His travels were exceeded only by Lewis and Clark. He led expeditions up the Missouri River, discovered the South Pass through the Rockies and the first land route to California. He led settlers across the Santa Fe Trail, the Mojave Desert and up the Oregon Coast. His name was Jedediah Smith, born this day, June 24, 1798. In a letter to his brother, Jedediah Smith wrote: “Many Hostile… Indians inhabit this Space…. In August…. ten Men… with me lost their lives by the Amuchabas Indians… in July… fifteen… by the Umpquah Indians… I have need of your Prayers… to bear me up before the Throne of Grace.”

Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.

Man is born broken.
He lives by mending.
The grace of God is glue.
--- Eugene O'Neill, The Great God Brown, 1926

... from here, there and everywhere

29 Judgments are in store for scorners
and blows for the backs of fools.

Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.

                         Reconciling one’s self to the fact of sin

     This is your hour, and the power of darkness. --- Luke 22:53.

     It is not being reconciled to the fact of sin that produces all the disasters in life. You may talk about the nobility of human nature, but there is something in human nature which will laugh in the face of every ideal you have. If you refuse to agree with the fact that there is vice and self-seeking, something downright spiteful and wrong in human beings, instead of reconciling yourself to it when it strikes your life, you will compromise with it and say it is of no use to battle against it. Have you made allowance for this hour and the power of darkness, or do you take a recognition of yourself that misses out sin? In your bodily relationships and friendships do you reconcile yourself to the fact of sin? If not, you will be caught round the next corner and you will compromise with it. If you reconcile yourself to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger at once—‘Yes, I see what that would mean.’ The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship; it establishes a mutual regard for the fact that the basis of life is tragic. Always beware of an estimate of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin.

      Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical, never suspicious, because He trusted absolutely in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman, not the innocent, is the safeguarded man or woman. You are never safe with an innocent man or woman. Men and women have no business to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child; it is a blameworthy thing for a man or woman not to be reconciled to the fact of sin.

Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest

Heads together, pulling
upon music's tide-
it is not their ears
but their eyes their conductor

has sealed, lest they behold
on the stage's shore
the skirts' rising and falling
that turns men to swine.

R.S. Thomas.

     God and humans are so different that there is a custom: when referring to both in the same sentence, it is traditional to insert the word לְהַבְדִּיל/l’havdil, “to differentiate” between God and humans. The Rabbis of the Midrash did not do that. While they spoke of humility, and perhaps their lives exhibited humility, their writing shows a genuine hubris, comparing God to humans. How else can these Rabbis—Rabbi Tanḥuma in the name of Rabbi Yehudah bar Simon and Rabbi Menaḥama in the name of Rabbi Eliezer bar Yosé—say that “the Holy One, praised is He, loves His fellow craftsman,” as if God were really like a human craftsman? The blasphemous nature of this text is so clear. God is referred to, by analogy, as just another worker.

     The Rabbinic conceit and arrogance exists, in part, because the Rabbis saw humans as God’s agents in the world. We learn from this text that we humans are equal to God as “craftsmen of the world.” If we are equal to God, can we ever aspire to see God face-to-face? In a literal sense, it may happen when the righteous die. The Rabbis of the Talmud and the Midrash, unlike the Bible, have developed a concept of the afterlife and the reward that awaits the righteous when they die.

     On a metaphorical level, the upright behold God’s face when they bring a sense of godliness into the world. This does not happen by accident. Godliness is crafted; each and every one of us, like God, can craft a better world. In Les Miserables, one of the characters sings:

     “To love another person
     Is to see the face of God.”

     Thus, godliness is not stumbled upon. It is created by our actions. We don’t have to die to see God, but we do need to live a dedicated life. When we make this world a heaven-on-earth, then we truly do see God.

Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. Searching for Meaning in Midrash: Lessons for Everyday Living Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.

     And [Peter] went outside and wept bitterly.… Then [Judas] went away and hanged himself. --- Matthew 26:75; 27:5

      Simon of Bethsaida and Judas of Kerioth had possessed all things in common: common opportunities, common associations, common trials and dangers. Sermons Preached in St. Paul's Cathedral They had witnessed the same works and listened to the same words. They had lived in the same Presence. They had received the same revelation of the same Father from the same hallowed lips. Altogether it might have been thought that their characters must have been cast in the same mold. From what then came this difference?

     From what but in the use or misuse of that mysterious, that fatal, that magnificent gift of God to humanity—free will?

     Both were tempted. Both yielded to the temptation. The same night was fatal to the one and to the other. Just at this moment it might have seemed as if there were little to choose between Peter and Judas. How is it then that Peter rises again, while Judas sinks down, sinks suddenly, sinks irretrievably, sinks forever?

     It was not what Judas had done but what Judas had become that prevented his rising. His guilt was great, but God’s mercy is greater. His guilt was great, but God’s pardon does not nicely calculate less or more.

     Faith and hope are the two requisites without which restoration is impossible—faith in God and hope for the future. With these is life-giving repentance; without these is crushing remorse.

     As long as we look only to ourselves, pardon seems wholly beyond our reach. There is nothing in our own hearts, nothing in our past lives that suggests it. It is well that we should grieve over our sins; it is not well that we should give ourselves up to overmuch self-dissection. Our failings must be our stepping-stones; they must not be our stumbling blocks. We cannot suffer them to cripple our energies or to bar our path. But this will always be the case so long as our gaze is directed solely within. For here we find only feebleness, only vacillation, only ignorance, only failure and sin. Our strength, our consolation, our renewal are elsewhere. It is only when our hearts go forth in faith to God the all wise and almighty, God the merciful, God our Father that the pardon comes, that the pure heart is made and the steadfast spirit renewed within us. This faith Judas did not realize. He knew God only as an avenging judge. He did not know him as a loving Father.
--- J.B. Lightfoot

Wallis, D. (2001). Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers

     “And [the fish] vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.” What an ignominious way for a distinguished prophet to arrive on shore! In chapter 1, the sailors treated Jonah like dangerous cargo to be thrown overboard, and now he’s treated like a foreign substance to be disgorged from the fish’s body. But when Jonah ceased to be an obedient prophet, he cheapened himself, so he’s the one to blame. We can be sure that he was duly humbled as he once again stood on dry land.

     The miracle. Few miracles in Scripture have been attacked as much as this one, and Christian scholars have gathered various kinds of evidence to prove that it could happen. Since the Bible doesn’t tell us what kind of fish swallowed Jonah, we don’t have to measure sharks and whales or comb history for similar incidents. It was a “prepared” fish (1:17), designed by God for the occasion, and therefore it was adequate for the task. Jesus didn’t question the historicity of the miracle, so why should we?

     The sign (Matt. 12:39; 16:4; Luke 11:29). The “sign of Jonah” is seen in his experience of “death,” burial, and resurrection on the third day, and it was the only sign Jesus gave to the nation of Israel. At Pentecost, Peter preached the Resurrection (Acts 2:22–26) and so did Paul when he preached to the Jews in other nations (13:26–37). In fact, the emphasis in the Book of Acts is on the resurrection of Jesus Christ; for the apostles were “witnesses of the Resurrection” (2:32; 3:15; 5:32; 10:39).

     Some students are troubled by the phrase “three days and three nights,” especially since both Scripture and tradition indicate that Jesus was crucified on Friday. In order to protect the integrity of the Scripture, some have suggested that the Crucifixion be moved back to Thursday or even Wednesday. But to the Jews, a part of a day was treated as a whole day, and we need not interpret “three days and three nights” to mean seventy-two hours to the very second. For that matter, we can’t prove that Jonah was in the fish exactly seventy-two hours. The important thing is that centuries after the event, Jonah became a “sign” to the Jewish people and pointed them to Jesus Christ.

     Jonah was now free to obey the Lord and take God’s message to Nineveh, but he still had lessons to learn.

W. W. Wiersbe, (1996) Be Amazed (Minor Prophets): Restoring an Attitude of Wonder and Worship (The BE Series Commentary)