Larry Devich
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Pocatello, Idaho
Even with Mike and I both driving and the copilot taking naps we crapped out by Pocatello. I guess we are just too old to make a thousand miles in one day anymore. Ah well such is life. There are supposed to be fireworks just up the road from the Best Western we are staying in, plus there is an Applebees right next door. Tomorrow we will make the last 347 miles to Lora's house, it looks like another 5 or 6 hours so we should be there by noon on Wednesday. Really we are right on schedule.
I went to the World Book Fair site that was supposed to be starting today but it still says coming soon :-( Ah well I guess I'll get my half million books later on then. ¶ 7/04/2006 07:03:00 PM 0 Comments
I went to the World Book Fair site that was supposed to be starting today but it still says coming soon :-( Ah well I guess I'll get my half million books later on then. ¶ 7/04/2006 07:03:00 PM 0 Comments
The Fourth of July, Tuesday in Week 4 of Pentecost
Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (I Peter 5:8)
Liberty is always a good reason to party! Independence is a good thing to celebrate. Human declarations of liberty and independence get our attention on this day. But the Holy Apostle reminds us that we are liberated from a worse oppressor than some poor-sighted king named George.
The devil roams around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Be sober, dear Christian. Be vigilant. Not only against the easy skirmishes you face – the temptation to over-indulge, to go too far. Don’t make a mockery of Christian freedom, turning liberty into a license to sin. Be wary of all of that. But realize the greater battle.
The big win for the devil is when you put your independence above all, to make “freedom” your god. The big reminder from St. Peter is to “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.”
The Christian is, as Luther once said, “a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.” That is only because the Christian is subject to God, Whose speaking, Whose declaring, sets us free.
Our Lord is a gracious King. He sent us His Son, Who suffered, died, and now is risen from the dead, that we may live under Him in His Kingdom, in righteousness and purity forever, just as He is risen from the dead, lives, and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.
The devil would convince us that the greatest freedom is to live without a king, that we are our own lords and masters. Resist him, dear Christian, steadfast in the Faith. Remember the Ten Commandments, which teach you how to live sober, vigilant, and careful in this world. Recite the Creed, which reminds you how your freedom has been won in Jesus. And pray the Lord’s Prayer. That is the way to cast your cares upon Him, your Father in Heaven, Who cares for you; Who lifts you up.
The devil cares nothing for you. He only wants to enslave you to his version of freedom, of living as if God did not matter and as if you mattered most. There’s a way of declaring your freedom from the greatest adversary of all. Here’s a word that topples him, a way of speaking that sends him running. Say, “But I am baptized! I am absolved! I am Body and Blood forgiven.”
Now, that’s liberty worth celebrating!
Daily Readings
Ecclesiastes 8:14-9:10
Galatians 4:21-31
Matthew 15:29-39
¶ 7/04/2006 04:54:00 AM 0 Comments
Liberty is always a good reason to party! Independence is a good thing to celebrate. Human declarations of liberty and independence get our attention on this day. But the Holy Apostle reminds us that we are liberated from a worse oppressor than some poor-sighted king named George.
The devil roams around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Be sober, dear Christian. Be vigilant. Not only against the easy skirmishes you face – the temptation to over-indulge, to go too far. Don’t make a mockery of Christian freedom, turning liberty into a license to sin. Be wary of all of that. But realize the greater battle.
The big win for the devil is when you put your independence above all, to make “freedom” your god. The big reminder from St. Peter is to “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.”
The Christian is, as Luther once said, “a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.” That is only because the Christian is subject to God, Whose speaking, Whose declaring, sets us free.
Our Lord is a gracious King. He sent us His Son, Who suffered, died, and now is risen from the dead, that we may live under Him in His Kingdom, in righteousness and purity forever, just as He is risen from the dead, lives, and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.
The devil would convince us that the greatest freedom is to live without a king, that we are our own lords and masters. Resist him, dear Christian, steadfast in the Faith. Remember the Ten Commandments, which teach you how to live sober, vigilant, and careful in this world. Recite the Creed, which reminds you how your freedom has been won in Jesus. And pray the Lord’s Prayer. That is the way to cast your cares upon Him, your Father in Heaven, Who cares for you; Who lifts you up.
The devil cares nothing for you. He only wants to enslave you to his version of freedom, of living as if God did not matter and as if you mattered most. There’s a way of declaring your freedom from the greatest adversary of all. Here’s a word that topples him, a way of speaking that sends him running. Say, “But I am baptized! I am absolved! I am Body and Blood forgiven.”
Now, that’s liberty worth celebrating!
Daily Readings
Ecclesiastes 8:14-9:10
Galatians 4:21-31
Matthew 15:29-39
¶ 7/04/2006 04:54:00 AM 0 Comments
