Sunday, August 28, 2005

The Power Of The Gospel

It never ceases to amaze me at how powerful the gospel is. It can change utter darkness into blinding light. It can take the impossible and thrust it back into unbelieving eyes so that they too may see. It always changes what it touches.
What I have found to be equally true and mostly frightening is that the change will happen in either direction. We love the stories of radical conversion, but the ones that shake me are the ones of radical dismissal of the gospel. Either on the Rock or under It, there are no other options. Just as there is a radical change in the lives of those who fall on the rock so too is there a change in those who finally reject it. Even of those in the body who turn aside for what ever reason, there is a change that occurs. It usually surfaces in a doctrinal shift away from at least one point in particular. Not one specifically across the board, but one specifically that cannot be reconciled to the life it is busy offending. It becomes easier to change the word than submit the thing it is trying to kill.
I had a picture once of a submarine which was sitting on the surface of the sea while people were furiously trying to fix all the cracks in it so that it could submerge. Meanwhile the submarine captain was yelling out the order to dive. No one was heeding though because they thought that in the sub's present state it was no good for submerging and could, at best be sold to the Canadian Navy. This did not hinder the captain from his command though.
The Lord said this was a picture of Christians who are beset by the need to fix their sub before diving into God. The Holy Spirit continues to call the command to 'Dive!!!', but they fear their sub will fill up with water and they will die. Of course this is the whole point. The word wants to kill us! The water flowing through the cracks was a picture of the power of God flowing through all the weaknesses we try to hide from Him. The only option for life is to allow the word to kill me. My flesh fights daily to pervert the truth so that it can stay alive. So the power of the gospel can give me a heart of flesh or turn my heart to stone, but it cannot be ignored.

The picture here reminds me of the dream of the Rock which falls and crushes to dust all the empires of man. If you go to the link it will become even more apropriate as it says
The good news:
Scientists will probably spot the object before it hits us.


The bad news:
Even if we get six months warning, there's nowhere to hide.


There is nowhere to hide.

Saturday, August 27, 2005

A Couple Of Reasons Why I Love These Guys

This is the metal leftovers from my headbanging days. Tourniquet was and is my fav metal band and since I have renewed aquaintences with them I have found even more of their accessable humaness that I so enjoy. Here are two examples from their website (link is in the sidebar).

Comes in six varieties...even decaf

OK, ok, that is kind of shameless promotion, but when is the last time you had Judas Priest coffee???

The other thing is that the drummer and driving force behind Tourniquet, Ted Kirkpatrick, seems to have a great love for fishing which appears to have come from time spent with his dad in Wisconsin trout country. Again not the kind of thing you would expect from a guy in a thrash/metal band. Of course this is not your average metal band. (probably why I love their music so much :) )

Nice fish!!

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Hey We're Back

We were gone for awhile to visit family in the fair province of Alberta (land of lower gas prices). I had not been to my brothers place for 20 years so it was about time. They are understanding people and it was always something coming up with the other side of the fam' that kept us from going. They live 8 hrs north of Edmonton so it was a bit of a drive. We stopped at Mt. Robson for a cuople of nights and made our first effort at camping as a family. Worked out awesomw and the kiddies had a blast.
I got a more involved blog coming up which will have to wait until we unpack from our latest move (Lord, will it ever end???). I wrote it done on paper...wow. Now I need to transfer it to the net. Patience will pay off in the end. Till them here are some shots of the holiday.

My Bro and his fam'

Sammy in a skidder wheel

The boys with cousin Josh in the skidder

A cool sunset back at the house

Uncle Darcy teaching the finer points of fishing

A very happy little girl

At the Mt. Robson campground

Mt. Robson

A truck accident we saw on the way

My little cutie blowing away some other local beauties

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Thanks To One And All

Thank you to all those who are far more resourceful than I and have dug up the cool blog page tricks that I have plundered. You are a blessing to hacks like me who have great desire, but little time. I especially like the page translation on the sidebar. Now my friend in China can read through this more easily. Sweet!
This time the thanks goes out to Cindy-Lou at Son-flowers.

Monday, August 08, 2005

It's Hack, But I've Taken Care Of The Template Issues

Although it is rarely true that things are, I do tend to see things in black and white (right Nathan?? ;) ). This came to me as I finished the changes to my Blogsite. Not that it was an original thought by any stretch, but the scheme of the site screamed it out to me. Though there are few things I have corraled into this way of seeing things I continue to search for boundaries and parameters. The interesting thing is that even fluids have boundaries and these days I am fascinated by the fluidity of God's truth. Fascinated because it still remains absolute, and yet fluid all the same. I love how His mind works, always makes me want to know more.

Anyway, it was time for a change and a simplification. Hope you like it, I sure do.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Help!!

Anyone know how to fix the problem with the sidebar and the profile? I want to have it all black and no scroll bars. Any takers??