His only fault

Daniel's associates had a problem, they wanted to discredit Daniel to the king but he was above reproach. They finally decided that if they were going to trap him it would have to be with regards to his religion. His only fault according to them was that he was too religious. Daniel's problem was he prayed and he did that three times a day.
Why do people make such a fuss over not being able to pray in schools? We should first be concerned about prayer in the homes. We even have churches without prayer but we get our prayer shawls in a knot because we cannot pray in schools.

Finishing Well

Keith Price told his family when he learned that he was dying that he had always taught them how to live well but now he was going to show them how to die well. Keith Price finished well as did Daniel. Daniel continued his practice of praying daily even though he had been in exile for seventy years. He finished well. If you want to finish well then you better start well, live well and don't wait until you are near the finishing gate to live well.
By the way, Keith Price is the one standing beside me.

Two Feasts

As I studied Daniel 5 I was struck by the fact that Belshazzar was known only because he gave a party. I couldn't help but think about the fact that there will be another feast at the end of the age. Jesus didn't have the wherewithal to have a party while he was on earth but he will host a party at the end, it will be the marriage supper of the Lamb. We will be there, not because we want to be associated with Belshazzar but because we will be the honoured guests.
It stuck me also as I looked at Daniel how we see the comparison of two in each chapter.
In chapter two we have the two kingdoms; the kingdom of the world and the Kingdom of Christ.
In chapter three we have two world views; the worldly view and the Biblical world view.
In chapter four we have two trees; Nebuchadnezzar that was a beautiful tree and the cross.
In chapter five as I mentioned the two feasts.
Now what about chapter six? I see two tombs with stones rolled in front and two resurrections. I would like to study this idea this week.

One thousand

I began this blog on January 17, 2008 and I never dreamed that I would be now doing my 1000th post. There have been times when I thought of stopping but I was encouraged to keep going, especially by my sons. It does a father's heart great to know that his sons follow him on his blog. They have been a tremendous encouragement to me. So I will continue for awhile longer. I have posted mainly concerning what we are discussing in our adult Bible class but occasionally I wonder from that to do book reports or missions reports. Thank you for reading this.

A pathetic man

Belshazzar was a pathetic man. His forefather, Nebuchadnezzar, was a proud man but he was proud because of his accomplishments. He had forged the most powerful nation on earth, he had built the most magnificent city, he had untold wealth and his word was law. Belshazzar gave a party. That is his only claim to fame.

Daniel 5

I thought Daniel 5 would be an easy lesson to teach. After all it is very unique in that we meet Belshazzar who throws a wild party and then sees the writing on the wall. Before the party is over he is dead and the kingdom is destroyed.
So what is the problem? I cannot help but see the comparison to Daniel 4 and how the judgment on Nebuchadnezzar brought repentance and salvation while the judgment on Belshazzar led to destruction. Daniel seemed to know the hearts of these two men because he gave Nebuchadnezzar the opportunity to repent but he only speaks judgment against Belshazzar.

Quito

Ecuador day 6

Quito

My family loves Quito and after visiting the city I now know why. Quito got into my blood. Let me just give my thoughts about the city.




Most of the days we were there we had cool temperature along with fog and some rain.

On the first day we went up the highest mountain of the mountains around Quito. We took a chairlift to the top but it was foggy and rainy. We were so high up, over 12000 feet, that some of our team had trouble breathing.




The next few days we were busy visiting many different churches but had little time to do sight seeing. Here are some of the pictures of the city including the bull fighting arena.




We did drive through the old city and saw some of the historical churches. These churches stand in contrast with the small churches we visited. The old churches are rich and ornate but dead while the church plants were very poor and primitive but they were alive.




On Saturday we did have time to do some sightseeing. We went to the official sight of the Ecuador.



We then had lunch at a crater but it was too foggy to see anything.

Our next stop was the unofficial sight of the equator where we had the true experience of being on the equator.


Here Paul was able to get his GPS to register the true equator.

A few more pictures of the city.


I would like thank the Bible League of Canada, Bibles for Missions and the Multiplication Network. Thank you Paul and Dale, John and Angela, Juan Carlos and Saara, and a special thanks to Beto.