Wednesday, March 2nd, 2022. 8:17 AM.
Does This Make Sense?
In the Mind of a Man
Or
The son of a man
The son of The Son of Man
This is what was happening
Or
What he thought was happening
It’s Mysterious, I guess
The Holy Spirit
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. -Titus 3:4-7 ESV Study Bible.
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” -Ephesians 5:25-33 ESV Study Bible.
In the Regeneration
A Novel
By the author of Mark’s Imaginings, a blog
marksimagining.com
Mark David Richer
Woonsocket, Rhode Island
A born again Christian since early April 1978
Baptized at Blackstone Valley Baptist Church on May 14th, 1978
At the corner of Blackstone and Spring Streets in Woonsocket, Rhode Island
At the bottom of Glen Road where Eileen lived up the hill – like Jack and Jill — in “Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 House”
While she was attending St. Charles School – beginning in 4th grade in September of 1961
Where Mark was already a student since 1st grade.
And Mark slowly began falling in love with Eileen of Green Glen
In The Meadows of Mark’s Imagination
What a lonely cross mark carried in his heart for Eileen after their “Summer of ‘74” romance ended in August of that year. And Mark lived alone without Eileen for 44 years – missing her.
OK, he had a few girl friends during the interim – the missing years
My baptism certificate — which I no longer have — had May 13, 1978 as the date –
But that was an error – I was baptized after the Sunday service on May 14th, 1978 — which I only happily realized many years later, was the 30th anniversary of the birth of the nation of Israel on May 14th, 1948. I believe my parents were married in June of 1948; it may have been June 19th, 1948. And June 19th has become a holiday called Juneteenth, I believe. And on June 19th 1974 I spent the night with Eileen. We didn’t quite go “all the way” – but, we slept together. It was the first time for me. I was 22. She was 21. I never got over her.
ALWAYS ON MY MIND – Willie Nelson (Lyrics)
ALWAYS ON MY MIND – Willie Nelson (Lyrics) – YouTube
Honestly, I cried just now listening to that song.
“Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a son. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?” says the LORD;” “shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?” says your God. -Isaiah 66:7-9 ESV Study Bible
Isaiah 66
Isaiah 66 ESV – The Humble and Contrite in Spirit – Bible Gateway
Robert Lee Lewis, the pastor, baptized me that Sunday.
He came from Oklahoma, he told me.
In 1984 I traveled by bus across the USA
When the bus was in Oklahoma that Spring, I was looking out the window and seeing the plowed earth in the farm country of Oklahoma; it was red like I’d never seen earth before in all my born days of 32 years.
Red River Valley – Eddy Arnold
Red River Valley – Eddy Arnold – YouTube
I was 26 then [when I was baptized in 1978]. I’m 70 now.
Baptism does not save us.
The grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God is what saves us by His work of redemption on our behalf on the Cross where He paid the penalty for the sins of the whole world – by shedding His Blood — the Blood of God’s Own Son, his only-begotten Son — and laying down His Life;
However, only those who become believers in Him by believing the gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in The Holy Scriptures of The New Testament receive forgiveness of their sins and are born again by His Holy Spirit indwelling them and washing them clean and renewing them.
February 21, 2022, President’s Day 4:47 PM
This will likely be a novel novel – rather than an ordinary novel
By that, I mean, it will not follow the ordinary style of normal novels
It will likely be irregular – just as the stones the LORD God instructed Israel to use in making an altar of stone were not to be dressed stones that had been subjected to human tools.
“If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. -Exodus 20:25 ESV Study Bible.
Therefore, this story will likely also be of the undressed – as Adam and Eve were not dressed — before they sinned and became guilty by their disobedience against God their Maker.
A Naked Novel, perhaps – unadulterated by human intellect and human schemes and human traditions
I’m not planning this novel – only writing it as the Spirit of the Living God moves me at times to sit down here and write from the heart.
“My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I write my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.” -Psalm 45:1. NIV Study Bible.
Psalm 45
Psalm 45 NIV – Psalm 45 – For the director of music. – Bible Gateway
Thinking now of a novel and movie called
“The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter”
Mark's Imaginings 