Chillin'

I think I'm finally starting to relax....even my brain has stopped working.  Chillin' in Hawaii has been amazing.  I don't think I've ever been so relaxed both physically and mentally.  It has been a wonderful time of rest and refreshment.  I'll write again when I can think of something to say....until then we are chillin'. 

Contrast

I'm always amazed at God's creation.  He is such a wonderful artist. Just a few miles from where we are staying is a rain forest with sharp mountain peaks rising from the jungle.  I've never seen anything quite like it, it's beautiful.  


This rain forest is a national park.  I'm sure that if it weren't there would be homes built all around it.  We all love beautiful places and want to live near the beauty, but when we move in we seem to destroy the beauty we wanted to be near.  It's only beautiful because we haven't touched it yet.  


Where we are staying is fully developed.  Buildings and concrete everywhere.  A few trees and bushes to attempt to make it all look nice, but the footprint of man is everywhere.   I don't have a big application today, it's just a few observations I've made thinking about this beautiful untouched park.  I'm glad we still have a few places where we, as a race, haven't "made it our own".


God does a much better job as an artist without our help.

Quote of the day

"Most quarrels are just the amplification of a misunderstanding."

Sunset in paradise

Sunset in Maui last night.  What a beautiful sunset it was.

What I'm reading

I just finished Larry Osborne's book "Spirituality for the rest of us" this morning.  It was a great work on the spiritual life in the real world.  Larry worked through a number of Christian myths and redefined the spiritual life for the real Christian.


It's a great book and I highly recommend it if you are looking for some direction in spiritual disciplines.

Getting away

This morning I awake in a place I've never been before.  The sounds of the early morning birds are different than any I've heard.  It's a place filled with a whole new chorus of songs and sounds.  The morning was cool and we actually slept with the windows open.  They don't have air conditioning here, so that was our only option anyway, but it was quite comfortable.  I'm sitting on the balcony of our apartment with the ocean in view between a couple buildings (we didn't get the luxury waterfront condo), but it's great to get so far away and have time to think and be in an entirely different setting.  I'll share more as the weeks pass and let you see more of this beautiful place.

Monday's cartoon

Heart direction

"May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ." 2 Thes. 3:5. 


 I'm fascinated by this short, simple verse. It's a prayer of Paul for those suffering in Thessalonica. I would have prayed "May the Lord direct your minds..." but Paul prays for heart direction. There is a knowing of the heart that the mind cannot comprehend. There is an assurance of the heart that the mind cannot grasp. There is a relationship with God of the heart that the mind can only dream about. In this time of rest and sabbatical I have been seeking the face of God. It's a passion I acquired from David the king. He pursued the face of God. I can only imagine what that looks like because, in truth, it's a heart quest, not a quest of the mind. 


 One of the things I find as I get closer to the face of God is his love and joy in my presence. He really loves me! He likes me, he really does. He's glad to see me. Personally. I feel so inadequate to even be in his presence, unworthy, imposing on his time and attention, but he loves me. As my heart is directed into his love I begin to see myself as he does. I see the me he sees and it brings the same response that Jesus had to the love of the father....steadfastness. As Jesus prayed in the garden, steadfast in his decision to obey the father because of the father's love for him and for us, he went to the cross steadfast in obedience because he knew the father loved him. I see I cannot walk in steadfast obedience until I know the father's love. It's his love that gives me the ability to be steadfast in Christ. 


We all go through difficult days, days that challenge our commitment to faith, but the love of God will bring us to a steadfast walk that can only be known to the heart. The mind would say you are crazy, but the heart knows the Father's love and that makes all the difference.

A new day

It is early morning here. Not yet enough light to see well, but the first indications that dawn is only an hour away. The birds are starting to sing. They know dawn is near. Their songs are like an orchestra tuning up before a concert. You can tell by their rehearsal the concert will be magnificent. At this time of morning it's hard to tell changes in light, but it is growing brighter by the minute. As I meet with other believers I hear this same anticipation of the approaching dawn. The Lord is coming, are you ready? It feels it could happen at any moment. But there are still so many who haven't heard, we must be about evangelism. It's all the early preparation for the songs of the dawn when the Son rises....when Jesus returns. If you have never investigated the claims of Christ I encourage you to do so. The Son is rising, he will be here soon. I so want everyone to be ready for the wonderful concert of celebration that will follow.

Praying...

My wife and I are attending a contemplative prayer retreat this weekend. Lauren Winner is speaking and Phil Keaggy is helping with the music. It couldn't get much better. I will tell you more in a couple days....

The day is near

"The night is almost gone, and the day is near. 

Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness 

and put on the armor of light."  Romans 13

I'm fascinated by the fact that the most popular search word on my blog is for the word "sunrise".  We all want to see the glory and beauty of a new day, the hope for another 24 hours.  Sunrise give us a fresh start, a promise of new things.  As the night evaporates in the light of day we awake to new beginnings, new hopes for what's ahead.


In human history the daylight is near.  Morning is coming.  It's been night for thousands of years with only the first hints of light showing on the horizon.  Most don't know if this is an indication of the onset of night or the first light of a new day.  


Paul writes that day is near, the sun is rising.  So there is a response- get dressed!  In other words lay aside the deeds of the darkness, the sins we hide when no one can see, and put on the armor of light.  What a contrast- deeds of darkness vs. the armor of light.  I wonder what pictures Paul had in his mind as the Holy Spirit moved him with these words.  They paint such an amazing picture of change in time and history and the invitation to a response.  


Morning is coming, get ready!  This fascinating theme was part of C.S. Lewis' book "The Great Divorce".  He described this image of first light as both heaven and hell discuss what it meant.  Paul tells us...morning is coming.  The day is near.  The sun is rising.  


Soon we will all see the Son as he comes to gather his  family from the far reaches of our planet.  Get dressed, get ready, here he comes.....

One day....

"Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  -Philippians 2

One day, and it's coming soon, every knee will bow at the name of Jesus and confess he is Lord.  That is the claim of the the Bible as it speaks of what Jesus did and who he is.  


Every knee will bow.  This is a claim of exclusive nature.  It's a claim that Jesus, and Jesus alone will be worshipped one day as Lord of heaven and earth. That's why Jesus is the lightning rod of so much conflict and discussion.  


If he is who he claimed we all must worship him.  If he isn't then any other religion will work just fine. But this claim from Philippians demands attention.  It forces us to make a decision- either he is Lord or he isn't.  He doesn't get a "nice guy" pat on the back and "glad you were a good man" claim.  That is not an option.


If he was and is who he claimed and this passage will one day be reality (as I believe it will) then every knee will bow and worship Jesus as God.


No matter your religious faith this claim is profound!  It's a claim that one day Stalin will bow his knees to Jesus, one day the Pope will bow, Muhammad will bow, Buddha will bow, Charles Darwin will bow, Richard Dawkins will bow, Gandhi will bow, every man, woman, boy and girl of all history will bow and worship him as Lord.


One day we will see all the "greats" of time and history  on their knees before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  If the bible is true it would be the wisest choice of your life to bow your knees now and worship the one who claimed to be God because one day we all will bow our knees and worship him.  Why not start now?

Quote of the day

Your problems only become too big when your God is too small.

Quiz time!

How about a quiz?  Are you ready?  This will be a simple one, but should be fascinating if any of you want to participate.  Here's the question,  only one:


What's the best thing that ever happened to you?


That's it.  I look forward to hearing your stories.

Victory declared

Last night my wife and I went to see a movie.  It was an adventure film packed with action.  At one point in the film the heroine quietly prayed the Lord's prayer, a prayer prayed by millions of Christians for more than 2,000 years, but she left out the last line of the prayer!  That caught my attention so when we got home I once more revisited this prayer given us by Jesus as a model of how to pray and here is the last line of the prayer that the heroine left out,

"For thine is the kingdom,

The power, and the glory,

For ever and ever.

Amen."

By its omission it stood out more boldly as I read just this part of the prayer.  It's the declaration of victory that was given by Jesus and prayed by Christians nearly every Sunday, but I wonder how many catch the implications of this last sentence.

It's a declaration that God is King of heaven and earth, that the kingdom is his, he is Lord.  It declares that his is the power. He is in charge and does as he wishes.  He's the sovereign of everything seen and unseen and his power rules.  His is the glory.  All glory belongs to him.  He is to be praised, glorified and celebrated and the one due all worship.  And then this last sentence ends with these words, "For ever and ever....."  There will be no end to God's kingdom, his power, his glory.  It will endure forever!

Victory has been declared.  It's a wonderful praise giving glory to God for his rule, his power and his glory....for ever and ever.  I wonder....how many of us leave this last sentence out of our prayers, out of our lives, as we ask God for our needs and cares.  How often do we leave out the most important part of this amazing prayer, as the heroine in the movie did, and by doing so we miss the reason the prayer can even be prayed in the first place....because the one we pray to is King with all power and glory to be able to answer the prayers we pray.  

What a wonderful declaration of victory won.  How easily we say the words and don't realize their implications.  I'm most grateful for this last sentence in the Lord's prayer.  It stands out as a mountain top for us as we live in a world that seems to be out of control.  In the midst of it all the King is on the throne with power to accomplish his will in the world and receive the glory he is due.  And I'm most grateful that this kingdom will last for ever and ever and ever.....