Hush little baby don't you cry
daddy's gonna sing you a lullaby
and when that lullaby is gone
daddy's gonna tell you a sad sad song
Tell me little child what you're worth
even if we didn't see your birth
they bid on your parts and found a price
over a lunch that seemed so nice
You might have been a fab poet
writing our thoughts so we'd know it
you might have sung a happy tune
and we'd be dancing from dawn till noon
Oh dear sweetie where did you go
they said you were nothing but how did they know
several more months and the sun would've shine
but for you there was never time
Hush little precious one two three
tossed in the trash so no one'd see
out of sight and out of mind
but your tiny spirit lives on in time
Shuss my honey don't be sad
if your mommy knew you she'd be glad
maybe in the darkness she couldn't cope
but you had potential and so much hope
Hmm Hmm Hmm now quiet dear
you'll never have a worry or a fear
um um um our song is done
waiting for the judgment's that bound to come
Friday, July 24, 2015
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Eight Ball, Side Pocket
My favorite elementary school teacher had to be Sister Mary Kenneth who taught 8th grade and was principle at St. Francis de Sales school. She stood about 5'1", wore the full black and white habit, and one enduring memory is having watched her get mad at 6' tall, 200 lb. Mike Fink.
I had never even seen Sister Mary Kenneth get upset before but when Big Mike had the audacity to talk back to her one day the transformation in our sweet little nun was amazing. She picked up her ruler and headed straight for Mike. Big Mike actually screamed and ran away. After 3 laps around the classroom, Sister Mary Kenneth's robes flowing behind her, Mike still yelling, he found the door to the hallway and made his escape.
At that point we thought the good Sister was going to have a heart attack. She sat down on one of the students desk chairs trying to catch her breath. Mike was back in class the next day, not another word was said about it and no one ever again tried to talk back to our dear leader.
Another memory of mine about Sister Mary Kenneth, apart from her wrong prediction that I would one day end up in politics, is a story she told our class one day. She was talking about a saint so and so. When he was young and a seminary student he was playing pool with a few other seminarians.
The question came up about what would you do if you knew that you only had 2 hours to live. One of the boys said he would immediately get down on his knees and pray. Another said that he would head straight for church and have the priest hear his confession. A third talked about writing a letter to everyone he had wronged to ask their forgiveness.
Saint so and so had a different kind of answer. He said that he had already taken care of his business with God and so he might just as well keep playing pool.
Some years later, long after Sister Mary Kenneth was gone, I returned to that class room and gave a talk to the students. I told them that everyday for years I would sit in a desk just like theirs, look up at the crucifix hanging on the front wall and yet never realized that when Jesus died on the cross it was actually for me personally that He died. That only came after I had graduated from a Catholic college, having been an atheist my entire time there.
One night at one of our family prayer meetings our Aunt Virginia shared about a scripture that she said changed her life. She had been a believer her entire life, studied the Bible constantly and taught Sunday school for many years. She had a brother who was a minister, another brother (my father-in-law) who was a very popular Bible teacher who had also introduced her to the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Virginia was reading from the 6th chapter of Romans where it says:
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
There is a lot more before and after this in Romans to the argument that Paul is making about who we are in Christ Jesus, all leading to the great statement in Romans 8: 1-2;
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Aunt Virginia had spent her whole life striving to be the best Christian she could be. The problem with that, even though she had no doubt concerning her salvation, is nothing she ever did seemed to be enough. While reading that passage in Romans it finally became clear to her. Even though she was still living in the same fleshly body and her soul struggled with doing what she could to be good, her old self was truly dead. She was in Christ Jesus and nothing could change that.
This thought was liberating. It didn't mean that now she could now go out and live a carnal life. That was never her desire. It did mean that if she fell short everything was still OK. The Father loved her, Jesus had saved her, the Holy Spirit was working in her life and would do so as long as long as she was willing to listen.
There are a lot of people just like my Aunt Gin. They know and love their Lord and Savior, are good parents, spend time in prayer and in the Word, are the first to reach out to others in their time of need and give of their own time and talents to serve the local church. But the tactics of the enemy toward the believer are just the same as they have always been.
The enemy does not want there to be peace in our hearts; 'It is not enough, you know how weak you really are, there is another level of experience that you are missing.'
The enemy wants to fill us with religious pride; 'They really need you here, no one else can do this the way you do, you work harder than all the rest.'
The enemy wants to replace being led by the Spirit with good sounding but carnal religious actions; 'Follow the 12 step path of Christ to the center, repeat this written prayer 3 times a day, this is the formula for blessing.'
I am a weak person but I do know that Jesus has redeemed me, changed me, and given me newness of life. Like saint so and so I have settled my business with God. There will always be more that He desires for me because of His great love for me and so when I am willing He gently takes me by the hand and leads me on.
Life will always be busy. It will always be crazy. The enemy will always lie to us and cheat because that is his nature. I had only one shot but that's all I needed and I'll call it for you right now. I have been baptized into the death and resurrection of my Christ Jesus and He has given me new life. Take that enemy! Eight ball, side pocket, game over.
I had never even seen Sister Mary Kenneth get upset before but when Big Mike had the audacity to talk back to her one day the transformation in our sweet little nun was amazing. She picked up her ruler and headed straight for Mike. Big Mike actually screamed and ran away. After 3 laps around the classroom, Sister Mary Kenneth's robes flowing behind her, Mike still yelling, he found the door to the hallway and made his escape.
At that point we thought the good Sister was going to have a heart attack. She sat down on one of the students desk chairs trying to catch her breath. Mike was back in class the next day, not another word was said about it and no one ever again tried to talk back to our dear leader.
Another memory of mine about Sister Mary Kenneth, apart from her wrong prediction that I would one day end up in politics, is a story she told our class one day. She was talking about a saint so and so. When he was young and a seminary student he was playing pool with a few other seminarians.
The question came up about what would you do if you knew that you only had 2 hours to live. One of the boys said he would immediately get down on his knees and pray. Another said that he would head straight for church and have the priest hear his confession. A third talked about writing a letter to everyone he had wronged to ask their forgiveness.
Saint so and so had a different kind of answer. He said that he had already taken care of his business with God and so he might just as well keep playing pool.
Some years later, long after Sister Mary Kenneth was gone, I returned to that class room and gave a talk to the students. I told them that everyday for years I would sit in a desk just like theirs, look up at the crucifix hanging on the front wall and yet never realized that when Jesus died on the cross it was actually for me personally that He died. That only came after I had graduated from a Catholic college, having been an atheist my entire time there.
One night at one of our family prayer meetings our Aunt Virginia shared about a scripture that she said changed her life. She had been a believer her entire life, studied the Bible constantly and taught Sunday school for many years. She had a brother who was a minister, another brother (my father-in-law) who was a very popular Bible teacher who had also introduced her to the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Virginia was reading from the 6th chapter of Romans where it says:
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
There is a lot more before and after this in Romans to the argument that Paul is making about who we are in Christ Jesus, all leading to the great statement in Romans 8: 1-2;
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Aunt Virginia had spent her whole life striving to be the best Christian she could be. The problem with that, even though she had no doubt concerning her salvation, is nothing she ever did seemed to be enough. While reading that passage in Romans it finally became clear to her. Even though she was still living in the same fleshly body and her soul struggled with doing what she could to be good, her old self was truly dead. She was in Christ Jesus and nothing could change that.
This thought was liberating. It didn't mean that now she could now go out and live a carnal life. That was never her desire. It did mean that if she fell short everything was still OK. The Father loved her, Jesus had saved her, the Holy Spirit was working in her life and would do so as long as long as she was willing to listen.
There are a lot of people just like my Aunt Gin. They know and love their Lord and Savior, are good parents, spend time in prayer and in the Word, are the first to reach out to others in their time of need and give of their own time and talents to serve the local church. But the tactics of the enemy toward the believer are just the same as they have always been.
The enemy does not want there to be peace in our hearts; 'It is not enough, you know how weak you really are, there is another level of experience that you are missing.'
The enemy wants to fill us with religious pride; 'They really need you here, no one else can do this the way you do, you work harder than all the rest.'
The enemy wants to replace being led by the Spirit with good sounding but carnal religious actions; 'Follow the 12 step path of Christ to the center, repeat this written prayer 3 times a day, this is the formula for blessing.'
I am a weak person but I do know that Jesus has redeemed me, changed me, and given me newness of life. Like saint so and so I have settled my business with God. There will always be more that He desires for me because of His great love for me and so when I am willing He gently takes me by the hand and leads me on.
Life will always be busy. It will always be crazy. The enemy will always lie to us and cheat because that is his nature. I had only one shot but that's all I needed and I'll call it for you right now. I have been baptized into the death and resurrection of my Christ Jesus and He has given me new life. Take that enemy! Eight ball, side pocket, game over.
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Greek Fire
The other morning I was standing in my shower, happily singing in tongues to a tune that reminded me of liturgical singing, and I thought that I would sing out in English as the Spirit led me.
The night before I had been wondering about and researching what the possible consequences would be to Greece defaulting on their debt and how I should be preparing for a chain reaction that might effect our economy and banking system.
At church the day before that I sat behind a pastor I knew whose wife is Greek and they had just returned from a vacation visiting family in Greece. While they were there people were only allowed to withdraw a maximum of 67 dollars U.S. per day from their bank accounts. The economy of Greece is only about the size of Alabama's, 2 per cent of the Eurozone, but they have a huge debt they cannot pay and there are several other European countries with unsustainable debt loads waiting in the wings. If the dominoes start to fall a banking crisis could lead to other continents and then to the U.S. in a very short time.
This is what the Lord led me to sing in English:
"There are ways that seem right to man.
There are ways that are right to God."
Pretty simple huh? It would have been nice to have gotten more but that's all that seemed right.
The thought was pretty much what I had read in Proverbs the night before and perhaps that was the connection my brain or my spirit or both were making:
The plans of the heart belong to man,
But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. (Proverbs 16:1)
The financial crisis in Greece did not just happen over night. The country is run by stringent communist who have for years paid for all the wonderful benefits they provide for the population through borrowed money. Eventually they could not afford even the interest payments and their creditors have demanded that they make major concessions such as reducing benefits so they can have the means to pay what they owe. The communist government actually has a lot of potential assets because they own just about all the major industries as well as a lot of swell property but the hard liners do not want to privatize or to encourage a capitalist system that would develop anything for a profit.
The tactic for the Greeks now and for their socialist brethren in other countries including America is to ignore the fact that debts ultimately do need to be paid and instead ask the creditors how they can do something so awful to all those poor people in Greece. But the day to pay up has come and whatever happens from here out will not be pretty.
There will come a day when the U.S. will have to pay up. Apart from our tremendous current debt (over 18 trillion and growing) and our future unfunded social promises (100 trillion by conservative accounting, or over 200 trillion by global warming type accounting) we have a shrinking per cent of the population working (67.4 per cent compared to 70.9 per cent in 2008) to support an ever increasing per cent of the population that receives government benefits (i.e. there are now over 47 million getting food stamps).
How do we make up the difference? Well, we can reduce spending but that won't happen in today's politics until there is a major crisis. We can increase taxes (not for you and me but for the rich. When the majority votes to take more money from a small minority I call that stealing but politics calls it "fairness") We can grow the economy, get more people working in the private sector and thus paying taxes. But then some people might get rich and that's no good. So,you guessed it. We make up the difference by borrowing more money.
If a number of countries get caught up in this current debt crisis and countries start to pull out their money from U.S. banks things could quickly get ugly here. I am not saying it is going to happen soon but I am saying that things do not always stay the same and the wise thing is to think things through so that you will have a plan and not need to panic when and if the time comes.
What makes me wonder is that there have been major setbacks in the markets aligned with a major Jewish feast in the fall of 2001 and the fall of 2008. This fall marks the end of another 7 year period and is also the end of the series of blood moons and eclipses happening in the last 2 years.
What also makes me wonder is that I sense a tidal shift of anti Christian feeling. Although I pray that it will lead to revival and to a greater maturity for the current church I can also see a further falling away from orthodox beliefs and an oncoming persecution for those that hold fast to Biblical truth.
Pastor Craig Miller wrote a blog post on May 30th which had a quote from the retired Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Francis George, a theological conservative within the Roman Catholic Church who was not afraid to express his views on issues from abortion to the gay rights movement. "He often expressed concern over what he believed was the eroding of religious liberty in the U.S."
Cardinal George died on April 17 and here is a statement he made before his death.
"It is likely that I will die in my bed. My successor will die in prison. His successor will die executed in the public square."
George goes on to see the Catholic Church eventually picking up the pieces of a broken society and I see rather the second coming of Jesus but I was struck because we both have the same concern. Social norms are rapidly changing and the government and courts are and will heavily penalize those who express opposition.
We are not yet to the point where mobs will drag us out of our beds because of our Christian beliefs but we are naive if we believe that it could never happen here. Just this week I read a political article shared on FB which used these interesting phrases to describe certain presidential candidates: "Religious tribalism", "Folksy nonsense about Jesus", "Dark Ages version of Christianity", "prehistoric ideas on social issues" and "ugly bigotry toward the LGBT community". To you and me those thoughts may seem far to the fringe but to a lot of the younger population in our country this is what they hear day in and day out and it is gospel.
What is surprising is not that the world does not agree with traditional conservative Christian beliefs but that those who say they value tolerance are less and less tolerant toward Christian's who do not remain silent in word or deed. And they seem to be getting more emotional about it. But I guess this is what should be expected, isn't it?
So what should we do if there is a banking crisis, or a food shortage, or riots in the street?
The plans of the heart belong to man,
But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
I can tell you from personal experience that no matter what happens God is in control of our lives and we need to learn to pray like we've never done before, search the Word for wisdom daily and trust, trust, trust that God will provide and see us through. The worse things get the more we will gain by giving and sharing what we have. The more crazy the world gets against the truth of scripture the more we need to proclaim it in love. Cast your cares upon the Lord and even in the midst of the storm He will give you peace.
Remember,
There are ways that seem right to man.
There are ways that are right to God.
The night before I had been wondering about and researching what the possible consequences would be to Greece defaulting on their debt and how I should be preparing for a chain reaction that might effect our economy and banking system.
At church the day before that I sat behind a pastor I knew whose wife is Greek and they had just returned from a vacation visiting family in Greece. While they were there people were only allowed to withdraw a maximum of 67 dollars U.S. per day from their bank accounts. The economy of Greece is only about the size of Alabama's, 2 per cent of the Eurozone, but they have a huge debt they cannot pay and there are several other European countries with unsustainable debt loads waiting in the wings. If the dominoes start to fall a banking crisis could lead to other continents and then to the U.S. in a very short time.
This is what the Lord led me to sing in English:
"There are ways that seem right to man.
There are ways that are right to God."
Pretty simple huh? It would have been nice to have gotten more but that's all that seemed right.
The thought was pretty much what I had read in Proverbs the night before and perhaps that was the connection my brain or my spirit or both were making:
The plans of the heart belong to man,
But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. (Proverbs 16:1)
The financial crisis in Greece did not just happen over night. The country is run by stringent communist who have for years paid for all the wonderful benefits they provide for the population through borrowed money. Eventually they could not afford even the interest payments and their creditors have demanded that they make major concessions such as reducing benefits so they can have the means to pay what they owe. The communist government actually has a lot of potential assets because they own just about all the major industries as well as a lot of swell property but the hard liners do not want to privatize or to encourage a capitalist system that would develop anything for a profit.
The tactic for the Greeks now and for their socialist brethren in other countries including America is to ignore the fact that debts ultimately do need to be paid and instead ask the creditors how they can do something so awful to all those poor people in Greece. But the day to pay up has come and whatever happens from here out will not be pretty.
There will come a day when the U.S. will have to pay up. Apart from our tremendous current debt (over 18 trillion and growing) and our future unfunded social promises (100 trillion by conservative accounting, or over 200 trillion by global warming type accounting) we have a shrinking per cent of the population working (67.4 per cent compared to 70.9 per cent in 2008) to support an ever increasing per cent of the population that receives government benefits (i.e. there are now over 47 million getting food stamps).
How do we make up the difference? Well, we can reduce spending but that won't happen in today's politics until there is a major crisis. We can increase taxes (not for you and me but for the rich. When the majority votes to take more money from a small minority I call that stealing but politics calls it "fairness") We can grow the economy, get more people working in the private sector and thus paying taxes. But then some people might get rich and that's no good. So,you guessed it. We make up the difference by borrowing more money.
If a number of countries get caught up in this current debt crisis and countries start to pull out their money from U.S. banks things could quickly get ugly here. I am not saying it is going to happen soon but I am saying that things do not always stay the same and the wise thing is to think things through so that you will have a plan and not need to panic when and if the time comes.
What makes me wonder is that there have been major setbacks in the markets aligned with a major Jewish feast in the fall of 2001 and the fall of 2008. This fall marks the end of another 7 year period and is also the end of the series of blood moons and eclipses happening in the last 2 years.
What also makes me wonder is that I sense a tidal shift of anti Christian feeling. Although I pray that it will lead to revival and to a greater maturity for the current church I can also see a further falling away from orthodox beliefs and an oncoming persecution for those that hold fast to Biblical truth.
Pastor Craig Miller wrote a blog post on May 30th which had a quote from the retired Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Francis George, a theological conservative within the Roman Catholic Church who was not afraid to express his views on issues from abortion to the gay rights movement. "He often expressed concern over what he believed was the eroding of religious liberty in the U.S."
Cardinal George died on April 17 and here is a statement he made before his death.
"It is likely that I will die in my bed. My successor will die in prison. His successor will die executed in the public square."
George goes on to see the Catholic Church eventually picking up the pieces of a broken society and I see rather the second coming of Jesus but I was struck because we both have the same concern. Social norms are rapidly changing and the government and courts are and will heavily penalize those who express opposition.
We are not yet to the point where mobs will drag us out of our beds because of our Christian beliefs but we are naive if we believe that it could never happen here. Just this week I read a political article shared on FB which used these interesting phrases to describe certain presidential candidates: "Religious tribalism", "Folksy nonsense about Jesus", "Dark Ages version of Christianity", "prehistoric ideas on social issues" and "ugly bigotry toward the LGBT community". To you and me those thoughts may seem far to the fringe but to a lot of the younger population in our country this is what they hear day in and day out and it is gospel.
What is surprising is not that the world does not agree with traditional conservative Christian beliefs but that those who say they value tolerance are less and less tolerant toward Christian's who do not remain silent in word or deed. And they seem to be getting more emotional about it. But I guess this is what should be expected, isn't it?
So what should we do if there is a banking crisis, or a food shortage, or riots in the street?
The plans of the heart belong to man,
But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
I can tell you from personal experience that no matter what happens God is in control of our lives and we need to learn to pray like we've never done before, search the Word for wisdom daily and trust, trust, trust that God will provide and see us through. The worse things get the more we will gain by giving and sharing what we have. The more crazy the world gets against the truth of scripture the more we need to proclaim it in love. Cast your cares upon the Lord and even in the midst of the storm He will give you peace.
Remember,
There are ways that seem right to man.
There are ways that are right to God.
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