MANY KNOW MY CONTINUAL PROBLEMS WITH NOSEBLEEDS. They have been bad. I have good news! My visit to the ENT doctor revealed that the little insert to the right nostril was rubbing the sore that kept rupturing, causing the nose bleeds. My other doctors were told that I could wear a mask to keep that from happening. Roger was with me. He, knowing how troublesome a mask would be, interceded for me, and got permission to clip off the right airway to my nostril. He did that. There has been no more bleeding. Two days now. That’s good for me. And my oxygen level has stayed up even though it is now a one-way street.

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UPON READING EXODUS:   I talked with the Writer and told him I didn’t like Exodus much. When I finished, I made this note: “God of order, beauty, abundance, detail! He demands obedience to perfect his works. How can I offer less than my best!” God is into details and I learned more about His demand for obedience and perfection. His perfection is what keeps the world twirling.

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Isaiah 30:10 speaks of rebellious people, deceitful children who “say to the seers, ‘See no more visions!’ and to the prophets, ‘Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!’” I don’t know that I have ever heard a prophetic message in church that I would consider to be a warning. A few weeks ago I heard someone say why, but I can’t remember what it was. Why did the OT prophets as well as some NT prophets give warnings as well as blessings? Why is it not a means that God uses now in a church setting? Perhaps we just do not have prophets who are bold enough to proclaim truth when they know they will be persecuted for it. Anybody ever hear of Jeremiah?

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Did Jesus use figurative language? Oh, yes. Shovels full. Especially similes and metaphors. Flowers, fields, sowers, plows, birds. Object lessons. Still a delight for teachers everywhere.

Delve a little deeper. Did He do any Name Calling? Yes, he did that, too. James and John, Sons of Thunder; Herod, a Fox; John the Baptist, Elijah; Pharisees, white-washed tombs; Peter, satan. My recommendation: Don’t try this unless you really are Jeremiah, or his equal. Let’s keep our political and religious conflicts on issues; not on people.