Frank Hubeny

Sin – Six Sentence Story

Phil finished replacing the bathroom faucet, turned on the water supply valves and got off the floor to try it out all while listening to a commercial promoting his hometown as the best Little Babylon in the country.

There’s sin aplenty in Blislisnis! We have everything from soul scorching addictions to petty titillations – all at discount prices! Our trained experts will tease your mind with vain imaginations and pump your darkened heart into a foolish frenzy.

After turning the handles, Phil watched the water leak from the drain pipe. While cleaning up the mess and fixing the leak he told me that my story made no sense and he rarely, if ever – no – he never EVER went to those sin arcades in Blislisnis.

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Denise offers the word “sin” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Romans 1:21 “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” (KJV)

In the Morning Light

Dale offers the prompt “in the morning light” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge. Below are four sunrises with morning light.

Exploration 106 – Remembering the Goodness of God

Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Psalm 103:1-2 KJV

How can we be thankful if we don’t remember what to be thankful for? How can we give praise if we have forgotten the goodness of God?

Andrew Wommack begins a discussion of remembrance at about 5:30 in the following video. He says (at 6:55), “The reason it’s a command to remember is because it’s our tendency to forget.” I didn’t realize it was a command before.

Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?
Mark 8:18 KJV

Space – Six Sentence Story

Trying to find something impressive to say the guide told the group he was leading through the cave that some of the mineral deposits they were looking at were as old as the most ancient graves directly above them in Blislisnis, but none of them were impressed.

He then asked them if they ever experienced darkness blacker than a demon’s heart before? Hearing only snorts of ridicule he waited till they were walking down a precarious set of metal stairs to turn off the lights without warning. Although the space in the cave collapsed abruptly onto their eyes the echoes of their screams convinced them it was still there.

When the guide let the light pop reality back into place with its ups and downs and rights and lefts, the group plotted in whispers to get even, should they ever get out, by filing complaints to the proper authorities of Blislisnis. The guide knew the stirrings of their hearts, but he also knew there weren’t enough live people left in the ghost town above them to care.

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Denise offers the prompt word “space” for this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Matthew 8:12 “But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (KJV)

North South East West

Dale offers the theme of “north, south, east, west” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.

For the north I chose a photo from Lake Bluff, Illinois, showing a view of Lake Michigan from the top of the bluff.

For the south there are birds over a beach during a sunrise on Miami Beach, Florida.

For the east there is a sand turtle on Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

For the west there is a deep red trail in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Exploration 105 – The Historicity of the Bible

I am reading Douglas Petrovich’s Origins of the Hebrews to better understand Moses and the Exodus. I now see the Israelites entering Egypt in 1876 BC in the 12th dynasty where Joseph provided shelter for them during the seven year famine. I see Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt 430 years later in 1446 BC when Amenhotep II of the 18th dynasty was Pharaoh.

What this confirms is the historicity of the Bible. That confirmation is made possible by examining evidence from two sources:

Archeological Research
The rate of radioactive decay may have varied over time. As a clock Petrovich trusts Carbon-14 tests back only toward 1400 BC. Test results beyond that require an offset.
Biblical Research
Biblical manuscript traditions give different accounts of the age of the world based on genealogies in Genesis. Putting the date of the flood at an earlier age provides time for known historical events to have occurred.

In the brief interview below Dr. Petrovich discusses both of these sources of evidence which together support the historicity of the Bible.

Path – Six Sentence Story

One path looked rough and narrow. The other one was wide.

He told me, “Take the narrow way.” I told Him, “Look, the other’s fine!”

My mind persisted: Don’t obey. But what do minds know anyway?

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Denise offers the word “path” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Summer Collage

Dale offers the prompt “summer collage” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.

Exploration 104 – Behold the Hand, Behold the Nail

⁹Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
¹⁰That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
¹¹And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:9-11 King James Version

In Hebrew the letters Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey (YHVH) are often translated as Lord, but Lord is a title, not a name. Rock Island Books in the video below attempts to answer the question: Who is YHVH?

The original paleo-Hebrew script was pictographic so we can find clues in each letter that is used. The Yod (Y) is the symbol for a hand. The Hey (H) is the symbol of a man with two hands raised in praise as if saying Behold! The Vav (V) is the symbol for a nail. Translating the word YHVH pictographically they come up with Behold the hand, behold the nail.

These letters can also be used as numbers. The Yod (Y) is the 10th letter representing ordinal perfection. The Hey (H) is the 5th letter representing grace and favor. The Vav (V) is the 6th letter representing man. They offer the following number translation: As a result of God’s anointed and appointed plan man will find himself surrounded on both sides by divine grace and favor.

They ultimately come to the conclusion that YHVH is Yeshua (Jesus). That surprised me, because I am used to thinking of YHVH being more the Father than the Son, but then after thinking of the Trinity perhaps Jesus is a better and more personal answer to the question especially considering that God has given Him a name above every name.

For more on the early Hebrew script and other such topics see Jeff A. Benner’s article, The Ancient Pictographic Alphabet, and the frontmatter to Douglas N. Petrovich’s The World’s Oldest Alphabet: Hebrew as the Language of the Proto-Consonantal Script.

Bookmark – Six Sentence Story

Jeremy’s Bible had a red ribbon glued to the spine which served as a bookmark. Being a gift from his mother he kept it in great shape by not reading it.

Motivated by some controversy that stormed from social media onto his imagination, he opened the book expecting to get to the bottom of the mystery in no time. However, the parts he thought he knew he realized he barely knew at all and the parts he didn’t know – oh, those awesome parts he now knew he didn’t know – humbled him.

Years later when the cover fell open because the spine of the book had crumbled he noticed his mother’s handwriting. She wrote in small letters, shyly so as not to offend and yet boldly so as not to encourage unbelief, “May your life be blessed, my dear Jeremy.”

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Denise offers the word “bookmark” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.