There is a "Next Blog" link on top of my Blogspot page and because much of what I write includes spiritual themes and quotes from scripture the algorithms that work cyber space usually connect me when I click that spot with another blog that they determine I might have some "spiritual" connection to. Some of the time they actually get it right and I am (to use the term I've actually seen blasted on another blog) "blessed".
On the other hand those links have brought me to a mixture of the bizzar to the truly mundane with a hefty portion of Mormon sites in between. It seems that every lonely Mormon on mission must when they get back to their apartment dismount their bike, loosen their tie, take off their white shirt and black pants, grab some cold KFC and sit at the computer blogging about the kingdom so that Elder so and so who overseas their district will not suspect that it is actually party time tonight. This can all be an elaborate game because the Elders understand that Mormon mission usually serves the same purpose as the Amish "rumspringa"; Few outsiders get converted, wild oats are sown and the young men and woman eventually return to their close knit communities and settle down.
A side note to this is that there are also a ton of blogs written by married Mormon woman who give daily updates on their wonderful family activities. There is a huge audience for these blogs, mainly consisting of unchurched childless professional women living on the East Coast who adopt one or more of these sites and follow the families birthday parties, vacations and trips to the supermarket as if these were people they were related to.
From time to time I also run across sites where the author blogs about their atheistic beliefs. These sites usually have names like "Free Thinking Society" or "It IS all about me". An author of one such blog I came across this week proclaimed that since he had in the last 4 years covered about everything he could think of that this would be his last post. The post was very long and in it he highlighted all the various reasons that he had left the Catholic Church, examined with an open mind all the possibilities of the existence of God, and determined the folly of it all.
One such statement about a third of the way in seemed to me to jump off the page with flashing lights and peals of thunder and I knew that this was actually the crux of his problem with having faith in an unseen deity. He expressed anger that anyone would believe that god would make demands on us.
It's funny how different his path and thought process and mine would lead. I too was born and raised Catholic. Starting in high school and then college I became agnostic and then an atheist because I could not comprehend how God could be and could not say that I believed in something that was so far beyond my understanding. But I did have this thought that bothered me. To me it was only logical that IF there was God, and IF He knew who I was, then He Must have a will, a desire for the way I was to live my life. And If He had a desire for the way I was to live my life then logic said that things in my life would work out so much better if I knew what His will was.
The free thinker saw the will of God as a straight jacket. After I believed I understood the will of God as the source of all freedom.
Legendary musician Bob Dylan, in a song he wrote after his conversion experience, actually expressed the truth about how it is in this world for believer and non believer alike. We may think we are calling our own shots, but Dylan writes:
"You may be a state trooper, you might be a young turk
You may be the head of some big TV network
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame
You may be living in another country under another name
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, Yes
You're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord,
But you're gonna have to serve somebody."
Here is a post I wrote for my II Timothy 2:2 blog seven years ago. It is about faith and hopefully witnesses to the difference between faith and religion.
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11: 1)
Thus begins the great chapter on faith found in the Book of Hebrews. The word "now" brings us back to the theme found in the previous chapter. The people the author of Hebrews wrote to were enduring very difficult times. Jewish by birth or as converts they had come by faith to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Now, instead of being led to the knowledge of the truth by Jewish customs, laws and sacrifices they had something much better; "And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us . . . saying, 'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days says the Lord; I will put My laws upon their hearts, and upon their mind I will write them' " (Hebrews 10: 15-16)
The Jewish people had a temple which was patterned after the wilderness tabernacle, which itself was patterned after a tabernacle in Heaven. In the wilderness tabernacle there was a most holy place where the presence of God resided, the entrance blocked by a veil. Every year the Jewish high priest would enter through the veil into the most holy place to sprinkle the blood of a sacrifice as an offering for the sins of the nation. At the moment Jesus died on the cross the actual veil in the temple in Jerusalem, said to be two inches thick, tore from top to bottom. From then on all men, not just Jews, could come before the presence of God through the blood of Jesus; "by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh". (v. 20) Jesus offered His own blood in the original tabernacle in Heaven as an offering for our sins, and He becomes, for all who come to Him by faith, "a great high priest".
This high priest does not have to continually offer His blood as a sacrifice for our sins. It was offered, once for all; "But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God". (v. 12) When we come to Him by faith the Holy Spirit, because of the shed blood of Jesus, can bring the Spirit of Christ into our hearts so that we can become a new creation. The blood of Christ is not applied each time we sin. Instead, at conversion, it has changed who we are. We now have relationship with Jesus brought about through our faith in His shed blood for us. Out of that relationship develops fellowship with Him. Sin and rebellion affect the closeness of our fellowship. Yet the Holy Spirit is able to cleanse our body and our soul to restore any lost fellowship. The Spirit calls, revealing to us who Jesus is. We answer by faith, receiving new life by having a changed spirit. Our spirit or heart has now become a temple for the Holy Spirit who will guide us and enable us to have fellowship with the Father.
God is now truly our Father and Jesus, the first born of creation, is not only our High Priest, our Lord and Savior, but in a real sense is also our brother. Although Jesus became man and lived among us in this physical world, experience the good things that the physical world has, He was also tempted as we are and endured suffering and sorrow. Jesus, with a resurrected physical body, resides in Heaven and although we still have a not yet resurrected physical body our true citizenship is no longer in this physical world. Jesus leads us by the gentle prodding of the Spirit to a life that can overcome the world.
There are different kinds of faith. One leads to our eternal salvation, a salvation which we will know and experience in our lives now. It begins with faith, changes who we are, and positions us to be a holy people before the Lord for eternity. We are a holy people, not by what we do but by what He has already done. Through the blood of Jesus we have already overcome the world. But being in the world still affects both our walk with Christ and the fellowship that He greatly desires with us now.
A second kind of faith gives us the ability to resist the compromises of this world. We are confronted by attacks that are physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, and each one is a type of persecution designed by the enemy to take something away from us and to thus rob us of our fellowship with the Father. The enemy wants us to focus on the pain and struggles at hand, or on the false promises of happiness and security that the world seems to provide. But God has provided for us another Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who will help us through the struggles of today and lead us toward the direction that God has planned for us. The Hebrew Christians, being in a time of great stress, wanted the comfort of familiar customs and ritual. They were looking at their lives from the lens of where they were and not from the perspective of where God was leading them.
Thus we see the context of the faith examples in Hebrews 11. Even though these are Old Testament examples they are testimonies that God will reward those who have to make difficult choices because they saw by faith a greater reality. Many did not see or experience the full evidence of the promises during their physical lives but their obedience to the word that God gave them made possible the plan that God desired for them and their offspring. Many had to wait until only a miracle of God could make happen His promise and although discouraged they still trusted, finally seeing in a physical sense what they had already through faith saw in their hearts.
We live in a culture that does not trust that God knows what is best for us. Instead of searching the scriptures with an open and humble heart to hear the Spirit and discover the heart of God for us, instead of confessing our sins before God and man and taking steps to change as the Spirit leads, and instead of carving out of our lives the time needed to fellowship with our Father, we would rather have the comforts of religious laws and customs with the option of disagreeing with the particular tenants that make us uncomfortable.
By faith we come to know God. By faith we begin to understand that His promises are just and true and that He can accomplish in and for us all that He promised.
"Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful". (v. 22-23)
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Monday, May 25, 2015
This Memorial Day
Perhaps it was his face
the WWII vet
riding shotgun in a new Ford Mustang
from the curb I and those around me
applauding each man and woman
from different wars and conflicts
but he did more than wave back
he smiled, shyly, genuine
thank you he softly said
to us he said thank you
Close to where I now live
is a cemetery where
once a year someone reads names
all those from our pleasant town
who served with honor
here the march always ends
and as the bands approach
quiet save the cadence of drums
the mayor checks his notes
and a soldier unpacks his bugle
When he was alive and healthy
my father would rise early
join fellows from the local Legion
place flags by granite stones
each man and woman would be remembered
but he did not want to join the parade
one day I asked why
and he said it just wasn't him
dad was proud to have served
but he saw no glory in war
I saw my father today
in the faces of many who passed by
eyes that knew
posture and chins that said
duty and honor
even the old dude ignoring the crowd
telling a story to his driver
these are just dads and moms I thought
dressed in faded uniforms
who made this day possible
the WWII vet
riding shotgun in a new Ford Mustang
from the curb I and those around me
applauding each man and woman
from different wars and conflicts
but he did more than wave back
he smiled, shyly, genuine
thank you he softly said
to us he said thank you
Close to where I now live
is a cemetery where
once a year someone reads names
all those from our pleasant town
who served with honor
here the march always ends
and as the bands approach
quiet save the cadence of drums
the mayor checks his notes
and a soldier unpacks his bugle
When he was alive and healthy
my father would rise early
join fellows from the local Legion
place flags by granite stones
each man and woman would be remembered
but he did not want to join the parade
one day I asked why
and he said it just wasn't him
dad was proud to have served
but he saw no glory in war
I saw my father today
in the faces of many who passed by
eyes that knew
posture and chins that said
duty and honor
even the old dude ignoring the crowd
telling a story to his driver
these are just dads and moms I thought
dressed in faded uniforms
who made this day possible
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Review - Zane's Birthday Party
It is evident that every birthday party by necessity needs both a protagonist and a hero/heroine. In the case of a four year old's birthday the hero definitely is going to be the young boy who exclaimed when opening his super sized Nurf repeat shot blaster; I love this! I love this! I love this! Lucky we opened presents after eating because Zane's hands never let go of that gun for the rest of the day. No doubt he is sleeping with it as I write.
The party began earlier in the day when Jackie and I arrived to find Zane and some of his sisters and cousins playing on their new but used swing set. The set has a wood platform the kids can play in and they quickly invited me to climb the stairs and go into their fort. Once I surprised them by actually getting there they promptly kicked me out via the slide and told me that I was to be the enemy.
Those were just the words I was waiting for. You see this was to be a squirt gun party (guns are very big for Zane right now. Last week he sternly told his mom that she must take him to the gun store so he could get squirt guns for the party). Knowing this I came prepared. Their little guns would hold a small amount of water but the guns that Jackie picked up for me at the local Goodwill store were pretty big.
"Wait here kids" I told them. When I came back with guns blazing the war began. It was 1 against 8 to begin with but I held my own. More family arrived which meant reinforcements for those brave lads and lassies but without any additional help for me from my "Oh don't shoot me" sissy girls and their laughing husbands. After awhile a sure fact of life occurred to me. I would get not only very wet but also quite tired and would need a time out. They had no off button and did not really believe me when I told them that the garage was a safe place where no one was allowed to squirt anyone.
Eventually we all dried off or changed, ate our fill, opened presents, enjoyed cake and cup cakes and then the adults were left alone to tell our stories. I will sleep well and happy tonight.
The party began earlier in the day when Jackie and I arrived to find Zane and some of his sisters and cousins playing on their new but used swing set. The set has a wood platform the kids can play in and they quickly invited me to climb the stairs and go into their fort. Once I surprised them by actually getting there they promptly kicked me out via the slide and told me that I was to be the enemy.
Those were just the words I was waiting for. You see this was to be a squirt gun party (guns are very big for Zane right now. Last week he sternly told his mom that she must take him to the gun store so he could get squirt guns for the party). Knowing this I came prepared. Their little guns would hold a small amount of water but the guns that Jackie picked up for me at the local Goodwill store were pretty big.
"Wait here kids" I told them. When I came back with guns blazing the war began. It was 1 against 8 to begin with but I held my own. More family arrived which meant reinforcements for those brave lads and lassies but without any additional help for me from my "Oh don't shoot me" sissy girls and their laughing husbands. After awhile a sure fact of life occurred to me. I would get not only very wet but also quite tired and would need a time out. They had no off button and did not really believe me when I told them that the garage was a safe place where no one was allowed to squirt anyone.
Eventually we all dried off or changed, ate our fill, opened presents, enjoyed cake and cup cakes and then the adults were left alone to tell our stories. I will sleep well and happy tonight.
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Holy Power
Looking down at the dash board of a 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan during a driving test today I see 3 buttons. In the middle was one with a triangle symbol indicating the hazard lights. To the left was a button with a green gas tank symbol and 4 large letters spelling ECON. And then glancing at the button to the right I thought I saw - holy power. After a second and then third look I realized that it actually said - 110V power, which made more sense but certainly wasn't as cool.
In the last few months I have been getting a lot of inspiration from the Psalms but my favorite section has always been the last grouping of 5 that I'm in now that all begin with the phrase, "Praise the Lord!". There have been many times when I felt I needed a quick jolt of encouragement from the Word and would open my bible to that section, stand up and then read aloud one of those Psalms.
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens:
Praise Him from the heights!
Praise Him all His angles:
Praise Him all His hosts!
So begins Psalm 148. Try it sometime. When it is read aloud, proclaimed, exclaimed, it is a form of worship where we are doing exactly what we have been designed to do. I present it here as the holy power button that gives us spiritual energy to change the dynamics of our attitude but really, praising the Lord is not about us or what we can get by doing it.
The power comes because it puts our focus on Him. As we surrender our mind and our voice and our posture to freely proclaim praise to the One who is our Lord we are making His Lordship over us evident. This is proclaimed not just to us, body, soul and spirit, and not just to the physical world around us, but also to the spiritual world that surrounds us.
These Psalms also proclaim reasons why praise to the Lord should be proclaimed. He is the Creator. He is the One in whom there is salvation. He is the One who never forgets us, who provides all we need and who sets the captives free. In the section below we are reminded that the time to worship and praise Him, to press the holy power button, is now.
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord oh my soul!
I will praise the Lord while I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Do not trust in princes, in mortal man in whom there is no salvation.
His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;
In that very day his thoughts perish.
How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
Who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them;
Who keeps faith forever;
Who executes justice for the oppressed;
Who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free.
Psalm 146: 1-7
In the last few months I have been getting a lot of inspiration from the Psalms but my favorite section has always been the last grouping of 5 that I'm in now that all begin with the phrase, "Praise the Lord!". There have been many times when I felt I needed a quick jolt of encouragement from the Word and would open my bible to that section, stand up and then read aloud one of those Psalms.
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens:
Praise Him from the heights!
Praise Him all His angles:
Praise Him all His hosts!
So begins Psalm 148. Try it sometime. When it is read aloud, proclaimed, exclaimed, it is a form of worship where we are doing exactly what we have been designed to do. I present it here as the holy power button that gives us spiritual energy to change the dynamics of our attitude but really, praising the Lord is not about us or what we can get by doing it.
The power comes because it puts our focus on Him. As we surrender our mind and our voice and our posture to freely proclaim praise to the One who is our Lord we are making His Lordship over us evident. This is proclaimed not just to us, body, soul and spirit, and not just to the physical world around us, but also to the spiritual world that surrounds us.
These Psalms also proclaim reasons why praise to the Lord should be proclaimed. He is the Creator. He is the One in whom there is salvation. He is the One who never forgets us, who provides all we need and who sets the captives free. In the section below we are reminded that the time to worship and praise Him, to press the holy power button, is now.
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord oh my soul!
I will praise the Lord while I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Do not trust in princes, in mortal man in whom there is no salvation.
His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;
In that very day his thoughts perish.
How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
Who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them;
Who keeps faith forever;
Who executes justice for the oppressed;
Who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free.
Psalm 146: 1-7
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Choose Your Nap Times Well
In other news out of North Korea it has been reported that Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the execution of his chief defence minister, Hyon Yong-Chol, which was administered April 30 in front of an enthusiastic crowd of onlookers, supposedly because Hyon fell asleep at a meeting. The method of his demise was an anti-aircraft gun which rapidly fires 14.5 mm rounds.
The one thing I have always feared most in life (apart from clowns) are meetings. Long meetings with long talks going over subjects that either do not apply to me or subjects that do but I got the point in the first 2 minutes but know that we have at least 45 minutes more to go and then, just when I start to get out of my seat the person running the meeting asks if anyone has any questions and, guess what, someone who must have nothing better to do always raises their hand and we are all stuck for another 15 minutes.
Such is life (well, at least outside of North Korea). One learns early on how to manage all that wasted time. There are several things you absolutely must have at your disposal during meeting time. Most people would choose a strong cup of coffee (perhaps an eager, upcoming military aide put of few drops of something into Mr. Hyon's brew) but since my drinking habits have never even prompted me to step inside a Starbucks I need to go to plan B.
Plan B:
Something to write with.
Something to write on.
The write on material can be a yellow legal pad but for me it usually is the thoughtfully provided handout that lists the meeting's agenda. When I was about 3 and my mother would read me a Winnie The Poo book I was sure she was making things up and so I would ask mom to show me on the page where it said what she was saying. Mom would smile at me and say, "Bobby, I'm just reading between the lines." Little did my mother know that I would spend years of my childhood staring at those empty white spaces, trying to see what my mom could see.
But now, much wiser as an adult, those spaces are perfect for doodling. I am not an artist but I do like to have blue lines connect everything that is written. If the speaker says a word that I find intriguing, like " new paradigm" I will write that word down, circle it, and then connect those circled words to somewhere else on the page, perhaps to the circled words "monkey see, monkey do." Once I have a lot of lines I then need to ink in between those lines with circles, squares, cross hatching, gradually working my way out to the edge of the sheet.
When I was younger and needed to attend meetings I was a little more creative. Blue fighter planes circling and shooting down scary giant monsters that looked a bit like the guy or gal running the meeting, drag cars with giant rear tires, blue smoke streaming from the tires, or perhaps anti-aircraft lasers destroying incoming nuclear missiles. Hey, come to think of it, maybe 32 year old Kim Jong-Un was in a meeting listening to some general citing yet another round of statistics as to how many Americans they can annihilate and he glances up and sees General Hyon catching 40. Kim connects the dots, hands his agenda to an aide and BOOM, all his dreams come true.
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me, or maybe I'm just reading between the lines.
The one thing I have always feared most in life (apart from clowns) are meetings. Long meetings with long talks going over subjects that either do not apply to me or subjects that do but I got the point in the first 2 minutes but know that we have at least 45 minutes more to go and then, just when I start to get out of my seat the person running the meeting asks if anyone has any questions and, guess what, someone who must have nothing better to do always raises their hand and we are all stuck for another 15 minutes.
Such is life (well, at least outside of North Korea). One learns early on how to manage all that wasted time. There are several things you absolutely must have at your disposal during meeting time. Most people would choose a strong cup of coffee (perhaps an eager, upcoming military aide put of few drops of something into Mr. Hyon's brew) but since my drinking habits have never even prompted me to step inside a Starbucks I need to go to plan B.
Plan B:
Something to write with.
Something to write on.
The write on material can be a yellow legal pad but for me it usually is the thoughtfully provided handout that lists the meeting's agenda. When I was about 3 and my mother would read me a Winnie The Poo book I was sure she was making things up and so I would ask mom to show me on the page where it said what she was saying. Mom would smile at me and say, "Bobby, I'm just reading between the lines." Little did my mother know that I would spend years of my childhood staring at those empty white spaces, trying to see what my mom could see.
But now, much wiser as an adult, those spaces are perfect for doodling. I am not an artist but I do like to have blue lines connect everything that is written. If the speaker says a word that I find intriguing, like " new paradigm" I will write that word down, circle it, and then connect those circled words to somewhere else on the page, perhaps to the circled words "monkey see, monkey do." Once I have a lot of lines I then need to ink in between those lines with circles, squares, cross hatching, gradually working my way out to the edge of the sheet.
When I was younger and needed to attend meetings I was a little more creative. Blue fighter planes circling and shooting down scary giant monsters that looked a bit like the guy or gal running the meeting, drag cars with giant rear tires, blue smoke streaming from the tires, or perhaps anti-aircraft lasers destroying incoming nuclear missiles. Hey, come to think of it, maybe 32 year old Kim Jong-Un was in a meeting listening to some general citing yet another round of statistics as to how many Americans they can annihilate and he glances up and sees General Hyon catching 40. Kim connects the dots, hands his agenda to an aide and BOOM, all his dreams come true.
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me, or maybe I'm just reading between the lines.
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Who Could Stand?
If You, Lord, should mark our iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.
Psalm 130: 3-4
I don't want to be a bandwagon Christian, someone who has hopped on the glory train, blowing my whistle, singing my songs, brushing aside my weakness and taking for granted all the grace and mercy that has been extended my way.
There is a story I read many years ago about a man who went over to some country in Europe to pray for revival. He got himself a hotel room and then spent days in constant prayer for the group or country he was interceding for. The stories author came to visit, found out the guy's room, knocked on the door and the voice inside told him to come in. When he entered the room the presence of the Lord was so heavy that he was forced to the floor, where he found the man he was looking for. After talking with the guy for awhile the author had to crawl out of the room before he was able to stand again.
That is the picture I got when reading the verse from Psalm 130. God is not only loving and merciful and forgiving but His forgiveness reminds us that He is holy. We are made in His image so it must be possible to come into His presence but that also means that His desire for us, His pure and loving desire, is that sin is not part of our lives. We are not to hold onto it, to entertain it or to ignore it.
We are made body, soul and spirit and at salvation our spirit is reborn. Because of the grace of God our spirit is then free from sin and remains free from sin allowing the Holy Spirit to come in and reside there. But after salvation and throughout our lives the body retains many of it's carnal desires and the soul, our will and our personality is still is in the process of being transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Thus it says in scripture:
Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12: 1-2
Psalm 130 is part of a series of Psalms which pilgrims would sing on their travels up to the temple in Jerusalem to observe one of the major Jewish feasts. Once there they would have the priests offer sacrifices for their sins. But as it says other places in Psalms, God Himself takes no pleasure in the blood of those sacrifices.
The verse in Psalm 130 acknowledges that we in ourselves are powerless to stand before a holy God. And God's desire, then as now, is not for us to try and justify ourselves by religious acts, even those required. Instead He looks to the desire of the heart, the feeling that we have sinned against God and man and want to, need to be forgiven.
It is the same desire that our Father wants from us today. We are in a sense still like those pilgrims heading up to Jerusalem. Our bodies are weak and our souls struggle to respond clearly to the moving of The Holy Spirit and we fall short. Our daily struggle is to not be conformed to this world. Our sacrifice is to continually seek Him, to trust Him, to live our lives full of the fear of the Lord but free from the fear of man.
One day, in one sense or another, we will all stand before an Awesome and Holy God. Blessed is he that is forgiven.
O Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.
Psalm 130: 3-4
I don't want to be a bandwagon Christian, someone who has hopped on the glory train, blowing my whistle, singing my songs, brushing aside my weakness and taking for granted all the grace and mercy that has been extended my way.
There is a story I read many years ago about a man who went over to some country in Europe to pray for revival. He got himself a hotel room and then spent days in constant prayer for the group or country he was interceding for. The stories author came to visit, found out the guy's room, knocked on the door and the voice inside told him to come in. When he entered the room the presence of the Lord was so heavy that he was forced to the floor, where he found the man he was looking for. After talking with the guy for awhile the author had to crawl out of the room before he was able to stand again.
That is the picture I got when reading the verse from Psalm 130. God is not only loving and merciful and forgiving but His forgiveness reminds us that He is holy. We are made in His image so it must be possible to come into His presence but that also means that His desire for us, His pure and loving desire, is that sin is not part of our lives. We are not to hold onto it, to entertain it or to ignore it.
We are made body, soul and spirit and at salvation our spirit is reborn. Because of the grace of God our spirit is then free from sin and remains free from sin allowing the Holy Spirit to come in and reside there. But after salvation and throughout our lives the body retains many of it's carnal desires and the soul, our will and our personality is still is in the process of being transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Thus it says in scripture:
Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12: 1-2
Psalm 130 is part of a series of Psalms which pilgrims would sing on their travels up to the temple in Jerusalem to observe one of the major Jewish feasts. Once there they would have the priests offer sacrifices for their sins. But as it says other places in Psalms, God Himself takes no pleasure in the blood of those sacrifices.
The verse in Psalm 130 acknowledges that we in ourselves are powerless to stand before a holy God. And God's desire, then as now, is not for us to try and justify ourselves by religious acts, even those required. Instead He looks to the desire of the heart, the feeling that we have sinned against God and man and want to, need to be forgiven.
It is the same desire that our Father wants from us today. We are in a sense still like those pilgrims heading up to Jerusalem. Our bodies are weak and our souls struggle to respond clearly to the moving of The Holy Spirit and we fall short. Our daily struggle is to not be conformed to this world. Our sacrifice is to continually seek Him, to trust Him, to live our lives full of the fear of the Lord but free from the fear of man.
One day, in one sense or another, we will all stand before an Awesome and Holy God. Blessed is he that is forgiven.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Bad Jokes
It was beautiful yesterday and May 4th is something called Star Wars appreciation day. I first became aware of this while checking out my FB account before work and noticed that a couple of friends had posted "May the 4th be with you." Then later that afternoon a young man I was testing told me that at his school everyone was greeting each other with that phrase and the appropriate reply was "And with you also."
I made the mistake of remarking to the kid and his father that on the 4th Yoda had a fifth and that's how it all started, funny voice and all. Somehow inspired by this the dad goes into a perfect high pitch Yoda impersonation and says "Not so bad an idea it is." When I started laughing he assures me; "I've got teenagers, what can I say?"
One of my daughters can do voices and impersonations and can carry on a conversation in character until everyone is on the floor, holding their stomachs and begging her to stop. I am not good at that but yesterday I was wishing that I could do a good Yoda and conduct the rest of my test that way.
Today is the 5th of May, or Cinco De Mayo, which is a big deal in our area because of the large Hispanic population here. Cinco De Mayo does not mean a fifth of mayonaise but rather remembers a day in 1862 in central Mexico when a Mexican army defeated a French army which eventually leads as I see it to the delicious tacos that Monsieur LaBarge enjoyed last night.
Today was not as nice weather wise but on one of my tests during a cool spring rain we were in a red Saturn Vue. The residential area ends at a T at 32nd street and I thought that maybe I would try out one of my Saturn Vue jokes on the son and father. "A few years ago a vehicle just like this was traveling 80 miles per hour on this street, flew over the curb and landed in the house ahead of us. ("Oh my gosh" gasps the father) When they asked the home owner how he felt about it he remarked, 'Oh, not so bad. I always wanted a room with a view.' "
The dad seems confused and the son remarks, "Oh, I get it. He wanted a picture window." I then need to explain to them that we were in a Saturn "Vue", room with a view, etc., etc. I did not explain that this was a joke although if I told it in a Yoda voice it might have gone over better. I work better in the sun.
I made the mistake of remarking to the kid and his father that on the 4th Yoda had a fifth and that's how it all started, funny voice and all. Somehow inspired by this the dad goes into a perfect high pitch Yoda impersonation and says "Not so bad an idea it is." When I started laughing he assures me; "I've got teenagers, what can I say?"
One of my daughters can do voices and impersonations and can carry on a conversation in character until everyone is on the floor, holding their stomachs and begging her to stop. I am not good at that but yesterday I was wishing that I could do a good Yoda and conduct the rest of my test that way.
Today is the 5th of May, or Cinco De Mayo, which is a big deal in our area because of the large Hispanic population here. Cinco De Mayo does not mean a fifth of mayonaise but rather remembers a day in 1862 in central Mexico when a Mexican army defeated a French army which eventually leads as I see it to the delicious tacos that Monsieur LaBarge enjoyed last night.
Today was not as nice weather wise but on one of my tests during a cool spring rain we were in a red Saturn Vue. The residential area ends at a T at 32nd street and I thought that maybe I would try out one of my Saturn Vue jokes on the son and father. "A few years ago a vehicle just like this was traveling 80 miles per hour on this street, flew over the curb and landed in the house ahead of us. ("Oh my gosh" gasps the father) When they asked the home owner how he felt about it he remarked, 'Oh, not so bad. I always wanted a room with a view.' "
The dad seems confused and the son remarks, "Oh, I get it. He wanted a picture window." I then need to explain to them that we were in a Saturn "Vue", room with a view, etc., etc. I did not explain that this was a joke although if I told it in a Yoda voice it might have gone over better. I work better in the sun.
Sunday, May 3, 2015
There Is Power In The Name Of Jesus
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From whence shall my help come?
My help comes from the Lord
Who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121: 1
There is a scene in the movie You've Got Mail (which thanks to my daughter Missy I have seen about a dozen times) where the Meg Ryan character opines via the Internet to the Tom Hanks character that she wishes she had the ability to say what ever she wanted when ever she wanted, or in the context of the film to insert the perfect zinger to her antagonist just at the point where it would hurt the most.
That was kinda like what I was feeling the other day. While blog trolling I came across a site where the guy writing it was able to say all this nasty but true stuff about things and situations and personalities in politics and religion that I also believe but never blog about. After indulging myself there for awhile I thought that maybe I could go somewhat the same route. Oh, not on this blog mind you because in my pride I didn't want to tarnish it's image in any way but it would be easy you know to set up another site and vent there.
This I did. The template looked nice, the blog title was good but when thoughts came to impulses on my fingers hovering over those pretty white keys I thought that to begin I really needed to ease into it. I didn't want to be nasty like the other guy, just free to "expand" the subject matter a bit, maybe with a little edge to it. My first post was about a sign I saw on the rear window of a car that related to economics and politics and the second was just another one of my road test stories that was only cutting edge because of the joke about cutting up people's brains.
A funny thing then happened on my way to the forum. Part way into trying to write a new post for the You Done Say What blog I wrote some thoughts down, came back to them a couple of times and finally erased everything I had written. It not only wasn't good but I knew that the Lord wasn't in the way I was trying to express myself either.
When I was young and a non believer I was pretty good at sarcasm. Unlike the Meg Ryan character I was talented at coming up with a quick quip. That was one of the first things that the Holy Spirit started to work on in my life after becoming a believer (and still does). Now I struggle with trying to find the balance of speaking the truth without trying to hurt someone at the same time. This is not easy.
As I was laying in bed a couple of days ago after reading scripture and praying the thought came to me that the Lord had been blessing my efforts on the You Done Say What blog but He wanted me to know that those blessings could end. One of my prayer request every night is to be sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit in what I write. Now the Holy Spirit was nudging me to remain true to what I had been doing and not to branch out in a different direction, even at a second site.
There are so many things in our world today that the enemy has his hands on and there is a blindness over the eyes of a lot of people both in and out of the Church as to what is going on. The solutions suggested for these problems are wrong and the public narrative is wrong and they are wrong because the problems are spiritual in nature.
God has a plan and purpose for every life but He also has designed a blue print and an order for our lives to be lived. When we are out of that order the enemy gains a foot hold and before long starts dictating his plans and his solution to our problems. And we are none the wiser.
It can all seem so overwhelming at times. My heart hurts not only for those I see suffering but also for those who are walking the path of deception and seem to go down it further each day.
When troubles have come in my life since surrendering it to Jesus Christ I have responded to my needs the same way as the psalmist describes; From whence shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord.
But I had forgotten that it is still possible to be empowered to fight the world and flesh and devil, daunting as that may appear. The words of one of the songs we sang at church today give me great hope. It is not a formula or a nice little saying or a comment on past history. It reflects who I am as a believer and what my commission is as a disciple. It jumps off the page and shakes through my fist and as I close my eyes I know that it is not by my wisdom or righteousness or anything I can do on my own power, save speak the name that is above every name to those that are bound by darkness.
There is power in the name of Jesus
There is power in the name of Jesus
There is power in the name of Jesus
To break every chain, to break every chain, to break every chain
From whence shall my help come?
My help comes from the Lord
Who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121: 1
There is a scene in the movie You've Got Mail (which thanks to my daughter Missy I have seen about a dozen times) where the Meg Ryan character opines via the Internet to the Tom Hanks character that she wishes she had the ability to say what ever she wanted when ever she wanted, or in the context of the film to insert the perfect zinger to her antagonist just at the point where it would hurt the most.
That was kinda like what I was feeling the other day. While blog trolling I came across a site where the guy writing it was able to say all this nasty but true stuff about things and situations and personalities in politics and religion that I also believe but never blog about. After indulging myself there for awhile I thought that maybe I could go somewhat the same route. Oh, not on this blog mind you because in my pride I didn't want to tarnish it's image in any way but it would be easy you know to set up another site and vent there.
This I did. The template looked nice, the blog title was good but when thoughts came to impulses on my fingers hovering over those pretty white keys I thought that to begin I really needed to ease into it. I didn't want to be nasty like the other guy, just free to "expand" the subject matter a bit, maybe with a little edge to it. My first post was about a sign I saw on the rear window of a car that related to economics and politics and the second was just another one of my road test stories that was only cutting edge because of the joke about cutting up people's brains.
A funny thing then happened on my way to the forum. Part way into trying to write a new post for the You Done Say What blog I wrote some thoughts down, came back to them a couple of times and finally erased everything I had written. It not only wasn't good but I knew that the Lord wasn't in the way I was trying to express myself either.
When I was young and a non believer I was pretty good at sarcasm. Unlike the Meg Ryan character I was talented at coming up with a quick quip. That was one of the first things that the Holy Spirit started to work on in my life after becoming a believer (and still does). Now I struggle with trying to find the balance of speaking the truth without trying to hurt someone at the same time. This is not easy.
As I was laying in bed a couple of days ago after reading scripture and praying the thought came to me that the Lord had been blessing my efforts on the You Done Say What blog but He wanted me to know that those blessings could end. One of my prayer request every night is to be sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit in what I write. Now the Holy Spirit was nudging me to remain true to what I had been doing and not to branch out in a different direction, even at a second site.
There are so many things in our world today that the enemy has his hands on and there is a blindness over the eyes of a lot of people both in and out of the Church as to what is going on. The solutions suggested for these problems are wrong and the public narrative is wrong and they are wrong because the problems are spiritual in nature.
God has a plan and purpose for every life but He also has designed a blue print and an order for our lives to be lived. When we are out of that order the enemy gains a foot hold and before long starts dictating his plans and his solution to our problems. And we are none the wiser.
It can all seem so overwhelming at times. My heart hurts not only for those I see suffering but also for those who are walking the path of deception and seem to go down it further each day.
When troubles have come in my life since surrendering it to Jesus Christ I have responded to my needs the same way as the psalmist describes; From whence shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord.
But I had forgotten that it is still possible to be empowered to fight the world and flesh and devil, daunting as that may appear. The words of one of the songs we sang at church today give me great hope. It is not a formula or a nice little saying or a comment on past history. It reflects who I am as a believer and what my commission is as a disciple. It jumps off the page and shakes through my fist and as I close my eyes I know that it is not by my wisdom or righteousness or anything I can do on my own power, save speak the name that is above every name to those that are bound by darkness.
There is power in the name of Jesus
There is power in the name of Jesus
There is power in the name of Jesus
To break every chain, to break every chain, to break every chain
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