Was impressed by this quote. Follow the link to read the entire article.
Jim Wallis: Christ's Divinity Should Inspire Humility, Not Arrogance
Jesus being the Son of God does NOT mean that Christians are better, more right, more righteous, more moral, more blessed, more destined to win battles, or more suited to govern and decide political matters than non-Christians. Instead, believing that Jesus was the Son of God would better mean that people who claim to believe it ought to then live the way Jesus did and taught. And on that one, many of us Christians (who believe the right way) are in serious trouble when it comes to the way we live. Those who believe that Jesus was the Son of God should be the most loving, compassionate, forgiving, welcoming, peaceful, and hungry for justice people around - just like Jesus, right? Well, it's not always exactly so.
Wednesday
Christ's Divinity Should Inspire Humility, Not Arrogance
Tuesday
The Message of Christmas
I was struck by this cartoon in the Sunday paper. It is written by Jef Mallett.
Saturday
12 Days of Christmas Trivia
People across the world celebrate Christmas with great fun and fervor. Christmas or 25th December is considered the starting of Christian year. It continues up to 6th January. It is known as the Epiphany day. People in England were unable to celebrate Christmas from 1558 to 1829. During this period, ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ was written.
In the pear tree, there is one partridge. This partridge stands for Jesus Christ.
Two turtledoves symbolize Old Testament and New Testaments.
Three French hens symbolize faith, hope and love.
Four calling birds stand for four gospels.
Five golden rings symbolize first five books of old testaments.
Six geese symbolize six days of creation.
Seven swans symbolize sevenfold gifts of spirit.
Eight milking maids represent eight beatitudes.
Nine dancing ladies symbolize nine fruits of spirit.
Ten leaping lords symbolize ten commandments
Eleven piping pipers signify eleven faithful disciples.
Twelve drummers stands for twelve points in Apostle Creed.
Friday
Blood Diamond
Last week I went to see the movie Blood Diamond. I wasn’t expecting much except for an action thriller. Actually I had not even heard of the movie until
the day before when my brother-in-law and his son suggested that we go out to see the film.
The film did not lack for action. Several street battle scenes vividly captured the confusion and violence of a rebel attack, but I was pleasantly surprised to see this movie was more. Some movies entertain. Some challenge the way you think, encouraging you to see the world in a different way. And some try to change the way you live. Blood Diamond to my surprise accomplished all three.
The underlying theme is the selling of diamonds to support rebel armies and governments in Africa. Set against the backdrop of the chaos and civil war that enveloped 1990s Sierra Leone, "Blood Diamond" is the story of Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), a South African mercenary, and Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a Mende fisherman. Both men are African, but their histories and their circumstances are as different as any can be—until their fates become joined in a common quest to recover a rare pink diamond that can transform their lives.
The story is of Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a fisherman in 1990s Sierra Leone whose village is attacked by the Revolution United Front—the rebel army in an ongoing civil war. The RUF capture him, separating him from his wife and children, and put him to work in a diamond mine. There he finds a diamond—a rare and extremely large pink diamond. He knows it’s worth a huge sum, enough to rescue him and help him find his family.
sub-theme for me. Even after his son has been turned into a child-soldier by the rebel army and rejects his father, Solomon did not give up the pursuit. (Spoiler ahead) Solomon whit a gun pointed at him from his child’s hand calls to him and tells him his name and who he really is, accepting him even though his son has ventured into the life of a child soldier and committed atrocities. The same is true of our Father God who sees not the rebel but the son who he loves and is pursuing at all cost to rescue. This one scene made the movie for me.Blood Diamond has been criticized for being too heavy-handed in message—an unfair accusation, considering the ambiguous nature of the diamond in the movie--and interweaving too many characters, issues, and plotlines. But Blood Diamond is a perfect example of the political and moral power that a movie can potentially exert. The issue of conflict diamonds is not a new one; activists have fought for years to bring this issue to the consciousness of consumers. The U.N.-sanctioned Kimberly Process for the certification of conflict-free diamonds has been in place since 2003, but today, blood diamonds are still an ongoing issue and a significant source of funds for terrorists and illegal armed operations. It remains to be seen whether Blood Diamond will succeed in making this problem one in which consumers, not just activists, insist on change. But if anything could achieve that, this movie could.
Wednesday
Currently Reading
Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America: An Evangelical’s Lament
Randall Balmer
Book Description
For much of American history, evangelicalism was aligned with progressive political causes. Nineteenth-century evangelicals fought for the abolition of slavery, universal suffrage, and public education. But contemporary conservative activists have defaulted on this majestic legacy, embracing instead an agenda virtually indistinguishable from the Republican Party platform. Abortion, gay marriage, intelligent design--the Religious Right is fighting, and winning, some of the most important political battles of the twentyfirst century. How has evangelical Christianity become so entrenched in partisan politics?
Randall Balmer is both an evangelical Christian and a historian of American religion. Struggling to reconcile the contemporary state of evangelical faith in America with its proud tradition of progressivism, Balmer has headed to the frontlines of some of the most powerful and controversial organizations tied to the Religious Right. With a skillful combination of grassroots organization, ideological conviction, and media savvy, the leaders of the movement have mobilized millions of American evangelical Christians behind George W. Bush's hard-right political agenda.
Deftly combining ethnographic research, theological reflections, and historical context, Balmer laments the trivialization of Christianity--and offers a rallying cry for liberal Christians to reclaim the noble traditions of their faith.
Shadow Cities – A Billion Squatters. A New Urban World
Robert Neuwirth
Book Description
Investigative journalist Robert Neuwirth lived among squatter
communities from Rio to Bombay to Nairobi to Istanbul to give us an impassioned, inside view of squatter life and a glimpse into the urban future. He met people in Nairobi who built homes with their bare hands, Turkish families who plot land invasions, and children in Rio whose parents justify outfoxing the authorities as the only path to a better life. And he shows us that in cities like Rio, squatter settlements have become decent places to live for formerly landless people. Tracing the notion of private property from the enclosure movement in Europe to the settlement of the U.S., Neuwirth shows how squatting rights may actually be seen asmore "natural" than the current laws practiced in the U.S.
In almost every country of the developing world, the most active builders are squatters, creating complex local economies with high rises, shopping strips, banks, and self-government. As they invent new social structures, Neuwirth argues, squatters are at the forefront of the worldwide movement to develop new visions of what constitutes property and community.
The J Curve – A New Way to Understand Why Nations Rise and Fall
Ian Bremmer
Book Description
What Freakonomics does for understanding the economy, The J Curve does for better understanding how nations behave. The J curve is a visual tool that allows us to see at a glance why some crucial countries are in crisis and unstable while others are prosperous and politically solid. In this imaginative, playful, and practical guide, Ian Bremmer, an expert on the politics of international business, turns conventional wisdom on its head. He reveals how the United States can begin more successfully to act in its own interests.
But The J Curve is not only for policymakers and their critics. It can help investors better manage the risks they face abroad. It answers puzzling questions we all have. Why does North Korea seem to invite a military conflict it can't possibly survive? Why is India so surprisingly stable? What are the internal pressures eroding stability in Saudi Arabia? How long can China's politics resist the pressure for change provoked by the country's economic revolution? Why are Iran's ruling clerics trying to push their nation toward international isolation? What will happen to Israeli democracy when demographic pressures change the balance of political power within? And crucially, how should the United States respond to the challenges posed by these questions?
U.S. policymakers have sought to manage security threats with a simple formula: reward your friends and punish your enemies. Has it worked? The U.S. imposed harsh sanctions on Saddam Hussein's Iraq and isolated it from the international community. This strengthened the dictator's grip on the Iraqi people and the country's wealth. The world now faces a similar dilemma in Iran. Will the United States continue to try to isolate that country or can Iran be guided into the international mainstream, allowing its people eventually to directly challenge their harsh leaders?
Bremmer's tour of the nations of the world -- our friends, our foes, and others in between -- shows us how to see the world fresh, get rid of shopworn attitudes, and discover a new and useful way of thinking.
Tuesday
THE "Blind Horse"
Sometimes I have felt this way.
For an explaination see original post for this blog.
At the botom of the page.
A Walk through Bethlehem
I made a few friends the last two weeks as I became involved in a community drama that is jointly produced by several churches in the Mooresville area.
The production involved leading a group through the city of Bethlehem on the night of Jesus’ birth. Guests are brought to the city gates as the host explains that they are about to enter the city of Bethlehem 2000 years ago. This is done amidst the reading of the decree of Caesar Augustus that all must be taxed by a Roman official. The host then explains a little of the culture and circumstance regarding this small Judean village.
After passing through the gates, visitors can glimpse the main street of the city with shops, villagers, travelers and of course the occupying Roman army.
Here the guests are introduced to a guide, (that was me) who is persuaded to lead these visitors from a far, far country into the city and perhaps locate for them a place of lodging.
Beginning with the tax collector setting the stage of the oppression the Jewish people under an occupying Roman military we wound our way along the street which was masterfully built to resemble an ancient market.
Each act of the drama was performed with interaction from the guests. Each shop along the market was a scene including an interaction with the town gossip who informs us of an unmarried woman who claims to be a virgin. The people of Bethlehem we met weave a story that leads to the shepherds in the fields. There the heavenly host (actually only one angle, but the effect was good, the angel seemed to appear out of the night sky and then disappear into blackness once the announcement was made.) This lead us back to the stable where we discover the Christ-child just as the angel had said.
I learned that this was the third year of doing this drama which the organizers hope will become an annual tradition in the community. This year the two night performance drew over 1200 people not including the cast of 100 plus many other volunteers. This more than doubled last year’s attendance of 500.
LINK TO A SLIDE SHOW OF THE EVENT
Thursday
Currently Reading
over ice to help a handicapped boy. Nouwen goes through many emotions: real anger when gas station attendants refuse to drive him to the boy, a realization that the accident has given him a new pespective on his life, peace in the face of death but also the realization that "it was not love that kept me clinging to life but unresolved anger." When he does survive, he asks, "Why was I asked to return to a place where love is so ambiguous?" Brief but profound are his responses to the experience as he realizes God's call to deeper trust in God and to radical freedom. Nouwen's personal narrative is an important book for many people pondering the mystery of life and death, regardless of their religious commitments. From Library JournalWednesday
First Things
In the discipline of prayer the value of closeness with a Father rather than closeness of what I perceive as my due (a more polite way of stating this is to call it a “need”.) becomes the difference between first things and second things.
“People who get close to Christ often see good things happen.” (Fill in the blank of good things with your particular struggle or concern.) Crabb terms this a second-thing blessing. He goes so far as to demand a celebration when a second-ting blessing arrives. But then the warning, “second-thing blessings can feel so good that we start thinking they are “first-things.”
“When you have eaten and are satisfied,
praise the Lord your God
for the good land he has given you. (celebrate?)
…be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God…
Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied
…you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery…
Deuteronomy 8:10-14
“In this life, the feeling of satisfaction that comes when a marriage improves or a child turns back to God, or an inheritance solves our financial problems or a career takes off often feels stronger and brings more pleasure than our experience of God. We are foolish to dampen that pleasure, but we are in danger of living for it, of thinking that blessing from God satisfies our souls more deeply than God himself.” (Crabb, The PAPA Prayer)
To be clear, the relationship and experience of God is the first-thing and the result of a changed situation is a second-thing.
How can this possibly be? Might it be that our relationship with God is so shallow that the pleasure it brings really is less than the pleasure we feel when life goes well.
May I find my life in Christ and the love of a Father God which sustains me! And may it be so for you also.
Thursday
Unusual Thanksgiving Blessings
I have taken to sending Thanksgiving cards a few years ago. They tend to be noticed and not lost in the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season.
Following are two unusual “blessings” I came across while selecting cards for friends and family:
Thanksgiving…
When else would you celebrate
by giving your loved ones the bird
after they tell you to stuff it!
Let’s eat
until our butts
quiver
like cranberry sauce
out of a can.
I must confess that I did indeed use both of those cards,
Happy Thanksgiving.
Joy is not the same as Happiness
The other night a discussion lead to the above statement, and now this morning I read some additional thoughts on the subject in a little book by Henry Nouwen.
Nouwen toward the end of his essay spoke of gravitating toward the light which drives darkness away. He said:
Hope is more real than despair
Faith more real than distrust and
Love more real than fear.
Being able to recognize the spiritual reality from the shadow of darkness is not sentimentalism but truth.
Nouwen went on to describe a friend whose joy was contagious.
“The more I am with him, the more I catch glimpses of the sun shinning through the clouds.”
Knowing that there is a sun behind the clouds however is not sufficient in itself when darkness surrounds and colors all other aspects with its suffocating twilight.
Continuing the description of his friend Nouwen goes on to say that “while his friend always spoke of the sun I (Nouwen) keep speaking about the clouds, until one day I realized that it was the sun that allowed me to see the clouds.”
May we become messengers of hope, speaking of the sun while walking under the dark skies.
Wednesday
Consider This
Consider this from journey through willzhead blog
Please pray for Ted Haggard and his family -
Even if you do not agree with all of his politics, he is in the middle of a private hell that most of us cannot relate to. This is true whether the allegations are confirmed or not.
Don't rejoice with either outcome - I
find too many people, even some in the Church, hoping for one outcome or the other. Sadly, even my first reaction was to take sides. But love does not delight in evil. Period. If these allegations turn out to be true, how sad. If they are false, how sad. I pray we have the conviction to think this way.
Pray for Haggard's successor at the NAE -
While Ted Haggard is stepping aside from his church temporarily, it appears that he has resigned permanently from the National Association of Evangelicals. And, while I was not a fan of all his politics, Haggard was nonetheless a champion for the environment and human rights, and expressed openness on the issue of domestic partnership benefits for homosexuals. I fear a conservative backlash within the NAE to this incident, whatever the outcome.
Good stuff.
From a Desert Father:
Abba Mios was asked by a soldier whether God would forgive a sinner. After instructing him at some length, the old man asked him: Tell me, my beloved, if your cloak were torn, would you throw it away? Oh, no! he replied; I would mend it and wear it again. The old man said to him: Well, if you care for your cloak, will not God show mercy to his own creature?
Currently Reading
The Humor of Christ
Elton Trueblood
A bold challenge to the traditional stereotype of a somber, gloomy Christ. The Humor of Christ inspires Christians to redraw their pictures of Christ and to add a persistent biblical detail: the note of humor. (From the book covers)
Last Dance: Behind the Scenes at the Final Four
John Feinstein
Feinstein has long been a favorite sports writer since reading Season on the Brink. As a college basketball fan, I couldn’t help but check this book out from my local library. This book is a great look behind the scenes at the Final Four and is full of valuable insight and interesting side stories. Feinstein does a great job of really capturing the essence of the Final Four and the magnitude of the event from a coaches and players perspective blending a richness of the history and the event with the 2005 tournament.
A Primer on Postmodernism
Stanley J. Grenz
This has long been on my “need to read” list. Grenz does a great job at providing a background leading up to and a readable exposition of current postmodern thought. His book is written in such a way that those with little to no previous background knowledge of philosophy won't be lost. (Works for me.) An excellent introduction into postmodernism Grenz takes the reader historically into an understanding of the modern thinkers who have defined postmodernism in very readable terminology. Toward the end of the book Grenz contemplates similarities between the Christian faith and postmodernism and a response in presenting the message of Jesus.
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality
Brian Greene
As a boy, Brian Greene read Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus and was 
transformed. Camus, in Greene's paraphrase, insisted that the hero triumphs "by relinquishing everything beyond immediate experience." After wrestling with this idea, however, Greene rejected Camus and realized that his true idols were physicists; scientists who struggled "to assess life and to experience the universe at all possible levels, not just those that happened to be accessible to our frail human senses." His driving question in The Fabric of the Cosmos, then, is fundamental: "What is reality?" Over sixteen chapters, he traces the evolving human understanding of the substrate of the universe, from classical physics to ten-dimensional M-Theory. (From Amazon.com review)
Saturday
You are Accepted
Paul Tillich wrote about grace, “Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a meaningless and empty life. It strikes us when we feel that our separation is deeper than usual, because we have violated another life, a life which we loved, or from which we were estranged. It strikes us when our disgust for our own being, our indifference, our weakness, our hostility, and our lack of direction and composure have become intolerable to us. It strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage. Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying: “You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!” If that happens to us, we experience grace.”
Thursday
What Kind of Christian Are You.
Sitting against a bare concrete wall amid the rubble of a construction site during break the other day, I was asked, “What Kind of Christian Are You?”
No malice or derision intended, just curiosity. Conversations ebb and flow on a construction job. Being a crew member resurrected from “long ago”, I am the validater of stories that are told of the old days when “Cave-Man Construction” really did almost everything physically. “We didn’t need no stinkin’ power tools.” I was there when “line-dancing” while singing with the Temptations while carrying 40 foot cages of beam steel, or the time Nick spun Randy (the boss) over his head – picture WWF helicopter drop, but I regress.
It seems that the radio was pronounced evil by a former Christian employee. Moreover, I even know most of the music played on the oldies station and can converse about movies, television and current culture.
Back to the topic, at hand, this former employee who Has grown increasingly legalistic from his high school through college and mow married life.
His hyper-legalism had caused my inquisitor to label him as a militant Christian.
Perhaps due to my less than legalist view of life and my utter lack of judgment or criticism of anyone’s language, music, life choices, lead my co-worker to lean forward from the wall, stare quizzically, and ask, “What kind of Christian are you?”
As to my answer, I thought and simply said, “I desire to be a follower of Jesus Christ, but often I have settled for being a Christian.”
Break was over, but I have been struggling with that statement for over a year. I do not want to settle for being a Christian. I don’t think Jesus did either.
Sunday
A Prayer for the Journey
An Irish prayer said softly under the breath when setting out on a journey
Bless to me, 0 God,
Bless to me, 0 God,
The path whereon I go;
Bless to me, 0 God,
The thing of my desire;
Thou Evermore of evermore,
Bless Thou to me my rest.
Bless to me the thing
Whereon is set my mind,
Bless to me the thing
Whereon is set my love;
Bless to me the thing
Whereon is set my hope;
0 Thou King of kings
Bless Thou to me mine eye!
This week my wife will be traveling Tuesday to our home in North Carolina.
.
Friday
Something I Was Musing
Just standing up there to give it all his might
He got caught in the spotlight
But when we get to the end /
He wants to start all over again
He wants to try it once again /
Please don't make him stop
Let him take it from the top /
Let him start all over again
Thursday
Something to Consider:
"Be nice to people on your way up because you'll meet them on your way down."
Jimmy Durante
The irony of my current employment as a manual laborer is that my boss was once a student in my sixth grade class.
My workout program is progressing nicely at what affectionately is called Randy’s Heath and Fitness Program at the Blue Fin Gym. Each day we work all the muscle groups through various repetitions and the use of free weights. Often we work in tandem with another member of the workout club. And, of course, safety is important so often we are spotting each other during the many acrobatic maneuvers that are part of Randy’s specialized fitness program.
"Always be nice to your children because they are the ones who will choose your rest home."
Phyllis Diller
Wednesday
We Were Made for War - part 2
Every story has a villain:
Little Red Riding Hood had the wolf,
Dorothy had to face the wicked witch,
Neo battles the powerful agents to release the captives of the Matrix,
Frodo is hunted by the black riders,
Beowulf kills the monster Grendal, and then must fight Gendal’s Mother
Saint George slays the dragon,
the children who stumble into Narania are called by Aslan to battle the white witch and her armies
so that Narnia could be free.
Every story has a villain because the true story of which you are a part has an enemy. Life is very confusing if you do not take into account that there is a villain. We live in a world at war. We have an enemy who is trying to steal our freedom, kill our heart, steal our life.
The glory of God is man fully alive and to live in ignorance of spiritual warfare is most foolish.
This is an area we often neglect in the church today.
walking through
downtown Miami at night
waving your wallet above your head.
It’s like
swimming with the sharks
dressed like a wounded seal
covered in fresh blood.
Sunday
An Experiment into the Mind
Carefully follow the instructions below I will attempt to read your mind and tell you your answer:
- Think of a number between 2 and 9
- Multiply the number by 9
- Add the two digits together
- Subtract 5 from the number you now have
- Convert the number into a letter -
- 1 = a
- 2 = b
- 3 = c
- etc
- Think of a European Country starting with that letter
- Now think of the second letter of that country
- Think of an animal that starts with that letter
- What colour is your animal?
- Now concentrate carefully on your answers
Check below to see if I have read your mind.......
--------------------------------------------------------
What you are thinking..........?????????
--------------------------------------------------------
You are thinking of a grey elephant that comes from Denmark.
So how did I do??
A Life In Your Hands
If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn;
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight;
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy;
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty;
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient;
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence;
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate;
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice;
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith;
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself;
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.
Dorothy Law Holte
Prayer
Come, my Light, and illumine my darkness.
Come, my Life, and revive me from death.
Come, my Physician, and heal my wounds.
Come, Flame of divine love, and burn up the
thorns of my sins, kindling my heart with the
flame of thy love.
Come, my King, sit upon the throne of my heart
and reign there.
For thou alone art my King and my Lord.
ST. DIMITRI OF RASTOV
"Oh, help and bother!"
"I'd better go back." "Oh, bother!" said Pooh.
"I shall have to go on." "I can't do either!" said Pooh.
"Oh, help and bother!"
Lately my community has been impacted and is discussing topics brought up by Pete Scazzero pastor of New Life Fellowship located in Queens, New York. He has written Emotionally Healthy Church and Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. Additionally, he has series on the topic of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality on the church web site. LINK
His past two messages have used a metaphor of a wall that will appear in the path of our journey that we must choose to go through.
I am reminded of the above quote by Pooh. So many decide to not do either.
Thursday
My Daily Goal
"I try to make everybody's day a little more surreal."
-- Calvin of Calvin & Hobbes
I accomplished this today. Frank, who works on the construction job where I am spending my retirement mentioned in passing that it has been decided that I am “whacked”.
If you understand that drugs and alcohol are the path to construction you will understand the enigma of a 52 year old school headmaster stripping forms and tying steel. (Not to mention lifting and carrying 150 cement blocks onto the second floor slab 15 minutes before quitting time – but I digress)
Nevertheless it is a job that pays well and allows me to come and go as I please. (And I get the strangest looks from people who know what I am doing.)
Tuesday
Old Age Is Fierce
Many years ago I heard this from older construction workers when I was just a young buck. Now that I am returning to day labor as a form carpenter at 52 years of age I have come to understand.
After spending the past four weeks in North Carolina (without computer access) I am becoming reaquainted with various blogs and my typical internet information fix.
Anyway, staying with the theme a few thoughts on aging:
Signs that you are getting old:
- Everything hurts and what doesn't hurt, doesn't work.
- In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.
- It takes a couple of tries to get over a speed bump.
- It takes longer to rest than it did to get tired.
- It takes twice as long to look half as good.
- No one expects you to run into a burning building.
- People call at 9 p.m. and ask, "Did I wake you?"
- People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.
- The clothes you've put away until they come back in style... come back in style.
- The twinkle in your eye is only the reflection of the sun on your bifocals.
- There's nothing left to learn the hard way.
- Things you buy now won't wear out.
- When getting lucky means you find your car in the parking lot.
- When happy hour is a nap.
Sunday
A Prayer of St. Patrick
For Protection and Enlightment
May the strength of God pilot us
May the power of God preserve us
May the wisdom of God instruct us
May the hand of God protect us
May the way of God direct us
May the shield of God defend us
May the hosts of God protect us
Now and always
We Were Made for War!
Does the language of the Bible ever seem overblown to you.
1 Praise be to the LORD my Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle.
2 He is my loving God and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples [a] under me.
I would be satisfied if he just helped me get through next week. This sounds like a reality that I don’t live in. It seems on the level of LOTR. In those stories gates must be broken down, riches hidden in darkness and precious friends set free.
But If there is a war the language of the Bible makes perfect sense.
He has set me to bind up the brokenhearted
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners.
This is God’s personal mission for his people; the offer is for us all. so we must be all held prisoner to some form of darkness. We just don’t know that the proof for in darkness you can’t see.What has the enemy stolen? Our hearts. Our hearts are hidden by darkness, pinned down held away in a secret place held for ransom - Prisoners of war – that’s a given
The question is not if there is a spiritual battle but Where and How?
WHAT IF?
"Why should a man be scorned,
if,
finding himself in prison,
he tries to get out and go home?"
What if,
rather than trying to escape reality,
our spirits are trying
to connect with it?
The Most Important Question
It’s been quite a journey for Frodo and Sam when the little gardener wonders this.
Ever since they left home they've encountered more wonders and more dangers
than they could have possibly imagined. Their fellowship has fallen apart;
their friends are now far away on another part of the journey.
Into the shadow of Mordor they've come, two little hobbits and their cooking gear
on a journey to save the world. t's at this point Sam says,
"I wonder what sort of tale we've fallen into?"
Sam could not have asked a better question. He assumes that there is a story;
there is something larger going on. He also assumes that they have somehow
tumbled into it, been swept up into it.
What sort of tale have I fallen into?
is a question that would help us all a great deal if we wondered it for ourselves.
It just might be the most important question we ever ask.
Stage Fright
Just standing up there to give it all his might
He got caught in the spotlight
But when we get to the end /
He wants to start all over again
He wants to try it once again /
Please don't make him stop
Let him take it from the top /
Let him start all over again
Don't Try This At Home
Something to give you a smile on a Friday.
The following came from an anonymous Mother in Austin, Texas:
"Things I've learned from my boys (honest and not kidding)":
1. A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.
2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.
3. A 3-year old boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.
4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.
5. You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
6. The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh oh", it's already too late.
8. Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke -- lots of it.
9. A six-year old boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old man says they can only do it in the movies.
10. Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old boy.
11. Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.
12. Super glue is forever.
13. No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.
14. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.
15. VCR's do not eject "PB & J" sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.
16. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
17. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.
18. You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.
19. Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.
20. The fire department in Austin, TX has a 5-minute response time.
21. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.
22. The spin cycle on the washing machine will, however, make cats dizzy.
23. Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.
24. 80% of men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid.
25. 80% of women will pass this on to almost all of their friends, with or without kid.
Our Deepest Fear
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God; your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
NELSON MANDELA, inaugural speech, 1994
“Deju view all over again” - Yogi Berra
Never did I think I would return top construction after 15 years of office work. Nevertheless, this week I was a laborer for Blue Fin Construction. Much has changed in the past 15 years, once we called ourselves “Caveman Construction” due to our use of physical labor rather than modern power equipment. Now there were nail guns and table saws.
Still pulling #5 40 foot iron rods onto a second floor deck hasn’t changed much. Anyway it put a few dollars in the wallet and groceries onto the table.
Leaving in a few days for our house in progress in North Carolina. After a week of work its time for a vacation. HA!
Wednesday
10 Career Metahpors Guaranteed to Destroy Your Church
Found this posted at http://david.kaleochurch.org/...... LINK
and found it hilarious but on further reflection discovered truth in the humor.
1-Traffic Cops.
These individuals are well meaning dragons that come to church not to serve, but to control the serving. You’re certain one day they will show up with white gloves and a whistle so they can direct traffic.
2-Seismologists.
These are walking Richter scales, gifted in the art of fault finding. If they don’t feel a quake, they’ll shake the room.
3-Umpires.
These individuals enjoy calling the shots. They expect hustle from the team while they watch with a critical eye. Usually umpires have no interest in dialogue once they have made their call. Issues are black and white, and truth is as true as they see it.
4-Taxidermists.
These individuals enjoy taking dead controversies and issues and stuffing them with artificial importance to make them appear lifelike. Instead of letting things die, the taxidermist will attempt to preserve a matter as long as possible.
5-Stenographers.
These individuals are often friends with seismologists and taxidermists. They are very perceptive and record every discussion in earshot for the purpose of reproducing their notes without the expressed written consent of the one giving their testimony.
6-Town Criers.
These individuals take it upon themselves to make announcements or proclamations either by speaking loudly in public places or simply shouting in the streets. Town Criers are often very committed to the church and assume their role is irreplaceable. Who would know anything without them?
7-Morticians.
Morticians are often friends with taxidermists. These individuals thoroughly enjoy dressing up corpses. They revere pastors who served before you and subtly communicate that you’ll never be as attractive until your dead and under their care. Morticians attempt to hide decay and death behind a façade of rosy-cheeked make up.
8-Curators.
Curators are guardians and superintendents of minor religious artifacts. They spend their entire life dusting and polishing insignificant secondary doctrinal issues and can not understand for the life of them why others don’t have the same passion. Curators prefer time alone with their rapture theories or theonomic plans to rule the world. Please be advised, curators are often socially awkward and may resort to theological turrets and blurt obscure passages of scripture while using multi-syllabic words that end in “ism,” “logy” or “ist.”
9-Astronomers.
These individuals often find themselves gazing at far off issues that don’t seem to have much relevance at the moment. Astronomers are usually more concerned with what might happen at another church while forgetting their call to serve the one they attend. So interested in otherworldly matters, they often have difficulty connecting to people on their own planet.
10-Synchronized Swimming Coaches.
These individuals were left last because their event is often given the 3 am time slot for the Olympics. Next to the wildly popular Canadian sport of curling, this may be the most unimportant activity in the history of mankind. However, these coaches are confident that their particular ministry has just not received the right support, but if they did, the entire globe would be changed by the mere sight of their pinched-nosed water ballet. SSC’s are constantly on the lookout for ministries that are completely irrelevant to the vision and mission of the church. SSC’s politicize their case persistently until someone gives them their much needed attention. Shortly after they make repeated attempts to convert every other ministry and absorb all additional resources to their pet cause. If their ministry fails to deliver the global impact it promised, blame is immediately assigned to the church leaders and administrator for not granting a larger line-item on the budget.
Disclaimer: These metaphors are in no way intended to diminish the value of these careers (with the exception of the synchronized swimming coach).
Tuesday
Ruin your Life
Consider carefully the quotation below:
"The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament."
Soren Keirkegaard
Monday
Morning Prayer
This day I call to me:
God's power to sustain me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's vision to light me,
God's ear to my hearing,
God's word to my speaking,
God's hand to uphold me,
God's pathway before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's legions to save me,
from the snares of the demons,
from evil enticements,
from failings of nature,
from one man or many
that seek to destroy me,
anear or afar.
from Saint Patrick's Breastplate
Friday
Second Grade Wisdom
From my "teacher" files something to make you smile on a Friday and perhaps to ponder.
A group of second graders were given the following adages and asked to fill in the second half.
Here are their responses:
Better to be safe than . . . Punch a 5th grader
Strike while the . . . Bug is close
It's always darkest before . . . Daylight Savings Time
Never underestimate the power of . . . Termites
You can lead a horse to water but . . . how?
Don't bite the hand that . . . looks dirty
No news is . . . impossible
A miss is as good as a . . . Mr.
If you lie down with dogs, you'll . . . stink in the morning
The pen is mightier than the . . . pigs
An idle mind is . . . The best way to relax
Where there's smoke there's . . . pollution
Happy the bride who . . . gets all the presents
A penny saved is . . . not much
Two's company, three's . . . the Musketeers
Children should be seen and not . . . spanked or grounded
If at first you don't succeed . . . get new batteries
You get out of something what you . . . see pictured on the box
When the blind leadeth the blind . . . get out of the way
Thursday
Currently Reading
the more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
the more places you'll go.”
(aka Dr. Seuss)
A Prisoner in the Garden, The Nelson Mandela Foundation
In 1977 the South African prison authorities allowed a number
of journalists to visit the notorious Robben Island.
The intention was to persuade the outside world that
the
conditions there were not as bad as widely believed.On their tour of the island the journalists encountered a tall, thin man dressed neatly in prison clothes and leaning on a spade. The expression on his face was one of intense hostility, and his bearing was more that of prince than prisoner.
The man was Nelson Mandela, in his 13th year of incarceration on Robben Island.
Today the photograph, captioned ‘A Prisoner Working in the Garden’ by the prison authorities, forms the centrepiece of the Mandela Prison Archive, which when viewed as a whole constitutes a living record of Mandela’s 27 years in prison. It includes rare photographs and video footage, Mandela’s handwritten letters to family, friends and the authorities, his personal diaries and notes, official records, medical records and legal documents. Together they form an extraordinary picture of prison life but, even more remarkably, of a man who, together with his close comrades, never gave up the fight for freedom and the vision of a liberated country.
This book is bursting with story. The records of Mandela’s confinement are widely scattered – in conventional archives and some surprising personal collections. Readers will learn about chance discoveries and dead ends, crossing paths and painful reminders. The struggle against oppression can be seen as the pitting of remembering against forgetting. A Prisoner in the Garden documents one part of that struggle.
Emotionally Healthy Spirituallity: Unleash the Power of Authentic Life in Christ,
Peter Scazzero
The Christian faith is supposed to produce deep, positive change. So why doesn't it seem to work in "real life"? That question screamed at Pastor Peter Scazzero when his church and marriage hit bottom and every Christian remedy produced nothing but anger and fatigue. As he began digging under the "good Christian" veneer, he discovered entire emotional layers of his life that God had not yet touched. And that emotional immaturity had fed his spiritual immaturity. In this book, he unveils what's wrong with our conventional means of "spiritual growth" and offers not only a model of spirituality that actually works, but seven steps to transformation that will help readers experience a faith charged with authenticity, contemplation and a hunger for God.
You’ve Got to Read This Book!: 55 People Tell the Story of the Book That Changed Their Life,
Jack Canfield and Gay Hendricks
Canfield, the co-creator and editor of the Chicken Soup for the Soulseries, and psychologist and author Hendricks surveyed 55 leaders or a visionaries in their respective fields. Each leader introduces a simple sketch of the most influential book and how it has impacted their life. Contributors include Stephen Covey, Lou Holtz, Dave Barry, Bernie Siegal, Kenny Loggins, and a multitude of others from the fields of athletics, business, art, and politics.
The Last Week: A Day-by-Day Account of Jesus's Final Week in Jerusalem,
Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan
Scholars Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan join together to reveal a radical and little-known Jesus. Using the Gospel of Mark as their guide they present a day-to-day account of Jesus’ final week of life. The Last Week depicts Jesus giving up his life to protest power without justice and to condemn the rich who lack concern for the poor. The Jesus introduced by Borg and Crossan is a moral hero, and more dangerous than the one enshrined in the Church’s traditional teachings.
(Adapted from the flyleaf)
In the Belly of the Green Bird: The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq,
Nir Rosen
Rosen minutely charts the course of Iraq's rapidly metastasizing sectarian conflict, which he observed up close from the immediate aftermath of Baghdad's fall in 2003 to the elections of January 2005. A fluent speaker of Iraqi Arabic and a freelance journalist, Rosen gained an impressive measure of access to both the Sunni and Shia resistance, dissidents and ordinary Iraqis, attending sermons at mosques and visiting tribal meeting halls across Iraq—from Baghdad to Tikrit, Najaf and Falluja to Kirkuk. The title is a reference to the Islamic idea that martyrs' souls are flown to heaven in the belly of a green bird, the book serves as a window onto the rhetoric, ambitions, strategies and historical context of the numerous violent groups struggling for power.
From Publishers Weekly
Resign or Retire
According to Websters online dictionary:
RESIGN
Function: verb
1 : RELEGATE; especially : to give (oneself) over without resistance
2 : to give up deliberately; especially : to renounce (as a right or position) by a formal act
intransitive verb
1 : to give up one's office or position : QUIT
2 : to accept something as inevitable : Submit
RETIRE
Function: verb
1 : to withdraw from action or danger : RETREAT
2 : to withdraw especially for privacy
3 : to move back : RECEDE
4 : to withdraw from one's position or occupation : conclude one's working or professional career
5 : to go to bed
transitive verb
1 : WITHDRAW: as a : to march (a military force) away from the enemy b : to withdraw from circulation or from the market : RECALL
2 : to cause to retire from one's position or occupation
3 a : to put out (a batter or batsman) in baseball or cricket b : to cause (a side) to end a turn at bat in baseball
4 : to win permanent possession of (as a trophy)
5 : to pay in full : SETTLE
I have retired, at least in the mind of everyone I know, rather than having resigned my position, which is what I actually did. What is interesting to me is that it matters to me and I am bothered every time a comment is made regarding my “retirement”.
Perhaps that is due to our conception that retireing is good and acceptable while resigning is not. Nevertheless, according to the definition I have done the following:
1 : given up my office or position : QUIT;
2 : accepted this as inevitable : SUBMITTED
I could accept “retire” however according to the following parts of the definition:
1 : to withdraw from action or danger : RETREAT.
The danger to my family and emotional health has lead to this “change” be it retirement or resignation.
Either way I rejoice in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (out of context)
free at last,
thank God Almighty,
I am free at last"
Monday
Our House
Our house, is a very, very, very fine house
With two cats in the yard
Life used to be so hard
Now everything is easy 'cause of you
Graham Nash
We just returned from our third trip to establish a new home
in Salisbury, North Carolina. Since we still have a home in Key Largo
(slow ... er non-existant housing market at present) this may
prove difficult.
I'll light the fire
You place the flowers in the vase
That you bought today
Staring at the fire
For hours and hours
While I listen to you play your love songs
All night long for me
Only for me
Morning Prayer
In the beginning, O God,
your Spirit swept over the chaotic deep like a wild wind
and creation was born.
In the turbulence of my own life
and the unsettled waters of the world today
let there be new birthings of your Spirit.
In the currents of my own heart
and the upheavals of the world today
let there be new birthings of your mighty Spirit.
Celtic Morning Prayer
Wednesday
GRAMMAR RULES GONE BAD
Never use a preposition to end a sentence with.
And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
Avoid clichés like the plague. (They're really old hat.)
Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
Be more or less specific.
Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
Understatement is always the absolute best way
to put forth earth-shaking ideas.
Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
Author unknown (probably by choice :))
Australia is a long way, away
Yesterday my son left for school in Australia.
It is already tomorrow in Australia.”
Charles Schultz
Monday
What's Missing
he needs the companionship
of at least one adult who can share it,
rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.
-- Rachel Carson --
Equally awkward has been answering the question, “How are you doing?” when the questioner is serious and actually desires an answer. This past week I finally had an answer. "I miss the children." I related this to a close friend yesterday, who lived nearly 30 years in the UK. She paid me the following compliment (I think it was complimentary), “You are the most English of anyone I know in the U.S.” I knew she saw through the veiled meaning. I really do miss the children, though.
I also miss the drive in the early morning over the Whale Harbor Bridge. Seeing the colors of the new day over the expanse of the Atlantic invigorated each and every day with a sense of wonder and God’s mercies. I miss the wonder.
The Rabbi Abraham Joshua Herschel on his death bed declared to his closest friend, “Sam, never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power, or fame. I asked for wonder, and he gave it to me.”
I am missing the wonder of the adventure of each new day and the eyes of the children.
but for want of wonder."
-- Gilbert K. Chesterton --
Friday
You know you are not Reformed if
All in good fun. Why several of my best friends are reformed....
. . . you think the Apostles Creed is the guy who fought Rocky in Rocky I.
. . . you think the Canons of Dort are like the Guns of Navarrone.
. . . you think Ursinus is a nasal condition.
. . . you think Arminians are the people who run convenience stores.
. . . you think the Belgic Confession was from WWII war crimes trials.
. . . you think “popery” in the church makes it smell flowery.
. . . you think the psalter goes with the pepper shaker.
. . . you think unconditional election is a practice of communist dictatorships.
. . . the only “kirk” you know is from Star Trek.
. . . you think the Three Forms of Unity are health, wealth, and happiness.
. . . you think “catechism” and “dogma” relate to pets.
. . . you think Post Tenebras Lux is a breakfast cereal (it’s actually the motto of post-Reformation
Check out some of the other clever word plays in the comment section of the above link.
Thursday
Top Ten Reasons Why Men Should Not Be Ordained
Saw this a while back and it made me smile....but truth is often spoken in jest...
10. A man's place is in the army.
9. For men who have children, their duties might distract them from the responsibilities of being a parent.
8. Their physical build indicates that men are more suited to tasks such as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be "unnatural" for them to do other forms of work.
7. Man was created before woman. It is therefore obvious that man was a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment, rather than the crowning achievement of creation.
6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. This is easily demonstrated by their conduct at football games and watching basketball tournaments.
5. Some men are handsome; they will distract women worshipers.
4. To be ordained pastor is to nurture the congregation. But this is not a traditional male role. Rather, throughout history, women have been considered to be not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more frequently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.
3. Men are overly prone to violence. No really manly man wants to settle disputes by any means other than by fighting about it. Thus, they would be poor role models, as well as being dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.
2. Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep paths, repair the church roof, and maybe even lead the singing on Father's Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the Church.
1. In the New Testament account, the person who betrayed Jesus was a man. Thus, his lack of faith and ensuing punishment stands as a symbol of the subordinated position that all men should take.
Wednesday
The House of God
"How awesome is this place!
This is none other than the house of God;
this is the gate of heaven.”
Genesis 28:17
The facilitator raised an interesting question: “If the Church was a house which room would you find yourself in?”
flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God's unfailing love
for ever and ever.
Psalm 52:8
