Archive for the ‘General’ Category
Our Demise
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Poem, Remembering, Strength, Sustaining, tagged God Thoughts, Poems, Remembering, Strength, Sustaining on May 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Faith or Fear
Posted in General, Poem, Remembering, Strength, tagged Poems, Remembering, Strength on May 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »
The Marriage Picture
Posted in Beauty, General, God's Word, Remembering, tagged Beauty, God's Word, salvation history, work of christ on April 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Following is a slightly expanded version of what I said at B and K’s wedding, mostly because I read only Matthew 22 since Ephesians 5 had been read before I got up to speak:
A Wedding is a day of celebration that has greater and deeper meaning than the happy couple, as significant as they are. God has designed and ordained the various types of human interaction to reflect His character and government within the Godhead and His interaction with His people: government, family, church, and marriage. In the Old Testament God refers to Himself as the One who rescued and loved a wife, Israel. But she was unfaithful and preferred harlotry (a picture of idolatry rather than worship of God). Many passages present this scenario. Among them, Psalm 45 is a positive one that seems to speak of a king and his queen and the King of kings and His wife. We learn that the wife is the people of God who are frequently unfaithful, as in Hosea and Ezekiel 16. Hosea 3:1 clearly communicates God’s persistence at loving His wife despite her waywardness.
In the New Testament God shows us another ordained allegory which is not a plan B or afterthought in the light of Israel’s unfaithfulness but a long pre-determined picture of what He is about in this time, that of Christ and His Church. The clearest pronouncement of this picture is given in Ephesians 5:22-33. “Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.”
To summarize the allegory, marriage between one man and one woman producing offspring and interacting through roles of leadership and submission by mutual commitment and sacrifice concretely demonstrates the relationship of Christ and His Church. This picture brings much glory to God.
Therefore, we should expect that the enemy, Satan, would like nothing better than to destroy this picture. By so doing he destroys people and a reflection of God’s glory. I think his tactic can be seen by an analogy: Even as the glare of the city lights obscure the beauty of Moon and stars, so the glitzy show of sexual perversion and marital unfaithfulness attempts to block the God glorifying purity of a man and wife faithfully and lovingly representing Christ and His Church through their marriage. How does this apply to you and me? Young men and old, I’m speaking to you. Have you made the covenant that Job did? “I have made a covenant with my eyes; How then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job31:1) You must avert your eyes and work hard a being pure of eyes and heart. Young women and old, I’m speaking to you. Have you heeded the directions in I Timothy 2:9-11, “I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness. A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.”? Do you cover yourself? The passage does not just speak of modest dress, though. It also speaks of modesty in conduct. Do you flirt with your eyes? Do you manipulate with your speech? Men and women, give glory to God in how you act and speak.
So how does this picture of Christ and His Church work? The wife’s role is a responsive role. Why should she do this? “As the Church” (v.24), so the the wife is representative. I Peter 3:1-6 shows that her witness is foremost for her husband to win him over to doing what is right even when he is disobeying the word. And the epitome of this submission is seen in Sarah “calling him lord” (v.6). Because this relationship points to the relationship of God and His people, this degree of submission makes sense. Certainly the Church calls Christ Lord. Just now the world is speaking frequently of the leftovers of a “patriachal society”, referring to any degree of gender role, but the Bible clearly teaches it for the purpose of marital unity and glory to God. Consider the English word husband. It literally means manager. We accept managers in business because they bring order and profitability, so why do we reject them in God’s economy? The wife is responding to the husband’s headship role, representing how “Christ also is the head of the church” (v.23). How did Christ carry out His role as Head? First of all as Savior (v.23). “He gave Himself up for her” (v.25). I believe this refers to much more than committing His body to die on the cross. He took on the wrath of God which was our due, a much greater torture than physical pain and death. Why would He put Himself through this torture? That He set the Church apart for Himself, both cleansing and presenting her to Himself (v.26). He valued His people so much as to take God’s wrath. Having cleansed her from sin, He now continues setting her apart by His Word. Practically this is accomplished through Bible preaching, God-centered fellowship, Spirit-led praying, and Christ-centered evangelism. Then in the future at His wedding feast it shall be declared, “‘Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready’. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” (Revelation 19:7-9) The bride arrives dressed beautifully in white representing purity, the light of her husband’s eyes. She is glorious, spotless, without wrinkle, or blemish. Jesus has far more than just reversed death. The Church that the bride is representing is not rescued from hell and death to an ugly, scarred existence. The Church is called upon and must work with this pruifying work of Her Lord Jesus. He will present us to Himself cleansed, beautiful as this bride appears before you today.
The man is further to be a servant of his wife pursuant of the end of cleansing her. He accomplishes this role by loving her as himself (v.28-30). This is a difficult and daily role, who is sufficient for these things? And the relationship is intimate and permanent (v.31). To be sure that no one misunderstands that Paul is talking about the marriage relationship as representative of the Christ/Church relationship he interjects verse 32. Then he summarizes with verse 33. Why is there a different command for man and woman? Humanly speaking it is because each has different needs. The man’s greatest need is to be respected; the woman’s greatest need is to be loved. But again the picture of Christ and His Church is in full view. Christ did and is loving His Church. How can our response be anything other than respecting and reverencing and obeying our Lord?
One other passage that I would like to consider related to this picture is the Parable of the Wedding Feast found in Matthew 22:1-14: “Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”’ But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” In this passage, Jesus assumes the picture we have been speaking of even before Paul had written about it. He goes further to deepen the meaning and change it slightly from what we have spoken of. The feast is initiated by the king who has a son getting married. But where is the bride? She is here, represented by the individuals. This idea is consistent with what we read in Revelation 19:9, “the fine linen [of the bride’s dress] is the righteous acts of the saints.” And verse 14 says these individuals are both chosen and called.
Not all of those called heed however. Some of those invited actively reject the invitation, refusing to come, scoffing, and beating and killing the king’s servants. Others more passively refuse, having other things to attend to which they evidently consider more important. The King, obviously God, is angry at all of this God-hating and destroys them. But there is another kind of person at the feast who is self-deceived. This person, representing many in the church today, has a more subtle problem. Unlike those who refused to come, he desires to be at the wedding feast. As revealed by the king’s question, he has a problem. He is not dressed in wedding clothes which those who attend must receive. Instead he is dressed in self-righteousness. If this represents you, you might be one who says, “I’m a church-goer. I’m a good family man. I’m a submissive wife. I’m a decent, upstanding citizen. I acknowledge God.” But God says of your good works, “All our righteous deeds are a filthy garment…” (Isaiah 64:6). The problem may be subtle but that does not make any less serious considering the results to the man. Hell is a real place.
The problem needs a bold solution. “For by grace have you been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is a gift from God, not as a result of works that no one should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) The wedding clothes are a gift. You must repent of your dead works. This means that you must turn away from your own righteousness and declare with God that it is sin and turn to what Jesus has done on the cross to rescue you from sin. This is God’s grace: ‘God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.’ He gives those who trust in Him eternal life. Repent and receive the gift; you cannot buy it. I know that B and K would like nothing better than to know that someone came to receive the gift of eternal life from Jesus because of their wedding ceremony. May God bless B and K’s marriage and may He bless the Church’s purity and may He open your eyes to your need for the Savior so that you may be clothed and ready to come to the wedding feast that will be held one day.
B & K Union
Posted in General, Photo, tagged Photos on April 11, 2012| 2 Comments »
A beautiful and complete wedding ceremony (1:45) with hymns, a covenant reading and signing, vows, sermonettes by both fathers, prayers of dedication, and reception, the happy couple is off to the honeymoon:
“He who finds a wife [helpmate] finds a good thing and obtains favor with the Lord.” Proverbs 18:22
K and neice
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up of her, so that He might snactify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing’ but that she would be holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:25-27
The groom has four siblings and the bride nine. The father of the bride is the pastor so add most of the church. The groom works for an electrical company that is very family oriented. There were easily 300 people packed into the old firehall where the church meets.
The Happy Couple with the Groom's Parents
On many fronts it was a joyous occasion as families were brought together to get to know each other, families were strengthened by reminder of their calling and privileges, and one new family was formed.
Oh, then there is my daughter; there is a first granddaughter
on the way in June!
(The family is growing.)
Analogy
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Random thoughts, tagged God Thoughts, Random thoughts on March 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »
As a Bible reader and a high school science teacher I cherish good analogies because they clarify otherwise obscure concepts. I thought of two short analogies in the past few days as I mused upon ideas concerning marriage and motivation.
Concerning marriage, I believe Satan would like nothing better than to destroy the picture of Christ and His Bride, the Church. As I thought of this attempt to hide this picture designed by God I thought of light pollution:
Even as the glare of city lights obscures the beauty of stars and moon, so the glitzy show of sexual perversion and marital unfaithfulness attempts to block the God glorifying purity of a man and a wife faithfully and lovingly representing Christ and His Church by their marriage.
As my pastor taught in Romans 1 last evening he marveled over the obligation of Paul in verse 14 becoming the eagerness to share the gospel in verse 15. He showed how we too should be eager in our obligations, not counting them as burdens. He went on to say, “Duty by itself without delight will not sustain us.” Then what is the use of duty, I thought, and what is its relationship to delight? Following is my conclusion by way of analogy:
The flywheel of duty will not continue to spin for long unless powered by the engine of delight. However, when the engine of delight misses the flywheel of duty keeps the engine of delight spinning for several revolutions until it is restarted, its spark and fuel being sought from its source, the empowering work of the Holy Spirit.
A Song of Salvation History
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Poem, Remembering, tagged God Thoughts, historicity, Poems, Remembering, salvation history, second coming of christ, work of christ on January 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »
There are so many good hymns. As with most things we have a tendency to rush over them as if to extract the sweetness without savoring the deeper substance. So as time allows on occasion I try to assimilate a little more of the spiritual nutrients from these poems that we sing. In poetry I like completeness of thought with conciseness of language. Of course that is a challenge. The hymn “One Day” seems to be just such a hymn, surveying the incarnation, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and second coming of Christ. Emphasizing this idea of these events happening on a certain ‘one day’ each produces a unity of the verses and points to the historicity of the works of Christ. In each of the verses Christ and His work are exalted and personalized to the person singing the song. These are all wonderful elements, but I’m rarely quite satisfied, so I thought that it covers from Christ’s incarnation at Bethlehem to the beginning of eternity, shouldn’t it include eternity past forward to Bethlehem? I sat down and wrote two more verse to “complete” the thought of salvation history conveyed in the song. I was unable to bring in the element of personalizing the work of Christ to the singer and I’m confident that my poetry is not so good as the author, J. Wilbur Chapman, but I enjoyed the effort and contemplation anyway, and so may you.
One day the Godhead took counsel in heaven One day the Christ was appointed to die Jesus submitted in full to His Father While He still sat on His throne up on high One day Christ Jesus created first Adam One day He walked in the garden with him Then Adam sinned and all mankind was fallen As second Adam He would rescue themOne day when Heaven was filled with His praises,
One day when sin was as black as could be,
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin,
Dwelt among men, my example is He!
Refrain
Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever;
One day He’s coming—O glorious day!
One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain,
One day they nailed Him to die on the tree;
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected:
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He!
Refrain
One day they left Him alone in the garden,
One day He rested, from suffering free;
Angels came down o’er His tomb to keep vigil;
Hope of the hopeless, my Savior is He!
Refrain
One day the grave could conceal Him no longer,
One day the stone rolled away from the door;
Then He arose, over death He had conquered;
Now is ascended, my Lord evermore!
Refrain
One day the trumpet will sound for His coming,
One day the skies with His glories will shine;
Wonderful day, my belovèd ones bringing;
Glorious Savior, this Jesus is mine!
Refrain
I noticed something after I wrote the first two verses. The refrain repeats and reviews the five themes of incarnation, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and the second coming of Christ presented one at a time in each of the five verses. I guess the hymn was wonderfully complete and filled out after all. Oh well, I reviewed all the more God’s wonderful grace in the process.
True Science
Posted in Creation Articles, General, Science, tagged Creation Articles, Science on December 28, 2011| 3 Comments »
Logic is good and should be sound when used but no matter how sound the logic if the beginning point is wrong (wrong presuppositions) the end result (understanding of God, man, sin, eternity, reality, the world around us, fundamental forces and particles) must also be wrong at some level. For that reason I endeavor to pursue a study of science that begins with a true beginning and is most supported by evidence. Galileo was restricted because he believed truth both in terms of the Creator and in terms of the revealed evidence the Creator gave (most notably four moons orbiting Jupiter rather than Earth). Eventually the truth of his observations was accepted by all. Sometimes the opposite happens and ideas are accepted that start from the wrong place, making assumptions that are not true and do not hold up under scrutiny, and yet still persist. Evolution is just such a false idea but because of the metaphysical commitments (read, ” secularized ‘beliefs'”) it yet stands under the onslaught of truth. So then true science involves a correct starting place, opened-minded and careful observation, and sound logic. In the last generation it seemed that people gave an unerring allegiance to science and technology for all of the problems of humankind that it solved. But recently there is a growing skepticism toward “scientific theories” because they have led us to dead ends so that the heart is not satisfied, the real problems of society are not solved, there are major gaps in the explanation of the observed, health is treated for symptoms rather than promoting long-term health, and technology deceives by reducing the quality of life when fully embraced (Note that our country spends more on healthcare than any other and yet ranks 37th on the World Health Organization’s list of health systems. Many health enhancing practices are ignored or disdained by much of the world.). The summary of what I am saying is as follows. I applaud the efforts of many practitioners of science for their attempts to explain their various disciplines from the evidence they have based on logic that they work hard at making consistent. But turning a blind eye to influences outside of the natural system that effect all that we see both as to its origin and its progress is stubborn and wrong. God impinges daily on this terrarium we call the universe all the way from holding the forces and particles in check to controlling where it is headed.
Through Storm and Pain
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Poem, Random thoughts, Strength, Sustaining, tagged God Thoughts, Poems, Random thoughts, Strength, Sustaining on December 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »
All Sufficient Merit
Posted in General, God Thoughts, tagged God Thoughts on December 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »
One of my favorite Christmas songs is “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus”. Charles Wesley preaches the gospel clearly in this short song about the first advent of Christ:
Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.
Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a king,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.
I spent some time contemplating the next to last phrase: “By Thine all sufficient merit”.
We speak of Christ’s all sufficient grace though never frequently enough. It occurred to me that we would never have that grace if it were not for His all sufficient merit. In what respect is it all sufficient? His nature was divine from eternity past, the essence of perfection. His was most certainly an immaculate conception because he did not receive our father Adam’s sin nature but rather possessed His coequal nature with His Heavenly Father. As a man he fulfilled all the law, actually blameless though accused, tempted, and rejected. And you can’t improve on perfection, right? The Scripture teaches that He did, not in essence but in quantity: “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.” (Hebrews 2:10) and “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,…” (Hebrews 5:8-9). He added to all of His other perfections this merit also that He obeyed and suffered, purchasing us heaven. His merit is sufficient to raise sinners who trust Him to His glorious throne where He sits at the right hand of the Majesty on High. I am there positionally now and bodily one day to worship and thank Him for His all sufficient merit that bought His all sufficient grace for me.
On You I Depend
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Poem, Sustaining, tagged God Thoughts, Poems, Sustaining on December 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »
It is probably a mistake to try to explain a poem but having read the second verse of this one I think my perspective while writing it might help to show why these thoughts follow from one another. The sister on one side of me prayed for our awareness of His glorious grace which Jesus shone upon us. The brother on the other side of me had just read a verse about our need to diligently pursue righteousness. The immediate thought in my heart was that I could do neither without the guidance and empowering of His Spirit and the need to “be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:11) Faith rest is simply saying and clinging to God because ‘on You I depend’.
Father of Light on You I depend Show me Your way my life to defend When I am restless and given to fear Give me Your peace and by me be near On me Your Son shone glorious grace Eternally comforting embrace Pursue righteousness fervently You’ve said Careful to enter Your rest, be led Given at times to much confusion Resisting the world’s fond delusion You give me truth and direction instead That I might know You, be Spirit-ledThe Way of Science
Posted in General, Poem, Science, tagged Poems, Science on November 18, 2011| 1 Comment »
The first poem I remember writing as an adult came to me while my students were taking a test. I was struck by their recent questions of why they should know this material, how I got interested in science, and what difference it makes. My thoughts added what truth and true science are. Science succeeded and grew in Western thought because people who believed in a God of order and reason who reveals Himself sought greater understanding of Him through His Creation. That should tint how you read my poem:
I love science For in it there is compliance With all of the laws Upon which this space-time drawsI study science Because of its reliance On a complex design That is beautiful and fine
I teach science That screams with defiance Of all that is false And dearly held without cause
If you pursue science Prepare for acquiescence To ways of thinking Both disturbing and satisfying
Banned vocabulary word
Posted in Cultural commentary, General, God's Word, tagged Cultural commentary, God's Word on November 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Have you noticed something missing from conversations in all forms of media- personal, electronic, written-about the debacle at Penn State? How about from the discussion of failed politicians, NFL or Hollywood celebrities, or riots or divorces in hometown America? Euphemistically entitled a condition, exceptionality, syndrome, genetic disposition, problem, societal ill, disease, tendency, aberration, failure, inequity, mistake, debacle, addiction, heinous crime against humanity, acting out to name a few, this banned word denies the similarities of the list above. These replacements share two qualities, one for most of the words in the list and a second for all of them. In the smaller group, including terms like genetic disposition, syndrome, and tendency, blame is shifted to a different cause. The similarity of all of the words is a denial of the real cause. Have you guessed the true identity and name of the banned word? Am I allowed to write it? The word is sin. The problem it so clearly points out is rebellion against God perpetrated by the sinner. Because of our pride resulting in selfishness we don’t want to admit to sin. But ignoring and denying the problem does not allow for the recognition of the solution, so we Christians must talk about it. But beware because you may talk about God and that He is love and that He is good and that we should act nice and so on but if you mention sin you will be shunned or worse. But since “through the Law comes the knowledge of sin,” (Romans 3:20) sinners will not recognize their need for a Savior or be saved if they are not taught that there is a righteous standard that all have failed to meet from a righteous God to whom they are responsible.
If you don’t believe me that this word is banned try bringing it up in conversation. You need not be so direct as to mention a particular sin or even a particular person’s sin. Just talk about sin in your community resulting in some ill like family break-up or eventual death or even flowers wilting and see how far it gets you. Why? “Let no one find fault, and let none offer reproof; for your people are like those who contend….” (Hosea 4:4) But be warned, “Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” Hosea 4:6)
If you can add to my euphemistic list it would be instructive as to the depth of our….. tendency.
Me
Posted in Cultural commentary, General, God Thoughts, Random thoughts, tagged Cultural commentary, God Thoughts, Random thoughts on November 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Does this sentence seem strange and yet all too common to anyone else besides me?
“Tip: Be the master of your own domain – make this blog creatorworship.me for just $24 per year.”
Thus goes the ad at the top of my Dashboard on this blog. I want to say, “No, please read the subtitle of the blog and comprehend that though I struggle with self-absorption like the rest of the planet, I am fighting the tendency by way of the influence of the Spirit within.”
Pointing to the One who made, saved, and sustains.
When And His I
Posted in General, Poem, Remembering, Strength, Sustaining, tagged Poems, Remembering, Strength, Sustaining on November 3, 2011| 1 Comment »
What do you do on a less than profitable day?
You search for the hidden, more lasting and substantial, intended profit for the day.
When all goes awry And my spirit wants to fly His calling on my life I must recall amidst the strife When there is stress And my spirit feels duress His goodness every day I want to graciously display When hard things come And my spirit would succomb His strength is my stay I need each step of the way When joy comes to me And my spirit knows it’s free His all sufficient grace I am keeping before my faceA Warm Habit
Posted in General, Photo, Random thoughts, Remembering, tagged Photos, Random thoughts, Remembering on October 30, 2011| 3 Comments »
Two days ago I began my 29th year of heating with wood. Of course there is the cutting, hauling, splitting, and stacking of wood, all good in its time, but heating with wood is the really philosophical part. Early mornings and late nights sitting around the stove reading or praying or exercising or just listening to the quiet as the fire pops and smokes to life. I do some of my best thinking hunkered down in front of the wood stove waiting for it to heat up sufficiently to close down the dampers. Sometimes the thinking is intentional and sometimes laced with far off vague thoughts of what might be or should have been. Then there are the times I make better use of the time and pray, filled with thanksgiving or desperate for help. And God is faithful in His love and provision, and salvation, and guidance. I can tell when the stove is heating up because the metal expansion tunes up as it clicks. Almost immediately I can tell if it’s not heating up because the clicks begin their contraction down click. The first fire of the season cooks dust off the stove and brings far away memories of the sitting in front of the same stove in different houses under different life circumstances. After trips away for more than a day or two the house might be anywhere from 35 to 50 degrees F. I try to make the front of the stove top glow a dull orange to warm the house quickly. I have taught whole science lessons about observing stove and chimney and room. It works especially well for convection and Bernoulli’s Principle but also for radiation (blackbodies) and conduction. I frequently know what kind of wood is burning in some else’s wood stove by the smell. Smells bring back memories better than most senses. Coal, white oak, black locust, red oak, pine, fir. I could be in a mountain town or weaving a basket or setting fence posts or planing wood or clearing brush or backpacking in the mountains above 5000′ just by memory of the those smells. And those who know their wood, know that I just sequenced memories with the woods listed just before. Wood heat is a heat you can go to when you enter the house and are cold. It makes you much more aware of the temperature inside and out today and this month and this winter compared to past winters. It causes you to mark time in different ways than most people- there is wood gathering season and heating season. My two youngest sons split most of the wood these days. The one turning 18 next month despised splitting wood when he first had to work up a big tree but two months later when it was all split he was no longer a boy. Then he liked splitting wood and is ready to split when the occasion arises. Their splitting hints at another season coming, the days when I am no longer able to heat with wood. But that may be “aways off” because I can take it at a slower pace when they are gone. I’m not ready to give up this warm habit just yet.
Ask me about sincere fires another day for that is a different story.
The Fisher Grandfather burns a sincere fire!
Evidence That Christianity Is True
Posted in General, God's Word, tagged God's Word on October 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »
A worthwhile study for anyone searching for truth either because you don’t yet have it or because you do and want a better grip on it is evidence that Christianity is true. Following is the first point of my six part outline for such evidence. It is only introductory on the subject but is a good starting place.
I. The Bible and Its claims are true
A. Internal
1. Eyewitness testimony
a. Old Testament
1) Abraham gen 24:7
2) Isaiah 6:1
b. New Testament
1) Peter II Pt 1:16-18,20-21
2) John I Jn 1:1-4
3) Jesus Jn 17:17
4) Paul Acts 9:1-9
5) Disciples Lk24:36-43; I Cor 15:1-8
6) Soldier Jn 19:35
2. Declared God’s Word
a. O.T.
1. God said Gen 1:3, Mal 4:3, II Chr 36:22
2. God’s Word Ezra 7:6,10; II Kings 17:13; Jer 36:6
b. N.T.
1. Jesus’ words Jn *:26,28
2. Paul’s writings II Pt 3:15-16
3. Revelation to John Rev 1:1-2
B. External Historical Evidence
1. Ante-Nicaean fathers
a. Jn 17:20, 20:29
b. www.creatorworship.wordpress.com
“A Canon of Truth”
(following from “New Evidence That Demands A Verdict”)
2. Roman
a. Thallus (AD52)- attempt to explain away darkness
at Christ’s death
b. Tacitus (Annals)- “Cristus, the founder of the name,
was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of
Judea in the reign of Tiberius, but a
pernicious superstition…broke out.”
(implies resurrection)
3. Jewish
a. Babylonian Talmud- “On the eve of Passover they
hanged Yeshu.” (see Jn 19:14)
b. Josephus (Antiquities)- “Pilate…condemned him to
the cross”
4. Earliest manuscript evidence
a. Ryland Manuscript P52 (Egypt)
John fragment 130 AD
b. http://www.biblefacts.org/history/oldtext.html
5. Historicity of Luke’s Gospel
http://www.pleaseconvinceme.com/index/The_New_Testament_Is_Verified_Archeologically
(many examples)
a. Recorded enrollment of taxpayers at censuses
every 14 yrs
b. Quirinius Inscription (Antioch)-
governor of Syriaca. 7 BC
c.Egyptpapyrus confirms return to ancestral
place at census
d. Pontius Pilate Rock of Caesarea
“We Go Way Back”
Posted in General on September 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »
You’ve said it or heard someone say it: “We go way back”. How many people can you say that about and know that you’d love to spend more time with them (as opposed to I understand who he is and tolerate it)?
In many respects we couldn’t have been more different. He was a 2nd generation homesteader who farmed upwards of 6000 acres in Central British Columbia; I was a suburbanite Southerner whose dad talked about science and education much of my growing up years. He is very relational, a good story teller, laid back and consistent; I was rather individualist, sought and spouted facts, intense and spontaneous. Here we both were in the same school together pursuing similar goals in the summer of 1985. He graduated and went on to reach those goals; I went in diverse directions. Accents and slang were a topic of light-hearted poking- so many differences.
But when we began school we had an immediate camaraderie. We understood each other. We shared a common faith. Our wives enjoyed sharing conversation and every kind of tip for spouses and mothers. Our growing families played well together. We played together and worked together; ate together and talked together.
It’s so hard to keep up with people: distance, career, 5 or 6 children, interests and pursuits and years of separation. We kept up some but life is busy as they say. So what a pleasant surprise that they were coming from Saskatchewan to North Carolina for a conference, having a weekend on either end. How do you talk to someone after so long? We hardly even hesitated. There was so much to catch up on. On Saturday while the wives sipped tea and caught up he and I walked in the woods like we used to do. The conversation seemed to deepen the further we walked. It was a good weekend and a beginning of a better connection. The most important shared things, belief in God’s salvation and goodness, and aspirations to serve and glorify Him are not dimmed by years and distance. Perhaps we’ll stand side by side occasionally in eternity, remembering the circuitous paths of grace we took in God’s purposes for us and say, “We go way back”.
A Window on the Past
Good Fellowship and a Fair View
Believe it not, it's call "The Chimneys"
River 1500 feet below
Red-tailed Hawk along the road
Thoughts of Heaven
Posted in General, God Thoughts, God's Word, Song, Sustaining, tagged God Thoughts, God's Word, Songs, Sustaining on August 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »
…or “Heavenly Thoughts” (or at least I desire so) or “Random Musings on the Life and the Afterlife” (which is more likely).
A number of different positive and negative details have brought me to thinking more than a few thoughts about heaven lately. Beauty in nature, sermon comments, Scriptures I’ve read, and various quotes I’ve come across have been among the positive inputs, while governments’ foolishness, review of my purposefulness, and personal back pain have been pointed reminders that this is not my home.
One of my least liked sayings is quite common to high school and college students: “These are the best years of your life.” When I hear some evidently less than content adult say this to a young person I want to explain to them how their words are an invitation to suicide for some segment of the young people they are saying it to. If it doesn’t get any better than this with the yelling parents, the sneering peers, the self-accusing mindset, and the “you can never be good enough” and “indulge yourself” advertising, why continue living? In some ways the saying is of course legitimate and Solomon agrees: “Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood. And follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things. So, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting. Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no delight in them….The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.'” (Ecclesisastes 11:9-12:1,13-14) So he is advising that you put away vexation while you are young and healthy and enjoy life. But how do you do that with all of the accusing elements I mentioned before these verses? You acknowledge your Creator by enjoying life and following impulses according to what pleases Him and in consideration of the fact that you will be brought to account hearafter concerning all that you do.
If all there is, as the Naturalist and Post-modernist say, is this life then the quote my 3rd son found the other day is indeed apropos for all time: “The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; the pessimist fears this is true.” (Branch Cabell in “The Silver Stallion”). It is a bit humorous until you think about it a second time. If “it doesn’t get any better than this” and “If the dead are not raised [no heaven], let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (I Corinthians 15:32) So the optimist and pessimist and Naturalist and Post-modernist are claiming there is no heaven but they don’t really believe it. Under stress they call out for God and wish for heaven. And if they were correct it would render false this claim, “He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) And I affirm the truth of the Word of God and say “let God be found true, though every man be found a liar…” (Romans 3:4). But if man cannot find the work of God in the beginning, creation, or the end, heaven or hell, why even discuss these things? Modern man agrees with this statement and refuses to discuss anything that is not either from empirical evidence or personal feeling. But this is the very point of the statement that man can not discover God’s works from around him or within him but from God’s revelation only: “‘Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.’ For to us God revealed them through the Spirit…But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised…For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” (I Corinthians 2: 9-10, 14,16) These things not having entered the heart of man include the glories of heaven. The Spirit of God and the mind of Christ are one and the same, the discernment to understand and affirm the Word of God, the Bible. So by God’s revealed Word we understand that, as the song says, “Heaven is a wonderful place; filled with glory and grace; I want to see my Savior’s face; for heaven is a wonderful place.” That is indeed what makes heaven such a draw to His saints, not gold streets or reunions with loved ones or even lack of pain, but seeing His face. As Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”. (Matthew 5:8)
Someone might say at this point, “All this talk of heaven when there is so much to do on earth” or “Some people are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good.” But to be truly heavenly minded, that is aligned with the thoughts of God, will most certainly propel one to be of the most earthly good. “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (I John 3:2-3) Seeing God is our motivation for being pure in heart. The pure in heart will be at peace with God and at peace within themselves both of which cannot help but make them inclined toward pursuing peace in all their interactions with others. We cannot be pure of our own accord but “He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.” (I John 3:5-6) So we pursue holiness to please Him and to confirm and affirm our relationship with Him in anticipation of our sight of Him; this brings good to us and the world around us as we minister God’s goodness to the world. So denying the motivation and need for considering heaven not only lessens the holiness of the believer it lessens the value to all mankind. And Francis Bacon takes this up in another way, “They that deny a God destroy man’s nobility; for certainly man is of kin to the beasts in his body, and, if he be not kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature.” (“Essays”) Not only the help to man is denied him by not focusing on God (and by extension seeing His face one day), but also the very value of man as made in God’s image and one for whom Christ died to save, so that he becomes nothing more than “a base and ignoble creature.”
We are in fact commanded to focus upward. “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Whien Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4) The whole rest of chapter 3 and on to 4:6 Paul promotes consequences of this focus being holy living within oneself, toward others and toward God. When He is revealed; we also will be revealed with Him. As the hymn says,”When by the gift of His infinite grace, I am accorded in heaven a place, just to be there and to look on His face will through the ages be glory for me. O that will be glory for me, glory for me, glory for me. When by His grace I shall look on His face, that will be glory, be glory for me.”
In the description of heaven in Revelation 21 and 22 I again select verses especially focussed on His beauty and desirability to us. “And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.’ And He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’…I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life…There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 21: 3-5,22-27; 22:3-5) Why is there no pain and crying? He makes all things new. Why is there no night and no need of lighting? He lights them. What will we do there? We will enjoy Him and serve Him. Whose your Daddy then? “They shall be His people.”
But we are not home, yet, and so we look forward as it says in the Jeremy Camp song,
“I know the journey seems so long
You feel you’re walking on your own
But there has never been a step
Where you’ve walked out all alone
Troubled soul don’t lose your heart
Cause joy and peace he brings
And the beauty that’s in store
Outweighs the hurt of life’s sting
But I hold on to this hope and the promise that He brings
That there will be a place with no more suffering
There will be a day with no more tears
No more pain, and no more fears
There will be a day when the burdens of this place
Will be no more, we’ll see Jesus face to face
But until that day, we’ll hold on to you always”
We can say in the most desperate of times with Job, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another.” (Job 19:25-27)
How should we live until we leave? “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14) “Let love of the brethern continue.” (Hebrews 13:1) “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.” (Revelation 22:17) “Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” (I Thessalonians 4:17-18) ” I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (II Timothy4:7-8)
The God of heaven and His presence are worth dwelling on and living by in the light of His Word.
Costa Rica
Posted in Beauty, General, Outdoors, Photo, Travel, tagged Beauty, Outdoors, Photos, Travel on June 29, 2011| 2 Comments »
Five students, two parents, and I went on a tour of the natural beauty of Costa Rica from June 17-25. It was a very active tour walking, ziplining, horseback riding, walking, swimming in the ocean and in a lake, walking, swam in hot springs, and kayaking. The walks were never long but the destinations were great. We walked along a forest trail about 1 mile to get to a pristine beach where monkeys and raccoons stole food and backpacks. We walked perhaps 2 miles in the Cloud Forest above 5000′ where full sunlight rarely shines. We walked to town to eat or shop. We walked on the beach at the hotel. We walked and ran through airports. We walked down into a gorge to see a 150′ waterfall. We walked to the rim of an active volcano and looked at the cadera steaming. And we spent a good number of hours each day on a tour bus between events.
One of the many beauties of InBio Parque
Our Tour Director, Victor Carmona
Great Egret
Yellow-headed Caracara
Teacher and students of Escuela Cabella
Kayaking in sight of the Arenal Volcano
The continuously steaming caldera of Poas Volcano
There is a continuous burning place where those who reject God’s provision for sin will go, but there is also a place of paradise where His beloved, those who humbly accept His provision will be in His presence forever. Beauty and peace and joy here are only vague shadows of an eternity in the presence of God. We were made for fellowship with Him.
600 meter zipline
Beach at Manuel Atonio National Park
La Fortuna Waterfall
Everywhere beautiful flowers, butterflies, birds, mountains, beaches
San Jose at night from a rustic resturant
CreatorWorship 
Scoffing anticipated
Posted in Cultural commentary, General, Random thoughts, tagged Cultural commentary, Random thoughts on December 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Without a trace of homophobia and not a rant in sight, Rick Perry simply conveyed his beliefs about an example of where this country has gone wrong. The result should have been anticipated. He is not ashamed to call himself a Christian but many others are and more still hate the name of the God they try to live for. If you speak of a God of love but never challenge anyone with what is right or wrong you are not truly showing love. Instead you are condemning people to a hell that exists because they live on in the ignorance and defiance of their wickedness. You are in fact clinging to an idol or your own making, a god quite contrary to the God of the Bible. Are there other sins that secure a place for sinners in hell? Yes, all of them, but such ones as prostitution and murder are still generally recognized as wrong. Mr. Perry is simply pointing out a sin that has been forcibly deemed as acceptable in our society, even desirable. The “viral” response and hatred of such public discussion assures that such wickedness will persist and grow. Our nation is already paying the consequences of this denial of God’s truth along with many others. We are weakened by this and many other hatreds of God and His Law. Unless we repent as a nation and a large number turn to Christ as Savior, our days are numbered. I do not believe Mr. Perry is so ignorant as to not anticipate such a reaction, but he does know and hopes that the many who agree with him will stand up and say so before our nation is overrun with more wickedness than God will tolerate. The time is short.
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