The Island-Fish

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  “O ye passengers, whom may God preserve! come up quickly in to the ship, hasten to embark, and leave your merchandise, and flee with your lives, and save yourselves from destruction; for this apparent island, upon which ye are, is not really an island, but it is a great fish that hath become stationary in the midst of the sea, and the sand hath accumulated upon it, so that it hath become like an island, and trees have grown upon it since times of old; and when ye lighted the fire upon it, the fish felt the heat, and put itself in motion, and now it will descend with you into the sea, and ye will all be drowned: then seek for yourselves escape before destruction, and leave the merchandise.—The passengers, therefore, hearing the words of the master of the ship, hastened to go up into the vessel, leaving the merchandise, and their other goods, and their copper cooking-pots, and their fire-pots; and some reached the ship, and others reached it not. The island had moved, and descended...

The Vigil

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"Waiting for flame in the eye of night,
I am the fuel for your fire.
Light calls ever unto light,
Make me a fleshen pyre.
Touch my lips with the altering coal,
Leave Your shining upon my soul,
Zion shall ever be my goal,
Zion the city of light."

I am up pre-rooster to be shepherd and host to our non-resident Seminary students. These nights I do not sleep so well due to my excitement that they are here--these full-time missionaries, pastors and lay people from around the world come for two weeks of Intensive courses, then back home they go.

About 12:00 a.m. my 9 year old daughter was asking me her usual round of philosophical questions . . . who acts the best: this color person or that? We talked about the importance of people in God's eyes and that God does not see color. I brought her around to consider what Person, rather than kind of people, we should look to as our model. She brightly replied, "Jesus!"

About 4:00 this a.m. I was awakened by that same daughter for child-hood reasons and as I drifted back off to sleep for one more hour, was impressed by how Jesus models my very ministry to me, as shepherd and host--Psalm 23 came to mind as my model for ministry, especially over the next two weeks. Shepherd, to those who need to know the way and find comfort in it; host, to receive spiritual nourishment and walk away on FIRE for God!

"So Lord, [please] move, or move me," as the song says.

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