Right Turn from the Left Lane

Hold up on that blue haired buffet, we need a quick powwow with the shoot eating panda:

A woman, without her man, is nothing. Or…

A woman, without her, man eats with his hands, plays poker with his friends, stands his Harley in the den, and leaves the toilet seat up.

See what a difference a dinky comma makes?

But Gov Ed’s warehouses have long since given up on gramma’s Grammar, real Math and honest History; and instead release looters and statue-topplers with groovy vibes about their ignorance. A mediocre but fully funded future awaits them in some acronym’d bureaucracy, possibly the highway dept.Some ancient texts were also a little light on punctuation (and vowels), giving those quill and scroll scribes and your thumbsy tweenage daughter something more in common than just funky footwear.

God am I that know and still be. ^{Psalm 46:10}

Biblical Hebrew was also written backward, and who knows what they would have done with a comma had they done had one.

But just the same, the comma is there today, pencil’d-in by prescient English translators to rein-in run-on manuscripts; and found in the most common and widely held Biblical renditions:

KJV
ESV
NIV and, of course…
The BQE

Yo, like relax dude, I am the 𝐈 𝐀𝐌.
^{via The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway}

And it matters. Black punctuation matters. Because conjunctions and punctuation are not interchangeable, and are as equally essential as they are equally unequal.

So, what’s the difference between a comma and grandma’s cat? Well…

A comma is a pause at the end of a clause.
And grandma’s cat eats, sleeps, and poops wherever he wants.

…kinda like conjunctions and quite unlike commas – the steak and eggs of clear thought and concise meaning.

Because 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦 𝟒𝟔:𝟏𝟎 is not: 𝐁𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐆𝐨𝐝.

But rather: 𝐁𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥,

Be still… comma. Pause – wait here. Take a moment before moving on, because this is important.

… and personal. Replace the comma with your name: Be still ________ .

Listen, your first reaction was probably more an over-reaction than a course of action. So, before you dial up those gossipy ladies of the back pew prayer chain, just stop. And in the solace of bended knee, think on this:

God already knew what the problem was and knew what the answer was before you even knew there was a problem. So..?

Calm yourself
Take a deep breath

…𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐀𝐌 𝐆𝐨𝐝.

Now let’s eat, grandma.

Level Ground
There’s a baggage check at the altar. Come as you are. Don’t leave the way you came.

Sonrise
This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice
and be glad in it. ^{Psalm 118:24}

^{Genesis 22:7} And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb? ⁸ And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb.

^{Isaiah 53:3} He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. ⁴ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. ⁵ He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

^{John 1:22} Who art thou? ²³ I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord. ²⁹ The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

^{John 10:9} I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. ^{John 10:1} He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. ^{John 10:10} The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. ¹¹ I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

^{Isaiah 53:6} All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

^{Luke 24:7} The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

^{Matthew 27:11} And [Pilate] asked him: Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. ³¹ and led him away to crucify him.

^{Luke 23:33} And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him. ^{Mark 15:27} And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. ²⁸ And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith… ^{Isaiah 53:12} He was numbered with the transgressors.

^{Luke 23:34} Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

^{Luke 23:39} And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. ⁴⁰ But the other rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? ⁴¹ And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. ⁴² And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. ⁴³ And Jesus said unto him, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ^{Romans 5:8}

^{John 3:16} For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

^{John 20:1} The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away. ¹⁵ Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. ¹⁶ Jesus saith unto her, Mary.

^{John 14:6} I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. ²⁷ Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

The Cry of the Rocks
Truth can be ignored but cannot be made untrue. Truth just is, even if held by just one. One plus God.