“Indeed, of Zion it will be said, “‘This one and that one were born in her, and the Most High himself will establish her.”
~ Psalm 87:5
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you ever feel like you are an oddball? Do you ever feel like you are normal? Psalm 87 is an oddball psalm song. This psalm song may be a postexile psalm song or this psalm song may have been written about the same time that other psalm songs were written. This psalm song is attributed to the sons of Korah. Korah family clan guys were the designated musicians in the temple of God that was located in the city of Jerusalem. This psalm song is the only psalm song that celebrates the pending unification ingathering of nations and people groups of guys and gals in the city of Jerusalem. This psalm song is an isolated psalm song that for some reason was put near the center of a sea of 149 other psalm songs. Your grandpaa does not know why God chose the city of Jerusalem to lay His foundation for His earthly throne. God’s royal house – which was His temple that was located in the city of Jerusalem, was built using the specs that He gave to Moses when He met with Moses on the top of Mount Sinai. The city of Jerusalem is spread over a hill that is called Zion. Zion has become synonymous with God’s unconditional love for a city that He specially sat apart for Himself and synonymous with the hatred that God’s enemies have towards God’s specially set apart city. Since the city of Jerusalem became David’s center of operation, the city of Jerusalem has been a flash point to guys and gals who are enemies of God and of His specially chosen guys and gals. The city of Jerusalem is where Jesus – about 1970 years ago or almost 1990 years ago as of the editing of this missive, finished His earthly ministry and where Jesus will return to someday soon to begin His reign over every single guy, gal and kid who His Father specially chose and elected for Himself before He created planet Earth to be His adopted kids. There will come a day when God will have the names read from His register of every single guy and gal who was figuratively born in Zion. Verse 5 says, “Indeed, of Zion it will be said, “‘This one and that one were born in her, and the Most High himself will establish her.”’ God expects that this estranged city – the city of Jerusalem, that He Himself laid the foundation for should be honored – not blasphemed, respected – not trashed and accepted – not abhorred.
Your grandpaa has an affinity towards guys who have oddball personalities. Your grandpaa knows that some guys think that he has an oddball personality. Having an oddball personality is not necessary a bad thing. Your grandpaa’s dad called himself a nonconformist. When your grandpaa was a kid, your grandpaa had to ride with his dad and ma to different places in a Nash Ambassador just because your grandpaa’s dad wanted to be different than every other guy who lived in the Volga, South Dakota area. A Nash Ambassador was a car that looked like an upside down bathtub with wheels. Your grandpaa really does enjoy being with guys who are different than other guys. A collage age guy – who your grandpaa called Gumbo because Gumbo rhymed with the young guy’s last name and because Gumbo had an oddball personality, was a participant on two of Bolivia South American Mission summer teams that your grandmaa and grandpaa administrated and led. A couple of years after Gumbo’s two stints in Bolivia on South American Mission summer teams and after he graduated from LeTourneau University. Gumbo was accepted by MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) to be a missionary pilot. Gumbo was a tech geek. Gumbo was an accident about to happen. When your grandpaa found out that Gumbo did not mind setting up the projector each time that your grandpaa showed a film in a village where he had taken a summer team, it meant that your grandpaa did not have to set up the projector. Your grandpaa is technically and mechanically challenged. Because most of the rural Bolivian villages did not have electricity, your grandpaa used a 500 watt generator to plug the projector into to show the film that he had taken with him. The generator ran on gasoline. Gumbo was really good at maintaining the generator as well as the projector. Gumbo would periodically clean the generator’s air filter and wipe off the dirt that would get on the projector. Gumbo was to put gasoline in the generator each time before a Bolivia summer team was to leave for a village to do a happening. Gumbo would invariably forget to put gasoline in the generator. The only way to get gasoline for the generator once your grandpaa was in a village with a Bolivia summer team – if the generator was running out of gasoline, was to suck gasoline out of his Chevrolet C-10 pickup’s gas tank. Because Gumbo would end up swallowing gasoline when he tried to suck gasoline out of your grandpaa’s pickup’s gas tank, your grandpaa would have to – if the generator was running out of gasoline, suck gasoline out of his pickup’s gas tank. When your grandmaa one summer was not able to get her wringer washing machine to wring all the water out of the clothes that she was washing, your grandmaa asked Gumbo if he could find out what the problem was. Gumbo an hour or so later told your grandmaa that he knew that it was not the wringer washer’s motor’s fault that her washer was not wringing out all the water out of the clothes. Gumbo had completely disassembled your grandmaa’s wringer washer’s motor to check to see if there was a problem with the washer’s motor. When your grandmaa saw her washer’s motor laid out in little pieces on a table, your grandmaa asked Gumbo if he had ever taken apart a motor before. Gumbo told your grandmaa that this was his first time taking a small motor completely apart. Gumbo was an eccentric young guy who always seemed to be in the middle of something out of the ordinary.
The life of each one of God’s specially elected kids has been exclusively designed by God to be in perfect harmony with His will. You will never be oddballs in God’s eyes because He has created you to be who you are.
Psalm 87 (589)