In Tempo

Oh, the gift of time! What a precious commodity! I wish I could share it with you all. This morning I stood still and slowly poured my Diet Coke over ice. Let me tell you that until just two weeks ago I would have poured a little soda, run away while it de-fizzed, come back and poured some more, run out and done something else, and come back and finished pouring, all the while trying to avoid an exasperating exercise of grabbing paper towels to wipe foam off the kitchen counter repeatedly. Today I held the can and watched as the soda gloriously spread over the ice, foaming ever so slowly from the steady and measured stream of liquid pleasure. Yes, I have a Diet Coke addiction, but that’s not the point. The point is – time. Time to do things right. Time to enjoy the moment. Time to share with friends and family. How I wish I could send some your way.

This morning I will be going to my church to clean the bathrooms. Does that seem like a step down from working in a law office? Not really. I could make a joke, but it’s probably not necessary. I’m going to start reading a book by K.P Yohannan, the founder of Gospel for Asia. It’s a short little book called “The Lord’s Work Done In the Lord’s Way.” I can actually take the time to sit and read a book this morning before I leave to clean bathrooms! The book is described as a lesson in knowing “the freedom and simplicity of serving your first love.” This is my heart’s desire – to return to the simple love for Jesus I had when I started this journey.

I know I can’t persuade you all to quit your jobs like I did. I mean, someone has to pay the bills. But God has blessed me with more time than I have had in so many years, and I pray that I will use it to His glory. Some of us are going to need additional time in order to meet our Creator and get on the right road. Some of us need it to store up treasure. My Christmas wish for you – may God bless you with more time somewhere along this road toward eternity we’re all journeying on together.

God bless you and Merry Christmas!

le

I Have Found My Word Of The Week

#futilitarian(fyu-til'i-târ'e-?n)
adj.
Holding or based on the view that human endeavor is futile.
n.
One who holds the view that human endeavor is futile.

What a lovely word. I was reading a book where one character is considered guilty of futilitarianism. And that character, a bird, is killed and eaten by the end of the chapter.
But what a word! I am a futilitarian. I consider human endeavor to be futile, when said human endeavor contradicts God, goes against what He has decreed.
Do you want to save the planet? Who’s planet would you be attempting to save?
Would you being peace to the world? Without acknowledging the King of Peace? Futile.
My faith is considered futile by most of the world. I know that God is in charge, that He ordains what will happen, and that He will do with this world as He wishes.
This leads some to consider my trusting God a ‘mental illness’, a dreamers fancy. Which makes me laugh.
Faith in God is anything but futile.
Faith in Man? A dreamers fancy, a mental illness.

Psalm 20
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
1 The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;
3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice;
Selah
4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.
5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.
6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.
9 Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

So Shine

2 The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them.
3 You shall multiply the nation,
You shall increase their gladness;
They will be glad in Your presence
As with the gladness of harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4 For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,
The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.
5 For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult,
And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
Isaiah 9:2-7

The light shining on those who walk in darkness is the light of the Gospel, of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace; this is the only righteous Governance the world will ever know.
We Christians are the nation being multiplied, who are glad in His presence, rejoicing over the Blessings God has given us. We are adopted into God’s family, brought in by His Mercy and Compassion.
Our attempts to shine often flicker and fail, but He who lighted us will not let our candle go out.
May God richly Bless you today.

"I So Promise."

Five or six years old, I remember being baptized.
Some of the usual components were in place: parents and god-parents, church and pastor.
But I think it was at night. I know for certain that there was no one there, except for two families, ours and one other. We were all close friends; my parents are god-parents to their kids, the other set are god-parents to us.
Four or five of us were baptized in the space of a few minutes, and that was it.
Here’s my point about baptism. As part of the service the parents swear to raise the children as Christians; in the event that the parents pass on, the god-parents promise to take up that burden.
But if both the parents and their back-up are not Christians themselves, the kids are not taught about Christ.
How is a child to hear the Gospel if the parents don’t want to hear it? At best they get sent to church, at worst they never hear of God’s love at all.
Omaha Nebraska. Robert Hawkings. 19 year old suicidal troubled man shoots up a mall, killing eight people, wounding more before taking his own life. He was probably baptized as I was, parents and god-parents and insincere pledges to God.
People get twisted up inside, some more than others, and guilt is what does most of the twisting.
Guilt about having failed, guilt about law breaking-as “All have sinned, and fall short of the Glory of God”
We are all guilty. And guilt is like battery acid on the soul.
We all have to deal with our guilt; mine was hung on a tree, meaning that when I accepted Christ, all of my sins, my guilt, was washed away.
“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 of death.”
Romans 8:1-2.
If Robert Hawkings had heard and accepted that good news, he and many others would be alive today.
But I can’t really say that-nothing changes the past. No one knows the number of his days. I have compassion for those in Omaha who have lost loved ones, have suffered because of the sad young man who didn’t know what to do with his guilt. He was a failure; in part his parents failed him first. And if he was baptized, and had god-parents, they failed, too.
Psalm 37 is one of my favorites, not for it’s description of the fate of the wicked, but how it describes the Love which God has for us. Take time to read it today. And may God richly Bless you.

Santa Skis

See here for a fun little Santa game:

_Santa Snowboard_

Have fun and don't waste too much time better spent elsewhere!

le

You Say You Want a Revolution

I am now semi-retired and looking for things to do. I’m thinking of starting a revolution like the hippies did in the 60’s--a countercultural revolution.

Is there any good thing that can be said about popular culture today? The media shows an endless parade of sad and confused young men and women trying to fit into cultural norms by turning to uncommitted sexual relationships in lieu of marriage, drugs, sensuality, pornography, mindless entertainment, and more. Honor and respect among the members of a family are almost never recommended by cultural “experts.” Those values have been replaced by “tolerance” and letting our children make their own decisions of right and wrong at impossibly young stages of their lives. Our children now need to be taught in schools that r-e-s-p-e-c-t is something you do, not the name of a song. And, of course, it’s too late by then. There is certainly something very wrong today in families in comparison to the prior 200 years of our country. It wasn’t ever cultural heaven in the United States--there will always be issues of bigotry, for example, and the poor will always be with us--but it was certainly a little closer to it in terms of how the culture promoted healthy and Godly values with regards to the family. There was a father who ruled and provided, a mother who loved and nurtured, and children who obeyed and were teachable. We have come so far from this perfect model set up by God. Other than the church, which is in so many ways being attacked as well (and that’s another article), I believe the family was the last bastion of hope for goodness in our country, and that wall has been breached and our children are falling headfirst into the morass of moral relativism and the tendrils of a society callously unaware that it has reached the bottom.

I know the answer, doubtless. You can read it here. But there are so few with eyes to see and ears to hear the truth. This country has turned the corner to selfishness, perversion, and Godlessness unlike it has ever known. I think it’s going to require a revolution and I’m ready. Join me? It starts with prayer. Pray every day for our country to return to God. I’m not suggesting a theocracy; I am simply praying for the hearts of all Americans to repent and turn toward God. What is impossible for man is not impossible for God! It may take something quite disastrous to wake America up, but God is good and God is sovereign.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten. Because if we do the first part and when God answers, His marvelous work of renewal can begin in this country and my countercultural revolution idea will become moot.

Here is good news to start the season of light and the celebration of the birth of the Savior of the world:

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. Isa 9.2

That is us, Lord. We are living in the land of the shadow of death.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. Isa 9.6&7

le

I Guess We Are A Christian Nation

Sort of maybe might be. See what you think.
A Christian is called to be a good citizen,
America tries to be a good world citizen.
A Christian abhors evil,
America abhors evil.
A Christian seeks to help the helpless, the weak and poor.
America does the same.
When called upon, a Christian will fight to protect the defenseless.
America has done that since our inception.

We’ve heard America referred to as “The World’s Policeman”.
As such, as a ‘Superpower’-we’ve spent the last 60 or so years maintaining a Cold Peace.
(And as usually happens, as a Policeman we are hated. Not everyone loves Peace, Law and Order.)
Bear with me, please. I’m nearing the point of the post.
A Christian bears the name of Christ.
Christ is the English term for the Greek word Christós, which literally means "The Anointed One." The Hebrew word for Christ is Mašía, usually transliterated Messiah.
(I borrowed this part from the Wiki, which put it succinctly.)
On a menorah, the “Messiah candle” is the one which lights (anoints) the other candles, just as Christ, the Messiah, lights us Christians.
The Messiah candle is also called “The Servant candle” -in the Hebrew, “The Shamus”.
Shamus has entered our lexicon as a nickname for a public servant, a policeman.
We are the world’s Shamus.
It would be more precise to say that God has raised up the United States for His own good purposes, to act as the official/unofficial World’s Policeman. And we’ve walked our beat in some pretty tough neighborhoods.
Imagine how much hell the world would have gotten into in the past hundred years if we had been negligent, stayed in the office, refused to patrol.
There would have been no World War Two because Germany would have won the first one.
There would have been no Korean conflict, as there would have been no conflict left in Communist Korea.
You get the idea.
We are not the greatest nation in the world. But God has raised us up to fulfill His purposes.
Christians are not the greatest people in the world, although Christ is Holy and Great, and has raised us up for His good purposes. Be a servant, be a Shamus.

Spun, But It Ain't Gold

As I write this, President Bush and Condi Rice are spinning plates at Annapolis; I guess you young whippersnappers out there might never have seen the guy on the old “Ed Sullivan Show” who’s entire act was keeping a number of dinner plates spinning on 6 ft tall sticks. He would run from plate to plate, spinning, spinning, spinning, frenetic as a juggler juggling chainsaws…who has to sneeze.
I imagine President Bush is spinning, running from one side of a room to the other, like a pong ball rebuffed by paddles, between the Israeli delegation and the 39 other Muddled East delegates.
Sullivan? Pong ball? I do live in the past!
Actually, I live in the present, waiting for the future.

I appreciate that President Bush is trying to ‘bring Peace’ to Israel and all of those who want to wipe Israel off the map. I love Peace; we all want Peace. Second term Presidents usually attempt a Summit to “fix” the “problem” of the Middle East. Bush has the best of intentions.
BUT…
The Road To Hell is paved with bad intentions, also. Meaning that those who oppose Israel are very pleased to send representatives to summits and talks, but they have no impetus to actually agree to Peace. There are no carrots or sticks, no guns to their heads (to use a very violent metaphor in Peacemaking) powerful enough to actually induce a change of their charred black hearts.
This is actually a Cold War. When it has turned to a Hot War, in 1948, 1967, 1973, etc. every single time
Israel has been the victor. No thanks to the United States in this; we were usually tsk-tsk-tsking from the sidelines. God Himself continues to maintain Israel. Or it would have been stillborn in 1948. Or conquered in 1967, or…
Here is my Middle East Peace Plan, which I freely extend to President Bush to adopt with no strings attached:

Announcement:
“Israel exists. All of you trying to wish it away, who are aligned together against our friend Israel, listen up! Give it up!
If you do not TODAY recognize the existence of Israel, you are OUR enemy, and we will topple your governments by force just as we did Hussein in Iraq. There would be no Middle East Crisis at all if you did not continue to make war on peaceful Israel! So cut it out! Now!”

Of course, I do not actually advocate making war on anyone. I’m simply suggesting that there is no Peace possible through Diplomacy when the one side will only be satisfied with the destruction of the other.
Think about it-does Israel demand the destruction of Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, etc? No.
They only want to be left alone.
My “Plan” would be doomed to fail just as President Bush’s Summit in Annapolis will fail. If we did indeed
make Israel’s enemies ‘An offer they can’t refuse’ (Godfather allusion-help! I AM stuck in the past!) all that would happen is at the soonest possible opportunity they would renege on the agreement and go back to their “Death to Israel” screed.
I’ve covered this ground before-I encourage you to read the second Psalm again, and think about the ‘kings of the earth’ who assemble against the Lord and His Anointed. And see Who laughs first. And last.

Between The Rock and a Heart Place

We’re walking. It’s a parade, an invisible parade, but we’re walking, led by our Lord.
We sing as we walk, Glorifying God.
But wait. Others are joining our parade, coming in from the left and right. They say that they are Christians,
too.
Groovy cool! More the merrier. Keep walking, sisters and brothers! Hey! Where are you going?
They head off to the right, to the left, a few are rushing backwards! What is this?
I can hear them singing, but it’s not our song:
“We are Christians without Christ,
We don’t recognize sin
God loves us too much to
Send us to hell-follow us!”

What? What was that?
We keep walking, still led by our Lord, still Glorifying God.

Here it is. God is not who we say He is, He simply IS. He tells us in His Word, the Bible, implicitly Who He IS. God made man, man did not make God.
There are many in the world who suggest that they are Christians, bound for Heaven, saved by Grace…but they haven’t yet met Christ. They haven’t repented, do not recognize that they are sinners. Their faith is based on man made churcified customs. All that those will get you is dead.
There is a great world of difference between knowing Christ and knowing about Christ.
So who is lying about knowing God? Who are these people who claim Christ but don’t know Him?

“22Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.” 1 John 2:22-23

John sets the litmus test. If anyone denies that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah, then that person is a faux Christian, an anti-Christian.
A Christian without Christ is like a dolphin without fins. Not going anywhere.

Hope IS...

“This I recall to mind, therefore I have Hope:”
There is Hope and then there is hope. Hope is like faith; only as worthy as the object hoped for, the Object which is believed in.
Here’s an example which I Hope makes sense:
My Hope is that God has accepted me, given me a new life in Christ.
My Faith is exactly the same.
But
If your Hope is that I am wrong about Jesus Christ,
If your faith, your entire life, is based on the belief that Christians are wrong
(The born again Christians who keep mentioning Sin and the need for Salvation,
NOT the ones with a beer tent at the church picnic.)
If your faith is based on the belief that Christians are wrong, then we are at a Hope impasse.
The Object of my Hope, my Faith, is Jesus Christ.

Here are a few unworthy hopes:
“I hope I have enough money to get drunk tonight.”
“I hope to marry a rich man (or woman) who will take me away from this misery.”
“I hope, truly Hope, that I am good enough to make it into Heaven when I die.”
You’re not. Neither am I. But my faith isn’t based on my goodness, but on Christ’s Goodness, His love
For even such a sinner as I am.
“It is of the Lord’s Mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning.”
I hope for Heaven, but God Blesses me daily until I get there. Heaven is where God is, so I've been experiencing little bits of Heaven for nearly 30 years.
This world is indeed in terrible shape-man in his sin pollutes his environment, as much as he pollutes his life. But the answer, the Hope for the repair and reclamation of the planet is in God’s cleaning it, not man.
In Psalm 51 David begs: “Create in me a clean heart, O God” -we ask for that also, but we can also petition: “Create for me a clean world, O God”.
That is my Hope, and I believe it will happen because God, in His Word, promises to accomplish that very thing.
What is impossible for man is possible for God.
“Great is Thy Faithfulness.”
Amen.

Sent

As this is a day to remember our war Veterans, I’m remembering my cousin Bob.
Bob as a young man served in Viet Nam; newly married, he was one of the fortunate ones who made it home.
Some veterans returned to protests and verbal abuse. Shameful, but it happened. I remember my Grandmother admonishing us kids before Bob arrived not to ask him about the War, as it had been horrible.
We opened our home to Bob; he lived with us for some months as he had gotten a job working for the same company as my Dad. Eventually Bob and his wife bought a home, started their married life, and, as far as I know, are still married and doing well.
We don’t simply remember our Veterans on holidays, such as Veterans Day and Memorial Day. Our Veterans are our family; we respect and honor them for sacrificing their lives, for putting their goals and dreams on hold to answer the call of our Nation when needed. Someday, like Bob, they will return and become civilians again, returning to their goals and dreams, the workaday world…but always to be known by the proud title: Veteran.
You might wonder why I put a picture of an angel at the top of this post. Angels are God's messengers, the ones who are 'sent'. Each one of our servicemen is also sent, into battle, to different countries, far away from home. They are our messengers, sent to achieve our purposes. It is honorable to answer our Country's call. May God Bless You All.

God Opposes the Proud

God opposes the proud, but gives Grace to the humble. If you are a child of God, and you do not humble yourself, God will do it for you.
And I do not mean “humble yourself before God”-we all are humbled before God. I mean humble yourself before man, also.
Pride goes before a fall-does it ever! And please-realize as I write this that I struggle with Pride as much as anyone. So I need the medicine God prescribes for all swelled heads and super-sized egos. And I get a dose more often than you might think.
I got an e-mail today from Creation Science Evangelism, the Kent Hovind ministry. Hovind’s son Eric wrote the e-mail, from which I learned that Kent and his wife have been found guilty of a multitude of tax evasion/related charges, and that he is sentenced to remain in prison until 2015. Her status is unclear.
I believe Kent Hovind is a good man, an intelligent man, my brother in Christ…and guilty on all counts.
I checked his Wikipedia page, cruised by a few gloating websites where his imprisonment was cherished and cheered, and went back to Eric’s e-mail. Uh-oh.
The Wiki has the basic story, and I encourage everyone to check it out. Just Google Kent Hovind and you’ll see the link.
A few years ago I ordered his seminar DVD set, and, while I don’t agree with all of his assertions, I think he is right about some of them. But this post isn’t about Creationism-it’s about humility.
Here’s my Hovind theory. Knowledge can puff up a person, make them feel superior to others, and I think Hovind had quite an inflated view of himself. And a low opinion of others. That was my opinion formed while watching the DVD set, and later seeing him on television. Even Bible knowledge, perhaps especially Bible knowledge can puff a person up.
Yes, we are adopted into God’s family, which makes us very special to Him. But Christ humbled himself as a man, a servant, and calls us to humble ourselves also as we walk through this world. If we look down on our fellow man, they cannot see God, because when they look up, we are in the way.
I am not better than anyone because I am a Christian. But Christ is better than everyone.
Over a year ago Creation Science Evangelism opened a blog, and I wrote to them, not knowing about the tax issues. I wrote that I hoped that Kent Hovind belonged to a strong church, with a board of elders to advise and govern his ministry. Too many Evangelists run into trouble when they have no-one to tell them “No.” Ask either Jimmy, Bakker of Swaggart. I never received an answer, and my post never showed up on their blog, which soon disappeared.
Remember my earlier “Uh-oh”? Eric’s e-mail continues to defend Hovind instead of showing humility.
God is in charge of every facet of our lives. Nothing happens to us which He does not allow or ordain. May God continue to humble me, as often as necessary, to keep me from Pride and the inevitable fall. While I am here, I will obey the authorities God has set, pay my taxes, be a good citizen, try to live at Peace with God and man. Wish me well.

Reality Check, Woodchuck 1, Do You Copy?

Random Thoughts Wednesday

Daylight Savings and Loan time has come back, so Tuesday’s post will appear last Monday. That sentence makes as much sense as anything coming out of Washington these days.

I am working a lot, happy a lot, busy, but with just a few minutes would like to point a few pointers:
iTunes and my iPod make my iWork iPalatable. Music is only one small part of the equation. I listen to quite a few pod casts, from “Renewing Your Mind with R.C. Sproul” to Rush L. to the Woodsongs radio show I mentioned a bit ago to whatever strikes up a conversation with my fancy tomorrow.
I’m listening to old time radio shows-a science fiction anthology: “X minus 1” is pretty good, and just today I downloaded the Jack Benny program. Nearly all the pod casts are free, and it’s all good.

Last night was an election night; I did my civic duty and voted against raising taxes to benefit our school system. As usual, the emotional plea is: “It’s for the CHILDREN!” Hold on, sister.
I’m all for education, and kids learning. But I’m also fiscally conservative. With declining enrollment, fewer kids entering the school system, we don’t need more school bureaucracy , we need less. If we have fewer students, as is the case here, we need fewer teachers and staff, not more. That’s just sensible.
The world of “EDU” needs to meet up with reality. Not just in my little town-schools are ‘flunking’
at a greater rate than the kids are. Which brings to a close this part of the sermon.

Steven Wright: “It bothers me that just one company makes the game “Monopoly”.

Beloved, not Unloved

“1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”
1 John 4:1-3

Recently I was listening to a radio show where one of the hosts, who had grown up in a Christian home, said that, rather than accepting Christianity, she thought it was enough to be ‘Spiritual”.
“Spiritual” doesn’t cut it. Spiritual without Jesus Christ is Death. Even if you fervently believe in your Spirituality, whatever form it takes. It is profane and unworthy of God.
Of course, this is stating the Gospel in negative terms; and we live in the positive:
Salvation comes through Christ alone, and we have been given His Spirit. When God’s children are told by John to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” it is with the idea of keeping separate from the world and it’s spirits.
That radio show host said with a laugh, “My family thinks I’m going to Hell!” That’s not funny, friends.
Friends don’t tell friends that its okay to worship at strange altars. If you have been saved through faith in Jesus Christ, indwelt of His Spirit, you are His. You are a Christian. If not…not. Perhaps today is the day you get honest with God.