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.

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.

New Pagan Christianity interview

Frank Viola posted a link on his Myspace page to a new radio interview that he had with George Barna, discussing the book Pagan Christianity on a radio program called Today's Life Today. A while back I posted the link to their first interview and here is a link to their second one, in case anyone is interested. The first one is just over an hour long. The new one was an hour-long interview, but they cut out the breaks so it's about 35 mins.

Some quotes from this interview:

"Man, we have been given so much freedom in Christ and we've in many ways chosen to put ourselves back in chains. And we've got to get free from that."

"And this is one of the reasons why there are so many Christians - I'd say a mass exodus - who are leaving the institutional church in pursuit of something that is more authentic. I like what Reggie McNeal said... A growing number of people are leaving the institutional church for a new reason. They're not leaving because they have lost their faith. They're leaving their church to preserve their faith. I think that is arresting and true."
(From me... I can most certainly relate to those words).

Host: "Well, see, I've been involved in several churches that I've been kicked out of because I went and looked at the scriptures."

Perfection - Part 2 of 2 - The good news

I'll start this one off with some brief technicalities and then get on with it.

The words that are translated as "perfect" or "perfected" originate as two Greek words:

Teleios (Strong's 5046) is the adjective form of the word, and it's used more commonly. It means "brought to it's end, finished; wanting nothing necessary to completeness; perfect; that which is perfect."

The word that is used a little less often is Teleioo (Strong's 5048). It's the verb form of the word and it means "to make perfect, complete; to carry through completely, to accomplish, finish, bring to an end; to be found perfect; to bring to the end goal."

(The root word for both words is Telos (Strong's 5056), which, simply put, means "the end, the termination, the limit, the purpose, the end, the aim, the end to which all things relate.")

I bring all this up simply to give a bigger sense of what "perfect" means, but in short the words are all related and they have to do with being complete, finished, mature, lacking nothing, perfect, brought to the end goal.

In the first post I attempted to point out the "bad news" about man's lack of perfection. Jesus came as a masterful teacher of the law, and in case anyone thought they were doing ok in regards to being perfect or complete through keeping the law, Jesus made it perfectly clear that they fell far short. The rich young ruler, for example, after claiming to have kept certain laws since his youth, asked Jesus, "What do I still lack?" (In other words, "in what ways do I still fall short of perfection?"). Jesus answered him, "If you want to be perfect (teleios), go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." The man went away sorrowful.

Why?

I'll just cut to the chase. It's because it's impossible for sinful man to become perfected (complete, brought to the end goal, perfect) through anything he does (!) - no matter how well he thinks he has performed. We can pick on the rich young ruler for not wanting to give up his riches, but who among us could have a conversation with Jesus in which we bring to Him our mighty list of accomplishments and leave Him satisfied with our supposed state of perfection! To me, the whole purpose of the Sermon on the Mount was to get that point through to man's thick, self-righteous skulls!

But I said I was getting to the good news. :) Actually, I think Jesus gives the good news near the beginning of His Sermon, right before spelling out the bad news, and I think we zip right past it without realizing it. He says, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill" (Matt 5:17). That's an earth-shattering statement!

"Excuse me, Jesus. Did I hear you right? Did you say you've come to FULFILL the law?"

"Yup."

Jesus goes on, "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled" (Matt 5:18).

From that point on, He begins to lay out the bad news about the consequences for those whose righteousness does not "exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees."

"You will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

Those words, along with the rest of the bad news in Matthew 5-7, make the good news all the more clear: Jesus came to fulfill the law! I believe that one reason Jesus went on to spell out all the bad news was to show how extremely important it was that He came to fulfill the law!

When sinful man finally realizes the truth about his lack of completeness and lack of perfection and lack of true righteousness, he can see much more clearly that standing perfect before God can only come as a gift. He will finally see that he can never earn it or attain to it through anything he does. If the Sermon on the Mount, in addition to the Law, doesn't get that across to sinful man, I don't know what will.

The good news is that Jesus fulfilled the law! And the result of that, along with His sacrificial death and subsequent resurrection is that "He has perfected (teleioo) forever those who are being sanctified" (Heb 10:14). Everything that was lacking in sinful man was completed, accomplished, carried through completely, perfected... through Jesus and only through Jesus.

Col 2:9-10 says, "For in Him (Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power."

In Christ... and in Christ alone... we have been perfected and we are complete. We can't add to it or take away from it! This is our actual, factual standing before God. Perfect, complete, holy, justified, sanctified, righteous.

Of course there is another use of the word perfect/perfected. It can also mean to be mature or complete in the things we do, in how we live our lives. This, of course, is something that doesn't happen instantly, in the way that our perfect and complete standing in Christ did. This is a matter of a lifetime of being transformed on the outside to the reality of what is true on the inside. Now, if you think that following the Law or the Sermon on the Mount plays any part in this, please understand the true meaning and the true depths of the Law, and please read the Sermon on the Mount again... and again... and again... until you understand that Jesus is not talking about Christian growth and maturity!

But if you do find yourself truly growing in grace and growing in the love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - not through your own efforts but through resting in Christ, who fulfilled the Law - you may just find your outward performance naturally lining up with some of what you see in the law and with the things Jesus said! If you truly find this happening, I can guarantee that you won't ever make the claim that it's all because you've followed the Law or the Sermon on the Mount. Either that, or you've deceived yourself into thinking you have!

I have been crucified with Christ. I no longer live, but Christ lives in Me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in Christ. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness (or perfection!) comes through the law, then Christ died in vain (see Gal 2:20-21). This is good news!

(By the way, I'm soliciting all comments about any or all of this - whether negative or positive, or neutral. This is my personal take on things, and I'm open to hear what you have to say).

Special Day

My wife gets a two-for-one today! Of course it's Mother's Day... and it's also our 12th Wedding Anniversary today! We were married May 11, 1996, which happened to be the day before Mother's Day that year.

We celebrated BIG TIME today. I went to Walmart and picked up 8 pieces of fried chicken and a bucket of mashed potatoes and gravy. :D It's what SHE wanted!

Also, in a bit of irony, when I got to work this morning I realized I didn't have my wedding ring on! I rarely take it off, but I had removed it yesterday while forming some hamburger patties, and I forgot to put it back on.

Below is a slide show of 9 of our weddin' day pics.

Perfection - Part 1 of 2 - The bad news

During my Christian life I've often heard the term "God's Standard." Usually the term is used in the context of how well Christians are living the Christian life (i.e. "Are we living up to God's standard?").

My question is... What is God's standard? And... how do we know if we're living up to it? It seems to me that when many people say "God's standard," they mean things such as "God's laws" or "the rules of the Bible" or "the commands of Jesus." To some, "God's standard" seems to be more of a matter of "right vs. wrong" or "good vs. evil."

And so we (Christians) measure ourselves according to what we believe God's standard to be. But again, how do we know if we're living up to "God's standard?" Is it a matter of our "good" outweighing our "bad?" Is it a matter of "doing our best" to keep the Law or to keep the commandments of Jesus or to keep up with the standards of the Sermon on the Mount or to live by the New Testament principles given by Paul, Peter, John, etc?

What if God's standard was not a matter of any amount of human achievement - but rather was a matter of God's very own PERFECTION?

Jesus, speaking of love and hate in Matthew 5:43-48 (part of the Sermon on the Mount), said "if you love those who love you, what reward have you?" "And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others?" "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Years later, Jesus' little brother James would point out that "whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." All in all, this sounds like quite a lofty standard!

Whatever is the extent of our heavenly Father's perfection... that is to be the extent of our perfection. Our heavenly Father's love is PERFECT, as is His righteousness. And in whatever way - even if it's the tiniest way - that we stumble in living up to this standard of perfection, we can only conclude that we are guilty of all. Have you ever stopped to think about the seriousness of Jesus' words about perfection and James' words about being guilty of all?

In the rest of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus had quite a lot to say about righteousness, perfection, etc. "If you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." "I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment." "Anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell." "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you shall by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

And that's just a tiny selection of verses from the Sermon on the Mount. Again... isn't this serious stuff? Even with this tiny selection, I think it's pretty obvious that the bar is so much higher than we'd like to think! Jesus doesn't just say, "here are some things to aim for in your daily walk with God." He says, "You must hit the bullseye." He says, "be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect." I think we find through Jesus' words that perfect law-keeping, perfect righteousness, perfect love, etc, is not simply a matter of "trying" or "doing our best" to observe 10 commandments. As if that wasn't already a hard enough performance to live up to. But it really goes much deeper than that.

In Romans 7 Paul proclaims the truth that "the Law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good." I'd also like to be so bold as to assert that Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount are holy and just and good. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Law and there is absolutely nothing wrong with Jesus' words on the mountain. I think they are a representation of God's standard(s). In fact, what I see Jesus doing in the Sermon on the Mount is putting the holiness, justness and goodness of the Law under a microscope, exposing it at a much deeper level.

Look at your arm. What do you see? Skin, hair, etc. Imagine taking a sample of your skin and putting it under a microscope. You'll find that there's a lot more to your skin than the naked eye can see! Well, to many naked eyes it seemed as if the Law were a pretty simple concept. Just do these things "and you will live." But Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere, took "The Standard" (the Law) and put it under a microscope and exposed the depths of it in such a way that I would hope would help people to see that it wasn't quite that simple!

The Law, although holy and just and good, had a problem. As perfect and holy as it was, it could never do one thing to make a human being holy and just and good. As Hebrews 10:1 says, the law could never make anyone perfect. And as Galatians 3:21 says, the law could never make a person righteous and it could never give a person Life. And if the law itself could not do any of these things, neither could following any of Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount. But yet over and over in the Sermon, Jesus proclaimed "do this" and "don't do that." He laid out many conditional promises of blessings and many conditional warnings of judgment and curses. Why? Is this what our life in Him is really about??? Are we to take the Sermon on the Mount as God's word to followers of Christ?

Let's back up by taking a look at what the New Testament reveals about the Law. Paul calls it "the ministry of death" and "the ministry of condemnation" (2 Cor 3:7,9). Hebrews 7:19 says "the law made nothing perfect." Gal 3:12 says, "The law is not of faith, but 'the man who does them shall live by them.'" The law's job... the law's purpose... was to impute sin to man (charge sin to man's account) and to condemn man and to sentence man to death. Romans 3:20 says, "Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." "The law was our tutor to lead us to Christ" (see Gal 3:24-25). But in order to actually come to Christ, we had to die to the law (see Gal 2:19 and Romans 7). In summary, the holy, just, good Law showed us our sin, charged us with sin and condemned us to death. It pointed us to Christ, but we had to get out from under it (we had to die to it) in order to be "married" to Christ.

The law is not the gospel! The law is holy and just and good, but the law is not good news! Now take a look again at Matthew 5-7 and tell me if what you see more closely resembles the bad news of the Law or the good news of the gospel. I'll just come right out and say it. The Sermon on the Mount is not good news! The Sermon on the Mount is not the gospel, nor is it part of it.

The law demanded perfection. ("One strike and you're out," to paraphrase James). Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount demanded perfection. Again, don't just skim by those words of His! It's serious stuff! And it's not good news if you've not been able to uphold this standard!

But this is Part 1 of 2. We'll get to the good news. You betcha!

Super Mario Bros. - We're Not Gonna Take It!

In my continuing (secret) efforts to totally corrupt Aida (that's what little 'brothers' are for, right?)... LOL... I've found the perfect video. :-D

In the comments of my It's a Sin post, Aida said she heard this song on the radio the other day - and was singing along to it - and her husband changed the station - and she told him to put it back on! And then today she said the song was going through her head all day. Well, my good old Nintendo friends from back in the day - The Super Mario Brothers - have their own video for the song and I just couldn't resist sharing it. (For Aida, of course).

(By the way, in case you're new here, this all sort of developed from a blog post of mine from about a year ago. I posted the video for Twisted Sister's song from the 80's, We're Not Gonna Take It, as sort of a comical look at the effects of legalism. Since that time I've watched the TS video several times, and I still continue to get a laugh out of it but at times it also sobers me up to the reality of the effects of legalism).

As for the video below... It's completely comical as far as I'm concerned. :) Introducing Luigi on drums and Mario playing a mean guitar!

Psalm 23:2

Psalm 23:2
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.


Psalm 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God


1 Cor 14:33
For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.


John 10:7-11
Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.


Ezek 34:11-16
'For thus says the Lord GOD: "Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in good pasture , and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down," says the Lord GOD. "I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment."

Psalm 23:1

Psalm 23:1

The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
NKJV

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
NIV

GOD, my shepherd!
I don't need a thing.
The Message

The LORD is my shepherd;
I have everything I need.
NLT

Jehovah [is] my shepherd, I do not lack.
Young's Literal Translation

THE LORD is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack.
Amplified Bible

You, LORD, are my shepherd.
I will never be in need.
CEV

The LORD is my shepherd;
there is nothing I lack.
Holman Christian Standard Bible


Matt 6:25-34
"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28 "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 "Therefore do not worry , saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.


Phil 4:11-13
...I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

"Permisson to be Human" - Darin Hufford

On his blog, as a preface to a blog post called "Permission to be Human," Darin Hufford writes, "Taking a big chance posting this. We'll see what happens...."

What is his post about, in which he's taking such a chance? To me, it's a raw look at the contradictory ways in which Christians live their lives, written in the first person from Darin's own perspective. Now... before I post the link to it, I want to affirm adamantly my belief that focusing on all of this inconsistent, contradictory behavior in the life of the Christian (and believe me, Darin doesn't hold back when sharing his own self-observances in his post!) is NOT what our life in Christ is about! In fact, focusing on it can be very detrimental to the living out of our daily lives in Christ. We can understand the reality that, for example, we think pure thoughts one moment and then the next moment we're all caught up in lustful thinking... without letting the truth of those contradictions steal from us the truth of our identity in Christ that is based not upon how we behave but upon the fact that by faith God has given us an identity that is righteous, holy, blameless and pure. We walk by faith in Christ, not by self-observance!

But I'm linking to this because I know that I know that I know that I know that sometimes an individual can feel as if they're the only Christian on the planet who deals with behavior that isn't always consistent (an understatement, of course), and I think that Darin simply comes out and says candidly what many Christians deal with daily, but are hesitant to speak about. Some of my blogging friends have posted similar blog posts in the past, and I always appreciate the honesty!

What is left out of the post, in my opinion (or at least it's what I would have gone on to say had I said the same things myself) is the truth about victory being a gift from God that He has already given us and that we walk in by faith, and by His grace - and that we don't need to stay locked into a mindset that the daily Christian life is simply a matter of putting up with fluctuating behavior.

That said, that obviously wasn't the point Darin was trying to make. So... I invite you to follow one of the links below and allow Darin to say all the things you've always wanted to say as a Christian, but were too afraid... and know that you're not alone. :) And I just want to add - Thank you, Father, for the victory that we have in Jesus! Thank you that we follow you and love you and obey you... not based upon our own abilities or efforts to do any of these things, but based upon Your faithfulness and Your love and Your own working that you work in us as we rest in You.

"Permission to be Human"
Darin's Myspace post
Darin's website blog post

Are we there yet?

The other day, in an exchange of Myspace messages with a friend, Teresa ("His Joy"), I received the following message that included the following paragraph:

"I have figured out in my own life that just seems to be how it goes...waiting for what is next. I used to have some fairytale idea that life would reach a point where you just become settled and "arrive" to the place you are supposed to be...but at least for me, its just been a constant journey of wondering what is next. It is a challenge for me to "enjoy the now" but I am trying to do that more and more."

I asked Teresa if I could share this, because I think many people can probably relate. As I've come to find out as well, there is no "arrival" point in life. Whenever there have been times that I've thought "I'm there," I've quickly discovered that "there" is simply one part of a bigger picture, one part of a bigger journey.

For example, I'll just be honest and say that when the Lord whispered 'graceroots dot org' in my ear four years and four months ago (I'll never forget it), and I went ahead and registered the domain in obedience to what I had heard from Him, I thought at the time that perhaps "this is IT." I thought that maybe "this is what I've been waiting for." Only a few years earlier God had planted a desire in me to write a book, and I began thinking that this was what it was all about. Don't get me wrong, I had no delusions of grandeur, as if some huge "ministry" would suddenly pop up. Turns out that my lack of delusion was well founded. :) And that is A-OK with me.

My point here is that I did have some sort of a sense that I had "arrived" at some sort of definition of what the Lord wanted to do with my life, and He would build this "vision" in due time, even if the "vision" wasn't perfectly clear at the time. But over the months and years, I discovered that my life in Christ isn't about some ministry "brand." Even if/when I write a book, my life in Him is still not defined by it. I am in Him and He is in me, and I usually don't have a clue where I'm going! The wind blows where it wishes, and so it is with those who ride the wind of the Spirit. Sometimes the wind is calm, but you can be guaranteed that it doesn't stay that way for long!

That's not to say that He doesn't give us visions and dreams and desires and that He doesn't fulfill them! And that's not to say that we're never "planted" in a place for an extended period of time. But I think what I'm seeing these days is that even in the fulfillment of dreams, we've still not "arrived." And quite often, the fulfillment of a dream or desire is merely a "step" to something else. Or obedience to something He says isn't the be-all-end-all, but is simply part of a much larger picture.

I suppose I have a few more thoughts on this, but I'm eager to find out from you what you have discovered in all of this in your own journey. Does any of this relate to your job, family, ministry, pastimes, place of residence, understanding of God, way of looking at things, etc, etc?

It's a Sin

I barely remembered this song from the 80's. I liked the music of the Pet Shop Boys and I mostly remember their bigger hits such as Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money), West End Girls, and their popular version of Always On My Mind (see below). As I listened to It's a Sin today, the music and the lyrics came back to me, and I can say that I was much more struck by the lyrics today than I was back then!

One example of a verse that really stuck out to me was:

At school they taught me how to be
So pure in thought and word and deed
They didn't quite succeed...

(That's just one small part. See all the lyrics here.)

Judging from the video, the lyrics appear to be referring to a Catholic school experience, but I suppose it could refer to any type of private (or public) school experience in which morals were legalistically taught/stressed/enforced... and of course my mind quickly made the legalistic church connection in regards to this terrible obsession with SIN!

It's sad, but I think it's true that this song probably represents the mindset of many people in the world today in regards to their understanding of how God sees them. I pray for the truth of the righteousness that comes by faith, not our own efforts at righteousness, and the truth of the new life and the new identity that God gives us in Christ in which we don't live with a sin consciousness but with a righteousness consciousness and with peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, to continue to be spread all around the world and to FREE people instead of keeping them in the bondage of a focus on sin!

Pet Shop Boys - It's a Sin


For Aida... Pet Shop Boys' version of Always On My Mind :)

"I'm a bilingual illiterate. I can't read in two languages." LOL :)

Opponents carry injured softball home run hitter around the bases

This story really touched me this week. In the second inning of a college softball game that would decide a playoff spot, a senior hit her first ever home run (a three-run homer) but injured her knee after missing first base and turning around quickly to tag it. She crawled back to first base, but couldn't do anything else because of her injury. If anyone on her team had tried to help her, she would have been ruled out.

While the officials were discussing what could/should be done, two members of the opposing team took it upon themselves to carry the injured player around the bases, securing the three runs for their opponent, ultimately resulting in a 4-2 loss for them and a chance to advance to the playoffs. What a selfless act!

Here's the story.

Peter Frampton - I'm In You

Last August I posted this video and I wrote:

Beautiful song.

Could this be a missing chapter from Song of Solomon? (Perhaps mixed with John, Chapter 15?). :)

I was just looking at that blog post and I noticed that that particular video was no longer available, so here's another one.



And here's something more current from Peter Frampton. Something about him looks slightly different. :)

Slow

Several different things today have reminded me of one of the major facets of "Grace Roots" that the Lord has revealed to me in the past few years. It has to do with becoming established in grace and growing in grace - and taking all the time in the world that is needed. In other words, not forcing growth, but becoming firmly and solidly established in the fertile soil of grace, and growing in grace over the period of a lifetime.

Some examples from today:

-I read at least two or three different blog posts today about resting (in Christ) and slowing down.

-My wife bought some tulips the other day, but they are still inside the house. (We've had a heck of a time getting consistently warm weather in April). My kids and I were looking at the tulips this morning, and we noticed how they looked a little different than they did yesterday morning, but not dramatically different.

-In my personal thinking today, my thoughts have progressed naturally to thinking about slow growth in the Christian life rather than striving to experience everything so quickly. At one point in my thinking, I came up to a stop sign. On the other side of the road was a driveway to a business with a sign that stuck out to me. It simply said, "Slow."

-Ha! I just got done writing the above examples and I went upstairs for a moment. My wife showed me some of my son's school work in which he was having some problems. On a certain reading comprehension test, he scored only 40%. (He got at least 80% on the other tests). On this particular test his teacher wrote the words, "Slow down." :)

We're in such a hurry these days. We're so focused on just getting things done or accomplished. We're so focused on the final product. We're so very results-oriented.

We're very focused on arriving, but we're not so thrilled with the journey. And yet the journey is the major part of the experience!

And so we live very dysfunctional and very dissatisfied Christian lives... and we may not even realize why. So many times I think it's because we don't see the worth in the day by day, moment by moment journey. We want God to do this now and we want God to show us that now, and while yearning for all these various miraculous 'manifestations' of God, we become less and less aware of His actual presence right now! We want miracles and we want fixes to our problems, and we want to experience victory in our Christian lives, and while those may not always be bad things to desire or to seek God about, our obsession with those things - even if they seem to be things of God - may actually be keeping us from enjoying His actual presence in the now!

Perhaps we haven't yet learned what the Apostle Paul had learned - to be content no matter what the situation. In today's "gospel," if we're hungry God will always make our stomachs full. If we're sick, God will always heal us. If we're naked, God will always clothe us. If we don't have much, we expect God to turn things around and make us plentiful.

But the secret Paul had learned went like this: "I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength." (Phil 4:11-13) (The Philippians had indeed sent aid to him, but as we read his account, it wasn't his need being met that he was concerned with. He was simply happy that his troubles had provided an opportunity for them to show their concern for him).

I've digressed a little bit here, but the point is that we're so focused on obvious signs of growth and obvious signs that God is providing for us, that we miss the simplicity that is in Christ and we miss the joy of being content no matter what our state and we miss the joy of knowing that no matter what our life's condition is in, we can do all things through CHRIST.

This gets me back to slow growth in the Christian life. Perhaps some of us are always seeking but rarely finding because we're looking for the wrong things. Perhaps we're wanting to grow in experiences and manifestations, when God really wants us to grow in knowing Him despite what we see or experience.

This type of growth is slow, that's for sure! But it's a wonderful growing experience, because it's a matter of getting our roots firmly established in Jesus Christ ("rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith" - Col 2:7). To be like the palm tree or the cedar of Lebanon mentioned in Psalm 92 (see third link below), it takes time.

In the past I've written on slow, deeply rooted growth several times. Here are a few links:

Slow cooker or Microwave (this post actually links to a few other things I've written on slow growth).

Grace Roots (this is one of my original posts in which I explained 'Grace Roots,' and how the Lord had been slowly revealing to me what it is about).

Established and growing in grace (four core verses).