Once More and Forever, With Feeling

It has appeared here before, but this time, with this picture I am remembering a decade. I took this picture on December 31st, 2001. Ten years since, my life has changed dramatically-half my family has passed, I've changed careers, graduated from a business university, bought a house and am now living a quiet life. 
 I change-older, heavier, but in as good a shape as in 2001 when I was working a physical job. I may be chained to a desk now, but the exercise routine I've been working the past few years has benefited me greatly.
I change, but God is unchanging. He has led me through my life; He knew me, that I would be, before the foundation of the world. He not only creates common items such as myself, but He also makes beautiful frozen waterfalls, and puts in our being appreciation for such beauty. Wow.
I am honored to be welcomed as a member of my church-we love, need and pray for each other, and I wouldn't ever want to go back to flying solo. I said that half my family has passed-my church family extends to Heaven, billions of brothers and sisters bound together in Christ. Wow again. I look forward to the Day when we all get together to worship God in corpus Glorious.
If I were to get out the scales and measure the 'good' and the 'bad' of the past decade, it would be ridicualbly weighted in favor of "GOOD". Sure, I've had struggles, and some bad times...but I've also had God watching over me every millisecond of the decade.
Job had more trouble in a day than I've had in my entire life, and yet, in unison, we can say, 
"Blessed be the name of the Lord!"

Sympatheologic

Greetings to all pagans or accidental Christians passing by this blog.

Well! Christmas night and all through the!

Don't bother looking up the word adorning this post-"Sympatheologic" is so freshly minted

it's still warm from the mind-oven.

Put simply (for a change), I've been over-inured with attempts to clutch at my heartstrings, make currency of my emotions.

You know what I mean-the Holiday feel good warm puppy stories.

"A man saves 40,000 nickles as a hobby, but gives them to a charity because..."It's Christmas"(tm)!" dunt dunt dah!

"A cat lost on vacation back in 1978, but the 5th generation of its kittens find their way back home to the waiting family on...

(you guessed it!) "Christmas"!"

 Please stop.

Why the fuss, Doug?

Simple. My emotions are mine. I do not want my emotions manipulated with warm puppy stories by media trying to make a buck off of me.

Because it's Christmas. Christmas. Christmas. Beer commercial. Warm puppy. Christmas. Christmas. Car commercial. Christmas. Warm puppy. Vodka. Christmas. Truck. Christmas.

I am not made of concrete and other discrete 'parts'. I do have emotions...I just prefer that they not be abused for the sake of commerce.

Which brings me to the theologic part of 'Sympatheologic'.

God has Blessed me with many friends and family.

They are on my heart, in my prayers. I think I have more sick friends right now than healthy ones. Some are struggling, some few may not see another Christmas.

But all are safe with God.

Right now, today, there have been "Christmas Day attacks" across the globe which have killed some of my brothers and sisters in Christ. My sympathies are with them, their families. They are safe with God.

I have unsaved friends and family for whom I continue to pray. They are...

Homme Brulant

Coincidence? I have, to the right of the page, a promo still showing Cary Grant, Kate H. and Baby, and "Bringing Up Baby" was on TV tonight. As the Dallas Cowboys seem to be playing some high school team, probably on a bet, I've been catching up on the "Crimedy" known as "Castle". And what do I see? A Medical Examiner trying to eat his lunch, interrupted by detectives.
Aaaaannnnddddd my mind reminds me of where I've seen this particular dynamic before: the Philo Vance movies of the early 1930's, with both Warren William and Basil Rathbone (!) as Vance. That Medical Examiner was always fussing about detectives not letting him finish a meal. Coincidence? I think not-I think that the writers/showrunners of "Castle" have done their homework. To remain fresh and new sometimes you have to study the old.
Another example: Pyromaniacs, the Team Pyro blog, weekly posts a blog entry "from" Charles Spurgeon.
It is always thoughtful and wise and classic Spurgeon.
I doubt that I will ever be quoted at all, and here is Charles Haddon with a weekly column 119 years after his advancement to the Front Office.
Coincidence?
No. His work is durable and endurable. His words are as fresh as if he were still in the pulpit today.
I wouldn't ever say that these posts are terribly hard for me to write-I am full of ideas, and, when I can juke left and elude my better judgement for a few steps, I will often dash away and put ideas in a blog post.
Spurgeon seemed incapable of missteps or faulty logic/ideas in his writing. He was GOOD.
He was also a man who had studied Scripture his entire life, who preached only from the Word.
Coincidence?

When The Sun Comes Out, Rainbows Die

I have faith in God to do Right, and faith that Man will do Wrong.
Meaning that the more I see of this sad twisted world, the more I
long for Heaven.
We have an election coming up next year, with not one Conservative candidate
that I can vote for without feeling like I'm abetting a crime.
Romney bet me ten grand that I couldn't write about Gingrich without mentioning his
marita...argh!
Rick Perry? I'd rather vote for Katy Perry.
I could have voted for Herman Cain. Gone.
Likewise, Sarah Palin would have my vote...if she were running.
I don't like having to choose between fourth and fifth choices simply because
my preferred candidates aren't in the race.
Sigh. I can vote for Michele Bachman as a protest vote, though I might still write in
Katy Perry.
Democrats have it worse; they have to vote for the man who attempted to destroy the economy and bankrupt their children. And their children's children...in the name of making America 'fair'.
By which he means unfair towards those who achieve, and 'fair' towards those who do not.
There's a good reason why I continue to look through the Bible, reading passages describing
Christ's Millennial Kingdom. The entire world will be "Fair". Truly fair, and honest, and
there will be no elections. Amen!

The Lost Fourth King Of Israel

Maybe not lost, but surely missing in the New Testament.
Before Bible scholars press the buttons on  their contradiction recognition machines, pointing out that Solomon was the Third King of Israel-Saul, David, and then Solomon...the first and truly only KING of Israel is God.
Then Saul, who messed up bigtime, David, a man after God's own heart, and then Solomon, who made Saul look like a novice in the messing up department.
You might say that God allowed Job to be tested by ruination, and allowed Solomon to be tested by wealth and abundance. Guess who passed the test?
What brought this post into being was a study in Ecclesiastes the other night, with a study note kicking me back to 1 Kings chapter 11. I won't post it here for the sake of time (I'm due for my nap) but in chapters 9-11 of 1 Kings God warns Solomon to keep to the straight and narrow, or he'd be buying troubles wholesale.
King Solomon blew it, allowing the abundance of treasures in this world to pull him away from God.
Not just the 700 wives-headaches, anyone? But he also built altars for his foreign wives to worship their gods.
Thus violating the Prime Directive; here is what God said in 1 Kings 9: 6-9

"⁶“But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 
⁷then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 
⁸“And this house will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will be astonished and hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ 
⁹“And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore the LORD has brought all this adversity on them.’”

Adversity wasn't the half of it. After Solomon died, Israel was broken up, with ten tribes heading North to set up their own nation, only to be eventually wiped out.
The believing remnant was later carried off to Babylon; Daniel and company became slaves of infidel kings.
Fast forward to the time of Christ, the New Testament era. All Israel loved them some Moses bigtime, and David was well thought of, but Solomon? The grandest human King to ever sit on the throne, the writer of three books of the Wisdom literature? Hardly a note. Jesus makes mention of Solomon when He states that even Solomon, in all his glory wasn't as well dressed as the lilies of the field made by God.
Will we see Solomon in Heaven? I think so, as even for kings, Salvation is a gift from God, not dependent on works or anything that a man does or doesn't do. No matter how much Solomon (or Doug) screws up, it can't affect Salvation. He or I may arrive in Heaven with no treasures laid up, no extra crowns won by  bearing fruit, living a life pleasing to God, but if we are in, we are in, thanks to the lovingkindness and longsuffering of God. I hope to see you there, too.