Where Do We Go From Here?

Last night at our men's group there was much discussion about the state of things with men in the church. (I mean church in the sense of the Body not just our local chapter)It has been troubling to see the assault on all things men in our society. Even more so it is troubling to see the effects that this attack is having on the faith of so many men. The view of men that we are constantly bombarded with is one where the male of the species has just emerged from the primordial ooze. He then wanders off aimlessly scratching himself and looking for the nearest tv and/or porn site so that he can satiate his single cell grey matter.
We are constantly told that we need to be more like women, either directly or subliminally. Women, we are told, are the fount of all wisdom and the wellspring flowing from the center of the goodness of humanity. (I hope you can read the sarcasm between these lines) Men are everything that is wrong with the world these days, we are told. Things that could be considered manly are sidelined as spurious affectations of beer-addled minds. So everytime I go to a worship time I go to a place where only the more feminine emotions are given free reign. This is not entirely wrong because I need that realease of intimacy, but it is also not entirely right, either. As a man there are deep and dangerous emotions and needs that range through my soul and spirit which hunger for expression. Aggression, war, anger; a thirst for adventure, challenge and danger; a desire to protect, and others all find their place in me and in my God. It may be as difficult to read this partial list as it was to write because the training we have recieved tells us these are all bad things. Things which can be eradicated with the right amount of prayer and fasting. These are all things that stem from some sort of root issue or another.
The overall effect of this has been to castrate men at the root of who they are and to withhold their God-given authority. It is the same effect achieved by Jezebel, wife of Ahab, king of Israel. She tore apart his manhood and left behind a simpering bucket of mush that probably could not look you in the eye. Through manipulation, subversion and sex she effectively emasculated this man. Of course he had a role to play as well, because he allowed it to happen. He gave up all God meant him to be and became less than.
I love the picture in 2 Kings 9 where Jehu rides up and sees Jezebel in her window. He then orders the eunuchs to cast her down from her perch. The eunuchs; the emasculated ones. It's not the ones with power who lay hands on her and cast her down. The symbolism is rich because it shows two things. Firstly that one man with the passion of God in his heart can make an incredible difference. (Note: Jehu was annointed and commanded of God to do this, it was not his own whim) Secondly it shows that there is opportunity for those who have faltered to rise against those who have captured them. Eunuchs were of course commonly employed to serve queens and other royal women thus preserving their sexual purity as well so the image here is strictly symbolic.
There is an awakening that will happen amongst men. Not one which has us picking daisies and watching the Sound of Music, but one which will turn our hearts, as men, to our children. One which will release the potency of the Father to our children and return to us the hearts of our children.


Can I hear a RRRROOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!??

Wow

Wow, I guess standing for something sure can leave you hanging. According to the stat counter, this has become a very unpopular site. Oh well. I'll still keep blogging for your visits ma :) .

Jimmy MacDonald On The Morn' Of Gay Marriages

This post was started quite some time ago after the airing of the final "Jimmy MacDonald's Canada" on CBC. There were 6 or 8 programs aired and they showed Jimmy getting more and more 'prudish' and pissed with what he saw going on in Canada.
I apologise for not finishing this sooner, but I actually took pen to paper to write the original and it has taken this long to get around to typing it out.

We are mocked publicly. On our own nation's channel, touting what is supposed to be our own Canadian view. Yet all we are presented with is a "mockumentary" of a ultraconservative view of sex. I cannot help but wonder if Mr. Martin's Canada would have aired this particular episode had his morally slanted legislation failed to pass. Some may say that I am going over the top here, but as a Canadian Christian I am tired of it. Tired of the thinly veiled mockery. I say let the lines be drawn and the arms be taken up. Now, for shit's sake, don't be thinking I am talking about AK47's at dawn or even open spewing of rants against homosexuals and others. This is about the passion which filled Phinehas' soul when he pinned the Israelite and Midianite woman together with his spear.
Have we forgotten this passion!! Again I say, for shit's sake this is not about violence in the flesh, but it is most assuredly about kicking some spiritual ass instead of taking it up the C-38. Have we forgotten the prisoners? Have we forgotten the war in exchange for pronouncing a misplaced peace? Do we say peace to the sin so that the sinner may be received, or do we kick sin's teeth in to free the captive? Remember that after Christ finished cleaning house with the pharisees that His apostles laid siege to the Gentiles giving them the same message of personal change (to put it lightly). We are so busy calling passion 'religion' that we have forgotten the purity with which our hearts were branded at the start. Perhaps the tip of Phinehas' javelin lies near our heart and it is easier to turn it aside in a mockery of holiness than to allow it to run us through, pinning us to the ground with our notions of love.
Now, before you go off thinking I am some superspiritual, always saved, overchurched, prude please understand this is so far from the truth. I have run in the night which casts its shadows on my heels. I have made my deals with the devil in the torment of loneliness. I have cried war on the heavens of brass. I have not forgotten.
What I remember most is the intolerable weight which finally crushed me. It wasn't easy love, which was offered at times. It wasn't an easy out which always slammed shut in the end. It was an offer of a place to lie down; finally. A place to stretch out in peace. A point of finally receiving the nails that would keep me there. It was a view of the sky that received my Christ from a bloody cross. The weight I had felt all along was love and mercy, and it ceaselessly crushed me till I allowed the nails to plunge through my flesh.
Let us never pray off the weight of the sweet cross of Christ.

Let us never stop the blow of the hammer. Let us never turn aside the blows of the scourge. Let us never fail to be at the tomb to unwind the graveclothes. Let us never fear to let them fall.

Times They Are A-Changin'

Well it has been over a year since our return to Canada from China and the time of transition is not even nearly over. It is something that we thought would be simple and not nearly so profound. We also thought that we would be prepared for what we are facing. Not so.
There was an initial and ongoing culture shock which has been hard to explain to most people without causing some offence or another. This, all unintentionally of course. This has shown us how deeply our time and experience affected us. I don't think there is a dream or longing that has not been altered, shelved or just outrightly deleted in our lives. Some of those things God had to let us actually have so that we could see that it was not what we wanted. In some ways this is helping us fit in more and in others it is leading to more separation, it all depends on which group you talk to.
Our guess is that, just like Neo, there is a splinter in our minds which can drive us mad if we let it. We know where we are heading, but we have no idea how or when. Like a bus ride through a strange city to see a concert by your favourite band.
So now we live in the tension of it and continue to prepare and trust. It is so fun and yet so frightening at the same time.
I am purposely keeping this vague because those who know what's up will be able to read between the lines and for those who don't, I don't want them to get pinched between them.

Cat Lovers Only

DSC_1278, originally uploaded by junku.

If you love cats you've gotta check out this guy's slide show. lol

Tag

Tried the tag from Nadhan's site and found this on my blogsite....In Him I live and move and have my being. Hmmmm (yet again ;) )

Fast Tracking

It has been a while since I have posted anything here and for the few who travel this way I apologise for disappearing with no forewarning. My wife and I decided to do an entertainment fast for ten days and that included blogging. At the end of it I don't know what scared me more, my food-like craving for a screen or the fact that I felt that the fast should end. Either one should be a red flag.
One of the things I took away from our time in China was the simple life I saw many people living. As I walked the streets at night I saw whole families out on the sidewalk just hanging with their community. It was partly because it was too freakin' hot to be in the shacks they were living in, but it was mostly because without all the clutter that fills our lives they found each other. I have seen numerous posts regarding the impersonal nature of our communication, even blogging, or maybe most especially blogging. There are communities out there who break out of their chairs and actually interact beyond the screens, but these seem to be the exceptions.
It boggles my mind to think of how alone we have become in a world so full of communications. How I can be so surrounded by people I can't touch. TV shows showing me people all over the world, some of them even claiming to be showing me reality. iPods, podcasts, headphones, wireless, waves of people singing and playing from a million miles away. Kind of interesting that this stuff is normally recorded in an isolation booth. Gives me a deep appreciation of the guitar toting minstrels who graced our living room over the years; thanks one and all. Blogs from bloggers who are so techno-terrified that we can't even share our real names for fear. For all our bold talk we really are scared inside, aren't we?
So how do I overcome this insane drive for entertainment and screens; the deadly desire to impose the life I live in my own head on others? It crossed my mind that if I do fully unplug that I will become a distraction for those who are still plugged in, and in this increasingly wired world, become even more alone. Hmmm
P.S. This was posted by Brad Koop (Hi there)

Working Hard

Well here are the latest progress shots of the job we are doing in Ellison. This will be a fun scrapbook addition for me.


Now the forms are off and Guy is ready for a break


Now we will erect a wall to attach the electrical services to



At the completion of the wall the sun mysteriously appears =)


The first phase of backfilling (The green bundles in the last pic are now blue insulation around the frostwall. A little overkill for a garage/shop, but we are GTR and we do it right!)


It always amazes me how a great operator, like Dwayne from Dig-It, can get the site so flat. The next series will be slab prep and the pouring of the garage slab.

Cozy Feet!!

Happy, happy, joy, joy!!!! We are now living in a place with a fireplace and our feet are loving it!!


Mmmmmm, cozy feet!!


Mmmmmm, fireplace!!

Work Quietly With Your Hands

Ok, so maybe this isn't exactly quiet, but I am hoping Paul meant the attitude of the heart.
This is the beginnings of a large garage we are building in the Ellison area. (the one from a couple of posts ago). I thought it would be cool to show the progress over the next few weeks.


This is after the hole has been dug and we are doing the footings.

After the footing comes the walls.

Saty tuned for more.