The Journey Called LIFE!

Ecc. 4:9-10 "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

In John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Christian is blessed with two friends for his journey to the Celestial City: Faithful and Hopeful. At one point in the story, Christian and Hopeful are captured by Giant Despair and locked away in Doubting Castle. The symbolic names give wise counsel. Faith and hope are key companions when we encounter the twin destroyers of doubt and despair - especially in these desperate days of economic catastrophes and natural disasters.

Bunyan's allegory of the believer's struggle through life toward heaven poignantly illustrates the difficult journey we face. But the indispensable lesson of faith and hope through Pilgrim's traveling companions reminds believers of another important truth: We need friends along life's path to pick us up when we fall, encouraging us to keep on keeping on.

No burden is too great to carry with the promise of John 14, "Let not your hearts be troubled..." and encouraging friends who help turn our despair into joy and doubt into a stronger faith and hope. Look around your path of life, there is always someone who needs encouragement. There is always someone who needs someone who cares.

Happy Memorial Day!

Nearby Harrisburg, close to Gettysburg is a monument. What a tremendous soldier, her name was Sallie. Long before females were ever allowed into the armed forces, Sallie was on the battlefield.

It was the 1st month of the Civil War, and the newly formed 11th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment drilled on the fairgrounds. A civilian presented a wicker basket to the captain of this regiment. Within the basket was a four-week old, pug-nosed, black female terrier. The regiment named her after the most beautiful girl in a nearby village. They called her Sallie.

The dog discovered that she had hundreds of friends. She soon became their regiment's mascot.

She learned the drum roll that announced reveille. At roll call, she was always the first on the parade ground. In marching drills, she would find one of the soldiers and march along side. During dress parades, she located the regimental colors and marched beneath them. While in camp, she slept by the captain's tent.

When the fighting started, she stayed with the colors until one of the regiment's men was wounded. She would then race to his side and remain there until the medics took the wounded man away. She fought in some of the greatest battles of the Civil War: Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville.

In the Spring of 1863, Sallie's regiment marched in a parade. Sallie marched along in her usual place beneath the colors. A tall fellow in a dark suit and a stovepipe hat saluted the regiment. Then, the President raise his hat to Sallie.

Sallie's life during the war was more than parades. She was wounded in one battle and received her personal red badge of courage. At Gettysburg, however, she excelled. On that fateful day in July 1863, Sallie's regiment fought atop Oak Ridge. When the firing started, Sallie barked loudly at the enemy. Many of her friends were killed at Gettysburg. After the battle was over, days later they found Sallie still watching over her wounded and dead comrades. She was hungry and thirsty, but faithful to the end.

Now you know why she has her own monument at Gettysburg. In fact, when the monument was in a state of disrepair, a painting of Sallie along with her story sold enough copies to repair her regiment's monument.

Today, Memorial Day we stop to think of all those who fought and those who gave their lives for our freedom but let's don't forget Sallie.

Don't Give UP!

DON'T GIVE UP!

Born in Hagerston, Maryland in 1815, Edmund McIlhenny moved to New Orleans, Louisiana around 1840, finding work in the Louisiana banking industry. By the eve of the American Civil War, he had acquired a small fortune and became an independent bank owner.

During the Civil War, McIlhenny fled with his in-laws, the Avery family to Texas, where he served as a civilian employee of the Confederate army, first as a clerk in a comissary office, then as a financial agent for the paymaster.

The South's economic collapse after its defeat ruined McIlhenny, who now lived with his in-laws in their plantation home on Avery Island, Louisiana, named after them.

Avery Island is built on a salt dome in the bayou country.

A dozen years before the Civil War, a soldier returning from Mexico gave Edmund some dried peppers. He liked them and decided to plant them.

His in-laws plantation home was plundered, the crops were ruined and all that was left was a overgrown field of PEPPERS.

They were reduced down to salt and peppers in abundance. Then he got to work.

He harvested the peppers and began the process of devising a spicy sauces using Avery Island salt, and some French vinegar. Digging through the town dump, he located 350 discarded perfume bottles. He cleaned them up and filled them with his sauce.

This sauce became a hit and has traveled around the world, now known as the Tabasco Company!

It all started with a man who refused to give up adn was determined to make it! No matter what live hands you, DON'T GIVE IT!

Noel, Shiloh is HERE!

Gen. 49:10 says, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."

A sceptre is a symbolic staff held by a rulership monarch. It represents authority.

Today, recession combined with war and lack of money perhaps will make this year a little different.

More families are coming together seeking solace and comfort during this time.

2 words you hear most of the time at Christmas:

• Noel
• Shiloh

We hear the word NOEL in songs but what about Shiloh. The real meaning of this season has been lost in time by so many things.

Noel - is an old English word. It is a abbreviated form of a longer phrase. Noel means - "Now, all is well."

Jesus came into our world, NOW, all is WELL!

Angels sung it, Shepherds heard it, Wise men came.

• The Prince of Peace has come - NOEL!
• To the sick - NOEL!
• To those who don't have much - NOEL!
• Feeling down and out - NOEL!

I point you to the oldest name of the Messiah used in scripture some 1,700 years before Jesus came to earth. Gen. 49:10, Shiloh was a place - but we are talking about a person.

Jacob, painted hope in the lives of his children. In our text Jacob has come to the end of his life. What a road he had traveled.

The end of his life's journey finds him in a faraway, strange land of Egypt reunited with his favorite son, Joseph.

Before his breathed his last breath, he calls his children together to bless them from the oldest to the youngest. Then came Judah. To Judah, he spoke the words that set this tribe apart for future royalty. Judah's lion would triumph in the 12 tribes.

His tribe would become heir to the everlasting throne of David. He (Jacob) looks through the lens of the future and he prophesies what he sees. Look away in this verse like some ancient fossil is encased the oldest name of the Messiah - SHILOH!

Look at these 3 powerful truths:

1. HIS NAME IS POWERFUL

Shiloh is one of those names that is so powerful in scripture, it has a multiplicity of meanings including:

• A Messenger
• A Peacemaker
• And a Deliverer

Only one rightfully wears each of these titles:

• Jesus - is the Messenger - NOEL!
• Jesus - the Peacemaker - NOEL!
• Jesus - the Deliverer - NOEL!

Shiloh describes all that Jesus came to do.

2. His timing is perfect

Jacob gives us the timing of Shiloh's arrival into this world.

He said that the scepter would not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes.

We know Jesus was from the tribe of Judah (Matt. and Mark) Yet, what is astounding is that Jacob prophesied when the Messiah would be born. Shiloh would come before Judah LOST his scepter!

In the time of Caesar Augustus, the land of Palestine was conquered and had taken away the final authority from Jewish Sanhedrin.

The scepter departed, but before it did, JESUS was BORN!

Talk about timing - He's an on-time God!

The year Jesus was born no one knows but He was born before the Scepter was taken away from Judah! He always operates on a different time table, but He's never too late.

For 1,700 years, people looked for Shiloh. In the fullness of time, He came, He's never late.

3. His work is Precious

Jacob, foretold that Shiloh's work be that of a "gathering of the people."

The false shepherd scatters, but the True Shepherd has come gather!

John 12:32,33 is His purpose. The cross has not lost its magnefict power. His work on earth was to gather.

John Newton, the rough, dirty slave trader who hated life, and life hated him. A shipwreck cause him to cry out to God. From then on, he crisscrossed England sharing his testimony and song. He wrote a song about his life, a song that says it all, "Amazing Grace how sweet the sound..."

We are not human beings going through a temporary spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings going through a temporary human experience. NOEL! All is Well.

The President Pardons A Turkey

In 1863, when Abraham Lincoln was president, the cooks at the White House received a live turkey to fatten up for a holiday feast. They turkey's name was Jack, and it didn't take long for Lincoln's son Tad, age ten, to make friends with the bird. Soon Jack was following young Tad around the White House grounds like a pet.

One day, the story goes, Lincoln was in a Cabinet meeting when a tearful Tad burst into the room. He announced that Jack was about to be killed and begged his father to stop the execution.

"But Jack was sent here to be eaten," the president tried to explain.

"He's a good turkey, and we mustn't kill him," Tad sobbed back.

The president halted his meeting, took a piece of paper, and wrote out a reprieve. A joyful Tad raced away to show the presidential order to the executioner and save the life of Jack the turkey.

According to the White House, people sometimes gave live holiday turkeys to presidents in the years following the Lincoln administration, but it wasn't until 1947 that the first official National Thanksgiving Turkey was presented to Harry S. Truman, who followed Lincoln's example and pardoned the bird.

The reprieve has become an annual tradition. Each year, the National Turkey Federation chooses a plump bird and brings it to Washington. Just before Thanksgiving, the president of the United States pardons the National Thanksgiving Turkey a the White House.

The grateful bird then retires to a petting zoo or a resort such as Disney World, where it stays, the remainder of its happy, natural life. Lucky Bird! ;)

The Pilgrim's First Thanksgiving

We know very little about the first Thanksgiving the pilgrims celebrated in Plymouth. We know it took place in 1621 sometime after the autumn harvest.

William Bradford, longtime governor of the colony, reported that after a "sad and lamentable" first few months that brought much sickness and death, the first harvest left them with "all things in good plenty,"including: Corn, cod, bass, and other fish, waterfowl, venison, and a "great store of wild turkeys."

Edward Winslow, one of the Pilgrims, left us the other eyewitness account of the harvest feast in a letter he wrote on December 11, 1621. Though sparse in description, it conveys some sense of the JOY and GRATITUDE that must have marked the occasion:

"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the company almost a week, at which time amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be no always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the GOODNESS OF GOD, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

WOW! Three days of feasting! What a 1st Thanksgiving.

Our world today is in need, not just a need to put food on their tables, although that is true but a need to just stop on this Thanksgiving and bow our heads and say, Thank you for your goodness.

18 reasons Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

Why is Jerusalem our capital?: 18 reasons By Dr. Yitschak Ben-Gad

1. The Jewish people are the only nation in the world to declare a day or mourning and fast to perpetuate the memory of their Temple that was destroyed twice on the same day (Tisha B'Av): the first destruction at the hands of the Babylonians, the second at the hands of the Romans.



2. King David reigned a total of 40 years, 33 of which were from Jerusalem, also known as the City of David.



3. Jerusalem is mentioned thousands of times in our sources: the Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, etc., yet it is not mentioned even once in the Koran.



4. Jerusalem has been mentioned for thousands of years every day in prayers by Jews around the world: morning, afternoon and evening and in the Grace after the Meal.



5. Jerusalem was never the capital city of any other nation in history besides the Jews.



6. Jerusalem is remembered even on a Jew's happiest day – his wedding day. At the end of the marriage ceremony, the groom recites the following: “If I forget thee Oh Jerusalem let my right hand lose its cunning…. “. Then, the groom breaks a glass to remember that there can be no completely joyous occasion until the Temple is rebuilt.



7. Since the destruction of the Temple and throughout history, Jews have always resided in Jerusalem, most of the time as the majority of its populace.



8. Throughout the generations, Jews the world over remember Jerusalem each Passover holiday. At the conclusion of the Hagadah reading they sing: “Next year in Jerusalem.”



9. Our sages have said: “Ten drops of beauty were given to the world, nine of which were given to Jerusalem.”



10. The name of the Almighty, G-d of the Hebrews, appears in the word “Jerusalem”. One of His names is “Peace” (“Shalom”), which is found in the world “Jerusalem” (“Yerushalaim”).



11. 800 years ago, Rabbi Yehuda HaLevy, the renowned poet, expressed the Jews' longing for Jerusalem thusly: “My heart is in the east (Jerusalem), while I am in the far west (Spain).”



12. The prophet of Islam never once visited Jerusalem. There is only a Muslim legend that claims that Mohammed was brought to Jerusalem in the dark of night by the angel Gabriel.



13. All Jews the world over pray in the direction of Jerusalem, while Muslims pray in the direction of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.



14. According to Islam, the city of Jerusalem is only third in religious importance after the cities of Mecca and Medina.



15. The Western Wall, the only remains of the Temple destroyed by the Romans about 2000 years ago, is a testimony to the Jewish nation's connection to Jerusalem.



16. During Jordanian rule over Jerusalem (1948 – 1967) the city was gravely neglected and closed to Jews. Today, the city flourishes and is open to all religions.



17. Until 1967, the Palestinians considered themselves to be an integral part of the Arab world and not as a separate nationality. Moreover, they never before claimed that Jerusalem was their capital.



18. The Iranian president, Ahmedinejad, has not done his “homework” about the history of his own nation. The last sentence of the Bible, in the Book of Chronicles II, 36:23, reads: “The Lord of heaven has given me (Koresh, King of Iran) the kingdoms of the earth; and he has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is Yehuda. Whoever is among you of all his people (the Jewish nation) – the Lord his G-d be with him, and let him go up (to Jerusalem)!”



Here is an interesting story: Winston Churchill, British Minister of the Commonwealth, later to become prime minister, said the following to Chaim Weizmann, later to become Israel's first president: Why do you stubbornly insist on the Land of Israel as your people's state? Why not take another country in Africa (Uganda)? Weizmann answered this way: Why do you, mister minister, insist on travelling every Sunday to visit your mother who lives a three hour's drive away?



There are plenty of old women in your neighborhood. Why not take one and make her your mother?Take note: Even the name of the United States appears in the word “Jerusalem”. JerU.S.A.lem