An Angel Filled the Oil Barrels

08/09/2024

I just love angel stories, don’t you? Here’s one that happened to my husband and me a number of years ago.

“There’s only enough oil to last a couple more days, maybe three at the most,” my husband, Steve, told me, coming into the house on a cold February day in 1978. We lived in Yakima, Washington, where the winter temps that year had been below zero many nights.

    It was our first winter there, and we lived in a house that had been built around the turn of the twentieth century. The only source of heat was an old oil-burning stove in the living room. Two fifty-five-gallon drums held stove oil on the side of the house. They sat on a wooden frame.    

    It was so cold that winter that, even with the stove going and oil running us around $90 a month (a good sum in those days), there was still ice frozen on the inside of the living room windows just across the room from the stove. There was snow on the ground also, at least six inches or more.

    Steve had propped up the barrel that still had some oil in it with a stick so that every last drop could run out. The other barrel was already completely empty. He had been working at a place that made orchard ladders, but a couple of weeks before this incident happened, some equipment had broken down at work. He had been laid off until they could get the equipment working again. So, our money was nearly gone, as was our heating fuel. With three little kids, the youngest only six months old, we really needed to keep the house somewhat warm.

    I don’t recall really praying about our situation. I hadn’t yet learned to turn to God with all my little problems. I just worried about it myself, and so did my husband. But the great thing about God is that He takes care of us even when we forget to ask Him for help. He says, “Before they call, I will answer” (Isaiah 65:24).

    Two or three days later, Steve went out to check the oil barrels again. He grabbed the edge of the propped-up barrel to shake it to see if it still had any oil in it at all, but to his astonishment, the barrel was too heavy to budge! He tried the other barrel, but couldn’t budge it, either. He assumed the barrels were frozen to the wooden stand they sat on.

    He opened the little cap on the barrel, and oil started pouring out, so he quickly put the cap back on. He checked the other barrel, and it, too, was full. 

    Looking around at the freshly fallen snow, he saw that no footprints but his marred the smooth, white surface. Then he hurried into the house to tell me the wonderful news. It’s hard to describe what I felt—the wonder, the joy, the thankfulness, yet feeling somewhat foolish because I’d not thought to ask God to provide for us, but being so grateful that He had supplied our need without being asked.

    The oil lasted until he got back to work and got another paycheck; then, when it ran low, we had the money to order more. We both fully believe that God commissioned an angel to somehow fill our two empty oil barrels, thereby caring for “the least of these,” His children.

The Handwriting of God 1

05/28/2024

In all the 6,000 or so years that human beings on Planet Earth have interacted with the God family, and of all the messages God has sent to us using a variety of methods, there is record of only three of those messages that were written by God or Jesus Himself. One would expect that if God took the trouble to write us a message with His own hand, then the message must be extremely important. What are those three messages?

Just briefly, the three things God or Jesus wrote are these: 1) The Law; 2) Judgment; 3) Sins. Now let’s look at them individually.

The Law

Exodus 31:18 informs us that “When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.” And Exodus 32:16 tells us that “The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.” Imagine seeing God’s own handwriting!

The law of God, what we know as the Ten Commandments, is written in stone. We use the expressions “written in stone,” or “set in stone” when referring to things that seem unchangeable. So we can safely assume that God meant for His law to be unchangeable. Jesus reinforced that idea when He said, “I tell you the truth, until Heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will be any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Matthew 5:18. Indeed, God’s law is “set in stone!” Just like God Himself Who says, “I change not.”

Judgment

What judgment did God write with His own hand? Daniel tells the story, in the fifth chapter of his book, of a huge party that Belshazzar threw. You know the story—how he used the Jews’ sacred vessels from the temple to serve wine to his guests. How the disembodied hand appeared “and wrote on the plaster of the wall…” Daniel 5:5. The words written, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin, spelled out judgment on Babylon. In the Bible Babylon is used as a symbol of those living, especially in the last days, outside of God’s truth. So it seems fitting that when God wrote judgment, He wrote it in “characters that gleamed like fire,” (PK 524) symbolizing the fires of the eternal destruction of Babylon.

Ellen White goes on to say in Prophets and Kings that “Before them passed, as in panoramic view, the deeds of their evil lives; they seemed to be arraigned before the judgment bar of the eternal God, Whose power they had just defied.” (PK 524) Here we see a mini picture of the final judgment.

These two scenes, Sinai and Babylon, were awesome ones, full of the grandeur and glory of God. The third and final occasion is far more simple and common.

Sins

A man and woman have just been “caught in the act.” The woman is dragged outside and taken to Jesus. (Except for the fact that the whole episode was a setup, it’s beyond me why the man wasn’t just as guilty as the woman!) We’re so familiar with the story—the accusations of the men, the shame of Mary. But what is Jesus doing? He’s stooped over, writing with His finger in the dust. What did He write? We don’t know the details, only that the dusty letters spelled out some things those holier-than-thou men didn’t care to have publicized. But, oh the beauty of it! Their sins were written in dust, which can so easily be scuffed over with a sandal, or brushed away with a small twig.

There you have it—the Law of God written in stone, so unchangeable, unalterable. Judgment written in blazing fire, but our sins written in dust that can be erased, forgiven! Only three handwritten messages from Jesus, but such vital information—just the things we need to know.

Oh, what a Savior! He makes it so simple; we make it so complicated. So simple a child can understand it. Law—unchangeable; Judgment—fire; Sins—erasable. It’s His message to you. Written with His own hand. Read it today!

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

New Year's Blog

12/27/2023

    As I write this, we are just days away from entering upon a new year—2024. By the time you read this, it will likely already be here. The 2000s still feel like science fiction to me! I remember watching The Jetsons at the neighbors when I was a kid and thought that we’d all be living like that by 1970. Fortunately, we aren’t! Although their method of “washing” dishes was quite appealing to me then, I rather enjoy my dishes now and try to not ever break any of them.

    However, technology has advanced so rapidly that many of us feel left in the dust. It makes me think of Daniel 12:4 (NLT) that says in part, “many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase.” Just getting on any freeway will confirm the prediction of many rushing here and there! And, yes, knowledge has increased. But has wisdom?

    When I looked up this text to use it here, BibleGateway.com gives the user the option of reading any given verse in all of the English translations offered on this website. I was interested to skim through some of them to see the different takes on what the knowledge is that will increase. Here are just a few of the variations:

    “But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the scroll until the end of time. Many will go back and forth and search anxiously [through the scroll], and knowledge [of the purpose of God as revealed by His prophets] will [greatly] increase.” (Amplified)

    “Daniel, I now command you to keep the message of this book secret until the end of time, even though many people will go everywhere, searching for the knowledge to be found in it.” (Common English Version)

    “But you, Daniel, close up the book and seal it. These things will happen at the time of the end. Many people will go here and there to find true knowledge.” (New Century Version)

    The majority of versions just say “knowledge will increase” without elaborating. But I find it interesting that a few versions specify that knowledge to be concerned with the book of Daniel and “the purpose of God.” As Seventh-day Adventists, we are keenly aware of the prophecies contained in Daniel and their relationship with the prophecies in Revelation. Indeed, there are probably many who can trace their conversion and subsequent baptism into the Adventist Church back to a Daniel and/or Revelation seminar.

    Along with our knowledge of Bible prophecy, let us also use that knowledge wisely and temper it abundantly with love. Because without love, we’re only noisy instruments and crashing cymbals. Even if we have the gift of prophecy (and I don’t know anyone alive who does!), and aren’t loving to those around us, we’re nothing (see 1 Cor. 13).

    Along with being loving comes unity. “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! (Ps. 133:1 NIV). Unity doesn’t mean uniformity, but it does mean being congenial about give and take. We can’t all always have our own way. We don’t always agree about every little detail. But we can still be nice to each other and not pout when we don’t get our way. Or try to sabotage the way things go that we don’t like. We must learn to roll with the flow. Unless it’s doctrinal issue that’s at stake, we need to concede to the majority and not quibble over minor things such as the color of the carpet, the choice of music, or the order of service.

    I leave you with this parting thought that was penned by Ellen White in the January 1, 1856 issue of the Youth’s Instructor (hence the reference to parents): 

    “The new year has commenced, and with the commencement of this new year, you should dedicate yourselves to God. Now give yourself to him, soul, body, and spirit, to do his will. Let all selfishness, your disobedience to your parents, all your faults, and besetting sins die with the old year. Begin this new year to the glory of God. Pray to him, morning, noon, and night, to give you a meek and humble spirit, a mild temper, an affectionate disposition. Live as you never lived before. Begin this new year with new feelings, fresh desires, and a strong determination to glorify God.”

I Love Names!

10/29/2023

I love names! They fascinate me. I wonder who first made up each name, how it evolved from one language to another—why doesn’t it stay the same no matter the language—and why each mom and dad chose the names they gave their newborns. In the Bible names had meanings. They still do. Books have been published that tell the meaning of every name from A to Z. When I was a kid, I made lists of names that I liked. Most of them have changed over the years. I keep a “Name Bank” on my computer to aid me in my writing.

Maps and telephone books (okay, I’m dating myself!!) are a treasure trove of odd place and people names. Did you know that Norway and Denmark are in Oregon? And California is in Maryland? Oregon boasts town names of both Brothers and Sisters, Kellogg, Post, and Welches; Oatmeal and Cut and Shoot are in Texas, as well as Blessing and Comfort; Brooklyn is in Washington. But do you know where El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de los Angeles de Porciuneula is? You’ll find it in Southern California under its common designation of simply L.A.

Years ago, I knew a minister whose last name was Dull. Can't you just hear some woman encouraging her husband to attend church with her—“Come on, Honey. Pastor Dull is preaching this morning.”

“Pastor Dull, huh? Nah, that’s ok. I’ll just stay home and watch Face the Nation reruns.”

Anyway, it came time for Pastor Dull to be transferred to another pastorate. The Boring church (yes, there really is a town in Oregon named Boring!) needed a pastor, but the conference officials of Pastor Dull’s denomination decided that it was a little much to send Pastor Dull to the Boring church. So, he went someplace else. True story!

This same Pastor Dull was at a small regional campmeeting in southern Oregon. The man doing the opening preliminaries at one meeting was introducing the ministers on the platform. “On one end,” he said, “We have Pastor Dull. On the other end is Pastor Sharp.” He paused for effect, then said, “But I want you to know that there’s Pastor Miles in between them!”

Have you ever wondered if people think of how the first name they choose to pin on that newborn will sound with their last name? Obviously, the parents of Ben Dover didn’t! Neither did Rana Shore’s folks. Some women just have to take what they get when they marry. As did Candy Treat, Candy Christmas, and Joan Bone. I could go on and on, but I’ll leave the rest as fodder for another blog.

There is one Dad, however, who is choosing the perfect name for all His kids. We won’t know it until we get to heaven. Revelation 2:17 says, “And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.” I like to think of it as His pet name for me. I’m anxious to know what it is. Aren’t you?