A
daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and
exhortation.
Wednesday,
June 2,
2021
Yesterday afternoon I took a bike ride on the
Lancaster Junction rail trail along some side roads. This
is the Shenk's Mill Covered Bridge crossing Chickies Creek
built in 1855. The other side has a stately old stone
farmhouse. (see below)
(Click on photo to enlarge)
(Click on photo to enlarge)
"My
Chains Fell Off!"
Listen
to this message on your audio player
"Then
they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved
them from their distress. He brought them out of
darkness, the utter darkness, and broke away their
chains. Let them give thanks to the Lord for His
unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for mankind"
(Psalm 107:13-15).
Yesterday
we were at Audrey's, a large distributor of wholesale
gift and home decor items, where we visit as chaplains
in Lebanon County. We seem to always find something
interesting there and get to see the products before
they are even listed in the catalog.
I saw this wood chain
Brooksyne is holding. There are no seams in the wood and I was
rather intrigued as to how it was made, especially
since hand carving it would be so time consuming and
surely not suitable for mass producing something sold
wholesale. I'll answer that below but the chain
immediately brought to mind a line from the classic
Charles Wesley hymn, "And Can It Be". In the third
verse he writes:Long
my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light
My chains fell off, my heart was free
I ro-se, went for-th, and fol-lowed Thee
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God shouldst die for me?
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light
My chains fell off, my heart was free
I ro-se, went for-th, and fol-lowed Thee
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God shouldst die for me?
Psalm
107 is a message loaded with the blessing of a mighty
deliverance. It begins, "Give thanks to the Lord,
for He is good; His love endures forever. Let the
redeemed of the Lord tell their story".
The
stories vary for the redeemed. Some were delivered
from a life deep in sin, others delivered while young,
avoiding many of the heartaches of sin. That's what we
want for our children and our children's children!
Wesley may have been alluding to our daily text when he wrote the line, "My chains fell off". His hymns have a lot of imagery from Scripture.
"Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness, and broke away their chains. Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for mankind".
This
follows a description of the horrendous condition the
people were in: "Some sat in darkness, in utter
darkness, prisoners suffering in iron chains,
because they rebelled against God’s commands and
despised the plans of the Most High" (Psalm
107:10,11).
The
verse may be initially describing the literal
condition of the people but it is also descriptive of
their spiritual condition as a result of sin. That is
the sense that Wesley uses in the hymn.
Let
us all tell our story and include the marvelous truth
that Jesus is a chain breaker!
If
you've got pain, He's a pain taker
If you feel lost, He's a way maker
If you need freedom or saving, He's a prison-shaking Savior
If you got chains, He's a chain breaker!
If you feel lost, He's a way maker
If you need freedom or saving, He's a prison-shaking Savior
If you got chains, He's a chain breaker!
Be
encouraged today, (Hebrews 3:13)
Stephen
& Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer: Father,
that which You intend for our good the enemy
seeks to use for our destruction, enslaving us
to a life of sin and degradation. We pray for
our loved ones who are in bondage to sin, they
will find You to be their chain breaker. For any
struggling with destructive addiction release
them from their heavy chains as they surrender
their all to You and find that You bring
satisfaction and peace in place of the emptiness
and destruction with which the devil has
enslaved them. Only You have the power to heal
our soul's diseases by breaking the chains that
held us in utter darkness. Thank You for setting
us free through the cleansing blood of Christ
Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Daily
prayer: Father,
that which You intend for our good the enemy
seeks to use for our destruction, enslaving us
to a life of sin and degradation. We pray for
our loved ones who are in bondage to sin, they
will find You to be their chain breaker. For any
struggling with destructive addiction release
them from their heavy chains as they surrender
their all to You and find that You bring
satisfaction and peace in place of the emptiness
and destruction with which the devil has
enslaved them. Only You have the power to heal
our soul's diseases by breaking the chains that
held us in utter darkness. Thank You for setting
us free through the cleansing blood of Christ
Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen.Today's
Suggested Music and Supplemental
Resources
We received word yesterday that our friend Millie died. We met Jack and Millie when we pastored a church in Northern PA in the early 90's and prior to that I had served on a missions committee with Jack. After returning to PA from New England in 2001 we reconnected and for several years they served as chaplains together. They had been married almost sixty-seven years and have been a wonderful source of encouragement to us through the years. (This photo was taken ten years ago.)
"And
Can It Be"
Video
Sovereign
Grace Music
"Amazing
Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" Video
Chris
Tomlin Some may assume this
arrangement is the way the song was written,
but the "chains are gone" line is a bridge
added relatively recently by Chris Tomlin.
My
chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing grace
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing grace
"Chain
Breaker" Video Zach
Williams
"Psalm
34" Video The
Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
"Break
Every Chain" Video Jesus Culture
"Jesus
Breaks Every Fetter" Video An old
favorite from Bible College days - symbolic
of the type of choruses sang back in the day
when you didn't look at a screen but just
closed your eyes and prayerfully sang the
lyrics as the leader would introduce the
first line and then all would join in. This
song was formative in our young lives as
believers.
"Carving
a chain using only power tools"
Video
I am quite sure the manufacturer of the
chain we saw yesterday at Audrey's had
figured out a way to use CNC to mass produce
these! Note the video shows a man that has a
very extensive wood shop and uses
lots of jigs.
On
the other side of Chickies Creek from the
covered bridge stands an old stone
farmhouse.
(Click on photo to enlarge)
(Click on photo to enlarge)
We received word yesterday that our friend Millie died. We met Jack and Millie when we pastored a church in Northern PA in the early 90's and prior to that I had served on a missions committee with Jack. After returning to PA from New England in 2001 we reconnected and for several years they served as chaplains together. They had been married almost sixty-seven years and have been a wonderful source of encouragement to us through the years. (This photo was taken ten years ago.)
Finally
today:
Late
yesterday afternoon I took this photo of our
very crowded robin nest on our back deck
built on a porch light right outside our
bedroom window. In the middle of the night I
heard lots of bird noise and suspected they
had fledged and sure enough we noticed the
nest was empty this morning with the parents
flying around. We read it takes the
baby robins about 2 weeks to leave the nest,
or "fledge," and then they usually stay with
their parents for two or three weeks after
that. We spotted only
one of the chicks. Ester is missing her
little birdies that she had named Conner,
Jake, Jack and Jill.
Mystery
solved (I think): For several weeks
we've had an unidentified pecking sound
we could hear in our house. I was
concerned something like a chipmunk had
gotten in our attic. This morning I heard it
very distinctly and tried to quietly go
outside to see if I could see anything. It
was a woodpecker pecking on our metal gutter
and alas the internet has answers!
WOODPECKERS
ARE DRUMMING, NOT EATING
"Instead,
woodpeckers are engaging in the practice of
what is known as “drumming.” These birds do
this as a way to either attract a mate or to
demonstrate that they are marking their
territory. In other words, woodpeckers’
drumming accomplishes the same function as
the songs or calls that other birds emit. Of
course, woodpeckers need a solid surface for
their drumming – like a brick, chimney,
stucco wall, or aluminum gutter.
As any homeowner who has heard drumming up close can attest, this sound can be heard for a great distance. More often than not, woodpeckers tend to drum in the morning (sometimes quite early) and will often do this at the same time each day."
As any homeowner who has heard drumming up close can attest, this sound can be heard for a great distance. More often than not, woodpeckers tend to drum in the morning (sometimes quite early) and will often do this at the same time each day."
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Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
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