building altars

The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground. 
 Joshua 3:17

building altars stone by stone

5   "On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

My whole life as a follower of Christ I have read the following verses about the "Good Samaritan" and looked introspectively to see if I was a good neighbour. Today as I contemplate altar building I see someone else's face in these verses and I look around me and see Good Samaritans and to them we have been neighbours. The stone I carry today is for our neighbour Petr and how God used him to help us when Rebekah was wounded and bloodied by the side of the road. She had just learned how to ride her bike. She was getting cocky, going ever faster and faster. There is a fairly good hill behind our house that curves into a stretch of gravel road that leads into the forest. From her start at the top of the hill, I saw her hurtling by and I yelled "Slow down and be careful!" to the tornado of dust she left behind. Mere seconds later I heard that fateful crunch of gravel, squealing of tires and an ear piercing scream. We ran to see what happened and found her crumpled by the side of the road screaming. She had torn the skin off half her arm and looked white as a ghost. She started sweating and shaking and going into shock. Petr had also heard the screams and came running out to help us. He has medical training and swiftly took over and assured us everything would be OK. Dan and I stood off to the side, dumbly, as we watched Petr care for Rebekah so kindly. Later, he brought over all sorts of pharmacy goods for her abrasion. We hadn't lived here very long according to the "100 Dobry Den" rule, we are different, Americans, sometimes not looked at so kindly because of this (see tomorrow's post), stupid with the language, loud...I could go on. But Petr ran to help us. Ran.

The Good Samaritan 

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.  A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

   “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

   Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” 

Luke 10:30-37