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I hope we see this....

I was gathering my things after the meeting last week when a brother, we'll call him Brother "Halvorsen", approached me. He moved slowly, the way he always does now, but his eyes were still bright and warm. After asking me if I had a moment to chat, he told me he wanted to show me something and pulled his phone out of his pocket and started squinting at the screen. Finally locating what he was after, he opened his photos and began scrolling through picture after picture of him and his wife from decades ago. Moving closer, I began to watch as his screen filled with black and white photos...pictures of him and his wife when they were young, vibrant, full of energy. In one photo they were standing beside a literature cart downtown, smiling like they had just discovered the truth. In another they were hiking a trail I recognized from our local area. In yet another they were sitting at a table with a group of young ones they used to study with. His wife had passed away years ago, but he spoke about her as if she had only stepped out of the room for a moment...as if she would come join him at any second, taking his arm and moving close against him. Minutes felt like seconds as he recounted story after story...telling me how MUCH he looked forward to seeing her again in the new system. But then, in the midst of his reminiscing, he said something that surprised me...although I don't really know why. He said he appreciated what Jehovah still allowed him to do NOW, even if it was nowhere near what he used to be able to do. He talked about how he tries to greet every single new person after the meeting, how he makes it a point to compliment the young brothers and sisters who give talks and other various parts, how he checks in on sisters who sit alone. He said all of this with not a single bit of pride in his voice...just a quiet gratitude that Jehovah still lets him contribute SOMETHING...that Jehovah still finds him useful. Suddenly I decided to ask him a question, a question that came out of nowhere...but a question that I suddenly found NEEDED an answer: I asked him HOW he keeps going? I didn’t mean it unkindly. But he is in the beginning stages of losing his eyesight. His hearing is fading. His joints hurt so badly that he sometimes winces when he stands. And yet he still moves through the hall with purpose, as if he has a mission. All of a sudden he got this mischievous little grin on his face and patted me on the shoulder. Then he told me that, since he knew I loved Jehovah and that I particularly love researching the deeper things of Jehovah, he was absolutely certain that I wouldn't take any offense at his next words. “Tim, go look up Genesis 48:17–19, and 1 Kings 1:1–40. Check them out, sit with them for a while and I PROMISE you that you'll find the answer to that question!" While I was in the midst of reeling from that answer along with hurriedly trying to type those two accounts into my phone's notebook application....this dear brother looked back down at his phone screen and his eyes locked onto a picture of him and his wife standing in service, both of them young and strong, vibrant and healthy...and suddenly he said very quietly, very heavily, “That used to be me.” I went home that night and opened both accounts. I read them once, then again, and then yet again. Genesis 48:17-19: "When Joseph saw that his father kept his right hand placed on Eʹphra·im’s head, it was displeasing to him, so he tried to take hold of his father’s hand to move it from Eʹphra·im’s head to Ma·nasʹseh’s head. 18 Joseph said to his father: “Not so, my father, because this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.” 19 But his father kept refusing and said: “I know it, my son, I know it. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will become greater than he will, and his offspring will become the full equivalent of nations I didn’t see it." (I'm not going to post the whole chapter of 1 Kings 1:1-40 here, but I can promise you that it is an incredible read!) I read the footnotes. I checked the Research Guide. I looked up every cross-reference. I read the Watchtower articles connected to both accounts...but I still didn’t see it. For days I kept going back to them, trying to understand what he was pointing me toward. (I mean I had POSSIBLE answers, but all of them felt too trite, too simplistic to be what he was getting at...so I kept digging.) I read about Jacob...old, blind, frail...leaning on his staff. I read about Joseph trying to correct him, assuming Jacob’s age had confused him. I read about Jacob crossing his hands intentionally, choosing the younger son over the older. I noticed the Hebrew word used for Jacob’s “insight,” the one that means to perceive deeply even when the eyes cannot see. And then I read about David...old, cold, unable to stay warm, lying in bed while the nation moved on without him. I read about Adonijah rising up, gathering support, acting like David was finished. I read about how Jehovah still used DAVID...not Nathan, not Zadok, not Bathsheba...to make one of the most sacred decisions in Israel’s history. But I still didn’t understand what tied these two accounts together. They were powerful, but I simply couldn't see the thread. Then one evening, while reading through several articles about how Jehovah views his servants...articles about loyalty, endurance, and the way Jehovah measures faithfulness...something finally clicked. I guess it wasn't a single sentence in one article that finally clicked. It was a theme that kept appearing in different ways, in different contexts, almost like Jehovah was whispering it directly into my ears through the pages. The thought crystallized so clearly that I had to stop reading and just sit with it for a moment. Jehovah has never chosen or kept someone because they were the most capable. He has always stayed close to those who are faithful. Suddenly both accounts opened up in a very unexpected way, and that is what caused me to write this post. Jacob wasn’t chosen because he was strong, sharp, or capable. He was chosen because he was FAITHFUL, and Jehovah gave him insight that Joseph's youth could not produce. Joseph saw an old man who couldn’t see. Jehovah saw a servant who possessed wisdom shaped by decades of faithful service that could see something clearly which youth could not. And David... David wasn't used because he was powerful, energetic, or capable. He was used because he was FAITHFUL, and Jehovah saved a sacred assignment for a moment when everyone else thought he was finished. The nation saw an old man who couldn’t stay warm. But Jehovah saw the only man he trusted to make a decision that would shape Israel’s future. And THEN I understood Brother "Halvorsen's" point. It may be true that he isn’t able to do what he used to do. He isn’t strong. He isn’t healthy. He isn’t capable in the way he once was. But he IS very very faithful. And Jehovah is STILL providing him with a deliberate purpose...a purpose that younger ones might overlook, but one that Jehovah specifically does not. And then something hit me so hard that it made me sit back in my chair and breathe for a moment, something I don't think even he realized...(and I know he didn't because after I was through with my study I called him up and told him...and he said he had never looked at it that way): This brother wasn't showing me pictures of who he used to be...he was actually showing me PROOF that Jehovah still sees who he is NOW.

“Also, at 82, I do not "just run around" like 60 years ago. I put less than 3,000 miles a year on it now.” Quoted from James. 👋 You and I are about the same age. I’ll turn 83 in November. My husband has ordered a vehicle for me. It’s a Toyota Crown Signia(?) white with a black top. It’s a hybrid, so it should average out at 38 miles per gallon. It looks like my trips to the kingdom hall, (round-trip around 50 miles) might be almost free. And for the most part, that’s why I put mileage on my rig. We bought it on the Internet from a dealer three hours away, inland. And it was complicated. He’s changing it from low profile wheels to normal normal profile wheels. We have to clear things with the Tribe., (we pay no sales tax) and last, but not least WeatherTech mats for front and back. Never mind the financing. You’ll be able to put almost half of it down because of the sale of the Subaru. Now, my traveling partner, Paula, will probably be putting the most miles on it because she drives us to the convention and the assembly. Now we get to give her rig a break. You cannot imagine how stressful this has been for me. Well, not really. When this whole thing started, I started praying to Jehovah because I can get anxiety attacks, lose sleep, have a hard time following a decent train of thought. You get the picture. Pretty much will make a mess of me. And I noticed that my anxiety was pretty much not there. And I’m so grateful. This is in spite of the fact I have to have surgery on an esophageal hernia come Monday. Never mind I have a small part in the assembly on 18 October. That’s 20 days after my surgery. And two weeks of that 20 days will be liquid only diet. I shall be svelt. If I’m able to walk.😕 I think this is the last huge event in my life, I hope, until the Memorial next year

Then you hear from the back of the room. "Don't worry, here, we will give you all of our power and authority"

Wow, we switched from the UN topic to smart TVs, I love you guys 😄

You are only 54 lbs from being a ton! Come on! You can do it!!!

Put the chocolate down, then get back on the scale.

I watched the UN press briefing from yesterday. The litany of world issues he listed off was incredible but not even everything going on. Right before he left he said, see everyone Friday if we are all still standing. I was like woah….they are worried. He would probably deny he thinks anything catastrophic will happen but they also know all it takes is one nuclear event to kick off the firestorm.

Hi Tim, Your nice story made me think of this illustration. I hope this connects to what you have been thinking about concerning this dear older brother ENTROPY In physics, scientists came to learn there is a very profound but negative law about the universe they termed "Entropy". I say it is a "negative law" from the human perspective. Because every human dislikes that everything in the universe is fading, weakening, deteriorating, as time passes. YET all the sterling qualities that Jehovah has so unselfishly given to us -- like faithfulness, loyalty, love, etc -- are the only these things in the universe that improve with time! So is it possible that Jehovah designed the entire universe with entropy so that His human creation could observe the universe and gain great wisdom if they could come to the accurate conclusion that... "Since everything in the universe fades, weakens, deteriorates, with time, these material things must not be very important. So therefore the things that only improve with time --- MUST BE THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE --- faithfulness, loyalty, love!!"

Put on your glasses Dusty, its 194.6 🤣

It's a smart move.

It does feel very Babylonish right now, doesn’t it?

Absolutely!! I had just never thought of Jehovah kind of looking over our shoulders so to speak as we looked at his photos, it kind of hit me that, to Jehovah, he still sees this dear brother for what he is, which is extremely faithful. I guess what I was getting at is that sometimes it's easy for a person to see what they used to do and feel bad that they can no longer handle all of that weight or responsibility. But to Jehovah, it's like he still sees that dear brother as being just as faithful now as he was then, even though his activity has lessened greatly. I know that's not a new thought, but it was just very encouraging for me because of what what I'm going through as well.

I went on a weighing scale to see how much I weigh. I thought I weigh around 200 pounds. I was way off. The scale show that I weigh 1,946 LBS. I guess I'm eating to much chocolate. The life I go through

I just love the way that's serving Jehovah transforms us into beautiful people. I mean that figuratively of course. But in the case that I want to talk about at the moment it's a literal meaning. A rather rough looking woman started studying with a sister shortly after I arrived here at my new kingdom hall, her hair was not only unkept but was choppy looking. Her skin was deeply wrinkled and kind of gray and her teeth looked funny. But she was studying faithfully and was coming to every meeting. She got baptized at our last circuit assembly which was oh I don't know four or five months ago, you should see her now. Her hair has grown out and is styled not in a fancy way but in a more organized delicate fashion. Her face has lost that ashen look and someone has helped her to apply a delicate amount of makeup. Her clothing now is beautiful, clean and modest. Tonight at the meeting I just marveled at the complete transformation of this woman since getting baptized. This is what serving jehovah does for us, we just look different. Better. Away from the hate of the world. The stress that satan system puts on us and the things this world says is normal will break a person down. She no longer has those influences but has us as her new family. And she's beautiful.

I always wondered why Eurovision isn’t mentioned by Paul in 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

Jehovah always see the potential person we can become : in paradise. Grounded in his absolute knowledge of who we have been until this very moment : clinging to Jehovah our loving father