Replies

*Yea, verily* - it is, indeed, rich. My touchstone. It takes pondering inside and out and always reveals new vistas.

For many years when meditating on it, I would tend to gloss over one part that bothered me (and usually go straight to the *table before me* so I could conjure up some food, lol, to withhold from my salivating enemies). (Yes, I know that's not the spirit of the lesson, but I'm only human.)

Anyway, I would get to "Thy rod and Thy staff" and whimper like a whipped puppy. They did *not* comfort me. Then one day, when I was ready to "get it," I heard an explanation of shepherd's rods and staffs and why they carry them.

The rod isn't for beating the little lamb - it's for guiding the lamb so it won't do something stupid like falling off the side of the uphill rocky trail (with no guardrails, of course).

And the staff isn't a hook to grab the offender off the large stage, it's Plan B for when the little lamb does accidentally fall over the side, anyway, or stray too far off the path. I pictured myself falling through the air and the big staff coming down to grab me and save me before I got hurt, then placing me up on the proverbial rock of safety.

I'd had a vision once of God's enormous hands reaching down and saving a friend of mine from death on some rocks near a sea. A few days later, a mutual friend called to tell me that the friend in question had been in a parasailing accident in Acapulco, but had been saved from sure death on the sharp rocks when a small wind gust suddenly lifted the parasail just a little and he was placed gently on the beach, scratched but otherwise unhurt.

Now that's what I see when I meditate on the rod and staff.

Dearest Carbine, I Read your Meditations, and was just Amazed at the Gifts our Master has Given you; it is Joy-Producing to my Heart to See His Hand in the Lives of His Children, to Behold the Blessed Fruit of the Workings of the Spirit of our King. He Showers His Beauties and Treasures through you, and His Grace through His Lambs in this Place just Fills me with Praise!

"Hallelujah!
I Give Thanks to God
With Everything I've got;
Wherever Good People Gather,
And in the Congregation.
God's Works are So Great,
Worth A Lifetime of Study;
Endless Enjoyment!
Splendor and Beauty Mark His Craft;
His Generosity Never Gives Out.
His Miracles are His memorial;
This God of Grace,
This God of Love." (Ps.111)

We Worship You, King Jesus; Glory to the Name of His Excellency, our King! All Hail our Mighty King of kings! Our Triumphant Lord, You are our Champion, the True Hero of the Ages!

"God has Set His Throne in Heaven;
He Rules Over us All;
He's the King!" (Ps.103:19)

"Now unto the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the Only Wise God, be Honour and Glory Forever and Ever, Amen!" (1Tim.1:17)