My own little pod

I just really loved this cartoon of moses. I bet he felt like this all the time. And it's a great way to intro my post today. 

I bore my testimony in church last Sunday and shared an experience that I have had with my scriptures. I love reading in the Bible. The stories are just plain fun to me. I love thinking about this Earth and the things it has seen its creator do with the people he has sent to it. We have such a history, a link to each other that if you don't believe in God you can miss out on. I wonder about the roles between science and God. The bends in the scientific laws that we just cannot explain. The quantum physics of our human experiences we might say. Oh well I am getting off track ..... meanwhile  back at the ranch..... I have decided to read the Old Testament all the way through from cover to cover. I have set this goal for myself before and I tend to fall short somewhere in the middle. But I am trying again and it has been awesome so far. I was reading in Exodus chapter 17 when my Heavenly Father reached out and hit me on  the head. (Don't you just love it when he does that) Oh well, I was reading about the Israelite's and the journey they are taking out of Egypt. They have come to the wilderness and are in want of bread so the Lord sends them Manna and quail from the heavens. In chapter 17 the children of Israel are murmuring once again, so badly in fact that Moses goes to the Lord and says "What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me"  So the Lord tells him to smite the rock and they are given water. Moses decides to name the place where they received the water according to the hearts of the children of Israel. He calls it Massah (meaning testing, trying proving)and Meribah (meaning Strife or complaint) WOW!! That made me think. What would Moses name my home... Meanwhile right after this happens the people of Amelek come to battle with the Israelites. They are afraid I am sure but Moses sends his people out to battle with Joshua at the head and he stands high upon a hilltop. He holds the rod of God in his hands, and as long as he holds up his staff his people are winning the battle. But if his hands fall the people start to loose. So he stands there all day with his hands up  in the air holding the staff up. Of course this is a hard thing to do and he being human is weak, so his friends come to help him. They give him a rock to rest upon and then they hold up his hands for him. And the people are triumphant. 

I love this story, there are so any parallels to our lives that I can draw on. I love that even a prophet of God a man who walked and talked with him still got weighed down and was weakened by his trial. It is okay for me to get weighed down and weary. I can call on my friends for help. They will come and literally hold me up if they can. Also I love thinking of the way his hands are in thinking of prayer. With our hand raised in the air pleading with our Father in Heaven in our darkest hour, He will come to our aid.  At the end of this chapter Moses is commanded to write down what happened that day. And the final verse reads "And Moses built an alter, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi..." When you look down at the translation of those words it says IE The Lord is my banner. 

What banner am I flying, is it one of complaint because life is hard, or of always finding fault with others, or being sorry for myself and wishing I could trade with someone who I think has it better than me. OR When people look at me do they see that I am happy with what I have been blessed with. Do they see their Lord and Savior when they see me. Could they picture a beautiful golden banner fling in front of me leading me back to my Heavenly home. I hope so. I think more often than not lately I have been flying the former banner but, now than I have been properly taught (or hit upside of my head) through the words of my Father in Heaven I can learn and be more conscious of whose banner I am waving in front of my life.