CreatorWorship

All Sufficient Merit

December 18, 2011 by creatorworship

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.

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On You I Depend

December 10, 2011 by creatorworship

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-led

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Scoffing anticipated

December 10, 2011 by creatorworship

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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The Way of Science

November 18, 2011 by creatorworship

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 draws

I 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

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Banned vocabulary word

November 14, 2011 by creatorworship

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.

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Me

November 4, 2011 by creatorworship

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.

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When And His I

November 3, 2011 by creatorworship

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 face

Posted in General, Poem, Remembering, Strength, Sustaining | Tagged Poems, Remembering, Strength, Sustaining | 1 Comment »

A Warm Habit

October 30, 2011 by creatorworship

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!

Posted in General, Photo, Random thoughts, Remembering | Tagged Photos, Random thoughts, Remembering | 3 Comments »

Evidence That Christianity Is True

October 1, 2011 by creatorworship

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”

c. www.ntcanon.org

(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

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“We Go Way Back”

September 18, 2011 by creatorworship

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

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Thoughts of Heaven

August 6, 2011 by creatorworship

…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.

Posted in General, God Thoughts, God's Word, Song, Sustaining | Tagged God Thoughts, God's Word, Songs, Sustaining | Leave a Comment »

Costa Rica

June 29, 2011 by creatorworship

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

We traveled with two other student groups, one from Nebraska and one from Lancaster, PA. The Pennsylvania group particularly was advanced in Spanish and could communicate or translate with little trouble.

Great Egret

One afternoon we took a boat ride on a river near its mouth at the ocean. We went upstream and saw massive crocodiles and went downstream and saw to a mangrove forest. During the 1 1/2 hour ride I saw 22 different species of birds.

Yellow-headed Caracara

Another day we hiked down hundreds of steps to a waterfall. The rain threatened and sprinkled but as was the case with all but one event, it didn’t rain on us while we were outside. The one event was the planting of trees on a preserve at a high school. For obvious reasons I don’t have pictures of that because it rained hard.

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

The variety of what we saw and did made this a very enjoyable trip. Rather than sleep on the bus or just stare out the window, I took in the views but also journaled the events soon after they happened, some 30 pages. Victor was constantly conveying details of a cultural or biological or physical nature about Costa Rica. It is a landscape of tremendous natural resources: water, volcanic soil, tropical climate, a stable government, and people who seem happy and productive.

“Pura vida”, as they say in Costa Rica, or literally, “pure life”. It is there way of saying peace and contentment in all of life’s joys and struggles. May the light of God’s life be given unto you as I hope it might be for the people of Costa Rica.

La Fortuna Waterfall

Everywhere beautiful flowers, butterflies, birds, mountains, beaches

San Jose at night from a rustic resturant

Posted in Beauty, General, Outdoors, Photo, Travel | Tagged Beauty, Outdoors, Photos, Travel | 2 Comments »

His Sovereign Hand

June 9, 2011 by creatorworship

Spurred on by an intense discussion last evening I flowed over with these thoughts I hope will glorify the Gracious Sovereign of all existence.

You extend Your Sovereign hand

To choose those who will be Yours

Blessing and cursing each land

By where sounds salvation’s cures

It is You choosing troubles

Each good gift comes from above

All that You do enables

Fits your plan just like a glove

But how can it be this way?

Are you not both good and just?

That You would choose some to pay

While some hear Your name and trust?

It must be that He alone

Controls and chooses each thing

Or He is not God alone

All who choose are deciding

For this is a world of fear

If each one controls his fate

Each one is to god a peer

No one sufficiently great

Scripture reveals not this god

Created in man’s own form

To fairness we must him prod

To his weakness we can warm

The truth of Himself revealed

The exalted One is He

His benevolent rule sealed

His choice through grace makes us free

Posted in General, God Thoughts, Poem, Sustaining | Tagged God Thoughts, Poems, Sustaining | 1 Comment »

Colorful Treasure

April 23, 2011 by creatorworship

I can’t always get out to the woods for a hike so on the weekends I enjoy the more rugged parts of the greenway by the river in our town. I can’t say it is undisturbed because the environmental perturbation was and is causing far more briars, poison ivy, hedge, and honey suckle than ought to be. However, there are corners where the native species are returning, if only they can be ignored and let grow. And there were more flowers than my poor camera can focus on. I need a macrolense for the small ones…..

Trillium cuneatum, Sweet Betsy

Podophyllum peltatum, May Apple

…. you can barely see them. So small, so common,

so beautiful. The only difference in weeds and flowers is what you see in them. If you see something choking out your big, showy, bought, cared for flowers, it’s a weed. If it’s Spring and you are in the woods, it’s a wildflower.

I have some showy flowers in my yard and I enjoy them, but I like the wildflowers, too. God’s garden is beautiful in both places.

: Star Chickweed – Stellaria pubera

Posted in Beauty, General, Outdoors, Photo | Tagged Beauty, Outdoors, Photos | 1 Comment »

South Mountains in bloom

April 20, 2011 by creatorworship

Crested Dwarf Iris (Iris cristata)

The iris somewhat surprised me, not because of its presence but its ID. I had always thought is was the blue flag but this is blooming at the wrong time and living in far too dry a habitat. I am also amazed at the variety of plants called dog hobble. All these plants show tremendous variety and I just wonder what the “kinds” of

: American Buckeye (Aesculus glabra)

Genesis equate to.

: Dog Hobble (Leucothoe editorum)

: Rhododendron (R. catawbiense or R. carolinium?)

: Frazier Magnolia (Magnolia fraseri)

: Friends at High Shoals Falls

My blog is acting weird. It is installing pictures in the reverse order I put them on the screen. No matter. I am so thankful to be able to get out in the woods. I commented to one of the people who went that we were the odd people out.

: Red Trillium or Wakerobin (Trillium erectum)

She went with the guys and I went with the kids. Of course, they don’t like that title but if I’m the old man then they’re the kids.

: Foam Flower (Tiarella cordifolia)

I went on a hike in the South Mountains State Park with my son and four of his friends. The flowers are beginning their full show of the season declaring the glory of their Maker.

Red trillium differs from Sweet Betsy in that the former stand erect on a peduncle (stem) and the petals fan out while the latter has petals sticking straight up with no peduncle. The leaves of the Foam Flower remind me of something my mother used to pot. I wish I could remember what it was.

Posted in General, Outdoors, Photo | Tagged Outdoors, Photos | 4 Comments »

Nesting

April 16, 2011 by creatorworship

Have you heard the buzz? A bald eagle pair and three freshly hatched eaglets 80 feet above the ground in Decorah, Iowa are being videoed for the whole world to see 24/7 by webcam, color by day and IR by night. It’s cute and a bit gross (raptor feeding habits are a bit coarse). But most of all it’s wonderful to see God’s creatures in a way we really never did before. Check it out at http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles Like all of God’s creatures bald eagles give glory to Him. God illustrates this in various ways in His Word. His wisdom and power in creating and sustaining His creatures is a common theme: “Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars, stretching his wings toward the south? Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high? On the cliff he dwells and lodges, upon the rocky crag, an inaccessible place.” (Job 39:26-28) Even with our increased understanding of these creatures over what Job had we can neither make the eagle nor sustain him. But another theme common to Scripture is that of God’s care for His people in all times as similar to and above that of His care for His lesser creatures: “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions. The LORD alone guided him…” (Deuteronomy 32:11-12a).

Though not on so grand a scale, my students bought and installed a bluebird nesting box with camera and cord in conduit so that we can watch what is going on inside the nesting box. It is beginning to get interesting. We have all learned much about nesting, territorial, and brooding habits of the Eastern Bluebird. As a result of God’s power and wisdom in creating and sustaining the world and its creatures it all belongs to Him and depends on Him: “I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and all it contains.” (Psalm 50:11-12)

“The bird also has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even Your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God. How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising you.” Psalm 84:3-4 The birds find and reside where they are supposed to be and so should we- in God’s presence, praising Him who is worthy by reason of His greatness and goodness as Creator, Sustainer, Lord, King, Savior, and all that is superlative and lifted up.

(The middle of this video is a bit tedious but as the popular saying now goes, “wait for it, wait for it.”)

Posted in General, God Thoughts, Outdoors, Photo, Sustaining | Tagged God Thoughts, Outdoors, Photos, Sustaining | Leave a Comment »

Them to Jesus

March 19, 2011 by creatorworship

Jesus came to save the whole man so it should seem obvious that we should present Jesus as the Savior of the whole man and appeal to the whole man, body, mind, and spirit. The inside is blackened by the sin nature and sin; the person was created in the image of God. May His Spirit reach more people through us and we pursue the whole man.

Them to Jesus

Love them to Jesus

Smile and be kind

Pray for them often

Peace they may find

Point them to Jesus

Speak to their mind

Challenge them to think

Wisdom to find

Call them to Jesus

Problems unwind

Teach them the Scripture

Answers to find

Take them to Jesus

From lonely grind

Love from the Savior

Relationship find

Posted in General, God Thoughts, Poem | Tagged God Thoughts, Poems | 4 Comments »

More burial carvings

February 27, 2011 by creatorworship

What do we have here? Oh, just the trimmings on a burial stone of Richard Bell (1410-1496) in Carlisle Cathedral. Curious though how those beasts look like Apatosaurs. http://creation.com/bishop-bells-brass-behemoths

Wow! That’s 350 years before dinosaur bones were dug up in mass or called dinosaurs.

Check out the drawing of a North American Anasazi Indian in a cave: http://www.genesispark.com/genpark/ancient/ancient.htm

Look at the websites for more drawings of creatures the evolutionists say didn’t exist when the drawings were made.

Posted in Creation Articles, General, Photo, Science | Tagged Creation Articles, Photos, Science | 1 Comment »

Paris deux

February 24, 2011 by creatorworship

Napoleon III's smoking parlor at the Louvre

I had traveled six years ago to Montana at no cost. As a single income teacher I haven’t much disposable income. The bills are paid and I have no complaint about God’s provision. In fact this is a testimony to His abundant provision. After those six years I began to think over a week’s time about traveling again. So I ask my Heavenly Father if He would provide me with another trip, adding that I would be content if no trip occurred. Less than two weeks later the company I am traveling with to Costa Rica this summer called to sell me on pursuing a student trip since I had e-mailed desire to find out about such things several years earlier. It was obviously a sales pitch from their perspective but I chose to see it as an answer to prayer and an encouragement to my faith. I’m not pushing health and wealth lifestyle but we may ask and God is very generous. Then I find out that the company also has training tours for first time group leaders and that is why I went to Paris. I prayed for and was given many opportunities to testify to God’s goodness, the Gospel, His power, and the need for faith. It was a good trip in many respects. Enjoy the pictures.

Emperor Trajan

Stone of the Catacombs listing martyrs' names and Chi Rho at center

Code of Hammurabi ca.1750 BC

Coffee Shop near the Naval Academy

Birds in the hair are the style, right?

Sword of Charlemayne

The Gardens of Versailles

Hall of Mirrors

Notre Dame Cathedral

Eifel Tower

Posted in General, Photo, Travel | Tagged Photos, Travel | 1 Comment »

Paris!!

February 22, 2011 by creatorworship

I just got back from a quick trip to Paris! Leaving on Thursday morning I arrived in Paris at 7:50 AM Paris time. We began tour immediately, meaning I went on about 4 hours sleep in a 30 hour day. We visited all the sites and I didn’t have to pay for plane, meals, sites, or hotel. Looking down the Champs Elysees to the Arch de Triomphe to the west and the Louvre to the east, I was amazed to be there. I ran all over the Louvre in four hours from ancient Greek and Roman statuary to Reformation paintings. I saw the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory of Samothrace, Venus de Milo, statues of the Caesars, winged bulls of the Assyrians, the Code of Hammurabi, the apartments of Napoleon III, Medieval. Renssaince, and Reformation paintings. I went up in the Eifel Tower, down along the Seine River, later in a night boat ride around the islands of Paris and down to the Eifel Tower. I visited three cathedrals, Versailles and its gardens, walked up Montmarte artist district, ate in the Latin Quarter, navigated the Metro, and flew internationally for the first time, and more. Check out a few of my pictures.