On love

Gen. 2:20 For Adam no suitable helper was found...The LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of man...

Gen. 8:21 Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. 

Gen. 12:2 I will make you into a great nation...and all peoples will be blessed through you.

Ex. 14:14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.

Ex. 34:6 The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness...

Deut. 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations.

Josh. 1:5 I will never leave you nor forsake you.

1 Kings 8:23 O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth below - you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way.

2 Cron. 9:8 Praise be to the LORD your God, who has delighted in you...

Neh. 1:5 O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love...

Psa. 42:8 By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me.

Psa. 66.20 Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!

Psa. 93:3 He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel..

Psa. 136:2 Give thanks to the God of gods.  His love endures forever.

Jer. 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

Jer. 31:3 I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.

Hos. 1:7 Yet I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them.

Hos. 2:23 I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called "Not my loved one."

Jonah 4:2 I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.

Zeph. 3:17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.

John 3: 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes on him, shall have everlasting life.

John 14:2 I am going to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be with me.

Rom. 5:5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Rom. 5:8 But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Rom. 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Rom. 8:39 Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Cor. 2:9 No eye has seen, nor ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.

Eph. 2:4 But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.  It is by grace you have been saved.

1 Jn. 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God!

1 Jn. 4:8 God is love.

1 Jn. 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Rev. 20 Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus.

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Blessed is the Match, by Marie Syrkin

This is an incredible book on the countless stories of Jewish Resistance that took place all over the world during World War II.  Nancy Syrkin tells the story of 20 year-old Hanna Senesch who left her country to join the small group of Palestinian parachutists who would illegally drop themselves into German occupied countries in attempts to save as many Jews as possible.  She was captured shortly after she successfully entered Hungary and eventually shot to death.  Her bravery is known throughout Palestine.  The author then tells the stories of other parachutists and of many unknown individuals in many different countries who would risk their lives to fight the injustice of the Jews, their fellow humanity.  These are people and stories that you don't learn about in high school. There was profound Jewish resistance to the Nazis. Underground communication was established with incredible coded phrases and words to communicate the danger of Jews in different countries.

The author describes in detail the insanity of the Nazis and the literally unimaginable acts they would commit to the Jews...things we can't even begin to comprehend.  She describes the tactics the Nazis would use on the Jews so they would voluntarily surrender themselves (unbeknownst to the Jews themselves) like requiring all Jews in the ghettos to come forward for a census to ensure their safety from death...yet really they were the first ones to be put onto the trains to the concentration camps.  

I wonder if I would have been so brave, had I lived during that time, to risk my life to save just one Jew.

Blessed is the match that is consumed 

in kindling flame.

Blessed is the flame that burns

in the secret fastness of the heart.

Blessed is the heart with strength to stop

its beating for honor's sake.

Blessed is the match that is consumed 

in kindling flame.

~Hanna Senesch 

Roman Numerals to Twenty-Five on Why I love My Wife

The first one is the most difficult because we all expect it to be the most important. In this case, I ask you abandon all expectations for this post. Lose them. This is in no specific order of what i love most from first to last...its just a list. Enjoy!

I. Empathy. I have not met anyone who displays this quality more than my wife. No matter who it is or whether or not she's been through a similar thing, she can get beside that person and share their grief, joy, worry, pain or bliss. 

II. The last leads into this one, perhaps. Imagination. She might think in bullet points most the time, but she has an incredible ability to create out of nothing something wild and new. 

III. Accepting. From marrying a man like me to loving all nations and people, she demonstrates a desire to know souls not pretense. 

IV. She's power-drives through the grocery store like a Steelers linebacker. 

V. She'll sit and watch her father-in-law, husband and his best friend drink too much and get emotional over the ONE football game they watch all year...and get emotional, too, when their team loses. 

VI. Her love of change yet devotion to people and principles.

VII. She's devoted to Christ in a way that I know will never move. 

VIII. She's bad at math like me. Even though she was the poster child for nerdom in her scholastic years. 

IX. She's willing to challenge the norm when pushed. 

X. Adventurous and a moderate risk-taker. 

XI. Wants to see me grow as a person and willing to make sacrifices to see me develop. 

XII. Watches The Office, I think, because i laugh to the point of tears every time and that in turn makes her laugh. 

XIII. Her laugh! Snorts and gurgles like she's having a seizure of some kind. I tickle her just to see her stiffen up like a board and spew mucous from her mouth and nose.

XVI. Unwilling to think bad thoughts about anyone, no matter how hard i try to convince her that McCain was really one of the flying monkeys from Wizard of Oz and that he was going to remove his jointless arms and reveal his wings as soon as he was elected. 

XV. Pure in thought and action; she has a fear like we all need of what is not pure.

 

XVII. Voted how her conscious moved her not how her peers expected...not even I could persuade her one way or the other.

XVIII. She's the right kind of feminist and the right kind of traditional; actually, she just loves the Lord and understands His will is that she become fully alive by seeking Him- He never stifles the personality or desires he gives to anyone. 

XIX. She loves to read. 

XX. She's is such a good writer and demonstrates her thoughts in clear words and phrases. 

XXI. She'll tell me no and stick to it. 

XXII. The way she has loved me, unabashed and forgiving, ardently and reasonably; she is a living example of a love I had only read about and pretend to know: Christ.

XXIII. She loves to mingle with people and give them what they need. She's far more chivalrous than me. Like last night, a lady we'd just met, after the meeting she insisted we walk her to her car. The lady was so blessed that we would go out of our way fro a stranger...I learn how to treat people better from Naomi.

XXIV. Weather can and never will phase Naomi

XXV. Despite being a Zimmerman, she's not perfect and has some serious issues to get over. This may sound like an insult...but for the longest time, until we had time together, it was difficult believe she had any issues at all. Her humility in recognizing them not only to me but to others, has helped me come to grip with myself as well. 

I love my wife for so ma y more reasons, and these reasons are such a poor reflection of what i am honored to be with every day. Her imprint on my life is so profound already after just a year and some months that I will never be the same. Lord willing he allows her to continue in my life as a constant reminder of His grace, unconditional love, justice, joy, humor and freedom. 

I love you Naomi!