A
daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and
exhortation.
Wednesday,
August 4,
2021
A common sight here in Lancaster County are
these hi-tech, environmentally friendly, solar and
wind-powered clothes dryers.
"Cremnophobia"
"For
you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light
consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and
find out what pleases the Lord.
Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of
darkness, but rather expose them" (Ephesians 5:8-11).
The
tallest free-standing structure in Canada is the CN Tower in
Toronto. About 40 years ago Brooksyne and I visited that
area on a vacation and went up to the observation deck of
the tower with marvelous views in each direction.Several years
ago major renovations were made to the observation deck
including a new "attraction" called EdgeWalk. According to
their website, EdgeWalk is CN Tower’s most thrilling
attraction in its history, and the first of its kind in
North America. It is the world’s highest full circle
hands-free walk on a 5 feet wide ledge encircling the top of
the Tower’s main pod, 1168 feet (116 stories) above the
ground.
Looking at
photos and videos of the CN Tower EdgeWalk I am 100% certain
that I would not be interested in the EdgeWalk experience!
Many times people speak of having a fear of heights but more specifically it is a fear of edges that describes me (Stephen). Being up in the tower or any tall building, or in an airplane, for that matter, does not induce this fear. But don't ask me to get anywhere near the edge! Of course there's a word that describes this, "cremnophobia" the fear of cliffs and precipices.
When I speak
to people I find this is not an unusual fear. The fear of edges is not an irrational fear as
there are deadly consequences in falling off a cliff or
edge.
This summer I
read a report of a young lady who fell off a cliff and died
at Johnson Shut-Ins, a popular natural area and state park
in Missouri.* That brought to mind a poignant memory from my
childhood when we visited the Shut-Ins, a fast flowing rocky
stream in a gorge surrounded by high cliffs. I was playing
in the water and looked up only to see my dad with his arms
crossed over his chest casually looking down on the stream
right at the edge of the cliff. Seeing him there standing at
the edge froze me in terror. Years later I learned that he
and Mom visited the Grand Canyon where he had gone close to
the edge for a "better view", slipped in the loose soil and
was saved by grabbing onto a tree that stopped his fall into
the canyon.
Today, let us
consider a healthy outlook regarding edges. There are those
who like to toy around with the edges of sinful behavior.
They go right up to the edge confident they will not go over
but of course many do.
Let us
consider a healthy sense of spiritual cremnophobia today.
How healthy and preferable to live a life not messing around
with the edges of sinful behavior but rather heeding the
statement in our daily text, "Have nothing to do with
the fruitless deeds of darkness".
Bible teacher
Wayne Barber explains,
"You
are beginning to absorb within you the very attitudes of the
people that are around you. Not only are you partaking in
the deeds, but you are sharing things in common with people
who wear garments of darkness. We are not to do that but are
to wear the garment of light. We have the power in the new
garment to refuse the deeds of darkness… We refuse the deeds
of darkness when we wear the right garment. We have the
power to do that. So we can be in the world, but not of the
world. You see, a boat in water is by design. Water in the
boat is disaster. We are not to have the water in us, we are
to be in the water. We have to reach them for Christ, but
not partake with them and not share in common the deeds of
darkness. Only in the garment of Christ do we have the power
to refuse the deeds of darkness."
Be encouraged today, (Hebrews 3:13)
Stephen
& Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer: Father,
the lure of sin is ever before us though Satan
is never content with simply tempting us to
sin. He desires that we carelessly stumble and
fall into sin. From reading Scripture we can
be wise to Satan's ways by remembering that
his temptation can trigger desire in our
hearts to gratify our sinful flesh. But when
we prayerfully consider the trap Satan has set
for us the apostle James reminds us that we
are not to be double-minded which leads to
instability in our walk with Christ. Instead
we are to draw near to You so that You will
draw near to us. We are to wash our hands,
purify our hearts, and do away with a double
minded spirit. We want to hide Your Word
within our hearts so that we choose not to sin
against You. Help us to be faithful in our
obedience to Your commands, in the name of of
Jesus we pray. Amen.
Daily
prayer: Father,
the lure of sin is ever before us though Satan
is never content with simply tempting us to
sin. He desires that we carelessly stumble and
fall into sin. From reading Scripture we can
be wise to Satan's ways by remembering that
his temptation can trigger desire in our
hearts to gratify our sinful flesh. But when
we prayerfully consider the trap Satan has set
for us the apostle James reminds us that we
are not to be double-minded which leads to
instability in our walk with Christ. Instead
we are to draw near to You so that You will
draw near to us. We are to wash our hands,
purify our hearts, and do away with a double
minded spirit. We want to hide Your Word
within our hearts so that we choose not to sin
against You. Help us to be faithful in our
obedience to Your commands, in the name of of
Jesus we pray. Amen.Today's
Suggested Music and Supplemental
Resources
"A
Pure Heart" Video Integrity
Music
CN
Tower EdgeWalk Video
Hypsiphobia
is the fear of height as distinct from
cremnophobia we wrote about today which is
the fear of cliffs and precipices.
The longest phobia listed and
a word I rarely use in my day to day
vocabulary is "hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia".
I fear I would pronounce it wrong which
amazingly is not yet identified as a
phobia so I will suggest
pronunciationophobia. In my line of work
I sure hope I don't deal with too many
people who have "homilophobia".
Yesterday
I met a young man (high school student)
who is now working at Audrey's in Lebanon.
He has a Bible name you don't often hear
so I gathered for a photo with him and
another employee whose Bible name is
rather common. Let me identify them with a
quiz for our readers:
To
the left is a man named after a leader who
issued this great challenge shortly before
his death, "Choose for yourselves this
day whom you will serve, whether the
gods your ancestors served beyond the
Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites,
in whose land you are living. But as for
me and my household, we will serve the
Lord”.
To
the right is the young man I met
yesterday. He is named after a man who led
the people following the exile, who was a
"teacher well versed in the Law of
Moses, which the Lord, the God of
Israel, had given".
Later
yesterday morning I took this photo of
two men at White Oak Display in Palmyra
who have Bible names as well:
To
the left is a man named after a famous
Bible leader who was characterized as a
"a man after God's own heart".
To
the right is a man named after a leader
in the early church who has two letters
in the New Testament named after him.
This
morning I received a call from Rick
Masciantionio, a friend from New England,
who shared that our mutual friend Tom
Hanley was recovering from a serious
motorcycle accident in the Boston area. So
we are praying for him and welcome our
readers to do so as well. Tom came into
our church in the mid-nineties newly
saved. He had led a rough life prior to
his conversion and has some dramatic
stories to tell such as being in knife
fights (with the scars to prove it) and
being a bar bouncer in Boston's tenderloin
section (at the time the place you didn't
want to go to at night). In later years
Tom married Luanne and developed a steady
walk with the Lord. He volunteers for
prison ministry. How good it is to keep
contact with those from your younger
years, especially when you hear of their
ongoing commitment to follow Christ. They
are holding a sign reminding me that they
are staying faithful since I often gave
this simple but important charge to our
congregants: Stay Faithful!
Last
night I took the dogs for their usual
walk and noticed a litterbug had thrown
out a Marlboro Cigarette package up the
road from us. I had no pockets so
thought I might pick it up on the way
back home. A little while later I looked
down and there was Sadie walking with
the Marlboro package in her mouth. She
usually picks up small branches but this
time she picked up a bad habit. She was
proud of her find and deposited it in
our front yard.
Mollie
immediately picked up the Marlboro
package and shred it to pieces. Kind of
like big sister telling the young one,
"These are not good for your health,
whether human or canine! Let's get rid
of it since bad habits are hard to
break!"
Finally
today:
Bible
names in photo quizzes in order:
Joshua, Ezra, David and Timothy
Several
years ago when we were in Pigeon Forge
we visited The Titanic Museum
Attraction. Just read this on the "Not
The Bee" website: Three Visitors at a
Titanic Museum Attraction Were Injured
by a Falling Iceberg and I Don't Think
They Expected the Exhibit to Be Quite
So Realistic
Send
a message to Stephen
& Brooksyne
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Weber".Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.
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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