Live Fire with Chuck Holton

Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you.—Hosea 10:12

The fallow field is smug, contented, protected from the shock of the plow and the agitation of the harrow…But it is paying a terrible price for its tranquility: Never does it see the miracle of growth; never does it feel the motions of mounting life nor see the wonders of bursting seed nor the beauty of ripening grain. Fruit it can never know because it is afraid of the plow and the harrow.
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The air inside the pawnshop is stale and musty. After dark, when no one is around, the items in the shop have nothing to do but dream of one day being found useful.

Day by day they watch people come and go, browsing the glass cases, sustaining the hope that one of the items in them might be chosen, given a chance to be used as it was meant to be used.
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Dearest Heavenly Father,

Yours is, truly, the name above all names.

You nearly drown us in blessings, Lord.

A loving family, beautiful children. I never knew what pure joy was until you sent them to teach me.

The promise of your provision, and the health to enjoy it.

The freedom to practice our religion publicly, and share it with others.
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“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart
people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean
it.” –Mark Twain

Panda writes…

Someone once told me that if the next day they woke up and found that some random person had discovered hard, tangible, undeniable proof that God was not real, that Jesus had never lived, and that heaven and hell were proven non-existent…
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(Psalm 39:4-7) Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. {5} You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath. Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it. {7} But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.

Work
“A Song of Triumph”

When Captain John Smith was made the leader of the colonialists at
Jamestown, Virginia, he discouraged the get rich quick seekers of gold by
announcing flatly “He who will not work shall not eat”. this rule made
Jamestown the first permanent English settlement in the new world, but
work does more than lead to success; it gives an outlet from sorrow,
restrains wild desires, ripens and refines character, enables human
beings to cooperate with God, and when well done, brings to life it’s
consummate satisfaction. Every man is a prince of possibilities, but
by work alone can he become into his kingship.
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This is an article that I wrote in 1992 for an International Studies class at Winona State University. It has been updated somewhat, but it is suprising how poignant it is even now.

Belfast, Northern Ireland. December, 1986

An 800 pound bomb is found stuffed into a trailer near a crowded shopping center. It is connected to a radio-activated detonator, planted by the Irish Republican Army, a regional terrorist group comprised of Irish Catholics dedicated to removing the predominantly protestant British presence from Northern Ireland. After discovering the bomb, authorities spend six frantic hours with a bomb-disposal unit, using sophisticated radio jamming techniques to try and keep the IRA from detonating the bomb. If they fail, 800 pounds of explosive packed with bullets and chunks of metal will blanket an area filled with hundreds of Christmas shoppers. The results would be horrific.

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See Chuck’s article in the November issue of Boundary Waters Magazine