Youth Springs Eternal(or something like that)

            If you've ever found yourself in the midst of Christian young people, you've surely heard one agonized question: "What is God's will for my life?"
            That, my friend, is a noble question over which a Christ-follower might agonize. As it turns out, Jesus anticipated that question and answered it quite directly, in Paul's first letter to the believers in Thessalonica, the third chapter, verse eighteen:

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

            "Too simple," you say? Yes, simple ... but incredibly powerful
            Since gratitude is God's will for us in every circumstance, obeying that universal command will open the door for us to know His will in more specific circumstances. It's a principle Jesus Himself declared, as recorded in Luke 16:10:

The one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.(NET Bible)

This principle applies in many circumstances, and not just for money, which is the context of this verse. Think about it; if we go through life dissatisfied or grousing, how could we expect God to give us even more responsibility? First, we must make good with what He's already placed in our paths. Then, once we've demonstrated our faithfulness in that little, He will be faithful to give us something bigger to do.
            In other words, if we find ourselves in the position of encouraging someone—even someone we may not like—and do it without reservation, He may give us the opportunity to show just how clean the church bathrooms can be.
            We may never expect more responsibility than we've already muffed.

Is That An Elephant Joke?

            Two of 'em, to tell the truth. Of course y'all have heard the one asking how you eat an elephant. Answer: One bite at a time.
            Here's the other one: What does an elephant look like to people without sight? Answer: Depends on what part of the elephant they touch(or smell).
            Alright, I'll admit the first one was old as a mastodon, and the second was just plain lame. But isn't a bad joke okay to make a point? In this case, two bad jokes to make two points?
            Point number one: God is spirit, so we can't see Him directly. And He is so big He could use planet Earth for a footstool. At least that's how the Bible put it so we beetle-brains could visualize it. A more accurate scale would make planet Earth—our entire solar system for that matter—just one itsy-bitsy atom in His footstool.
            Of course we won't attempt to eat Him, or His footstool, but we can see and touch the tiniest bits of this speck of His creation we call Earth. To one, God looks, smells and feels like a magnificent forest. To another, the wonders of the sea. To still another, the vast, visible cosmos. Yet, each of these grand creations is infinitesimal compared to its Creator who is both infinite and eternal. So, fellow Beetle-Brains unite! Praise the LORD(The Eternal One) our God! Worship before his footstool! He is holy! (Ps 99:5)

Father Don't Cry

            Avraham Fried composed a tender song titled Father Don't Cry^©. Here are the lyrics for the last verse:

Father in heaven
there's no reason at all
Your precious children
still are so far from home
we've done all we can
now it's in Your hands
let it end, oh, let it end,
the whole world is waiting for You

Touching, is it not? And tragic.
            Tragic, yes, but not for the obvious reason given in the song. What's most tragic is the Jews' passionate vigil for the coming of Moshiach, when He's already come and established His kingdom. And not only did they miss His coming, but they murdered Him for identifying Himself as God's Anointed King.
            Why didn't they believe He was Moshiach? No one can say He failed to prove His identity with wondrous miracles, ranging from multiplying box lunches to feed huge crowds of adults and children, to healing the blind and lame, even to bringing the dead back to life. Local folks flocked to Him for the food, healings and wisdom he provided. He even fulfilled all of the Hebrew prophesies concerning His appearance. Yet, when push came to shove, the Jewish religious leaders held an illegal trial, formed a lynch mob and had Him crucified.
            What more could He have done to prove Himself? At first, the Jewish religious establishment saw Yeshua as simply a nuisance who branded them hypocrites and whitewashed sepulchers. When the Roman conquerors heard reports of someone calling Himself The King of the Jews, however, the Jewish leadership had to take care of this upstart before the Romans kicked them out of their cushy offices of power.
            Perhaps he should have come into the world with great fanfare, instead of being born in a stable to working-class folks. Surely they would have believed Him if He had raised a mighty army to overthrow the Roman occupation, rather than gathering only twelve common men to follow Him on foot through the countryside.
            Never mind that those uneducated disciples healed the sick and cast out demons in the name of their Master. Never mind that the young carpenter from Nazareth routinely stumped and impressed the theologians and law professors.
            Even today, Jews — religious and secular alike — ignore the overwhelming evidence supporting Yeshua's identity as God's only Son after His own kind, the expected Messiah, Savior of not just Jews, but the whole world.
            Of course, the Jews have their reasons for continuing to reject Yeshua's messiahship. Though the Romans no longer occupy the Holy Land, the Roman Catholic Church has for centuries officially discriminated against Jews as the ones responsible for the Savior's grizzly death. Only recently has the Catholic Church summoned the grace to forgive the Jews. Sorry, Christendom, too little too late.
            Will the Jews ever come to accept Meshiach Yeshua? As a nation, no. Honest individuals, however, have objectively sought out the Scriptural evidence to the point where they could no longer deny Him. These "Messianic Jews" often risk ostracism from family and state, "counting it all joy" to suffer for their Messiah.
            If God can use his Holy Scriptures to convince Jews that Yeshua — Jesus, to the Goyim(gentiles) — is indeed His Anointed One, why does the rest of mankind continue resisting Him? Hard to tell; what's your excuse?

Another Prophetic Message Ignored

            They (the Hebrew religious leaders) have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.(Jer 6:14)
            And they (today's religious leaders) are still at it. Christendom has adopted the world system's methods for dealing with the pain of sin; prescribing "good" works to feel better, including secular treatment modalities with pastoral counseling, numbing sin-guilt through psychoanalysis, all "have healed the wound of my people lightly." And such "light" healing is no healing at all, but just a bandage over the gaping wounds left by sin.
            Of course many people hurt from the organic causes such of mental illness, and preaching at them about turning it all over to Jesus too often comes across as nothing more than religious platitudes. While it is true that All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,(2Ti 3:16) like worldly medication, it has to be applied gently, correctly, or it will heal superficially, leaving subsurface wounds that will eventually erupt into disabling infection.
            True peace is a precious thing, but it is not a commodity to be dispensed glibly. Only God, through His Holy Spirit, is able to provide ... the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, which will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.(Php 4:7)
            Ignoring God's prophetic message will prevent God's unfathomable peace from finding a place in our hearts.

Loose To Win


            How can the perfect, Eternal God create anything but perfection? Believers and skeptics alike ask that question regularly, though for different reasons. Believers in Messiah Yeshua covet His holiness. Their consuming desire is to become perfect(mature, complete) as He is perfect, but only for His glory. Skeptics, however, ask the question thinking they've uncovered the ultimate, Biblical self-contradiction. Sorry skeptic, that argument is as old and stale as skepticism itself.

            I tend to see myself as a perfect example of imperfection, identifying with such cartoon characters as Charlie Brown and Brutus Thornapple. As Charlie Brown, the world is my Lucy, and as Brutus, the world is my boss, Rancid W. Veeblefester. But do I feel sorry for myself? Hell yes, I feel sorry for myself! And I used the H word because that is exactly where self-pity comes from. My point is, I realize that fact, and when I catch myself doing it I boot myself in the bum hard enough and often enough to get myself moving in the right direction.
            People love to win, as evidenced by the popular phrase, "Second place is first looser." True winners, however, don't win all the time. They know full well that a competitor doesn't learn by winning. In fact, champions painfully realize that their replacement is working his way up through the ranks, loosing some, and winning some.
            Winning and self-pity are mutually exclusive; if one who is used to winning looses a round and reacts with self-pity, he has just become a true looser. If, however, he learns from his loss and tries harder the next time, loosing is just a step in the process of winning.

Is it a small world, after all?

        Nancy received a heart-warming portrait of her son and family, standing near the "It's A Small World After all" attraction at Disneyland. I feel like packing her CCTV over to Brenden House so she can get a good look at it.
        Bet she cries.
        She might not, however, understand my secondary reaction to the photo. The thought hit me with no little force: "Is it a small world, after all?"
        Inside the attraction we find thousands of nationally costumed dolls with different skin colors, dancing the same step in unison to the same music in happy circles, singing ... what else? "It's a Small World After All." By the time five minutes of that ride passes, the catchy refrain becomes permanently etched upon ones memory.
        Another thing I remember fifty-odd years after I rode through the Small World, is the odd similarity between the various children's faces. Despite their costumes and skin color, each displayed the same cute, doll face and the same insipid smile.
        As they say in Hollywood, "Message received, loud and clear."
        The Powers That Be maintain that our "global village" is just like Disney's vision of a Small World. We're all basically the same, why can't we all just get along?
        What a cute idea! All we have to do is make the Palestinians and the Israelis get along. Or North and South Korea. Or the Taliban and the Infidel world(that's everybody else, if you haven't noticed). Fact is, everyone is willing to get along with anyone, as long as "they" follow our rules.
        We in the nominally Christianized world can't understand or accept "their" practices of female circumcision, chopping off thieves' hands--or those of anyone with whom they take offense, or divorcing wives at the slightest whim ... oh, we do that too, don't we. Yet, we Westerners sing lead in Disney's one-world anthem.
        Human nature says, "Sin is what they do." And we add, "If only they were more like us." In truth, sin is no respecter of persons. We're all guilty of the "Big I, Little You" attitude. And each of our noses is perfectly capable of reaching rarefied atmosphere when someone fails to meet our approval.
        Though the Internet, international commerce, and world travel have made this a small world in some respects, we're still a world apart when it comes to accommodating "them." Both Communism and Fascism have tried to force order upon this chaotic world, and though they both failed miserably, they're still trying. What the Small World folks don't tell us, or can't even see, is "they" will never consent to live "our" way, because to them, we are the others.
        Long ago, a small group of people taught that not loving one another would lead to our destruction. And another group of folks back in the '60s and '70s trumpeted a similar message, but they completely missed the point. The kind of love needed to reverse our destruction and bring us together is completely foreign to all of humanity. It is called agape, and it belongs only to Elohim, and to those who love Him through His Son Yeshua. (If you don't recognize those names, they are "God" and "Jesus," respectively. Using their Hebrew names doesn't evoke all the Christianese baggage.)
        The unique thing about Christ's Way is the fact that it is not a religion. Rather, it is an individual life lived as He lived, multiplied by as many as choose that way. It is a way of living that causes no injury, but not simply out of custom or religious convention. It is God's living and active, agape love, filling the life of each person who yields to it.
        Folks accused that small group from long ago of turning the world up-side-down. Tragically, they never finished the job. Why? They became religious in practicing their faith. They established traditions, and gave them the same authority as God's word. They elevated some believers over others in an ecclesiastical hierarchy. They reduced prayer to a bunch of liturgy. They chained God's word to a podium enclosed within a grand, gold-encrested basilica, intended to glorify the very God whose word they imprisoned. And they made Jesus' sacrifice trivial by trying to ritualize it.
        Religion is all that and more, but salvation is only through appropriating Jesus' ONE sacrifice, personally, individually, permanently. That simple act of faith will, if genuine, begin filling the believer with a love so powerful that it will turn the world up-side-down.
        Or, despite Disney's dream, make it a small world, after all.

Almost Arrogant?


            Our Daily Bread frequently provides grist for the old thought mill. Today's feed had me literally laughing out loud at Bill Crowder's understatement.
            Speaking of self confidence, he used the phrase, "almost arrogant confidence." One might ask, "What's so funny about that?" To which a different one might answer with another question, "Have you ever seen a supremely self-confident person who didn't seem arrogant?"
            Isn't it sickly amusing how human nature routinely accuses God of doing us wrong when things don't go our way? Yet, when we seem to get "it" right, we blithely take all the credit.
            And we say God is unfair?
            Face it; with few exceptions, we're a race of ungrateful brats, throwing tantrums when we don't get what we want ... now. What a gracious God we have, who willingly forgives our petty childishness when we confess and repent of it.
            You think sin is somehow more attractive than that? "Why," we might assert, "no one gets away with calling me childish! If I'm a sinner, I'm a manly(or womanly) sinner." Then we might add with a red-faced scowl and maybe a firm foot-stomp, "You take that back!"
            The uncomplimentary truth is, until God changes us through His Holy Spirit power we're all rebellious sinners. And having designed us, He knows we can never be truly happy in that condition. That's why His infinite love demanded the only surefire remedy: The sacrifice of His Son Jesus. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1Jn 4:10 ESV)
            Yes, it's an old story. But it is the truth that will set you free. Instead of freaking whenever life refuses to affirm your superiority, let Jesus make you the person you were meant to be.

Certifiable!

        Have you ever awakened from a dream feeling insane? Crazy? Over-the-edge? Loony? bonkers? Slightly unbalanced? Have you ever awakened from a dream unable to separate the dream from reality?

        This morning I awoke ready to phone my mommy, and she's been dead for years. I climbed out of bed like a robot, then wandered around my place, muttering. Muttering!

        I don't mutter--well, not often. Somehow I found the presence of mind to don some trousers and a jacket, stumble over to the front door, and take Maddy out for her morning "squizzle."

        First thing I did after that--with my jacket still on--was find my computer and turn it on. Oh, my computer is a desktop unit, and hardly portable. This machine looks like a relic, but has a fairly decent processor and Operating System. Much like its owner.

        And much like its owner, my PC sometimes takes unscheduled vacations. Like the recently running Microsoft ad's paid actors proudly asserted, "I'm a PC," with all that implies.

        Booting my PC brought up my e-mail, which contained two feeds that often save my bacon. Daily Manna From The Net and Our Daily Bread didn't have anything profound or apropos, but it seemed simply elevating my thoughts began the process of returning me to sanity(relatively).

        And my point in all this? The mind(generically) is like a freight train that runs onto the wrong track at times. Probably because the switchman is at lunch. To get it back on the right track, we need to fire the switchman ... er ... maybe just slap him upside the head to get his attention. And that's pretty important, because if we stay on the wrong track we're sure to have a train wreck. Or at least a derailment.

        The enemy of our souls specializes in distracting our inner switchman with lunch, lethargy, or licentiousness. Then it falls to us to steer back on the right track, or surely suffer the consequences.

A Review of: Stars In The Night by Cara Putman

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Stars In The Night Summerside Press (July 1, 2010) by Cara Putman

BUT FIRST, A WORD FROM OUR BLOGGER: Cara Putman's straight-forward, natural writing style provides the easy flow a fiction reader craves, enabling quick, painless entry into the characters' world. Stars In The Night delivers a few hours of quite plausible and entertaining escapism. And that is, after all, what fiction is about. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A Word From Cara: I graduated from high school at sixteen, college at 20, and completed my law degree when I was 27. My writing journey started in 2005 when I decided to write my first novel. Now I have eleven books published with more on the way. People say I've accomplished a lot and that I must have life by the proverbial tail. Hardly! I grew up as a home schooled kid when home schoolers were misunderstood and oddities. I struggle with balancing my writing and law career, plus being a good mom and wife.

I often fear people won't like my books. I've walked through the deep pain of miscarriage. Really, I'm just like you – I don't have it all together and have gone through tough times. But in His strength, I've discovered a strength I never knew I had. A strength I want you to discover, too. In the end I'm just an ordinary mom who has seen God do some wonderful things as I've been obedient to step into the calling He's led me into. Stars in the Night Background Stars in the Night was an idea that had begun to percolate in my mind. I’d written two World War II series and was actively looking for my next setting. My husband, a huge World War II history buff, and I were kicking ideas around, and I’d decided Hollywood was probably the next place for me. I’d gone to the library and gotten a stack of research books when I got the call. An editor I knew but had never worked with wanted to know if I might be interested in a new line they were starting. As we talked, I got so excited. And then she emailed me their guidelines, which listed that Hollywood was a location they were interested in setting books. Only God could have known ahead of time. But because I followed His prompting I was ready to run with an idea. Stars in the Night is the result. ABOUT THE BOOK

Hollywood 1942. When attorney Audra Schaeffer's sister disappears, Audra flies to Hollywood to find her. Any day Audra might have been flattered by the friendly overtures of Robert Garfield, a real-life movie star. But on the flight from Indianapolis to Hollywood, Audra can think of little else than finding her missing sister. When Audra arrives in the city of glitz and glamour, and stars, and learns her rising starlet sister has been murdered, all thoughts of romance fly away. Determined to bring the killer to justice, Audra takes a job with the second Hollywood Victory Caravan. Together with Robert Garfield and other stars, she crisscrosses the southern United States in a campaign to sell war bonds. When two other women are found dead on the train, Audra knows the deaths are tied to that of her sister. Could the killer be the man with whom she's falling in love? If you'd like to read an excerpt of Chapter 1 of Stars In The Night, go HERE. Contest: Lots of opportunities to win and great prizes, and the grand prize contains some of Cara's favorite classic movies as well as all of her WWII novels: Launch Contest!

A Different Nail-Head

            Sometimes, Our Daily Bread hits the nail squarely without intent ... not that they don't intend to be relevant, but occasionally I catch a different point than their author tried to make. In the devotional linked above, Joe Stowell used a personal anecdote about one of his sons. Of course, his point was well-taken, but his unintended point really struck my nail-head.
            In our high pressure lives, manically climbing the success and influence ladder--for our family, of course--our rugrats(no offense intended, just speaking from a young parent's perspective) don't always cooperate with our agenda. Sometimes, in fact, they seem to succeed more in bothering, than in blessing.
            So, let's take a brief eagle (the cliche, gander, somehow misses the image of visually examining) at the typical parenthood timeline:
            For perhaps five years, we're stuck with the "dirty" work of changing diapers, wiping up messes, listening to a constant, interrogatory prattle, and kissing owies. Praise God, we then get a five year break, when the kids are perfect little angels--IF they're girls.
            Beginning at the neighborhood of ten years-of-age, our little blessings learn they aren't, after all, small extensions of Mommy and Daddy. And, if all goes perfectly, they pass out of "The Dark Chasm of Adolescence" in another ten years.
            So, let's see; fifteen years out of the fifty-or-so years God gives us to know them ... that's roughly three-tenths of their lives with us, and about three-sixteenths of our lives(presuming an eighty-year life span). Seems like a pittance, does it not? And if we can get past the stupid idea that our children amount to no more than the movie character, "Mini Me," God will bless us with truly wonderful friends--friends that will provide precious support and solace in our advancing years. Not a bad investment, eh?
            Even if our heads are hard-as-nails, we need to give our children the love we hope to receive from them. For despite all appearances, their heads are not hard-as-nails. Quite the opposite, in fact. Research shows that for each negative comment directed at them, TWENTY sincerely positive comments are need to counteract it.
            One day, we'll realize how trivial our children's inconveniences are when they're little--and not-so little--compared to their potential for becoming our best friends ever.