YOU SHALL NOT PASS

Author Seth Ring asked in a Facebook post, What book quote do you like and why (Okay, he said it better than that, but you get the idea.) I shared one, but then I remembered the scene from Fellowship of the Ring where Gandalf stands at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm. He stands there facing an opponent he doesn't know he can beat, but he stands firm and gives an ultimatum, "You shall not pass." Gandalf has great power but is facing something that could kill him, but because his friends need to be able to escape, he confronts it. 

I hope that I can have that strength. To do what Paul says in Ephesians, "after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then,..." I want to put on the armor of God, and then if I can't do anything else, stand there and tell the enemy, "You shall not pass." 

Yet, as I think this, perhaps there are days when I have that opportunity but miss it. It's because the monsters are huge or scary; they are just there, and I refuse to oppose them because I'm tired, I'm angry, or I just don't care today. Perhaps the little monsters in my life are the ones I need to be fighting so that I can have the courage to face the really important ones later. Maybe those little aggravations are training opportunities that I'm missing. Perhaps, because I'm not training, God isn't assigning me the missions to face and conquer the big monsters.   

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Recommendation for Writers

 The bane of my writing has always been my typing/keyboard speed. My thoughts and imagination run far faster than the words I could type.

I had heard about dictation and had tried it a couple of times with various levels of success, or maybe I should say failure. When I finally came across Seth Ring's YouTube videos and then his dictation course, things finally started to click. The first time I wrote over 10k words in a day, I was amazed. As a part-time author, every minute counts, and dictation is saving me a massive amount of that precious commodity, time, that I can never afford to squander.

I, now, have hope that all, or at least many, of the worlds I have imagined can finally be shared with others.

I do want to warn you. Seth's program isn't easy. This isn’t a quick-fix program; it’s more like a gym membership with a ruthless but caring coach. It requires deliberate practice, but if you're willing to put in the work, it will make a difference in the amount of work you can produce. It will help you. It is worth it.

--C. S. Areson, Christian author and fiction writer.

https://bookscribe.thrivecart.com/dictation-fiction-writing/

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How many mangers?

 

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the Baby, who was lying in the manger. Luke 2:15-16

What hit me this year, as I heard this story again, was, "How many managers were there in Bethlehem?" This took me to the second question, "How long did it take them to find him?" 

Sure, Bethlehem wasn't a huge city, but it was crowded with those who came as they were from the family of David. The town was probably filled with homes that had their livestock with them, and so they had feeding boxes for their animals. It was night, so how many people did they tell about the visitation even before they found the baby? 

Of course, you might be thinking, "Who cares?" This has nothing to do with me, but are you sure? I'm not. Jesus later told his disciples in Luke 11:9, “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." The shepherds sought, and they found. There are truths that Jesus wants to tell us, but we need to seek (in the Bible). There is a life out there God wants us to live, but we have to be willing to go and find it. 

Are you (and I) willing to do the work of finding what God has told us about, or are we just going to stare at the sky and wonder what it all means? 

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Going Forward

One of the great dangers for anyone is taking on too much. We can allow ourselves to become like Titan and try to carry the world. For myself, I never see myself as having done enough, which can keep me from being lazy but can also force me into a frame of mind that doesn't allow me to rest as God commands.

Balance in life is not the old-fashioned scales, where we add to one side or another. Balance isn't equality in our lives. I say that because we are people and not measuring devices. Balance for people is often more nuanced.

Balance is often something we talk about, but in understanding it, we create something it isn't. Balance for a pregnant woman isn't the same as a teenage boy, or an unemployed steelworker, or a pastor. Balance is adding the right amount of force to the right areas of our lives to keep us from falling over or falling into error. It means turning off the TV or going home early from work to take care of a sick wife or child. It may mean taking an extra job to pay off debt. It may mean not watching TV or reading fiction to finish the master’s Program. It may mean doing nothing so that your body can recover.

To say it another way, balance for an introvert may mean only a few hours or less around people who drain you. For an extrovert, your balance is to be intact with more stimuli. For a cactus, balance is only a little water and lots of sun, but an impatiens needs lots of water and shade. As a Christian, you always need God and His word. For an infant or someone who is older, balance might mean taking a nap. Balance for you won’t be the same as for others.

Find the balance that God wants you to have and live into it, but remember to let God be your instructor in this.

PERSONAL APPLICATION: This is where it comes to me. I need to keep a balance. Currently, I am starting to work with a Bible scholar on reviewing the Bible Reflections Series. This is something due to our schedules that will take a lot of time. We will begin with Bible Reflections 5 and continue so that the book and the blog, https://biblereflections4you.blogspot.com will be as accurate as I can make them. To do this and not become overloaded, I will not be continuing to add more comments as we go through Bible Reflections, even though I am still doing the readings.

 

For the few who follow here, thanks for your understanding. I will still be posting, but less frequently and not about Bible Reflections. See you in 2026.

REMEMBER: Balance is adding the right amount of force to the right areas of our lives to keep us from falling over or falling into error.

Jeremiah 37

 

Don’t think this reprieve means you're getting off. There are times when it appears that people who are doing wrong are going to get away with consequences. The truth is that everyone will face judgment. Here, it seems they'll be okay, but God warns them they won't. What Judah should have done is take this time to call for people to repent and call out to God. What do we see? They arrest the prophet on trumped-up charges. Instead of seeking the prophet to return to God, they beat him and might have killed him if the king hadn't stepped in. The king, though protecting Isaiah, shows no sign of calling for repentance either. How sad.  

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Romans 16

 

Paul and Romans Chapter 16 has a list of people that are just one after another of people who are in Christ or are working for Christ or have helped in the work of Christ and it's amazing to see these names listed one after another, some of which are new people we haven't heard of before, some of which we can read about it in the Book of Acts. But it's amazing to see the number of people who came beside Paul and were working for the gospel.

Yet in the middle of all this, Paul says, greet them and do wonderful things to them and treat them right. Paul warns 16 and verse 17 to watch out for those who cause divisions, obstacles, and keep away from them. After saying "greet these people," do nice things. There's this warning: watch out for those who are causing division. Watch out for those who are causing trouble and serving themselves. And why? Because God wants us to be innocent about what is evil. Don't get caught up in those things that cause divisions that cause problems with those people who do that. But serve God faithfully. And as Paul says, "God of peace will crush Satan." You don't have to. I don't have to. And to me, that is a relief. I have things to do, you have things to do, but God will have the victory.

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Romans 15

 

As we look at Romans Chapter 15, Paul starts out in verse 14, 15, that he understands that the people in Rome are, they're doing good, they have knowledge, they have competence, they can instruct one another, but he says that he's, because of his ministry, he's spoken boldly on some points to remind them. And I'm reminded that the reason we go sometimes to church isn't just to help other people, which we should. It isn't just to hear new things. Sometimes we do. Sometimes it's good to be reminded. That's the ministry sometimes for our pastor. Just to remind people of what they already know.

Also, I found it interesting that at the end of this chapter, Paul asks for prayer. He asks him, he says, "Pray for me." Now, if anyone was good enough, it would have been Paul, we would think. But yet Paul the Apostle says, "I want you to pray for me." He realized that the prayers of others would help him in the things he was about to face.

Finally, if I may, verse 13 sounds like a great conclusion. "May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Amen. Go with God today.