*Insert Witty Title Here*

^“ But we are citizens of heaven, and it is from there that we expect a Deliverer, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.” – Philippians 3:20

The summer before I started middle school my mother took me and my two older siblings to New Jersey to visit family. It was a vacation I will never forget. We went to the boardwalk, ate all the best kinds of worst foods, had bicycle races, cookouts, visited the Statue of Liberty,  the works. The thing that sticks out the most, though, is the trips we made out to the ocean.  My oh my how I love the ocean.  Whether it was digging my toes into the sand, playing in the tide, boating, or just sitting on the beach looking out onto that endless horizon, it was beautiful.

To be honest, it is extremely difficult to put into words the feelings that being on that beach stirred in me. The best way I can describe it is that it felt like home. Like, some deeper part of me knew that this is where I belonged. That it was where I was made to be. Everything in the world was right at that moment. The only negative feeling that existed was the thought that this isn’t where I was staying. I had to leave at some point. I knew it, but I shoved it down and took it all in why I was there.

A few years passed and I felt it again. Only this time, it was more intense. It was like my very soul was burning and charging its way outside of me to go home. It seemed like my flesh was a cage that was holding the true me back from going home. It was the night I accepted Yahusha as my Meshiach.  I finally understood at that point that I was not, in fact, made for this world. I knew that the longing in my being was to be with its Creator. I was not designed for this world. I was made for His. That desire inside of me was to go home. 

One of my favorite quotes comes from C.S. Lewis paraphrasing George MacDonald. He said “You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”  I would have to agree one hundred percent with this assessment. As children of The Living Yah, our souls are His very breath. I believe that in times of true, unadulterated worship is when we feel who we really are the most. That burning sensation, the one that is like fire on the tip of your tongue, creeps through your whole body. I believe that is your soul coming to life. Calling out in praise to our Abba and seeking to be one again in His kingdom. 

We are reminded throughout scripture that this is not our home. It is easy to become complacent here. Easy to find what we think is joy and happiness in the things of this world. But we must always be careful not to attach ourselves to this place. Abba’s creation is beautiful, but it is a pale, twisted reflection of what He has waiting for us. The fall separated us from our inheritance only for a short while. Through Yehusha we have been made whole and given the right to reclaim our birthright and to walk in His ways.

“So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s family.” – Ephesians 2:19

From time to time I still feel that yearning whenever I am around a large body of water. I still don’t understand what exactly it means. What I do know is that, whatever YHVH has in store for me here doesn’t compare to what He has set aside for me later. I won’t get what I deserve, and that is what makes my heart take the most joy.

One Love,

Albert C. Coble

The Beauty of Grace

I heard a quote in a preview for a movie called “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” that said “ … the love we accept is the love we think we deserve.” Now, I’ve never seen that movie nor do I remember what movie I was watching that contained the preview. But that line stuck with me. I can’t help but to dwell on it. It is a truly profound statement. It’s a clever philosophy on the surface, but the more you dig into to it, the more and more it reveals itself true in ways the surface only scratches at.

My whole life I have struggled with the issue of self-worth.  In fact, I would let people walk all over me and treat me like garbage because, deep down, I thought I deserved it.  I felt that if someone I looked up to or cared for treated me harshly, then there was obviously something I did that merited me being treated that way. Many previous relationships in my life, from exes to “friendships” seemed to be filled with people who I would let take advantage of me and my “good nature”. 

This had two effects on me. One, I was, and am at times still, highly anxious. I mean, full on panic attacks if I have to do something even remotely difficult or uncomfortable for someone's scrutiny. I am still afraid to ask for direction on something I’m working on if I don’t understand it. Two, when I finally recognized that this was a problem in my life, I went the completely opposite direction. I became bitter, cynical, and quick to lash out and cut people down. I didn’t trust anybody. It is still a mode of my personality that I am learning to keep in check.

I’m sure that most of you reading this knows, or has known, a person involved in an abusive relationship.  Even when you see the stories of them unfold on TV you just can’t grasp why person A would let person B treat them like that. There’s a weird sort of Stockholm Syndrome going on. Person A is convinced that they love person B sooooooo much that they deserve what person B does to them over and over.  Then, if they do get out of that relationship, they tend to end up in another one similar to it. Yah willing, they find a man/woman who treats them with the love and respect that everyone is entitled to, but how long does it take for them to accept that this new person is different? 

How long before they become accustomed to being treated with real, Yah like love? The kind of love written about in Galatians 5:22-23.

”  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things.”

Then we take this to the next level. YHVH. The Creator of all things has created us in His love. He desires a relationship with us built on His love. After all, He set up the rules for what love truly is. We are the ones who abuse Him. We have done everything we possibly can as a species to deny Him His will in our existence, and He still strives to have a relationship with us. All of us at one point or another has said to Him, “Nah, I’m gonna do this my way”. He has every reason and right to spurn us and cast us aside, but instead He gives us every possible chance to return to Him. He went so far as to die an excruciating death and resurrect that we might be able to have that renewed relationship with Him and His Torah.

Beyond this being a hard concept to grasp, I would venture to say that few, if any, believers even have an inkling of what this means. YHVH loves us with a perfect, boundless love. Yet we only know love as it pertains to us. Sure, most of us recognize openly that the love of YHVH in our lives is greater than any other love we have known, but we still are putting a damper on it because that small part of us deep down, knows we’re not worthy of it. So, it is never able to be manifested in its most unadulterated way. Imagine if we could let go of our pre conceived notions of what we deserve and what YHVH is willing to give in spite of that! I tell you that I believe the flood gates would open like nothing we’ve ever seen. It will be a glory that we can only glimpse in the warm rush and tingling of our souls. It would destroy our flesh and the brightness of the light would surround our very being.  It gives me chills to think about it.

So, if “the love we accept is the love we think we deserve.” Then it makes sense to conclude with “the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair.” --Relient K.

 One Love,

Albert C. Coble

The Book Is Better

Have you ever seen a movie that is based off of a book that you’ve read? Sometimes the movie version is pretty spot on and really good because of it. Other times something is lost in the translation from text to screen. And even other times the movie turns into a complete train wreck of the novel. When that happens, fans become irate. Even in the movies that do a pretty bang up job trying to stay true to the book, the diehard fans seem to throw a fit about the tiniest of changes. Take the “Lord of the Rings” movies. When the first one came out, I heard so many reviews from fans that ran the gauntlet. Some were super stoked and liked it better than the book, while others loved it but felt it didn’t hold up. But the die hards were livid. Why were they livid? Well, the biggest complaint I heard was because they left out a character that was a big part of the story. Personally, I don’t see what the big deal was because the character wasn’t essential to the plot and his presence in the book actually annoyed me quite a bit, but those people who were devoted to  the book had come to know and love every aspect of it and any deviation from that standard was completely unacceptable.

Now, while I thought this devotion to a work of fiction to be a little over bearing, I can’t help in retrospect to see how it applies to the very doctrine that so many are spoon fed today. Modern “Christianity” has become the “movie version” of the Bible.  Some teach things that are pretty spot on. While others are looser in their interpretation, and yet others have completely obliterated any resemblance of the original in their take. 

As believers, we have a responsibility to defend the integrity of the Book versus the cinema version as being the absolute. Truth be told, any congregation that exists will never be spot on with the original. We have to make sure we know how the Book is before we can draw a comparison.

  

I make it no secret that I am, and have always been a huge nerd when it comes to comic books. Well, a few years ago they made a movie about Wolverine. I hated that movie with a passion. To me, it seemed like they had an amazing amount of great resources that they could have pulled from to make an amazing movie based off of the source material and they just decided to ignore it and make a dumbed down version. The problem was, people loved it. Why? Because they had never read the years of back story that already existed in the comics. Real fans hated the movie, and people who were casual fans seemed to adore it, so much so that a sequel is coming this summer. ( I will be in line to not see it.) 

The point I want to make is, if you never read the original, what is sold to you looks pretty good. We HAVE GOT TO BE IN THE BOOK! There is no message more urgent than that. It works both ways, even a movie that did a great job translating the book, like “The Hunger Games”, still had to work its way around the narrative and certain changes had to be made to present it to the masses. While they did a good job, it still wasn’t as good as the book. But we have the Book and we can always return to it when we want the real, true to self, version.

Even the Word that we have available to us today can be a little watered down through years of translations and downright manipulation and conspiracy. Certain translations are like reading the “Cliffs Notes” version of the Gospels. We need to take every precaution that we can to try to read as closely as possible to the original. 

So really, I guess it’s not so bad to be that “over bearing nerd” who demands that the story stick to the original. We can all learn from everyone by sifting through the dirt to find the gold. And fellowship is always encouraged, but we have to know the source material or we will buy into any and all garbage that is thrown our way.

One love,

Albert C. Coble

I Would be the Worst Super Hero

When I was a child, and all throughout my adolescence, I would dream of being a super hero.

I loved them all. Superman, Batman, Spiderman, even Aquaman. I collected every comic, toy, and collectable I could get my hands on. And in the interest of being honest, things haven't changed all that much now that I'm in my thirties. I don't buy comics and toys all that much, but I have a nice collection of  Marvel and D.C. clothes... yes, even undies.  

It occurred to me rather recently, and better late than never, that one of the reasons I was so fascinated with all these amazing characters and their fantastic lives is because I wanted desperately to be someone else. Someone better than who I was and who was able to do something worth while in the lives of others. I make it no secret that I have always struggled with a lack of self esteem and a poor self image. But these stories and their characters held a chance for escape from the exclusion and the reality that the underdog doesn't always come out on top, in fact, he hardly ever does. 

Looking back it seems so odd to me that I wasted so much time wishing I could be someone else. That I tried so hard to find my identity in things that could never happen. When it turns out this whole time, I already had an identity waiting for me in the Most High YHVH.  I had spent so much time in make believe that I didn't even read to notice that the most fantastic tales were waiting for me in His word. That He had made me to be someone who, though a part of the greater body of believers, has my own place as an individual set apart for His greater purpose.

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you;
before you were born, I separated you for myself.
I have appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”

These words, found in Jeremiah 1:5, speak volumes.  The El of the universe had each and every one of us planned from the beginning. He made us all unique and with a special purpose to be used in unity with each and every member of the body.  We are, every single one of us, called to a greater calling inside His love.

“For you fashioned my inmost being,
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”-Psalm 139:13

The Psalmist here reiterates the words found in Jeremiah, and vice versa. We were all made with singular care. We aren’t just shoved out of an assembly line. We are all one of a kind. Made with the hand of The Master Craftsman.  The fact that I wasted so many years feeling left out and unimportant is really utterly ridiculous in light of all the words found in scripture.  Abba loves us all and has made us all in His image. Any feelings of worthlessness we may feel are not of Him. He wants every single one of us and has endowed us with the awesome power of His Ruach. 

We have the greatest things in store for us. The best is still yet to come. I feel it is only appropriate to leave you with this:

"...From him who has been given much, much will be demanded..."-Luke12:48b

One love,

Albert C. Coble.