Calamity!

December 31st, 2022| Topic: RaMbLeS | 8

So there I was in bonnie New Zealand. For two weeks. Drove all over the North and South Islands, covering 4,000 km (2,500 miles)!

And spent Christmas in balmy Auckland, 70°. Said I to self:

Self, you are such a smart guy to escape the big freeze back home in ye olde continent of North America.”

Well, the long and short of it is that “self” was wrong. Very wrong. Horribly wrong. Nope, I did not miss the freeze when I got home two days after Christmas. In fact, I got the worst of it.

Walked into the house at around 1:00 am. The place was flooded. Water pouring from the ceilings. I thought I might have to put on swimming trunks to wade through the mess. I shut off the water. Raised up my speakers (nice ones, BTW). Checked to see if my bed was dry. It was. So I went to bed.

Five hours later, I woke up and then began the demolition and reconstruction proceedings that are going to continue for the next many months!

All that to say: I am homeless.

Here’s my theme song …

Well, not exactly. I’m in an AirBnB, probably living better than 70% of the world. But still ….

My current writing project is a 450,000-word commentary on the Psalms. I started in the middle of 2020, and going through the laments in the early parts of the Psalter were a blessing, what with the pandemic and the care of an ailing parent who later that year would go to be with Jesus. Yes, lamenting, I was, as I went through Round 1 of my writing.

Well, I finished Round 1 around Thanksgiving this year. And promptly proceeded to enter a round of editing of all that I’d written: Round 2. And guess what? I’m in those same laments again. And guess what I’m doing now? Yup, lamenting again.

(I hope I don’t have to do a Round 3. Who knows what that will bring?)

For a long time, and especially with my immersion in the Psalter, Ps 68:6a has been a favorite of mine: Elohim moshiv ykhidim baytah.

God, the One settling the solitary [in] a house.
Psalm 68:6

For obvious reasons: my celibacy and my solitary state. But I guess I had to learn that “house” bit, too. So here I am, acknowledging that it is God and God alone who houses one.

If Yahweh himself does not build a house,
in worthlessness the ones building labor on it.
Psalm 127:1

In any case, there is only one place we want to live in:

One thing I have asked from Yahweh—
that I shall seek:
for me to dwell in the house of Yahweh
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of Yahweh.
Psalm 27:5

For better is a day in Your courts than a thousand [elsewhere].
I would prefer to stand at the threshold of the house of my God
than live in the tents of wickedness.
For … grace and glory Yahweh gives;
He does not withhold good from those who walk uprightly.
Psalm 84:10–11

Oh, to be in his house and in his presence, where …

Surely goodness and lovingkindness
will pursue me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell
in the house of Yahweh for long days.
Psalm 23:6

That is blessing!

Blessing [upon] the one You choose and draw near [to You]:
he abides in Your courts.
We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house,
Your holy temple.
Psalm 65:4

We will, indeed!

Have a blessed 2023 … living with God!