Persecuted Because of Righteousness

Posted on August 6, 2017 by Don Merritt

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As a rule, do you expect to see a righteous person persecuting another person because the persecuted person is righteous? My guess is “probably not.” If this is true, then what sort of person persecutes another because they are righteous? Again, my guess is that it would have to be an unrighteous person; it stands to reason, right?

God does not bless unrighteousness.

Righteousness happens when a person lives in accordance with the will of God, and when a person lives this way, he or she is considered by God to be “righteous”, and relationship between that person and God is in place; thus in this life such a person is blessed. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven in the here and now, in spite of persecution and they are blessed for all eternity.

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Where Have I Gone?? Episode 3

Posted on August 5, 2017 by Don Merritt

The Saga of the Floor

To get the full ‘hilarious’ impact of this story a person needs to understand a couple of things: First, from Rock Island, Illinois where I am living now to Clinton, Iowa where we are moving is roughly an hour’s drive. Since I’ve become legally blind, they don’t let me drive a car any more, an act of blatant discrimination against the blind; utterly irrational and an obvious violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Oh right, I quit driving voluntarily because I really don’t have a death wish… Anyways…

In practical terms, this means that I need a ride from She Who Must Be Obeyed to get from here to there, and since she starts work at Rock Island Arsenal at 6:30 am, you can do the math as to when we must get up to get her from here to Clinton and back by 6:30. Of course, after work, she has to go back and pick me up… OK, got that part?  Good.

Back to my odyssey:

The next day, July 19, I arrived in Clinton before the sun came up because they were coming to install the upstairs floor. To make a long story short, they called to say that they were hung up at another job and would be there bright and early the next day, July 20. The next day, “bright and early” came to my house at 1:30 pm and they remained until 3:30 when they had to rush off to another job: Moving day postponed, living room carpet cancelled. The next day they worked about 4 hours on the project. The good news is that I got the downstairs bedroom painted.

Only the trim was left to complete here

Friday the 21st they called to say t was too hot… and we noticed that the air conditioning wasn’t working. Sunday night we received a call saying they had to be on another job Monday and Tuesday and would be there Wednesday to finish the job (July 24). They arrived on Wednesday at about 1 pm and worked until about 3:30 when they had to rush off to another job. The next day, they came in at around 10 am and worked until about 3 pm saying they’d have it all finished the next day, Friday the 28th, only one week late and 2 weeks after the materials arrived.

When Friday came, the man was there to look at the air conditioning as agreed, but no floor installer. At about 2 in the afternoon, the boss called to ask if they had completed the job. Upon hearing that they hadn’t been seen, he came to the house for a look; here’s what he found…

The boss was angry to say the least. As I would later discover, he was Home Depot’s flooring contractor, and the guys working at my house were subcontractors who had told him the job was done a week earlier and had informed him that they were no longer going to do work for him, leaving several jobs that were supposed to be completed left undone. He promised me that he would have another man lined up for Monday; maybe even Sunday. While this was going on, I decided to purchase a new air conditioner and heating system now, rather than try to repair the old one, since I already knew I would need to do it before winter; we set it up for the following Tuesday, August 1.

Monday came, and as I had so many times, I arrived in Clinton before the sun. The new guy came in to look at the floor. He told me right off that he couldn’t work on it that day, since he had another job to finish up first… and after he inspected the work the other guys had done, he told me that it would all have to be ripped out and started over from scratch, and showed me why: there we gaps in the parquet tiles, they weren’t put down straight, and many of them could be popped up from the floor because the glue hadn’t been applied evenly. He was gone after an hour and a half.

Once again I beat the sun to Clinton on Tuesday the first. The HVAC installers arrived two hours early and set to work, then the new flooring guy arrived and started ripping out the work that had already been done on my now famous floor, then the Direct TV guy installed satellite; things were finally happening until…

About 2:30 the air conditioning guy told me that there wasn’t any power to the air conditioning.

You may recall that we had to have a 100 amp panel put in right after we bought the place. The guy forgot to reconnect the 220 to the air conditioning. The guy at the electrical company said he wasn’t too surprised because they’d had to fire that guy who did our job; he’d be there to fix it in a couple hours. With everything else done, the AC installers went back to their office saying they’d send a tech the next day to set up the AC. By the time the electrician arrived, the flooring guy was leaving, saying that he had the other guy’s work all torn out, and that he’d be back the next day to start laying floor again, and he would put down everything that was left, and that they had ordered more flooring to replace what had been wasted.

After that, the boss called to say that the flooring guy would not be there the next day after all, because they had another job to do first.

Seriously?

Move postponed, upstairs bathroom renovation cancelled I’m done with Home Depot.

Well, almost.

The electrician did his thing. The next day the tech came and did his thing, and now I have a brand new heating and air conditioning system that works, and a floor upstairs, which was worse off than when we began 2 ½ weeks earlier.

Then came Thursday the 3rd: The flooring guy came back and put down tiles until he ran out of glue; the room is back to where it was a week ago, but there aren’t enough tiles on hand to continue. The boss dropped in again to tell me that they expect to be able to complete the job Wednesday because he thinks the new materials will arrive by then.

I accepted next Wednesday, and told him that Wednesday would be his absolute deadline for completion, after which I will wreak havoc and let loose the dogs of war, and can you guess what he told me?

Yep, that’s right: “I can’t control when the supplies get here!”

My reply was that FedEx can have them here tomorrow, or he could drive to where ever the stuff is and pick it up himself.

I don’t think he liked that.

Well, I’m over it: Wednesday is D-Day, right in the middle of the fourth week of a 2 day job. Do you suppose Home Depot has a clue what’s going on here?

One last little detail…

I have an engineer’s report that says the basement is extremely unlikely to have a seepage problem except for in the case of “the most unusually intense storm”. Last week we had a storm which included among other things a great deal of rain in a very short time; you couldn’t see across the street it was raining so hard. When I arrived in Clinton Friday morning, I found that this was  “the most unusually intense storm”.

Remember all of those cartons we put in the basement?

Not a good thing.

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Where Have I Gone?? Episode 2

Posted on August 4, 2017 by Don Merritt

Downsizing one’s home isn’t always an easy thing to do; downsizing two homes is more challenging still… and that’s what I’ve been up to lately. My wife and I live in a house that is close to 4,000 square feet in area, while my Mom has lived in a home of around 2,700 square feet. We are moving in together in a house that’s about 1,800 square feet.

Oh my.

After all of the furniture was gone, not the usual pose for someone who is 93 years old!

Of course we’re doing this because my Mom is nearly 94 years of age and is getting to the point where she really shouldn’t be living alone… 2,000 miles away. Oh don’t get me wrong, she’s still kicking well enough even though she’s become rather hard of hearing, and forgets things more than she used to; but she knows the time has come to give up some independence. Of course parting with anything is another story.

Even so, I filled up a 13X5X4 foot trailer with stuff to send to the dump, and sent load upon load of stuff to the Salvation Army, and got rid of 5 rooms of furniture, often when she wasn’t looking, to get the move down to two rooms of furniture and 56 cartons of stuff.

That was fun…

…and it was also the easy part as it turned out.

While I was in California from June 26 through July 12 She Who must Be Obeyed was busy here in the Midwest. As I mentioned earlier, the new house purchase closed right on schedule on June 26, and with that came the very important project of upgrading the house’s electric system from a 60 amp fuse box to a 100 amp panel before the Homeowners Insurance people found out about the 60 amp box… or they’d cancel our insurance. She was all over this project and it was promptly completed along with a few other repairs and improvements that were revealed as being needed by an inspection report: So far so good.

At this point, our tale won’t make much sense until I tell you a little more about the new house: First it is the newest home my wife and I have lived in, being built as it was as recently as 1921. (Our previous addresses were built in 1870, 1918 and 1895.) The previous owners bought the property in 1960, and it is quite clear that when they bought it, they did a serious renovation, and what we acquired was a 1921 Arts and Crafts home with a series of 1960 improvements. Yet in spite of that, the house is in great shape; just dated to the wrong time. As an example, here’s a photo of the upstairs Master as we found it:

So what’s wrong with that carpet?

The really amazing thing is that this almost 60-year-old carpet was in fantastic condition, almost like brand new, yet She Who Must Be Obeyed wasn’t having any of it, and while I was gone, she went to Home Depot and bought parquet flooring and made arrangements for its installation as soon  we arrived back in the Midwest after the cross country trip, and it was delivered on July 17… and I had to unload it from the truck myself because the driver wasn’t physically able to do so an omen of things to come as it turned out.

She also made arrangements for new carpet to be installed in the downstairs living room and hallway at Home Depot, and set up a meeting with their bathroom renovation people to redo the upstairs bath and add a shower…

I spent the lions’ share of the 17th ripping up 1960 carpet (also in great shape) and tack strips from the two downstairs bedrooms in preparation for the movers’ arrival from California the next day with my Mom’s furniture for those two rooms; she wanted wood floors.

The movers came early the next day and did their thing in a very efficient and workmanlike manner; I can’t say enough good things about my experience with Allied Van Lines. The only bad part about this was that since they were 2 days early, I would have to paint those rooms with furniture in them, but that’s OK, it isn’t like I’ve never done it that way before.

After the movers had gone on their way back to California, I had cartons everywhere; most of these had to be moved into the basement…

…which already had quite a few put there by the movers.

Of course, in spite of everything, my Mom knew that these pieces of furniture, seen in their new “residence”, the garage, would fit in the new house where she wanted them, even though she was advised against moving them; anybody need a leather couch or a China cabinet?

Other improvements that need to be done include a new heating and air conditioning system, a new kitchen and a major upgrade of the downstairs bath, but somehow I think some of those might have to wait.

The next day, July 19 was the day that the people would come and install the flooring on the second floor; the plan was that they would have the floor done by the 21st and then install the downstairs carpet on the following Monday and Tuesday, and we would move in the next weekend, the 29th. Tomorrow, I’ll tell that story, and I must say it isn’t all that humorous as it turned out; hope to see you then!

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Where Have I Gone??

Posted on August 4, 2017 by Don Merritt

I have been absent from these precincts for longer than I had hoped when I set off for California back in June, of course when I began my summer offline period I had no idea I was beginning an odyssey of sorts. The funny thing is that it really didn’t start off like that…

When I headed West, I was going there to pack up my Mom’s house move her household goods to the Midwest along with her and move all of us into a “new” house in Clinton, Iowa. Having sold our Rock Island, Illinois home to an all cash buyer with a short escrow, I was a bit under the gun to get things wrapped up and complete the move, and in my pocket was a rather ambitious to do list. I couldn’t help noticing that there were certain people who seemed to have the notion that I was setting out to do the impossible but I wasn’t concerned, after all this was just a project like any other; you plan your steps in a logical order, you execute the plan, and everything turns out just fine: no big deal.

And that was exactly how it worked out; I finished my work in California two days early and we loaded up the moving van and shipped the household goods east under budget…

The next hurdle was driving from Southern California to NW Illinois with my 93-year-old Mom. Some thought that would be too much for her, but she rose to the occasion and we arrived here ahead of schedule; it was a breeze. Yet during my time in California, one or two little problems arose in Illinois. The first one came up when our all cash buyer ran into the deadline for verifying their funds; they didn’t have any money and our sale fell apart. The second one came up when it was discovered that last year’s raccoon invasion caused more damage to our home’s air conditioning ducts that anyone realized and we had to have an HVAC contractor take up the floorboards on our home’s third floor to repair a duct. Of course all work stopped when they actually discovered a dead raccoon in the duct…

To make a long story short, it took three weeks for them to complete a one day job, and when they put the floor back, they couldn’t make it all fit, and I still have three holes in the floor and everyone who looks at it scratches their head and says, “Wow, I’m not sure what to do about that.”

Meanwhile the Clinton, Iowa house closed on schedule without a hitch and the movers came 2 days ahead of schedule with my Mom’s stuff. As I knew would happen, some of her furniture didn’t quite fit and had to be placed in the garage, but all-in-all things went smoothly, and I had roughly 40 cartons of stuff she can’t possibly live without placed into the basement for sorting after we move in.

We bought this house at a very low price because it needed some work; oh yes, this is where the fun begins. Right at this moment, I’m sitting at my keyboard trying to think of a funny way to tell this part of the story, but so far, I’m not thinking funny thoughts.

I think maybe I’ll think some more time and continue my little story in a second post; I hope to see you then!

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Peacemakers

Posted on July 30, 2017 by Don Merritt

We have already seen that as Jesus went forth proclaiming the Kingdom, that healing, and restoration of wholeness went in His wake, for the restoration of wholeness, including the restoration of relationships torn by the hostility of this world is something within the very character of God. A peacemaker is someone who places a high priority on restoring relationships, even with those considered to be enemies; this is also what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

On the other hand, many, maybe even most people of this world are not peacemakers. Look around you, this world is not a peaceful place, for people vie with each other for riches, for position and advantage. Such people are not making peace and restoring relationships, except for personal gain; this is not the behavior of a disciple, and thus the blessing of a restored relationship with God is not present in the here and now, and it is not likely to be found in the hereafter unless changes are made.

For the disciple, blessing in great supply is to be found in restoring wholeness and relationships; it is its own reward, and as a disciple the eternal future is both assured and very bright, for there will be blessing beyond imagination in store.

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To See God

Posted on July 23, 2017 by Don Merritt

The expression “pure in heart” refers to a person whose inner most thoughts, motivation and purpose are pure, clean, wholesome and good; this is the one who will see God. To see God is to believe in God, and even more basic, they believe God; such a person is blessed indeed.

The person who is not pure in heart will not see God, possibly because he would rather not see Him. The person who is not pure in heart is one whose inner motivations are not wholesome or good, but are more likely centered on self, gain and getting what they want at whatever cost; they are not blessed because there is little room in their lives for a relationship with Him.

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Merciful

Posted on July 16, 2017 by Don Merritt

Mercy  is the most fundamental aspect of our relationship with God. We only have a relationship with God because of His tremendous mercy, for without it, we are permanently estranged from Him. Thus, Jesus teaches mercy on our parts as a foundational requirement of being His disciple.

We have received His mercy; we are to show mercy to others when the occasion arises. We have received His love; we are to show love to others. How can we show mercy without love, and love without mercy? Yes, this is fundamental.

The person who has received God’s mercy and who shares God’s mercy with others, both through the Gospel and through our own attitudes and actions, will in the end, receive mercy when those who have refused it receive God’s judgment; this is also a fundamental truth.

Now we come to the reversal of this: What kind of person does not show mercy to others?

The ruthless, the cruel, the inhumane, the purely evil…

Will they receive mercy: of course not, they will be judged. Will they be blessed in this life by relationship with God? No, for they live in open rebellion against Him. Will they receive mercy in the end? No, they will receive justice instead.

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For They Will Be Filled

Posted on July 9, 2017 by Don Merritt

I doubt that I need to discuss what it means to “hunger and thirst for righteousness” so let’s jump directly to what will become of the one who has no such desire. I think we can safely assume that the one who has no such desire will not be blessed, and one who hungers and thirsts for wickedness will not only find what they are looking for, but they will also find God’s curse in His judgment. Such a person will always need to be looking over his shoulder, will be running from the law, and will seldom have a restful night’s sleep; if they are lucky, they’ll live long enough to die from stress related illness, if not they will die by the sword. Anybody want to sign up for that?

As with the other beatitudes, there is an apocalyptic element to this (see Isaiah 61). God’s ultimate gift to Mankind is the gift of righteousness, for when Jesus returns and culminates his Church, all evil will be eliminated and the righteous will abide eternally in His Kingdom without pain, suffering, oppression or death: Blessed indeed!

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For They Will Inherit the Earth

Posted on July 2, 2017 by Don Merritt

A person who is “meek” is often thought of as being resigned to their circumstances, even weak, but that really isn’t what is being described here. Those who are “meek” are those who understand that they are dependent upon God, and not upon their own strength or even upon the power of armies, for our own strength is a temporary affair, as is the might of an army; all will perish. Yet God’s strength is eternal, and His might never flags or fails. With this in mind, consider who is not meek; the proud, the loud, and the haughty. These are the ones who must always dominate others, who must always have the last word, and who will trample others to get ahead, for they fear losing control: They are not blessed for their own behavior is their curse.

The meek will inherit the earth, just like the descendants of Abraham would inherit the Land. Once again, Matthew has linked an idea relating to Jesus with Israelite history, and this time, He has done so in a way that leads us to an apocalyptic conclusion, for those who place their full faith and trust in God for their provision will not only enjoy relationship with Him now, but will reign with Him upon His return, thus receiving a double blessing of His grace.

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Those Who Mourn

Posted on June 25, 2017 by Don Merritt

Most of the time, we don’t associate blessing with mourning; maybe we should rethink this… Matthew didn’t actually say what those blessed ones are mourning; it could be the loss of a loved one, it could be the loss of their home or possessions, or it could be the sinful and rebellious state of this world. Maybe it doesn’t matter…

I think it is safe to say that for a person to truly mourn they first had to love; certainly this would be true in the loss of a loved one. It would also be true if a person is mourning the loss of possessions, for if they didn’t love the possession(s) lost, would they actually mourn?

It wouldn’t seem so.

If the person was mourning for the wickedness of this world, wouldn’t that show they loved God a whole lot?

Consider for a moment those who do not mourn; what a terrible and sad life they must lead! Never having enough of a relationship with anyone for love to develop; never being able to mourn? Never having a loving relationship with God so as to mourn for those who rebel against Him?

Never loving never mourning?

Those who mourn will receive comfort from God, both in the here and now and in the ultimate future when all pain and sorrow will cease. I don’t know about you, but for me, just knowing this is a comfort that brings joy into my life.

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