Nomads of the Bible

Considering the nomadic life from a biblical perspective we see that many of the great characters of the bible were often moved by God to a period of nomadic isolation. When God wanted to do a great work in a person He often got them to a place where it was just them and the Lord.

Abraham was a Nomad with no land of his own; living in tents, moving from place to place. 

Moses was led into the desert for 40 years in preparation for leading the Israelites to the promised land.

The Apostle Paul after his initial conversion went to the desert of Arabia for three years. It appears from scripture that this is where he received the direct revelations from the risen Christ that we now know as our explicit directions for living the Christian life.

Of course Jesus Himself was led into the wilderness for 40 days of fasting before the start of His ministry.  Jesus had no permanent home; owned nothing but the clothes on His back and at the crucifixion not even them. The Gospels tell us that He often went alone into the wilderness to pray and prepare for the works He would be doing.

There are many more examples like these from the bible and it makes a fascinating study of how God works in a person's life.

Our society today tends to place a negative stigma on people who are reclusive suggesting that it may not be healthy to spend much time alone. I would say based on my study of scripture and personal experience that the oposit can be true. A permanent isolation would not be God's best for anyone, but certainly periods of aloneness, even years can be used by God to build a deeper relationship with Him. I would even suggest that without times alone with God deeper spiritual growth is stunted. 

 Christians are never specifically called nomads in Scripture; however, we are warned that this world is not our true home—we are foreigners and strangers on this earth (Hebrews 11:13), with our true citizenship in the kingdom of God. Nomads do not settle down or invest in “permanent” structures, knowing that they will be moving on soon. Many of the difficulties that Christians face are a result of forgetting where our true citizenship lies and getting too attached to the comforts of this world. We should be like the patriarchs, who lived “like a stranger in a foreign country,” all the while “looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:9–10).

Do you know your A B Cs?

 In this post I thought I would add some clarity  to my mention of "The Gospel" in the previous article about tv antennas.

Maybe someone out there is looking at this blog and Christianity makes no sense to them but they feel drawn to know more.

This is one of the clearest presentations of the Gospel you will find.

A. Admit: Admit you are a sinner and have fallen short of God's perfection."For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord". Romans 6:23

B. Believe: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us,In that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us". Romans 5:8  "That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures". 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

C. Confess: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;  it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast". Ephesians 2:8  "That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  Romans 10:9

For more clarity on the Gospel see the link to the right: "How to have eternal life".

Tv signals & God`s signals

Recently I began losing tv signals in locations I knew had good reception. Since my antenna was over 25 years old I assumed it had failed. You may have noticed that RV manufacturers no long use the old style crank up antenna like the one to the right; now the antennas are small saucer shaped, mounted only 8"s or so off the roof. This is great as you no longer have to remember to crank down your antenna before you drive off down the road; as I would frequently do!

I replaced the old "bat wing" antenna with the one pictured here.It is made to mount on the old crank up style assemblies and function just like the old antenna. After installing it my signal was no better. The 12 volt power supply in the RV was working fine; that left only the 25 year old cable running from inside up to the antenna as the problem.

Running a new cable involved drilling a new hole in the roof and bypassing the old cable. The original factory cable was impossible to remove without cutting into the ceiling because all the wiring was bundled together and could not be pulled apart. The final solution of a new cable solved the problem completely. I now had more channels than ever before! In addition to that; I cut the original tall folding pole down to eight inches and used the hardware included with the antenna to make the antenna still rotate to find the best signal but no longer needing to be cranked up and down. I simply rotate it to face forward and drive off. Even that is not really necessary as there is little resistance.

Getting Signals:

It seems miraculous how a tv antenna can reach out 50 miles, grab a signal, send it to the receiver in the tv and produce a perfect hi-resolution picture.

I have found when the station antennas are a long ways away the antenna on my roof sometimes has to be rotated precisely in the right spot to pick up the channels.

Even the location of the RV sometimes can be moved a matter of a few feet and make an amazing difference in the amount of channels you pick up. The digital signals that almost all tv stations are broadcast in are either crystal clear or all broken up. If you are old enough you remember the old analog signals that were often fuzzy with lots of static and never perfect like the pictures we get now.

Getting God's Signals:

I love the analogies that Jesus would use from the natural world to expound on our relationship with God; so thinking about God and how we understand His comunication  with us I see the broadcast station as the bible. The signal comes in to us thru our eyes or ears. The receiver is the Spirit of God living within every born again believer; who makes the comunication clear and understandable. The tv or our mind cannot decode the miraculous Word of God without the Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds.This is why the bible makes no sense until a person receives thru faith the amazing gift of God that Christ provided by His death for our sins, being buried in a grave and rising three days latter.This is the Gospel (or good news) 1 Corinthians 15:3

Maybe not the greatest analogy? But maybe the tips on RV tv antennas will help!

 

VIRUS WARNING! DANGER!

 11 important points about this dangerous pandemic we should not ignore:

#1 This Virus is so dangerous we all need to be tested to see if we have It!

#2 The vaccine is so safe we should not even hesitate to take It!

#3 Our official government health authoritie; Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is the highest paid person working in government, a lifetime government beurocrate, is the only voice we should listen to. Any scientist or doctor who disagrees with his view needs to be shut up and disregarded!

#4 Our Federal and local government officials who are smarter and more informed than us are telling us what we need to do to fight this deadly plague. They have never lied to us and we should trust them; besides we could be fined and even arrested if we don't  comply. We should always obey the law no matter what it says!

#5 All main stream media is also keeping us informed about the dangerous Virus and they are certainly a most trusted source  to report the facts without bias! Any kind of news that disagrees with them is obviously "conspiracy theory"!

#6 Maybe the biggest reason we should take all this seriously is all our friends and family who have become critically ill, been hospitalized and even died from the covid-19. I personally don't know anyone who has even been sick with it so I am very concerned!

#7 Your children and grandchildren can be especially dangerous spreaders of this pandemic and should not be allowed to go to school or play with other children outside the family.

#8 The churches are extremely dangerous because of the close contact and of course singing has got to be one thing never done. Also most small businesses are probably best avoided; however large spaces like casinos and big corporate stores like Wal-Mart, Abortion clinics, etc. Are fine and we shouldn't avoid them.

#9 If you shake hands with someone or hug them or even get near them, and God forbid kiss them, you are endangering their life; even if you don't have the virus. So all this kind of human contact in general needs to stop!

#10 Even if you've lost your job, can't pay your bills or even feed your family you must not resist any of this. We're all in this together! THIS IS THE NEW NORMAL! don't worry about it. Government help is on the way.

#11 As you may have heard new and much more dangerous strains of the virus are arriving in our country so we must be prepared for further and even more restrictions, economic hardships, possible food shortages, and general continued breakdown of life as we have known it. But just keep in mind: All the world leaders are in agreement on these policies and we just need to trust them and not resist any of this because we know they certainly know better than you or me!

P.S. I really hope if you've read thru this you see this article is sarcasm on my part all the way. I DONT BUY INTO ANY OF IT!. My biggest fear is that so many people buy it All! If you are any kind of student of the bible you know that this is very much a sign that God is bringing a close to the age of grace we are in and we can look up and rejoice that A true far better "new world order" is soon coming!

MARANATHA ! (our Lord is coming quickly)

#9 

Buying RVs some tips

 I am what people might refer to as a "gear head". Fifty years ago as a teenager I started working on motorcycles because I could not afford to pay someone every time I broke down. And that was allot! Then I got into cars. I worked in a gas station doing minor maintenance, then a tire shop then the U.S. Air Force who trained me in aircraft maintenance. I learned to really enjoy "turning wrenches" over the years I have bought and sold 35 motorcycles, 12 motor homes and I don't  know how many cars. Many of them were bought just to fix up and resell.  Learning all the motor home systems and pitfalls of buying them is what I will tell you about here.

If you are new to RVs what is shared here could save you much money and frustration. Also if any fellow gear heads think of something I missed here let me know!

What to look for: the first RV I bought was the classic `72 Winnebago in the picture. What a learning experience that was. In my excitement to go RVing I broke the first rule of buying vehicles: Never trust what the seller tells you! This is especially  true of many RV  sellers. They have this giant vehicle they really need to get rid of and can be desperate about it. Almost everything  about the Winnie was a lie.

#1 Tires.  Many older RVs may have tires that look almost new but if you look very closely you will see many fine cracks in the rubber. Ask the owner how old the tires are. If they are over 7 years old I would not trust them. They need to be replaced. Look up "how to identify date of manufacture on tires" on the internet.  There is a number code usually  starting with DOT on the tire. Sometimes it is on the back side. This is critical! Think about a hot summer day going down the freeway at speed and having a front tire blow out because the rubber was too week from age and cracking. Scary and could be deadly.

#2 The roof go up on the roof or have someone do it for you. Look close at the edges where the roof meets the side for any breaks, cracks ,etc in the caulking.  Look around all the vents and anything else were water might get in. If the roof looks black in places the rubber material is worn and needs to be recoated. It should look fairly clean and white. Now go down and look for bulges in the fiberglass surface of the RV. This is a sign of water leakage usually from the roof. It can be just a poor build from the factory also. Go insde now and open all the cabinets along the ceiling. If there has been a water leak you will usually see cracking and peeling of the wood in places. If you find indicators of leaks and the owner says tehey are fixed you might want to run a hose over the roof for a few minutes then go inside and look carefully again. Recaulking and putting a fresh coat of sealer on the roof is an easy job to do yourself and can be done for under a hundred dollars

#3 The plumbing : insist on seeing the water pump turn on and all the plumbing hold water. This easy. If there are any broken fixtures or pipes the water pump will not shut off it will stop and then start up again or just never shut off. If the pump can't be made to turn of and stay off there is a leak somewhere. If the plumbing hadn't been run in a while it may take a few minutes to get all the air out of the lines. Open up all the faucets and flush the toilet for a few seconds this will help fill all the lines.  Leaks can be easy of very hard depending on where they are.

#4 The waste tanks : first I would go in and open the toilet. Hold open the flush handle either by foot or hand depending on the type of toilet. Shine a flashlight in and observe how clean the tank appears. Believe it or not I forgot  to do this on a motor home and after I bought it discovered the black tank was literally full to the top with, well you can guess What! Go out and look at the dump valves for signs of leaking and crawl under and look at the black and grey tanks for leaks. 

#5 The Appliances:  they tend to either work or not in most cases. Make sure you observe the refrigerator working. Replacement is well over a thousand dollars for most.  See the water heater turn on and off.  If it works you can go out and hear the burner fire when it running. The stove should lite with no issues.  Check the heater and air conditioner for proper function.

#6 Engine and chassis: Like any vehicle you need to drive it and you must take it on the highway up to speed for a few miles then back and let it idle for a while. Check it out very well. The biggest issue with older motor homes is the cooling system. A 20 year old motor home that has not been driven much but mostly parked can have a bad radiator and will overheat the first time you take it on a trip. Believe me this is very common; and very expensive to replace. Pay attention  to any vibrations felt through the floor at highway speed; any bad swaying, vibrations coming thru the steering wheel. The transmission should shift smoothly.  If you feel shaking in the front end when braking there's  a problem. I could go on and on about possible issues so if your not mechanically inclined it might be worth it to pay a mechanic to check it out. Generally just look for leaks under the transmission and engine. Look for leaking oil around the ends of the rear axle. These tend to dry out and leak from just sitting around. 

Both Ford  and Chevrolet big block engines in the 460 Ford v8 and 454 Chevrolet can have leaking exhaust gaskets or broken exhaust manifold bolts. Pulling the heavy loads that they pull combined with inadequate cooling systems cause the exhaust manifolds to literally turn red hot! After going up long hills and super heating then quickly cooling off down the other side eventually breaks down the metal causing blown gaskets on Chevys and broken manifold bolts on Ford's. I have found at least one broken bolt on nearly every Ford I bought and less often leaking manifold gaskets on the Chevys.It is fairly easy to spot this issue by opening the doghouse over the engine. It needs to be cold because when the engine warms up the metal expands and you might not hear the problem. If it is bad you will hear a kind of puffy ticking noise. You can carefully put your hand down by the manifolds and even feel air escaping if it's real bad. Sometimes ticking sounds can come from the valve train of the engine also. The leaks in manifold gaskets  must be dealt with. The broken bolts on the Ford's I've had were never bad enough to cause a noticeable leak. Both problems can be very expensive. For sure have a mechanic check it if you are unsure.

I've covered the main issues to look out for when buying an older RV. The bottom line is they can be great deals or real money pits! Do your homework! If your in doubt about an RV your looking at feel free to contact me. I will be happy to help you from what I've learned and if your near me I can help you in person. If you need repairs and I am within a reasonable distance contact me. I will guarantee what I do and won't  charge nearly what a shop will charge. If I can't do it I will tell you right away.

The Son and the sun

 The best addition to any of the dozen different RVs I've owned has been a solar panel. The one pictured above is my favorite. It is 100 watt folding panel with a built in controller. If you aren't familiar with solar the controller keeps the battery you are charging from being overcharged. This panel can be found on Amazon for $183. And is now 120 watt.

https://www.amazon.com/ECO-WORTHY-Monocrystalline-Portable-Foldable-Controller/dp/B07G19F4MM

My current Motor home is a 22 ft 1995 Fleetwood Jamboree Sport and is designed very well in most every way with the exception of the coach battery that runs all the 12 volt systems; water pump, lights, inverter, etc. The battery is pathetically small: a 24 series deep cycle. About the smallest deep cycle available. For some reason Fleetwood could not find a place for a bigger battery. It is so wimpy that running anything in the RV will run it down to nothing very quickly. The solar panel solves the problem very well. On a sunny day or even partly  cloudy it allows  me to operate a 21" tv, water pump, charge my phone, laptop no problem. At the end of the day the battery still has enough charge to run things for several hours. On a cloudy day or later after dark I plug the RV shore power cord into a small 2000 watt inverter generator for 2 or three hours. The newer inverter generators are super quiet and just sip the gasoline. I was using a 1000 watt "Sportsman" up until just a week ago. It cost around $200. Three years ago and has been very reliable with over a 1000 hours on it. The only reason for the upgrade to a 2000 watt"Wen" generator was to be able to run the microwave oven. The Wen gets some of the best reviews and was only $428. From Home Depot.  The "gas mileage" with this is amazing! On the initial testing it ran 10 hours on a 1 gallon tank of gas. The motor home has a 4000 watt Onan generator built in but it really sucks the gas at about 3/4 gallon an hour. I reserve it strictly for running the air conditioner when needed.

So what is the analogy between the "Son" and the"sun" you are wondering? I was thinking how great it is to have this free power from the sun that keeps my pathetic little battery fully functioning. Without some external power input it is unable to do the job demanded of it.

In the spiritual realm if we try to live up to the demands of the Christian life without relying on the indwelling power of Christ through the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to produce this.

Consider just a couple bible passages From Jesus and the Apostle Paul:

"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for APART FROM ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING (emphasis mine). John 15:5

What is the "fruit"? According to Galations 5:22,23 It is love, joy,peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness & self control.

Anyone claiming to produce these traits himself  at the level God requires is deceived!

Paul makes it very clear in Romans 6-8 that we are completely helpless in our "flesh" or natural human nature.

In  Pauls letter to the Galations he said "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer l who live, but Christ who lives in me; the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me". Gal. 2:20

In the same letter Paul chastised these people. They were trying to live the Christian life in their own strength. After receiving salvation by faith alone in Christ alone without any works of their own, they now were depending on their own works .

All thru the new testament it is clear that life in Christ is lived by faith alone. Faith first of all in the finished work of Christ's cross to save us from the punishment we deserve granting us eternal life; then continued faith in the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower our life now.

How much the error of the Galation believers has crept into our churches!

How often do you ever hear a sermon on these truths? Not very often in my experience!

The sermon video "Key to the Christian life" by Charles Stanley linked to the right is a good example. All the links for Christian living are about the "grace" life as I like to call it.

MARANATHA 

Law vs Grace

I'll  let this stand without comment other than to refer to the site links on the right and the stand alone page "The key to the Christian life".

This quote comes from Andrew Murry, a 19th century pastor and writer from south Africa. He wrote many books on the Christian life that are considered to be classics. If you have not read any, "Absolute Surrender" is maybe his most well known.