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.

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).



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 :) )

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

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.

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.

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??

What Are You Feeling?

What are we feeling... right now...??? What is it??? Where is the finger of our soul dipping, and where are the ripples leading our eyes? Are we children being watched as we wander down the street for the first time? Are the eyes on us as we look about in the realm of new freedom? How do I look at my kids as they trundle off without me for the first time? What is it I love as my soul lays a blanket before their gentle feet? What is it??

Been Awhile, Been Busy

Well life has continued to flow on by and the sometimes turbulent stream has sped us along to today. Had some great things to say but life made a way into my life so I'll let the pictures tell the story. (A nod goes to Nathan for this. Thanks dude ;) )


They're gone!!

Sammy at Bear Lake

Feshya fishin'

Our man Ethan

In Sammy's bunkbed it's always a party!

At Grandma and Grandpa West's place

Jealousy As A Good Thing?

So what is it saying when the word says that we worship a jealous God? It can be difficult to discern without first undressing our minds from all the clutter that blocks our view. We see through a veil when we use a human standard to assess what the bible says about the Lord, and it skews the perception. It is also difficult to lay aside these perceptions when we open the book. In a poem I once wrote there was a line about 'perusing the tomes of war' which referred to the tendency to read through scripture to find some ammunition against someone else and their thinking. This is what happens when the veil remains as I read. Of course the right way to come to the word is with the mind of allowing it to change how I think. A frightening concept to a human being, to hand your mind over to someone else and allow them to tinker with your treasures. These treasures often are shown for the trash they really are when we do this and that is perhaps the greatest reason for our most passionate defenses.
I found myself in this quandary recently, fumbling through the truth. It was not until I was in bed and trying to turn my brain off that the Lord finally found some purchase on the rocky soil of my mind to speak from. I guess it pays to be quiet. What the Lord started showing me was how I had a problem with the concept of God being jealous. Now this was the kind of thing where I just set it in the back of my thinking and basically ignore it because it doesn't quite fit what is in the foreground. Thankfully though He is committed to us learning and won't allow these treasure to sit there unused.

The problem I had with the idea of God being jealous is the ugliness of this emotion as it is expressed in humanity. It just didn't seem to fit on this awesome, loving God. What I had not considered was that this emotion would be untainted within the heart of God. To show me this He took me to the garden where He had just created Adam. Now to express jealousy in the human sense God's next action would be almost perverse. If He were jealous in the sense we use it He would not have allowed any other to invade this relationship. Yet, when God looked upon this man he said it would not be good for him to be alone. What!!! How does jealousy fit here?? It seems that our idea of jealousy resides within our own desires, whereas God's jealousy resides in the desires of others. His interest is in the right function of that which He has created. Even when He says in the word that He is a jealous God it is not saying that He is some egotistical lover who cannot handle some competition. It has more to do with the joy of the created than the need of the Creator. He is jealous for our good. Look at the harshness with which Christ attacked the hell-spawned ideologies of the people He came in contact with. If I begin to think that this was aimed at the hearers alone I would begin to sow seeds of judgment in my own thinking. I would begin to see pharisees wherever I look. The truth is that this jealous God was as passionate about seeing the pharisees free and living in the joy of the Spirit as He was about seeing the disciples free from their small 'g' God thinking. I have often made the error of taking sides in the pitched battles within the body, leaning towards defending those whom I suppose to be the oppressed against those I suppose to be their oppressors. Of course the oppressors are always flesh and blood. Oops! I forgot about that thing about us warring against principalities and powers, and not each other. Maybe this is what the human idea of jealousy has spawned within my own heart. A place where division can find a foothold and worse yet a stronghold.
So now I am left with this idea of a jealous God creating another love for His creation. Hmmmm, I wonder where this will lead??

Lest I Forget

In reading today's headlines I can become a little overwhelmed. That is when I read them in the context of only what these fleshly fishbowls in my head are seeing. It all fades into the colors and banners of hope when I look through the lenses of heaven. I can no longer slide into woeful cynicism (one of my favorite haunts in seasons of forgetfulness), nor into a stupified consolment of compromise, when I but glance upon the transcendant glory of the living Christ.
Consider the writing of John Milton in Paradise Lost where he recounts his vision of the expulsion of the great enemy from the glory of heaven. This is from book VI, lines 806-826 where Christ responds to the Father and the host of glory of His intent upon the hordes of Satan.

.......But of this cursed crew
The punishment to other hand belongs;
Vengeance is his, or whose he sole appoints:
Number to this day's work is not ordained,
Nor multitude; stand only, and behold
God's indignation on these godless poured
By me; not you, but me, they have despised,
Yet envied; against me is all their rage,
Because the Father, to whom in Heaven s'preme
Kingdom, and power, and glory appertains,
Hath honoured me, according to his will.
Therefore to me their doom he hath assigned;
That they may have their wish, to try with me
In battle which the stronger proves; they all,
Or I alone against them; since by strength
They measure all, of other excellence
Not emulous, nor care who them excels;
Nor other strife with them do I vouchsafe.
So spake the Son, and into terrour changed
His countenance too severe to be beheld,
And full of wrath bent on his enemies.

And through the flight of His foes this countenance is unchanged till at last they fall bewildered to the pit. (lines 853-877)

Yet half his strength he put not forth, but checked
His thunder in mid volley; for he meant
Not to destroy, but root them out of Heaven:
The overthrown he raised, and as a herd
Of goats or timorous flock together thronged
Drove them before him thunder-struck, pursued
With terrours, and with furies, to the bounds
And crystal wall of Heaven; which, opening wide,
Rolled inward, and a spacious gap disclosed
Into the wasteful deep: The monstrous sight
Struck them with horrour backward, but far worse
Urged them behind: Headlong themselves they threw
Down from the verge of Heaven; eternal wrath
Burnt after them to the bottomless pit.
Hell heard the unsufferable noise, Hell saw
Heaven ruining from Heaven, and would have fled
Affrighted; but strict Fate had cast too deep
Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound.
Nine days they fell: Confounded Chaos roared,
And felt tenfold confusion in their fall
Through his wild anarchy, so huge a rout
Incumbered him with ruin: Hell at last
Yawning received them whole, and on them closed;
Hell, their fit habitation, fraught with fire
Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain.

This is the Christ, the Messiah of Israel and the grafted Gentile Church. This is the Christ who sends my foes to flight. This is the Christ against whom the nations rage in vain and plot to their great loss. This is the Christ who will avenge His charished bride for all her sufferings. This is the Christ who beckons all to be at His side as the enemy of all is finally driven powerless to the hell formed for him and his own. This is the Christ who causes my soul to weep for those who will not join at his side, but rally to the side of the one who is forever lost. This is the triumphant Christ, who from birth to death to life forevermore was triumphant and transcendant. This is the Christ scripture reveals, His passion and fury poised against all the unrighteousness unleashed by and against humankind. He is on our side!!! He is the rescuer of our souls from their dark devisings. He is the One who hates the foes of all humanity. He is the One who loves. His jealous anger aroused against any who lift their hands against the cherished ones. Oh that I would remember the great warrior of Love. I cheer the cinema star as he plays a weak reflection of this Great King and go home forgetting the Son who is the light.
Today I remember. Today I will look out through the eyes of heaven. Today I am a son of the King and brother to the Christ of the world here and to come!