brothers were acting out of fear and not really telling the truth.  

Of course Joseph’s father had wanted him to forgive his brothers, and Israel must have known in his heart that Joseph had already done this long ago.  Joseph had spent many days with Israel as he lay suffering and dying and if Israel had been concerned about how Joseph was going to treat his brothers he would have spoken directly to Joseph at that time, not his brothers.  Anyone reading Jacob’s last words to his sons would have realized this.  The brothers were simply fearful of Joseph’s power, and they were very full of their own terrible guilt.   They had carried it around with them unconfessed  for so many years, and now they simply could not let it go.  It had become a part of them.

Perhaps many of Joseph’s tears fell simply from the fact that he knew his brother’s own sins would always keep him from having a proper brotherly relationship with them, no matter what Joseph did to reassure them or mend the past.  Even if one party forgives, if the other party can't let go of their sin and move ahead, there is a block on the growth of the relationship and it will never mature and grow into what was originally intended.  

After he composed himself Joseph sent for his brothers.  

Can’t you see them coming before him trembling in fear, almost as much as that first day when they found out who he really was as he had revealed his true identity to them years ago in Egypt?

 They came and threw themselves at Joseph’s feet.  

“We are your slaves!”  they said to him.  

I’m sure a very old vision from the dreams of a young shepherd boy in a brightly colored coat must have flashed through Joseph’s mind when this happened.  Joseph had seen his dream from God come true several times now.  His brothers were bowing down to him, just as he had dreamed when he was a boy and they had made fun of him.  This flash-back to the past and remembering the dream probably also reminded Joseph that God was in the circumstances.  All of the details leading up to that moment of the dream coming true had been in God's control all along.  

 

And Joseph’s heart turned to the place of the peace of His Great God.  

“Don’t be afraid” he said to them, “Am I in the place of God?”

In other words, Joseph knew the only way judgment should ever be given was from the hand of God.  He knew in his heart he must totally forgive his brothers, no matter how hard it was for him in the flesh.  Joseph decided right then and there the proof of that old, old scripture so often repeated from Romans 12:19 (written way after the days of Joseph) “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.”

True forgiveness never involves revenge or judgement.  Only God may judge and only God can declare people guilty.  Joseph got that.  He realized that God's perspective was the only true perspective.   In spite of all they had done to him, and in spite of the fact that most likely they were again telling him a lie, Joseph forgave his brothers; completely and unconditionally, without restitution or repayment.

 

He did not overlook what they had done.  He agreed with their confession of their wrong.  They confronted one another and spoke of the facts together.  They did not sweep everything under the rug, but they talked the matter out and they came once again to the final conclusion that Joseph would overlook and forgive the wrongs that they had committed against him.

The forgiveness didn’t come because the brothers had fallen on their faces and begged, or because they had admitted their wrong and apologized.  Joseph wasn’t stupid.  He could clearly see this wasn’t a sincere apology, but only one brought in fear.  Had they not been afraid of the power that Joseph held over them, would they have even bothered?  Chances are slim to none.  Maybe some of them; but not all of them.  Joseph knew this but Joseph’s eyes were not on the humans who stood before him.  Joseph’s eyes were right where they had always been and right where they would always stay; fixed on God. 

Based on the spirit Joseph gained from listening to God, emptying his heart to Him and being obedient to God’s every word, Joseph explained his actions to his surprised and grateful brothers.  Joseph recognized in his life what so many selfish thinkers miss:

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives!”

Had all of the circumstances of Joseph's life not happened the way they did the people of Egypt as well as the people of Israel would have starved to death.  God could have changed this in any way He chose to do so, but He decided to work through Joseph.  

God had shown Joseph the big picture.  Only God can do this, because only God sees the big picture.  This is because He is outside of time and we are inside of time.  We have tunnel vision; He has eternal vision.  His perspective is accurate, and ours is often shortsighted.  We do well to let God’s glasses do the looking for us in matters that are very important, such as this one was to Joseph.

For Joseph this was a moment of truth.  It was the realization of the culmination of all of his life's purpose.  He had matured so much in his walk with God that he didn't need dreams anymore.  Joseph had eyes to see.  God had opened them and he understood so far beyond the others living around him.  Things like this happen when your eyes are focused in the right place instead of worshiping yourself and the things of the world.  Joseph saw a glimpse, in these circumstances, of what Jesus saw on the cross.  He saw the end of the story; the one where God brings all bad circumstances around to work together for good.  Joseph had held on through it all and now he possessed within himself the greatest power and capacity that is possible from the human heart, that of unconditional love and forgiveness.

 

And so he told his brothers not to be afraid, that he would continue to bless them and provide for them.  As so often happens in this world, a whole newly forming nation was blessed from the goodness of one man’s heart toward God.

The people living in that day have long left the earth and gone into eternity, but if you could go back in time and talk to anyone from that day who lived in close proximity to this band of foreign brothers, they would tell you that Joseph was a lot like Cinderella.  He was one who always showed courage and kindness.

So my friends, the story of Joseph as well as the long walk through the Book of Genesis in this study is drawing to a close.  We will have one more lesson with a summary, but I will simply ask you every time you think of Joseph to remember Cinderella’s mother’s words to her; “be kind and have courage and you will do well.”  Joseph did!  


True kindness and courage can only come from God. 

SEASONS - THOUGHTS ABOUT ASH WEDNESDAY AND LENT

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

February 10th was Ash Wednesday which was also the first day of Lent.  I do not feel this time is commanded, but I do not feel it is wrong either.  Any specific period of time set aside to grow closer to God is a good thing!  I have observed Lent many times and I have not forgotten all that the season has to teach, nor all the blessings I’ve received when I have taken the time out of my life to observe Lent.     

There is also a lot of golden wisdom to be obtained in the understanding of the meaning behind Ash Wednesday.  I find it very helpful.  Ash Wednesday happens on the first day of Lent each year, following Shrove Tuesday.   It marks a 40 day period of prayer and fasting, very similar to the 40 days spent by Jesus in the dessert when He was tempted by Satan before His crucifixion.  These are the days leading up to Easter (as the Catholic’s and Episcopals say ( I like to say “Resurrection Day”.)  Whatever you like to call this day; the fast of Lent ends with the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ and a very joyful time. 

On this day ashes are imposed on the foreheads of the faithful.  They appear in the shape of a cross and are worn all day as a testimony to the fact that we come from ashes and we will return to ashes.  Without God, we are nothing at all.  Perhaps we will be reminded of the mark of Cain who came from the dust of the ground and was doomed to return to the ground from whence he came.  He did not provide the proper sacrifice for his sins.  He was doomed to live with the mark of his own sins until he returned to the ground from where he was taken originally.  If only he had turned and obeyed God and provided the right sacrifice, he would not have to eventually die in his sin and be no more.  He would have gained the essence of eternal life.  But Cain thought like Cain and he continued in rebellion, much like mankind, much like the message of the dust of the ashes that we wear on Ash Wednesday.  There is nothing we can do for ourselves and there is no hope outside of a miracle of God.

The whole idea of the season is to examine your heart and repent of any unrepented sins before the day that celebrates The Resurrection of Christ, who IS the miracle provided by God.  

Personally, by the time this season rolls around every year – I have already done most of this work of the soul in the observance of the Month of Elul and The Days of Awe from the Hebrew calendar which lead up to The Day of Atonement, so if I join in and observe Lent, much of the spiritual housekeeping of my adopted Jewish heart has already taken place; but it never hurts to be thorough when it comes to your soul and eternity – so I often chose to join in with my friends, even though I do not feel this is commanded.  This is especially true, since we know from history and study that the whole idea of Lent was started by a monk many years ago, and possibly evolved from his study of those observing Elul and The Days of Awe.    The important thing is to be sure you repent, during any time or season.   This is what really matters.  After all, repentance should actually be a DAILY observance of all Christians, and this extra, though not commanded season, helps me keep aware of that fact all through the year.  

Seasons come and go and what do we learn in them?  How do we keep them pure with the right intentions before God?  

I try not to be  too legalistic with any season, but just strive to let God lead me to where He wants my heart to go whenever or where ever that proves out to be.   Every year for me is different in some way, because God doesn't have me living a stagnant life.  Nothing is ever the same if you are really alive!  Yet, all of God is constant and never changing.  What a balancing act!  It can get off center if you aren't paying attention to your true focus.     

I tend to lean in Hebraic directions and  I have noticed some years when I observe Purim and participate in The Fast of Esther, that it all  fits right into the whole mood of Ash Wednesday and fasting for Lent – so I don’t see any harm here, though it certainly confuses a lot of my friends who don't understand either subject whether from the Hebraic point of view or the Catholic point of view.  It gets even more confusing when we have one of those years when the calendar that God chose and the calendar that man has let evolve in the church get out of sync.  This is one of those crazy years when Purim comes long into Lent and Easter comes before Passover (completely backwards!)  I just laugh and go on.  God knows what I’m doing – and He knows my religious observances are always for Him, not mankind. 

The day is coming when God is going to either pull us outside of time with Him or step back into time with us.  I'll let him unravel the web we have woven, and until then, the Hebraic calendar will come first for me and when it is possible and logical, I'll join in with the others.  I'll keep holding on to the main things, the things that I feel will matter in the end.  
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 Just recently God has led me to a deep study of the life of Cain and Abel.  I have seen so many clues in their stories that make me stop and think.  One thing that always jumps out at me is the mark of Cain and it has me always noticing any time other people in the bible have been known for displaying or having a mark on their arm or their forehead.  Now I look for those things in order to grasp a better understanding.  

I notice every Ash Wednesday of Lent that the cross is a mark on the forehead of all of the faithful who go for ashes.  Of course this is in total contrast to the mark of Cain, as Cain was marked for the committing of sin, but the faithful also have their counter mark, their identification as being servants of The Most High God. They instead are marked for their submission to God's will.   

There are so many examples of different "marks," and I’m astounded when I begin studying them all.   Go just one step further and consider if the ashes on the forehead (the place of the brain, or the symbol of the mind) is the first step to the circumcision of the saved, or the mark of God over the heart of His own.  Could the marking of the heart, so symbolic of perfect love, be the next step after the marking of the mind?  I think it is a natural progression that every Christian pilgrim must travel.  What stays and resides inside the mind eventually shows up from the heart in either love or hate.  

Is your mind marked with the holy scriptures?  

Is your heart marked with the love of God?

I look at the passage in Ezekiel 9 which speaks of The Glory of God instructing a man with a writing kit in his hands to go about Jerusalem and mark the foreheads of the people who have lamented and wept or grieved over the detestable things that have happened in the city.  Instructions were given for everyone who did not have this mark to be killed, showing no mercy. 

 In one sense these people are like Cain in that they are protected from death.  The reasons though are very different.  They are protected because they have been faithful and true, Cain was protected so that he could suffer enough to possibly see his own sins and change.  It never happened.  God always allows us these times to consider our sins and He is patient as He waits to see if we will change.  Some of us remain in sin, like Cain, but those of us who are willing to humble ourselves and change eventually reap unimaginable blessings in eternal life.  

Lent is well under way now.  It began on February 10th this year.  Did you notice the marks on people's foreheads?  More importantly, have you noticed the mark of love and kindness from a neighbor or a friend?  That too might be symbolic of the mark of Christ over their heart.  Some sacrifices involve giving instead of giving up.  Sometimes God leads people to make changes in how they relate to their fellowman as well as how they relate to God.  

Whatever customs we follow and however we observe them today; in the end we will all be marked, one way or the other.  

Which way will you chose and what will be the sign over your heart?  

Will the things that you have been taught in your head sink down into your heart and spirit and spill out to others in the world or will you be like Cain and turn your face away?

We all have a choice.  

The mark comes from God, but the meaning of it is found within our own souls.  

What will your mark look like?
      

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 106 ISRAEL'S BODY IS RETURNED TO THE LAND OF CANAAN

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

The day came when Israel breathed his last breath and the nation of Israel presently living in the land of Goshen in Egypt lost their beloved patriarch.  

When Israel died Joseph mourned deeply.  He wept and kissed his father for the last time and directed the physicians working under him to embalm his father, Israel.  

The Egyptians were the first culture of people to perfect the art of embalming.  It was quite a process.  Joseph’s physicians took a full 40 days with this process for Israel, but the normal time could actually last up to 200 days.  Even after this 40 day process, they still mourned up till 70 days.  The embalming was important in that they had to carry the body of Israel across the hot desert for a period of many days in order to carry out Israel’s desire to be buried in the cave of his homeland.

Due to the poor condition of human remains found in Palestinian tombs in modern days we know it was not the general Hebrew custom to embalm the dead, but there are two times when it is spoken of in the scriptures; here at the death of Israel and later with the death of Joseph.  Jesus spoke of how his body was anointed or prepared, but not embalmed.  Both times the scriptures speak of embalming the process was carried out by well respected Egyptian physicians who specialized in such processes.  They were called "healers."  This kept the body from decay and the Egyptians sometimes actually kept the bodies of their loved ones inside their homes.  The Egyptians thought this preserving of the body very important since they believed in the afterlife the spirit would at some point come back and reenter the body again.  

When we look upon the followers of Christ at a later date, we can note that they did not embalm their deceased ones in an effort to preserve their bodies indefinitely.  Faithful Hebrews and true Christians realized that the soul leaves the body when it dies and that the body returns to dust.   In Israel's case, Joseph needed his body to be preserved for a very long journey.

Once the embalming and the customary Egyptian mourning process had been performed, Joseph was free to request the burial and another funeral be carried out in Canaan.  When it was time for his father to be buried, Joseph got up and spoke to the court of Pharaoh saying, “If I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me.  Tell him, ‘My father made me swear an oath and said, “I am about to die, bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.”  Now let me go up and bury my father, then I will return.’”

It is presumed that Joseph is mourning in Goshen and that is why he did not go to Pharaoh himself, but sent others.  Though Joseph was a loved and respected Viceroy of Egypt, he was still not a free man.  He was still under the authority of Pharaoh.  Pharaoh showed favor to Joseph and told him to go to bury his father as he had instructed him to do.  

So Joseph went up to Canaan to bury his father and all the officials of Pharaoh accompanied him on this journey.  The dignitaries of Joseph’s court and the dignitaries of Egypt all went with Joseph.  The members of Joseph’s family and their households and all the people that belonged to them also were traveling with Joseph.  The Egyptian warriors rode ahead of them to assure their safety in the land and that there was no fighting over rights to the cave of burial.   So there was a very large company of people with many chariots and horsemen traveling with Joseph to bury Israel.   This was a very honorable and royal burial.  Jacob was treated the same by the Egyptians as the highest dignitaries of the land of Egypt.

The family of Jacob left their young children and their herds in Egypt because Joseph had agreed with Pharaoh to return.  If not for this Pharaoh might not have been so quick to agree to let him leave.  Leaving the children, a few servants and their livestock behind was almost like a promise of surety that they would not try to escape with the great wealth of Egypt that Pharaoh had entrusted to them for Jacob's burial. 

They grieved as they traveled.  They reached the threshing floor of Atat near the Jordan River and there they lamented loudly and bitterly. 

It was a usual practice to make a hedge of thorns about a threshing floor, that it might be preserved from the enemies and thieves.  Mention is made in the Talmud of the wilderness of Atat, perhaps so called from the thorns and brambles in the area that formed a circle around the threshing floor.  Jerome says it was three miles from Jericho, two from Jordan, and was in his time called Bethagla, the place of a circuit; because there they went about after the manner of mourners at the funeral of Jacob.

I could not help but think of the crown of thorns that Jesus wore as He was crucified.  Both the death of Christ and the death of Israel were symbolized and remembered by a circle of thorns.  From Christ came our eternal life and from Israel came a nation of people who worshiped God and produced a Messiah; just as a rose comes from a bush of thorns, both deaths eventually produced new life.

It was in that place of the thorns that Joseph observed a seven day period of mourning for his father.   The Threshing Floor of Atat had one large area big enough to hold all of the mourners who came to mourn for Israel.  They mourned encircled by walls of thorns.   The Canaanites living in the area saw them grieving and heard their cries and they said “The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.”  They probably had no idea the mourning was over Jacob, who was not an Egyptian at all.  Because of this, the place has since been called Abel Mizraim, the place of Egypt's mourning.

We know that seven is the number of spiritual completeness.  Seven days after the person's body was put into the grave the mourning was complete.  The seventh day signaled the end of the time of mourning for Joseph.

So Jacob/Israel was carried to the land of Canaan and buried in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre.  It was the field that Abraham had bought for a burial place from Ephron the Hittite.  It was the burial site of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca and Jacob's wife Leah.  Now Jacob too, would rest with his ancestors in the cave that Sarah had influenced Abraham to purchase because she thought it was the burial place where God had placed Adam and Eve.  

After Joseph had buried his father he returned to Egypt.  All of those who had traveled with him also returned.  Was it hard for them to leave the land of Canaan again?  The scriptures do not tell us, but I suspect they longed to stay.  Perhaps the grieving going back was more than the leaving behind of their beloved patriarch, it was also remembering that they now had become foreigners in a strange land.