I recently was faced with the dilemma of a bent car wheel. I am embarrassed to admit I kept saying, “I don’t know what to do” over and over like a mantra – to complete strangers! But after a couple of dead ends, now I know what to do. Free will – the power to decide things for ourselves – is one of God’s best gifts, even when we’d rather give it to someone else for a moment.

Yes, sometimes a lot of choices at once can be overwhelming. But most people agree that by not choosing something, we choose something else whether we acknowledge it or not. And I’ll grant you that sometimes we just have an illusion of choice. Mainstream news reports, for instance, all restrict certain issues or viewpoints, and many of them are owned by the same person or company anyway. So, no, an illusion doesn’t actually give us much of a choice. Another choice, of course, would be to not watch any of those news sources.

Unfortunately, we too often believe having a choice means we can choose between a good or bad, positive or negative, or helpful or unhelpful choice. You know as well as I, that is not always the case. Try telling the truth these days to someone you’d like to think is your friend. I didn’t have a choice isn’t really a true statement, though.

Sometimes we are presented with two bad – perhaps downright awful – choices, in fact. Yet, that doesn’t negate the choice. I’m thinking just now of the Biblical account of the choice Abraham was presented in whether to obey God and sacrifice his son, Isaac, to Him, or whether to give in to Satan’s temptations to reject the instructions due to the terrible difficulty of it. The Apocrypha shows us that Isaac was faced with the choice, too. And, as they both tell us, Abraham was blameless, even in this. So was Isaac. So was God, by the way, as you know in recalling the ram in the thicket sent there for another, last minute choice.

I wonder if Abraham Lincoln was named after the Abraham of the Bible? He face some pretty tough choices, himself. And he didn’t run from them. He made them.

Life doesn’t let us escape from choices; and those choices? They reveal something about us to others and to ourselves. And to God. So as we deliberate, let’s encourage each other to choose as well as we’re able even when faced with two hard choices. Liberty or death, for instance.

Account of Abraham: Genesis 22, Jasher 23; Image:pexels-johannes-havn-3218340.jpg; Patrick Henry Quote: “Give me liberty or give me death.”

Adam and Eve were given just a few instructions: Take care of the garden, name the animals, and don’t eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They fell for a lie – a clever twist of the meaning of God’s instructions (something to the effect “Did He really say that?”) – and ended up restricted from the paradise they had enjoyed.

When the Israelites were rescued from slavery in Egypt, they – well, I don’t know if all of them did, but many of them anyway – followed Moses out of Egypt until they found themselves at the shores of the Red Sea. I imagine them running around, craning their necks, yelling, crying, shrieking – well, you get the picture. They were not happy. Perhaps they thought the great escape would be lined with flowers. But they walked through the sea on dry land and God used the sea to battle the Egyptian army for them. Did you note that? They had to walk. And later on they had to battle for the Promised Land. They didn’t expect that, either. In fact, a whole generation (whose faith was sadly lacking despite the Red Sea experience and was unwilling to fight heart and soul) died in order for the youngsters who had been toughened by desert living to do the work. The land wasn’t wrapped in a bow. They had to go after it.

When the Hebrews were ruled over in Babylon, they were facing genocide at the behest of Haman, the Amalekite. Esther – and might I say she was courageous in more than one instance and deserves to have an entire book named after her – made known to the king that she was one of the hated Jews Haman wanted to destroy. Upon learning this, the king set forth an edict allowing the Jews to fight for themselves, resulting in life for them and death for Haman. They were given a chance, and they took it. They fought back.

We’re not that different, you know. Many folks expect God to do all the work. We might think to ourselves, “I can’t do anything to change this mess.” “Wait a minute. You mean I’m supposed to do something about this?!” “What do you mean I’m supposed to do this? I don’t even know how!” “Just leave me alone and let me escape with Netflix.” Maybe we’re figuratively running around, craning our necks, yelling, crying, shrieking – you get the picture. I hate to break it to you, but that wasn’t the way God set things up.

Do you notice the common thread? People are expected to take care of the garden. They’re expected to nourish and prune. They’re expected to defend. Action is not only expected, but required. God meant what He said. He always does. Any questions?

Image: marek-studzinski-3D6yReT06p0-unsplash-1.jpg; parting_red_sea-apha-141121.jpg; lion-pexels-alexas-fotos-2220336.jpg; Scripture: Genesis 2-3; Exodus 12-14; Esther; Ecclesiastes 9:10

When I think of scones, lemon poppy seed comes to mind. Amazingly enough, some people come up with something entirely different. No, not blueberry.

They think of a stone: specifically a stone that was stored at a town in Perth, Scotland, named Scone – the Stone of Scone.  As with things of this nature, different sources both agree and disagree with one another. And whether or not it’s a tale or quite real, the story of the stone is curious.

Remember the Biblical account of Jacob? He was the one who gave and as well as he got when it came to deception. But he was raised to know God, and on a trip to escape the result of some of that deception, he spent one night using a stone as pillow. I know. I’ve always thought that would be the last thing you would use as a pillow, but I suppose if you were propping yourself up rather than lying flat, it could serve the purpose. You can daydream about it if you like.

Jacob actually did dream – only he dreamed that God told him He would give him and his descendants the land he was sleeping on, and that those descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth and live all over the place. Here is the first place that this blogger differs with some of the accounts. Some people say it was then that God told Jacob that a company of nations and kings would come from him. His DNA would see the world! Actually, that part comes later when Jacob returns that way and God changes his name to Israel. Maybe the timing doesn’t matter to you. I’m just throwing it in for your consideration. Anyway, as you recall, Jacob saw angels ascending and descending on a stairway to heaven. He woke up, anointed the stone with oil, and named it Bethel. This was a memorial stone to mark the time he received the promise of God in a dream. Here is another part of the story, that diverges from what I’ve always thought. I thought he left it there as a memorial marker, but some sources claim it ended up in the possession of his sons and became the coronation stone for all the kings of Judah. Others say it was the coronation pillar referenced in regard to Israel’s kings (Judah and Israel were a divided kingdom after Solomon, as you’ll recall).

According to one legend, it remained in Jerusalem until 586 BC. when it was taken to Ireland by the prophet Jeremiah. So the story goes, he also brought Tea Tephi, who was an heiress of the Davidic line to marry into the Irish royal line. The Irish apparently do have a stone they call Lia-Fail (stone of fate or destiny) that some believe to be the very same one.

It was used as a coronation stone for the Irish kings for over 1,000 years. Scotland invaded, and the delightful fellow who wanted to be crowned king of the Scots-Irish asked to borrow the stone. (I think of jewels, gold, crowns, and maybe a jeweled sword when I think of a coronation. The stone, however, is apparently a very big deal. I must admit, if it truly is Jacob’s stone, it is a very important artifact. And if, as the royalty believe, it ascribes them their kingly position, then it deserves honor, not a blogger’s snarky comments.) But, no. The new Scots-Irish king not only borrowed it, but kept it. It was moved to Scone which is where we get that charming rhyme – the Stone of Scone. So now every king of Scotland used it as a coronation stone, meaning it sat under their chair when they became king. Why under a chair? I don’t know. To lend authority to the throne? (At this point, I’m thinking of the story of The Sword in the Stone, and I do wonder if the author knew this story I’m sharing and if the sword only able to be pulled from the stone by the rightful king isn’t a sort of hat tip.)

In 1296 Edward the 1st of England conquered the Scots and took the stone. He had it housed in Westminster Abbey in London. He even had a coronation chair built around it.

Even though the Scots and English were united, the stone stayed put. Kings and Queens of the United Kingdom were crowned in the very same chair. Some believe the Davidic royal line was preserved in this way. A side-note, if I may. Having learned of some recent behavior of royalty, I’m guessing their concern was more cosmetic than honorable; unless, of course, they involved themselves in the occult, which is a whole other matter. Moving on.

In 1950, some university students broke in and smuggled the stone back to Scotland, believing that bringing it back was a right and symbolic act. But in moving it, the stone was cracked, and it broke in two. It was repaired using 4 metal rods, then hidden.

You would think the people of Scotland would be grateful, but they were angry, so the students eventually moved the stone to the alter of Arbroath Abbey where Scottish independence had once been declared.

When Elizabeth was crowned, authorities returned it to UK in time for her coronation. Then back it went to Scotland to be loaned for future needs. That seems like a decent compromise.

Ah. Ah. Ah. Not so fast. Upon examination, this stone was found to be made of sandstone from Scone, and the metal rods were only 3 in number, not the original 4 used to repair it. It was also found to be lighter than the original Stone of Destiny. Augh! What’s this trickery?! The stone used for the coronation in the United Kingdom for Elizabeth was, in fact, a fake stone. Those who take this sort of thing to heart believe, as a result, that Elizabeth was technically never crowned officially in eyes of God. And following that, all acts of Parliament have been fraudulent, every authority that comes from the Queen is fake, and judicial systems (even overseas) have been fraudulent since they are registered through the British Accreditation Registry (what we know as the BAR), and the whole legal system is trashed.

Sigh. If said stone hasn’t continued the line of royalty, it seems to have continued the line of deception – if you believe the story of the stone in the first place. It appears there are plenty of people who do.

Fortunately for the Scots, they’ve kept lists of complete genealogies of their kings (as they claim) back to the time of the stone. Why does it matter? Because they believe the stone belongs to them, hence, a kingly line. I won’t argue. I, myself, have some Scots-Irish-Welsh in me. But I wouldn’t blame someone without that sort of claim for being a bit miffed.

As I think over this storied history, I wonder two things: First, does a special stone make someone royal? I don’t want to dismiss important things having to do with tradition, etc. I’m just wondering. My admittedly incomplete research suggests that some believe it is a portal (Some people believe portals to supernatural entities exist in certain places on the earth and make revelation from those places more accessible.) to heaven. The account of Jacob’s dream would back that up. But if this is truly the case, is heavenly revelation given to someone – a king or queen – who isn’t given to reverence of God (in truth, not mere verbiage)? And secondly, isn’t the one referred to as “the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” the true King anyway?

Have a great week, dear readers. And rock on!

Images: megan-allen-YjiQSp9ftDM-unsplash-scaled.jpg; ben-guerin-Y96OcAtUWw0-unsplash-scaled.jpg; https://kaldanis.blogspot.com/search?q=stone+of+scone; Genesis 35:10-15; Genesis 28; II Kings 11:14; Mark 12:10; couldn’t resist