You have heard God is trinity. Who says so? Not God.
God said, “I AM THAT I AM” and “The LORD, your God, is one LORD.”
Well, you say, there is The Father. And there is The Son. And don’t forget the Holy Spirit.
But we count wrong.
1 + 1 + 1 = 1.
Jesus said I and the Father are one. Add the Holy Spirit and you still have one LORD.
Think about yourself. How many are you? Your consciousness of yourself is one. Your sense of good and evil informs you of wrong action. Your conscience is another you, it seems. You can disagree with yourself about what you should do.
I don’t think God thinks of himself as trinity. He is relationships. Love relationships. We, as individuals, find him hard to understand. We start out detached from God. He is not like us but we are like him.
As an individual, we are lost. But Christ came to find us and reunite us with God. We are made in the image of God, made for relationships.
Some say they don’t know the will of God. They refer to who they should marry or what college they should attend.
But these are really things important to us. God has higher things than these in mind for us.
Let’s take an example: Should you A. Hate your enemies? B. Ignore your enemies? or C: Love your enemies? See. You knew the answer.
Let’s take another. Should you A. Ignore your neighbor? B. Talk kindly to your neighbor? or C. Love your neighbor like you love yourself? Once again, you knew the answer.
What helped me was to choose a clear word spoken by Jesus and put it into practice. Maybe a line from “the Lord’s Prayer”. See what happens in your life.
Why did God curse Adam with hard work? He didn’t. The earth went wild without Adam in charge. I think God really only described the new situation.
Animals began to be wild, too. Some became dangerous to people.
God had blessed Adam and Eve and given them dominion over all the earth. Their choice had ruined the situation. But God could not curse those he had blessed.
Really, the worst part is that they had brought sorrow and fear into their lives.
But the future holds a new earth for those who love God. There will be plenty of room because there are no oceans.
I had some financial issues. I would spend time figuring. Figuring out how to deal with them. But figuring is not faith.
Figuring is what our brain does with a problem. I had a sense that God wanted me to live as though I had no financial problems. This day by day trusting seemed more like faith.
Our brains take what is known and uses that to solve a problem. But does it take God into its working? God is the unknown factor. What will he do? It is often surprising what God does. He does say to us, “Fear not.”
If you have ever seen a camel, you know about humps. There are camels with one hump. There are also camels with two humps. So how did they get an extra hump?
Did they go through the line twice during creation? Did one camel just ask for an extra hump?
No. There is more to the story. It had to do with those who rode camels. Riding a camel with only one hump is quite a trick. But if you are in the desert, you need an animal that can survive a long journey.
Horses are not the ones you want. Also, you don’t want to go alone. You want some others on their own camels. And you want some stuff like water and food and a tent. So you need an extra camel to carry that stuff.
But traveling in the desert is hard any way you look at it. So there were these guys a long time ago. They were on a desert trek. They stop for the night. If there had been a full moon, they might have kept going. It would be cooler. But there was only a tiny sliver of a moon that night.
There was Hadad, Samhad and Soman in a tent. The camels were outside. One camel spoke to Hadad. Hadad thought maybe he had been in the hot desert too long.
“Hadad,” said the camel.
“Did you speak?” said Hadad.
“Yes,” replied the camel, “You get into the tent and leave us camels outside.”
“That is the way things are,” said Hadad.
“I don’t like it,” said the camel, “I want some shelter, too.”
“Listen, camel, we ride on your back a long time. We need to rest.”
“There you are,” said the camel, “Who is doing all the work? We are.”
“It’s your job,” argued Hadad, “and you live in the desert anyway.”
“Yes, but now we know about tents.”
“So?” said Hadad.
“What about a tent for us camels?”
“That is foolish,” said Hadad.
“You think we like sand in our eyes and up our nose?”
“I thought you could close your eyes and nose.”
“What about our ears? The wind. The sand. You think we can sleep?”
“You are a camel! I don’t even believe we are talking. This is a dream. Ow!”
“Is that a dream? How does your foot feel?”
“That was not nice, camel.”
“I could have spit on you, I suppose.”
“Okay, say I get you some shelter, what do I get?”
“What do you want?”
“A more comfortable ride. Your hump is not very comfortable.”
“Hmm, I am a magic camel, you know. That’s why I can talk. Let me think it over. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
The next day, all were astonished to find Hadad’s camel had two humps instead of one. Hadad climbed on and said nothing.
That night, Hadad got an extra tent and had the camel sit down and pitched it over the camel. The camel was not real comfortable but he was sheltered from the wind and sand somewhat.
The next day, Hadad was up early.
“How was it?” Hadad asked the camel.
“Not bad,” replied the camel.
“In the future, I’ll get something even better. Special made.”
“How did you like the ride?”
“Do you think you could have baby camels with two humps?”
“Not me personally, but a female might.”
“That’s what I mean.”
“Hey, you get me a good looking she camel and we can get started.”
“I think you might retire from desert walking and we could start a new business.”
“And my part?”
“Getting she camels to have your baby camels.”
“You are on.”
“Okay, but no talking when others are around.”
“My camel lips are sealed.”
The camel rarely spoke again. Hadad sold many two-humped camels and got a lot of money. The camel was pretty happy, too.
Now the people under the sea age differently than those on land. They can live to 300 and never look it. She was 50 but you couldn’t tell. Her hair flowed out as she swam. He had relented and gave the warning,
“You don’t know what men are like. Never trust them. They would put you in a cage and charge gold to see you.”
Now, I don’t know if that was ever true. Her father was over three hundred. She put on two necklaces; one her mother gave her and the other she took off a dead woman’s skeleton. The wreck had gold but she wanted only the necklace.
Her two sisters went with her. I’m not really sure they were sisters. They make their own rules. They vow to protect each other and call each other sister after that. Another thing is hair color. Each mermaid has their own color. Our mermaid has golden hair, of course. She was called by a name you could not spell or even pronounce.
Those who live below marvel at writing. To put letters together is beyond their interest, really. And do they have paper underwater? When she took her necklace off the previous owner, she signed a thank you. They have hand motions that mean something. Holding up both hands shows surprise. Her sister showed her where some rocks poked their heads above the sea.
“But these are so far from land,” she said.
“Safe they are,” her sister said.
She went with them to the surface several times. She found the sun delightful. It shone so brightly on the waves.
She decided she would go alone. It was dark. Her face came up over the surface. She saw the full moon for the first time. Her hands went up automatically. What a wonder was this orb. She could see the queen face on it. She sat on the rock in silence. How quiet it was. Only the lapping of the water against “her rock.” Then a sound came across the water. A ship was signaling a lighthouse.
She didn’t know what a lighthouse was. Its light seemed weak next to the glow of the moon. She had never seen live humans. Mermaids are told that humans are an inferior race. They fight and kill each other. They are advised to avoid them. You can believe it when they cast nets to capture fish. They think people want them, too.
The ship would not come near her rock, she thought. But it had a light that moved over the water. She sat as it came closer. She got in the water for safety. Now, it was coming straight at her rock! She moved away. Boom! It hit the rock. They stopped and a man was lowered down by rope to check for damage. Then he called up and they pulled him up. She didn’t think her rock could damage such a large ship.
“I know you are there,” a voice in the dark said, “I will not harm you. Come back next full moon. I will bring no net or weapon. Only me.”
She went down and tried to forget all about it. But next full moon, she found herself near her rock. She saw a small boat. She was too curious. She clapped her hands. The light came on.
“I have no weapon or net. I do have rope to tie up to your rock.”
She saw him loop it over the rock.
“I don’t even have an anchor.”
“Why should I trust you?” she sang.
“No reason. I’m just amazed at you.”
“Why?” she lilted.
“You live under the sea,” he said.
“And you live on … Land,” she echoed.
“We must. The sea is often dangerous to us. We do like to catch fish.”
She pondered his words. So much English. His voice sounded good. She felt he was speaking the truth.
“Why do you come to this rock?” he asked.
“It is my rock, she sang, “I come to see the glorious moon.”
She had said too much. She was proud to speak so much English but she regreted it now. Yet, she could not leave.
“Can you come up on your rock. I will stay in the boat.”
Foolishly, she obeyed his request. She sat on the rock close to the water, ready to dive.
“You are beautiful,” he said and did not shine any light.
“You should not talk to me,” she warbled, “aren’t you afraid of my power?”
“What power is that?” he questioned.
“Don’t you know we have magic power?”
“No, I thought your power is to live underwater.”
“We are not like you,” she said firmly.
“I know that but are the tales true?”
“I don’t really know what you heard. Should I try a spell on you?”
“What kind of spell?”
“A love spell. You would fall hopelessly in love with me. It would be your ruin.”
She was making it up as she went along.
“Don’t do it. I am enamored enough right now.”
“What is ‘eemamorred’?”
“It means I am drawn to you by some great desire.”
“Oh, really, and how can I satisfy your desire,” she sang innocently.
“Just seeing you will fill my dreams tonight.”
“You are a poet, I think,” she lilted.
“You are right; I have written poems about you. I have one in my pocket right now.”
“Read it.”
Her fascination with writing made her say this. A poem about me, she thought.
I have to turn on my light to read it,” he said as she heard the sound of some paper. A strange sound, indeed.
Here it is:
I saw her from the boat. Her hair flashed and then she was gone. No one saw the vision but I. No one believed my sigh. I knew she was real. In my dreams, I did feel I must see her again I will go with the moon. I must see her soon. The End”
“So that is a ‘poem’,” she sang.
“Now you know my heart,” he said
“You should not love me and I cannot love you. I am fifty of your years. We retain our beauty for many years. My mother lived to 290!”
“Really, I had no idea,” he said and was silent.
She said, “I must go now. Forget about me.”
She splashed and disappeared.
He slowly went back to shore. A friend of his sat on the dock.
“What, fishing this late?”
“Fishing? Yes, I suppose. Have you more to drink?”
“Plenty. Take some.”
They sat drinking beer.
“It’s a woman, isn’t it,” he said.
“She stole my heart and has said goodbye forever,” he sighed.
“If that’s the case, you’re better off without her.”
“Am I? I don’t feel it.
“Any last words?”
“Forget me…”
“That’s pretty final.”
“I know. I read her a poem.”
“No.”
“Yes. And that was it.”
“Girls are funny. Some like poetry. Some don’t.”
“She said it was impossible. In so many words.”
“Is she from here?”
“Not really. English is not her language, really.”
Adam I wish you could talk,Dog. I rename you, Friend of Man. Want to go for a walk? Dog Arf Adam Look there, a new fruit. Mmm. Want some? No good, huh? I am feeling really tired…
Waking up later.
Adam That was a crazy dream.
The Lord comes towards him with Eve.
Adam This is right out of my dream. I call you Woman because you were taken from me. Flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone… Dog Arf (bone?) Eve I heard about you. Adam What? Eve You like to name things Adam I’ve named a few animals. This is Dog. Dog meet Woman. Dog Sniff sniff Eve What about Dog? Adam He sleeps by the fire. Eve What’s fire? Adam Well, it’s just an idea now. It’s going to be hot. Tell me about your day? Eve So far, came to be. Then, came here. Can you believe the Lord showing me off? Adam Where did he go? Eve He told me some stuff Adam Like, what? Eve That I would meet you. Adam Me? Eve And some other stuff. Adam What? Eve There are two special trees. Adam Come this way. Eve Okay. Does Dog always go with you? Adam Lately. He is a faithful friend. Eve What about me? Adam You are… Wife! Eve What about those trees? Adam See this one? It’s the Tree of Life. Eve Beautiful. Adam Now that one is the Tree of Knowing Good and Evil. Eve What a long name… Adam I know. If you eat it, you get to know good and evil. Eve Should we eat it? What do the other trees do for you? Adam No, we should not eat from it! If you do, you will die. Eve What’s “die?” Adam Let me show you.
They walk a bit.
Adam Here it is. Look.
A bird lies dead on the ground.
Eve What’s wrong with it? Adam It’s dead. Eve No flying? No singing? Adam No. Dead. Doesn’t move. Eve Sad. I don’t want to die. Adam Then, we don’t eat from that tree. Eve What about the others? What do they do for you? Adam The fruit is different on different trees. They don’t have special names. Eve What about this one? Adam Try it. Eve It crunches, it’s yellow. And this one with the red ones? Another crunchy one. Adam Those seem to be the same kind. Eve Apples! Adam What? Eve Yellow apples and red apples. Adam Who said you could name things? Eve Did you name them? Adam No, I just eat them. Eve You’re eating apples. Adam Okay, apples it is. Check out these little purple ones. Eve Mmm. Sweet. They’re in bunches. (Eats another.) Grapes! Adam Stop doing that! Eve Why? Are you going to say to me: Go gather some little purple, not quite round ones that grow in bunches on vines? Adam Vines? Eve Yeah, vines, different than trees. Adam Okay, apples, grapes, vines. Take it easy. No more naming for today. Eve What about the ones up high on that tree? Adam They will drop down. Eve I don’t see any. Adam Something eats them, not dogs. Eve Much to learn. Adam Let’s go down by the river. Eve River? Adam There should be some animals drinking water. Did you bring your bathing suit? We can swim. Eve Bathing suit? Adam Just kidding. Fish live in the river, too. Eve Fish?
There was this young giraffe that ended up lost. How he could get lost on the savanna, I don’t know. You can see for miles. Anyway, he was alone. He stood around crying. A bird questioned him. “Why, long neck, are you so sad? We birds sing and you cry.”
“I’m all alone,” he sobbed.
“We can point you towards other long necks…”
“Really?”
“Yes, we use the bird grapevine. I will send out a message and let you know what is going on with long necks.”
“Thank you. (sob)”
“Can you believe it? He is lonely for other long necks. See if you can locate some other long necks, Fast Flyer.”
“Got it.”
Flyer loved to go up high in the air and swoop down at high speed. But when he was high, he couldn’t see clearly on the ground. He took a big chance. He landed near an eagle nest. She had several baby birds. “What are you doing here?” she screeched.
“No harm, no harm, said Fast Flyer. ” I was sent to find long necks” he chirped.
“I should feed you to my babies!”
“Just tell me, wonderful eagle, if your keen sight has shown you any long necks” he said politely.
“Yes, towards the mountain, now get away!” She beat her wings in a threatening way. Fast Flyer left quick.
Fast Flyer brought back his report. There was only one big mountain around. The sad little giraffe set off for it. “At least, we won’t have to listen to all his blubbering, ” said one bird.
The giraffe could see the mountain in the distance. It slowly grew bigger as the day went on. When night came, he had to stop. It was a whole day more of travel and he still wasn’t there. He came to some trees. “Have you seen others like me,” he asked some birds.
“Who do you think ate our leaves,” one bird said. Birds think trees and leaves are theirs. He looked for footprints and found a few. “Did they go this way?”
“Who cares, they’re gone.”
The giraffe set off in the direction of the footprints. One bird followed him, “Try by the river,” was all he said. River, he thought, that makes sense. He went on and smelled a smell that might be the river. He approached slowly. He saw two flat creatures sunning themselves on the bank. They were crocodiles. “Have you seen giraffe?” he shouted. One croc opened one eye.
“Did you hear something?” it said.
“Why bother?” said the bigger one, “We are full now.” The giraffe moved on. Some mud-covered hippos were soaking. “Seen any giraffe?” he shouted.
“Yes, you,” quipped a smallish one, “Do you know where we keep our money?” “No,” said the giraffe. “In the river bank!” It submerged giggling. The giraffe moved on.
Some strange birds were standing among plants in shallow water. “Seen any like me?” He questioned.
“No time, no time, ” said one and grabbed a fish with his long beak.
“Look out for crocs,” voiced another and stabbed at a fish. They were too nervous to be of any help.
He went a long and found some monkeys in a tree. “Seen any giraffe?”
“We did, we did,” they all chattered.
“Where?”
“Over there,” they all talked at once, “Crossed over,” they said, and all pointed down the river aways. The giraffe went along and saw footprints in the mud. He looked left and right and plunged in. The water never got past his long neck. He clambered up the other side. Snap! A croc tried to bite his leg. “No good,” he squeaked. The giraffe footprints went on a bit and grew fainter.
He saw many trees in the distance. He arrived at the trees at sundown. He tried some leaves. They tasted delicious. I’m sure they were here, he thought. He passed the grove and peered into the distance. Was that them? He caught up with them. But none of them knew him. “Can I please join you? he pleaded. An old giraffe stepped towards him. “We must decide if you are worthy.”
“How?” the young giraffe asked.
“A test,” it said simply.
“Test away,” he croaked.
“Questions first,” said the old one. “How did you lose your herd?”
“I don’t know,” he whined, “I just found myself alone.”
“That is not a good answer,” he said, “We will assume a lion chased them away. Very common.” “The next question: where is your mother?”
“I, I, I, she was… EATEN!” he said, finally remembering. “It was horrible!” he said slowly, “I ran and ran. I remember…”
“A sad answer but say no more,” the old one said, ” Wait here.”
He gathered some other giraffe. ” Let’s see you run,” they said. The giraffe went aways off and ran past the little group. “Very fast,” they agreed. “Last thing: do you seek a mate?” They all looked at him in silence.
“I haven’t thought about that, ” he said.
“A fine answer,” said the old one beamed. “Some giraffe only come looking for a mate. They want to fight us.”
“No fighting from me,” he said.
He settled in with the herd. One young female said to him, “Did you have any adventures searching?” “A croc tried to bite my leg by the river,” he ventured, “I talked to birds, monkeys, a hippo and two lazy crocs, always asking about other giraffe.” “I followed you from the river crossing. I thought you were my herd.”
“We are now,” she said, ” were you many days alone?”
“Too many, ” he said slowly, ” I feel like I’m home now.”
“I think you are a good addition to us. I’m glad they let you in.”
E Shorty. That’s what we called her, a nickname, I suppose. She was not tall.
I Where did you sleep?
E At first, under a bush, near the river. Later, we tried a cave. It had good and bad points.
I Like what?
E It could get cold. Adam got sheep skins. That was a lot of work. I sewed four together. The spiders liked to surprise us.
I Did you block the entry?
E We tried many rocks with one big one for a door. It was too heavy for me to move. Adam would push it at night to close it up.
I I heard the spider liked it.
E I don’t know why. Because we let the dog in? He was jealous? I gave him a good talking to. Then it indicated it was a female.
I Did that matter?
E To her, I guess.
I Okay, another subject, Naming. Did Adam name everything?
E Not really. Just the animals. I named the fruit. Apples, grapes, oranges, and the nuts, pecans, pecans, Brazil nuts.
I Brazil nuts?
E Got you on that one!
I You have a sense of humor.
E You have to, so much sadness. Adam would come in from the field and say, “Just look at my brow!”
“Very wet,” I would say. “Want a leaf?” He would say, “I’m too tired to go down to the river, right now. I’ll just sit in our cool cave a while.”
I Very interesting. What about him blaming you?
E Oh, that was a cheap shot. “She gave it to me.” Man up.
I You blamed the serpent.
E Who was left? I guess I was not really beguiled by it. I do hate snakes, though. Always have.
I Did you ever get over it?
E We finally agreed to drop the subject. Adam agreed and we never mentioned it again.
I What did you tell your children?
E That is your best question so far. That was a thing. Do we tell them how we messed it all up?
We did warn them about the way to the old garden with the fiery sword. I think Cain went to see it.
We told them how God created us but glossed over our mistake.
Cain asked why we couldn’t go to the Garden. That was a tough one. Adam said loudly, “Because we just can’t!”
Another question: “Where is God?” They didn’t see him. I heard Cain talked to him but not what that was about.
Cain was a poser. Hard worker. But very jealous of his younger brother. So jealous! You could see it in his face.
Were we to blame? We just liked Abel better. We admired Cain a lot. He worked so hard.
I think we were prone to mistakes because of, you know…
I That is so much information. no more hard questions. What was your favorite fruit?
E Again with the fruit!
I Sorry. Was Adam adventurous?
E Yes, at first. He climbed a tree to see how far the garden went. When he told me, I said “What if you fell?” Do you know what he said? “Angels. Angels would catch me.”
I Did you see angels?
E That was just it. We never saw angels until after…
I He believed angels were all around you.
E And they kept us safe. He had an idea to float down the river on a broken tree. He talked himself out of that one.
I How?
E He said, “I would have to walk back a long way.” He didn’t want to do that.
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