by Randal Matheny

With many other words he urged salvation,
"Save yourselves from this corrupted nation."
So those who heard the message were baptized;
That very day three thousand souls comprised
the early church; stedfastly they aspired
to hear the apostles teach, and never tired
of fellowship, of breaking bread, and prayers.
So godly fear and praise and joy was theirs.

----

This started out as a couplet, based on Acts 2.40, but grew from there. No telling where it will stop!

by Randal Matheny

Be watchful: Satan stalks about,
and, seeking whom he may devour,
this roaring lion works to rout
the saints by evil's tempting power.

Stand firm in faith, resist his cup.
He'll flee, as humbly you submit
to God; give fears and failures up,
and He for war will make you fit.

----

You'll readily recognize the reference to 1 Peter 5.8, but did you catch the tinge of James 4.7-10?

I have too many irons in the fire and need to focus. Among writing a book, amassing scattered bits of scribbled-on paper for a poetry collection and writing music, I spend a lot of time sitting on the edge of my bed and just blinking. Any suggestions?

This gal got some pretty good advice. You might want to check it out on the Write This Q&A site.

It was a quick trip down south to Porto Alegre for the weekend seminar, but the participants seemed to benefit from it. My host this weekend, Jair Louzada, is, by coincidence, our newest of three editors for the ImoNet e-zine we publish in Portuguese. We're moving it online this week, to an antville site like this one.

Soon, I'll post more info on the seminar there on the BZeal site.

I was impressed with Jair's 23-year-old son Josué. He is a diligent student of the Bible and popped me with questions all weekend about different passages.

Today I'm back on the job with a long to-do list, and doing fairly well by it, by my generous estimate. Two handouts for tonight's meeting, ready for Wednesday night's study, I'm not doing so badly this week. So far ...

is getting on the plane. I leave out of the Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo, not the biggie in Guarulhos. (No flight to Porto Alegre from SJCampos.) That means I have to catch a bus from here to the latter and another to get to the former. Will take me longer getting to the airport than to Porto Alegre.

But that's often par for the course, isn't it?

As is that preparation often takes longer than the Event, whatever it may be. Ask Mom (Happy Mother's Day!). She takes hours to prepare a meal, and the wolves gulp it down in 10 minutes flat. Seems something is wrong somewhere. But getting ready for something is often the longer process.

So, are you doing your preparation to get there?