God is for you

He is not against you.

The Shack continues to make history

Wayne Peterson briefly talks about The Shack debuting and #1 this coming Sunday on the NY Times Best Seller List for Trade Fiction.

Steve McVey talks about the book and includes a USA Today article, for which he was interviewed and in which he is subsequently quoted.

I also just wanted to link back to a blog post from Wayne Peterson in March in which he responded to some of the common criticisms that have been raised about The Shack.

Food prices up, Spam sales up!

In the news today: Sales of Spam rise as consumers trim food costs

If you can't save $$ at the gas pump, save $$ with Spam!

Weird Al Yankovic - Spam


Can't forget Monty Python's classic "Spam" as well!

Tornado aftermath pics

My wife just sent this link that she received from someone at work. There are several pics and a few YouTube videos from Parkersburg, Iowa, after the EF5-rated tornado (the strongest in Iowa in 32 years) that destroyed 1/3 of the town. I drove around the outskirts of a nearby town, New Hartford, yesterday and it looked like a war zone. I had never seen such a sight.

Waiting - Part 2

In Part 1 I mentioned just a few biblical characters (real people) out of a whole host of people who have had to wait long amounts of time for prayers to be answered, promises/desires to be fulfilled, visions to come to pass, etc. Sometimes people have waited patiently. But so many other times, while they've been people who knew of God's faithfulness and integrity, they've also had fleshly (non faith-filled) times of uncertainty and/or impatience and have tried to take things into their own hands.

I can certainly relate in every way. Beginning here in Part 2 I have in mind some things from my own life in which I've waited faithfully at times and have been impatient and faithless at other times. I'll start with my relationship with my wife.

From the ages of about 16 to 22, I had many short-term relationships. I was always serious, albeit in a young and naive way, in the relationships. I was truly looking for someone to be with for the rest of my life. Two or three times along the way, in my late teens and early 20's, I thought I had found "the one." But obviously none of those relationships worked out. I was very impatient during those years as I wondered if I'd ever find someone. How much heartache I could've saved myself and others if I'd just been patient! Easier said than done, of course, especially when you're not trusting God.

Then in 1992 my "serious" walk with Jesus began. I met Tracey and her friends that summer. I got to know them over the course of several months and finally I was going to ask Tracey out. I thought finally I had met a nice Christian woman and maybe this could be "the one." It took me three weeks (an eternity) for me to work up the courage to ask her out. On the day that I was going over to her house to ask her out, I went over to one of our mutual friends' house - and he told me that he had just asked her out! They ended up dating for several months. I was downhearted - but yet this is something that aided in bringing me closer to my Jesus. In my heart I said that I'll step aside, and I'll wait and see what happens. I'll be happy for them no matter what happens and I'll continue on with my life. I was stunned at how well I took it all. But my walk with Christ was still new and I began to see that He was doing this work in me.

However, it wasn't all peachy. During the 'waiting,' I got myself into a bad relationship. Call it my Abram experience, taking things into my own hands. I knew it was bad right from the start, but I stayed and hoped it would work out. After a while, I didn't know what to do - and that's when I took the trip to Canada. My head was cleared while there, and I came back and ended the relationship. At the same time, Tracey's boyfriend also broke up with her. After a few more months had passed and we knew neither of us were on the rebound anymore, we began dating.

After all of that waiting, we were finally together. Or not. :) On this blog I've shared some of our past relationship problems, and I won't get into them here, but going back to the time we dated I had doubts about the two of us. All of that waiting... and then when it came to pass I wasn't sure if it was right! We broke up twice, but then finally got engaged in 1995 and were married in 1996. We've worked through so many things since then, and I can say today that there are no regrets, no doubts! And I will say that going through all of that - even back to the dating years - has only served to draw us closer to Jesus and stronger in our marriage.

Here's the thing. We are Christians. We have become partakers of the divine nature. We have become new creations. We have grown in faith and trust. We have the Spirit of God living in us!

But yet from time to time we've made fleshly choices. Sometimes it's caused a lot of heartache and grief. Sometimes we've been impatient when it comes to growing in our love for each other. Sometimes we've had doubts. Sometimes we've had anger. We've looked around at the various "perfect Christian couples," who are mostly putting on an act in public, as if they always see eye to eye and never argue or disagree, and we most certainly don't live up to that standard!

BUT... we've also had times of great faith, times of great joy, times of growing in trust, times of knowing that while we're seemingly completely different people, there are many great things about us being together for life. It has often been in the waiting that many of our issues have been worked out in our hearts. Not that I want to celebrate the fleshly things we've done in our relationship, but through it all we've found God to be faithful to us.

Some say it's love that keeps a marriage strong. Some say it's commitment. But I want to tell you that I know for sure that if it were up to my own resolve, or if it had been left up to my own worked-up love or commitment, it would have been a failed marriage. I hate admitting that but yet at the same time I glory in it because it has helped me to see that not only is it by GRACE that we are saved, but it is by grace that God keeps us! In our weakness He is strong and in our lack of commitment and trust, He remains committed and faithful to us. What I'm saying is that I love and am committed to Tracey more than ever, but it's been due to an obvious work of the Spirit - who we are One with - and nothing that we've done in our own fleshly strength!

Sometimes things seem so uncertain and painful in the waiting, but an overall picture is being painted and we can't see the whole picture but we know that while it may include lots of little (or big) shadows, it's nevertheless a beautiful and remarkable painting!

Yeeah boeey

Toby Mac's new CD & DVD Alive and Transported came out yesterday. I'm not a huge Toby Mac fan, but I've dug a tune or two of his during the solo years since dc Talk.

Speaking of dc Talk...

(LOL, this is the reason I posted this)

...I pretty much got into dc Talk action in 1992 with their Free At Last album, but my wife and her friends had been into them before that.... so here's some old school Toby, Mike and Kevin - cu-cu-cu-cuttin' it up waaaay back in the day. ;)

Heavenbound

He Is Exalted

Beautiful song and video.

Spoken words at the beginning by Rebecca St. James, song vocals by Michelle Ray.

Back in the mid to late 90's I bought "GOD - the single," which is an "AudioVision" CD that includes two versions of Rebecca St. James' song "God" as well as two or three other songs and a few videos, including this one.

For some time now this song has been one of my favorite 'chill time' songs. Along with some other songs, the calmness and beauty of the song helps me to relax, and to inwardly focus on who I am in Christ, and on who He is.

Severe storms just missed us

It was a dark and stormy night, or evening I should say, here in Waterloo, Iowa. Well, for those in northeast Iowa who live close to us it was, anyway.

At least two major tornadoes in our area took lives and caused a lot of damage yesterday, and some severe thunderstorms added to the drama.

From our perspective, it was all very weird... even somewhat eery. We could hear the warning sirens. We had our radio and TV on, and they were telling us to take cover immediately. We could see a huge DARK RED area on the radar (severe weather) just millimeters to the north of us (on the TV screen) and also southwest of us. In reality the south part of the severe weather system was about 4 miles north of us, and extended 20+ miles to the north. A 1/2 mile wide tornado was tearing across the land just out of our sight. However, right where we were at the sky was only somewhat overcast - it was actually mostly clear - and it was only a tad bit breezy. Again, from our perspective it was kind of surreal. If not for the radar on TV, we would have thought they were crazy to be telling us that all of this was actually happening.

But the sad part is that just 30 to 60 minutes prior to all of this, a larger tornado had ripped through the south part of a small town - Parkersburg, Iowa (1.1 square miles, population approx. 1,800) - that is about 30 miles west of us, and it destroyed 1/3 of the town. I'm not sure of the death toll, due to varying reports, but the highest number I heard was that there were four fatalities in Parkersburg.

I found out this morning that a guy I graduated with was living in Parkersburg. He and his family were able to get to the basement on time, and only suffered nicks and bruises, but their house was destroyed. They are going to be staying with his parents in another town for a week, but after that they're not sure what they're going to do - because his parents just sold their house and bought a house in Parkersburg that they were planning on moving into next week - and it was also destroyed in the tornado.

Other surrounding towns were also affected. We drove by lots of uprooted trees in Cedar Falls, a city that borders our city. An RV dealership had lots of damage. We drove by it today and saw RV's that were flipped upsidedown and smashed into each other. A woman from nearby New Hartford (another small town that also suffered much damage, and two deaths) reported that her horses had gotten loose and she was having trouble locating them.

Apparently this made national news because while we were gone today to be with friends, my brother, who lives in San Diego, called and left a message, checking to see if we were ok because he had seen reports on the news.

The calm after the storm is what's even more eery. To drive by the places that were hit hard was such an odd sight to see, when it was such a perfect day today - sunny, calm, mid to upper 70's. Some people were out grilling, some people were boarding up what was left of their property.

Painting God mad

Great post on "Stuff Christians Like" this morning. It's called "#253. Painting God mad."

The world... including far too many Christians... has an image of God as an angry, vengeful, mean old man, just waiting to "get ya" for the bad things you do and forcing you into conforming into good little boys and girls, and what I think this does is that it keeps people running away from God rather than running to Him.

"Prodigal Jon" talks about some of that in this post, and addresses a comment from a previous post in which someone had used an Old Testament example to try to instill the "fear of God" into him. It's a good read, and I won't give away any of the details of the post except to say that, of course, everything changed with CHRIST!

Holiday

Steve McVey's "Sailing in Agape - Day Eleven" video (see below), in which he talked about the "permanent vacation," or "rest," that we have in Christ, reminded me of a great song from Tony Vincent called "Holiday."



Put yourself in the shoes of someone who has worked himself to death, trying to prove himself to God, trying to work his way to heaven and trying to earn God's love, trying to be perfect and trying to justify himself before God. You may be there right now, or you may have been there and it may not be hard at all to put yourself in those shoes again.

Then... finally the truth comes and "memories of my hollow days are scattered on a sea of grace." You finally realize that "what I thought was righteousness was nothing less than blind ambition." When Jesus came, "every day became a holiday."

The rest of the lyrics to the song are wonderful and can be found here and you can listen to a snippet of the song (and other T.V. songs) here.

Waiting - Part 1

I know it's been cliché to say this during at least the past decade or two, but I'm going to say it anyway because it's true: "Your way, right away" is not the way of the life of faith!

Generally speaking, we don't learn life lessons "right away." We don't experience answers to our prayers right away. We don't grow right away. We don't have visions and dreams fulfilled right away. We don't overcome obstacles right away. We don't perfect walking by the Spirit right away. We don't put to death the deeds of the flesh right away.

There are exceptions to all of this, of course. Sometimes things happen suddenly, out of the blue. But in my personal experience those things are rare, and in my understanding of God's dealings with man through scripture, those things are rare.

A few examples:

Abraham - God made a promise to Abram that he would have a child, and in fact that He would make him a "great nation." Abram was 75 years old at the time, and he and his family went to live in Canaan (see Gen 12:1-6). After living in Canaan for 10 years, Abram went in with his wife's handmaiden Hagar, and Ishmael (who was not the promised child) was conceived. Finally when Abram was 99 years old, the LORD appeared to him and made a covenant with him and changed his name to Abraham. A year later, the promised child, Isaac, was born.

Five years is a long time to wait for something. Ten years is harder. How about being a 75-year-old man, and being promised a child. You'd probably think, "If this is real, this had better happen soon, before I'm really too old!" (Not to mention the age of his wife, who was 10 years younger than him). And then finally, after 24 years of waiting, the LORD finally reveals that it will happen the following year! A total of 25 years from promise given to promise fulfilled!

And the impossibility of it all! Sarah was a 90 year old woman, and she even laughed at the whole idea when she heard what was going to happen (See Gen 18:9-15). I love how the LORD responded. He questioned Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?'" And then He spoke words that should speak to us all:

"Is anything too hard for the LORD?"

David - David was a mere shepherd boy when the LORD, through Samuel, chose him to be the king of Israel. But it was after many years of war and fighting, and eluding Saul (who wanted to kill him), that he actually became ruler over Judah, and then over all of Israel.

Joseph - Sold into Egyptian slavery by his brothers as a young boy. Later he was wrongfully imprisoned but eventually, after many many years, was made governor of Egypt and his family was able to live there "in the best of the land."

Jesus - Simple carpenter for most of His life as a human being. Most, if not all, people were very surprised when He suddenly, at the age of 30, began teaching with authority and performing miracles, signs and wonders.

Peter - Walked with Jesus for three years. Had times of great faith and times of great doubt. Said he would stick by Jesus and then denied him. Was given the keys of the kingdom by Jesus. Gave a wonderful 'sermon' on the day of Pentecost (see Acts 2), leading many to Christ. Years later stood opposed by Paul for his legalistic hypocrisy! As a side note, I guess it's a good thing Peter did what he did because it inspired a speech by Paul that included some great doctrine about being crucified with Christ, dead to the law, and living a life that is really a matter of faith and not law! (see Gal 2:11-21).

There are obviously so many other great biblical examples. These are people who had to wait for years for promises to be fulfilled. They had to go through lots of things, including injustice, mockery, pain, loss - as well as hope, joy, pleasure, other types of fulfillment, etc - before certain things happened. In the "meantime" (during the years they spent waiting) some of them tried to fulfill God's promises through their own means, and there were some dire consequences, but God, who is faithful even when we are not, still fulfilled His plans and His purposes for their lives. Some of them were taught wonderful things by God, and were truly people of faith, and yet had times of not trusting God, and were sometimes slow to learn and slow to appropriate the goodness of God.

But in all of it, they still lived and they still were God's people. They still experienced everyday life. Life went on. And it was good!

The "meantime" is really where life is at. The meantime is now. The meantime is everyday, moment by moment life. I wrote about that about a year and a half ago, so I'll end this part by linking to that.

"In the means-time..." (1/26/07)

Waiting

Ok, here's my post on "Waiting!"

White Lion - Wait


The Waiting - Staring at a Bird
I'm here staring at a bird in the air
I wonder what I'd see if I looked down from there
I'd see a shattered temple, all it's members in a sweat
Everyone's been degraded, every sermon they forget

I'd see a man pulled from his bed by the same Hands of Love
That hung a cross around his neck
Just to remind him, remind him who he was...

Foreigner - Waiting For a Girl Like You


Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - The Waiting
The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part

Rebecca St. James - Wait For Me


Ha ha! Just kidding. This is not my post on "Waiting." But I just thought I'd have fun with a few videos...

Tragic accident in Steven Curtis Chapman's family

This is obviously not the "next post" that I was going to publish, but this breaking news story has had me in tears this morning, and has had me thinking about the preciousness and fragility of my own children.

Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter killed by car in driveway

Do you want to help choose my next post? :)

Alrighty then. You may or may not know that I blog in three places. Here on Blogger, on Myspace and on MyCCM. I always create the posts here and then copy and paste them to the other blogs.

I have sort of a 'unique' idea (unique to me anyway), and since I don't get a whole lot of interaction on the other two places I thought I'd share this idea solely here. It's nothing special or great or wonderful. It's just something different!

I currently have FIVE posts that are saved as drafts. A couple of them have been in draft since March! Anyway, just for something different to do, I thought I'd list the five tentative ("working") titles of each of the five posts and ask anyone who reads this to give their suggestion as to which one should be my next post. If no one responds, I guess I'll just keep those posts in limbo forever! LOL

This isn't a competition, of course. It's just a nutty idea. Don't try to please anybody else. Just pick one that strikes your fancy or do a simple counting rhyme (I suggest 'eeny meeny miny moe') or cast lots or draw straws or whatever... :)

The titles may or may not give an obvious clue as to the nature of the posts. The five posts I have in draft, in no particular order at all, are:

1. Waiting
ii. Joyful giving and joyful living
c. Video Killed the Radio Star / Radio Ga Ga
4. YOUR prayer
E. Whatever the law says...

Underneath the blood?

This morning, while searching through some of Steve McVey's video series "101 Lies Taught In Church Every Sunday" to send some links to someone in an email, I came across the video below, "Lie #5 Our Sins Are Under The Blood Of Jesus." I thought the timing in 'rediscovering' this video was neat, since I think it goes along well with my post from yesterday, "Big Difference 6 - Sin Atoned vs. Sin Taken Away," as well as the comments there from Aida.

It's possible that it might seem to some that I'm just being picky about the use of words and phrases such as "atonement," "reconciled," "sins taken away," etc, but understanding the words makes all the difference when it comes to understanding all that Christ has done for us as well as who we really are in Him.

I used to think that when I sinned, I would have to get back "under the blood" of Jesus in order to have my sins atoned for. A song by Petra called "Underneath the Blood," which was overall a great song, had one not-so-minor detail wrong, and it added to my wrong thinking.

It went:
Where do I go when I miss the mark
And my heart starts feeling like it's stained and dark?
Only know one way to go -
Take it to the crimson flow.

It might sound good that we should take our sins to Jesus so that we could be washed and cleansed again by His atoning blood ("the crimson flow"). But it's just not sound doctrine!

In Christ, we don't keep going back to Jesus to get cleansed over and over again, or to have our sins atoned for over and over again.

We are in Him and He is in us. We have been washed. We have been cleansed. We have been justified. We have been made right with God. Note the tense of 1 Cor. 6:11. By His blood sacrifice, Jesus has put away sin. He has taken away our sin.

In Christ, we are not "sinners" who keep going back to Him for more forgiveness and more cleansing, so that we can be made righteous again and again. We are saints who have been justified (made righteous) and have become the righteousness of God in Christ. When we were sinful sinners, we did some righteous things but that never made us righteous. Now that we are righteous saints, we sometimes sin, but that doesn't make us sinners!

Our identity is solidified, and we can't receive from God what He has already given us. We simply walk in it with trustful confidence! This makes all the difference in how we view God and how we view the truth of who we are in Him.

Big Difference 6 - Sin Atoned vs. Sin Taken Away

My friend Mike and I recorded our next two Growing in Grace programs this past Sunday, and I thought it was kind of interesting that some of the stuff we briefly talked about (tune in this coming Sunday and the following Sunday!) coincided with some of the things that Frank Friedman had apparently taught about, and that In Christ Alone had mentioned, which I referred to in yesterday's Convicted of Righteousness post.

I did a quick little 'experiment' before recording our programs. I searched for all forms of the word atone in my PC Study Bible. In the New King James Version of the Old Testament, forms of the word atone are found 100 times (Atoned appears once; Atonement appears 99 times). The New Testament results for any and all forms of the word atone: Zero. Zip. Nada. None. Zilch. 0.

To borrow a quote from In Christ Alone's post, with my own emphasis on the first word: "No atonement in the New Covenant Economy. Jesus did not cover our sins. He took them away."

So... if you're a Christian who has sinned and if you're looking for some way to atone for your sins, I'm very sorry - your sins cannot be atoned for. They have been TAKEN AWAY!

Jesus did not come to atone for sins. His bloody sacrifice of Himself did not atone for sins. The Old Covenant was full of all kinds of sacrifices and offerings that provided a temporary covering, or atonement, for sins. But the blood of bulls and goats could not do what the blood of Jesus did:

Heb 9:25-26
25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another — 26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Heb 10:1-4
For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

John 1:29
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Heb 10:14
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

Heb 10:18
Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

There is no longer an offering for sin because the sacrifice of Jesus took away sin! The blood of bulls and goats provided a temporary covering for sin, but could not take sin away.

The sad thing is... Not only are many Christians today living with a fear that their sins are not completely atoned for, and that they need to do something more to atone for their own sins, but they don't even realize that atonement is never what was needed. What was necessary for us to have the perfect righteousness that was needed to be in right standing with God (justified) was for our sins to be taken away. Christ has taken away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and we have become the righteousness of God in Him! What can we add to that or take away from it?!

*For an explanation of this Big Difference series, see the original post.*

Convicted of Righteousness

Great post from In Christ Alone yesterday! Yesterday morning I began to watch the same message from Frank (I think it's the same one ICA is referring to anyway) but was distracted by other things so I'm glad she posted some highlights!

The proper environment for life and growth

Although I always have a wide range of things that I blog about, I've had in mind lately that I want to get back to blogging more about things such as being established in grace and growing in grace, which is really what I like writing about and discussing the most. A post from Kent this morning stirs my heart along these lines. Being established in grace, and being able to have healthy and vibrant growth, depends on several things. Using his own garden as an example, as he often does, Kent talks about how the environment plays such a huge role in all this.

He says, "Relationship with Father, Son, and Spirit is the environment we belong in and will thrive in. Outside of that environment the colors will be flat and the fruit will fade fast. Many times fruit will not even be produced. All the energy is spent on the scramble to survive."

See the whole post here.


Heb 13:9 (NKJV)
Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods [read: laws] which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.

2 Peter 3:18 (KJV)
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Col 2:6-7 (NKJV)
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Col 2:7 (NLT)
Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done.

Ps 92:12-15 (NKJV)
12 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those who are planted in the house of the LORD
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing,
15 To declare that the LORD is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

My testimony can beat up your testimony

I once was dead, I'm now alive.

Ha!

In order to live to God I had to die to the law

The short version:

Gal 2:19-21
For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."


The extended version (Note: The following passage has nothing to do with any rules for Christian marriage. Paul was using the Jewish law pertaining to marriage to help his readers understand why those who were under the law could only be released from the law in one way - they had to die to it. If we try to be married to [joined with] both the Law and Christ, we are spiritual adulterers):

Rom 7:1-6
Do you not know, brothers - for I am speaking to men who know the law - that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? 2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. 3 So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.

4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

And a little more:

Col 2:13-14
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Spiritual adultery

I snagged the following quotes off of the first part of an audio series simply called "Grace" by Rob Rufus that I downloaded quite a while ago from the Grace in Flood blog. I enjoy listening to the series from time to time.

In this part, Rob is talking about Christians who go back to their old marriage partner, The Law, to try to get themselves straightened out and whipped into shape so they can be presentable to their new Husband, Jesus. But the Law only condemns, the Law only kills, the Law only pronounces judgment. The Law is perfect and holy and good and just, but the Law is a terrible, terrible husband.

Rob says:

Now I believe that what Jesus does is He looks at the church that does that and I just think that tears come down His eyes. I think He just looks at us and goes, "Do you think I'm an insecure husband? Did you think I didn't know you'd have all these idiosyncrasies? I never had any illusions. I knew everything about you when I took you on and embraced you. I am the perfect husband to my bride. I'm the perfect bridegroom. I'm the perfect husband of all husbands.

And I can love you unconditionally because the integrity of heaven's high call of justice was fully satisfied by Me on the cross on your behalf...

And you think you're impressing Me by going back to him to make me happy? You break My heart. I'm not the one putting you under the laws, the rules and condemnation. I'm the one that redeems you from it so that 24 hours a day Father's love and acceptance may pour into your life."

Psalm 23:3

Psalm 23:3
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name's sake.


Isaiah 40:28-31
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.


Rom 3:21-22
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.


2 Tim 3:16-17
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.


Rom 4:5-8
But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin."


Titus 2:11-14
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.


2 Cor 5:21
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Introducing my alter ego - The Rev. J. Slick Breeze

I'm taking a big chance with this. I'm afraid it might be the end of my good reputation if I share this video. (I know, you're saying when did my good reputation start?) Anyway, the man in this video really embarrasses me. I recently came into contact with him through a rift that opened in the wall that normally separates us from a parallel universe. He looks like a desperate man who really needs attention, so at the risk of losing all credibility I thought I'd be nice to him and share his video with you. After all... he's family. Sort of.

Introducing my holier-than-thou twin-brother-from-another-mother-in-a-parallel-universe, The Rev. J. Slick Breeze. Seems as if he got the looks, I got the brains. Anyway, apparently he has a big ministry on the other side called "Grease Roots" (although he usually refers to it as "Greasy Roots"). He appears to be in big trouble. Maybe we could all chip in and help a brother out.

I left my burdens in Canada

The last time I was in Canada... was the only time I've been in Canada! It was 1993. I was 24 years old and single (although in a not-so-healthy relationship). A small group of people from my church (at the time) here in Waterloo, Iowa joined up with a few other small groups from around Iowa and Minnesota and took a trip up into the boundary waters of Ontario. Other than me, there were two men from my church and three women. The three women included the woman who would eventually be my wife, Tracey (who was also dating someone else at the time), as well as two of her best friends.

This was a trip in which God planted me in some fertile ground in which I began to trust Him more. For starters, during the final day before leaving, I was still short $20. At that time in my life, that was big money to me. I was trusting God to provide it if He wanted me to go on this trip and I asked people to pray for me. Well, in an unrelated spontaneous incident, I came up with the idea that I needed a book or two to take on the trip, so I dug through my book collection and found C.S. Lewis' book The Screwtape Letters that my mom had given me the previous year. I opened the book, and there was a twenty dollar bill tucked into it! NOBODY knew I would be looking through that book. I didn't even know I would be! I realized I could truly trust God to do what He wants to do, even if it looks impossible to me.

The trip itself turned out to be so much more than I bargained for, in a very good way. More on that towards the end. On the first day we drove up to Clear Lake, IA and Minneapolis, MN to pick up more people. We ended up with four vehicles hauling our total group of 25 people, along with two trailers loaded with canoes and all our supplies for the week. We stayed the first night in cabins in Grand Marais, MN.

The next day we headed into Canada and we drove for several hours on some old logging roads. Once on those logging roads, we didn't come across another person at all until we came back to the civilized world a week later. We took this trip under the leadership of a man named Dave who had done this same trip 19 years in a row, so we were in good hands. We had large coolers full of good food - ground beef, chicken, turkey, vegetables, Tang mix, etc, etc - and it was kept cold all week long with block ice.

In two places on one of the logging roads, the road had been washed out, and we could see that people had used trees/logs to patch things up. Two of our vehicles were large extended vans, each pulling one of the canoe trailers - and we had to get over these bad sections of the road! In both cases we emptied ourselves out of the vans and pretty much just prayed that the vans and trailers could make it over, and when they did make it over we prayed that they'd be able to make it over on the way back! We made it through, and we eventually arrived at a lake. We simply left the vehicles on the side of the road for the week. We unloaded the canoes and put them in the lake and unloaded all our supplies and put them in the canoes.

The first day we only canoed for about two hours. We ended up at a temporary campsite and spent the night there. In the morning we headed out again and canoed for several hours. This canoe trip included two portages, in which we had to unload the supplies and gear from the canoes, carry it all down a 1/4 mile path and a 1/2 mile trail and load up the canoes again. It was a lot of work! Finally we arrived at our main campsite for the week.

Over the years, Dave and others who had taken this trip had built up kind of a rough kitchen area, with a table, benches and a cooking area. He noted that it looked like no one had been in this area since they had been there a year ago. We were waaaay out in the boonies! Our toilet area was down a long path. It was simply a hole dug in the ground with some rocks build up around it with an actual toilet seat on top! To take a "bath," we would grab some soap and jump into the lake and start scrubbing!

The scenery was beautiful and untouched by man. The lake was clear. You could see bear claw markings on the trees alongside the lake. It was very peaceful, very beautiful. Occasionally we would see and hear loons on the lake.

Our days at the campsite had various times of activity and rest. There was always someone out fishing on the lake. One day we went cliff diving. Once or twice each day, I would grab a canoe and another person, and we would head out quite a distance from the shore with a huge container in which we would collect clean drinking water. The water near the shore was too contaminated with bacteria. We would then bring the water back in, along with one of our canoe oars. Into the huge water container went some of the Tang mixture, and we stirred it with... yep... the oar!

We had campfires, we sang songs, we rested in hammocks. We made meals on a huge "Texas skillet." Some of our meals included fish we had caught in the lake. It was an unbelievable week. The weather was perfect all week, and it wasn't until the last day that it got a little overcast and we had a few drops of rain.

When I came on this trip to Canada, I didn't feel like I was all that stressed out or anxious in life, but as the week progressed and I found myself living a very free and enjoyable life, I realized that there were several huge burdens that I had been carrying. I had no money. I didn't know what I was going to do with my life. I was in a bad relationship, and I didn't want to hurt the woman but yet I knew I had to get out of it, but didn't have the gumption to do it. And there were just lots of little things that added up to a huge weight on me.

The wonderful thing was that during this week on the lake, I was away from all of it. Even though I hadn't come on this trip to escape anything, I found that this was exactly what I needed. Being miles and miles away from civilization and from all my problems temporarily made it impossible for me to do anything fix any of my problems, and that was a good thing. During this time in which I was in such a peaceful situation, I realized that there's more to life than struggling to deal with "life." Without the pressure of having to deal with anything, I was able to finally see clearly and to see my problems from a different view. I can't explain what a huge release that week was for my soul! I was at peace. I was refreshed. I could breathe. My burdens melted away in Canada!

When we set out on our canoes at the end of the week, I first ended up in the catamaran. (Most of the canoes were powered by us and our oars, but there was also a catamaran - which was simply two parallel canoes joined together in a certain way, powered by a motor. We called it the Party Barge!). So anyway, instead of paddling hard I was able to relax on the first part of our trip out of the boundary waters. I looked all around me and I was overwhelmed by the love God had shown me and the release He had given me during the week. I didn't want to leave! I saw a bald eagle flying above. Behind my sunglasses, tears began to form in my eyes and then eventually they began to stream down my face. Tears of joy for the great experience I'd had and tears of sadness and apprehension because I would miss this place and because I didn't want to go back into the 'real world!'

I'll never forget my time in Canada. In fact, I go back there quite often in my mind. Not to try to re-live the experience, but as a way of reminding myself of the faithfulness of God and of how He takes my burdens... and how there is no need to carry all these burdens and worries in life.

Here are some pics from the trip. I know I have more somewhere, because I know for sure there's a picture of some of us standing underneath the Welcome To Ontario sign, as well as a few more pictures that I can't seem to find. If I find them, I'll add them to the slide show.