To Cleave Unto

“But take diligent heed  to do the commandment  and the law, which Moses  the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, and to cleave  unto him, and to serve  him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Joshua 22:5

The thing that stood out to me in this verse is “to cleave unto Him.”

Cleave -

1. to adhere closely; stick; cling (usually followed by to ).

2. to remain faithful (usually followed by to ): to cleave to one's principles in spite of persecution.

“To cleave unto Him and to serve Him with all of your heart and with all of your soul.”  Love has greater meaning when we sit at the foot of Jesus and contemplate these words in His presence.  To cleave…have I cleaved to Him the past few months when I’ve felt that things here are difficult, depressing, and discouraging?  Have I looked into His face and with my heart and soul clung to the hope that He will never fail me?  Have I seen that these difficulties are His purpose too?  Or have I not hoped in God but allowed sorrow and joylessness to pervade my heart?

The scripture says to take “diligent heed” to do His commandments and to love Him and cleave to Him and serve Him with all of our heart and soul.  When I look into His face, I see that He is faithful to me, that He wants that love and faithfulness returned to Him.  I see that He loves me and desires a love like that of a marriage – commitment, longing to please and serve Him, looking to Him for all things, remaining faithful in my heart and soul; not a wanderer, so that I may know His Love and remain in it.

To cleave....I am humbled today by this word and feel afresh His drawings to me and His desire for me.  I am thankful that His love is as real as this.  He calls for me.....just as the scripture says, "The Master has come and is calling for you."(John 11:28)

His Purpose Not Mine

John 6:38 – “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.”

Jesus was very clear on this very important matter.  He knew why He was there and He knew what He should do.  For in the very next verse it says, “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up on the last day.”

Are we still mixing our purpose on this earth between His will and our will?  The world screams out to us on every level to “live in luxury”, “enjoy life”, “be happy”, “pamper yourself”, “be good to yourself”…self…self…self.  There is even a magazine entitled, “SELF” that you can buy and indulge in.

Are we as clear as Jesus was on the matter of our purpose here?  Are we devoted to that purpose?  To the person of Jesus Christ and the Father’s will for us here? 

I confess that sometimes this issue becomes clouded and I am caught between the two.  To live a dedicated life to Jesus Christ requires our all – all the time.  Sometimes we get weary, tired, troubled, and the world’s view looks a lot more inviting – “enjoy life,” “pamper yourself,” etc.  And you may find that you are suddenly there in your thought and desire and then just as swiftly, in comes confusion and you find yourself on the wrong track.  The track to self – the once clear pathway to God is clouded, misted by wandering thoughts, distractions, desires, etc.  And then in comes trouble to encourage us in a downward spiral, like a ram caught in a thicket while the enemy approaches; the enemy’s intent to kill and to destroy.  It is always the enemy’s intent to kill and to destroy – he has no other purpose and he does it with stealth, with craft, and deliberation.

I was looking at a picture of our granddaughter recently and my exact thoughts were, “How precious she is.”  Immediately a scripture came to my mind, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”  Psalm 116:15 

How precious it is to the Lord when we are clearly walking in His will – dying to self, set apart to Himself, clear in our purpose – never wavering.  Paul was that way – doggedly pursuing that purpose with vigor.

It is always good to reevaluate.  The Lord Himself taught us to pray, “Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…” Amen.

“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done...”

Let this be our hearts charge and pursuit throughout our lives.  Engage in this purpose and in doing so, “be strong and of good courage” knowing that this is precious in the sight of the Lord and will also bring clarity, joy, and true enrichment for our souls.  For this purpose we were created.

Tsaargan sar

 This week has been a holiday week here in Mongolia.  Its the celebration of the Lunar New Year and lasts for 5 days.  Basically every Mongolian family spends time with their other family members going from house to house and eating the traditional foods. 

We enjoyed Tsaargan Sar at our friends Nergui & Munguu's family home

As you can see from the picture there is a sheep meat in the middle of the table.  They have to purchase a whole sheep and then boil it down in a huge cauldron in their home.  The tower of bread and milk products are a picture of the typical foods which Mongolians eat.  The other traditional foods are Bouutz, Milk tea, Ariq, Potato salad and Ham(which is sausage to us).

As we enter into the home we are visiting the elder parents who are dressed in their Dell's(traditional clothing) greet us with a special greeting and then extend a blue scarf in a kind of handshake then kissing each side of our faces.  We are then escorted into their living room where we feast on the traditional foods.  It is a time to get acquainted for us but for family members it is a family time - a joyful time together.  Many of the families make over 2000 Boutz to be prepared for all their visitors.  In the 5 days of the holiday people are going from house to house to celebrate the Lunar New Year. 

The traditional greeting

Look at the sheep!

The Table laden with Traditional Mongolian Foods

We were blessed to visit two families of our dear friends.  Anu and her Mother and Grandfather also invited us to their home.  They live in the center of the city in an apartment.

This is Anu's home with her Mom and Grandfather

A lovely meal of Veal Cutlet

Didi and Anu

Anu's Mom who prepared all the food

Didi also comes to our Bible study - she lives next door to Anu

Newport Beach California

Just a few days left in California and the weather has been so lovely I've decided to spend some time at the beach and capture some of the beauty of this place.  Here are some pictures!

Newport Beach

The little shops

My beach buddy, Noel

Newport Pier

Tim and Carolyn took me out for Ice Cream at Baskin N'Robbins! Yumm

Tim treated me!

Raspberry Chocolate Swirl

Our Road Trip to Santa Maria

My good friend Claudia and I took a road trip up the Coast of California to Santa Maria.  We visited her sister Christine in Ventura.  Christine lives on a boat in the marina in Ventura.

Starting out on our trip

Claudia's sister Christine's boat in Ventura, California

Their 43 ft sailboat which they sailed to Japan in

Its called "The Messenger" because they went to Japan to bring the gospel.

We walked around the Marina

There are many people who live in their boats in this Marina

It was a beautiful day!

The Tall Ships were in Harbor

People were climbing the masts and working on them

Beautiful Scenery on the way to Santa Maria

Orchards

The Fauf and her little Doodle

He looks just like a Drazin

Westly - 10 months old

Horse Farm

Beautiful sunset

The hills of California

Beautiful hills

Look at the sky!

Vineyards

More vineyards

Highway 101 - The Ocean

Claudia at Riley's Farm

Riley's Farm where Claudia's son lives

Grandma's house on the Farm

The Tavern where we stopped for tea

Colonial Fireplace in the Tavern on Riley's Farm

The Tavern

The backside of the farm