Happy Labor Day! The Labor Day blog came out yesterday to make room for something more important:

It’s our 58th wedding anniversary!

I usually post a picture from one of our August hikes, but this year, a local magazine treated us to a professional photo shoot to be used in an article coming out next spring. So here we are at Glen Eyrie, home of The Navigators’ Conference Center, standing near the castle with Queen’s Canyon in the background.

OK, I’ll throw in one pic from Rocky Mountain National Park. She doesn’t look 80, does she!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1.17, ESV)

Happy Labor Day…one day early. Tomorrow, I have to write about something else.

If you’re a regular reader of the Ewellogy, you know I admire work in all its forms. This year, I want to focus on tools. A few months ago, one of my neighbors moved out, and they used “U-Boxes” to do it. I regret I didn’t get my own picture. This one comes from the U-Haul site.

The U-Box is like a PODS container, only smaller:

I was fascinated with the process. Six U-Boxes were dropped off in my neighbor’s driveway. I watched them load the last couple of units. Then, the interesting part. A lady, just as in the U-Box picture above, drove a flat-bed trailer up and using a forklift, picked up each container and put it on the trailer. Six units, one lady, and a special forklift. If you’re wondering where the forklift goes when the trailer is loaded, she just pulls up behind the trailer, inserts the forklifts’ blades into a special slot, and the forklift lifts itself up and rides behind the load.

Amazing. The pickup lady I watched was 63 years old. The Labor Day lesson? The power of tools. One person of no special strength or ability (other than training, of course) with the proper tools – a flat-bed trailer and a forklift – loaded and transported a whole houseful of belongings in a very short time.

In India I’ve seen labor without tools. I’ve seen small men carrying 100-pound sacks of potatoes on their backs. Bless them for their effort, but it takes a long time to move potatoes that way.

I saw guys in India laying a foundation for a house by hand using 50-pound sacks of concrete. It might take a month to build that small foundation.

By contrast, my friend, house-builder Gary, poured a 3600-square-foot foundation before lunch with four men, a caravan of cement mixer trucks, and a device that pumps that cement through a pipe directed by one guy to exactly where he wants it. (Not a picture of the process I saw, but they used a machine like this one.)

Tools: the labor multiplier.

We are blessed in this country with tools, built by labor assisted by yet other tools. I give thanks for the men and women who invent and build tools. A huge factor in our productivity. And, of course, thanks as always to the folks who use those tools to serve us.

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. (Genesis 1.31, ESV, emphasis mine)

Last Sunday our church celebrated its annual picnic in the park service with an emphasis on enjoying God’s creation. Scripture included:

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1.24, 25, ESV)

During our recent time in Estes Park, Colorado, we saw our share of “beasts” as well as birds, beginning with the turkeys: mamas and their offspring…

…deer and their offspring…

…cow elk on the road into town…

…and finally, on the day we left, the dog and I were walking up to the chapel to drop off a key, and there he was – exactly where I needed to go.

We waited… Fortunately, he kept going.

And when we got home, this spider had built the most intricate web under the light outside our garage. I’m impressed:

Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger? Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you? Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor? Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor? (Job 39.9 – 12, ESV)

As we move into Daniel 4, we’ll get another lesson supporting the main theme of Daniel. If you understand nothing else, you’ll be OK if you remember what Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 2:

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever. (Daniel 2.44, ESV)

God is making sure that Nebuchadnezzar gets the message. In chapter 1, his best guys are those who worship the God of Israel:

And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. (Daniel 1.19, 20, ESV)

We saw the message from chapter 2. In chapter 3, this God delivers men who refuse to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image:

Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” (Daniel 3.28, 29, ESV)

But the king still doesn’t fully grasp the message until the events of chapter 4, narrated mostly by Nebuchadnezzar himself.

The chapter opens with the conclusion:

King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you! It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation. (Daniel 4.1 – 3, ESV)

And how did he come to this conclusion? It started with another dream:

I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace. I saw a dream that made me afraid. As I lay in bed the fancies and the visions of my head alarmed me. (Daniel 4.4, 5, ESV)

He saw a great tree that was cut down:

“I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. He proclaimed aloud and said thus: ‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches…” (Daniel 4.13, 14, ESV)

The language changes from “it” to “he”:

But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, amid the tender grass of the field. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from a man’s, and let a beast’s mind be given to him; and let seven periods of time pass over him. (Daniel 4.15, 16, ESV)

Seven years…until he learns what lesson?

The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’ (Daniel 4.17, ESV)

Essentially, the lesson from chapter 2. And Daniel interprets the dream as a warning. “This will happen to you, king…Best you change.”

Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity. (Daniel 4.27, ESV)

But after a year, pride kicks in:

All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” (Daniel 4.28 – 30, ESV)

Oops. All the predictions of the dream kick in:

Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws. (Daniel 4.33, ESV)

And we come full circle to the end of the story, forecast in verse 3:

At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4.34, 35, ESV)

“His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation…” And…

…those who walk in pride he is able to humble. – Nebuchadnezzar, quoted in Daniel 4.37)

That final lesson applies today…to kings, dictators, presidents…business leaders, religious leaders…the rest of us.

We come to Daniel 3, the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, which every kid that ever attended Sunday School knows. (Although few would be able to tell you the historical context or whether the event was before or after, say, Samson or David and Goliath.)

Anyway, we’re here in the exile, Daniel and his three friends are captives, subjects of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar to whom God had given a vision. Apparently Nebuchadnezzar missed the part about “the God of Heaven” and heard only:

You are the head of gold (Daniel 2.38, ESV)

So chapter three opens:

King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. (Daniel 3.1, ESV)

90 feet tall! And the command went out:

And the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. (Daniel 3.4, 5, ESV)

And you all know what happened next. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to play:

“There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3.12, ESV)

…

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3.16 – 18, ESV)

This, of course, is the most important paragraph in this story. The deliverance from the fiery furnace is nice and the presence of the fourth man “like a son of the gods” is encouraging, but what if there’s not miraculous deliverance? “…if not, we will not…worship the golden image…”

This is the choice that faced Alexei Navalany in Russia who was murdered for exactly the same crime. Refusing to bow to the king. And his testimony was clear:

Faith makes life simpler… are you a disciple… of the religion whose founder sacrificed himself for others…? If you can honestly answer yes, what is there left to worry about? – quoted by Joseph Nangle, October 26, 2024

There have been many…

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised… (Hebrews 11.35 – 39, ESV)

Daniel 2 is long and a lot of fun…

Two stories in one.

• Daniel gets a vision of the king’s dream.

Nebuchadnezzar wanted the wise men to tell him the dream, then interpret it!

In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation. ”The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins. (Daniel 2.1 – 5, ESV)

The Chaldeans were wrong:

The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” (Daniel 2.10, 11, ESV)

No doubt no king had ever demanded such a thing, but a man can meet the king’s demand because God does dwell with people!

Daniel doesn’t presume. He goes to prayer:

Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. He declared to Arioch, the king’s captain, “Why is the decree of the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king. Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. (Daniel 2.17 – 19, ESV)

And Daniel praises God.

To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter. (Daniel 2.23, ESV)

• Daniel explains the dream to the king

First he explains who God is.

Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. (Daniel 2.27, 28, ESV)

Then he tells the dream. First, the image:

• The head of this image was of fine gold,
• its chest and arms of silver,
• its middle and thighs of bronze,
• its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. (Daniel 2.32, 33, ESV)

Second, the destruction of the image:

As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces…But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. (Daniel 2.34, 35, ESV)

Then he interprets the dream: four kingdoms

• Nebuchadnezzar – gold
• An inferior kingdom – silver
• Another inferior kingdom – bronze
• A final, strong but divided kingdom – iron and clay

And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. (Daniel 2.40, 41, ESV)

And finally, the exciting part, and in my opinion, the theme of Daniel:

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever. (Daniel 2.44, ESV)

The iron kingdom? Rome! And in the days of that Kingdom, Jesus! …will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed:

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1.14, 15, ESV)

What was Jesus’ first declaration?

• The time is fulfilled
• The kingdom of God is at hand
• Repent and believe this good news

God reveals the dream, Daniel interprets the dream, Jesus fulfills the dream. Amen.

.

Many Christians in the US seem poised to take on a variety of issues from county clerks not processing same-sex marriage documents to what books should be included in school curricula. How do we decide? Do I boycott Starbucks as one brother encouraged me to do because of their support of same-sex marriage or do I applaud Starbucks for their use of ethically produced coffee beans?

Daniel was a captive in a foreign land. It would be like Russia taking our best and brightest and putting them in service to Putin in Moscow. What issue(s) did Daniel take on?

• “Literature and language of the Chaldeans”

Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. (Daniel 1.3, 4, ESV)

• “Daily food that the king ate”

The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. (Daniel 1.5, ESV)

When I was growing up, if I were faced with that choice, I’d said, “I’ll eat your bacon and pork chops, but don’t pollute my mind with your pagan literature!” With Daniel, however, it was the opposite. Jewish dietary laws anchored him to his Jewish heritage.

Daniel chose to battle over the food while excelling in the education program:

As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. (Daniel 1.17 – 20, ESV)

Yet he handled the food matter with wisdom and humility:

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself…Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” (Daniel 1.8, 11 – 13, ESV)

The plan worked:

At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food. So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. (Daniel 1.15, 16, ESV)

And the chapter ends with a matter-of-fact summary:

And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus. (Daniel 1.21, ESV)

A lifetime of service to foreign governments. Daniel was most likely a teenager in chapter 1. When we get to the Lion’s Den episode in chapter 6, he’s probably 80. Thankfully, God has people everywhere, May we choose our battles carefully and fight them with wisdom and humility.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. (James 3.17, ESV)

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. (1 Peter 2.13 – 17, ESV)

The Reading Plan takes us into Daniel, starting tomorrow. Here’s the (dry) introduction from the ESV:

Exiled to Babylon in 605 B.C., Daniel was one of several young men chosen to serve in Nebuchadnezzar’s court. When Persia conquered Babylon in 539, Daniel was again given a position of power. He remained faithful to God in both of these hostile environments.

From the interpretation of dreams, to the familiar stories of the fiery furnace, the lions’ den, and the handwriting on the wall, to the prophetic visions, the recurrent theme is God’s sovereignty over human affairs.

In the historical sections (chs. 1–6) God supernaturally rescued Daniel and his friends. The rest of the book consists of visions of future judgment and deliverance by the Messiah. Some of Daniel’s prophetic themes are echoed in the New Testament, especially in Revelation.

I like this part of Peterson’s introduction as recorded in The Message:

Daniel is composed, in approximately equal parts, of stories and visions—six stories (chapters 1–6) and four visions (chapters 7–12). The stories tell of souls living faithfully in obedience to God in a time of adversity. The visions are wide-screen renditions of God’s sovereignty worked out among nations who couldn’t care less about him. Six soul stories; four sovereignty visions.

“Six soul stories” – a lot of fun and easy to understand. “Four sovereignty visions” – no fun and hard to understand, even for Daniel himself who labored over one vision for three weeks until an angel came to help him:

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a word was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar. And the word was true, and it was a great conflict. And he understood the word and had understanding of the vision. In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks…Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.” (Daniel 10.1 – 3, 12 – 14, ESV)

So here we go. See you tomorrow as Daniel starts his adventure in Babylon as a teenager.

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.

Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. (Daniel 1.1 – 4, ESV, emphasis mine)

Well, our reading plan in Ezekiel comes to a close tomorrow, and we start Daniel on Tuesday. It’s been tough going, but I said from the beginning, it’s a book to be felt more than analyzed. Beginning with chapter 40, we have a detailed vision of the new temple and life back in the land. “We’re in exile now, but one day…we’ll be home!”

The vision culminates in chapter 47 with a beautiful description of life-giving water from the temple. Again, let’s feel it, not analyze it:

Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar…

Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river.

As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes…

And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” (Ezekiel 47.1, 5 – 9, 12 ESV)

The water flows and brings life. Trees grow, bearing fresh fruit every month(!). “Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”

Trees…reminds me of people who meditate on the Word:

They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. (Psalm 1.3, NLT)

It was Ezekiel’s vision…and John’s:

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22.1, 2, ESV)

Life’s a mess now, but one day we’ll be home.

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22.20, ESV)

There are those who say that God quit speaking when the canon of scripture was closed. I’m not one of them, and I’ve written about that before. For example, “Led by the Spirit” and “A Word of Knowledge.” That said, I’ve never had an experience quite like this one…

A friend of mine writes a blog, approximately weekly, and he usually sends them to me in advance for editing. I correct minor typos and occasionally suggest wording changes to clarify what he’s trying to say. We don’t always agree, and from time to time I make more substantive suggestions. Sometimes he takes them and sometimes not.

A few days ago, he wrote an excellent essay that was rocking along just fine until he inserted a paragraph, next to last, that echoed one of his favorite positions. It was completely unnecessary to the current essay, and including it distracted the reader from the points he was making. I told him so and recommended he delete that paragraph.

Imagine my surprise to receive this note the next day:

Morning Bob

I meant to get back to you to say thank you for your edits… and your suggestion re: deleting that one paragraph.  I took your suggestion, or rather, heard the Lord Jesus say to me last night as my wife and I worshipped Jesus at our church’s Friday evening Adoration service: “Bob is right. Delete it.”

Did it. Joyfully, I might add!

Thank you.

Wow. I responded, “Bless you, my brother. It’s not every day Jesus agrees with me and makes his agreement known!”

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. (Isaiah 30.21, ESV)