2 Chr 15: 1-8

The world is full of conditions or what I call the "if - then" statements. Asa was told this via a prophet as the Spirit of God gave to Oded’s son, Azariah a message for King Asa. This is the only reference to Azariah, so we do not know any more about him. As Asa returned from the battle to Jerusalem, Azariah went to meet him. He spoke to Asa and to all the people that were with him. The message that Azariah brings is a simple one. The message is as true for us as it was for Judah. If they were loyal to the LORD, the LORD would be with them. Those who look for God will find him (Deuteronomy 4:29). But they must obey the LORD. If they turn away from him, the LORD will turn away from them. We can take this two ways - we can do what Asa did and continue to be the leader and rid himself and the land of idols that could ensnare and bring him down. Or we can believe the lie, that we can do all things and not be held accountable for our actions. The verse in the Bible that I feel gets misused and abused is the one that states "I can do all things through Christ" where people justify all actions even though their motives and actions weren't "through Christ". Is God part of the solution and is He and his Word in us daily or are we violating His trust and his Word? I often think of Bob Dylan's song - With God on our side and the chilling lyrics that even the skeptics can claim false motives under the pretense of Christianity. I'm not saying that all that the song is a litmus test of what is false or right but we should think, pray and then pray again, read His word and pray again before acting on things that really matter. Asa was a man who could see the "forest from the trees" and thus acted accordingly. He proceeded to "clean up" and repair the nation and in turn, himself. He restored the temple and continued to rid the nation of idols. Actions do speak louder than words.

The trip out here to CA was grueling as we didn't arrive until 3AM - CA time. We then had to turn around a few hours later and pick GG up at the airport. Unbeknownst to us was the SF Marathon was in town and albeit smaller than the NYC one still caused havoc on the roads. Met our guide for the day, Derek Ong who gave us a spectacular but grueling walking and public transportation tour of the city that was 5 hours long and we all met up with Alison (my niece) and our friends Dan, Jenny and baby Ethan for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant which featured dungeoness crab -two ways. Good times and very enjoyable.

Today will be less intense and relaxing - going to the SF office to see peeps and later heading off to the Mets/Giants game later.

Praise for today: But it is good for me to draw near to God; I put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Your works. Psalm 73:28.