Camping du Phare a Perce, Perce, Quebec, Canada
The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires. ~ Proverbs 11:6
Another rainy morning. Different than the other day in that there was no fog today. The other day, we could see nothing but gray in every direction. Today, we could still see Bonaventure Island and the water even when it was raining.
No corporate worship service – – again! Maybe we should convert to Catholicism or Anglican, because that’s all that’s around here – and even those are few and far between. I supposed we could go as curiosity-seekers, but that’s not worship, is it? Besides, it would all be in French anyway.
So here we are in our sweats and stockinged feet, sitting on the couch with our feet propped up and our Bibles in our laps, waiting to hear what Pastor Mike would teach us this week, and what the Holy Spirit would have us learn.
Today’s message was from John 4:43-54. It’s the account of Jesus healing the official’s son.
One of the things we picked up on today that we’d never realized before, was the way these three stories are put together – Nicodemus in Chapter 3, the Samaritan woman in Chapter 4, and now the Royal official to conclude Chapter 4. Nicodemus was a Jewish priest, a man who thought he knew all there was to know about God. The Samaritan woman was an outcast no one cared about and knew some things about God. And now a royal official, who probably worked under King Herod, who was a Gentile accustomed to the many gods of Rome.
These three people roughly represent the makeup of the culture around Israel at this point in history. And each of them began their encounters with Jesus, interested in Him as a miracle worker, but not as God. Their personal encounters with Him changed that. And in at least two of the three cases, changed the lives of others as well.
Today, we begin with Jesus returning to his hometown area of Galilee. This is where he was from. These were the people who watched him grow up for 30 years, and they were excited to see him return. But not because they believed in Who He was. They were excited to see his miracles and wondrous ‘signs’.
He returned to the town of Cana, where he’d previously changed the water to wine, and while he was there, a royal official who lived in Capernaum, heard Jesus was in Cana and came to see him. It was a journey that required about 20-25 miles – roughly 8 hours – of walking.
He came because he’d heard of Jesus’ miracles and he needed one of his own. His son was dying. And so, he did what any good parent would do. He went to extreme lengths to try to get the help is son needed, including “stooping” to begging Jesus to help. And after he begged, Jesus said to all the people gathered around, “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe.”
Then the official practically commands Jesus to come to his house and heal his son. And Jesus simply tells him, “You may go. Your son will live.” And the official believed in the miracle that Jesus would heal his son and immediately left for home – without Jesus in tow. He “took Jesus at His word.” And while he’s on his way, he’s brought word that his son is improving and asks about a specific time when this occurred and realizes that it’s the exact same time that Jesus spoke the words. And then, he and his entire household believed. Believed what? Believed in Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah.
When it comes to Jesus, you can choose to believe in him, but what do you believe? Do you believe in Him? The Son of God? The Savior of the world? The Messiah? The Atonement for your sin?
Or do you believe in His gifts? The miracles of the world around you? The gift of life and breath He allows? The healings – both physical and emotional – you’ve experienced?
Do you trust in Him? Do you rest in Him? Or do you only trust the gifts He gives you?
It rained off and on again all afternoon. We ventured out to do some running around after lunch, but another heavy rainstorm came upon us, so all we accomplished was putting gas in the Jeep.
We have no desire to run around downtown and get soaking wet.
Later on, we went out again, to look for the fish market and stop by the Visitor Center to leave the note for Danielle. I’ll tell you what, we are very grateful that God set us up with Danielle, because the woman who waited on me today, was barely interested in even giving me a curt answer, let alone a smile, when I asked (with a bright smile) where the fish market was. She behaved much differently with the people before and behind me who spoke French. This could be why Americans don’t visit here much anymore. Why would you come if you’ve experienced or heard that you’re not really welcome?
We finally found the fish market, but we didn’t stop today. It would’ve required a left turn out of the parking lot, and that’s never a good thing in this town. Too much traffic and people downtown! It’s crazy!
Back home, the ‘Powers That Be’ decided my laptop needed an update. I don’t know who these people are who sit in their offices dreaming up things to do to make customers crazy in order to occupy their time and earn a paycheck. I never like it when they make these random changes. Surely they sit back and emit a dastardly laugh when they’re done! Today, they decided to toy with my picture editing ability. First of all, if you want to scroll through the pictures, you have to click the left arrow in order to go forward. Who does that? How rational is it to go backward in order to go forward? Are they Jewish? (Hebrew is the only language I know for certain reads right to left, that’s why I chose them, so don’t get your panties in a racist twist) Do they read from left to right? And then there’s the other, more disturbing issue, which I’ll try to explain. Pictures go from our phone into a folder in the computer for the day. When I open the folder, I arrange the pictures in order by time so that the pictures Blaine took, and the pictures I took are intermingled and in chronological order. I have the ability to arrange them other ways – such as all Blaine’s together and all mine together – but what’s the point? I’m telling a story based on the order of events, so why would I do that? Well, apparently, the ‘Powers That Be’ believe that’s the way I should do it because now, when I go to edit, all Blaine’s pictures are together and all mine are together, but that’s not the way they appear in the folder. The reason this is a problem is because what if I want to stop before I’m finished with all the pictures in the folder? How will I know where to begin again? Sheesh! Why can’t they leave things alone? Or if they’re going to make changes, at least make better ones.
They also got rid of the bar I had at the bottom of my Word screen that tells me I’ve saved my changes, so now I just have to assume . . . .
I don’t like assuming. You know what they say about when you assume . . . .
And there were also a couple of opportunities for people watching. A new family came in while it was raining, and we watched as they tried to fit into the short lot across from us. Not only was it interesting to see them try to fit, but Blaine was also watching to make sure they didn’t hit our Jeep! They were really close! And then the campground owner came around and moved them to a longer site a couple of doors down from us. They were soaking wet by the time they got situated!
During one of the “off” times, our neighbor on the other side decided it was time to put his tryke on his truck. They’re evidently leaving tomorrow. It took him about an hour to get this done. He moves kinda slow. 😊
Warning! Objects are much closer than they appear!
His fifth-wheel hooks in between the back two tires.
And that’s it for today. Tomorrow we venture to Bonaventure Island where we’ll be spending the entire day sightseeing and hiking. We looked at the trail information today, we may decide to wear boots and take our sticks. Or maybe not. We’ll see how we feel tomorrow. 😊