Two items were shared with us here on the MorningStar app in the last day or so: one was video of Robert Kennedy speaking in West Virginia about a health initiative there and also about the more general need and work his agency is involved with in moving the American population to better health; the other item was a word someone had received about shattering the glass and letting the marriage feast begin. I had paid attention to both of these and even written a response to the shattering of the glass that I did not send. Then tonight it seemed like my understanding was enlightened in some respect and even significantly so, though now that I am taking action on what I thought I understood, it seems less clear and less essential that I say it. I had gone to bed a little early today and then set my alarm to drink something before midnight. I also checked email and the MorningStar app, though there did not seem to be new content then. Maybe I should not be taking up this time saying how this happened. In any case, it seemed my understanding was enlightened. I thought of how our bodies are instructed regarding how to operate through DNA and genes. I do not have much understanding of the science of that, but the assurance of it and the significance of it seemed very sure. This was also knowledge hidden from human understanding until somewhat recently in human history. I had gone back to bed and sleep did not resume and I thought I could get up and write about what I was thinking. Then it seemed like I should. When I got to my computer and started Word I got a prompt on the screen—not sure exactly what it referred to—saying this application cannot run without a more recent version of Java, so I allowed the update to install. As it did, the branding was Java and Oracle. Not to make too much of it or to follow signs and times, though these signs shall follow them that believe, I thought Word could not run without Java from Oracle. Java could represent energizing through revelation and my use of the Word might have depended on my having that energy. Regarding the DNA part of this—DNA is information in our cells telling them how to reproduce, or how life is to proceed, or how we grow. Genes apparently have to do with higher level information, higher than “copy a cell this way”. Regarding the Kennedy video, part of the problem he was talking about was how poor American health has become through the mass production and consumption of processed foods. I don’t know that this is very important (the following example) but I remember being at a MorningStar conference and planning to drive to the nearest place the Appalachian trail could be accessed—not very near MorningStar but much nearer than where I live in Texas. I think I drove Northwest toward the Tennessee border and as I got near the state border and the place where the trail crossed the highway, I believed the Lord showed me not to get onto the trail, so I did not. After all that driving to see the trail, I’m not sure I saw it and I certainly did not get out of my car to try to find it, though I must have been near the location. (I'm not bitter.) The more specific part of the questionable example I’m thinking of is getting salads from Subway. I don’t remember if this was all in the context of that drive between conference sessions, but I got a chopped salad from a Subway near MorningStar and I think one also near the Smoky Mountains National Park. I’m sure there is less processed food than that, but maybe that is better than a Big Mac, French fries, and a Coke. Kennedy said that such a high number of Americans were now sick with a high number being diabetic where in former years diabetes was much less common. (I should add that one Big Mac won't have that effect by itself, as far as I know.) He said that instead of having a thousand dreams (hopes and plans) people had one dream, of not being sick. He said that the tobacco companies that he had fought in the 1980’s who had made cigarette smoking so addictive had moved to the processed food business and had their scientists study how to make processed foods more addictive. They put in food softeners so people would need to chew less and thus prevent the chewing process from sending signals to the brain that one is full. The breaking of the glass brought to my mind the passing of a former way of doing things or the former way itself of how things were. (i did not think of these two things as referrring to one another, but I could be wrong.) As marriage is described in the Bible, the two shall be one flesh. (This makes much better sense for those who walk in purity and do not have sex outside of marriage.) It also has a more general sense of just putting away the former things and as the shared word says, letting the marriage feast begin. When I asked to be filled with the Spirit years ago staying most of the night in the campus chapel with the friend who prayed with me and had shared with me so much about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, as I returned to my dorm room, the verse reference Isaiah 43:12 came to mind. In time since I’ve seen it is seems especially like Acts 1:8 as an Old Testament scripture. Both scriptures speak of being the Lord’s witnesses. Isaiah 43:12, from memory says, I have declared and have saved and have showed when there was no strange god among you, therefore you are my witnesses, that I (the Lord) am God. My pastor taught that a witness has to have seen something. We're called to be witnesses not to "do witnessing". They don’t show up and say, we had an accident down the street and no one was there and so we are asking for volunteers to be witnesses. We know how ridiculous that would be. So, the Lord says to those he has filled with the Spirit that we are to be witnesses to him. We are to see him and tell others who have not seen him about him and about what we’ve witnessed. When he said to me that there were no strange gods among us that was what initially caught my attention with the scripture, because strange things did happen, my teeth chattered and my belly jumped. Later I would see Habakkuk 3:16 in the presence of the Lord, my lips quivered and my belly trembled. So, whatever I might have called it, the Lord called it, no strange god was among you. I reflected clearly tonight that I need to go with what God said. We could think or say anything, but what we should do is believe what God says. This saying “no strange god was among you” could have some bearing on the glass being broken and the marriage feast beginning. (If you have not seen what another person shared about that word, it might make more sense seeing it, though the application here is quite different.) To say the application again, since it does not seem to "follow". If one has been avoiding sex because of being unmarried. When newly married, it might take a destruction of that former sense of "no sex" in order to be one flesh. I am sorry that I am not seeing “to the end of the matter” now. I was shocked earlier in the night as the thoughts came to mind, not “amazingly shocked” but it was not common in recent time for sequences like this to come to mind. If my recent statement seems like what might have shocked me, it was not that; it was just the sequence of thoughts and the panorama of it all and the sense of praising and loving the Lord for his loving kindness to us. A few more comments about health: I’ve been buying health books in recent time, buying them and not really reading them. But it’s possible I’ve become a little more aware of what a good book about health would be like. Some that I’ve recently encountered that caught my attention are “Dirty Genes: A Revolutionary Approach to Health and Wellness Through Nutritional Genetics and Personalized Plans for a Happier, Healthier You”. That book talks about a few main genes that often differ or vary from person to person and the functioning of the gene within oneself can be affected by many things, including some that are likely not “most likely” to be thought of by the individual. Two others talk about Neurogenetics, the continuing formation of new brain cells into old age. “The Neurogenesis Diet and Lifestyle: Upgrade Your Brain, Upgrade Your Life” and “Radiant Brain Health: Integrative Approaches to Anxiety, Depression, and Cognitive Decline”. Both of these books talk about the possibility of promoting the formation of new brain cells, nutritional approaches to that, and the consequences of lack of new cells being formed, in the book’s author’s view being a cause of such things as depression, loneliness, and lack of clarity and purpose. I thought of Ecclesiastes 12 (which begins with “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come”). And it is likely that when one dies, they often die of something. It’s not like the objective is to prevent those “somethings” forever. Though my pastor also taught, we don’t have to fear death, we’re not going to see death. (Or, that was how I heard what he said. I do not think that means that folks can wholesale take the words and say, “I am not ever going to die”. It could certainly include God’s working in our lives so that we don’t live in fear of death. It might include, not being aware of the approach of death and thus not fearing it. And we could truly not see death, though the teaching is also that man is not going to have immortality until he does not sin by the power of the Holy Spirit. The sting of death is sin. One last comment here about health, I’ve recently become aware of the bad effect of too much sodium in my diet. I’ve been a major consumer of TV dinners and even moving toward more healthy TV dinners the sodium content in many TV dinners and other prepared foods can be very high. The recommended level of sodium for one day, if one is not watchful, could be met by one prepared meal. And the problem of sodium is not as immediate and complete and powerful as gravity; step off a platform (don’t) and gravity takes effect immediately. Sodium can be much, much more subtle, but it is working. It has seemed to me dangerous and unjustified for me to say to someone else, this or that about sodium, but in my wakefulness earlier I thought I could say, high sodium intake is like standing in an intersection and is not safe; it is safe to recommend moving toward a street corner. Father, I hope that it is appropriate that I have written this extensive note. As I’ve said, I’m sorry that I do not have the clarity I thought I did when the thoughts were brought to mind, but maybe that is my lot and it is appropriate to just “be a part”. Bless your people. Moses’ strength and eyesight were not abated near 140 years of age. Abraham had a son Isaac when he was about 100 and hiked to the top of a mountain with Isaac. These days I can be weary if I’ve been on my feet three hours. Be near O God, be near O God of us, your nearness is to us our good. And let the life of God abound in your people. Earlier as I thought of these things and remembered your calling to Samuel as a child, I thought of how worthy you are of our praise, our thanksgiving, our gratefulness. Thank you for your love for us, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Posted by John Fullerton at 2025-03-30 08:36:48 UTC