Monthly Archives: July 2011

From Not to IS.

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GLORIOUS COLORS

Image by whologwhy via Flickr

Ah, the wild imagination of man without God.  That he calls what IS as though it were not. 

Ah, the Glorious strength of God.  That He calls what is not as though it IS.

Bend the knee and worship He who redeems the wicked!

By His Grace.

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What do I Know of the Night Sky?

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The oldest star of our Galaxy: HE 1523-0901

Image via Wikipedia

I step out early while the stars proclaim the season.  The Sun will soon take their place.  There are noises of night that the day does not hear.  Few move.  Most are sleeping.  What an awesome time of reflection.

Note how the stars move.  Silent in their position and obedient to the Lord to shine for billions of years.  They do not care that I see them.  They take no notice of the cycle of day and night here.  God has placed them where He saw fit.  And He has not given man any more information as to why.  He told us that they are placed in their positions to help us note the seasons.  And while men speculate regarding other planets where life like ours might exist, speculation is all man has about the stars.

I come inside to ponder what I saw.  What of life on other planets?  I shrug my spiritual shoulders.  “What is that to me?”  I live here on this blue marble.  Even at this moment I have no concern regarding life on any other planet.  My concern ends at the limit of my ability to do something about my concern.  The work I have to do is limited to the skin I wear.  And study of things “other” is fascinating, but relatively useless.  I am forced to admit that I don’t even know how to read the stars positions for the purpose God told us He created them.  I can’t tell the position of the stars for summer anymore than I can tell them for winter.  They appear to be in the same place to me.  But I believe what God has told us regarding their purpose.

So I turn my mind to what I can understand.  And apply myself to things I am able to do.  I can pray.  I can witness to the things I know.  I can testify regarding the Lord of Glory.  And I can trust that He is able to fill in the gaps, both for my understanding and the understanding of others.

Billions of years?  I’m concerned with the next 20 minutes.  How limited is man.  And God has done this.  Adam lived hundreds of years.  And so did many who lived at the beginning of man’s war with God.  I have lived less than 60.  What do I know of the night sky?  And if those people knew something of value, there is no record of their wisdom passed to us.  They are dead now.  And we are left to ponder such things without their help.  Does this make us less?  No.  For, even in their time, men died both old and young.  The amassing of wisdom is not the key to life’s meaning.  Nor is the gaining of knowledge regarding the world and the universe.  For when we die we come face to face to He who made all this.

My task is to try to notice His hand in everything I see and experience.  And I am to prepare myself to receive His instruction every moment of every day.  So the stars become a curious quandary to me.  A puzzle I have no way of putting together.  Though I admire their beauty in this pitch black sky, I am left to ponder the approaching moment of the Sun.  For the people will wake.  They will go about this world in a frenzied attack untill the moment of the Sun is passed.  And, again, the night lights of God will reign over man.

By the Lord Jesus I make my way in this Place of Testing.  And by the Lord Jesus I testify to His Glory.  This is the sum of my encounter with the stars in the early morning darkness.

Prepare me, Father, to receive the tasks which rightfully belong to a slave of Righteousness.  I am Yours by the Blood of Your Son.  Speak by Your wisdom.  Guide by Your eternal and powerful hand.  Your servant is listening.  May the peace you had before the foundation of the world return to You.  And may your servants worship you with that certain peace of knowing.  Praise the Lord God of all creation, all you saints of Glory.  For He is worthy of praise.

By His Grace.

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Choices.

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Fox from above

Image via Wikipedia

I saw the fox this morning.  The one the neighbors would desire to just go away.  He’s got an appetite for cats.

He sat against the tree line.  Still and listening with those great ears, he patiently waited to find some prey.  He turned his head my direction as I had made the slight sound of a shuffled sock on the deck.  Then he turned silently and walked like air back into the woods.

Later I watched a cat walk along that same stretch of woods.  It looked ahead, left, right, behind.  And eventually walked like air into the woods.  “Bad choice”, I whispered.

Was it really a bad choice?  Did the cat realize what had sat just a few feet away an hour ago?  And, given the situation, did the cat really have a choice?

We do what we do according to what we know.  And once we make a choice it’s done.  Did we really have a choice?  We consider everything we know to do.  Yet, how often do we find our choices were wrong.  Did we give every option its proper due?  Surely we heard the whisper of God’s directing.  Did we recognize the Lord’s word?

 

By His Grace.

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The Pain We’ll Never Know

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Grey-green mold growing on pita bread.

Image via Wikipedia

The following was posted on my previous blog (buttermilk80.wordpress.com).  But I thought it valuable enough to post here also.

 

Build a house on your property.  Build it to your own dreams.  All the windows just the right size and pointing to just the view you had in mind.  You used the certain cedar you wanted, and the house smells Wonderful!  When you walk from one end to the other, there is nothing about this house that doesn’t meet your joy.  All your dreams and hopes are finally come to fruit.  It’s a beautiful place and you’re perfectly happy with what you’ve accomplished.

Now it’s time to invite your loved ones to come see it.  When they arrive they too are astounded at the beauty of the place.  There is a great joy because you finally get what you’ve dreamed about for so very long.  After a joyous celebration in the back yard, and many trips from your friends into and around the house to marvel at what your hands made, the guests filter home.  You are left alone in silence with your wonderful peaceful accomplishment.  And, finally, you’re happy.  To bed you go.  Your first night’s sleep in your dream house.  Oh it’s not possible to explain the joy you feel.

You wake up the next morning and stare at the intricate hand work of your bedroom.  “Beautiful”, you sigh.  After getting dressed and enjoying that exquisite view out your bedroom window, you skip down the stairs to make a pot of coffee.  “What’s that smell?”  It’s not cedar.  There’s an odor you can’t identify.  At first it’s so unexpected to your senses you think it’s a sweet smell.  But a second whiff and you realize it’s such a foul smell that your brain couldn’t identify it.  “Wow, that’s nasty”, you think to yourself.  But you just can’t find the source.  Something’s wrong with your dream house and you can’t find it.

Weeks have passed and your dreams have become shattered by that smell.  Now a green fungus has begone growing on the walls.  At first you thought it was just a dust.  You’ve worked at it for a while now and made no progress.  You took it on the chin at first.  Thinking to yourself, “I put a lot of sweat, blood, and sleepless nights into building this place.  I’m not gonna let a little smell and a speck of mold destroy my dreams.”  But no matter what you do you can’t get the place clean.

One day, months later, you come home and put your hand on the door knob.  It doesn’t turn.  You can’t even get into your house without breaking something.  You’re locked out of your dream.  Hours you’ve spent trying to figure out what’s wrong.  But you find no solution to the problem.  You can’t even sit on your porch swing to ponder what to do, because that mold is all over everything now.  Your legs lose their strength to walk down the steps into the yard.  Your hands drop in a great experience of depression.  And you stand under a tree, staring in disbelief at your shattered dream.  The work of your hands, the pride of your whole life, is destroyed.  How deeply sad you’re becoming as you realize it’s over.

There’s not much choice now.  And your mind begins to realize the full extent of the problem.  “There’s nothing left to do but burn it down”.  Tears begin to flow.  And soon you find yourself sobbing without shame.  Sadness has broken your heart.  “It’s over.”

How does God feel when He looks at us?  We are the work of His perfect hand.  He made this place for His joy.  And now we’ve become so very corrupt and foul.  He tries to enter our lives and we refuse Him His joy.  It is the heart of God that has been wounded.  It is perfection and eternity that is locked out of our lives.  And we did it.  It was not His desire that these things should be.

By His Grace

Good Morning My Son.

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tiny bird believes in values you believe in

As I wrote this morning, a little bird hopped through the door.  Afraid that it would come in too far and get in trouble by the windows as it came to understand its misstep, I whispered “hey, you don’t want to be in here”.  With one hop, my little friend left.  What a beautiful way for the Lord to say “Good morning my son.”

By His Grace.

Testimony Born of Trials.

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John Bunyan's Tomb

Image by Noodlefish via Flickr

In a cell Pilgrim’s Progress was born.  And long after the penman’s body had turned to dust, the “scholars” of this world began to recognize the value of this chain birthed word of the Lord.  Since then, the work of God has found its home in the hearts of millions.

Has God placed you in a certain place of personalized suffering?  Do you own words of understanding born of stripes?  Speak with the wisdom of God.  Testify to His Glory.

By His Grace.

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