Tag Archives: Shabbat Shalom

Shabbat Shalom!

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Last Shabbat, a gorgeous pre-autumn day in western Oregon, my bride wanted to go on a gentle hike up on Mount Hood, which isn’t far from us. So up we went to enjoy YHVH Elohim’s glorious Eden-like beauty in this alpine setting. We started at the famous Timberline Lodge parking lot at the 6,000 foot level and hiked around the mountain for about a mile and-a-half or so.

When my grandfather first came up to this area in the early 1900s, it took several days by horse and wagon to get here. It was all but impassible in the winter due to snow. With the help of laborers like Grandpa, the state built an all-weather highway to Mount Hood after WW1, and we can now be at the 6,000 foot level in about an hour and-a-half.

Please enjoy these photos we took.

In the background is the world famous Timberline Lodge built in 1937 and perched on the side of Mount Hood at the 6,000 foot level. Sandi’s grandfather helped to build the lodge.
Sandi and I were married at this lodge in 1991, so, needless to say, it holds a special place in our hearts. Beyond that, my grandfather was a professional mountain guide and led mountain climbs from this area for decades. What’s more, Sandi’s grandfather helped to build the lodge, we both learned to ski here when we were kids, and we grew up viewing this mountain from the Portland-area where Sandi was born, and where we were both raised and live to this day.

It was a wonderful Shabbat experience walking, fellowshipping and praising Yah as we relished the sights, sounds and smells of this pristine soul and spirit-raising environment away from the cacophony and confusion of the Babylon below.

A lot of people get “high” on a whole host of bad things that dissipate the spirit, soul and body and end up taking them away from Elohim. Well, some of us like to get “high” on Elohim on and in his mountains! HalleluYah!

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from YHVH, which made heaven and earth. (Ps 121:1–2)

 

Shabbat Shalom Beloved Fellow Saints!

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As I often do early on the Shabbat morning, I strolled around my garden clutching my cup of organic coffee admiring the flowers in my personal Garden of Delight (the Hebrew meaning of Eden). As I talk to Elohim, I thank him for the wondrous beauty of his creation and praise him for his majesty. Remember what Yeshua said about the riches and wealth in this world?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (Matt 6:28–29)

Well, by Yeshua’s standards (and they are the true values to judge life by, NOT man’s artificially contrived ones based on pride and lust), I must be an exquisitely wealthy man: I currently have 16 species of flowers blooming in my garden!!! I praise Yah for this. My Eden brings me much joy, pleasure and delight. I carefully tend, protect and nourish my garden just like Elohim commissioned us to do at the beginning, and it blesses me back. Tending and keeping the garden was Elohim third Torah command to Adam and Eve (Gen 2:15).

And the Yehovah Elohim took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. (Gen 2:15)

Think about this for a moment. There’s something really deep, mystical and spiritual about gardening. For starters, it connects us to something beyond ourselves, which has a whole host of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual benefits.… But we’ll save that sermon for another time.

In the meantime, here are some photos I snapped this morning. (Remember the days of  film cameras where you had to wait days or weeks between the taking of and sharing photos with others?)

So turn your eyes away from the sewage dump called the news headlines, take a break and think about the majesty of our great Almighty Elohim and his splendiferous creation for a moment. Please enjoy as you feast your eyes on these.

 

 

Shabbat Shalom from the Stormy Oregon Coast

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YHVH on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea. (Ps 93:4)

The seas shout bravo and clap their hands at the name of Yehovah Elohim, the Almighty Creator of all things.

The spectacular Pacific Ocean is about 75 miles from our house. This ocean is usually anything but pacific (peaceful)! We’re here spending a long weekend including Shabbat.

I have a client who has a gorgeous home located on a hillside just above the beach. A short three minute walk puts us at water’s edge. I did some tree work for why them in exchange for several nights at her beach house. Please enjoy these photos.

Neskowin Beach ghost forest. These spruce tree stumps are a couple thousand years old. They’ve spent most of their lives buried preserved in the sand.

A quick walk on the beach before erev Shabbat dinner and before the next rain squall comes blasting in at us.

This sneaker wave caught me off guard and nearly nailed me.

A barnacle encrusted 2000 or so year old Sitka spruce tree stump.

Shabbat morning view of the stormy Pacific Ocean from our bedroom window.

 

Today’s Sermon Is by the Flowers in Natan’s Garden

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Where I live, after an intensely hot summer that began while it was still technically spring, and probably the driest summer in my lifetime, the cold nip of fall is finally in the air. HalleluYah!

With the arrival of the autumn season, we are reminded of the inexorable movement of cycles of the creation that YHVH Elohim, the Creator, set in motion many thousands of years ago. No matter what man does, he cannot stop these cycles. This points to the omnipotence and sovereignty of Elohim, and at the same time illustrates the smallness and weakness of men.

Think about it. The great and proud leaders of the world with all of their political, military, religious and economic power cannot stop the turning of the seasons or the flowers from blooming!  All that they are and pretend to be is merely a superficial facade speaking to the silliness and vanity of humans. The Creator sits in heaven and just laughs at them (Read Psalm 2.) In the big spectrum of things, how can we really take them seriously? YHVH Elohim is still in charge in spite of who they think they are. This fact alone should give us reason for a selah moment. 

As I stroll through my garden, I see the flowers blooming, the grass growing, the nuthatches and chickadees carefully selecting seeds out of the the bird feeder, the squirrels jumping from tree to tree, the robins eyeing and then carefully pulling earthworms out of my well-watered grass, and I hear the wind rustling in the trees overhead. All these cycles of life that YHVH set into motion a long time ago continue as they have and man can do nothing about it. Each is fulfilling its divine purpose and destiny as the Almighty ordained. Each one, like a symphony, plays its part in the orchestra of life as conducted by our Father in heaven, and man is powerless, thankfully, to do anything about it! The only thing that the right-minded person can and should do in response is to stop, reflect and to worship Elohim and take hope that he’s still the one who’s in charge—not men!

With the arrival of fall, the fall flowers celebrate the arrival of YHVH’s fall biblical festivals (the Day of Trumpets/Yom Teruah, the Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur, the Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot and the Eighth Day/Shemini Atzeret. Are you getting ready to celebrate the fall festivals that prophetically point to the second coming of Yeshua, the resurrection and glorification of the saints, the marriage of the Lamb and the establishment of his millennial kingdom on this earth after having destroyed the Babylon the Great New World Order end times Antichrist system?

Please join my family and I along with the flowers in my garden in rejoicing over the arrival of fall and the autumn biblical feasts!

My primroses are finally awaking after quietly sleeping all summer. Yah, help us to awake to you to the joy of your fall feasts after having come through our own long, dry season of spiritually lukewarm sleepiness!

Despite the intense summer heat, my begonias have been blooming faithfully and non-stop all season long. Yah, help us to bloom for you even in the spiritual desert drought that surrounds us!

More ever-blooming begonias bursting with joy and life. Yah, may your joy be our strength at all times no matter what happens to us.

As the cooler weather of fall arrives, the chrysanthemums come alive bursting with joy to encourage all those who gaze upon them. Yah, as the days get darker and colder spiritually, help us to be lights shining in the gross darkness of this world!

 

The chrysanthemums are a hardy fall flower that can withstand all but the most severe frost. They keep blooming despite rain and cold. Yah help us to bloom brightly during the cold, dark gloomy seasons of life, so that those around us can see and marvel at the inner fire of your Spirit that buns brightly inside us.

More mums smiling happily at the world. Yah help us to keep smiling perpetually for you!

Not sure what these flowers are. Maybe someone knows. But who cares. They’re beautiful and that’s all that matters. They glorify their Creator by growing and blooming where they’ve been planted. Yah, help us to do the same!

More begonias showing not a care in the world by just doing what they do best—blooming! Yah, help us to keep our eyes continually on Yeshua and to do what you’ve called us to do for the glory of your kingdom.

Look at this gorgeous and sumptuous dahlia! What joy and pleasure it brings to all who gaze upon it. Yah, help us to be like a beautiful flower garden that you’re pleased to gaze on and which brings you great joy!

This foxglove has taken a beating this summer, but I keep watering it and it keeps blooming. Yah, pour out the water of your Spirit on each of us, so that we can continue to bloom through the hardships and rigors that life throws at us!

This plant (again, I forgot the name of it—someone please tell me) isn’t a flower, but it’s leaves look like flowers. The tag on it said it would grow to only 18 inches tall. Well, it’s now almost 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide! It has greatly expanded and overgrown the pot I planted it in. It’s obviously a happy, healthy plant. Yah, help us not only to grow and bloom joyfully where you’ve planted us, but to expand our borders as we help to advance your kingdom to those around us!