Saturday Night/Sunday: Emma and I didn't get home to my house until nearly 8:30 or so. Emma had been hanging out at the Mall in the afternoon and then went bowling with the same friends. I was so glad to hear Emma was spending time with friends! 2020 was such a horrid, isolated year because of COVID. I can't imagine being in Emma's shoes, having to deal with all she has had to handle these last 12 months.
We decided to watch "Speed", a really old movie--one of Sandra Bullock's EARLY flicks. That story has enough crises in it to make THREE separate movies! It was fun to watch it with Emma. I was wondering just how this weekend would "go" being that last weekend was pretty bleak. I've never seen Emma sadder than she was last week and it super affected my heart all week--aching for her, wanting so much that God would bring her healing of heart and mind.
We worshiped as usual Sunday morning. Powerful messages from our study of Revelation ... so convicting and provoking. Emma and I spent some time discussing the sermon after we ate our lunch. We opened up my Bible and traced some stuff about "the tribulation" and tried to figure out some stuff.
We were trying to figure out what we would do next when Emma suddenly realized she did not have her phone. She had it at church ... but we couldn't find it anywhere in my car or in my house--which is always disconcerting! I know that sinking feeling of NOT being able to find my phone knowing I have zero numbers memorized, and feeling that half my life is on that phone!
It was about 3:00 when we decided to drive out to church to check the "Lost and Found" but all the doors were locked! I remembered that there is a Sunday night Bible study in the chapel at 6PM, so we decided to come back and check the "Lost and Found" at that time--which we did, and ... THANK YOU, LORD !! Emma's phone was locked safely inside! Whew.
During the interval of waiting to return to church, we did do our Bible study together. I'm going back to the beginning of the Revelation study, re-hearing the sermon, brushing up my notes, typing them up, and putting them in a notebook for Emma. This week I reviewed the message to the church of Pergamum. I had found some extra information that Pastor hadn't discussed--the most interesting (and also gruesome) was the story of ANTIPAS. He's the fellow that Jesus commends as a "faithful witness, who was put to death in your city--where Satan lives." Antipas was a real live historic person who was martyred in Pergamum in 92AD. John is writing Revelation a few years afterwards. Antipas evidently (according to the site I was on) was ordained by the Apostle John. Antipas lived in Pergamum, a wicked city controlled by pagan priests who served Zeus and other "gods" as well as Asklepios (the Greek serpent-god of healing). Antipas was healing people and driving out demons. The priests decided he had to go! So Antipas was actually murdered by being roasted in the hollowed out bronze bull altar ... it is reported that his prayers for the people could be heard echoing out of the horns of the bull as he died. Today, all that is left of this idol is the foundation--the altar to Zeus was actually moved over a thousand miles away. In the 19th century, German engineers dismantled the altar and took it to Berlin. The so-called "throne of Satan" went on display in Berlin's Pergamon Museum in 1930, just prior to the rise of Hitler. Yikes.
Pastor Jim's sermon was titled: "Ridding Ourselves of Idolatry and Cross-Pollination." It was incredibly convicting and we learned so much about how the Lord wants us to live purely before Him. Future generations are depending on OUR faithfulness, our witness, our example for them to follow.
Emma went home just after 6PM. She was a tiny bit less depressed this weekend than last--but not much. So ... much prayer for her this week. Lord, please bring comfort, hope, peace to Emma. Please heal her heart and her mind. Give her eyes to see Your beauty and provision. Give her ears to hear and obey Your Word. Help her process her life in light of Who YOU are and what YOU have planned for her--good plans to use the gifts You have given her. Please, Lord.
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