Say What??

Funny thing from today. I was talking to someone about a guy they knew who was fighting a drug addiction. During the conversation I was told that the guy had said he was not interested in something like NA because it was too religious. I almost fell off my beach towel. I then told them that it was funny because all the Christians I know who have never been to (but seriously need to go to) a meeting say they don't like it because it's not 'religious' enough.
So who are these people in the no-man's-land??? Veeerrrrryy scary.

The Responsibility Of The Presence

I must be honest, the word responsibility has always made me cringe a bit. It is a word that carries with it the idea of duty and obligation rather than whimsical freedom, and that alone can cause the sour response. Sometimes it may carry a reward, but most often the reward is simply an inducement or the byproduct of carrying out the task. Like some people say that the reward for a job well done is.... more work. Responsibility is just that; work. So tying responsibility to the presence of God can cause a bit of a reaction. The reaction usually comes from my free gift, grace side of things and wants to accuse me of legalism and a works based salvation. I'm OK with that.

This sense of responsibility really struck me last night when I heard a speaker bring up the Matthew 7:23 passage where Jesus confronts the issue of works. Here He says that even some real good works are not the key and implies that it is knowing God that is the key. From here the speaker took us to 1 John 4:7-8 and said that love is the true test. Loving your enemies and praying for those who hate you is a true test of the knowledge and power of God in our lives. Loving the brethren (and the sistern by implication, of course) is also a test of our salvation. Ouch, maybe we should call it an acid test. Anyway, the point that I got from this was that the presence of God bears with it a responsibility. If I want the presence of God then I will have to love others. It will be impossible to walk in the presence of God and be hating others. It is ongoing as well. When I am at work and someone gets under my skin I must choose whether I want the presence of God or not. If I do then love must rule. The 'must' simply means that I cannot do this without God and therefore His presence and love are synonymous. You can't have one without the other. Call it works if you want, but James was OK with that as well. I think this is what he was getting at anyway. Ever try loving someone who bugs you without the active presence of God; eewwww. Faith in God demands things that are beyond our own abilities. Faith in God brings His presence, obedience to His presence sustains us in all things. Disobedience to His presence unplugs us, and the evidence of a Christian with a dangling plug is painfully evident. Thankfully He continues to woo us to repentance and the partaking of the Divine nature once again.

So really responsibility isn't so bad, just when I try to do it without God. Living without His presence is what is truly unbearable.

I don't think this short post does this justice, but I don't want to write a dissertation here and maybe it'll spark some thought; that's good enough.

Through A Glass Darkly

It has been a hard week and that is usually the time that I start to ponder the relative ease that is my life. The days when I find myself whining about how hard things are and wishing I could just fly away somewhere are the days that I end up thinking about how much harder it could be. Actually if I were honest here I would have to say that it probably is not me who digs up the memories of the last issue of Childview I read or the latest reports from China Aid and Voice of the Martyers. I'm pretty sure it is God who provides that service. It would also be Him who brings to mind all the other times that I can now comfortably look back on where He molded character and proved His love to me.



I was going to try and write some profound stuff after this intro, but it just seemed weak right now. I'll get back to you when there's a little more substance to it.

The Magnificent Hand Of God

That God's hand holds me has been a home in my thoughts for some time now. Even in those dusty times when I feel like latrine leftovers and all the gloss is gone from my eyes, God holds me. When all is good, He holds me. When I think I know, He knows. When I try to do, He does. When my eyes give out for searching, He sees.
There is yet to be in my life a place where His presence has not found me and shown me love, grace and hope. It leaves me feeling foolish when I feel strong and rejoicing when I am convinced of my weakness. He is a river which moves me, and the current ever draws whether I float, swim or cling.
How can I not be undone by a love that is so persistently pervasive and persevering? How can I not be humbled by such overcoming holiness?
In fact, I remember a time when I was praying and the Lord showed me that as I pled the blood of Jesus I was taking the holiest of sacrifices and sprinkling it on all things defiled. Yet He was pleased. His joy in saving overcoming the very idea of pride. The humilty of God astounds me, even as the majesty of His power baffles.

Home Stranded in Chongqing 重庆钉子户

This is a 'You-Tube' video news story on a fight for property rights in China. The couple involved have been fighting for 3 years according to the AP story. If you go to 'You-Tube' (by clicking on the link at the bottom corner of the video) you will find more stories in English and Chinese.
There is also a commentary from RFA (Radio Free Asia) regarding this battle and the history behind it. We continue to pray for this vast land and its many wounds.

Reasonably Clever

brad, originally uploaded by feshyasdad.

Right back atcha, dude. lol

A Brief Expose

Pain loops 'round the thoughts
Like the man of war
Piercing with every word
Trained hand staying
The most valiant defence
Hewing expertly through bone
Laying sword to scar
Opening afresh
The fighter lapses, lunges
Drunkenly, words clash,
Scatter, shatter
Hands fall limp
The fighter's fight is fought
The wounds, the blood
The words
These are his home

B Koop (Apr 7/07)

"An Atom Bomb Of A Book"

Just finished reading this tome, and wow, what an eye opener. It is a very clearly written and exhaustively researched look at tyranny and the mask it still wears. Well worth the read, even just to get an understanding of the global politics we rarely realise in our own worldview.

So Much To Say, But No Time To Say It

Oh my goodness! Sometimes the header on this blog is truer than others. My bean is so saturated right now that it is almost painful. It is time to get some of it out.

The primary thing that is circling my synapses is the issue of unity in the body. This has been a constant for some years now and I think saturation comes when I pile too much on top of it. Normally I then offload the stuff on top and leave the trove beneath it alone. Not so today. Today I will chance possibly offending some people(it's a blog afterall, the offended can comment or surf on right?) in the off chance that I may actually encourage someone else.

My friend Nathan once blogged about the passage in Matthew 25 about the sheep and the goats and was pondering some aspects of it on his site here and here. It really got me to thinking about a lot of the things that I have taken for granted about the bible and what I believe about it. There are so many passages that I have been finding lately that I used to just breeze over because " I already know that stuff". It has been great to get in there and stir up some of these. This Matthew one in particular has been at the forefront (along with Matthew 18).

After reading this over the first thing that jumped out at me was that we always say," As you have done it unto one of the least of these, you have done it to me", but do you notice what is missing?? It actually says,"As you have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me". Interesting. It puts a whole new spin on it, doesn't it? Especially when we remember that Jesus said that His bretheren were those who did the will of His Father. So if I go back into the passage and insert this into what He was saying, then He was saying that these things were being done to Christians, not unbelievers. It sure changes all those missions messages I heard where they used this passage. It changes even more when I look at the overall context of what he was saying. This passage actually starts in chapter 24 with an answer to the question about the end of the age. In that there is an interesting piece that rarely gets mentioned about a servant who beats on his fellowservants and starts into drinking and eating with drunkards. The master gets a little ticked at this particular servant and sends him off to the same place where the goats are sent later on.

Again this is a passage that I only really blew by before, but now it seems to carry a rather ominous message. Of course I always thought this was about pastors and since I wasn't one I just said,"Whew!" and moved on. Now I am not so sure that it is just the guy out front who needs the heads-up. I say this because afterwards Jesus started talking about oil and talents and what people were doing/not doing with them. Then He moves on to the sheep and the goats part. Hmmmm, do you see a theme here?

I believe that what He is saying is that it is very important how we treat the people of the household of faith. I'm not going to get into who is in that house right now, because that is only safely discussed once we realise this first part.

These days it is hard to get away from the missions thrust into the marketplace, which is great. It is about time we get out from the pews and take our faith out where it can breathe. Problem is though, sometimes it feels like any invitation into the 'house' (again, I am not getting into what the house is here) is an invitation to what looks like a bar brawl. There is just as much infighting in Christian circles as there is on the outside. Even if in our own little tribe there is relative peace you wouldn't have to stretch the circle too far beyond our borders to start up the systematic dismantling of everything that is wrong everywhere else. This is really no different than any other grouping of friends. It seems there are precious few places in Christendom that you can go to find something truly different. By different I don't mean how we do Sunday, if we do Sunday or even why we do Sunday. What I mean is a place where the love is evident within and for those without our particular camp. Love for those who do 'that Sunday thing' and for those who do 'that Saturday thing'. Love for all the saints, whether they look like us or not.

When you look at the church of the first century it boggles the mind to think of the numbers of people who were getting saved in an atmosphere of harsh persecution. Not just name calling and mean looks, but horrific tortures and beastial executions. These people had to know what the empire thought about Christians and yet they came in numbers great enough to anchor the church all across the Roman empire. Perhaps, just perhaps, part of it was the fact that within the tribe/tribes of these believers there were some unbelieveable things happening. They were actually looking after the widows and orphans in their ranks. People loved each other enough to sell their property to ensure that the others would survive and have enough to eat. People from other cities who had never met, but knew that Christ was professed, gave themselves to poverty to see that those other believers would have enough to live. These things were unheard of in the rest of the empire. These things are relatively unheard of today, unless you count Oprah and Extreme Home Makeover. Of course when we do hear of this it is typically rich folks asking the masses to give for the masses while they conference call from their Gulfstream. I digress.

Perhaps, just perhaps the decline of Christendom in the West would cease when we call a ceasefire on each other and walk out all the things the Holy Spirit, through Paul, taught us to do to each other. Wow! Can you imagine??? Can you feel your heart yearning for such a thing??? If so, the easiest way to act is to find the person or peoples who have populated your churchside tirades and forgive them. Ouch!#%$&*! Now that that tooth is pulled and is not hurting you anymore the next step is to do a no strings attached blessing of that person, knowing all the while that you are doing it to Jesus. The next thing is to pray that this sort of craziness would begin to spread.

What do you see when you crack open that door????

Why We Fight

This will have to be the next movie I rent. It has remained on the shelf after numerous viewings of the package, but next time it's coming home. The website has some great footage to whet your appetite and the header on the movie poster really caught my eye. It says ' It is nowhere written that the American empire goes on forever.'. I have, in the light of biblical history of empires, been spouting this kind of stuff for years; kinda nice to see it out there in black and white.
Anyway, that's my tribute to movies. If you are interested in giving an opinion on the worst movie of all time just go to my buddy Dawson's blog. The battle is raging on there.