daily java

Daily Java:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
      do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
      and he will show you which path to take (Proverbs 3:5-6).

There is a movement underfoot today to denigrate marriage. I have read several articles within the past few months talking about how unnatural and unfair monogamy is, how no one can expect a man to live with just one woman.

The odd thing is that many of the articles are written by women. It is almost as if they are trying to figure out ways to drive men away from marriage by making them think they cannot do it.

There is an all out assault on marriage, that is apparent even to the most casual observer. The reason is simple: marriage is the bed rock of society. if marriage can be destroyed or changed in some way, made less appealing, society will be gone as we know it.

That is why those on the left want gay marriage and open marriage, polygamy – anything but mom and dad and the kids.

It is a shame that something so good can be so under assault.

Yesterday was our forty-first anniversary. I have enjoyed being married and like being with Ella. We go well together and get along well. Any inadequacies on my part – and there are legion – are made up for by her love.

I cannot imagine marriage being any other way, even though I see it other ways daily.

And it is not that our marriage was necessarily easy. There were rough places, mainly because I was a jerk. But we hung in there.

I read an article not long ago that quoted a lot of surveys and studies. It said that women will take another woman’s man, while men will usually not take another man’s woman.

The reason given was that women are looking for good men. And they see other men in good relationships. To some women, these men are pre-screened in a way. They have made good husbands in their marriage, so they figure they would do the same with them.

It is not the same with men. Men may sit and gaze longingly at another guy’s girl, but will wait until the relationship breaks up before moving in. you hear of women being labeled home-wreckers far more than men. In fact, I have never heard that term applied to a man.

And that may be why women view men as “all the good ones are taken.” The reasons the good ones may be taken is because a woman has taken him and changed him into a good, viable, worthwhile human being. It may be something he was not before they got married, but is now. And without her, he will probably revert.

It is why the Lord put men and women together. It was and is his will. Marriage is his path.

I am glad I pursued it with Ella.

A rambling blog post today, but no less heart-felt.

the women who followed jesus

Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples. (Luke 8:1-3)

Have you ever thought about the fact that Jesus had a bunch of women following him around, yet never had any hint of scandal attached to his ministry or character?

Here was a man. He was such that he could attract not only the loyalty of hard working men, men who worked with their hands and had no time for wimps, but also attract the loyalty of women of all parts of life.

He had women of all kinds hanging around him. Women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases were there, a fairly prominent woman, Susanna, who was pretty high up in society being the wife of Herod’s business manager, and others who supported Jesus and his apostles. Also there was Mary Magdalene.

She was one that the scripture says, from whom he had cast seven demons. This was a woman who had ample opportunity to be grateful to Jesus. He had rescued her from a living hell.

She is always portrayed as a former prostitute, and she may have been, but chances are that she was not. She may very well have been an older woman who had been used by her owners as a fortune teller, or the like.

Whatever her background, she had living in her seven demons. And they controlled her. She lived her life in a living hell, controlled by the spirits of darkness, never being able to leave them, to shut them out, not even able to commit suicide.

One day, Jesus had come along and saw her and took pity on her and delivered her. To say she was grateful would have been an understatement. More than likely, she would have died for Jesus on the Mount of Olives when he was captured if she could have.

Being a woman, she couldn’t. But she was there with him to the end, standing at the foot of the cross with his mother. And not only that, she was the first to see the risen Christ in the garden.

In the garden, after his death, she was in such tears that she didn’t recognize him and thought maybe he was the gardener and had moved Jesus somewhere else.

But when he spoke her name – Mary – she knew him in an instant. She had heard him say that name so many times, she would recognize it anywhere.

Not only that, she was the one who went to tell the apostles. She has been called the “apostle to the apostles.” Oh, since she was a woman, they didn’t believe her at first, but they knew what kind of person she was and knew that she was no flake.

If she said she had seen him, she had seen him.

One of many women who followed the man, Jesus Christ and loved him.