Contentment is such a key to making it through life. In fact godliness with contentment is great gain, Paul said. Great gain is out there just waiting to be scooped up by those who hold these attributes. The godliness portion I will leave out at this point, mostly because that is for us to figure out as individuals as we follow after God. The contentment portion though, is a hot topic for me right now. Right now as things are falling apart around me. Temporal things will always fall apart eventually,(yes, even iMacs ;) ), this is the only promise they hold. It does not matter what the ad campaign says, what the dude with all the best gear says and especially not what your esthetician says, it will all fall apart.
The thing of it is that we all have this stuff to varying degrees and it is all decaying at various degrees. So what will happen if our contentment is hinged upon these things? The obvious post-Christmas answer is that we will bloat up with despair and die miserable. The degree to which we can financially afford to hold off this inevitable decree is the degree to which we will remain blinded and to some extent the lifespan this cycle will live in within us. Basically the more money you or I have the more toys we can buy to keep the 'thing' from dying. The underlying question here is 'What is the "thing" and what will keep it alive?'
The thing is the immortal which dwells within. It is the part of our makeup which is eternal. I could say soul or spirit, but those words are so over used that a lot of their meaning has been wrung out over a myriad religious arguments. I prefer to call it the eternal component of our being because this helps me to keep in mind the shelf life of this thing. This also helps to make it clear why temporal things will never fill this thing and help it achieve the contentment it desires. I feed my organic person with (mostly) organic food because those systems integrate. If I feed my organic person inorganic food (or McDonald's) I will die because the two systems are not integrated. Square peg round hole, right? So the eternal part of me must need something eternal to feed on to satisfy it. It must find a system which will integrate with its own. I may attempt to feed it with relationships with other beings containing an eternal component, but this will be largely doomed to failure. Not to say that there is not a contentment and feeding which is derived from relationships, but to feed solely from a diminishing source is futile as an end in itself.
So then I am left with one alternative. I must find a self sustaining eternal source from which to derive the nourishment I need to have this peculiar contentment which does not need stuff. This source then can only be God. He alone is the self-sustaining, eternal fountain of life. It is He alone who can fill the insatiable hunger of my spirit. Insatiable because it only follows that if a body has an appetite roughly proportional to its size (except at Christmas) then an eternal body must have a very large appetite indeed.
So let us belly up to the Lord and partake freely of the life that only He can give and thereby sustain the only life we will keep.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Monday, January 02, 2006
Body of Thoughts
How many times has this happened to me now? I will do something which is actually commendable after a season of being down in the dumps or a time of really struggling to find God in it all. It will be a simple thing like picking up my eyes and praising God when things have been tough for a long while or being gentle with my kids when I come home from a crappy day. Nothing major really, but a good change of direction.
Then it happens. I will get a replay of something someone prayed for me in exactly that vein. It may also be that I saw someone walking out the same thing with faith and aplomb. This time it was someone else retelling how their faithwalk was going in the face of difficulty and a storm of God questions. After regarding this memory I am sent reeling back by an onslaught from the enemy of our souls. He comes in telling me how this would have never happened if I hadn't seen that other guy do it, heard someone tell a faith story or pray it. He says I am just copying someone else who has the 'real' goods. He says I am an outsider trying to look in and look like. Just a 'hanger on'. He takes what God meant for good and twists it for all he is worth to make it look bad. Of course in these days of fierce independence and self-made men his job is that much easier. God laughs at this whole idea of independence and I'm sure from His viewpoint that the term 'self-made man' would be cause for a gutwrenching belly laugh. It is something like the guy who thought his family car could carry the lift of plywood home from the lumber yard.
This guy was fighting some very basic design and structural principles as well when he overrode common sense to retain his independence, but then again so do I when I take on this walk alone. The enemy wants to yank on this desire from any angle he can, but the truth is that without the rest of you and your gifts and experiences and prayers I am screwed. What may be frightening is that without me, you are too. From this place there really is no place for pride, only humility and service.
Then it happens. I will get a replay of something someone prayed for me in exactly that vein. It may also be that I saw someone walking out the same thing with faith and aplomb. This time it was someone else retelling how their faithwalk was going in the face of difficulty and a storm of God questions. After regarding this memory I am sent reeling back by an onslaught from the enemy of our souls. He comes in telling me how this would have never happened if I hadn't seen that other guy do it, heard someone tell a faith story or pray it. He says I am just copying someone else who has the 'real' goods. He says I am an outsider trying to look in and look like. Just a 'hanger on'. He takes what God meant for good and twists it for all he is worth to make it look bad. Of course in these days of fierce independence and self-made men his job is that much easier. God laughs at this whole idea of independence and I'm sure from His viewpoint that the term 'self-made man' would be cause for a gutwrenching belly laugh. It is something like the guy who thought his family car could carry the lift of plywood home from the lumber yard.
This guy was fighting some very basic design and structural principles as well when he overrode common sense to retain his independence, but then again so do I when I take on this walk alone. The enemy wants to yank on this desire from any angle he can, but the truth is that without the rest of you and your gifts and experiences and prayers I am screwed. What may be frightening is that without me, you are too. From this place there really is no place for pride, only humility and service.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Happy New Year
Well here it is again, the year of the new; at least for this week. All the shine seems to wear off when he afterglow of the festive season wears away and the lights which dazzled our eyes are surreptitiously removed or just blatantly shut off. Now the dazzle that came from without is being called from within once again. All the holiday goodness that was out on display must now be displayed and the armchair saints have to pull the lever on the easy chair and hit the road again. I really feel this challenge personally. There were no New Year's resolutions this year and I quit smoking 7 years ago anyway. This year I am feeling that it is time to get back on the field. Whether it is the playfield or the harvest field or field of battle, I know there is a field out there calling me.
There was a time when I received a word about being like a warhorse which had come out of the stables but then went back in for some unknown reason. Guess I need to apologise to the rest of ya for staying in the barn while you've been hard at it. I hope my contribution will alleviate some of the burden for you.
There was a time when I received a word about being like a warhorse which had come out of the stables but then went back in for some unknown reason. Guess I need to apologise to the rest of ya for staying in the barn while you've been hard at it. I hope my contribution will alleviate some of the burden for you.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
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!!!??
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!!!??
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
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 :) .
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
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.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
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.
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.
Monday, October 03, 2005
Sunday, October 02, 2005
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 ;) )
Saturday, October 01, 2005
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)
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)
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