Come Back!

Pictured here is LP Field, the home of the Tennessee Titans; and the view has me thinking about comebacks.

We live in Nashville and the Titans are our team. Last year they started the season with 10 straight wins. It was very exciting and we thought we were Super Bowl bound. It didn't work out; we lost in the first round of the playoffs. So we all thought, 'maybe next year!'

This year we began the season with 6 straight losses! Obviously this year would not be the "next year" we were dreaming of. However, following a "bye" week, when the team didn't play, they have returned with a vengeance; they have won 3 in a row and quite handily. As I said, I'm thinkin' comeback!

Life is filled with comeback stories. Remember when Bill Clinton hailed himself "the comeback kid?" How about Richard Nixon in 1968 when he rose from the political grave to capture the presidency? It appears the conservative movement is making a comeback; and maybe also the Republican party... which looked as if it would be in the electoral wilderness for a long time!

Sarah Palin is making a comeback; although her father says she didn't retreat...she just reloaded!

The words 'come back' evoke another image. Did you perhaps see the film, "Titanic?" Do you recall the character, Rose, clinging to a door from the sunken ship, weakly calling for a lifeboat to 'come back?' It took a whistle to alert the sailor searching for survivors; but the faint sound of her voice crying to survive..."come back, come back, come back"...is one of the most vivid movie memories ever!

Our nation needs a comeback, doesn't it? The economy, the national mood, the 'salt of the earth' American people, desperately need to come back from some serious doldrums. I've been around many years; things are as bad as I've seen them in a long time.

I'm thinkin' comeback! When and how...I'm not sure.

There is a 'come back' of which we all can be certain; the coming back to earth of Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel and Lord of all!

He won't return to the sound of a whistle. No, He will "descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God." (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

The low murmur of a lone survivor won't bring him back. Rather it will be the cry of His kinsmen, Israel: "Baruch Haba B'Shem Adonai---Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!" He promised...and it will be. Look it up...and look up! (Matthew 23:39)

So many of us feel like that character Rose; holding on for dear life to a scrap of what, moments ago, seemed so secure and indestructible. We find ourselves in strange and turbulent waters, surrounded by others victimized by unimaginable and unforeseen disaster. We wonder how long we will have to wait for our lifeboat; we wonder if we will be a victim or a survivor.

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick," writes the author of Proverbs, "But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13:12)

The "Desire of All Nations" will come! It is written...and it shall be. (Haggai 2:7)

"This hope"--no longer deferred-- "we have as an anchor of the soul..." and the anchor WILL hold in these stormy seas. (Hebrews 6:19) He, the Lord Jesus, is the door to which we cling; and the lifeboat of His presence is coming back to save us...to the uttermost! (Hebrews 7:25)

Hang on! Cry out!! Sound the whistle of praise, prayer and intercession!!!

Go Titans! God bless America!! Come Lord Yeshua---Maranatha---Come, Lord Jesus, Come...Back!!! (Revelation 22:20)

He is... THE KING OF THE WORLD!

Shalom,

Marty

P.S. It's Thursday...Hi, Misha!

A Very Present Help in Trouble: (Blog from a Balcony)

Thousands of people travel to Washington D.C. to protest against government health care. Thirteen service personnel are killed and many are others are wounded in a senseless shooting at a military facility in Texas; all this on the day after the New York Yankees win the World Series.

In an age of instant, twenty-four hour news, we are cheering one minute, crying another, and shaking our head in disbelief much of the rest of the time.

I've been on this earth a long while; I don't recall days quite like these. Yes, the sixties were turbulent and frightening. We aging baby boomers have lived through a lot: the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam war, the murders of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, just to name a few.

We recall the gas lines in the 70's, the Iranian hostage crisis of the 80's, the Gulf War in the 90's and, of course, September 11th, 2001. Our brief sojourn on earth has been marked by

these and many other startling incidents which have shaken us to our core and left us wondering where our world is headed.

Still, I have a strange and uneasy sense that we are entering times and seasons, the likes of which we have not seen before. It seems the very foundations of all that we have known and held dear are being challenged---even attacked. Morally, socially, economically, spiritually; we are experiencing radical change, happening at mind-numbing speed.

In the midst of all this chaos and confusion, if one has ears to hear, the scripture whispers:

"God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed,

And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains

shake with its swelling.

The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the

nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" (Psalm 46: 1, 2, 3, 7-10)

I remember vividly another extraordinary event; the miraculous victory of Israel in the Six-Day War and the recapturing of the city of Jerusalem in 1967. Since that day, my faith tells me that we are on a prophetic, historic timeline, moving rapidly toward the "end of the age." What lies ahead, none of us knows for sure.

But we do know this: "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge!"

Yes, my friends; Be still---Know God!!

Yours in the battle and on the pilgrimage,

Shalom and thanks for your love, encouragement and support,

Marty Goetz