Friday, May 29, 2009

For Every Valley, A Mountain

Why is it that when life presses in close and the light fails and the ground gets soft we convince ourselves that it must be the end? What I'm saying is that in the valley, we tend to think that we've come there to stay. But who, when hiking in a natural valley for example, keeps their nose pointed at the ground below and never looks up to the heights above?

Let's not convince ourselves when days are dark that they will always be so. It's in the valley of the shadow where we find pools of refreshing, where the LORD prepares us a table to sustain us in plain sight of our enemies.

Trust usually means you can't actually see the safety net, the rod of comfort or the road to safety. That's why it's called trust, and that's why we can't depend on our own understanding, but must fully rely on the love God has for His own.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Shaking Like A Leaf

Just a simple song from a simple man singing about a simple truth. If you are familiar with Rich Mullins, what's your favorite song?

Friday, May 22, 2009

We Would Have Been

Romans 9:29 It is just as Isaiah said previously: "Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah."

Alright, look: God's sovereign choice in election is just that - His own. The reason? Because He chooses to show mercy and make the riches of His glory known. Without mercy, without election, without God having left "descendants" not one human being would have ever chosen Him!

Some would say God's action in election is patent evidence that He is capricious and unfair. The missing part of that equation, however, is the utter inability of mankind to do anything truly "righteous" apart from God. Even our faith is divine in origin: Hebrews states plainly that Jesus is the Author of our faith, and in the Gospel of John Jesus declares that "you did not choose me, but I chose you..."

So, the fact that any of us have received mercy is quite astounding, and demonstrates God's great grace and love - not capriciousness.

I deserve as much brimstone in my britches as any Sodomite. And so do you. But click here for some really good news.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Ducks, Chickens & Soccer Balls

It is so easy to help families through World Vision, and they have so many cool ways to do it. It's not just giving money, it is giving soccer balls, garden seeds, mosquito netting, fishing kits, ducks, water purification tablets, school books . . . so many choices! When you count up the spare change in that basket where you keep your wallet and keys, when you find a twenty dollar bill in the laundry, when you have a little extra after grocery shopping, please consider helping a family through World Vision. Click around on these links and checks out some of the great opportunities they offer!

Monday, May 18, 2009

High Nonsense

"Imagine 10 [to the 50th] blind persons each with a scrambled Rubik's cube and try to conceive of them simultaneously arriving at the solved form. You then have the chance of arriving by random shuffling (random variation ) at just one of the many biopolymers upon which life depends . . . nonsense of a high order." Stephen Taylor, senior lecturer in electrical engineering at the University of Liverpool. Emphasis added.

The only explanation for life on earth is the intentional manufacturing of the systems we observe by a higher intelligence. Random chance doesn't even remotely STAND A CHANCE. And that intelligence is none other than the God of the Bible, whose Spirit hovered over the processes of creation and whose Son holds it all together!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Not Made For Here

The words of C.S. Lewis, as lyricized (I think I just made up a word!) by Brooke Fraser:

If I find in myself desires nothing in this world can satisfy, I can only conclude that I, I was not made for here. If the flesh that I fight is at best only light and momentary, then of course I'll feel nude when to where I'm destined I'm compared . . .



I'm longing for the morning, looking forward to that day!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Tear 'Em Up

"When the king heard the words of the book of the Law, he tore his robes." 2 Kings 22:11
This was the reaction of king Josiah of Judah when Hilkiah the priest read from God's Word in the king's presence after having found it in the Temple which had been trashed during the disastrously idolatrous reigns of Manasseh and Amon.

Josiah's heart was good, and his reaction to hearing how far Judah had run from God's Law was to tear his royal robes as a physical expression of grief and indignation. Think for a minute how deliberate he had to be in that action: Josiah wasn't wearing burlap or commoner's clothing that might be threadbare and easily torn from a frayed edge. His kingly clothing would have been the best made in the land, not fraying or worn out or cheaply made. It probably took him several good minutes of concerted effort to make this happen. That, to me, indicates something real is going on!

Now, should not the same kind of thing happen when we are confronted with the Word of God as we read from it, and hear it taught in our congregations?

"Rend your hearts, and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God . . . " Joel 2:13

The inerrant Word of God to which we are accountable should never be allowed to fall on deaf ears or dull minds. Truly, we should each receive it with reverence and welcome its work in our hearts and lives.

Monday, May 11, 2009

The Broken Heart

Below is an excerpt of a prayer/poem from The Valley of Vision, entitled "The Broken Heart".

O Lord,
No day of my life has passed
that has not proved me guilty in Thy sight . . .
Though my sins rise to heaven, Thy merits soar above them;
Though unrighteousness weighs me down to hell,
Thy righteousness exalts me to Thy throne.
All things in me call for my rejection,
All things in Thee plead my acceptance...
Give me perpetual broken-heartedness,
Keep me always clinging to Thy cross,
flood me every moment with descending grace,
Open to me the springs of divine knowledge,
sparkling like crystal,
flowing clear and unsullied
through my wilderness of life.

Praise to the all-conquering Christ and His sovereign grace!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Love Is Waiting

This post is better read with music playing . . .



I can't imagine being more in love. I am head over heels for my wife.

Hardly a day passes that I don't think about the road we've travelled together. I think of the years I waited for her before we were married, and the 18 years we've been together since then. It's like recollecting the storyline of a great novel, and the cool thing is that we're right in the midst of it. Together, we have been through shadowy valleys that we would never have made it through alone. Adversity has hardened our resolve and times of ease have taught us to savor life together. We have experienced more than we ever thought we would, and our sons have taught us about a facet of love that we never imagined possible.

Often I stand back and marvel as I watch her interact with our boys. Her level of understanding is fascinating. Her intuition about them and care for them is astounding, and is truly a comfort to me - she knows how to care for them when I don't.

Without her to season my life, I am a bland and tasteless man. When she's gone, our home loses much of it's beauty and music. How happy I am, how blessed, that God has graciously given me my wife. She is my life and my love while this life lasts.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

On Self Esteem

What is the notion that we need "self-esteem", or we need to get what's "best for us", as if we even understand what is best for us? What is best is to humble ourselves under God's mighty hand and in due time He will lift us up. Esteem myself? Foolish.

"If I esteem myself to be anything more, behold, Thou standest against me, and my iniquities bear true witness, and I cannot contradict it. But if I abase myself, and reduce myself to nothing, and shrink from all self-esteem, and grind myself to (what I am) dust, Thy grace will be favorable to me, and Thy light near unto my heart; and all self-esteem, no matter how little, shall be swallowed up in the valley of my nothingness, and perish forever."
~Thomas a Kempis, Of The Imitation of Christ