What is it we don't get???

I am not sure why it is that societies which have been around for a heck of a lot longer than ours seem to understand the problem with homosexuality and yet we with our limited experience and history can't seem to clue in. Even our most educated leaders and statesmen cannot seem to give a credible answer for our actions. They suggest that the rule of the majority must be offset by the rule of the minority. Really this is saying that what the majority of people believe to be true is not and cannot be trusted. This is telling us that no thing is wrong. If one person believes it then that person is a minority and must have his/her rights protected. Seems to me then that we are no longer in any kind of a democracy, but rather a minority dictatorship where the rules are less important than the feelings of the individuals. It would be interesting for some of these minorities to apply these same principles to their favourite sporting events. Hmmmm, I wonder what exactly it is which would ensue?

Fire In The Heavens

It seems impossible at times to comprehend the nature of our existence here on earth. Of course these are the times when we truly focus on thinking about it, the rest of the time we are joyfully or joylessly oblivious to it all. The thing that has really gotten into my mind of late is the fact that in the midst of a battle for the understanding of our reality and who will dictate this to us there is a foe who should not be a foe. I am talking about One who contends for my soul on a daily basis, ever living to make intercession for me. The fact of this battle does not surprise me, the one with whom my Lord contends does. The hard truth is that He is contending with me for my very soul. Why do I fight Him? I do not know. I could , I suppose, list off a myriad of reasons, but even bare analysis will show these to be potshards and mouse shit.
I remember someone summing it all up in one word.....Surrender.
I also remember someone saying 'get behind me Satan'. Interesting isn't it? If you are fighting someone where is the last place you want them, behind you. It seems the main event is not with this foe after all, it is with the foe who will kill us one way or another. The outcome of this death will have everything to do with which way we are facing when we die......Surrender.

Hey There!

Thanks to my friend Nathan I will now be able to peer at you as you read these postings. To see his blog check out The Spaces Between a Friend .
The Guinness will be hoisted at our next meeting my friend.

How Does Love Come to You?

Does love blow gently
Bending and splaying
Only the grass and leaves
When loves comes to you?

Does love come in armour
With battlements and siegeworks,
Clamour and war
When love comes to you?

Does love brush away
The shock of hair
Hiding your face
When love comes to you?

Does love come with hooks
To seize and drag you
From the mask
When love comes to you?

How does love come to you
In the dark and still
When the only eye beholding
Is the I of love?

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I am happiest when... 

As The Head Turns

It is an interesting thing how quickly we can turn away. It is equally interesting or perhaps I should say appalling to see what is there when we turn. Of course the dark image staring at us is us, but we do paste a ton of labels on it to ease the burden of looking at it. I know I can put ones on it like "Wife", "Kids", "Post Rejection Modernist Psycho Dilemma Term 114" or whatever is close at hand. Correct that...it is most often whoever is close at hand. The ugly truth is that it is me. That Shit who is being mean and hurtful to his kids is me. The Jerk who slams his emotional doors on his wife is me. That Noodle who checks out a chick to feel better is me. Hmmmm. There appears to be a pattern here.
The truly exasperating thing about all this, though, is that if I would only turn around I could resume gazing on the Lover of my soul. I could, if I desire to, peer into His eyes to see my reflection. It is exasperating because in this reflection is not the darkman that I was always taught I would see there and yet I will trade what I see in His eyes for the seemingly more palatable image I create when I turn away. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
As excruciating as it is to squeeze this into my narrow mind, God did not die to show me what a great guy He is, He died for me. 'For me' means that there was something of some worth there. Now I can already hear the 'You gotta be shittin' me!' rising up to try to squelch this, but the truth is right there in black and white with the words of Christ in red. It does not say that God so loved Himself that He died to show off to the whole universe, it says that He so loved the world (me)(you)(us)(them). So who should I believe here?
I think today I will believe the One who saw something in me that was worth dying to save. I think I will explore what it means to really believe what I see when I look into that mirror He is holding up. I like who I am when I am looking in that mirror, and so do my wife and kids. Hmmmm, why is it that I turned my head again????

By the Way, Have You Met ____?

Hey, have you ever wondered about what it will be like in Heaven when Our Lord and the angels introduce us to one another? I am pretty sure they will have to do this since we obviously don't see each other here. I mean we get a glimpse now and then if we are really paying attention and the Light is just right. It seems to me that I have rarely seen anyone. What an eye opening experience it will be to see what exactly it was that Christ was so enamored about. Think about it, for the joy of eternal union with us He endured the cross.
I bring this up only because there was a time when I walked by a lady at church who I did not know and as clear as you are reading this now I heard the Lord say "Woman of righteousness!". It took me by surprise, and yet the next time I went by her it happened again. This started me thinking about how the Lord would introduce His saints if I really let Him. My tendency is to introduce them to Him in prayer, if you know what I mean. This may explain the times when my prayers are ricocheting around the room instead of being gathered in a bowl like incense.
There has been a new and happy trend of late that I hope both continues and amplifies. At first it seemed that it was just the church in Shanghai that brought this on, but yesterday it happened again when we went to church here in S'toon with my wife's cousin and her family. As I entered the sanctuary I found myself beginning to weep inside and barely able to keep it from pouring to the outside. It wasn't the weeping of Christ on the hill looking over Jerusalem either, it was a joyous pride. Weird. I always went under the assumption that God was upset with us as a whole, and was generally weeping for our imminent judgment. While our mistakes are indeed a clear and present danger there is an aspect that I have been missing for all these years. The distinction is drawn down what appears to be a line between grace and holiness. Grace has been the overwhelming winner of the Christian Speaker's Topic award for the last decade at least and has permuted into almost as many different forms as there are denominations. (Ever notice that even a conversation about grace can oft times descend into argument?) I am going to propose an idea here and let you chew it over (My teeth are sore). I believe that grace's main aspect is that of our relationship with God the Father. It carries with it all that is needed to enter into communion with the Father, Son & Holy Ghost. It is indeed a free gift that keeps on giving. The question always arises in the application of holiness, and this is where the line seems to most eyes to begin to appear. Try this on for size, though. Holiness, I believe has everything to do with how we treat one another. When the word says that God is holy it has less to do with whether He smokes, drinks and cusses than it does with how He deports Himself to us. His holiness is a complete and undivided devotion to the objects of His love. Set apart, right? We say that holiness for us is to be set apart completely for God. EEEEEkkkk!!! That means if we apply this same definition to God then He is......completely...set...apart..for.........us. Hhhmmmm. What would it mean then for us to be holy as our Father is holy? Would we not then join in with His devotion for the object of His affection? Wouldn't we strive to see that guy with the annoying point of view the way God sees him, annoying point of view and all. And really, what is so annoying about his point of view anyway. What about all those who seem bent upon living out their faith in a way which at times seems to place them in opposition to us. What about the danger of dissing one of His kids while we are all the time under the same roof, even if that roof is over different churches, parachurches or whatever other gathering we may subscribe to. Oh yeah, that's right, we all live in the same house!!!!! THE SAME HOUSE!!!!!, but I digress. Please do not mistake the emphasis as a pointed finger, because this is the rant within myself of which I bear the responsibility and burden. Most of the passion here comes from my keen sense of personal lack. On the other hand, it is also what fuels my 'pressing on' in Christ.
Thanks for letting me share.

And I Thought the Smog was Thick in Shanghai!

To any of you who may read this I bid you a fond welcome and hope that you will return the favour as I and my family step back onto native soil. OK, I realise that may be loaded with innuendo, but that is not where I am going. I hope to go to a place where I may walk awake amongst the slumbering. I hope to remain alive in fields of dying. I hope the change will take. What it all means is just that I finally found a piece of life beyond what the home of my birth has offered me for so many years. The only thing I may find frightening is the fact that the treasure is lying right out there in the open. It is in plain view of all as we peer over the lip of the trenches towards the lines of our foe. It lies in the midst of the field of battle.
I hope I will not forget valour.
Lest we forget. (c. AD 33)

Love waved a white flag
And fear ran it through
(the Choir, from the album 'Chase the Kangaroo)

Longing With Your What??!

I believe in the KJV Paul said it was with the bowels of Christ that he yearned for those he loved from all his travels. A strange sensation really. He didn't say that it was with human affections that he yearned with, but Christ's. Interesting too that he never mentions his family except when he uses familial terms to refer to his fellow sojourners. Not to say he didn't love his fam', but there was a different order of affection for those of the body whom he interacted with. Being away from all of the people I love has caused me to reflect upon this and I have found some of what the apostle was speaking of. While I do not have a host of converts or churches planted there are many fellow sojourners whose lives God has graciously mingled with mine in the mystery of the flesh. We have shared tent pegs for a season, so to speak, as we have made our way in The Way on this turf. I have found that family is one thing, but those with whom I have communed are of a different order. Even Christ said 'Who are my brothers?'. To fellowship again is my deepest desire and the dearest treasure of all my memories. Even in the context of the Sunday morning animal (as one dear brother put it) I feel a deep anticipation. I will see my brothers and sisters gathered and our dear Lord walking amongst them. Many Sundays the Lord allowed me to just look around the place as He pointed out some of His kids and told me how proud He was (and is) of them. He allowed me briefly to see as He sees them and this has become my passion to always see them thusly. How amazingly wonderful is the Body and Bride of our Lord. She is adorned in sacrifice and praise. The stumbling steps of her naivete are astoundingly attractive as she catches His eye and it kindles such desire and hope. She sees in that moment that His eye has never left her and she then briefly understands the Holy.
Understand then my brothers and sisters, your beauty, for truly you are beautiful.