Now the whole world had one language
and a common speech. . . Come, let us go down and confuse their
language so they will not understand each other. . . That is why is
it was called Babel -- because there the Lord confused the language
of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face
of the whole earth." ~ Genesis 11: 1, 7, 9
Can you imagine waking up the next
morning and not being able to understand your neighbor? No wonder
they stopped building the tower of Babel. It's hard enough sometimes
to understand others who speak my own native language, so I'm
so grateful that the Lord was wise enough not to strike our ancestors
stone-deaf and mute then.
I was watching a You Tube video last
night about someone who has begun faith art journaling. She showed
photos of people who have taken Bibles, outlined a verse and
illustrated it, right there on the page of their Bible. I thought it
was a little disrespectful until, duh, I remembered that I had done
the very same thing. Generally, I'm an underliner in my study Bible.
When I'm reading the Bible and want to remember something, I
underline it. I have a few illustrations in my Bible, below is a
sample of one of them that I drew at the end of a book in the white
space left over on the bottom of the page.
Art is said to be a window to the soul.
Can you communicate only by body language and hand signs or
pictograph writing? People play games based on those concepts like
charades or pictionary, which I'm not good at, either one. I'm a slow
thinker, so fast games like these muddle my mind.
One of my favorite verses in the Bible
is found in Exodus 35:30-36:1-2. "Then Moses said to the
Israelites, "See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the
son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the
Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of
crafts, to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze,
to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of
artistic craftmanship. And he has given both him and Oholiab son of
Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. He has
filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen and
designers. So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the
Lord has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the
work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the
Lord has commanded. Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and
every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was
willing to come and do the work."
I told you I had signed up for
Documenting Faith 2015 and am itchin' to get out to my playroom one
day a week (click here to see it), but things keep cropping up to
prevent me from going out there, however, I am putting my time to
good use and PRAISE THE LORD, he is granting me some of the desires
of my prayers. I am researching my third great-grandfather, Elder Martin White and a genealogy friend sent me a link to a church
archivist's website. My grandpappy was a Primitive Baptist minister
and we are discovering some of the missing links in the my
grandmother's genealogical records right and left. She researched her
family for about 28 years, finally publishing it in 1983 BTI (before
the internet).
I crave information about Martin's
spiritual life as a Christian and minister of God. Since I grew up in
the church, I know how closely knit spiritual families can be. I
wondered if he prayed for his family -- his children, grandchildren
and the generations beyond that. I wondered what his favorite Bible
verse was and what he sermonized about. Who did he lead to the Lord,
baptize, marry, and whose funerals did he conduct? What was my
grandmother's favorite Bible verse? She must have been a mighty
patient woman, crippled in body sometime after the birth of her last
child, to be tenderly cared for by her daughter and to put up with
not only her husband's ministerial duties, but also his time away from
home during his legislative duties.
I thought it was interesting to note,
that our Bible, our love letter from God, was inspired by him even
after he confused the Babylonians' language -- "All Scripture
is God-breathed. . ." ~ 2 Timothy 3:16. And in it, he gives us
his standard of holiness, his law -- "through the law we become
conscious of sin" ~ Romans 3:20. Then he gives us examples of
righteous living and wickedness through the stories told of the
Heroes of the Faith. Hey, people, those heroes weren't perfect by any means.
Did you know that Abram lied, Moses murdered somebody and King David
was an adulterer? But all of them had faith in God. "Faith is
being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
~~ Hebrews 11:1. That's why it's important for us to read the word
and digest it down deep. "his sheep follow
him because they know his voice." ~ John 10:4.
