November 15, 2021 – Click here to listen
The Bible indicates that in the time of Jesus tax collectors were reviled and governments were corrupt. Not much has changed in 2000 plus years. Indeed, many find themselves struggling like a sea turtle leaving its ocean home and laboriously making its way through thick sandy beaches to lay its eggs.
This past weekend my wife and I drove to the northernmost area of the state to attend a memorial service for my good friend Jack Murf the Surf Murphy. We stopped in Palm Beach to see some friends who are a lovely Christian couple with a palatial home located in the Marisol Golfing community. We had a delicious dinner and they asked us to spend the night instead of getting a hotel room.
I am an idiot! I turned down their gracious offer because I didn’t want to inconvenience them even though they all but insisted that we stay. My insomnia leads me to living strange hours and I didn’t want to accidentally wake them up at 3-4 a.m.
We did not have a hotel reservation and looked in Jupiter, Port St. Lucie, and Ft. Pierce and every room in the various hotels in those areas was sold out. We had to drive all the way to Vero Beach to find a room at a Hampton Inn for over $300/night including taxes. I filled my car up and it was $65, the most expensive tank of gas I’ve put in my car since buying it.
We went to the memorial service the next day and it was great, Murf would have been proud. We had to drive all the way to Cocoa Beach to get another $300 room and then a gas fill-up that was over $50. On the way home we stopped at a hamburger joint. We had to place our order using a kiosk because they cannot find workers, and even then, the simple meal was over $20.
This is just a little snapshot of what our economy is looking like. I wonder how those who are not as blessed as I am financially can afford to go on vacation??? Think about it we merely drove from Duck Key to a small town near Jacksonville and back with a hotel stay on the way up and another on the way home and it cost over $700. Disney World tickets, food, and lodging would have added another $5000 . . .
Last week I went to our grocery store and many of the shelves were empty. What was on the shelves had gone up dramatically, particularly meat. It cost $1000 more to fill my boat with fuel. My tax bill came, and I could hardly believe how much it was.
Love him or hate him, it was not this way when Trump was leading the country. No one liked his loud potty mouth or narcissism, but he was a good president. I long for prosperity and a land where people can rise to the limit of their ability without government interference. Where freedom reigns and prosperity and peace are the norm, and we can worship God freely. Those poor souls in the days of Jesus longed for the same thing but didn’t recognize the Savior in their midst. Today most any objective person realizes that Jesus is the Messiah and Savior of the world.
I know in my heart that no mere human being no matter his or her talent will repair the damage and division in this great country, only God can do that. The Psalmist stated that we should be still. This means to quit striving, cease activity, and put our faith in our God and wait on Him to deliver us and provide peace in the midst of trials and tribulations.
I was studying chapter 54 of Isaiah and got a taste of how it will be when Jesus returns. He is what is needed to save us from ourselves. Come quickly O’ Lord . . .
Isaiah 54:7
“For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion, I will bring you back. In a surge of anger, I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness, I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord your Redeemer. “To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
“Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace. In righteousness, you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you.