The Bristow’s dot COM

Last night Jaime and I were at the Honda dealership from 6:00pm - almost 11:00pm. We remained very stubborn and ended up getting about a hundred dollars more for our Explorer than we needed. It was nice to be able to talk them up $2,100 on the value of our trade. But I must admit Jaime really pulled that off, I was near caving into a lesser deal but she held her ground and they came back with exactly what we asked for.

Last night we left with a white 2007 Honda Fit. This is a very functional and fun car and each month we are actually spending less money than we were on the Explorer. And this car has a warranty so if something breaks, peace of mind. I like that. (I am about as mechanically inclined as a rutabaga is to auto repair)

We did get the sports package on the car instead of just the base model, this was planned before we went into the dealership last night.

The sports package comes with Alloy wheels, upgraded stereo, auxilary jack for the stereo, manual shift paddles for the automatic transmission (now this is a very fun feature), body kit, and fog lamps. And this package only increases the price about $1,000. A package that I actually think is worth the extra money.

What I like about the Fit:
Gas Mileage The Fit gets 34 mpg in town and 37 mpg on the highway. This doubles the mileage of my explorer, so my gas costs just dropped in half. And as gas prices continue to rise this savings will become bigger each time gas prices go up.
Very functional. The seats can be configured in a few different ways to optimize storage space. This is a small car but it can hold a lot of stuff.
Priced right. The Fit comes with all of the extras you may want in the base model and the sports package is affordable and has some nice perks as well. In my opinion the Fit beats the competition at price and features. It is possible to get a Yaris cheaper but not by much and good luck finding a good deal on the Nissan Versa in Fort Myers. Even though the Fit is supposed to be the most expensive car I was looking at it was actually on par with the Yaris if you add in all of the features to the Yaris base price.
Fun It is simply a fun car to drive. I know the fun will wear off though so this is no reason to buy the car, just a perk for a few months.
Excellent handling This is a small car so it of course handles much better than my explorer, but you also don’t feel like you are driving a tiny little car while you are driving, it feels like a normal car because you sit a bit higher up.

So I am excited to save some money as I drive to work this morning.

(some thoughts on Ezekiel coming soon…….)

My last post was maybe a bit too gloomy. So I wanted to post a few verses from Jeremiah where Jeremiah prophecies about a new covenant and a righteous King of Davidic descent. Nearly 500 years after Jeremiah wrote those words they became reality in Jesus of Nazareth. Here are a couple prophecies I found. Jeremiah 31 is a good chapter to read to see that the new covenant was not a new concept that God came up with when Jesus came to the earth, but something Israel should have been awaiting with great eagerness.

The Messiah would be a descendant of David and be called Yahweh Tsidqenu (The Lord is our Righteousness)
Prophecy: Jeremiah 23:5-6
Fullfilled: Luke 3:23-31

God will create a new covenant that will forgive wickedness.
Prophecy: Jeremiah 31:31
Fullfilled: Matthew 26:28

Let me clarify, or better yet, correct myself. Jeremiah was a Prophet. It was Israel that was more like the Bullfrog. Some of you know that I am not a big fan of frogs. Primarily because at the last place I lived, frogs came out of the toilet on a regular basis. Now frogs just plain disgust me, and all I want to do is exterminate them. I think frog exterminiation could actually be a very rewarding career path for me. Now how could I refer to Israel as being a Bullfrog? Because in the book of Jeremiah God describes his disgust with Israel. The book of Jeremiah takes place just before and just after Israel is conquered by Babylon. A very dark period of Israel’s history.

God pleads to Israel through Jeremiah. He wants His people, Israel, to return to Him. Israel has been worshipping other gods and committing every sin imaginable. God is tired of it, He is disgusted by Israel and needs to exterminate the bad to retrieve what is still good in Israel.

I found this book very difficult to handle emotionally. As I have been reading the Old Testament I have come to cherish God’s people, Israel. They have been stubborn and seem to habitually fall away form God. But God always pulls them back and the people respond at least for a time. I have read about God’s grace to His people and admire His qualities. God had always said he would need to punish Israel harshly if she were to keep sinning, but it never seemed to come to that. Now it has all changed. The punishment really is coming, and Jeremiah’s message is a last ditch effort to get Israel to turn form their sins and return to God.

The entire time I was reading this book I knew the outcome. I knew Babylon would conquer Israel. I knew countless numbers of God’s people would be slaughtered, enslaved, or left to beg in a destroyed Jerusalem. And I knew that God knew that this would all happen, He knew that his people were not going to listen to His prophets and return to Him. But God reached out to them anyway.

This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says:

Even now, if you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own land. But don’t be fooled by those who promise you safety simply because the Lord’s Temple is here. They chant, The Lord’s Temple is here! The Lord’s Temple is here! But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols. Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever.
– Jeremiah 7:3-7

Night and day my eyes overflow with tears.
I cannot stop weeping,
for my virgin daughter my precious people
has been struck down
and lies mortally wounded.
– Jeremiah 14:17 (these words are from Jeremiah but he speaks about Israel like a father, more from the perspective of God.)

I present these verses to simply show that it is not God’s desire to destroy Israel. His will is to bring Israel back to Him. Israel’s punishment is not to be permanent, because God will fullfill His covenant with Israel. He promises to bring those who are held captive back to Israel once they turn back to Him. But it is clear that the only way Israel is ever going to seek God is if God takes everything from them. even taking from them their families, and all their possessions forcing them to have nothing except for Him.

I think we all tend to fall into this pattern, we only look to God when He is all that we have left. This is not how God wants His people to live. He wants us to worship Him alone, and serve Him.

I will leave with some verses that describe how horrible it was when Babylon conquered Israel, just in case you have a hard time believing that God could punish His people with war, famine, and suffering. I know I am focusing on the punishment of Israel, but I do want to say that some of Jeremiah’s prophecies give hope for the future. But Jeremiah has no words of hope for the people who have worshipped other gods, turning away form the one true God.

Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and war. There will be no one left to bury them. Husbands, wives, sons, and daughters all will be gone. For I will pour out their own wickedness on them.
– Jeremiah 14:16

No one will offer a meal to comfort those who mourn for the dead not even at the death of a mother or father. No one will send a cup of wine to console them.
– Jeremiah 16:7

If I go out into the fields,I see the bodies of people slaughtered by the enemy.If I walk the city streets,I see people who have died of starvation.
– Jeremiah 14:18

I will allow the people to be slaughtered by invading armies, and I will leave their dead bodies as food for the vultures and wild animals.

– Jeremiah 19:7

I will send terror upon you and all your friends, and you will watch as they are slaughtered by the swords of the enemy.
– Jeremiah 20:4

I began reading in Jeremiah again over the weekend. I will write more about this book soon.

Essentially Jeremiah is writing to the people living in Israel right before the Babylonian captivity and during the Babylonian captivity. So much of the book is well…. a bit depressing. This period of time is not a very cheerful time in Israel’s history.

But more to come on this later….

This quote from Back to the Future reminds me of my spiritual life this week. I am ’stuck’ in the book of Jeremiah and haven’t picked up my Bible for a few days. I feel like… well…. a slacker. This weekend I wasn’t physically feeling well, but also not too well spiritually. I don’t think I can really describe this much more than just stating that I feel in the dumps and am slacking in my relationship with God.

So I do have an uphill battle to complete my reading of the Bible in 90 days.

But (to try not be all negative) I am listening to some podcasts on my new MP3 player. (I tend to buy gadgets when I feel like a slacker) I went the route of a non-Ipod. I bought a Sandisk Sansa e280 and I love it. Costco had this little gem for only $139.99. Right now I am listening to Mark Batterson from National Community Church in Washington, DC. But I really should not replace my time in the Bible with listening to another Christian talk. I know this. Now I just need to stop being a slacker and grab that Bible and begin reading in Jeremiah again.