my thoughts, they bark like hounds
i focus on my breathing in the universal sound A sermon on Isaiah's vision & sermon to Hezekiah : This is the sound of Christmas. *Ring jingle bells.* At least, according to the airwaves . ISAIAH, though , says the coming of Christmas sounds more like this . *Strike ball-peen hammer against anvil.* The vision Isaiah’s given is a striking one. It sounds more like an instrument of war being hammered into an implement for farming , *Strike ball-peen hammer against anvil.* than jingle bells. And that’s a good thing, too. Because only a sound that piercing could ring out over what Isaiah had to live through. In today’s Scripture, Assyrian , the enemy , is at Jerusalem's gate . And the enemy wants to make their presence felt , too. You may have noticed that detail about how Assyria’s emissary, the Rabshakeh , spoke in the language of Judah . Well, that’s significant. It’s significant because when the armies of Assyria rolled on Jerusalem’s gate, Hezekiah, the king o...