Flooding in Worcester, England, UK (British Midlands)

There has been considerable flooding
in the city of Worcester, England, UK,
and in all of British midland area.

The above photo was taken of the lower
cathedral area on Sunday, before it flooded,





This area was taken of the pedestrian walk area
near the cathedral (seen in the middle of the first
picture) on the next day.



An accurate sign in the parking lot adjacent to the Pitchcroft race track



the flooded race track area near Pitchcroft


A dog swimming through what is usually a pleasant green park.


Worcester Cathedral
flooding in Worcester, UK
flooding in British Midlands
flooding at Pitchcroft Racetrack, Worcester, England, UK

Worcester Cathedral

Dear Friends, greetings from Worcester
England where I am spending the month
on a bit of a spiritual adventure, a
bit of a vacation, and a bit of only
God knows what. I think of and pray
for you all, and appreciate your prayers.
Keep praying!--RM

Worcester Cathedral

Discerning Jesus in Brokenness, Blindness and Weakness

Discerning Jesus in Brokenness, Blindness and Weakness

Whatsoever you do to the least
of My brothers, that you do unto Me
(Matthew 25: 40).

Who is blind as my Servant Israel, or
deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who
is blind as he who is perfect and blind as
the Lord’s Servant” (Isaiah 42:18,19).

Weakness, vulnerability, fragility,
brokenness. These are not words that
would first come to mind when one thinks
of God or be the first place one might
look for God. God’s ways, however, are
never dictated by the common sense of man.
Who God is, what He values, and how He
operates, are great and wondrous
mysteries that we need to inquire about.

Lately, there have been a number of
occasions where I could feel the
goose bumps rising on my arm as I
pondered God’s Presence mysteriously
hidden in Life. It is the way of the
world to look for God in powerful displays
but it seems it is the way of God to reveal
Himself, even conceal Himself, in displays
of weakness.

The cross of Christ is the greatest
revelation of God’s interaction
with man but in the eyes of the world it
is a display of weakness and shame.
The cross is certainly about ultimate
victory, but it is clothed in the
tattered cloak of apparent defeat.

Into all of our lives come situations
that defy explanation and baffle us,
bringing us to a moment of destiny as we
decide how we will respond. Let me begin
by saying that each person’s sin is their
own fault and they are accountable for it.
Furthermore, I do not underestimate the
scheming and destructive work of the
Evil One, which is its own separate issue,
yet right next to all of this is a
scriptural archetype of weakness.

Weakness is not the same as sin. For
Christians, being human brings with
it an inherent and total reliance on
God to make us into the image of His
Son. Even if man had not fallen its
seems there would still have been a
process of birthing the full and mature
image of Christ within man and woman.

Because of our fallen nature, this
transformational process does not take
place easily or quickly. Actually,
because of the wreckage in our souls,
there has to be much tearing down before
the building up can begin.

When God called the prophet Jeremiah
he commissioned him to “root out and
to pull down, to destroy and to throw
down,to build up and plant” (Jeremiah 1:10).
In that call there seems to be more
leveling and breaking down work then
building work, or the concept that that
the leveling work would take twice as
long and be be twice as hard as the actual
building work. Demolition wreckage is
a bigger problem to remove then just
building from the ground up.

Often we wonder why God does not work
more rapidly in perfecting us or perfecting
that which concerns us. God, you have
noticed, does not view things the way we
do. We are fearfully and wonderfully made
and the depths inside us are largely unknown
territory to even the most seasoned spiritual
traveler.

We do not know ourselves. Nor do we know
others. Thank God for the day when “we shall
know even as we are known” ( 1 Cor 13:12).
But until then we do not know what the deepest
parts of ourselves might say or do when under
great pressure.

If God were looking to reveal an accurate
response of how we would respond to Him
He might not get a true picture if He
appeared to us in power or acted in power.
(Of course, He already knows us inside and
out, but it is we that must have the truth
dug out of us for ourselves and that great
cloud of witnesses to see).

If you went to meet the Queen or the President
of the U.S. you would be on your best behavior
and respectful of their office. You would say
kind things to their face even if behind their
backs you ripped them up one side and down the
other.

We gravitate toward the rich and famous. As
human beings we are such assumers and such
paparazzi’s. We run after glittery things,
and sparkly people, taking snapshots, thinking
we know where real life is and trying to take
a bite out of it for our hungry souls. We often
bite into the wrong things: consider Adam and Eve.

We are somehow predisposed to think God will
make a show of great power or else He is not
doing His job right. We also think that He
prefers to manifest Himself in strength but
He tells Paul, “My strength is perfected in
weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).

Lately I have been led to believe that
God is sometimes specifically hiding in
the weakness of His servants. We all
believe that Jesus resides in His people.
The question is “where exactly does He
reside?” If I were Him I would head for
the more nicely finished parts of the
house.

I am beginning to suspect that, at
least some of the time, He conceals
Himself in our more severely broken parts,
in deafness and weakness and brokenness,
for it is there that He is needed most. He
goes out and sits in the place of our
weakness. God does not always sit in the leather
recliner in the living room, sometimes He
sits in the broken chair on the porch.

“What in the world are you talking about?” I
see you asking.

I have seen some, been involved in,
some difficult situations and seen people,
even or especially myself, stumble over
another believer’s blindness and deafness.
I keep thinking, “Surely they must see!
Quite certainly they must hear!”. I have
come to anger or something sadly past anger,
when what I perceive as the blindness and
deafness persists, and here’s the kicker,
affects me in a negative manner.
I’m thinking it is here that I am
encountering a blast of my own
self-righteousness, for I’m thinking
if I knew my true state as compared to what
I am judging, then anger might not be my
predominant emotion.

I wonder where Christ is in all this, and
have come to the conclusion that He sits
before me disguised in the weakness, the
blindness, and deafness of fellow believers.

What? Yes. For it is in these moments
of frustration who I really am, and what
I will really do, comes out by the bucket
load. My truest self, for better or for worse
will come forth. My heart will be revealed.

When I see weakness in another, especially
in a place where I think it not ought to
be, or in a configuration that I find
hard to take, a configuration that presses
upon me, I am tempted to lash out because
I feel that I am not lashing out at something
powerful, but more like at defenseless dog
on the boot of someone who would kick them.

I am unaware of God’s Presence in the
situation. I do not see Him staring at
me from within another brother or sister,
helpless in my hands, waiting to see if
I will strike Him or help Him.

Beloved Ones, what if the thing that
bothers you to death, irks you beyond
your ability to bear it, is not just
put there by Christ but is Christ Himself
in disguise?

What if He is there waiting to see not
only what you will do, but what you
will do TO HIM? We can be on the
receiving end of this or the giving
end. We can be the person that others are
misjudging or stumbling over, or we can
be judging or stumbling over another. Or
both! We would do well to try and
recognize what is going on lest we do
not discern the Lord in His Body.

Christ has chosen to identify strongly
with His Body. Perhaps we do not
know how strongly. When I lash out
at a brother or sister, how in the
world will I have the wisdom to know if
it is their willful ignorance or something
Christ has allowed and actually chosen
to take up residence in, at least for the
moment, to bring Me to a place where
I will respond as He does to whatever
crosses my path? You would be quite
startled if He popped out from amidst
the unfinished construction of another
life and said, “I’m working here, do
you think I am not?” Or am I too
blind to see?

Here me out!
I am not condoning sin, sloppy living,
or spiritual ignorance. I am not saying
that Satan is not also lurking at the
door to work, but in a believer it is
my scriptural understanding that Satan
and Christ cannot both dwell. Our flesh
is still being dealt with. We are works
in progress. Does this fact escape God’s
notice? Does He not see that you and I
are still quite messed up?

There are more to things then meet the
outer eye. There are things that
seem almost eerie, and we must ask
God for discernment. We need
to look for our Lord, have eyes to
behold Him, wherever He might
be hiding.

And so I am wondering when we see
weakness in another believer, especially
one we esteem, perhaps even, or especially
in a leader, are we more blind then they
until we also see Christ there, holding
out His Hand to us, even as a beggar at
the gate, waiting to see how we will
treat Him as He disguises Himself in the
apparently blind or deaf one.

Every time I have thought of this concept
My heart starts to beat out of my chest.

Isaiah 42 describes the Servant of the Lord.
These songs are often said to be pictures
of Jesus. “Who is so blind as he who is
perfect, and blind as the Lord’s Servant?”
(vs. 19.)

Blind as he who is perfect? Does this even
make sense? If you are blind, how can you
be perfect? But what if it were Christ
allowing the blindness, or at least making
use of it for His purposes, even for a hiding
place for Himself? Perhaps I speak as a fool,
but I will address that shortly.

What if those purposes revolved around testing
how you would respond to weakness, lameness,
blindness or ignorance?

Is YOUR heart beating fast yet?

God is not after making us powerful in the
world’s sense. He is about making us like
Him: compassionate, longsuffering, meek,
willing to go five hundred extra miles for
the sake of a brother or sister, ready
to forgive seventy times seven times even
in one hour.

How else do you explain, “For whatever
you do to the least of my brothers, that
you do unto Me.”

He did not say, “whatever you do to the
strongest and best of my brothers,” but
to the least of them. And I ask you, as
I ask myself with trembling
heart, what makes them least in your eyes?
And can you let it go?

In Russian literature there is often a
strange character called a “holy fool.”
The character can either be someone who
has rejected society to walk in a solitary
or eremitic state to seek spiritual wisdom,
or it more often can be a character who
seems to hover between sanity and insanity,
speaking non-sense at some moments, and
then speaking the pure truth of God in others.

I know I have encountered holy fools in my
life. They give you rare glimpses into the
nature of reality. They unabashedly tell
us that the emperor has no clothes on. They
point out our nakedness and our own foolishness.
The question is, can we trust what a madman
tells us that he sees? Should we take advice
from a fool? Is the advice coming
from the crazy part or the holy part?

Only a listening heart can discern that.

I can remember hearing Derek Prince, who
is now with the Lord, speaking on the
disturbing disguises of God. He describes
a moment of holding a sick orphan baby,
holding it more from a place of near
disgust, and then looking down and seeing
the face of Christ being held in his arms.
It was the beginning of a ministry that
his wife and he were called to with
needy children.

Mother Theresa calls us to see the face
of Christ in the “distressing disguise of
the poor.” Poverty, my dear friends,
comes in all forms.

I am not condoning or advocating for
our sinful broken condition. I am just
suggesting that there is more to the
process of it: that Christ is involved
in our brokenness more than you think,
and in ways that you may not have
thought of.

Be careful the next time you judge
another brother or sister too quickly.
It may be YOU that God is testing and
YOU that He will call into account for
not recognizing Him and welcoming Him,
giving Him food and drink and aid as He
implores your mercy in the disguise of
distress, weakness, or blindness. Our
glorious nature to come starts in a
weak place. There is a great day coming
for us and in us, but the journey
starts in an humble way.

Dear brothers and sisters,

Where have you seen Jesus lately?

spiritual weakness
discerning Christ
The Body of Christ
knowing God
holy fools
christianity
mercy
compassion
the disguises of God
the least of My brothers
the Christian life

The Feast of God: Learning to Dine at God’s Table, Part 2.

The Feast of God: Learning to Dine at God’s Table, Part 2.

How do we eat spiritually? With what spiritual
fork do we pick up our food? With what spiritual
teeth do we chew? With what spiritual stomach do
we digest?

Eating spiritually is about spirit to Spirit
communion with Jesus. It is not thinking about
Him, but, rather, receiving spiritual sustenance
from Him. Sometimes you see, in more ancient
depictions of Christ, a cord or tube coming out
of the Lord’s side feeding those who drink from
it. Sometimes milk or wine is flowing from His
breast. How strange this seems to us. It should
not. It speaks of spiritual eating.

I am quite convinced that we have been like
children who play by cutting pictures of food
out of magazines and placing them on paper
plates and pretending that it is really
dinner. We then wonder why we are starving
and why the promised food of God tastes so
impalatable. Are you eating paper instead
of life? We can read the bible and it alone
will not produce spiritual food. We can
take the Lord’s Supper and it can be just
a ritual. It is an impartation by the
Spirit of God that alone gives life.

When I had my first communion in the
Catholic tradition, I can remember the
exact moment of taking the communion
host for the first time. I had been well
prepared that this was a special occasion.
As I took of communion I had a moment of
panic for I felt sure that a mistake had
been made and that I had been given a
cardboard circle. I was focused on the
outer and could not discern the spiritual
food.

How do we not know how to eat spiritually?
Sometimes it is because deep within us,
mercy and truth have not met. Our
understanding of what God desires to do,
and our ability to rest in His provision to
accomplish it within us, have not kissed.
Indeed, they seem to live as enemies. We
do not truly believe how much God is for
us and able to nourish us. We go hungry,
even starve from our ignorance. How we
view God affects what we think He will
serve us when we come to dine with Him.

Dear Ones, we need to sit and let His
sustenance flow into us so that our
ability to trust Him might be nourished.
Let us bring our hungry souls to God
trusting, and then knowing, that He
will feed us and that we do not have to
provide for ourselves. If we are faithful
to sit before Him, He will get the
food to us! He shows us that when He fed
the hungry multitudes on the hillsides.
He will impart His life-giving bread to
us. Bread of Heaven, feed us til we want
no more!

How shall we tell someone how to come to
the Divine Table? Often I have traveled
and will tend to wait to see how one is
expected to partake of the food set before
them. If you brought someone to the table
of the Lord, how would you tell them to
eat? God is holding out a banquet to us
but much of it may be missing our
spiritual mouths.

First of all, we must know that our
relationship with Christ is not merely
mental, but spiritual. For life and
substance flow by the Spirit and not
the mind.


It is possible that we know the Lord,
but are still a spiritual infant.
Paul writes, “Are you still babies
that I need to be spoon feeding you
milk instead of meat?” (I Cor 3:1
paraphrased).

What keeps our appetite on an
infantile level? Is it our shame
that prevents us from eating? Do we
feel unworthy to partake of a feast
we did not pay for? Do we fail to discern
the heavenly food in His Body, both at
communion and in the many members of
the Body of Christ on earth?

Or is it that our taste for the gruel
of the world has left our tastebuds as
traitors? Paul tells us that it is our
carnality, our focus on the food and
desires of THIS world and not on the
food of God, that keeps us from growing
up and going on to a full course meal
in God.

Do we eat the bread of emptiness
thinking that it will fill us, or even
worse, mistakenly thinking it is
the bread of God and that we are meant
to feel hungry after we eat it? Are we
like puppies who eat anything that they
find, not having developed the discernment
or the sense of what is edible and what
is not, and in so doing ruin our digestive
process?

Beloved ones, tough things will happen
to us, but there is always a Feast set
before us, even a table in the wilderness.
God always promises that the righteous
will not be forsaken nor will they
or their children go begging for bread
(Psalm 37:25). We can count on that as
a promise for spiritual bread just as
much for earthly bread.

The bread of God indeeds both fills
and leaves us hungry, but hungry for
more of the sweet food of which we
cannot live without, hungry for the
things of God.

Have you ever had a wonderful meal,
with a wonderful dessert and could
not wait for more time to go by and
the food to be digested so that
you would be able to have another
piece of chocolate cake?

For all the times that you have
wanted to eat dessert and not your
vegetables, know that even this
most human of feelings is a
principle pointing to the banquet
of Christ.

Now, who has ever told you that?
What is preached is more often
about law then grace. More often
about truth, rational and
intellectual, than about mercy.
More about lack than abundance.
Don’t you more often hear that
you should eat less and diet more?
And where has that gotten you? You
are still hungry because your spirit
is starving. Brothers and sisters,
dig in.

I recently had a dream that I
went into an unused storage area
at church and found desserts of every
conceivable kind ignored and uneaten.
I was upset that the food was not
being partaken of. There were cakes
and brownies, and cookies, and sweets.
I asked why the food was not being
eaten and I was told that it might
be old or full of bugs. We are afraid
to eat of the sweetness that God offers.
We put it aside and would rather go
without. We are suspect of the food.

At the Lord’s Supper is a place of
abundance and surplus. I dearly
love vegetables, but they do not
usually make me swoon. Consider
the Last Supper. Here is meat indeed.
The disciples were reclining at table.
They are examples of the complete rest,
the swoon of fulfillment, the dinner
of delight and comfort beyond compare.
They are in the Presence of Jesus, and
they are resting there. We must learn
to recline at the Lord’s table, where
there will be no rush to “eat and run.”

I sense that most of us distrust our
most trustworthy Lord, at least in
some area, and that we suspect, even
though we would not say this, that He
may be poisoning us. As much as I love
the Lord, I still feel experiential fear
inside of me regarding some aspects of
complete dependence on Him. So do you.
All we can do with that is come to God
and allow Him to dismantle that fear
bit by bit. Let the perfect meal of
love cast out the fear of total surrender.
We must trust Him enough to let ourselves
be consumed by Him! In turn He will give
us food that we know not of.

We do not know that one crumb from His
table will fulfill us eternally and that
He is not offering one Crumb, but His
whole body and all of His blood –an
eternal feast, a feast that sustains
past the ages of the age.

Do you know this kind of eating? All
of us need to know it more deeply.
Let mercy and truth meet together
to prepare a meal of righteousness
and peace like you have never known.
Ask God to feed you. Do not doubt
His bounty, nor His desire to give it.
Sit with the Lord and feast upon Him.
You shall not come away hungry.
Open your mouth wide and He shall fill
it!

The Feast of God: Dining at God’s Table of Mercy

The Feast of God: Dining at God’s Table of Mercy
and Truth. Part 1.

Mercy and truth have met together.
righteousness and peace have kissed. (Psalm 85:10).

The way of God is truth ministered in
mercy. The ways of God are a righteous
blend of what God requires, and what is
life-giving and restful to the spirit,
meeting together in holy intimacy. What
God wants to give you will both satisfy
Him and sustain you.

How sadly we misjudge our Lord. Some of
us err in the view that God is a
disinterested Judge that needs to be
persuaded to act or will act in ways
that will burden us. God,who pours out
gift after gift, who poured out His
Son for us without measure, is not
heavy-handed or a strict Father
without compassion. By no means.

Perhaps number one on my “Favorite
Movies” list is “Babette’s Feast.”
Every so often I put it on and have
myself a good cry. Not a sad cry, a
good cry. An inspired, grateful
cry.

Babette is a world class cook
that has to flee to a sparse and cold
spiritual community in a sparse and
cold land. The people of the
community fear God but they do
not know Him. There is no sweetness.
No mercy. Only truth. Cold hard truth.
The people do what they feel God expects
but there is no overflow of life or
love in their hearts. For them God is
a hard taskmaster. They eat gruel.
They feel God wants them to eat it,
even serves it up to them. They
dress darkly, they live austerely.

Mercy has no place for there
is only duty. ”Do what is right
or pay the consequences” is what
they understand. Perhaps you may
ask forgiveness but only ask one
time, after that there is no
excuse for error. What a tightrope
to walk! What a dark place to try
and trap the life of God in. But
hallelujah, God’s life shall not
be trapped!

But back to the story. Babette is
asked to cook for the family she
lives with. They are a family that
have given up not just evil pleasure,
but ALL pleasure, forsaken it as if
there was no place in God’s world
for light and life. They are living
as if this world must be endured,
in order to get to the next one.
And so, in some small but certain
way, because of what we have chosen,
it must.

The glorious thing is that there can
be and should be so much more. After
many years in exile, Babette learns that
she has won the lottery and has come into
a sum of money. She asks permission to
cook a special meal for a special occasion
in the life of the community. The
community does not want to offend her
so they allow it, but they fear the worse.

They watch boatloads of exotic supplies
come by sea to their home and they
conjecture that all of this has satanic
overtones, that the way of gruel is the
Way, and that overabundant life is
something to be spit out. What they do
not know is that Babette has spent ALL
her money to provide this meal. Excuse
me while a wave of gratefulness to God
for His willingness to spend His all for
us sweeps over me!

A special guest is at the dinner. He alone
figures out who Babette is. The rest agree
to eat Babette’s feast sparingly and to
not enjoy it. The finest dinner imaginable
is served. The guests try to hate it, but
what makes me cry is how sweetly and
wonderfully this hardened community, which
has almost reached the end of its life
together, a life that has turned to
backbiting and arguing, comes slowly
and wonderfully to life. The food works
its life-giving effect.


Reconciliation occurs. Laughter breaks out.
Love flows. All without awareness of the
power of life that is bringing it forth.
I cry my brains out every single time.

Consider the banquet of God. Consider that
Babette points to Christ, an exile of the
Father’s heart sent forth out of God’s
passion to love the world back into His
bosom. Beloved, God holds out an
unimaginable banquet to us and we treat
Him like an unlearned and unrecognized
servant.

Yet perhaps even in the sinful overeating
of our society we feel a great truth. In
the eating of the True Banquet is life
and fulfillment. Perhaps we know
intuitively that it is food that keeps
us going.

The Lord’s Supper is the original and
everlasting Comfort Food. To eat Him and
to drink Him is to know joy forevermore.
He is better than the deepest, darkest
chocolate, or the most sublime of wines.
In Him there is no lack, there is no hunger,
there is no thirst. To eat Him is joy
unspeakable. To drink Him is sheer inebriation.

How shall we eat Him you ask? You take
communion, dear ones, but you do not always
discern the Lord’s Body. Why are we hungry
and thirsty when the banquet table is ever
before us? Are you still only eating small
bits of bread and taking a sip of mere wine?
You must eat Him and drink Him. It is He who
has told us this. He is not the guest of honor
at the dinner, He IS the dinner.

The Lord’s Supper is not about singing “For
He’s a jolly good Fellow.” It is not thinking
sentimental thoughts about Jesus, because I
tell you now, in the heat of life’s trials,
that is not enough. We are spiritual beings
and our spiritual lives depend on spiritual
bread and drink just as our physical lives
depend on physical food. This is not a
metaphor nor does it happen by a mental
process. “Unless you eat of the flesh of
the Son of Man and drink of His blood, you
shall not have life with in you”(John 6:53).
Jesus told us that this would cause offence
and many would turn away. It is the
hard-to-digest truth that always does! But
thank God for His mercy. And now I see you
wondering…how is it that I spiritually eat,
and others are wondering, “Have I ever eaten?”

We will look at this in part two of this article.

On Wonder and Delight

Several years before his death, a remarkable rabbi, Abraham Joshua Heschel, suffered a near-fatal heart attack. His closest male friend was at his bedside. Heschel was so weak he was only able to whisper: "Sam, I feel only gratitude for my life, for every moment I have lived. I am ready to go. I have seen so many miracles during my lifetime." The old rabbi was exhausted by his effort to speak. After a long pause, he said, "Sam, never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I fnder, and He gave it to me.

A Philistine will stand before a Claude Monet painting and pick his nose; a person filled with wonder will stand there fighting back the tears.

We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at His love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.

Let us ask God for the gift He gave to this unforgettable rabbi. And let us pray: "Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder. Surprise me, amaze me, awe me in every crevice of Your universe. Delight me to see how Your Christ plays in ten thousand places, lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not His, to the Father through the features of men's faces. Each day enrapture me with Your marvelous things without number. I do not ask to see the reason for it all; I ask only to share the wonder of it all."
--Brennan Manning

Notable Women Preachers: Maddalena Panattieri

I read with interest an article on Maddalena
Panattieri, who is one of the rare woman
preachers remembered in Italian spiritual
history. Born in 1443, she became a Dominican
tertiary (someone connected with the
Dominican order as a lay person, but not
as a nun or priest).

She loved to teach children about the Lord,
but she was so interesting that the
children's mothers also came to hear.
Then came the fathers, and then the clergy!

Her teaching soon became preaching! She
would often speak against the practice
of charging interest on loans. No doubt
she was and is the "patron enemy" of bankers.

Whether this is apocryphal or not, she was
often allegedly "translated" to the Holy Land
where she would describe the sites with accurate
detail. What a way to travel!

As for her preaching, one day when she
offended a man by her preaching, he slapped
her. Falling to her knees she said,
"Brother, here is the other cheek, I give
it to you in the love of Christ."

What an inspiring moment from church
history. May we all offer our cheeks
to the smiters so readily, and our
hearts so completely to Jesus.

You have heard it said, "An eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I
say to you, offer no resistance to one who
is evil. When someone strikes you on the
right cheek, turn the other one to him as
well." (Matthew 5:38,39).

Maddalena Panattieri
women preachers
women in ministry
Italian history
turn the other cheek
Matthew 5:38-39
saints
church history

Are You Safe? True Safety in a World of Terrorism

Are You Safe? True Safety in a World Full of Terrorism

On this fourth of July I spent awhile
thinking about safety. I thought about
it watching the 4th of July parade,
watching Mark Ecker walk by on his new
prosthetic legs, the original ones having
been blown off in Iraq. His face was
beaming as he walked by to the cheers
and standing ovation of the crowd. God bless
him. I trust he knows about safety.

Our world seems to be anything but safe.
It's not that times have gotten more
dangerous, although that might be argued.
Things have been pretty unsafe since Adam
and Eve were thrown out of the garden.
Actually, danger was lurking right in
their pristine paradise. Go figure.

So what really is safety? To tell you
the truth, I've never felt really safe
in the world. Its not that I've faced
such a tough time, or didn't have a
wonderfully protective childhood
home. I did. My home on the safety
scale had nearly a perfect score. I
still have never felt really safe.
But lately that has been changing.

I know not feeling safe has affected
how I've lived my life although I'd
say that I've happily and nonchalantly
done things that many people would not
feel safe doing and never had a real
second thought until way after the
fact. I still think this lack of
feeling safe has caused me to often
err on the side of prudence and
caution. Which isn't a bad thing,
now is it? Still, I know there is a
higher place for me at this point.

So as I reach toward 50 years old,
I'm rethinking the safety thing.
What does it mean to be safe? What
does it mean to be safe as a Christian?
It really is something worth looking at.
One of the basic tenets of our faith is
that God loves us, and is keeping us
safe. We talk about our souls being
"saved" and with that comes the idea
of safety.

So what can we expect as far as safety
features in our lives as believers? Well,
first of all, I don't think that we
can say that we can always expect physical
safety. Do I think we should pray for God
to watch over our steps, our houses, our
children, our comings and going?
Absolutely! Do I think we should pray
for "traveling mercies"? Without a
doubt! But God does not make a
blanket statement to me or to
you that He will preserve our physical
earthly life from all and every harm.

Many of God's finest have died as martyrs.
Could God have preserved them? Of
course! But for purposes coming out of
His goodness He allowed them the
privilege of dying for His Name. I
think about these people. I read the
accounts of some of their deaths, say
Stephen as he was stoned, or Jim Elliot's
group as they were martyred, etc. There
is some incredible sense of safety that
shines through the stories of so many
of the deaths of the martyrs. Were
they physically safe? No. It was their
souls that were safe.

I am thinking that one of the most
valuable things we can have as
believers in the days to come is the
sense that we are safe in God. To
know that we are firmly held BY CHRIST
and that NOTHING can snatch us out of
His hand just makes my heart soar. I
love it when Paul writes, "neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, Nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39).
How awesome is that?

Paul writes this in the midst of great
danger, from the midst of a life of
danger, opposition, persecution,
rejection, trial, punishment and
banishment. He is PERSUADED that
nothing can separate him from
Christ's love. Christ holds
him, he does not need to hold himself.
Now that is safety.

But how do we get there? And what does
the safety mean? First of all, we
need to come to grips with the fact
that safety does not entail the
promise of no physical harm or
no emotional upheaval. Safety is
about our eternal standing and how
things ultimately turn out for those
who have trusted in Christ. The thing
is, once we accept Christ, we have
already entered into the foretaste of
eternal life. We have entered into
an important measure of that safety-
-the safety of our spirit.

Safety is really about trust. Can
I come to the place that I trust God no
matter what happens? Then I will know the
freedom of what safety really is.

Jesus knew He was safe. On the stormy sea
of Galilee he is asleep in the bottom
of a boat during a tumultuous storm. Jesus
is free to do the Father's will. He is
free to come and go. He is free to LIVE OR
DIE, free to walk alone, free to love,
free to endure rejection, free to forgive,
for He knows He is safe. Safety is about
my relationship with My Father in Heaven
and to the degree that I know I am safe
is the degree that my trust in Him has
matured.

Follow me through this scenario. I get
out of bed in the morning. I have a faint
queasy feeling in my stomach. Things
have not been going well on a number of
fronts. I turn the news on. Terrorism
looms in the most civilized of countries,
apparently coming soon to a neighborhood
near me. Unease begins to build. I carry
with me a sense of less than feeling safe.
I ease out into traffic. A car narrowly
misses me as it passes me at a high speed
to get to work on time. You know the
scenarios. They continue as part of
"normal life" throughout the day.

But do I know that I am safe? Do I know
that ages and ages hence I shall be
looking back through the files of my
life from some heavenly armchair
and saying, "if only she knew she was
safe there, what a difference it would
have made," "oh, if only he knew that
all was well, how rich his life would
have been, even in the midst of adversity."

Recently, I keep coming across Julian(a)
of Norwich's most inspiring of thoughts,
"Sin is behovely, but all will be well,
all will be well, all manner of things
will be well." Sin is behovely,
useful to us in the sense that its
unnatural and unsafe presence
presses us toward the safe open door
of our Heavenly Father. When we see
what sin can do, we flee into the safe
arms of God, exactly where He wants us
to be. Sin is a threat, but ALL WILL BE
WELL as we trust in God.

God is not asleep in the boat. He
oversees everything and is in
control no matter what the circumstances
are. It only takes a minute for Him to
rouse Himself and calm the sea. Let Him
decide when that moment will be. Do you
not trust His judgment? For the only
issue in the world is this: DO I
TRUST HIM?

We as believers must put all of
our eggs into ONE basket, and
the basket is this: trusting God!
Not trusting Him blindly, and yet
again there may be moments when
all we can choose is blind trust...
Not trusting Him without knowing the
full extent of His good nature,
and yet again there may be moments
when we are trusting the little we
know of who God is... Not trusting
Him out of fear, and yet again
there may be times when we are
terrified and trust in a state
of great agitation. It is ok, we
must start somewhere. Start with
the trust that you do have, however
small, and ask God to multiply it.

The thing is, as I begin to let go
and trust Him above all things and
every other creature, a great sense
of relief floods my soul. A feeling
of safety and well-being surrounds.
Do things go smoothly? Absolutely not!
Is life without loss, damage, or
death? No! Does my mind tell me that
I am not safe and to start immediate
preparations for purchasing armor,
swords, mafia protection and umbrella
coverage of all manner of things in
my insurance policy? Yes.

Can I choose to let this all go,
and come and sit with My Father, where
He whispers one beautiful sweet
something into my ear, "You are safe."
Why do I feel vulnerable believing it?
Why do I doubt His nature in saying
it? For safety is not about danger,
or the lack of it: it is about
knowledge of God and what He is
capable of.

No wonder Jesus had the courage to
go on: He knew His Father. He trusted
His Father. Was it hard for Jesus?
Yes,hard at times to the point
of sweating blood, but He knew
safety, and He let Safety carry him
home. I'm thinking the hard part
of life is not the calamity, but
the lack of trusting. Difficulties
can be endured, lack of trust brings
with it something far worse.

This has been a week of terror,
some within, some without.
And yet, I feel strangely safe.
I am going now, to rest in the
arms of my Father. And so I will
say with the psalmist,

"He will both lay me down in
peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD,
only makest me dwell in safety"
(Psalm 4: 7,8).

God's safety is so much more then
freedom from physical harm. It is
eternally resting in the goodness
of God, where no-one and nothing
that can take you away from Him.

God has promised this safety to
those who love and trust Him.

Do you believe Him?

If you heart is willing, but your
hands are still shaking, go to Him
and sit for awhile. Ask Him if you are
safe. What a wonderful answer you shall hear.

safety
eternal salvation
trust in God
knowing God
current events
christianity

God Praying in Us: Expanding our Faith and Trust

This is our Lord's will, that our prayer
and our trust be, alike, large. For if
we do not trust as much as we pray,
we fail in full worship to our Lord in
our prayer; and also we hinder and hurt
ourselves. The reason is that we do not
know truly that our Lord is the ground
from which our prayer springeth; nor do
we know that it is given us by his grace
and his love.

If we knew this, it would make us trust
to have of our Lord's gifts all that
we desire. For I am sure that
no man asketh mercy and grace with
sincerity, without mercy and grace
being given to him first.

-- Julian of Norwich, Revelations of
Divine Love

prayer
trust
Julian of Norwich
trusting God
God's love

"Bong Hits 4 Jesus" & $67 Million Dollar Pants: The Sad Difference between the Letter of the Law and the Spirit of the Law

Yesterday I listened with horror and incredulity
to two of the lead stories on the news: one
was the verdict of the judge (God help us) who
sued a dry cleaner for $67 million dollars because
they had lost his trousers. He felt they did not
live up to their bargain of "satisfaction
guaranteed" and thus suffered "emotional damages."
If a grown man in the capacity of a judge suffers
emotional damage from losing his trousers, especially
when he wasn't even wearing them, then the measure
of manhood has really gone downhill fast.

The other story concerns a ruling that went
all the way to the Supreme Court of our nation
that argued whether a school principal had
acted past her authority in tearing down
a poster at a graduation at a school she
presided over. The banner said, "Bong Hits
4 Jesus."

So what I am pondering today is the difference
between the letter of the law, and the spirit
of the law, and in our interaction with God,
the difference between law and relationship.

First of all, let me say this, I think we
are in a scary place as a nation because while we
rightly try? to enforce our laws, our
interpretation or re-interpretation of them
is based not on common sense or a sense of
what is truly right, but on the tense and structure
of the words and how others have parsed out
their meaning in other courtrooms and situations.

I remember as an undergrad that for a brief
season I thought of becoming a lawyer. I
ruled it out when I saw that a terribly
guilty person could get off scott-free
because I was, as a lawyer, a very clever
arguer. It seemed that the law sometimes had
less to do with the facts and more to do
with who was best at putting them together
to their advantage. The spirit of the law
was most often missed.

Let's apply this to our relationship with
God. God gave us the Law, for many reasons,
but one of them was so that we did not
go far astray while we were getting to
know who He was and what He was like.
The law was meant as a tutor to bring us
past the point where we needed a tutor:
we would have learned our studies and
would enter into genuine and right
relationship with God (Galatians 3:24, 25).

God's law is not about interpreting itself,
but about looking for what God meant
when He created it. Since we have divorced
God and government, we do not look for God's
mind or will in our law interpretation. This
leaves us only with the body of Law as god so to
speak.

But in spiritual circles we may be no
better. Do we just want to know what
God wants and not truly engage in relationship
with Him? Do we try to get by with the
least amount of relationship with God as
possible? Do we prefer to send Moses (the
leader) up the mountain to encounter
God but wait down in the safety of
the valley ourselves?

How many times have you heard arguments
about how far away from God someone can go
and still be "saved"? To argue and think in
such a manner is to live by the law and
not relationship. Why would you want the
least amount of salvation when you could
have the most? How many times have
I heard hours and hours of argument about
the meaning of a scripture when there is
not a commensurate amount of time
spent seeking God Himself about what
He meant?

When we argue over the meanings of
scripture, we are often looking for loopholes
or to reduce the scriptures to something we
ourselves correctly interpret. Again, where
is relationship with God? If the law is a
tutor, then one day I should not only understand
the letters, but understand the Spirit behind Law,
and that Spirit is not just some metaphysical
principle, but an actual Living Person: the Spirit
of God. He should have a preeminent place in
my heart, should inform my thinking, monitor
my speaking, and show me the Way to the Father.
Until I know how to fully cooperate with Him
and hear His Voice, I need to keep getting
tutored!

As for the secular part of this, what we
have to face as Christians is that up until
a few years ago you could talk about
Christian values and American values and
at least put them in the same family tree,
but that is less and less the case and we
need to be careful not to forget the
growing rift between the two.

Still, where is the spirit of the Law?
The bong poster case (the right for
the young person to display this
poster at the graduation) lost by only
1 vote. Do I believe in the right
to free speech? Yes, but only
to the degree that God does. God
allows man free will: the freedom to
do what he wants, at least for a season.
But God also warns that some forms of speech
are hurtful and many forms of speech are
inappropriate.

In the world, yes, the ancient world
I grew up in, it was the duty of parents
to show young people where they were
going wrong, not to support their
attempts to disrupt, mock, or outright
disdain authority, religion, or the
rights of others to engage peacefully
in the normal events of life.

Only a few decades ago if this had
happened, the young person responsible
would probably have been grounded
or should I say, get the biggest
whipping of their life for disrupting
a school graduation with inflammatory
signs and for shaming the name of the
family. Now it goes all the way to the
Supreme Court and loses by only one vote?

Even if I am only using common sense,
should I not come to the conclusion
that $67 million dollars retribution for
a lost pair of pants is idiocy, or
that my darling, by still morally
challenged teenager, should not be
allowed to disrupt public events
for no real reason other than a
a good laugh? Young people can't see
where life might take them if they
are not properly schooled in both
moral as well as academic subjects.
Paris Hilton probably has a slightly
different take on things then she
did a few months ago. Life lessons
are often costly ones.

When the Law of God is separated from
its Maker, or in secular government,
separated from a clear sense of
moral obligation, concern for well-being
of my neighbor, and the long-term common
sense of a nation, and replaced with
the selfish agendas of power-arguers, or
the insane, then there is sure to be trouble.

There already is. Be prepared for more.
Be prepared, also, to turn back to simple
relationship with God. Start there. The
rest will take care of itself. God is able
to direct all who ask Him for direction.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and
instruction (Proverbs 1:7).

current events
the spirit of the law
God's law
faith in America
knowing God
bong hits for Jesus
supreme court rulings
the letter of the law
<

Norman Grubb on Coming to the End of Ourselves

There is a day, a season, usually
prefaced by many agonizing days,
when at last our straining self,
stretched and taut like an elastic,
gives way. We were crucified with
Christ all along, but now faith
enters into this intelligently as
fact. If we were crucified with Him,
we also rose with Him, and now at
last we can see that that means the
New One within is living His life
within us.

He always was since redemption,
but he had to spend those months and
often years working us out of ourselves
by walking in us into all sorts of
frustrating situations, which we
handled wrongly every time by our
self-reactions to them; and I reckon
the Indwelling Christ has many a laugh
as He sees us bumbling and stumbling
along, and knows the good though painful
lessons we are learning by stubbing our
toes on this and then that; but knowing
also that we shall see, because He has
already started looking out on things
His way through our eyes, and will go
on until we learn the difference between
us looking through our own eyes and He
looking through them.

--God Unlimited, Norman Grubb

photo taken at Glen Eyrie, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Norman Grubb
surrender to God
Glen Eyrie
Colorado Springs

Jesus Set His Face Like Flint: Learning Obedience in the Midst of Rejection and Opposition (Luke 9:51-62)

Obedience and not reaction. Jesus set His
face like flint to do the will of God.

That's what we must learn. There are a million
things out there that will press our buttons
and inflame our emotions so completely
that we won't know which way is up.

So often we are drawn away from obedience
because we are drawn into slippery,
stalwart, or stubborn reactions that
takes us away from obedience to God.

In the ninth chapter of Luke's gospel we
find Jesus "setting His face like flint"
to go toward Jerusalem, where He would
lay down His life for us. He was not going
to be turned aside from doing God's will.
No matter what the cost, no matter what
He felt, no matter what others said or did,
He was going to obey His Father (Luke 9:51ff).

Jesus encountered more rejection when
He went through Samaria toward Jerusalem.
If you have set your face to do the will
of God, you, too, will experience
rejection. If, however, you don't set your
face like flint, it will be very difficult
to do the will of God because you will
be swayed by others or the enemy of your
soul, or even your own desires and
reasonings.

It is almost as if you have to predetermine
that you will do and obey what God has
said to you. For in the heat of battle
things can look mighty different,
especially when unmet expectations and
desires or rejection and opposition
distort your vision. Then it is easy to
lose your bearings or your nerve!

You most certainly will be tossed about,
and lose your clear sense of what you
are called to do. This very thing
happened to the disciples. While Jesus
was setting His face as flint, the
disciples noticed that He was met with
rejection. In true Christian spirit (!),
they asked the Lord if He would like them
to cause His rejectors to be killed
with fire from heaven (vs. 54).

Jesus takes this opportunity, an
opportunity when most of us might
be despairing, for even His closest
comrades did not understand, to
say this: "You do not know what
manner of spirit you are of. I did
not come to destroy people but
to save them" (vs. 55). His was
a heart of love, but theirs was
a heart of something much less.

His disciples are of the spirit
of hate and death at this moment.
Love is not being shed abroad in
their hearts. Their focus is on
their new-found power, and they
are thinking that Jerusalem will
be for them a place of gaining
more power, not a place of the
death of their dreams and of
their soulish plans. How sadly
mistaken they are!

When we react, as the disciples
did, in self-righteous indignation
to those who oppose us, then we
are not working with the Lord: we
are destroying and not saving.

How often are our emotional buttons
pushed, our plans thwarted, our
hopes dashed, our path cut off,
our place diminished, our worldly
progress trumped! In these moments
we must learn obedience and not
the normal path of fleshly reaction.

After Jesus rebukes his disciples
there is more bragging on their part:
"Lord, I will follow you anywhere!"
Jesus knows better, He knows that
they will be sorely tempted and many,
if not most, will turn away. Families
will talk disciples out of following Him,
opportunities will take them elsewhere,
convenience will cause them to turn
to an easier path. Jesus is looking
for a complete and immediate obedience,
how does your reaction stack up against
that call?

God's will is a grand and good thing:
it is life to our spirits, but it will
cut across our expectations and will
produce a reaction that will require
a choice on our part: choosing Jesus,
or choosing our self. We have to go
down to go up. We have to go to
Jerusalem first to die, before we
can reign with Christ.

In the first part of our journeys
as Christians we are heady with
the power that we experience surging
through us. It is fun and easy to
call fire down, it is flamboyant,
it is showy, it is power, but it is
often not love.

How easy it is to pass something
off as "prophetic" when
it involves tearing something or
someone down. A prophet, however,
must have a heart of love formed
in him or her to earn the right
to speak a tough word.

Ezekiel, the great post-exhilic
prophet, was also told by God,
to set his face toward Jerusalem.
He was to deliver a word from
which Israel would not soon recover.
He is told, "sigh with a breaking
heart" (Eze. 21:6), for a time of
horror was about to come forth.

A sword (human power) had risen
up against the scepter of God's
Son (vs. 10) and, listen to
this, "that sword despises the
scepter of My Son as it does
ALL WOOD" (vs 10 NKJV). Note that the
scepter of the Son's power is
equated with the wood of the cross,
for what is the most important and
the most despised piece of
wood in history? The cross of Christ!

In Psalm 40: 6-8, and then explained
in Hebrews 10, there is a prophecy
of Jesus, "Then I said, Behold I come,
in the volume of the book it is
written of Me, I delight to do
your will, O God, Your law is written
in my heart." Like Jesus, we have
to delight to do God's will. When
we are tempted to react and not obey,
we must choose God above our own way.
His will must be our delight!

Reacting feels good: for a moment.
It does not produce love and it
does not produce life. It just
makes me feel like I am getting
somewhere. Animals react. If someone
tries to take what is their's, they
fight. We have the capacity to
rise above reaction and consciously
choose God and learn His ways. This
is what sets us apart from animals.

For Jesus to be obedient to God,
He had to both know God's will,
and also be willing to choose
God's will over every other thing.
If we are unsure of God's will,
then we need to seek Him until
we are clear. If we know God's
will and are unwilling to yield
to it, we need to wrestle with
our flesh until it is subjected to
God's plan.

What do we do with our reactions?

For surely our hurt and troubled feelings
shall pop up, and surely they will
demand attention! Here is the process
of learning obedience. Do you think
that it was easy for Jesus? Think
again. He felt the need to be often
in prayer with His Father. While
others retired to their homes and
their families, He retired to pray
on the mountain. Surely there were
loud cryings and much pouring out
of His soul to His Father. It is
here that relationship with and
trust in God is built. There is no
shortcut.

We must set our face like flint
to do the will of God. It is worth
the battle, and worth the tears, for
surely it will bring us beside the
peaceful waters of the Lord's Presence,
there to dwell with Him, in love,
forever.

Luke 9:51
setting your face like flint
spiritual journey
obedience to God
emotions
God's love
letting go
God's will

Daring to Risk

To dare is to risk losing your foothold for a moment.
Not to dare is to risk losing yourself.
- Soren Kierkegaard


photo taken at Bandolier National Monument in New Mexico

Soren Kierkegaard
risk
trusting God
Bandolier National Monument

What is Happening to Iraqi Christians in Baghdad?

I just finished reading this article
on the persecution of Iraqi Christians
found in the Jewish World Review on June 14.

Here is one part that I found especially
interesting:

"Still, early Muslims considered Christians,
along with Jews, to be "people of the book,"
as Muslims refer to followers of other
monotheistic religions, and believed they
were entitled to protection under Islamic rule,
in exchange for jizya, as the tax was called.
It was considered a substitute for the tax for
the poor, zakat, which Muslims pay annually."

Taxes are inevitable, I kind of get that, but
it implies this tax was, for better or for worse,
instituted to protect Christians
and Jews. Protect from what? is the likely
question. The mafia, as I understand it, also
offers protection for money. I'm giving the
early Muslims the benefit of the doubt here
in thinking that they were providing protection
from persecution from militants, whether religious,
or political, to other monotheistic
traditions. Pagans and polytheists were on
their own!

Now, this tax has turned into some kind
of extortion money--it has become a threat
of violence and not a protection from it.
Iraqi Christians, with deep roots in their
faith communities in Baghdad, are facing
increasingly deadly threats of violence.

The article goes on to say,

"At a church in Karada, a priest
shooed away a McClatchy correspondent. Nearby,
five black funeral banners graced with yellow
crosses fluttered in the wind.

Rumors abound. Residents said a priest and
an altar boy were killed on Wednesday and
their church was burned, but they refused
to say more. "We are afraid of retribution,"
one said. The U.S. military denied that the
incident occurred."

Al-Quaida, perhaps, viewing Christians as
pacifists, sees an opportunity to gain
advantage. "Let the reader understand: “So
when you see standing in the holy place
'the abomination that causes desolation,'
spoken of through the prophet Daniel"
Matthew 24:15).

The only defender these poor Christians have
is the Lord, also thought, in various
quarters, to be a Pacifist, but Who will be
better known as a Valiant and Victorious
Warrior, when the time is right.

This is just the beginning.

Or is it the beginning of the end?

Pray for Iraqi Christians. Pray for the
persecuted church.

Baghdad
Iraqi Christians
current events
religious persecution

E. Stanley Jones on Glorious Surrender to Jesus

His Yoke is Easy

The phrase I've said most in life
is this one:"Lord, You've got me."
And I've meant it. And it works --
works gloriously. His yoke is easy
and His burden is light. Why? Because
He puts nothing on you? On the contrary,
you come to Him and He will dump the
world and its troubles into your heart.
You begin to care. I came to Him all
unsuspecting. I wanted salvation and
found in taking it I wanted the
salvation of the world.

At eighty-three I'm taking more and
more projects upon myself -- world
projects. And the more I take on
myself, the more I'm taken over by
joy, by well-being, by inner excitement,
by adventure, by growth, by life.

His yoke is easy because His yoke
is my yearning. It gives me the
very thing I'm made for -- creative
activity. When I surrender to Him, it
is the same surrender a wire, unattached
and noncreative, makes when it surrenders
to a dynamo: it throbs with light and
power. The same surrender which paint
makes when it surrenders to an artist:
mere color becomes a living picture.
The same surrender which ink makes when
it surrenders to a writer: mere print
becomes words that burn and bless and
enlighten.

When you surrender to Christ, you
surrender to the most creative and
dynamic Person on this or any other
planet. You begin to be alive with
His life, enlightened with His light,

loving with His love. You have surrendered
to creativity. Therefore His yoke is easy,
for you are made by the Creator for creation.

--E. Stanley Jones


photo taken in Lauterbrunnen Switzerland, Agfachrome

E.Stanley Jones
surrender to God
the burden is light
life purpose
Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

We Are Sent By God With A Purpose

We seldom realize fully that
we are sent to fulfill God-given
tasks. We act as if we were
simply dropped down in creation
and have to decide to entertain
ourselves until we die.

But we were sent into the
world by God, just as Jesus was.
Once we start living our lives
with that conviction, we will
soon know what we were sent to do.
- Henri Nouwen

Henri Nouwen
purpose of life
spiritual journey
God's will

Can A Nation Be Born in A Day? God's Sovreignty and The Promise of Change

Can a Nation Be Born in A Day?
The Promise of Change: Are You Really Ready?

Forty years ago today, June 8, 1967, Israel won
the 6-Day War. I was nine years old, not interested
in politics or religion, but thought that 6 days was
not a very long time for a war. Even then I knew
that certain things generally took a significant
amount of time. So a six day war seemed unlikely, even
to a nine year old. As an adult, defeating the
armies of Egypt and Jordan in six days, taking
Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai
seems equally unlikely, even to someone
who believes in miracles.

On May 14, 1948, the state of Israel reappears as a
nation in modern history. Isaiah asks, "Can a nation
be born in a day?" (Isaiah 66:8). "Of course not!" is
the human and expected answer. God promised
to make Israel a nation while it was still making
bricks in the slavery of Egypt (Gen. 15, Ex. 32:13).
And when God makes a promise, He is well able
to keep it, no matter what it looks like. The
same holds true for you.

With any birth there is a lot of waiting. Nine
months of it. In our lives there can be a lot
more then nine months of waiting for something
to be born. But then, when the baby is ready
to come, he or she comes quickly and changes
things irrevocably! A nation was born in a day, but
look at all that had to proceed its moment
of destiny!

It is often hard to wait for God to birth
what He has ordained for you. It is a mysterious
process of waiting for Him, co-operating with
Him, but not using your own strength to
bring it forth. Pain in childbirth entered
the world because we decided to take things
into our own hands and do what we felt
was best. Effortless birth, both physical
and spiritual, was God's original plan for us.

Now, due to the ravages of sin in the world,
birth can be anything but effortless.
Change can be a long time in coming. The
promise of God can be delayed. A nation
being born in a day can seem an impossible
thought. A six day war, in the light of our
own personal circumstances, and especially
in light of our own nation's present conflict,
can seem ridiculously short.

Press on. Be faithful. Things can appear
like they never will change, and then,
Voila!, all is different. Eternal change
can happen in the blink of an eye. Indeed,
it is promised to happen: ...."Behold I tell you
a mystery: We shall not sleep but we shall
all be changed--in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trumpet. " (I Cor 15. 51-2).

Hmmm. Isn't that interesting?
Eternal change in a moment!
...WE SHALL ALL BE CHANGED.
We look around, like the people, described
by the apostle Peter, and say, "Where is He?
things have been the same forever!"

"Knowing this first: that scoffers will
come in the last days, walking according
to their own lusts, and saying, “Where
is the promise of His coming? For since
the fathers fell asleep, all things continue
as they were from the beginning of creation.”

For this they willfully forget: that by the
word of God the heavens were of old, and
the earth standing out of water and in
the water, by which the world that then
existed perished, being flooded with
water. But the heavens and the earth
which are now preserved by the same word,
are reserved for fire until the day of
judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

But, beloved, do not forget this one
thing, that with the Lord one day is as
a thousand years, and a thousand years
as one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some count
slackness, but is longsuffering toward
us, not willing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance.
...

Therefore, beloved, looking
forward to these things, be diligent to be
found by Him in peace, without spot and
blameless; (2 Peter 3).

Change, slow to happen, will overtake
us so rapidly that there will be no
time to prepare. Our time to prepare
is now, and the Lord is giving us time
because He does not wish us to perish.

Change, though slow to happen, will
happen. Does happen. Is sovereignly
destined to happen. This does not
pertain solely to the return of the
Lord, but to the promise of God
being fulfilled in our hearts and lives.

His Promise is sure, although what
we hope it to look like may be
a bit different from what God has
in mind. Do be careful that you
are not presuming, but be steadfast
in your trust in God's good way for
you.

The Lord will be victorious in
the hearts of all those who allow
Him to work His peaceable kingdom
in them. Until then there is war,
a war for your very soul. And a
war for Israel. None of us, nation
or individual, should rely on
human strength, but on the arm
of the Almighty One. "Those
who are with us, are more
then those against us."

Changes are coming. Irrevocable
ones. It is important that we
be ready for them, so while you
are waiting, take a look at your
heart and make sure you are
prepared for the sudden change of
the door of opportunity clanging
shut with a bang. Do not lament
what appears to be delay. Labor
far into the night. It is you and
I that God is waiting for.

A new nation, the kingdom of
God's dear Son, will be born in
a moment. The Lord will be victorious
in a moment, and will not even need six
days, or even one.

Be steadfast. Change is ordained,
at least until that day when all is
perfect. Change, she be a'coming.

Six Day War
the Nation of Israel
change
the return of Christ
the kingdom of God
waiting
current events
the promises of God
tough times
Isaiah 66:8

T. Austin-Sparks on the purpose of Spiritual Trials

Conflicts and Spiritual Trials

Divine wisdom working
sovereignly ALLOWS
conflict, as a way
to keep things strong,
pure and healthy.
Battles seem to be
necessities for the
very purity of that
which the Lord is
seeking to have.



Conflicts, in the Divine judgment
are essential to maintenance. We do
not always look upon them like that;
indeed, it is very often difficult so to
regard the terrific conflicts into which
the Lord's people individually and
collectively are so frequently thrown.
We know something about the conflicts.

It is not necessary for me to tell you
that there are such things. We know
that they are increasing in their intensity,
and sometimes they get almost, if not
altogether, beyond our powers of endurance.

It seems there is very little let-up in the
number of battles that have to be fought.
It is in the plural here -"Out of the battles..."
You and I know a good deal about the battles,
the real spiritual battles, the enemy coming
in like a flood, the fury of the oppressor, the
constant effort on his part to break and to
destroy us.

Our question often is as to why the Lord
allows it. We are hardly out of one before
we are in another; and there is no doubt
about it, the Lord allows it. It may be that
there are some things which could be cut
short and put back, but on the whole, the
Lord allows His people to know very much
conflict and pressure; and as we enquire
why, this little fragment does give us at
least a part of the answer.

When we examine the history of things, we
can see it is quite true that any increase, any
preservation, any maintaining, has come
along the line of what we have gained from
our deep experiences.

knowing God
T. Austin-Sparks
spiritual trials
difficult times
conflict
God's sovereignty

The Wildness of God

"One day you'll see him and another you won't. He
doesn't like being tied down and of course he has other
countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop
in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know.
Not like a tame lion."~C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe, (1950)- - -


photograph taken in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland


C.S.Lewis
Aslan
the character of God
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

Everlasting Splendors or Immortal Horrors? God wants to Heal the Dark, Broken Places

Today I caught a glimpse of God. Out of the
the corner of my spiritual eye: the Intense
One preparing to work. He is after far more
than a gentle bath in the tub for us, you know.

He is headed for the inner depths. The
places we barely know about hidden
deep within. But why? Today I saw Him pull
up in His sleek search and rescue boat,
He found just the most murky, sea-weed
entangled spot and quietly and confidently
looked down. He was not worried that His
boat would stall in the tangled subterranean
weeds. No, he wasn't on a pleasure trip.
He had work to do. "Do you absolutely
want the best?" He grins down at me.
All I know is what I think I want. I suppose
its a place to start. I also suppose that
the Lord has other plans, He always does.

Today they had new home video of the
alleged Loch Ness Monster. Why do we keep
looking for this monster? Because we are
fascinated with the idea of a monster
lurking in the depths of our lakes. Such
stories keep resurfacing, excuse the pun,
because it is an archetype for our own inner
monsters, the ones we know are there but
rarely catch a glimpse of. We are both
scared of what could be there, and eager
to see an other-worldly beauty.

Sin didn't just nick us. It wrecked us.
But we are still made in the image of
God and He still can see that image
even underneath layers of tarnish.
This healing process isn't about
bandaiding the little hurts that
life inflicts on us, it isn't even
about botoxing the big ones. It is about
pulling the the deepest, darkest
sin-enrobed monsters inside of us out
by the roots. This isn't day surgery,
it is seriously foundational healing. It is
about putting the fear and wonder back
into "fearfully and wonderfully
made."

It is about the "inside being bigger then
the outside." It is about being
three days and three nights in the belly
of a whale. And it is also about being
a glorious son or daughter of God--fully
restored, fully functioning, ALL that God
intended.

Think about being "fearfully and
wonderfully made" just for a moment
and let the shiver run up and down your
spine. Everyone who knows me knows that
they can often find me out antiquing.
There is nothing more thrilling then
finding an old dust and grease covered
object whose beauty is just waiting to
be rediscovered and restored despite
the ravage of the years. Are we really
any different?

There is far more to us then we know.
And God wants to not just heal us, He
wants to make us whole, and not just
whole, but better than before. I think
He will make things, us included,
even better than the original plan
because God is never trumped by
sin. His new plan for the Bride, created
and ransomed by and for His Son,
will be a greater sight to behold then
whatever He had originally planned
for Adam and Eve.

Do you like to go treasure seeking?
So does God : spelunking in the inner
caves of our souls, diving into the
depths of our murky subterranean
darkness; searching for gold on
the shipwrecked galleons of our
hearts. Our God is after healing.
He is heaven-bent on restoration.


When He fixes something He makes
it better than new. He will trump
every evil every committed. He
will work ALL things together for
good. If that hope seems dim
because the light inside you has
become a smoldering wick, fear not!
He shall fan you back into a
roaring fire! He shall
do more then restore the years
that the locusts ate, He will
raise you up as His eternal
inheritance. Do not doubt Him.


Here's what I have been mulling
over:

"All creation is waiting for the
manifestation of the sons of God."
(Romans 8:19).

Say that slowly and really give it
a whirl. Its on the same shiver
level as "fearfully and wonderfully
made" only more so. If it
doesn't produce a rise inside
of you, we'll have to call that
heavenly search and rescue
squad over to take a look.

Remember that we are still in
our salad days, green as a cabbage.
God has a long way to go with us, but
go He will.

C.S. Lewis said, "To remember that
millions of years from now, the dullest
and most uninteresting person you
meet may one day an incredible
creature, who if you saw him now
you would be strongly tempted to
worship, or, a horror as you
only now meet in a nightmare.

All day long we are in some
degrees helping each other to one
or the other of these destinations. ...
There are no ordinary people. You
have never talked to a mere mortal.
... But it is immortals with whom we
joke, work, marry, snub, and exploit.
Immortal horrors or everlasting
splendors, your neighbor is the holiest
object presented to your senses."

Which will you be?

God is aching to heal you. Make haste
toward Him. Cut a hole in the roof and
get your friends to lower you down. Jump
in the water as soon as it stirs. Climb up
in a tree to see Jesus. Let some strange
Galilean spit on some dirt and put it on
your blind eyes. Call out, "Jesus, Son of
God, have mercy on me a sinner!" Pour
out your burial oil on the feet and head
of your Lord. Go do it, immortal one!
Eternity fast approaches!

Whatever you do, don't hold back, and don't
let go, and don't give up and don't delay.
Make haste toward your Saviour and Lord.
One day you will stand whole and healed.
And even better than that: one day you
will be a worthy reflection of His image.
He will be victorious IN YOU. Let Him be.

Let God do what He wants. His intent
toward you is always good. His ability
to cleanse, even the murkiest of depths,
is unrivaled.

All creation is waiting for the manifestation
of the sons of God.

All creation waits
for YOU.

healing
inner healing
C.S.Lewis
Loch Ness monster
everlasting splendors
sons of God
daughters of God
fearfully and wonderfully made
Romans 8:19

T. Austin-Sparks on Adjusting to Change

We venture to say that a time has begun
when the old and fixed positions of
traditional Christianity are losing
their hold on, not only the Christian
public in general, but many sincere
seekers for reality... something not
to be found in many of the churches;
and what they are looking for is the
real and true life of God.

The question which confronts us all
is this: can the Lord lead us on
into His fullness in Christ without
continually bumping up against
something in our own carryover of,
not fixed truth but our fixed limit
of its meaning; ...

Steadfastness, unmovableness,
faithfulness, etc., are to be to the
Lord ... but adjustableness is an
essential to growth and increase
in light and fullness. At the same
time, we cannot change and move on
only as there is a basic work of
the Cross by which the strength
of nature, even as it impinges
upon Divine things, is set aside.

The Lord find us such as have
only one object, and that truly
at any cost: "That I may know Him."

--T.Austin-Sparks

knowing God
T. Austin-Sparks
the state of the church
difficult times
obedience
letting go