1966  WERE WALKING TO ZION

Merry Christmas to all [and happy holidays to you politically correct types].

I debated on posting today- you’re normally obliged to do some type of Christmas thing.

But last night I was thinking about an experience that one of the guys at the halfway house shared with me- and I thought maybe we’d go with that.

And if possible- turn it into some type of Christmas story.

Okay- over the past few years I have developed all sorts of images- scenes- bible verses- they are here in my office and in my backyard.

These are simply reminders for prayer.

For instance- in my yard I have this gazebo- it has all the names of the guys I have prayed for- for years.

I have the thing looking like a modern day Tabernacle of Moses.

Huh?

Yeah- in the Old Testament we read about this Tent system that God ordained when the people were in the wilderness.

It’s called the Tabernacle of Moses.

It was simply this 2 room portable tent- with various items of worship in and around it [the courtyard was the outer area].

So- in my ‘remake’ I have sort of the same things- I even covered this gazebo with outdoor hanging material- you know- like a tent.

I also started playing my harmonica every day- I started this about a year ago.

Now- I’m no musician- but I read some verses over the years that seemed to incorporate this type of harmonica ‘prayer’ in with regular type prayer.

Okay- last thing.

This last year I started making staffs- yeah- you know- things that people carry around while they are walking.

I even brought one or 2 down to the mission- I was carving on them while hanging out with the guys.

So- right now I have 5 of them- and they surround all these spots I mentioned.

So- that’s sort of the imagery that I feel the Lord gave me- ways to see the community of people when praying for them.

Okay- I’m talking with John Boy the other day.

John Boy is one of the first guys to stay at the halfway house.

He’s dying of cancer- and he kinda came with the idea that he would die while staying with us.

John was an addict for most of his life- and is trying to ‘die clean’ [those are his exact words].

So- when I take the guys into town to run errands and stuff- I take John too.

He loves getting out- you can see his pictures on my Facebook page- he’s the one holding the ax.

So John   tells me this story- this dream he had about 20 years ago.

He was climbing this mountain [journey in life] and when he gets to the top- he could see all the other people climbing their mountains too.

When you get to the top- you see all these roads leading to one central thing.

It’s a tent- a ‘tabernacle of Moses’ type [I asked what type because John is an American Indian- he told me it was not an Indian type].

As all the trails are leading to the tent- all the people are carrying staffs [Hmmm?]

As they near the tent- you smell incense [which I forgot to mention- I’m always burning them- even now].

And last but not east- there is this beautiful sound of a harmonica playing from inside the tent.

John does not remember what the song was- I took his bible and outlined my ‘harmonica song’ from the book of Revelation [it says those who overcame the beast stood on a sea of glass and had these harmonicas/harps. There are multiple verses in the book of Revelation that I get the idea from- but the actual words I use are in chapter 5 starting in verse 9].

I marked the song and asked him to read it later.

Yeah- I felt in many ways Johns dream was prophetic- it had meaning.

Okay- now the Christmas part.

We read in the bible that Jesus was the bread of life who came to us thru the Virgin Mary.

He was born in a lowly stable [ark- box]- yet was Divine in nature.

A type of the Ark of the Covenant that was in the Tent of Moses- it held the 10 commandments [Deity- Gods character- inside a fleshly tent].

Jesus was God and man- not half God and half man- but fully God and fully man.

That’s why the images with the ‘Moses tent’ had both Gold and precious metals- as well as the skins of animals- showing a combination of deity along with humanity/flesh.

Over time the tent system would be replaced with a temple- that was basically the tent in a more permanent form.

This temple- built 2 times [really 3- King Herod built the 2^nd temple into this grand masterpiece right before the time of Christ- it was the temple that the disciples referred to when speaking to Jesus].

This temple had a huge veil- a blanket type material that separated the 2 rooms on the inside.

This veil represented separation from God- sinful man could not approach a holy God.

The high priest went alone once a year behind the veil- and he would offer the blood of a sacrifice for the sins of the people.

During the crucifixion of Christ we read that an earthquake shook the ground-  and the ‘veil of the temple was torn apart- from top to bottom’.

This signified that thru the Cross we now all have access to God- no more veil.

Yes- the whole thing pointed to Christ- there are entire books written about all the things in detail- how they all have meaning.

But for today- I’ll end with that picture in my mind- my friend John has reached the top of the mountain- he hears the harmonica playing- he smells the incense from the room.

Oh- one more thing.

John said when he got to the tent- in his dream- that everybody left their walking canes outside.

There was no more need for them.

John the Apostle tells us that in that day there will be no more crying or pain or anything like that.

Yeah- we will leave our canes at the door.

Amen.

www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] - I have posted lots.