The Making of a Preacher -Prep

Storms of Joy!

Matthew Marks is anything but perfect. His character flaws are an intense love of beauty, which makes him vulnerable to the fairer sex. This leads to his spiritual character issue of doubts about his relationship with God because fellowship with The Lord is broken when his child gives in to immorality.

Matt's strengths are an intense love for The Lord and an abhorring of his sinful propensities. The Lord's Honor, Glory & especially His Holiness are of primary importance to Matt. It shouldn't be hard to see that there is a strong conflict at the core of a man when he knows in his heart of hearts that he loves to be holy as God is Holy, but still in his "earth suit" (aka the body of flesh in which he lives as a human on Earth,) he enjoys the pleasures of his physical body, like food, drink, sex, and even something as simple and as apparently praiseworthy as a walk on the beach, drinking in the pleasure of peace. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7, "who will deliver me from this body of death."

Fleshy (or physical) desires have some benefit. First of all, they have the person's human body to stay alive but taken to the extreme these desires can cause death. Eating food and drinking water are necessary for keeping the body alive, but extreme eating is called gluttony, bringing extra pounds of fat and an earlier time of death. Secondly, some physical desires are gifts of The Lord for enjoyment and for the continuation of the race. That would be sex, primarily. Kept within the bonds of marriage, the two humans grow in unity and in the enjoyment of each other on many levels, including spiritual, mental/emotional, and physical. Outside the bonds of marriage, sex becomes a fire that burns down the forest and has consequences like venereal disease, which lead to death.

What is ZoNed4 really like? It's a slightly larger version of Earth, but it is still inhabitable. The air is thicker and heavier with ionized Nitrogen, but it's still breathable. ZoNed4's primary moon is once again slightly larger than Earth's moon. The trek around ZoNed4 requires a little more time. This would be 32 days in fact for every month, not just the seven 31-day months of Earth. ZoNed4 is notable for its eight-day weeks. This means that some Earth songs are a reality on ZoNed4 (aka "...eight days a week,") not just hyperbole as intended by the songwriters.

The eight days of the ZoNedian week have consequences that affect the weather and the seasons. The summers near the Equator, especially the desert countries are much hotter and much longer seasons. Winter in the northernmost and the temperate climes are much colder (on average 15-20 degrees colder in terms of the Fahrenheit scale,) much longer, and much more taxing on the emotions. ZoNed4 has a 50/50 land-sea ratio that intensifies the seasonal intensities that are more severe than Earth seasons are.