The Gospel of IDD

The Prodigal Brother               “Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.    He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on.    He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’    Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him.    But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.    But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’    Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is...

Jesus Picks a Fight             “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.   I assure you that there were any widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.   Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.   And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed- only Naaman the Syrian.”             All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.   They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.   But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. Luke 4:24-30        ...

Gehazi             But when Naaman had gone from him a short distance, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, thought, “My master has let that Aramean Naaman off too lightly by not accepting from him what he offered. As the  Lord  lives, I will run after him and get something out of him.”    So Gehazi went after Naaman.             When Naaman saw someone running after him, he jumped down from the chariot to meet him and said, “Is everything all right?”                  He replied, “Yes, but my master has sent me to say, ‘Two members of a company of prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim; please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.’”             ...

Naaman             But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.”                    So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house.    Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.”                    But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the  Lord  his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!   Are not Abana and...

Today’s Trouble is Enough             So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:34             My son is taking some Applied Sciences classes in homeschool at the moment.   His big year-long project is building a tiny house.   We bought an 18 foot trailer which will serve as the foundation of his house and allow him to live in it and bring it with him wherever he may roam.   It is a tremendous opportunity that will teach him a lot and leave him with an incredible resource when we are finished.   We picked up the trailer this weekend and, due to some communications issues, need to extend our garage by a foot in order to give him a space to work during the rapidly approaching winter.             I was planning on ta...

Comfort My People             “ Comfort, O comfort my people,”   says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,   and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the  Lord ’s hand   double for all her sins.                 A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the  Lord ,   make straight in the desert a highway for our God.   Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level,   and the rough places a plain.   Then the glory of the  Lord  shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together,   for the mouth of the  Lord  has spoken.”                 A voice says, “Cry out!” ...

The Voice Crying in the Wilderness             Now this was Johns testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”             They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”             He said, “I am not.”             “Are you a prophet?             He answered, “No.”             Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”             John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voi...