4Ever Free

Who Is Jesus?

2008-08-19T14:32:00.004-04:00

Jesus asked that question of His disciples – “Who do men say that I am?” They answered that some said he was John the Baptist, others that He was Elijah. But He got to the heart of the matter when He asked “Who do you say that I am? Peter answered “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Who is Jesus? There aren’t enough words in any language to describe Him. There aren’t enough writers, enough poets, enough composers to begin to describe who He is or how wonderful He is or the many, many facets of His life, His death, His ministry.

All attempts to define Him will fall short of Who He is, for how can the finite explain the infinite? How can mortality explain immortality? How can man describe the God who created him?

But He is the One we all need.

All men find in Him their true north, their center.

He is what we all want to be; He is all we can be.

He was high and lifted up, and He was meek and lowly.

He is the Christ of theological study, and He is known in the crush and press of life.

He is the greatest of personalities in the annals of recorded history, yet He keeps company with the outcast and downtrodden.

He is the Christ of the ages and the Christ of today.

Wise men seek Him, minstrels sing about Him, artists depict Him, teachers explain Him, scholars study Him, poets frame Him in a song.

He is as eternal as the ages and as contemporary as today.

He is the Sweetest of the sweet and the Fairest of the fair.

Who is Jesus?

He created the oceans, streams, lakes and rivers, yet He said “I Thirst.”

He created the sun, moon, and stars, yet He said “I am the light of the world.”

He is the Creator of worlds, but able to receive little children to Himself.

He spoke the world into existence, but before His accusers He opened not His mouth.

Who is Jesus?

He inhabited the ivory palaces, but was born in a barn.

He was warmed on that cold night by the misty breath of cattle and oxen.

His crib was an animals’ feeding trough.

Wise men came from afar bearing HIm gifts, but humble shepherds came from a nearby field with nothing in their hands.

Who is Jesus?

He grew up as a Root out of Dry Ground, but He is worshipped and adored by countless millions.

He fasted alone in the desert, yet fed thousands with a few loaves and some small fishes.

He called to men and they left everything to follow Him.

He never went beyond the confines of His country, yet He is known around the globe.

He claimed to be God, and lived among men as one of them.

He condemned sin in the flesh, yet welcomed the wandering son back home.

He preached on the mountain and prayed in the garden.

He accepted those who others had cast out. He touched and healed those who others had called unclean.

He spoke of simple things – the fowls of the air, the lilies of the field, a grain of mustard seed.

He railed at the hypocrites, the money changers, and the self-righteous, but had only words of comfort for a self-acknowledged sinner on a cross.

He spoke of His Kingdom and said it is come.

He fed multitudes. He walked on water. He raised the dead.

His pulpit was a mountain, a field, a boat.

Wise men paid Him homage, religious men scorned Him, ordinary men followed Him.

He was baptized in water, straitened in suffering, bathed in blood.

He spoke against sin and evil, yet He was called a glutton and a winebibber.

He condemned pharisaical righteousness yet wrote in the sand and saved an adulteress from those who would stone her.

He prepared a place for all men, but He had nowhere to lay His head.

It was never recorded that He was sick, or worried, or scared, or hopeless, or fearful, or thoughtless, or rude. Yet His love inspired hate, His miracles evoked malice, His healings elicited hatred.

Who is Jesus?

He traded a robe of glory for swaddling clothes. He traded the seamless robe for the purple robe of mockery. He traded a crown of glory for a crown of thorns. He traded majesty and divinity for scorn and mockery. He traded a throne for a cross.

He was betrayed by one of His disciples, forsaken by the rest.

He carried His own cross. He gave His back to the smiters. He opened His hands to receive the nails. No man took His life – He willingly laid it down.

He was transfigured on the mountain, disfigured on the cross.

He called Zacchaeus down from a tree, but would not Himself come down from the tree where they nailed Him.

He was a Carpenter who built a bridge with a hammer and three nails.

He healed sickness and forgave sins, but took all our sin on sickness upon Himself on the tree.

He did not free Himself from death on the cross, but broke the bands of death when He rose from the dead.

He was rejected that we might be accepted. He was bound that we might be free. He was oppressed that we might be set at liberty. He was afflicted that we might be comforted. He was despised that we might be loved. He was bruised that we might be made whole. He was put to grief that we might be brought in.

Who is Jesus?

He cheated death of its power by rising from the dead.

He left empty the manger, the cross and the tomb. He lives forever to fill the hearts and souls of those who will receive Him.

You can point to His tomb but not to His body, for He’s no longer there.

Death could not keep Him, the grave could not hold Him, darkness could not claim Him.

The empty tomb continues to give hope to those without hope. The risen Christ at God’s right hand continues to be the Friend of those who have no friends.

Who is Jesus?

He was the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Son of David.

He is the Way, the Truth, the Life.

He is the First and the Last, the complete revelation of God.

He is the Good Shepherd and the Lamb of God.

He is the Rock of Ages and the Stone That The Builders Rejected.

He is the Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace, the Altogether Lovely One.

He was the King of kings, yet He fellowshipped with sinners.

He was a Prophet, a Priest, a King; a Shepherd, a Teacher, a Healer.

He was the King of the Jews. Today He is the monarch of millions.

He is the Vine, the Branch, a Root out of Dry Ground – the Tree of Life.

He is the magnificent, the wonderful, the ineffable Son of God.

He is the High and Holy One, the Avenger of Wrongs, the Way, Truth and Life.

He is the One at God’s right hand.

He is the King of angels and the Servant of all.

He is very God of very God, but so much like you and me.

He is Living Water, He is the Bread of Life.

His love is better than the finest of wines. He is honey in the rock.

He wrote no books, but He is the Author and Finisher of our faith.

He never led an army, but He is the Captain of the Lord’s Host and a Man of War.

He never built a building, but He makes His home in the souls of men.

He never asked a dime, but He is the riches of glory of God.

Who is Jesus?

He was poor but He made many rich. He became weak that we might be strong. He died that men might live. He lives that men might not die. He lives forever that we might follow in His train.

He confounds wise men but is known and loved by little children.

His is the only name among religious figures that men use as a curse, but millions whisper that name lovingly, adoringly every day.

His name is cursed by men every day, but no unkind word ever left His lips.

Other great men have amassed fortunes, founded global enterprises, governed countries, commanded armies. He did none of these things. He came, He lived, He died, He rose from the dead.

Other religious leaders left a series of steps, of things to do, of teachings to follow. He did none of those things. He was His own message.

He is as strong as an oak tree and as tender as a mother’s love.

He is studied about in seminaries, but ordinary men and women in villages and hamlets across the globe talk with Him on a daily basis.

He claimed to be the Son of God and the Savior of the World, but He left no written record, no compilation of what should be believed and done. Instead, He left His entire enterprise in the shaky hands of a few stumbling, bumbling men who were more adept at fishing and tax collecting than they were at running a religion. It had to be thus, for His impact is in His Person, not in a creed. Those men, later filled and empowered from on high, were accurate to present His cause as Himself and not a set of beliefs or steps to take to a fuller life. His message, His proposal, His Kingdom, were just that – Himself. “I am the Way, I am the Truth, I am the Life.”

Who is Jesus?

Only He can tell the honor of His name. Open wide your heart and listen. He will share with you the glories of His Person and the Wonders of His Love.

It Is Well

2008-06-16T14:57:00.001-04:00

When Jesus saved me, all well broke loose.

A Fortress Sure

2008-06-01T09:39:00.002-04:00

The one who knows what it is to dwell in the secret place of the Most High has a fortress sure, a dwelling place secure, free from pressures within and without. That fortress is not in an ethereal, far-off never-never land but in the depths of his spirit; Christ dwells in us and we dwell in Him, not in theory but in a glorious reality.

I dwell within a castle sure,
A strong and mighty tower,
Hidden in the heart of God,
Protected by His power.

And here within my castle walls
My heart is calm all day,
While outside rage the rain and wind
And comes whatever may.

Many's the storm that's come and gone,
The tempests that raged and roared;
Safe, I, within my castle walls,
Sheltered in my Lord.

One With Christ

2008-05-22T09:50:00.004-04:00

I ave written poems for friends' weddings several times in the past. This poem is for an upcoming June wedding. The poem gives a revelation of the symbolism in our wedding ceremony - the ring, the name, the veil, etc. Everything points out that a wedding depicts the union between Christ and His church, His bride. We are called to be one with Him. That's an incredible thought of which we have yet to plumb the depths.

Behold what here now taketh place,
United now by faith and grace -
In symbol and in deed and word,
Forever are we with the Lord.

The bridegroom waiteth for his bride;
Soon she’ll be standing by his side.
Soon they shall together be
Both now and for eternity.

The Bride of Christ comes to her Lord;
All our wandering days are o’er;
So shall we ever be with God,
Nor separated anymore.

The bride appears all dressed in white;
She is holy in his sight.
His wedding garment white we don,
A righteousness that is all His own.

He gives to her a golden band
For the finger of her hand;
The gold speaks of Christ’s purity
He gives to us fresh, full and free.

She takes his name, gives up her own;
By his name now she is known.
As nature in a name is found,
Christ’s to us is ever bound.

Each to the other makes their vows,
Insep’rably bound, as tree and bough;
Worse or better, sickness, health,
Younger, older, poorer, wealth.

He lifts the veil from off her face
And she can see. Amazing Grace,
Christ lifts the veil from our blind eyes
And we behold Him, ever nigh.

He gives to her a holy kiss,
As God caresses earth with mist.
So we receive His love divine,
More precious than the choicest wine.

Flesh of flesh and bone of bone,
Of the two He has made one.
One with Christ – O precious thought,
The wonder that our God has wrought.

My All In All

2008-04-12T08:16:00.002-04:00

The things I count as gain are loss,
My riches are exposed as dross.
I cast my crowns down at your feet
And bow before the mercy seat.

I come in poverty to receive Thy wealth,
In sickness to receive Thy health.
In sin I receive Thy righteousness,
Naked, clothed in Thy glorious dress.

I come in darkness to receive Thy light,
Blind, I come, to receive Thy sight.
Feed me and my hunger shall be no more,
Slake my thirst from Thy boundless store.

Your strength for my weakness I now receive,
Your faith for my doubtings, Lord, I believe.
Your wisdom for my ignorance,
Your everything for my nothingness.

Abraham, Martin and John

2008-02-18T11:54:00.002-05:00

If you've never heard the original song by Dion, click here.

Anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed lotta people but it seems the good they die young
You know I just looked around and he's gone

Anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed lotta people but it seems the good they die young
I just looked around and he's gone

Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?

Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed lotta people but it seems the good they die young
I just looked around and he's gone

Didn't you love the things that they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good for you and me?
And we'll be free
Some day soon, it's gonna be one day

Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up over the hill
With Abraham, Martin, and John.

(Words and music by Richard Holler)

No Greater Treasure

2007-12-20T11:03:00.000-05:00

Why just a babe in a manger?
Why not a glorious hall,
A marblestone palace with ramparts
And turrets and towers and all?

Why aren't there ladies and lords?
Why just these shepherds and sheep?
Why not the brightest and best
Instead of a dark night so deep?

Why not two parents of royal
Descent, of lineage grand,
A heritage fit for a king,
Instead of this maid and this man?

Why not a royal parade
With cornets and psalteries and harps?
Why just the braying of beasts
In the night, in the cold, in the dark?

This King needs no palace or pomp,
No glitter or glory or gold,
For He is the treasure of Heaven
That cannot be bought or be sold.

What men prize as treasures are cheap,
Hold no weight in the courts of the Lord,
And this stable with oxen and cattle
Is palace enough for our God.

For the treasure itself lies within,
'Tis Jesus, the fairest of fair,
And anything earth could afford
Would be but as dust were it there.

It matters not how poor the setting
If it holds the greatest of gifts;
If Jesus is guest in the hall
There's no greater treasure than this.

The God-Man

2007-12-10T08:36:00.000-05:00

Our God enfleshed in Christ has come,
Let royal wisdom strike us dumb;
To save our lost and fallen race
He takes on human form and face.

Who could conceive of such a plan?
'Twas not devised by likes of man;
Only wisdom from above
Could conceive such saving love.

For mortal man had lost it all
From Adam's failure in the fall;
But sinful man can't pay the price
So God becomes the sacrifice.

Man could not atone for sin
Nor could God die, but look within
The stable rude - our God appears
As man, and Calv'ry's moment nears.

For just a while He's with us here,
For these three and thirty years;
He lives the only sinless life
'Midst our sorrow and our strife.

Then in Gethsemane He takes
Our sin and Satan's thralldom breaks,
When on the cross He nails it there
And we escape the fowler's lair.

Let joy come down like falling rain
For love has broken sin's dark chains,
Let every human heart become
The dwelling place of Christ, the Son.

Heaven's Best

2007-12-08T16:46:00.000-05:00

Earth cared not for this Son of God,
No place to lay his head,
Offered naught but sheets of straw,
A manger for a bed.

No room, they said, within the inn,
But there's a barn outside;
Soon forgotten in the cold,
They heard not when he cried.

But heaven gave its very best -
A star to guide the way
Of those who came across the wilds
To where the young child lay.

And angels to announce his birth
To shepherds in the field,
And to give to him the name
Above all names revealed.

Look up and lift your eyes from earth
To see his star above,
To hear the wonders of his name
From messengers of love.

Joseph

2007-12-05T08:12:00.000-05:00

I think this poem brings Joseph out of the background where he has been hidden for too long and says everything that needs to be said about fathers, what they should be and what they should do.

"Joseph, fear not," said the angel,
"To take to thee Mary thy wife."
It was Joseph who would guard the young child
Through the the soon-coming trouble and strife.

It was to Joseph the angel
Spoke that sweetest Name, all names above,
'Twas Joseph who gave Him that name -
JESUS, the Son of God's love.

It was Joseph who watched over Mary
And cared for the family of God,
Who guided and guarded and took them
To Bethlehem town as they trod.

It was Joseph who asked the innkeeper
If a room perchance he might have,
And 'twas Joseph who readied the manger
'Mong'st the goats and the sheep and the calves.

It was Joseph who watched o'er his family
As shepherds and wise men came there;
It was Joseph who guarded his flock
And kept his small family in prayer.

The angel appeared unto Joseph
In a dream saying "Rise up and go;
Take mother and child into Egypt
And be there 'til I let you know."

For Herod was ranting and raving
And sought the life of the child,
But Joseph, the husband and father,
Kept them from cruel Herod's wiles.

Again, in a dream, did the angel
Tell Joseph 'twas safe to return,
So he took the young child and his mother
Back to Israel where Jesus learned

As he sat at the feet of his father,
And helped at the carpenter's trade,
That fathers are strong and courageous
And good, like the tables he made.

And still today God looks for Josephs,
For husbands and fathers who love,
Who'll guard the great gifts God has given
And be like our Father above.

The Magi's Gifts

2007-12-03T11:51:00.001-05:00

What strange gifts for a little child;
Would he not rather have a top, a toy,
That he could play with as a boy?
Why bring these gifts through regions wild?

What stirred within their hearts to bring
Such presents to a peasant's babe?
What sentiments were there portrayed?
Or were they off'rings for a king?

What meant this strange gift of myrrh
Which does not celebrate his birth
But puts the value and the worth
On his dying, as it were?

And why this gift of frankincense?
'Tis used in worship of our God.
And yet this babe on common sod
Is worthy such extravagance.

For gold depicts divinity indeed,
And so the wise men, not beguiled,
Knew that Jesus, Holy Child,
Was Christ the Son, the Royal Seed.

O Jesus, Jesus, stir my heart
To bring Thee gifts of precious worth
As frankincense and gold and myrrh
That I might know Thee as Thou art.

But We See Jesus (Hebrews 2:9)

2007-08-31T09:01:00.000-04:00

We see not all things conquered now
And put beneath His feet;
The victory we long for so
Seems not to be complete.

But we see Jesus, made like us,
In God's great glorious plan,
To suffer, bleed and die, to taste
Of death for every man.

We see not self subject to Him,
But consumed with sin and lust,
So very far from being here
What is true and right and just.

But we see Jesus, Son of God,
Who bore all of our sin,
That we by God's surpassing grace
Might one day be like Him.

We see not evil brought to bay
But rampant, running free;
A bleeding, dying world knows not
How things could one day be.

But we see Jesus, Son of Man,
Made like sinful flesh,
To raise us from our lost estate
By His life and by His death.

Another Comforter

2007-08-04T11:17:00.000-04:00

This poem expresses something I have been wanting to say for a while now - that the Holy Spirit is more than just celestial leftovers or a flashlight in Jesus' hands; He is the Spirit of Christ, the manifest Presence of God within us, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. The poem places the reader in the place of one of the disciples to consider what it must have been like to actually know Jesus and be with Him, and then hear that He was going away. Then Jesus said "it is expedient for you that I go away" and that He would send another Comforter to be with them forever. That must not have made any sense to them - that it was good that this wonderful, unique Son of God would leave them - until the Holy Spirit came and they knew - they knew - that He had come to them again.

Imagine if you’d walked with the disciples of the Lord
And been one of the twelve, and heard his every word;
He’d spoke to you and said “Now, come and follow me;”
You’d dropped your nets and left, knowing not what was to be.

Because you felt in him such promise and such truth,
You’d give him all you had – your strength, your love, your youth.
You’d heard that awesome voice that created everything
And created within you the strength to love and serve this king.

His words were right and true and you could count on what he said;
His words could calm the sea, heal the sick, and raise the dead.
His voice was like the sound of many waters’ flow,
Like an eagle on the wing, like the morning breezes blow.

You’d looked into those eyes with their penetrating gaze
That looked into your soul and saw all of your days,
Eyes not to condemn, but that brimmed with friendship’s trust,
Eyes that spoke of things that were pure and true and just.

And you had felt the touch of his hand upon your arm
To guide you and protect you and to keep you safe from harm;
With his arm around your shoulders as you journeyed and you trod,
As he walked along beside you, you felt the touch of God.

You didn’t understand all the things that he had said –
How he’d die upon a cross and then rise up from the dead;
But you kept them in your heart for you knew that they could be,
For anything could happen with this man from Galilee.

He believed in you when no one else would do the same;
He spoke of things above, not of fortune or of fame.
The Kingdom of the Lord was his one recurring theme,
And you believed it come, or could – or so it seemed

Until one day he told you that he’d have to go away;
Your world fell all apart – you felt a castaway.
For he was your best friend – no one else could take his place –
No one else held such a promise, or such glory, or such grace.

But he said that he would send another Comforter,
One just like the first; he’d be with you, as it were.
For the Spirit that would come would be in every sense the same;
He was going to the Father and would send Him in His name.

But when it came to pass – when they nailed him to the tree –
You had fled like all the rest; it seemed such irony
That such promise and such truth could be cut down so soon,
That the bright star of the morning could be darkened before noon.

Then he arose and for a while it was just as it had been –
You were back, you band of brothers; could it be that way again?
But when he had ascended you again were left alone,
But you waited as he told you, with a hope more than your own.

And on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came
Just as he had promised, with sound of wind and fire of flame.
And the Christ that walked beside you now lived in you and you knew
He’d come back to you forever, he’d not abandoned you.

And you could tell the world of this lovely Son of God,
For he was with you and was in you, and with every step you trod
His words, his strength, his power flowed like blood within your veins;
The Christ was your companion and you conquered in his name.

And so it is today for every blood-bought child of God - You’re not abandoned, not alone, as you dwell on common sod,
For the Christ who called and claimed you and who gave you life anew
In this blessed Holy Spirit again lives his life in you.

It’s him! It’s not another; you’re not orphaned, not alone!
His Spirit lives within and he has made your heart his home.
Fling wide the gates and ope’ the doors and let the Spirit flow.
He’s come to you forever – let the winds of heaven blow.

A Single Eye

2007-06-30T17:26:00.000-04:00

The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thiine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light. (Jesus - Luke 11:34a)

To have this single eye
Is my heart's only goal,
To fix my gaze upon
The lover of my soul.

To see not circumstance
Nor the storm around me rage,
Content with fixéd gaze
As a dove within its cage

Sees nought but love's desire,
The object of its heart,
So I would look to Thee
From the very start.

One window in the side
Of Noah's diluvial ark
Serves as an outward sign
To which my soul would hark.

And I will have this eye
That sees but things above,
That sees celestial scenes
And the object of its love.

Jacob, Was It Jesus?

2007-06-17T09:24:00.000-04:00

Jacob, did you wrestle with a man that night alone?
Did you wrestle in the darkness 'til the breaking of the dawn?
Was it God with whom you wrestled, of whom you'd not let go?
Tell me, Jacob, was it Jesus, and with us can it be so?

Can we touch him and compel him not to leave us, not to go?
Can we hold him through the night until the morning light doth show?
Will he touch us as he touched you in the hollow of your thigh?
Will he take away our strength? Will we halt as we walk by?

Will he speak as he spoke to you when he asked of you your name?
Will he give to us a new one that we never be the same?
I think I know the answer but must ask of you again -
O, Jacob, was it Jesus? Can we go where you have been?

Oh, Grace of God in Christ

2007-05-21T13:09:00.000-04:00

My poetry sounds like something from an earlier age. That makes sense because a lot of my reading is of earlier writers; I find their focus is different than much of what is out in our day and time. It seems to me that those who went before us were centered more on knowing God Himself rather than knowing about Him and what He can do for us. I'm sure that all of what gets written today is valid and worth knowing; it's just that my heart has been made captive to the One who died and rose again for me and I gravitate to those things that echo my attraction to Him.

So if my verse sounds like its lifted from an old hymnal, its because that language is what I've fed my spirit with, and that's what comes out. Actually, I prefer it this way; earlier writings were more weighty, more impacting. So if thou art ready, read on.

Oh, grace of God in Christ,
I raise my paen to Thee,
That ope'd my eyes, revived my soul,
And set my spirit free.

Thou many-hymned bequest of God,
How much to Thee I owe;
My eyes were closed to all above,
But not to here below,

For my delight in sensual usts
Did leap and bound apace;
I'd have no sense of things above
'Twere not for sovereign grace.

You snatched me from the miry clay,
From the very jaws of hell,
And set me firm upon the Rock,
And this I know full well.

For grace has set before me now
A land so vast, so fair,
And Eden of Thy pleasures, Lord,
And I am happy there.

THE WELL BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD

2007-05-04T18:35:00.000-04:00

I turned off one day from the much-beaten path
And there I did find an old well,
It was nearly half-hid by the side of the road
In a quaint little countryside dell

At the edge of a forest quite dark and quite deep
By the side of the old, dusty road,
Where the leaves grew so thick and the shadows they creeped,
And I stopped there and laid down my load.

A much-hurried traveler would never have seen
This place that by chance I had found,
But I was so weary and needed to rest,
So I stopped and laid my burden down.

Some grass grew around the side of the well;
I could tell it was not worn with wear
As it might have been if a multitude
Of others had often been there.

The stones were quite cool and damp to the touch,
In the shade of the green forest trees,
And I was refreshed just by being there
And caressed by a soft, gentle breeze.

I took off my hat and I laid down my staff,
Moved the planks from the mouth of the well;
Then I turned the crank and let down the wood pail
To bring water up from the well.

Never before had I drunk such as this -
'Twas so cool and so sweet and so pure;
It refreshed me throughout and I knew I had found
What I had been long searching for.

'Twas the water of life, for the well it was Christ,
And I felt I had met there with God.
And to think that I almost - I could have passed by
The well by the side of the road.

CLOTHED IN LIGHT

2007-04-23T19:43:00.000-04:00

The swaddling clothes of infancy
Envelop Him no more;
The manger could not hold Him
Nor the things that once He wore.

He took a towel and girt Himself
And washed disciples' feet;
He wore it in humility
And would make us as meek.

The purple robe that mocked Him
Lies crumpled on the floor;
They could not mar His majesty,
Of kings the King, of lords the Lord.

He seamless robe, the symbol
Of perfected humanity,
Lies underneath the cross,
His gift to you and me.

A vesture dipped in blood He wore
Who is Faithful, Who is True,
In righteousness to judge and war
And make creation new.

The tomb is dark and empty,
Save the linen cloth He wore
In death, for He is risen
And lives forevermore.

And now He clothes Himself with light,
With honor and majesty,
The mighty God, the Holy One,
Forever exalted, He.

SMITE THE ROCK

2007-04-18T13:05:00.000-04:00

Moses smote the rock and
God reprimanded him;
He was only to have spoken -
It was a grievous sin.

Yet the Rock Himself was smitten
For sinners, we are told;
And we who once were broken
In Him are now made whole.

THERE WAS A STONE

2007-04-04T08:54:00.001-04:00

There was a stone that covered the grave
Where the crucified Savior was lain,
After they mocked Him and shamed Him to scorn
And whipped Him and beat Him again.

After they put on His sweet the thorns
And the blood covered Him like the tide,
After they pierced Him with nails in His hands
And His feet and then hung Him to die.

There was a stone that said "Herein is death,
I have conquered the Author of Life,"
A stone that was strong as the forces of hell,
A stone that men thought would suffice.

There was a Rock that lay inside the grave
Behind the terrible stone,
A Rock that arose like the dawn when the sun
First appeared, and, oh, how it shone!

And the Rock rolled the stone away from the grave
And came forth like a lionly king,
And the grave, which was death, and hell, like the stone,
Would never more triumph again.

Is there a stone that covers the grave
Where your hopes and your dreams have been lain?
Let the Rock, which is Christ, rise within like the dawn
And you'll never know sorrow again.

For He'll roll the stone away from your life
And your heart will be wonderfully free;
For Jesus, the Rock, is the Author of Life
And together forever you'll be.

THERE WAS A STONE

2007-04-04T08:54:00.000-04:00

BETRAYED WITH A KISS

2007-04-02T08:42:00.000-04:00

A line from a Michael Card song has stayed with me for a long time: "Only a friend can betray a friend." How must Jesus have felt when one of the twelve betrayed Him with a kiss? It was the violence of the crucifixion that killed Him, but was the tenderness of the betrayal any less violent? If He is betrayed so softly, could I, who would never dream of doing Him violence, do the same?

Peter, who had been so zealous (don't we get zealous and quote "The zeal of the Lord has eaten me up?") denied Him not once, but three times. After that we read that "All his disciples forsook him and fled."

His disciples all forsook Him but the dying thief confessed Him for who He really is. Maybe we don't really know what we'll do; maybe all we can do is ask "Lord, is it I?" It wasn't until after they received the Holy Spirit that the disciples had any kind of spiritual grit; oh, how we need that same Holy Spirit to make us into that people that will be always true to Him.

Betrayed with a kiss in the garden
By one who had long walked with Thee,
By one who had sat at Thy table,
By a disciple who knew Thee; 'twas he

Who for just thirty pieces of silver
Sold Thee to sinners to die.
'Twas not by an enemy hardened
But a friend who had known Thee, so nigh.

Denied by another disicple
Three times, saying he knew Thee not,
Forsaken by all of Thy fellows,
By Thy friends; such was Thy lot.

And I, in the hour of trial,
Will I sell Thee out? Will I lie?
Will I be the one to betray Thee
Again? O Lord, is it I?

May I then be one who is stedfast
To suffer and walk by Thy side,
To confess it is I who doth know Thee,
And to know that I never have lied

About Jesus, the true Friend of Sinners,
Who confessed to the Father my name,
Who never, no never, betrayed me;
O Lord, may I do the same.

MEA CULPA

2007-03-24T15:01:00.000-04:00

Are we not prone to look down on those who participated in Jesus' death and consider them more guilty than we? The truth is that we are more guilty than them all put together for it was for our sins that He died. Judas, Pilate, Barnabas, and the Roman soldiers were only the instruments used to crucify the Son of God; we were the guilty ones, the reason that He died, and our guilt piles up to the heavens and beyond, like thunder clouds, far exceeding theirs.

I was Judas, who with a kiss,
Betrayed Him in the garden; this
Was my doing on that day,
As all my sins on Him were laid.

My sinful acts were like the lash
That opened every wound and gash;
Every deed that I had done
Brought this horror to the Son.

'Twas my iniquities adorned
His head just as the crown of thorns;
My each and every evil deed
Caused the precious Lamb to bleed.

I, the Pilate, who decreed
That the Lamb of God must bleed;
'Twas my hypocrisy that day
That made them carry Him away.

No Roman soldier more than I
Caused the Son of God to die.
It was my sins that nailed Him there,
Lord Jesus Christ, so sweet, so fair.

Three nails impaled Him on the tree -
My passions, lust, and cruelty;
The things I did, and said and thought
All this cruel torture wrought.

The spear that pierced my Savior's side
Was my pride I cannot hide,
That made the blood and water flow,
These were the things that hurt Him so.

The lightning flashed, the thunder rolled,
And I the Barnabas who sold
The Son of God to bleed and die
And buy for me eternal life.

Man of Sorrows (Isaiah 53)

2007-03-12T09:26:00.000-04:00

He hath no form nor comeliness
That he should be desired,
No beauty to be seen in him
That he should be admired.

He is rejected and despised,
An man of sorrows, he,
With grief acquainted, and we hid
Our faces, nor esteemed

Him who all our griefs hath borne,
Our sorrows carried, too.
We did esteem him stricken and
Smitten and afflicted who

For our transgressions wounded was,
For our iniquities was bruised;
For ou peace he was chastised,
Him who we refused.

With his many stripes we're healed,
Like sheep we've gone astray;
On him the Lord our sins has laid,
Who turned to our own way.

Afflicted and oppressed he was,
Taken in his youth,
A slaughtered lamb, a shearéd sheep,
But opened not his mouth.

Ye it pleased the Lord to bruise him there,
And put to grief and die;
Yet he shall see of his travial
And shall be satisfied.

THE UNDIVIDED HEART

2007-03-06T16:49:00.000-05:00

I want to praise you, Lord,
With an undivided heart,
Unrent, untorn, unriven,
The whole, and not the part.

An undivided heart
That knows no other God,
That keeps no darling lust,
That gives not sin a nod.

As Israel was divided,
So, too, my heart has been,
And I have had two kingdoms -
One for Thee and one for sin.

But now I crown Thee King,
Like David, o'er the whole,
To rule my heart and will,
Spirit, body, soul.

Heavenly Fire

2007-02-19T11:23:00.001-05:00

As flames rise upward, Lord, I rise
And seek my God to know.
As Thy Spirit my flame doth blow
I soar to upper skies.

As the flame consumes the wood
So my soul, so parched and dry,
Is subsumed as in Thee I die;
In Thee I live to seek Thy good.

The ashes only there remain,
My soul, bound up in the bundle of life
With Thee, is released from death.
I find that all my loss is gain.

I was dead but now I live;
A living flame I rise with Thee.
A captive once, I now am free,
Lost in Thy life, my praise I give.

The Quest

2007-02-15T16:04:00.000-05:00

If I could but draw near to Thee
Again, as I have so 'oft before;
If I could hear Thy gentle voice
And see Thy face once more.

Thou'rt constantly upon my mind
Yet my spirit wanders far away
From Thee. O Lord, where is that place
Where I may dwell alway?

Like David, chased from vale to glen,
I hide in caves and wilderness.
I seek but Thee, my Lord, to know,
I seek but, Lord, Thy face.

My heart pants after Thee, O Christ,
My soul pursueth Thee, and hard.
Hear Thou my plea and come to me
My Savior, and my God.

For in Thy Presence sheer delight
And light and life I find;
I learn that in Thee all is well,
I learn that Thou art kind.

Fire By Night

2007-02-13T09:16:00.000-05:00

Oh night, thou hidest my God from me;
In thy dark shades I cannot see.
Where can I run from thee to'escape?
Where e'er I run I find but thee.

Slumber doth my eyelids lade
And memories of my Savior fade.
And nowhere in thy dark estate
Is there a peaceful glen or glade.

But when is most extreme my plight
Then Lo! I see a flick'ring light!
My Savior God at last appears,
And darkness then must take it's flight.

For my God in darkness dwells,
All the world His Kingdom tells.
The light becomes a pillar of fire,
E'en at night, then, all is well.

New Every Day

2007-01-29T08:56:00.000-05:00

Fit me for the battle, Lord,
Each morn anew, when I arise
To things around me, good and bad,
Give me to see, Lord, ope' my eyes.

Dulled by sleep and night's dark shades,
My spirit cannot pray aright
'Til Thou dost quicken with Thy breath
And bring anew Thy love and light.

My spirit is so cold and dull,
It lacks the impulses to move
It needs to feel Thy touch of fire,
It needs to know that Thou art love.

Like the sun, which every morn
Doth run the race, it's course doth take,
So may I rise and look above
My soul to fill, my thirst to slake.

Some spice, some balm, some precious word
Give to me as to make my way
From this dull lowland where I dwell
To heights above, new every day.

Fields Of Diamonds

2007-01-22T09:29:00.000-05:00

I am like a man who walks in fields of diamonds and cares for nothing more than his clothes, his house, his bread. With riches all around me, I continue blindly, pursing stones and pebbles while diamonds turn to dust. The blessings of the Lord are mine at every moment, his love, his life, his law, and I have but to look. I have but to stop and eat this living bread, I have but to drink from this life-giving stream.

And so I look to Jesus, the fairest of ten thousand, and find there all I need and more than I can hold. His riches far exceed all of this world's empty treasures, his wonders far surpass all I ever had before. His beauty is unmeasured and his grace knows of no limits, his love is like a fountain ever flowing without end, a vast uncharted ocean and I am in its center, my life caught up in his, and I am whole again.

The Open Sea

2007-01-16T09:06:00.000-05:00

Set sail, my heart, upon the open sea,
Redeeming love's vast immensity.
Strike the sails and weigh the anchor fast;
The unknown way calls out and beckons thee.

There is a call from deep to deep today,
It stirs my blood and calls me on this way.
Though seas shall roll and skies be overcast
We'll undertake this journey come what may.

Fear not for dangers that may there be found
For we have heard love's joyful, swelling sound
Of peace and joy and love and light to last;
We'll go where such as these are to be found.

The Book shall be our compass and our guide,
The Spirit fill our sails upon the tide.
Our sail is faith, love becomes the mast;
Our rigging, hope, to cross the ocean wide.

THE CHRIST OF EVERY WAY

2007-01-11T19:19:00.000-05:00

I get so immersed in the holidays that when they're over it's a shock to my system. This little piece came out of that experience this year.

THE CHRIST OF EVERY WAY
When Christmas was all put away …

When the decorations were returned once again to their place in the attic and the Christmas cookies had all been eaten, when the tree was sitting out at the curb waiting for the trash man, leaving a trail of tinsel down the driveway, when the presents were no longer sitting on the living room coffee table but had found homes in dressers, closets and shelves, when the Christmas Carol CD’s were back in their cases and returned to their places next to Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennet, Brahms, Beethoven and Mozart, when January 2 dawned cold and rainy and the family all had to go back to school and work …

That’s when I heard Jesus say
“I am the Christ for every day,
I am the Christ of every way.”

Not just for times and seasons gay …

Not just for the special days and seasons when we sense the wonder of His incarnation, the impact of His crucifixion, and the power of His resurrection; not just for the times that come already marked on our calendars, not just for occasions at church deserving choirs and cantatas and costumed plays, not just for those recurring occasions that stir our memories of childhood and times past …

If we listen we can hear Him say
“I am the Christ for every day,
I am the Christ of every way.”

He is there for those very ordinary days …

For those days for which nothing is written on our calendars, for those days when we wake up with a headache and get through our routines by sheer force of will, for those days that are as bland as dry toast and flat as pancakes, for those days of rushing to the emergency room with our heart in our throat, for those days when failure and frustration hang over our heads like a black cloud …

That’s when we can hear Him say
“I am the Christ for every day,
I am the Christ of every way.”

Not just for Bethlehem but for Nazareth as well.

Not just for the Mount of Transfiguration, but for the valley of the shadow.

Not just for the empty tomb, but for the empty heart …

He is the Christ for every day,
He is the Christ of every way.

The Magi's Gifts

2007-01-10T08:45:00.000-05:00

What strange gifts for a little child.
Would he not rather have a top, a toy,
That he could play with as a boy?
Why bring these gifts through regions wild?

What stirred within their hearts to bring
Such presents for a peasant's babe?
What sentiments were there portrayed?
Or were they off'rings to a king?

What meaneth this strange gift of myrrh
Which does not celebrate his birth,
But puts the value and the worth
On his dying, as it were?

And why this gift of frankincense?
'Tis used in worship of our God.
And yet this babe on common sod
Is worthy such extravagance.

For gold depicts divinity, indeed;
And so the wise men, not beguiled,
Knew that Jesus, Holy Child,
Was Christ the Son, the Royal Seed.

O Jesus, Jesus, stir my heart
To bring thee gifts of precious worth
As frankincense and gold and myrrh
That I might know Thee as Thou art.

Heights and Depths

2006-12-19T10:22:00.000-05:00

Has ever greater tale been told
Of pathos, love and loss
Than Jesus in a stable born
Then dying on a cross?

Has ever page or stage portrayed
Such all-consuming love?
Has ever in the songs of man
Such love been spoken of?

Oh, many's the tale that has been told
Of love of smitten man
For maiden fair, that did his best
That he might win her hand.

But in the Gospel tale is told -
Oh, let us praise and laud -
The bleeding love for all mankind
Of an all-loving God

For the race of fallen man
That had despised, rejected Him,
Was born, lived, died and rose again
That He might free us from our sin.

Such heights and depths of love excell
All works made here below;
But 'tis for you and 'tis for me
This love of God to know.

Revelation

2006-12-18T10:48:00.000-05:00

We don't discover spiritual truth on our own, not the solid, lasting kind that permeates our being and sets us right. Instead, God reveals it to us by His various methods. This is seen clearly in the Christmas story where all announcement of and guidance to the birth of the Messiah came from divine sources.

Had the angel not appeared to Zacharias
Or to Mary or to shepherds in the field;
If the wise men had no eastern star to guide them

- No one would have known

That the holy Son of God had come, a Savior,
For such revelation comes from God above
To those He would desire to know this treasure;

- Thus the light is shone.

Perhaps no angels have appeared to tell you
And no star has come to'illuminate your way;
But still God would disclose to hungry seekers

- This truth from above.

And like the shepherds, or the wise, or Zacharias
God will reveal to you the wond'rous great good news
That there's a Savior born to all mankind now -

- Jesus, His Son of Love.

High and Low

2006-10-21T09:43:00.000-04:00

Our favorite movie is "The Apostle," with Robert Duvall. He portrays an all-too-human preacher who gets on the wrong side of the law and goes on the run. He makes landfall in a little town in Louisiana where he raises up a little country church that is the epitome of the humble little temple where everyone is welcome and accepted in Jesus. That's what I had in mind when I wrote this poem.

But the poem isn't really about buildings; it speaks instead of the things we take into our beings - our pride, our possessions, our desires, and all the issues of the heart. If we will reduce ourselves, if we will decrease, then He might increase.

The great church stood in the center of town,
A place of honor and renown;
The spires reached up to the sky,
The steeple rose up twice as high.
Stained glass windows brought the light
Within, in colors pure and bright.
Rich ornaments stood all around
And decked the place from top to ground.
Candles burned in sticks of gold,
And tapestries of colors bold
Bedecked the halls and walls so fair;
There was a richness in the air.

But two miles out, just past the woods,
A humble little temple stood;
The white-washed walls had seen their day,
The parking lot was hard-packed clay.
Within, the walls were plain and bare,
The floor boards creaked, scraped smooth with wear.
One picture graced the humble hall -
The face of Jesus gazed on all.
A light, from where? from up above?
A Presence - 'twas the King of Love.
The High and Lofty One doth dwell
Where humble hearts receive him well.

Seek Him Where He Lives

2006-10-17T10:05:00.000-04:00

At a conference over Labor Day we heard a word that greatly impacted us, bringing us a deeper sense of awareness of the Presence of the Lord. It was not part of the teacher's message, more of a casual remark as he was winding up after his message. What he said was "Don't focus on externals - focus on the internal."

I thought of how I get all caught up in circumstances and situations, news and reports, television and movies, and everything else that is external to me - bills, books, videos, etc. I let those things determine how I feel.

The speaker didn't say we have to give these things up, so it's not about asceticism. It's about replacing one thing with another. If I put my effort into ignoring external things, I'd really be focusing on them, but if I instead put my attention somewhere else then I displace the negative influence with the positive one.

Jesus, being sovereign, rules and reigns over all the earth, and He isn't worried about these situations. God never has a bad day so why should we? We, being the temple of the Holy Spirit, ought to be more mindful of His activity within us.

What has worry ever accomplished? Personally, it's only made me feel worse than I did when I woke up, and I'm quite sure it never changed the situation I worried about. (Of course, I did get to experience the relief that comes when I found out that the situation was never as bad as I thought it would be!)

I've been thinking on the fact that all the symbols of the Holy Spirit are things that move - wind, fire, rain, and so forth. He is constantly moving - we're just not aware of it. If we will focus more on Him where He lives - in our inner beings - we'll not only experience more of His Presence but also be more aligned with His purposes in the earth. Besides, we'll wake up feeling a lot better.

I think this is what it means to be in the world but not of it. We can't avoid contact with the world, we're in it face first from morning to night. But we don't have to make it the be-all and the end-all of existence. Jesus is the One we love and adore; we can become more aware of Him and His beauty by focusing on Him instead of everything else under the sun.

Very often we live under misconceptions. We pray "Holy Spirit, come." Now, that's a good prayer, but we need to be vitally aware that He's already here. He's not going to come through the roof - He's going to rise up from within us, because He has made us His habitation in the earth.

I'm still processing the significance of this and learning to walk in it. It's a wonderful adventure and a liberating thing to become disconnected from external things - even while in the midst of them - and become more focused and attached to the Source of true life. It doesn't cost anything and I can do it anytime and all the time. That's just like something God would come up with.

In The Beginning ...

2006-10-09T09:27:00.000-04:00

I was raised in a wonderful home, with parents who loved me and provided the best for me and my older brother. I have only fond memories of my childhood.

When I met my future wife, it was love at first sight. She brought two wonderful sons to the marriage, and we had a little girl.

Our daughter was in trouble from the beginning, with a near fatal condition that required emergency surgery when she was only six days old. My whole world was up in the air and I thought it would crash all around me into millions of little pieces. Nothing I had ever wanted in life mattered any more, only one thing - that she could live and not die.

I prayed for the first time in my life the night before the surgery. There wasn't anything we wanted more than the life of that little girl. Actually, I didn't know how to pray - I just sat before God with the desperation of my heart lifted up to Him. Pat knew the Lord's prayer, and said that.

Our daughter was miraculously healed; when the doctor opened her up the next day, he found that the situation had dramatically changed overnight and radical surgery was not required. He called it a miracle and wrote it up in medical journals. She was born November 11 and we finally brought her home on New Year's Day.

We knew then that God answered desperate prayer and intervened in human affairs. We began to follow Him as best we knew how, which wasn't very good, but God knew our hearts. We didn't equate Jesus with God; we had heard a Gospel invitation at a concert, but rejected it as being too - I don't know, it was too much of something and not enough of something else. I guess it wasn't intellectual enough, it seemed more like an emotional appeal. The music at the concert was very much to my liking, and the preaching by the host pastor was about how God had healed his child. I'm sure a seed was planted that night, even against my best efforts to reject it. God's Word did not return to Him void.

A year and a half later, after getting in bed for the night, I heard the name of Jesus spoken in my ear three times. When I woke up, I was living in the midst of a seeming cloud of light, love and peace. I didn't know what it was, although I felt sure that if Jesus were real, this is what He'd be like.

Sitting at my desk at work later that morning, I heard Him speak again saying "I am Jesus." The Lord had sovereignly invaded my life. I wasn' looking for that, I didn't ask for that, but I'm so glad that God knew what I really needed and wanted.

That night I told my wife "Let me tell you what happened to me today." She answered "No honey, let me tell you what happened to me. Jesus came into my heart today."

We were both touched by the Good Sheperd's hand that night as we slept. We were both born again the same night, in the same way.

Ever since that day we have been vitally aware that Christianity is more than ceremonies and forms but that God is a person with whom we can have a relationship. The driving force in our lives has been our firm belief that God wants to bring that relationship to full fruition this side of heaven and not leave us in the initial stages or any other stage in between. This is a life of going on, going on, and going on. We have often been tempted to lay the quest aside and settle down on this side of Jordan, but the stirrings in our hearts for better things bade us keep moving.

Always ahead of us was the vision of the fullness of Christ in our hearts by the Spirit. We knew disappointments and failures but kept going on, because the promise of the prize outweighed the pain and frustrations of the journey.

How many have settled by the wayside instead of pressing on to be the Lord's Zion, His habitation in the earth? (Psalm 132:15). Material success eluded us, but no matter, for that's not where our hearts were. They were seeking that Zion, that city not made with hands.

More to come ...

Incredible Journey

2006-10-06T08:55:00.000-04:00

Every so often we hear a tale of a beloved family pet left behind in a move to another part of the country who makes its way across prairies, through cities, and over mountains to finally be rejoined to the family it loves. It shows up at the door matted and bloodied but with tail wagging (if it's a dog, not a cat) and falls into the open arms of its loved ones. How they do it, no one knows.

We are on such a journey, from where the Lord found us to where He wants to take us. It's a journey over mountains and dark valleys, through storms and trials. It's the Holy Spirit that guides us and keeps us on course as we falteringly make our way to our true home, the mountain of the house of the Lord.

I want to share some about that journey - how the Lord found us and how He has led us and where He has brought us to, and by His grace I'll post on this every so often.

If you still check this blog after so many weeks of inactivity - thank you.

Next post: In the beginning ....

Back Home

2006-08-08T11:08:00.000-04:00

We got back from Paraguay Friday morning. It was a wonderful trip, one I'll never forget. My heart is still there, in that land with these people we have come to love.

They reach out and touch you with a love that's genuine and sincere. They have so little in comparison to our overabundance but they are rich in ways we need to learn. We have a worldview that puts us at the center of the universe, but there are precious people all over the world that have much to teach us.

We renewed and strengthened friendships we made last year. We saw prodigals come back to the Lord with enough tears to fill the ocean. We shared on unity, leadership, and being men and women of God. We worshipped together in wonderful freedom and joy in the Lord.

We worked on the church building - tearing down one wall and building another, painting, carrying bricks and cement, and a hundred other assorted construction jobs.

And we ate - oh, did we eat.

Finally it was time to leave. There were hugs and tears and smiles and sadness and joy at the airport, with promises to write and keep in touch.

Next year we'll go again. I know we will.

God Known By Loving Him

2006-07-22T11:20:00.000-04:00

We leave Tuesday for Paraguay. I'm looking to touch God's heart amid the building, painting, worship and fellowship, and to hopefully touch someone else's heart to seek Him and know Him better.

This is a poem by Jeanne Guyon.

'Tis not the skill of human art,
Which gives me power my God to know;
The sacred lessons of the heart
Come not from instruments below.

Love is my teacher, He can tell
The wonders that He learnt above:
No other master knows so well; -
This Love alone can tell of Love.

Oh! then, of God if thou wouldst learn,
His wisdom, goodness, glory see;
All human arts and knowledge spurn,
Let Love alone thy teacher be.

Love is my master. When it breaks,
The morning light, with rising ray,
To thee, O God! my spirit wakes,
And Love instructs it all the day.

And when the gleams of day retire,
And midnight spreads its dark control,
Love's secret whispers still inspire
Their holy lessons in the soul.

It's A Go!

2006-07-16T15:47:00.000-04:00

The Paraguay trip is back on again for July 25 through August 4th. Turns out that Sao Paulo, where we would go to change planes for Asuncion, is in the grip of gang violence. We feel God spared us from that. We will be going from Miaim to Buenos Aires, then on to Asuncion.

Even if we hadn't learned of the situation in Sao Paulo, God is good in all His dealings. I was disappointed at first in the cancellation of the trip, but don't want to accuse God anymore of unfaithfulness in His dealings with me. He is to be trusted at all times.

It's a misconception of His innately good character to level accusations at Him in the form of worry, anxiety, anger, depression, and all the rest. Either He's in control or He isn't - and He is. Either He's good or He isn't - and He is.

2006-07-13T09:31:00.000-04:00

3 Grands - Mike, Dan and Sarah

Almost Time

2006-07-11T12:33:00.000-04:00

It's almost departure time for Paraguay. There will be 18 of us going to the Vineyard (Viña) church in Asunción, the capital city. We built a relationship last year with the church and we have that to link to and build on this year.

Last year we experienced an incredible move of the Holy Spirit in Paraguay; my hope and desire is that this fountain be opened again for all who are thirsty, not only in South America but in our local churches here as well. This was more than the Sunday morning blessing, more than a "touch" from the Lord; this was the manifested Presence of a holy and loving God fellowshipping with His people in power and great glory.

Our ministry focus will be on becoming men and women of God and on unity in the body. People in the church are mostly all very young - teens and very early twenties - with some 30-somethings scattered around. The only married couple is the pastor and his wife.

Please pray for open hearts and the ministry of the Holy Ghost. I'll surface again when we get back.

Nick

Still Alive

2006-07-01T11:07:00.000-04:00

I'm still alive, and I haven't retired from globbing. If you've been coming by, then thanks a lot.

I've been biking and walking a lot, studying classical guitar (I need to get serious and learn all the notes on the fingerboard instead of just the first 3 frets), trying to revive my calligraphy, reading, and enjoying all this free time with my beloved. We were always best friends, and now it's even better. Some people ask if she ever gets tired of having me around and she says "Heck no, we waited 40 years for this."

We're busier than ever in our latino church since the pastor is away for 2 weeks on vacation. And we're preparing to return to Paraguay the last half of next month.

Went to Promise Keepers with my younger son. PK is a great thing for fathers and sons to do together.

Our youngest granddaughter is coming for a week, so we'll keep Charlotte's restaurant and movie industries gainfully employed during that time. I probably won't post during that time, and I won't post during the Paraguay trip. But I'll be back in August.

Nick

The Warrior

2006-06-03T16:21:00.000-04:00

After I retired I was cleaning out drawers and cabinets and came across this poem that I had written years ago. It correctly states, I think, the nature of the battle we are in, which begins with the transformation of character, as per Proverbs 16: 32: "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." I can't say the battle is over, which could be inferred from the end of the poem - it's an ongoing, uphill climb, but there are new victories every day as I relinquish control and and stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.

I stand amid the carnage of a battle fierce and strong;
I am wounded, I am weary, and the fight is oh, so long.
The smoky pall of battle hangs o'er the bloody field,
The rubble and the ruin lie where the battle raged and reeled.

The fallen here are many, the field is filled with blood;
The enemy has come in like a mighty, swelling flood.
A mighty, swelling army, and I cannot prevail;
Advancing, riding o'er me; I fall and surely fail.

But I look out throught the rubble, through the wreckage and the strife
And I see one fighting for me - He is fighting for my life.
Above the noise of battle, this battle fierce and strong,
I can hear a measured cadence as the Warrior sings His song.

As I gaze out through the pallor of the battle's bloody tide
I can see that He is wounded in His hands and feet and side.
But death could never hold Him, it could never be His loss;
On high He holds a banner, on the banner is a cross.

In His hands He holds a sword of burnished, gleaming steel;
The enemy lies fallen as He thrusts it where He will.
The enemy lies fallen, each in their killing place;
As I look out through the pallor I can see each has my face.

The enemies within me that used to rage and roar
Are fallen now forever; I'll fight with them no more.
Stilled, the noise of battle, dead my raging foe,
Conqueror, my Captain; His I am, I know.

The war is finally over, the smoke of battle clears;
The Warrior binds my wounds and dries away my tears.
We walk away together from the battle's heat,
Arm in arm forever - His victory is sweet.

2006-05-24T09:48:00.000-04:00

"If it be bliss, as it really is, to possess all that we desire and wish, the individual that possesses true godliness must be truly blessed, because he unites his will with God's which is always accomplished. Formerly he was pained and tormented in the infernal flame of his own will, which rendered him so frequently dissatisfied. One thing or another was always wrong, in the opinion of his perverse self-will. He writhed and agonized day and night, within himself, in doleful apprehension, care, grief, uneasiness, and anxiety, like a gnawing worm to the injury of both body and soul. Now he has entirely and unconditionally resigned his will in the exercise of real faith, and thorough self-denial, into the hands of God, in such a manner that the will of God alone influences and operates in him, by which the soul is placed in a tranquil and very peaceful state."

~Gerhard Tersteegen

2006-05-17T12:46:00.000-04:00

Soil not thy plumage, gentle dove,
With sublunary things,
Till in the fount of light and love
Thou shalt have bathed thy wings.

Shall nature from her couch arise
And rise for thee in vain?
While heaven, and earth, and seas, and skies,
Such types of truth contain?

See - where the sun of Righteousness
Unfolds the gates of day:
Go - meet Him in His glorious dress
And quaff the orient ray.

There, where ten thousand seraphs stand,
To crown the circling hours -
Soar thou - and from that blissful land
Bring down unfading flowers:

Some Rose of Sharon, dyed in blood,
Some spice of Gilead's balm,
Some lily washed in Calvary's flood,
Some branch of heavenly palm!

And let the drops of sparkling dew
From Shiloh's spring be shed,
To form a fragrance fresh and new,
A halo round thy head.

Spread thou thy plumes of faith and prayer
Nor fear to wend away,
And let a glow of heavenly air
Gild every earthly day.

~Brydges

Song Of Love

2006-05-10T10:23:00.000-04:00

I wrote this poem on the occasion of a friend's wedding some years ago. It brings out a wonderful truth.

God took a rib from Adam's side
And fashioned for His man a bride.
Adam took her for his own -
Flesh of flesh and bone of bone.

'Twas but himself he found in her,
'Twas but herself she found in him;
And so the two became as one -
Like vale and hill, like tree and limb.

An echo of that love is here-
A woman and a man daw near;
Each finds themself within the other -
The two are one in one another.

From his side - his heart - it seems
He finds in her his hopes and dreams.
But his love doesn't stand alone -
His hopes and dreams are her very own.

But now we see another bride,
Another man with wounded side;
Everything He has He gives -
She takes the gift of life and lives.

He walks to you on wounded feet;
Without you He'll not be complete.
Come, be married to the Son -
Where there were two - let there be one.

Buy The Field

2006-04-30T13:18:00.000-04:00

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." (Matt 13:44)

The man in the parable bought the field in order to have the treasure. The treasure exists not on its own but in the context of the field. We must purchase the field if we are to have the treasure.

The field represents various things - the Word, the church, and life itself.

We must immerse ourselves in the Word to find all the riches of the treasures that are in Christ. The written Word is God's full revelation to man. Never can we trust in voices and leanings and illuminations, as good as they are, to guide us into truth. Every impression we have must be held up to the Word and be tested whether it be true or not. Nor can we leave it totally to others to teach us - the Lord will be our teacher. He that wrote the book will disclose it to us.

We must buy the church and bury ourselves in it to have the treasure of Christ in all His glory. This thing is bigger than any one of us; we need each other and must love and care for one another. We must expose ourselves to all the problems that come with the church - people that aren't like us, people with problems, people with different backgrounds and viewpoints, people that don't necessarily care for us all that much.

How do we grow? By loving and caring and tending and going out of ourselves and learning to love. By feeding and being fed, by opening up our lives to others, by weeping with those that weep and rejoicing with those that rejoice. By considering others as better than ourselves, by honoring the least among us. By coming together in committed relationship, by reaching out together, by being intentional in our love for one another. Church is family - you don't get to choose your family, and you don't get to choose your brothers and sisters in Christ. And you don't get to walk away from them when they do something you don't like.

We must see our entire lives - every day, even the cloudy ones - as being in His loving care. We all love the mountain top, but David knew that we walk through valleys, and said "For thou art with me." To find out that the Lord is with me even in the valley of the shadow of death is one of the greatest things we can know. That will take us beyond cotton candy Christianity into substance and truth.

It's Official

2006-04-22T14:40:00.000-04:00

I'm retired - happened yesterday.

I got taken out to lunch every day this week, and Pat and I are celebrating with dinners out, so I'm a little full.

But I'm also full of hope and expectation, to be able to do the things that mean the most to me. First and foremost is serving the Lord. There are so many things we want to do and now we'll have ample time for them (like during daytime hours, without having to sandwich them between supper, walking the dog, and mowing the lawn).

We're gearing up to go back to Paraguay in July. That was such an eventful trip last year and we're looking forward with great anticipation to what God will do there on this next trip.

I plan to be more active than my work-life schedule permitted, and to pursue my hobbies of calligraphy, studying classical guitar, and increasing my Spanish vocabulary. We'll be visiting grandkids, going to the beach and - did I mention finally getting enough sleep?

They Left Their Nets

2006-04-20T09:36:00.000-04:00

When Jesus called the disciples and said to them "Follow me," they left their nets, their boats, their jobs, and their families. What was there about this Man that caused them to forsake all?

Was it something in His voice? His eyes? His face?

Isaiah says that He had no form nor comeliness that we should desire Him. He was as a root out of dry ground. No one except John the Baptizer recognized Him at the Jordan.

Yet He was so attractive to those He called that they immediately and without a second thought left their livelihood to follow this itinerant preacher.

When He speaks to your heart, all else will pale in comparison. His beauty and His love outshine the sun. It is as the sun rising in the eastern sky, dimming all lesser lights in the stars and the moon.

Listen for His voice - He is calling to whosoever will. He is calling you. Not to religion or doctrine or creed, but to Himself, the bright and morning star, the light of the world. No experience compares to knowing Him and walking with Him.

Let Him be your light, your love, your all. You'll never regret it.

East and West

2006-04-10T13:48:00.000-04:00

"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." (Psalm 20:12)

Ever wonder how far the east is from the west? They never meet. (Remember the old adage "East is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet?")

If I walk out the door and head north, eventually I'll reach the North Pole. If I keep on walking I'll then be going south.

But if I start walking east I could walk forever, and never end up going west. North and south meet at the poles but east and west never, ever meet.

That's how far God has removed our sins from us. They will never be connected to us again. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. His blood doesn't just cover our sins, only to need covering again the next year as in the Old Testament; the blood of Jesus washes our sin away.

Can God forget anything? How could the all-wise and all-knowing God ever forget anything? But He can and He does: "I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more." (Jer 31:34).

Paul directs the book of Ephesians to the "saints" that are in Ephesus. Are we afraid to call ourselves saints? Yes, we are. We're like Paul when he said he was the chiefest of sinners; it's not bad to see ourselves that way - certainly, the longer I walk with the Lord the more I see my own depravity - but we need to see things from God's viewpoint, too. He doesn't see our sin. He doesn't remember our sin. He has forgotten them. He doesn't have a book with all our sins recorded by our names - the blood of Jesus has washed them all away.

Paul, who killed Christians prior to his conversion, said he served God with a clean conscience. We can have the same clean conscience before God, knowing that God not only forgives, but He forgets.

Tozer: The Friends of God

2006-04-03T13:23:00.000-04:00

The Friends of God Scripture
What a difference it makes when we cease being general (a dodge, incidentally, for pseudo-humility and unbelief) and become pointed and personal in our approach to God. Then we shall not fear the personal pronoun, but shall with all the friends of God relate it to the One who gave it and claim each one for himself the Person and work of the Triune God. Then we shall see that all that God did was for each of us. Then we can sing: For me Thou didst cover Thyself with light as with a garment and stretch out the heavens like a curtain and lay the foundations of the earth. For me Thou didst appoint the moon for seasons and the sun knoweth his going down. For me Thou didst make every beast of the earth after his kind and every herb bearing seed and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree. For me prophet wrote and psalmist sang. For me holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. For me Christ died, and the redemptive benefits of that death are by the miracle of His present life perpetuated forever, as efficacious now as on the day He bowed His head and gave up the ghost. And when He arose the third day it was for me; and when He poured out upon the disciples the promised Holy Spirit it was that He might continue in me the work He had been doing for me since the morning of the creation.

Limping, Leaning, Learning, Loving

2006-02-14T13:13:00.000-05:00

"Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of the Lord Jesus might be made manifest in our body." (2 Cor. 4:10)

The Christian life is one of continual growth and change - we go from strength to strength, from faith to faith, from glory to glory. New life should be continually springing forth.

In order for new life to issue forth, there must be death, and that is a continual process also - "always" bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. We should never reach the point where we become secure, satisfied, and set in our ways. This continual dying is the result of wanting to be like Him, of seeing ourselves in the light of His love and mercy as poor and unworthy sinners. This should repeatedly lead us to new and fresh repentance.

I raised my children to be independent of me, to be able to function in the world without me - to know how to complete a task, hold down a job, treat their spouse, drive a car, pay the bills, and all the other things that go into that. And now they do in fact live on their own and no longer need my provision or my care or my oversight.

But it is not that way in God; we should continually grow in dependence on Him. I wanted to grow more and more holy so I would not have to keep running to Jesus for forgiveness; but the more I am in this Way the more I come to realize the extent of my own wretchedness and my continual need for forgiveness and cleansing by the blood. "Always - always - always" bearing about that dying.

I thought I had learned the principles of the faith and knew the scriptures pretty well. But that kind of knowledge can actually lead to a separation from God. I have been learning lately that I need to allow the Lord to continually speak to me through His Word; I cannot walk alone in my own understanding. When the psalmist speaks of gaining understanding, he is referring to God's understanding, not our own.

This continual dying is to self, but it is not self-centered; that can tend to self-glorification and further separation from God. Paul calls it the "dying of the Lord Jesus." Everything must be His, and for Him, nothing of self. Oh, how self loves to get the glory, even in dying out.

How do I get more of His life? By dying to more of my own, in everything. That should lead to increasing dependence on Him. God smote Jacob on the thigh so that he halted the rest of his life. We do not become great for God, but great in God - limping, leaning, learning, loving, losing all to gain Him.

I See A Man

2006-02-09T12:48:00.000-05:00

I see a man opon a tree,
I see His life expiring;
From heaven He came to win my soul,
His pursuit of me untiring.

I hear Him with His dying breath
Forgive the ones who slay Him;
How could a man in such a state
Pardon those who betray Him?

Such condescending love I see,
I feel my cold heart waking;
As He hangs there opon the tree
'Tis moved to thorough breaking.

His now I am, and His alone;
None other can e'er claim me.
I'll follow on where'er He goes,
Even if He slay me.

The bleeding love of Calvary,
Full measure of devotion;
'Tis higher far than mountains
And deeper than the oceans.

He Is Not A Tame Lion

2006-01-31T11:58:00.000-05:00

Oh, He has answered my prayers, and He has provided, and He has blessed. But He is not a tame lion. Through all that He has inexorably worked toward His own purpose and His own goal in my life. I haven't been able to put Him in a cage. I haven't been able to crack the whip. I haven't been able to make Him jump through hoops.

He is a Savior and a Friend, but He is also a Lord and a King and a Judge, too. He is gentle and He is strong. When Aslan walked towards them in "The Magician's Nephew," the children could not hear him walking because the pads on his feet were so soft, but the ground shook underneath him. That is not a tame lion.

He will not be satisfied with second best, with half way, with good enough, with less than perfect. He is bound and determined to see His image formed in my life - in our lives. He continues to prod and to poke at areas in my life that are not pleasing to Him. He doesn't say "Well, now, I suppose that's alright the way it is." No - only the best will do for Him.

Sometimes I wish I could tell Him that I'm happy with myself the way I am now. I've had more than a few years of being reminded of my weak points and my sins and my shortcomings. A tame lion would accept that. But He is not a tame lion. The devil may be like a roaring lion, but our heavenly Aslan is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and He shall see His reward and be satisfied.

The north wind continues to blow, the wind of judgement and reproof. We must be as willing to hear that from Him as we are to hear "I love you," "well done," "come unto me and rest." The Bible says that the judgments of the Lord are in all the earth; let us receive His judgements and accept them and say "Yes, Lord - I know that's the way I am. Change me and make me to be like you." "Purge me with hyssop, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow."

Aslan took Edmund off and talked to Him; we're not told what they talked about. We are assured that Aslan was stern but not angry, but we don't know what He said.He will likewise deal with each of us in the depths of our own hearts and say things to us that are just for our ears. May we hear what He is saying to us. May we take it to heart. May we be changed like Edmund was changed.

He gave His life for us. He shed His blood for us. He went to Hell for us. He rose again for us. Let us welcome His words to us and be changed.

By Him And For Him And For His Pleasure

2006-01-26T15:23:00.000-05:00

"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or prinicpalities, or powers, all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." (Col. 1:16 and 17)

I have spent all the time I care to spend arguing about creation versus evolution. I find that these discussions focus only on the material realm, since that is all the evolutionists care about, and never take into consideration the whole spectrum of the invisible creation. Of course, "scientists" would dismiss that out of hand since invisible things can't be seen. But invisible things are more real than seen things because they are eternal and will never fade, rot, rust, or decay.

The "creation or evolution" discussions don't get past the question of "Did God create everything" and look into the fact that it was Jesus who did the creating. When God does anything, He does it by His Son. We come up short in God if we leave Jesus out of any equation. Everything is by Him and for Him. Let Christ be magnified in all we say and do.

And Jesus didn't just create everything and leave it free to develop on its own. He didn't just cause the initial creation and then withdraw from His creation to watch it from afar. No, by Him all things consist. He holds all things together. He has been forever involved on an intimate basis with each aspect of His creation. Never for a second has He taken His hand off that which He created. The atom spinning wildly, the neutrons and protons, are all held together by the word of His power. Were He to remove His hand it would all spin out of control and universal chaos, disruption and meltdown would ensue.

That alone probably answers the questions about where did the dinosaurs go and how did the moths change and where's the missing link and all that, although I don't feel like pursuing that now. It's enough for me to know that He is in control.

Moreover, John the Revelator tells us that all things "are and were created for His pleasure." (Rev. 4:11) (I think I'll have to think about the "are" part in that verse a lot more before I even begin to understand it; is He still creating?) Evolution gives no reason for existence; the creation story in its entirety gives the best reason possible - its all for the Lord's pleasure. There is no better reason to live for than that. He must take pleasure in the sunrise and the sunset, in the bird's song and the falling snow. He must take pleasure in the chipmunk with his cheeks stuffed full of treasure and my dog dancing in circles to greet me when I come home every day. He must take pleasure in the grand sweep of the Rocky Mountains and the vast array of stars and planets and nebulae and galaxies.

And He takes pleasure in His people - He sings over us, He rejoices over us, He shouts over us. Shout to the Lord all the earth, let us sing, honor and majesty, praise to our King. Nothing compares to the treasure I have in You.

2006-01-23T14:39:00.000-05:00

The light from the low-hanging clouds is gray at best. The ground is sodden from the seemingly continual dripping of rain, and the air is chilly and damp.

A far cry from a few weeks ago when we were in the height of the holiday season. Two months of bright colors, tantalizing food, beautiful music and high expectations came crashing to a close on January 2nd and the new year began in earnest. Now there's no holiday in sight until May and life couldn't be more ordinary. No decorations, no Christmas cookies and candies, no carols - this is indeed the "bleak mid winter."

This is always the hardest time of year for me, perhaps because I enjoy Christmas so much. Every year I'm hit with the reality of reality, right in the face. (If that's not you, I'm sorry to drag you into my misery.)

But just imagine if there were no miraculous birth to celebrate. Then all of life would be like this mid-winter stretch from January to springtime. Life would be nothing but work and bills and ... what? Certainly not the truth we know that there came One in the midst of the drabness and despair of the human condition to raise us above it.

Maybe Christmas is a gift to make us think how all of life should really be - impregnated with the Presence of the Holy One. Oh, it's not the tree or the cards or the lights or the food - it's Jesus. Christmas is a kind of earnest, a light in the darkness, to let us know that He makes all of life to shine.

Shine on me, Light of the World.

He is come, He is here, He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. Seasons come and seasons go, but the Faithful One is with us forever.

That Was Then, This Is Now, and Jesus Is Coming

2006-01-19T13:59:00.000-05:00

I grew up watching the Lone Ranger, Hoppy, and Roy, secure in my vision that way out west was a land where good guys wore white hats, real men sat tall in the saddle, and evil was always defeated. While I grappled with the intricacies of 5th-grade arithmetic I knew that out there was a place where cowboys beat Indians and bad guys every time.

World War II was over, Korea was coming, and both were fully supported here at home; the Nazi and Communist menaces were soundly defeated and the world was a safe place. Mom was always there when I came home from school and Dad would be along in time for supper.

TV was invented and everything was black and white. Prices went up but the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall came down. Soldiers were good guys.

Oh, there was the Cold War and the threat of nuclear annhilation ... but then, there were Roy and Hoppy.

Of course, things have changed. Now I grapple with the intricacies of working in a company that's going out of business, and knowing that Christopher Columbus was a bad guy, that the Indians should have beat the cowboys and pilgrims, that Viet Nam was a bad thing, that my military service wasn't appreciated.

Oh where, oh where, have the good times gone? Abraham, Martin and John have been killed, and Bobby and Malcolm, too. I had a boy's vision of a world that wasn't broken and didn't need mending, but I lived through the 60's and saw it all begin to fall apart, when college professors took drugs and encouraged their students to do the same, when our best hopes were gunned down in cold blood in front of our eyes on TV and we watched them laid to rest in long processions that tore our hearts out.

I'm not longing for the past to come back because the future is living in my heart. I want to lift Him up and see all men drawn to Him. I want to see that New Jerusalem, the city of God where all men are brothers and weapons are turned into plowshares. I want to see the faint light that is gleaming become a strong and steady beacon for all people to see.

On for Jesus. Seek His face and His strength. Things may seem worse than they ever were, but that's when God is at His best. Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon thee and His glory shall be seen upon thee.

2006-01-17T12:31:00.000-05:00

I'm thinking about the paradox of living in two worlds - one of spiritual reality and the other of material reality. Knowing that Jesus is Lord, that He lives in me, that He rules and reigns, that the Kingdom of God is a present reality, and knowing that I still have to go to work every day and spend the majority of my waking hours worrying about bits and bytes, brings home the dichotomy of this Christian life.

How I'd like to be off somewhere in a monastery or some secluded spot in the woods engaged with my Beloved. Instead, I'm sitting here in my cubicle with a "to-do" list that's getting longer by the hour and a "done" list that's getting shorter.

But I have found that Jesus is present with me here in my cubicle, and that He is able to help and to cheer and to guide. I'm not free from the realities of life but I'm free in Him from the pressure, from the "terror that flieth by noonday," from worry and fear, from "what-if's" and "if only's," from office politics and the uncertainties of working for a company that's shutting down.

If Jesus isn't Lord in my cubicle then He's not Lord anywhere. If He doesn't know the answers to my problems then He couldn't create a universe. But He is here, He does know, and I'm asking for grace to continually turn my heart to Him, to focus my gaze on His wonderful face, and to open my ears to the sound of His voice. "The voice of my Beloved, lo, He comes."

Golden Goodness

2006-01-12T18:19:00.000-05:00

This quote is from "The Magician's Nephew" by C.S. Lewis:

"Both the children were looking up into the Lion's face as he spoke these words. And all at once (they never knew exactly how it happened) the face seemed to be a sea of tossing gold in which they were floating, and such a sweetness and power rolled about them and over them and entered into them that they felt they had never really been happy or wise or good, or even alive and awake, before. And the memory of that moment stayed with them always, so that as long as they both lived, if ever they were sad or afraid or angry, the thought of all that golden goodness, and the feeling that it was still there, quite close, just round some corner or just behind some door, would come back and make them sure, deep down inside, that all was well."

Passion

2006-01-03T13:42:00.000-05:00

It is not always safe or easy to follow our passion, but we should do so at all costs. The alternative is a life of mediocrity. We may fail, but at least we will fail trying. How much better to fail trying than to get to the end and wonder if it could ever have been but not be able to find out. And if that passion is God, then we won't fail, if we seek Him with our whole heart.

Is there a passion burning brightly
Deep with your breast,
A hidden fire no man can see
But to you it's life and death?

Then fan the flame of that desire
And take the higher road;
Walk not the common ways of man
But seek the face of God.

Helpless

2005-12-30T09:33:00.000-05:00

I had a mental image of Jesus lying prostrate in the manger and hanging vertically on the cross - helpless in both instances and His own body forming a cross that way. As I thought on that I realized that His whole life was a sacrifice, from birth to death. Almighty God became totally helpless, to help us to know Him.

He lay helpless in the manger,
He hung helpless on the cross,
Our times of greatest gain
His times of greatest loss.

His life a sacrifice
In His birth and in His death,
God's love for every man
Who ever drew a breath.

For God took human form
In Bethlehem's manger rude,
And took all human sin
Upon a cross of wood.

When God became a man
He laid His glory by;
The Word who had made worlds
Became a baby's cry.

Then He was lifted up,
Impaled His hands and feet,
A bloody sacrifice
Sin's thralldom to defeat.

Helpless now no more
His succor He extends
To all who would receive
This gift - to be His friends.

Helpless now are we
For we can but believe,
Our greatest triumph now
Is simply to receive

The life of Him who came
To bless the human race,
And drink in to the full
The wonders of His grace.

Identification

2005-12-27T11:57:00.000-05:00

The wonder of it all is that God so identified with mankind that He took on human flesh, actually became as we are. Nowhere else in the annals of history or religion did God become a man save in Jesus Christ. How cheap is our festivity compared to this glorious truth, that He loved us enough to become like us, to lift us up from the pit we're in and make us like Himself so that He might have fellowship with us.

Oh love of God so great,
So grand, so full, so free,
Born a virgin peasant's babe,
Identified with me.

Like me in birth and life,
He took my place in death,
Took my sin and took me in,
Paid my awful debt.

One sad and lonely night
The love of God came down;
With but a manger for a bed,
He as a man was found.

The Word of God made flesh -
Oh, can it really be
That God would take on human form
And make Himself like me?

From Bethlehem's lowly barn
I see Golgotha's tree;
From stable rude to cruel cross
To die and set me free.

How can I thank Him now?
Such love all words transcends;
He identified Himself with me
That I might be His friend.

The Shepherd And The Fisherman

2005-12-23T13:54:00.000-05:00

I was a young shepherd that night on the hillside
When angels announced the good news;
We ran to the stable and saw the young child there
And I think that he saw us, too.

For he smiled up at me from his bed in the manger
With a smile that I'll never forget.
It warmed my poor heart like the glory from heaven;
To this day, I remember it yet.

For I saw it again while I mended my nets
On the shore of blue Galilee;
With a voice that was winsome and the smile I remembered
He said "Matthew, come follow me."

Then later I asked if perchance he remembered
When I saw him that night as a child;
With an arm 'round my shoulder and a gleam in his eye
He looked back at me and just smiled.

The Inn ... A Manger

2005-12-21T08:26:00.000-05:00

I was struck by the contrast between "the" inn and "a" manger in the Christmas story in the book of Luke: Jesus was laid in a manger because there was no room in the inn. In that lies the entire contrast between man and God, between our ways and His ways.

"The inn...," so proud, so pretentious,
So wanton, so worldly, so wise;
"A manger...," so homely and humble,
So simple in stature and size.

The inn...the place of man's efforts
And all that his strength can achieve;
A manger...so meek and so humble,
So weak that it has to believe.

The inn...so crowded with pleasure,
Pomposity, power and pride;
A manger...so empty and helpless,
No strength from it's own supplies.

The inn..the place of man's glory,
The show case for all he has done.
A manger...the place of man's weakness
Where alone is exalted the Son.

The inn...our reason and wisdom,
No place for the Heaven-sent One.
A manger...our poor hungry hearts
With room for Jesus, God's Son.

The Little King of Christmas

2005-12-20T08:26:00.000-05:00

The little King of Christmas
Lies on a bed of hay,
With a robe of swaddling clothes
And vessels made of clay.

His palace is of wood,
The floor of earthen sod,
A carpet made of straw -
The dwelling place of God.

Poor shepherds are his court
And oxen on him wait;
For light he has a star,
A barn for an estate.

The wind blows through the slats,
He shivers in the cold;
Rest now, my little King,
You're safe here in the fold.

This is my King for aye,
With him my lot I cast -
The little King of Christmas,
Until my life be past.

A Tale of Two Trees

2005-12-15T11:36:00.000-05:00

Two trees stood in the forest wood
Growing together side by side;
From one came the manger where Jesus was born,
From the other the cross where He died.

So close together yet so far apart,
And really they looked quite the same;
Yet on one would He be adored by the world,
On the other would men curse His name.

One brought Him life and one brought Him death,
One held His little, sweet head;
One held the nails through His hands and His feet
And was stained with the blood that He shed.

Lord Jesus, I would bring Thee life;
Let me be a manger tree,
And cradle Thee within my arms,
Beholding Thy nativity.

Little Pilgrim

2005-12-14T07:47:00.000-05:00

Oh, little pilgrim, I can see you
Lying on the rough-cut hay.
How long a journey have you taken
To bring you where you are today?

For you came from the realms of glory,
From the courts of heaven far,
To this rude and lowly manger,
Lying here beneath a star.

I think you know how I am feeling,
For I am on a journey, too;
My heart has so long been a wand'rer,
But it finds rest here next to you.

Your look tells me that I can stay here,
And here is where I want to be.
Could it be, while I was seeking
You, you were seeking me?

So Approachable

2005-12-06T09:23:00.000-05:00

Had he come as the King of kings, in great pomp and majesty, he would be out of our reach; but He came as a little baby, wrapped in humility and swaddling clothes, so approachable.

Had he come as the Lord of lords, in great power and glory, he would not invite inquiry; but he came in weakness and he died in weakness, so approachable.

Had he come as judge, we would be terror-stricken at the thought of entering his presence; but he has come as Saviour, inviting us to fellowship with him, so approachable.

Had he come as God as God, we would run from him; but he came as one of us ("And the word became flesh and dwelt among us") so we can run to him, so approachable.

How can we stay away?

Christmas Journey

2005-12-05T13:07:00.000-05:00

Wise men coming from afar,
Guided by a blazing star,
Bring myrrh and gold and frankincense,
Gifts they brought at great expense,
To worship in the King's presence.

But shepherds in a nearby field
Had the same to them revealed;
Nothing in their hands they bring,
They could not give to Him a thing,
Poor as they are, they see the King.

And we may come from where we are -
It doesn't have to be so far.
And if our gift be small or grand,
He wants what's in our heart,
Not what's in our hand.

The Baby Born in a Barn

2005-12-01T11:38:00.000-05:00

Were He born in palace instead of a barn, then only the privileged would have access to Him, only the monied and fortunate would be able to come into His presence. But the angels announced the good news to some shepherds working the night shift, out in the fields. Not to the priests, not to the aristocracy - but to poor shepherds the angels came.

That means there's room there for the lowest of the low and the poorest of the poor. That means that everyone can come to stand before the baby born in a barn - from the highest to the lowest, from the richest to the poorest, from the highly educated to the ignorant and out-of-the-way.

There's room there for you and me, and whosover will may come. Let's come before Him in praise and worship, now and forever. Our God has made the way.

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-21T09:58:00.000-05:00

We're off to Boston on Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving with number one son and his family. He works in high tech and has been laid off more times than he can remember, so he doesn't have a whole lot of sympathy for my plight. We're looking forward to seeing our two granddaughters (both in their 20's); they both speak Spanish fluently, so I guess their parents will be left out of the conversations.

Comunidad, our latino church, is growing. Each of the last 3 Sunday nights it's been packed out and we have had to get more chairs to seat the people. A lady who had headaches worse than migraines for 7 years was delivered from them; her family is now on fire for God. They were all coming to church before that but now they have a fresh zeal and desire for God.

Pat has started a ministry for the latino children during the Sunday evening service. They really enjoy it and it frees the main meeting up so the parents can focus on the Lord.

I'm off work this week. I'm enjoying the weather with the leaves falling and the wind blowing - real fall weather that brings the holidays with it.

On Thanksgiving, remember - you are what you eat!

The King Is Dead

2005-11-18T10:17:00.000-05:00

In chapters 1 through 5, Isaiah declares woe on the nations round about. In chapter 6, he changes his tune. He has had a revelation of God.

"In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and lifted up ..."

Uzziah was Isaiah's benefactor, mentor, and patron, so his death must have impacted the prophet greatly. Gone were his support, his inspiration, his encouragement. When he was at his lowest, Isaiah lifted up his eyes to his only remaining support and saw the Lord of Glory in all His majesty, His train filling the temple.

Defeat and discouragement are never the end. When we get down low enough, when we can go no lower, it is then we look up and it is then we see God. The God of the mountains is still God in the valley, the God of the day is still God in the night.

It has always been thus. Job came to the end of himself and the beginning of God (if God has a beginning). Moses' great calling seemingly got blown away with the desert winds when he saw the burning bush. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were in the midst of the flames when they saw the fourth man. Joseph was rejected and in prison for so long a time when he came into the fullness of God's plan for him. Our Lord Jesus was crucified, dead and buried but raised to newness of life and glory for ever.

There are no sad endings, no dead ends, for the child of God. Our King is not dead - He rules and reigns and He carries us with Him on His great journey to Zion. I want to go with Him, and I shall. We shall see Him as He is.

Still Human

2005-11-17T12:02:00.000-05:00

This is Oswald Chambers for November 16. This is wonderful. So often we equate success with God as ministry, when really it should be a life lived for Jesus.

. . whatever you do, do all to the glory of God
—1 Corinthians 10:31

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In the Scriptures, the great miracle of the incarnation slips into the ordinary life of a child; the great miracle of the transfiguration fades into the demon-possessed valley below; the glory of the resurrection descends into a breakfast on the seashore. This is not an anticlimax, but a great revelation of God.

We have a tendency to look for wonder in our experience, and we mistake heroic actions for real heroes. It’s one thing to go through a crisis grandly, yet quite another to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, and no one paying even the remotest attention to us. If we are not looking for halos, we at least want something that will make people say, "What a wonderful man of prayer he is!" or, "What a great woman of devotion she is!" If you are properly devoted to the Lord Jesus, you have reached the lofty height where no one would ever notice you personally. All that is noticed is the power of God coming through you all the time.

We want to be able to say, "Oh, I have had a wonderful call from God!" But to do even the most humbling tasks to the glory of God takes the Almighty God Incarnate working in us. To be utterly unnoticeable requires God’s Spirit in us making us absolutely humanly His. The true test of a saint’s life is not successfulness but faithfulness on the human level of life. We tend to set up success in Christian work as our purpose, but our purpose should be to display the glory of God in human life, to live a life "hidden with Christ in God" in our everyday human conditions ( Colossians 3:3 ). Our human relationships are the very conditions in which the ideal life of God should be exhibited.

At All Times

2005-11-14T11:29:00.000-05:00

So much of our conception of praise is oriented around the public meeting - we have a worship time with a worship team where we sing worship songs. That's all well and good, but does our thinking become structured around that event and not encompass all of life?

The same God I draw close to in those intense times of worship is the same God in the rough-and-tumble of daily activity. My circumstances are not uncontrolled events or happenstance but come directly from the hand of my all-wise, all-knowing, and all-powerful Lord; praise is as much in order at 8:00 on Monday morning as it is at 10:30 on Sunday morning.

Perhaps I don't feel as comfortable stuck in rush hour traffic on I-485 or South Boulevard as I do in a worship service, but God hasn't changed any. Maybe - just maybe - He arranged that situation to show me my impatience and my short fuse (I'm sure you don't huff and puff and pound on the steering wheel in a traffic jam, but I do). At that time I should praise Him for loving me enough to reveal my true self to me so that I can bring it before Him and ask Him to change me. Instead of asking where the driver in front of me got his license, I could be praising God for sending him my way to bring out this side of me.

Every circumstance is an opportunity for praise. Let's praise Him at all times and in all places, because He is worthy. Let every complaint be cut off before it leaves our lips - even before it can form in our hearts. Let God be justified and glorified in every situation, for He certainly deserves it.

BTLAU

2005-11-09T13:07:00.000-05:00

(Back to life as usual.)And now I'm back from vacation and back in the regular day-to-day happenings of my life, which are, if you're interested: work, sleep, eat, and church. I don't sleep enough, I eat too much, I don't do church enough, and I work too much.

I'm looking forward to the Johnny Cash movie coming out Nov. 18. I grew up listening to country music, and he was one of the best. He toured for 38 years. He came to know the Lord and even made a movie called "The Gospel Road."

One of my favorite songs is his recording of "I Saw A Man," written by Arthur Smith, another country music legend who lives right here in Charlotte. (Smith also wrote "Dueling Banjos.") The song touches me because the character in the song says a man came to him in a dream, and it was the Lord. When he awoke, the Man was still there. "He said 'If I be lifted up I'll draw all men to me;' and then I saw the nail-scarred hands that bled for me. I touched the hem of His garment that fell 'round Him there; my heart, my life, my soul are in His care."

Many years ago I worked with an inmate in a prison for insane criminals; he had asked for ministry, and a friend of mine who was a guard there brought me in to speak to him. Turns out the man had seen two lights at the foot of his bed several nights before; he told me "One of them was Jesus, and I didn't care who the other one was."

He was saved, and his life changed, and the Lord blessed him to the point where he was released within a year and went back home to live with his mother. I had the privilege of sharing the love of Jesus with him for his remaining time in prison.

He sets the prisoner free.

He's Still There

2005-11-07T08:17:00.000-05:00

I've been away at the beach for a week so I haven't been able to post anything. But I can report that the ocean's still there, the waves still break on the shore, the sand still feels good between my toes, the gulls still circle and wheel in the sky, the pelicans still dive for fish, the sun still feels good on my face, sea shells still look pretty, there's nothing quite as good as a cup of coffee on the beach watching the sunrise, the smell of salt and sand is worth a million bucks, and God's still in His heaven and all's right with the world.

Passwords and PINS and Personal Protection

2005-10-24T09:59:00.000-04:00

I have so many passwords and PINS that I can't remember them all. Different systems at work require different passwords, and each web site on which I'm a member requires a password. Some of them cycle and some of them don't, so they're all different now.

I keep track of them in my electronic organizer in a "personal notes" section which is - you guessed it - password controlled.

Modern life has given us not only phone numbers, area codes, zip codes, social security numbers, account numbers, ID numbers, drivers' license numbers, etc., but passwords and PINS for our personal protection.

Security's a good thing, don't get me wrong. The last think I want is for someone to steal my identity (although I've had trouble enough with it as it is).

The Kingdom of God is password controlled, too. All of heaven's riches are ours with a single password; it's not a secret, and it never changes. That one word brings to us all the fullness of the Son, all the overflowing plenty of the Holy Spirit. That one word is the entrance into the life more abundant. That one word, whispered in heartfelt devotion, catches God's attention. That one word carries more weight than all the words we have spoken in idleness.

That word, of course, is "Jesus." His Name is higher than any other name and unlocks the coffers of the Kingdom. Utter that name in the depths of the valley or on the heights of the mountain and instantly you're on holy ground. Speak that name in pain or plenty and you'll never want again.

We can't come in our own name, but an abundant entrance is ours in Jesus' name. Whatever we ask in His name will be granted to us; corn, wine, oil, joy, peace, love - it all waits simply for the mention of that name.

Up The Mountain

2005-10-21T14:30:00.000-04:00

I paused on my climb up the mountain
And gazed at the valley below,
At the plains and the grasses and meadows
And the lakes and the rivers that flowed.

So pleasant and calm, it was calling
To return to the safe and secure,
To descend once again to the valley;
I nearly succumbed to its lure.

But I turned and gazed back up the mountain,
Through the mists that surrounded it there,
And I knew that I had to go higher
And breath of its rarefied air.

Something was calling me higher
To places that I could not see,
Calling me onward and upward
To somewhere I knew I must be.

So I turned with a resolute spirit
And set out for the summit again;
My destiny calling me upward,
I could not go back where I'd been.

The briars and brambles tore at me
And tortured my frail human flesh,
But I persevered to go onward;
To stay where I was would be death.

The fog and the rain whipped around me,
The chill wind reached into my bones;
But I persevered and went onward,
Battered and tattered and blown.

The pathway was steep, rough and rocky,
My feet fain could not take a hold;
With my arms I reached out for a handhold
And climbed on through the clouds and the cold.

'Til at last I climbed onto the summit
Where the sun shone in dazzling array.
The clouds were no more and I basked there
In the light of a new, perfect day.

Oh, say, are we not climbing upward,
To the mount of the house of the Lord?
Stay not but press onward and upward
And soon we shall see our reward.

'Tis the face of the One we've been seeking,
Of Jesus, the One we adore;
We'll find that it all has been worth it
As we live in His love evermore.

We are climbing to a place we've never seen, and we long to look on One who is invisible. Yet there is something that calls us continually on, and we could no more stay where we are than we could deny Him outright. We will find that the pain and the pressure were a small price to pay for the glory that shall be revealed.

Captain of the Host

2005-10-18T08:35:00.000-04:00

"...and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us or for our adversaries. And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come." (Joshua 5: 13, 14)

Joshua saw a man with a sword and asked him if he was on Israel's side or the enemy's side, and the man responded that he wasn't on anyones's side - he was the captain of the Lord's host.

We have our causes. We work to see righteousness wrought in this or that arena. We struggle with those of an opposite mind. And we firmly believe God is with us and for us because He is righteous and we're doing righteous things.

But I see in this scripture that God is on His own side, He has His own agenda. And when we get in line with God's agenda then all the other things will be taken care of.

God is a man of war - He's a lot stronger than we are. We need to join in His battles and He will vanquish all our enemies.

Before I came to know the Lord I held views and opinions entirely different from what I believe now. What made the difference? Salvation. When I received a new nature, it came with it's own beliefs, and they became mine. No one struggled to convince me that this or that was right or wrong - I walked in a new light which gave me new vision.

Jesus called twelve men and they turned the world upside down by preaching the Kingdom of God. They didn't have television or newspapers or books or CD's or DVD's -they had Jesus. There was as much flesh, world and devil in their day as in ours, but they had a single message and wrought wonders with it.

I'm glad there are activists fighting for good causes, but we need to advance the Lord's cause. We need to spend time with Him as did the twelve, to become thoroughly familiar with His ways, and we need to be inundated with the Spirit as were the 120 in the upper room. Then, and only then, will we be equipped to do the work set before us as as the church.

The Apostle

2005-10-14T10:45:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite movies is "The Apostle" with Robert Duvall. A lot of people didn't like it because he portrayed a preacher who was a bit of a scoundrel - a guy with some problems. I liked it for that reason - it didn't sugarcoat anything; it came across as very real, not with the saccharine sweetness of so many Christian films. Maybe some day we'll be open and candid and admit that we have problems - we're not the perfect people we dress up as on Sunday.

That was Duvall's goal - to do a movie showing real Christians in real settings. The extras were real Christians from real churches; he told them just to be themselves and do what they do, and if they made a mistake, why, that would probably be better than what he had planned for them.

What really got to me was that he kept going in spite of setbacks. He lost his church and his family and had to hit the road (he was hiding out from the law). But he had a vision in mind of a church God wanted him to build and he ended up building it. He just didn't quit.

Even in the final scene, after he's in prison, he's on a road gang but leading the other prisoner/workers in praising the Lord.

I'm not saying that we should be hard-nosed in driving at a goal when God may be trying to change our direction - that happens, too. But this is what I took away from the film, that if the vision is from God, He will bring it to pass in spite of everything to the contrary.

It wasn't a perfect description of Christianity. Can you show me a movie that is? But it held for me that pioneering spirit, that desire to serve and love Jesus in spite of everything. That's what kept him going. That's what keeps me going.

No Form Nor Comeliness

2005-10-05T13:56:00.000-04:00

"He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we should see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." (Isaiah 53:2)

We are attracted to the spectacular, the extraordinary, and relegate times in the valley to just being "life as usual." There are those times on the mountaintop, to be sure, but, just like Peter, we must come down and live in the valley.

"The mount for vision, but below
The daily paths of duty go."

Jesus was a root out of dry ground. Have we learned to recognize him in the most mundane details of our lives? Moses tended sheep on the backside of the desert for forty years. Joseph was in prison for so long. But God was working all the time, and the results far surpassed everyone's expectations.

Most of life is ordinary, but that is where He calls us to live out the vision. It may well be with no tangible sense of His Presence or nearness, but He looks for the life lived for Him in the valleys. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death ... "

Four Faces

2005-09-28T09:57:00.000-04:00

Ezekiel had a vision in which he saw a magnificent cloud and a fire and four living creatures. Each of the four creatures had four faces - of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle. All four creatures moved together.

The prophet saw beyond his day to the advent of the God-Man, Christ Jesus, and saw Him in all His glorious aspects. Ezekiel saw Christ as the man who walks with us, the lion king who rules over us, the ox our burden-bearer, and the eagle who takes us into the realm of the Spirit.

We must know Him in all His aspects together (for so it means that the creatures moved together). We can't walk with Him, or ask Him to bear our burdens, if we don't come under His king-ship; nor can we soar with Him in the Spirit if we don't allow Him to cleanse and heal us. We can't fulfill His purposes for our lives if we don't follow Him into the Spirit-realm.

The four gospels echo Ezekiel's vision as they describe the One who came in fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. Our lives pick up the song as we enter in to this full-orbed life in Christ, allowing His full working in every circumstance to bring us to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Outsourcing

2005-09-26T10:06:00.000-04:00

Most everyone these days is familiar with outsourcing, the practice of contracting work to another individual or firm who can do it better, or for less cost, or with less risk, etc. My own company oursources IT operations and development.

Outsourcing is nothing new. It's common in a market-driven economy. The South has recently lost a lot of employment to foreign firms who operate at lower cost, but was itself the outsourcer on those jobs a century ago when lower costs took the jobs from the North.

But outsourcing is still older than that. God is the original outsourcer:

"Being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Phil. 1:6).

"I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts." (Jer. 31:33)

The essence of the New Testament is that God Himself will do His work in the lives of believers. Often times we think that we have to be really good at this or at that, or that we have to try really hard to do something just right. That is law; the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Basically, God has outsourced to Himself the work of transforming our lives. We try to take it back but find out we can't do it. But when we allow His Spirit to invade our hearts in a particular area, confessing (not admitting) our sins, He can do a complete work.

There's an old saying that says "If you want something done right, do it yourself." That just about sums it up from God's viewpoint - if God does it, it will be done right.

This is one time that outsourcing is OK.

Diamond In The Dust

2005-09-22T09:05:00.000-04:00

He created worlds yet he lay as a helpless babe on Mary's breast ... He walked on water yet he asked a Samaritan woman for a drink ... He fed 5,000 people from 5 loaves and 2 fishes yet he hungered and thirsted in the wilderness ... He radiated the glory of God on the Mount of Transfiguration yet no one could recognize him at the river Jordan ... He brought salvation, comfort and healing to countless numbers of people yet he himself underwent humiliation, pain, suffering and death ...

God on the one hand, man on the other. So wonderfully He became us, never losing His deity. The Wonderful One wrapped in swaddling clothes, a diamond in the dust, a pearl set in clay, hidden yet revealed.

We will have innumerable ages to contemplate His wonders, but how will we ever be able to fully comprehend all the great mysteries of God in Christ? Where can we begin? And it will surely never, ever end.

Through The Lattice

2005-09-20T11:55:00.000-04:00

My beloved is like a roe or a young hart; behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice." (Song of Solomon 2:9)

In this verse I see the Lord revealing Himself to His beloved, albeit a little timidly, hiding, as it were, behind the lattice. Will He be noticed or ignored? Will He be accepted or rejected? He has been rejected so many times before, but His love compels Him to return yet again and seek companionship.

I felt that last night when I was relaxing after dinner, reading a news magazine. I sensed His Presence and I thought "Oh, my, that's wonderful; this feels so good," and I kept on reading the magazine. This morning the Lord showed me how ignorant and uncaring I am - I should have stopped and said "The Lord is here - let's wait on Him." That was the time He revealed Himself, in the middle of something I wanted to do. But He came seeking my heart, my friendship, and I turned Him away.

Oh, Lord, come again. Forgive my frailties and my ignorance. Teach me your ways, oh Lord, and I shall walk in your paths. Give me a contrite and humble spirit, and a hearing ear, that I might sense your coming, even the whisper of your voice that says "Rise up, my love, and come away."

Sowing And Reaping

2005-09-16T08:31:00.000-04:00

"Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." (Gal. 6:7)

This concept of sowing and reaping has been hijacked by profiteering, self-serving ministries that use it to dupe ignorant Christians and garner riches to themselves. If they really believed what they were saying - that God will return ten-fold to those who "sow into" their ministries - then they wouldn't need to make such requests; they themselves would give and wait to receive the increase from God.

The next verse makes it clear that Paul is talking about that which we receive into our own spirits - if it's of the flesh we'll reap corruption, but if it's of the Spirit we'll receive life.

I grew up on country music - Hank Williams (the real one, not Jr.), George Jones, Kitty Wells, Faron Young - the list goes on. I still love the sound of a fiddle and a steel guitar. But if I listen to that tear-stained, beer-stained, whining, wailing, blues-soaked, booze-soaked music, that's what I walk away with. I come away with that self-pitying, lowlife view of things - nothing's working out, poor-poor-pitiful me, I might as well go out and drink.

My soul has an automatic, built-in jukebox, and it has automatic replay. I don't know if yours works that way, but mine sure does. When I take into myself that which is of the world, that's what echoes in my soul. I sowed and I reaped. That's a far cry from where I want to be, on the mountain with the King.

But if I fill my soul with praise music, if I feed my spirit on the songs of Zion, then I reap a harvest of corn, wine, and oil - the good things of the Lord. If I seek His face early in the morning, then His touch is upon my life even in the heat of noonday. I sow, I reap.

I need to walk with Him - if I don't have Him, I die. Even though I'm under grace and free to do all things, all things are not expedient for me. A farmer wouldn't plant onions if he wanted to grow corn; neither should we plant crops we don't want to grow.

We should cry out like baby birds for bread from heaven, living water, hidden manna. If we sow to the the Spirit, we shall reap life.

Crucified With Him

2005-09-12T14:48:00.000-04:00

How is it that I can be crucified with Christ? I wasn't there 2,000 years ago and I didn't hang on a cross next to Him, yet this is tremendously important to my spiritual life if I am to decrease and He is to increase. God's plan is not to make me better but to get me out of the way through death, and to make a new me through resurrection. I can't do it on my own, so I must go through the way that God has made for me.

It is linear thinking to see spiritual history in a timeline from then to now. But God is eternal and has a different perspective. If I view this history in a timeline I see it like this:

+ ( the cross) ........................... \o/ (me).

This way, I'm separated from Christ's death on the cross by 2,000 years. But if I view it in God's eternal perspective it looks like this:

+
.
.
.
.
.
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\o/

So now I can see how it's possible for me to be aligned with Christ's death, even to be a partaker in it; whatever happened to Him happened to me since I am in Him. And that is possible because that's the way God sees things. Thus I can reckon (count/affirm/attest) myself as crucified with Him.

Does that mean that Christ is continually crucified? No - that was once and done. But God sees me as in Christ and Christ as eternal.

Jesus was my substitute - He took my sin upon Himself there. But He did so much more; He took my place, yes - but He also made a place for me on the cross, so I can truthfully say with Paul "I am crucified with Christ." Grasp that - you and I were on the cross because of what Jesus did there; He made a way for us.

Similarly, I can say that through baptism I am buried with Him and I can also say that I am risen and resurrected with Him (Col 2:12), and mean it - it's a reality, not a wishy-washy theological supposition.

This is not reformation of character - this is death and resurrection. Something more happened to me in baptism than getting wet - I was buried! I was in that tomb, in Christ. And when the stone was rolled away and Jesus stepped forth, I came forth with Him. With Him - all the way!

This is not suppressing my desires but allowing the Son of God to vanquish me in every area. This is not living for Jesus, but Jesus living in me. This is not walking the walk, but limping like Jacob and leaning on the arm of my Beloved.

So no longer do we have the option/privilege of living our own lives; instead we are called to usher in the King of Glory in all His beauty and all His splendor, to prepare the way of the Lord, and to participate with Him in the dawning of His Kingdom.

Are you ready for that?

Jesus Is

2005-09-06T15:11:00.000-04:00

Jesus is

... the friend you always wanted

... the wish you were afraid to wish for because it seemed too good

... what you always thought life should be like

... the answer to all your questions

... like the sun rising in your heart

... the one who says "I'll take your part when times get rough"

... the place to hide

... the one who watches over you

... a river of clear running water

Wings and Wheels and Webbed Feet

2005-08-24T13:21:00.000-04:00

Yesterday at lunchtime I sat outside at work on a bench overlooking the large pond at our office complex. Seven Canada Geese flew in and landed on the water, squawking and flapping their wings and gliding on their webbed feet until they came to rest in the water; then they swam around, climbed out of the water, and waddled around on the land for a bit.

Immediately after, a jet plane on the approach path to the airport flew overhead and let down its wheels. In a few minutes it would land at the airport; it would bounce once or twice on the wheels, which would each send out a puff of white smoke, and then it would taxi to the gate where it would discharge its passengers.

As I watched these airborne vehicles come to earth I thought how the geese's feet and the plane's wheels didn't serve a purpose while they were airborne but functioned fully while on land. Conversely, their wings served no purpose on the ground but enabled them to apply Bernoulli's Principle to keep them aloft in flight.

Even so, we have faculties that serve us well in the earth realm but should give way to those that allow us to function in the realm of the Spirit. We have been given gifts and callings and ministrations that apply in spiritual things and we should develop those abilitiess and employ them when the Spirit calls. The giftings we have in the earth realm may not be appropriate in a spiritual setting; we may have to fold them up, the way a bird tucks its feet up under its body while in flight so they don't impede what God wants to do in the Spirit.

We hear and respond in the realm of the Spirit through spiritual faculties, and we function in the earth realm with natural giftings. All are needed. But once we enter the realm of the Spirit we should release ourselves to God's purpose and employ those giftings that allow us to function in that arena.

May we be like the eagle that can rise up above mountains, catch the thermals, and soar for miles and miles, apprehending the direction and purpose of God for our lives and for His kingdom.

Pleasing God

2005-08-19T12:36:00.000-04:00

"Furthermore, then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more." (1 Thess 4:1)

"When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." (Prov 16:7)

How often do people use God to justify their actions when really they only want to please themselves? People have an agenda to carry out to achieve their own ends and invoke God to back them up in it. But who are they seeking to please - themselves or God?

Proponents of homosexual rights invoke Jesus as never having mentioned the subject. Well, if they're going to bring God into the discussion then they have to seriously consider the whole package, not just the part that agrees with their agenda. Who are they trying to please - themselves or God? If you say you want to please yourself, that brands you right off. And as soon as you say you're trying to please God you have no ground at all left to stand on - you have to acknowledge what the Bible says about such things.

When people ask me if I think this or that is wrong I'm going to answer "who are you seeking to please - yourself or God?" I think that if we are seeking to please God, then the rug gets pulled out from under us if we're pushing our own thing.

I have to look at myself and the things I do. I have to ask if I'm trying to please myself or God. There are things God allows me to do but they don't necessarily please Him. I have any number of leisure-time pursuits that are harmless in themselves and which I can justify by saying "I won't go to hell if I do this," or "God knows my heart," or any number of things like that to get my own way. But am I seeking to please God? That's a whole different story.

Jesus did only those things that pleased the Father, never His own will. I want to be like Jesus.

The River of God

2005-08-15T09:27:00.000-04:00

Last night in our latino church I preached about the river of God (Isaiah 32, Ez. 47, John 7, Rev. 22).

A river has 2 points - its origin and its destination. At the origin, and along the way, the river receives water. We receive from the Lord through His Spirit, through the Word, through ministry.

The river of God gives life and brings healing wherever it goes. As we are touched by God and our lives intersect with others, we bring life as we share Jesus and what He has done in our lives.

Finally, the river gives of its waters to the world. What a picture of how we are to be about the Father's business. Right around us are needy people hungry for a cup of cold water. Is there something we can do, something we can say, some way to relate to that neighbor, that co-worker, to develop a relationship and begin to impart something of what we have received?

We focus a lot on receiving, and we do need to receive from God because we don't have anything to give and we can only give what we receive from God. But we need to let the water flow out to others around us.

"Let the river flow ..." God, give us a heart for our neighbors, for those around us. Use our hands, our feet, our words, our lives, to touch someone.

South American Anointing?

2005-08-09T08:43:00.000-04:00

Alejandro, our latino pastor, just returned from Chile. He said that the pastor there went to Paraguay and returned with a batch of what God was doing there and now they're experiencing revival in Santiago.

The anointing was so strong in Paraguay that I couldn't preach the night I was scheduled to; all I could do was weep and cry out - for the country, the city, the church, the people, for myself, for Charlotte.

I'm trying to figure out why the anointing was so strong there. That's probably a fruitless exercise - God just does what He wants where He can. But I want more of Him, more of His wonderful Presence, more of His Spirit. There is no one like Jesus.

I'm tired of forms and exercises and same old, same old. There is newness and freshness in God, new every day. "Come live in me, all my life take over ..."

In preparing for the Paraguay trip, I tried to write songs in Spanish and to translate my songs, and to write Christian poetry in Spanish. I can do that in English with ease (with His help, of course) but I couldn't squeaze out a word of Spanish rhyme. I'm fluent in Spanish so I thought I could do that. I told the Lord "I have nothing, nothing." And he replied that I was ready to go - He only wanted emptiness so He could fill it.

Maybe God is trying to get us empty, down to nothing. Weak. Helpless. Dependent. Then we can be strong.

The Power Of God

2005-08-05T14:00:00.000-04:00

In my lunchtime discussion with Sean we talked about the power of God to take people from different countries with disparate cultures and different languages and make them one, brothers and sisters, through the love of Jesus. Jesus is the answer not only to my problems and my sin, but for the entire world. God bless the Marines and the Army and the U.N and everybody else that's giving their all, all over the world, and motivate us to give it all for Jesus. He's the only One who can change men from within.

And we asked God to take this fabulous sense of mission that comes from leaving it all and going to a distant land, and fill us with that right here in our every day world. We're no less called than we are right now, right where we are, and we have no less work to do right here where we are, every day.

2005-08-03T17:51:00.000-04:00

Buenos amigos - Robert, Bruno, Marta, Javier, and Sergio

2005-08-03T17:49:00.000-04:00

Our team and a few friends.

Paraguay Pics

2005-08-03T07:59:00.000-04:00

Following are some pics of our short-term mission trip to Paraguay, which began on July 22.

The paraguayos were like little kids when we presented them with the two guitars, which my co-workers made available.

We saw unbelievable poverty - the shacks in the picture were right behind the congress building in Asuncion, which is the capitol city. Paraguay doesn't have a middle class - you're either poor, rich, or richer.

The worship meetings were tremendous. God poured out His Spirit like I've never seen before - like a flood, like a deluge, like a roaring river.

We taught 5 sessions on leadership; the need in La Viña (The Vineyard) was to raise up leaders to work with the pastor. I used paper airplanes in my session(doesn't sound very leader-like, does it?)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We stayed in a very nice house and ate all but one of our meals there. Martha, who owns the house, had built a casita (little house) out back for our team; the teen-age girls stayed there while Pat and I had a room with bath. The other guys stayed in a hotel around the corner. Every house is surrounded by a high brick wall with a steel gate in front, due to the high crime rate.

I got to use my Spanish all day, every day. We also learned a little Guarani, which is the second official language of the country. Paraguay is the only country in the world with two official languages.

What I can't show on a picture is the Holy Spirit - if I could take a picture of His beauty, His compassion and His love the way He revealed Himself to us there, it would break your heart. It broke mine.

I can't say I have wonderful memories, because I want to go on with God, to build on what He has done, not to live in the past. We can pray that He will rend the heavens and come down - to our individual lives, to our churches, to our city, our state, our country, and this needy world.

2005-08-02T21:18:00.000-04:00

Receiving the Guitars