Revelation 8 - The First Four Trumpets

When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.

10 Promises Of God

1. God will be present with you (Isaiah 43:1-2) – God does not promise His people that we won’t go through trouble. But He does promise that He will be with you through all your troubles.
2. God will provide for your needs (Matthew 6:25-33) – Jesus assured us that the Father knows our every need and will meet it. Sometimes His provision may not be what we expected, but we can always trust in our divine Provider.
3. God loves you (Romans 8:39) – No matter the quality of your other relationships, as a child of God, we can always depend on our heavenly Father’s love for us.
4. God will ease your fears (Psalm 34:1-7) – God is greater than anything that can hurt or harm us. He can deliver us from trouble and whatever He does allow into our lives He will deliver through it, even if it’s all the way to glory. We have no need to fear what today or tomorrow holds because God is with us.

The Longest Conversation

I mistyped the title three times, each time substituting the word "Day" for "Conversation". Chalk one up to the power of movies. For today I want to discuss a conversation that Jesus Christ had with a woman, at a well, in Samaria, which ended up being the longest recorded conversation between Jesus and another person. 

Let's check it out together . . . 

When we join this story, Jesus has decided to leave Judea, because of the rumors that He was baptizing more people than John the Baptist. (So we see that pettiness ruled the ancient religious culture as well) Scripture tells us that despite the fact that the rumor was not true, (His disciples were the ones actually doing the baptisms), Jesus felt that it was time to leave. He starts back toward Galilee, which requires Him to travel through Samaria. 

Dave And Me

I worked for a company in Nashville, Southern Foods Inc, for over ten years during the mid-eighties and nineties, and among the company's holdings were fifty-two Wendy's restaurants. I ended up supervising eight of those Wendy's from Chattanooga, TN down to Rome, Ga. Our company headquarters, as I mentioned, were located in the Vanderbilt Plaza in downtown Nashville, where we were beckoned to give an account of our stores on a regular basis. 

On one of our regular visits, (as supervisors we were called to account for our stores P&L statements as well as discuss our sales figures), we were walking from the parking lot toward the front entrance and who did we see exiting the entrance but Dave Thomas! We excitedly introduced ourselves and his first, and only question now that I recollect that conversation was, "How are sales?". Dave knew that volume could whitewash a lot of mistakes but the opposite was also true. His attention to detail was notorious, and his focus on customer service, quality of food, and the results of those priorities was memorable. I thought my readers, however few . . . , might appreciate a peek behind the curtain of Wendy's lore.