"Quiet! Miracle In Progress!"

The concept of a “Miracle”: God interrupts His Creation in a special way-plagues of locusts, waters parting, people raised from the dead. Stuff only God can do He does, so that the people of His Creation know that He is there, and that they should Glorify Him.

But God is not a far off God, a distant Zeus tossing lightning bolts down from Mount Oly.

He also reveals His presence in “quiet Miracles”; for example:

1. You exist. That God is loving and patient is proven by the miracle that He didn’t totally destroy humanity back before you were born. I guarantee you that your great grand grand grands going back to the Flood were just as big a stinkers as you are and yet, through His Grace, they survived, and here you are.

2. The world continues to exist. We love our planet, we enjoy God’s Creation, but many ignorant bipeds act as if THEY own it.

God could snap His fingers and make it all go away. He won’t, as He has plans for His Creation which no hammerhead human can possibly frustrate.  But the world, the heavens, all of His Creation belongs to Him.

3. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”

You don’t hear about souls being saved. You won’t find a mention in your local paper that Bobbi Simpson gave her life to Christ last week. It will never be reported on CNN that someone repented and was restored to a right relationship with God.

This is a very quiet miracle, one happening daily as God draws peoples to Himself. May that miracle happen to you.

Cheerfully Into The Would Chipper

Okay, so we're cleaning out our house, or trying to, and I pass by the trash and see one of my old anti-Q plates resting on top. Rescuing it from it's fate, I carry it in to where my Mother says, "It's chipped."
I knew it was chipped when I bought it. She sees the chip, I see the flowers.
It's like this: we are all chipped. Imperfections abound from our toes up to the top. We all deserve to be tossed out.
But God in His Mercy extends Grace, and picks some of us out of the trash and sees only the flowers-it is said that when God looks at those of us who are covered by the blood of Christ, by His redemptive work on the cross...God sees only Jesus.
Be grateful today if that applies to you. If it doesn't...it can. God is still in the redemption business. Today, while it is called today, you can say yes to God.
"It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord."

Some Idiot Burned A Copy of Korn's Album By Mistake

Calm down, citizenry. The only book which is wholly Holy is pictured above. Burning a Koran means nothing. It means less than burning last week's newspaper. But some minister in Fla is planning a Koran Kookout.
I know he is planning his protest because Islamists attacked us on September 11th, 2001. Sir, they have been attacking us for centuries. They will continue to attack us until Christ returns.
What happened to "Count it all Joy?"
What happened to:
"Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord." Romans 12:19
I'm not saying that the minister is not within his rights-we have Freedom of Speech here-but I wouldn't burn Korans to make a political or theological point.
I did publish the cartoons of Mohammed, and I am fully against all false religions, including Islam.
But if I attempted to play "The Payback Game" every time I was attacked, slighted, opposed for being a Christian...I'd be too busy to do anything else.
Burn Korans? Someday God is going to burn the entire world to make way for the New Jerusalem.
He will repay. I'm just along for the ride.

To Pastures New

"To Pastures New" by Sir James Guthrie, 1883. Scottish Realism? It's lovely. The herded geese seem to be waddling right off the picture, looking to those new pastures.
I love this picture; my Dad found a print somewhere-he loved it too.
I'm looking for pastures new myself. God herds me along, sometimes with a switch, as the little girl is carrying.
Sometimes the stick, sometimes the carrot. I nearly called this post "Trust and Obey" after the old hymm, as that is what we are called to do: trust and obey God.
I get it wrong, just as King David did, and Moses and Abraham before him. Just like Peter, I tend to mess up in the trusting and obeying departments.
But God is GOOD, and, as it says in one of my favorite texts: "His compassions are new every morning."
So, before I even wake up in the morning, God is ready with compassion for this waddling goose.
By the bye, I'm opening comments again, at least for now. Ignore spam, but yump in if you like.