Hearts set on You

Some time ago I wrote about building a house and I believed in many ways God was helping us to build the temporal house we are living in. When I looked to the left He was there, and to the right… there He was. I feel warm and fuzzy just thinking about it. It seemed as though His unseen hands were guiding us through the process and bring every aspect and detail to completion.

And then suddenly last summer all that came to a grinding halt. Our builder left town and we had to get other contractors to quote and finish the work. Many of the contractors we contacted to quote on the work weren’t available. Of the ones that were available many submitted quotes or estimates that were extremely high. Of the ones that weren’t ridiculous many wouldn’t show up to do the work or would do a bit here and then disappear. The contractors that did what they said were precious few. Most didn’t show up when they said they would or made mistakes or forgot to do what we asked or didn’t return my phone calls. Sometimes I had to phone them every, single day to get things done.

Now I don’t want to scare anyone off who’s thinking of building. There are many houses that are built with minimal issues I’m sure. Maybe the completion date is extended but the house gets built right and close to budget. And at the end of the project when you move in you open the door and there’s a bouquet of flowers and a card from the builder. You open the card and it says “Thanks for choosing No Hassel Contracting. You paid me to build your house so I could take care of all of the issues and deal with all the subtrades because I’ve done this a million times before and I know you haven’t. I also know you are already busy enough with your career to phone people every single day and schedule time to meet with people at your late, partially completed house only to have them not show up and reschedule with you. Enjoy your new home!”

There was a time in this project where my wife said she wouldn’t build again in the future or if we went back in time and had this choice again. I said at the time I wouldn’t build a house again but if I were to go back in time and had this particular choice again I would. Today I can say I hope we never build again. Not now or in the future. Even if I could somehow bend space and time and go back with my present memories I wouldn't do it then either.

I realize I’ve probably learned a lot through this process and I know I have a collection of amusing self-deprecating anecdotes that I can make use of at parties to stimulate conversation or just to get a group of people chuckling but honestly I wish I had the last 6 months of my life back. I lost a summer with my family dealing with this.

Today, I realized what one of my problems is. A little while ago I was venting to a friend at work and I wasn’t convicted of what I said until now. I explained my frustration at not being able to get this house finished and compared it to my work. At work I have the money and resources of my company at my disposal and so to finish a project I can allocate thousands of dollars to get it done. If I needed more than my spending limit I would just put in a request and get more money. If a contractor didn’t meet my timeline or expectations I would just get a new one and they’d be sharper next time. But at home my finances and influence are severely limited and so I feel handcuffed to the contractors who I think will do a good job for a reasonable price. Or I try to do as much work as I can by myself.

I read this today:

Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie;
if weighed in a balance, they are nothing;
together they are only a breath.

Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods;
though your riches increase do not set your heart on them.
One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard:

That You O God are strong, and that You O Lord are loving,
Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done. - Psalm 62:9-12

I say with my mouth that I trust God but my heart, in this case, is set on my money and influence. What has been useful to me in the past is a random wave or moving sand.
God warns the priests of exactly this in Malachi

“And now this admonition is for you O priests, if you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honour my name,” says the Lord Almighty. “I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings, Yes I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honour me.” - Malachi 2:1-2

If I truly trust in the Lord I have confidence in His infinite power. Through Him I can do all things and He controls mens hearts like water in the palm of His hand it goes wherever He turns it. God let my heart be water in your hand.

You always hurt the ones you love

Faithful are the wounds of a friend,But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. – Proverbs 27:6

Some years ago a friend of mine was driving by my house and as he drove by he said he saw my four year old son running from our house towards the road. At the same moment my oldest son, who was seven, saw him running towards the road and either recognized the danger or just knew that they weren’t allowed to go out on the road. So he bolted after him.

Common sense would tell you to catch up to the little 4 yr old boy, grab him by the shoulders and turn him around and walk him back to the house right?

Well, what actually happened was… my oldest ran after his younger brother and just as they both neared the end of the driveway he leapt into the air and tackled him.

Pursuer and prey concluded the brief run in a heap. But when they got back up instead of tears and fighting they both just got up and turned around and ran back to the house.

As a father I try and not mess my kids up too much. But before I had kids I promised myself that my kids would be tough. So If my oldest had some minor scrape or bruise I never showed any sympathy. I didn’t want him to be one of those kids who constantly whine or just cry to get attention.

Unfortunately, as he grew up I realized the result of this half-baked strategy was that I now had a boy with a high pain tolerance and basically zero empathy. This is a frightening combination. Once I realized my mistake, of course I changed my approach but most of all I'm thankful to God that he has grown up to be a mature and considerate young man.

I reminded him of this story when he turned fourteen and encouraged him to not lose this reckless concern for his siblings and hopefully they will understand that he cares about them even if he has to tackle them.

Metaphorically speaking of course.

My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor detest His correction; - Prov 3:11

Peacemakers

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 5:9-10

Since World War II Canada has sent soldiers on many peacekeeping missions. At first glance this may seem relatively safe but its not. Its dangerous and complicated.

A few years ago I brought a young man out for a visit to one of my farms. He was a Canadian soldier who had served in Afghanistan. It was a cool fall day and it was raining lightly. The employees on site were feeding the fish. I remember the first thing he said as we stepped out onto the cages and he had a look around.

“This is a calm workplace”, he said

I looked at him to try and judge what he meant “Well, no one’s shooting at us here if that’s what you mean”

I don’t envy anyone who has to keep the peace between two belligerents or a warlord and his prey. To stand out in the open and only be able to defend yourself after you’ve been shot at or bombed, or to watch atrocities while you wait for politicians thousands of miles away decide what to do or not do. I can’t even imagine how hard that would be.

Today and all year long I am thankful for the soldiers who have stood up to protect us in whatever mission they’ve been given whether peacekeeping or all out war.

Peacekeeping has its place when an army hasn’t been given the authority to attack another nation. But I find that the Church in North America seems to be on a unauthorised peacekeeping mission. We tend to stay in our camps and watch the world burning all around us. We might get involved in a small skirmish here and there but for some reason we stay out of the war.

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace - Imagine, John Lennon

In his song, John Lennon described a place with no heaven, no hell, no religion and people “living for today”. The government of North Korea is trying to make that a reality. There is no peace in North Korea for the church to keep.

Peacemaking is the church’s only option and this at the risk of their lives. Here we have the option to live our private lives and observe the world. The worrisome truth is that we have been given the authority and orders to fight. At best we supply money and arms to our brothers and sisters in the trenches and let them fight their guerrilla war.

I have a feeling that someday while we are saying “peace and safety” destruction will come on us suddenly. Part of me fears that day and hopes it will happen long after I am dead and gone. Another part of me aches for that day when I am forced out of mediocrity and tepid Christianity.

Quid obscurum, quid divinium

Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh - Galatians 3:3

How do we gain victory in our lives? Whether victory for our souls, over sin, for God’s work or for those we love?

No battlefield is more synonymous with defeat than Waterloo and of course, defeat for the Emperor Napoleon meant a great victory for the Duke of Wellington.

Even though the British and allies occupied the high ground and had a more complete understanding of the battlefield they were losing the battle and facing certain destruction until something happened to change the course of history.

Here are some excerpts from Les Miserables on this great battle.

“Two hostile armies on a battlefield are two wrestlers. It is a body-grip. One tries to throw the other; they cling to everything; a thicket is a basis; an angle in the wall is a breastwork; for want of a village to support it, a regiment gives way; a fall in the plain, a transverse hedge is a good position, a wood, a ravine, may arrest the heel of that column which is called an army, and prevent its slipping. The one who leaves the field is beaten; and hence the necessity for the responsible chief to examine the smallest clump of trees, and investigate the slightest rise in the ground.

A certain amount of tempest is always mingled with a battle, quid obscurum, quid divinium. Every historian traces to some extent the lineament that pleases him in the hurly-burly. Whatever the combination of the generals may be, the collision of armed masses has incalculable ebbs and flows; in action the two plans of the leaders enter into each other and destroy their shape. The line of battle floats and winds like a thread, the streams of blood flow illogically, the fronts of armies undulate, the regiments in advancing or retiring form capes or gulfs, and all these reefs are continually shifting their position; where infantry was, artillery arrives; where artillery was, cavalry dashes in; the battalions are smoke. There was something there, but when you look for it, it has disappeared; the gloomy masses advance and retreat; a species of breath from the tomb impels, drives back, swells and disperses those tragic multitudes. What is a battle? An oscillation. The immobility of a mathematical plan expresses a minute and not a day. To paint a battle, those powerful painters who have chaos in their pencils are needed. Rembrandt is worth more than Vandermeulin, for Vandermeulin exact at midday, is incorrect at three o’clock. Geometry is deceived, and the hurricane alone is true, and it is this that gives Folard the right to contradict Polybius.

About four o’clock the English line fell back all at once; nothing was visible on the crest of the plateau but artillery and sharpshooters, the rest had disappeared. The regiments, expelled by the French shell and cannon balls, fell back into the hollow, which at the present day is intersected by the lane that runs to the farm of Mont St. Jean. A retrograde movement began, the English front withdrew. Wellington was recoiling. “It is the beginning of the retreat,” Napoleon cried.

The man who had been somber at Austerlitz was gay at Waterloo. The greatest predestined men offer these contradictions, for our joys are a shadow, and the supreme smile belongs to God. Ridet Caesar, Pompeius flebit, the legionnaires of the Fulminatrix legion used to say. On this occasion Pompey was not destined to weep, but it is certain that Caesar laughed.

At mid-day, the Emperor had been the first to notice through his telescope, on the extreme horizon, something which fixed his attention, and he said, “I see over there a cloud which appears to me to be troops.” Then he asked the Duke of Dalmatia, “Soult, what do you see in the direction of Chappelle Saint Lambert?” The Marshall, after looking through his telescope, replied, “Four or five thousand men, Sire.” It was evidently Grouchy; still they remained motionless in the mist. All the staff examined the cloud pointed out by the Emperor, and some said, “They are columns halting”; but the majority were of the opinion that they were trees. The truth is that the cloud did not move, and the Emperor detached Doncoul’s division of light cavalry to reconnoiter in the direction of this dark point.

Bülow, in fact, had not stirred, for his vanguard was very weak and could effect nothing. He was obliged to wait for the main body of the army, and had orders to concentrate his troops before forming line; but at five o’clock, Blücher, seeing Wellington’s danger, ordered Bülow to attack, and employed the remarkable phrase, “We must let the English army breathe” A short time after, Losithin’s, Hiller’s, Hacke’s, and Ryssel’s brigades deployed in front of Lobau’s corps, the cavalry of Prince William of Prussia debouched from the Bois de Paris, Plancenoit was in flames, and the Prussian cannon balls began pouring even upon the ranks of the guard held in reserve behind Napoleon.” – Excerpts from Les Miserables

Wellington held the high ground at Waterloo and when Napoleon advanced against him his infantry poured up a hill and came across an unexpected ravine. The men at the front of the column poured into the ravine and this disaster continued until their bodies filled it to the brim. The remaining troops walked over the human bridge and continued their advance. Even so the Allies were still likely doomed but they fought bravely for every bit of ground. Until a new force arrived “and the Prussian cannon balls began pouring even upon the ranks of the guard held in reserve behind Napoleon.”.

If the Prussian armies though weak, were able to come to the aid of Wellington, how much more will our God who is Omnipotent be able to fight for us when we are weak and unable to defend ourselves? We stand, we fight, we fall and get back up but ultimately our victory comes through Christ Jesus. In his retelling of Waterloo, Victor Hugo described the importance of knowing the battlefield but when the battle finally erupted it became a chaotic tempest. Unpredictable and almost impossible to even tell what was happening. In the end it was his firm belief that it was decided by God. “quid obscurum, quid divinium”. What darkness, what divine. The battle belongs to Lord. Whatever we do whether great or small we should pray and ask for God’s help and will in everything.

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 15:56-57

Drum Phil

I must have some unconfessed pride in my life right now because I usually get brought down a notch when I do. The instrument of my humility on this occasion was the medley of songs we played in our church.

To understand this fully, you will need to know a few things about me. First of all I’m an introverted perfectionist. So this basically means I like to think about my expressions before expressing them. I want everything I do to be perfect, which of course it never is, and so usually by the time I’ve come up with the right thing to say or do the moment has passed forever. A great deal of everything else I regret. I will lie on my bed at night and sigh about something minor that happened decades ago.

Music of course is expression and with most musical expression the average listener will allow a middling musician to arrive at a note a ½ second early or near perfect tone but that doesn’t really work with percussion. If you’re not perfect everyone knows it and I am the imperfect percussionist in our worship team. At times I struggle with a song or two but can usually do well in general.

Sometimes, to enhance the message of the song, the worship leader will change the tempo of the song. My personal favourite is to slow the tempo down at the end of the chorus real worshipful like and then to start the next verse at full speed again. This is fun for the drummer because he has to guess how to slow down with the group and then read the leader’s mind to figure out when to start again and at what tempo. If the drummer doesn’t get it right he will usually add a half bar of kick beats in to get back in step. But if he loses his cool he sometimes starts to play chaotically or he stops altogether. It happens.

I’ve changed the drummers name to protect what’s left of his confidence. We’ll call the poor fellow… Phil.

There was no logical explanation for what happened. Before practice Phil was relaxed and joking with the other musicians.

“How can you tell if the stage is level?”, The Euphonium player asked Phil.

“I dunno”, says Phil.

“There’s drool on both sides of the drum kit. Haw! Haw!”, he laughs.

The Euphonium player’s wife, who was in the kitchen getting the coffee started, overheard the conversation and stuck up for Phil, “Hey, what about Euphonium players?”

“Yeah, the only drool I’ve seen is from your instrument”, Phil shot back.

All joking aside, practice before the service went off without a hitch. Phil felt comfortable and played all the songs with ease. All the songs were 4/4 no 3/4, no 6/8 or 7/4. Simple.

The worship leader started the first song and Phil kept time for precisely two bars and then something horrible happened. He began to drift from the beat. Phil and the song were like two windshield washers moving at slightly different speeds. Dragging slightly then rushing ahead but never quite matching the song’s tempo. Sometimes, there is a split second when you realize that you’ve added something extra or left something out and it feels like a great fingernail scratching across a blackboard in your mind. But one extra beat or the lack of one no one else will notice, as long as you come back when everyone expects you to.

But Phil didn’t come back when anyone expected him to.

“One and two and three and four and”, Phil counted to himself and stared through the ceiling up to the heavens above.

In every congregation there is a group of people who can’t clap. Yes there is. If you don’t know this you’re likely one of them. These people, if they’re loud enough, can be an annoyance to a drummer. Today, even the off-clappers were looking at Phil wondering what was up. They stared as if to say “Hey we may not be clapping on the 2 or 4 but we’re clapping around the 1 and 3 and we can’t even tell what you’re doing”

He continued to play but didn’t get any better. Rattled and wanting to run, the blood was leaving his extremities and rushing to his head and chest. At this point even if his mind could pick up the timing of the song and resume sending instructions to his limbs they couldn’t do what they were being asked to do with no oxygen.

“Oh God please let this song be over soon”, Phil prayed

The song ended but the beat went on. Phil’s instructor had once told him to visualize something when he plays. If you’re playing something light and beautiful think of something beautiful like a silver moon hanging in a starry sky. If you’re playing something funky maybe think of an old growth tree with gnarled roots in a mossy forest floor. When Phil closed his eyes he saw the same thing as when they were wide open, a darkening red vortex spinning counter clockwise. In the calm before the next song he took a deep breath and recalled his mantra for this scenario “Keep it simple, no fills, no extra 16th notes, quarter notes on the hi-hat and ½ notes on the snare and kick”.

There may be a day in the future when Phil would play every beat in perfect time, every crash of the cymbal eloquently placed, but it would not be this day. This day Phil was like a boat adrift on the ocean and there was nothing he could do about it. The rest of the group bravely soldiered on but they had clearly lost faith in Phil’s timing. Phil searched for someone in the mix that was keeping time that he could grab onto and fall in beside.

There was no satisfactory conclusion for Phil, there were moments when he got it right and sometimes he strung several moments together to make up a few bars but barely. I’m not sure if he’ll ever recover from this. He may never play in church again. You may think him melodramatic but I can tell you that I can imagine exactly how he must’ve felt. To be subjected to that for 30mins and not know why or when it will happen again. I certainly wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t want to go through that again.

Apart from God I can do nothing. I think that’s the lesson for me. So often I say to God “I’ve got it from here” When really I need Him every day. Even for the simplest things. Maybe instead of “Oh God please let the song be over” the prayer should’ve been “God please give me your strength to get through this”. I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him. - 1 John 5:13 – 15

Contend, O LORD with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me. Take up shield and buckler; arise and come to my aid. Brandish spear and javelin against those who pursue me. Say to my soul, “I am your salvation.” – Psalm 35:1-3

Slave to sin or slave to righteousness?

I’ve been reading Romans 3 – 10 over and over and I’ve gotten hung up on what seems like a contradiction when I read Romans 6 – 8 in sequence. This portion of his letter to the Romans is extraordinary when you compare it to what Paul says before and afterwards.

In Romans 7:18-19 Paul was unable to do the good that he wanted to and forced to do evil but he’s comfortable telling the Romans in chapter 6
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? - Romans 6:1-2

In Romans 7:23-25 sin was dwelling in Paul, holding his body captive and forcing him to sin but the chapter before he wrote this… “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.” – Romans 6:6-7

And

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. – Romans 6:12-14

Did Paul as a Christian once justified, crucified with Christ and walking in the Spirit serve God with his mind but continue to serve sin with his body?

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. – Romans 6:3-4
Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:11

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. – Romans 6:16-18

How can Paul tell the Romans to use their bodies as slaves of righteousness if he himself wasn’t set free from sin?

I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. – Romans 6:19
But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:22-23

The only possible explanation I can think of is that it isn’t a contradiction but a contrast. Its possible that Paul presented the truths out of sequence to highlight the differences between our old lives and our new lives in Christ. In Romans 6 he clearly states the believer is dead to sin and in Romans 7 he uses an illustration of a woman married to one man becoming free to marry another when her first husband dies. He describes the sinner as locked in a struggle with sin. And then in chapter 8 the believer is once again not controlled by the sinful nature but by the Spirit of God.

You however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit. If the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you. - Romans 8:9-11

Lovely mammon

I have always viewed the parable found in Luke 16 as a curiosity. In this case what Jesus said seemed to contradict what I believed. So I ignored it.

Here it is see what you think…

Now He was also saying to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. And he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.'

"The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. 'I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.'

"And he summoned each one of his master's debtors, and he began saying to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' "And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.' "Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'

"And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.

He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. "Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? "And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?

No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other You cannot serve God and wealth."

Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.

The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.

Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery. - Luke 16:
1-18

Quite a few years ago I heard a speaker read this parable. He said what he believed it meant is that we need to be good stewards of our money. And part of being a good steward meant being crafty with our money if we did that then we'd be successful on Earth.

Honestly, that didn't sit well with me and I think that doesn't agree with Scripture.

I've also heard it said that the unjust person in the parable was not steward but the rich man who dismissed him on hearsay or a false accusation. But that doesn't explain why Jesus seems to contradict himself when on one hand he says "And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations." and then he tears into the Pharisees for being lovers of money followed by the strangely random statement at the end about divorce. There has to be more to it than this?

I've done a pretty good job of ignoring this parable for about 8 years but it has irritated me like a pebble in my shoe. This past summer I redoubled my efforts to shake it out. So I spent a lot of time praying about and meditating on it.

I think the parable is about the Pharisees. Jesus makes this pretty clear when he says “"You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.”

The Pharisees could see that they were being removed from the stewardship of God’s word and it was being passed to another. I can only assume that they were trying to hold onto their influence with the Jewish people by reinterpreting God’s word. I believe Jesus was being sarcastic when He said to them make friends by unrighteous mammon because you can’t serve both and you have lost your place as stewards of the Word.

It’s possible that they were telling people that it was ok to divorce their wives but Jesus was saying that it would be easier for them to move heaven and earth than to change one letter in God’s law. It's also possible he was chastising them by way of analogy for divorcing God and attaching themselves to mammon.

This is a good warning for the church today we’ve made lots of convenient interpretations to God’s Word to satisfy itching ears. I want to go to a church where I feel warm and fuzzy when I walk out the door. I don’t want to be convicted or challenged. It’s ok to have lots of money while others can’t eat. It’s ok to sin. It’s ok to live for myself. In fact God wants us all to be rich and healthy, if someone isn’t then they must not have enough faith or they're not doing God’s will. If I'm rich isn't that proof that I have God's blessing?

That’s garbage “that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God”

Did Jesus say, “in this world you will have health, peace or prosperity?”

No He said we would have trouble but “everyone is forcing his way into (the gospel)”

God's rest

This thought has brought me comfort recently.

There is a scene from The Return of the King that I will never forget. Pippin and Gandalf are in a courtyard within the city of Minas Tirith. The city is falling and being overrun. Gandalf and Pippin with drawn swords are preparing themselves for the final assault while their enemies pound on the gates outside.

Pippin looks at Gandalf in despair, “I didn’t think it would end like this”

Gandalf who had been watching the gate with concern turns to Pippin ”End?” and then as he looks at Pippen, he added softly, “no the journey doesn’t end here”

“Death is just another path, one that we all must take ...
The grey rain curtain of this world rolls back and all turns to silver glass
And then you see it…”

“What Gandalf?” Pippin pleads “See what?”

Gandalf looks off into the distance, “White shores… and beyond… a far green country under a swift sunrise”

Into the west – Annie Lennox

Lay down
Your sweet and weary head
Night is falling you have come to journey’s end

Sleep now
And dream of the ones who came before
They are calling from across the distant shores

Why do you weep?
What are these tears upon your face?

Soon you will see
All of your fears will pass away

Safe in my arms
You’re only sleeping

What can you see on the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea a pale moon rises
The ships have come to carry you home

And all will turn to silver glass
A light on the water
All souls pass

Hope fades
Into the world of night
Through shadows falling out of memory and time

Don’t say
We have come now to the end
White shores are calling, you and I will meet again

And you’ll be here in my arms
Just sleeping

What can you see on the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea a pale moon rises
The ships have come to carry you home

And all will turn to silver glass
A light on the water
All souls pass
Into the west

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. - Psalm 34:18

But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days. - Daniel 12:13

God is gracious

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.
Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding,
Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you. - Psalm 32:8-9

Do you ever feel like you're spinning your wheels. Working hard trying to get somewhere and no matter how hard you try you can't get there? Sometimes it even feels as if you're going backwards?

I recently read a book about Hannibal, the Carthaginian general who put the entire Roman empire on its heels and filled the city of Rome with fear. Arguably the greatest military commander the world has ever seen, he brought a coalition army complete with cavalry and elephants across the alps and invaded Italy. In one single battle he wiped out an army of 100,000 men. To put this in perspective the Americans sent 80,000 soldiers to Iraq to defeat Saddam can you imagine the fear and dismay if that army had been wiped out? Not one single survivor.

Obviously, the people of Rome were terrified and this is the reason for the saying "Hannibal at the gates!" History proves Rome's eventual victory over Carthage. Not by greater effort. Not by attrition. But by a new strategy emplyed by a General named Scipio with a new perspective.

Scipio conscripted farmers to repopulate the Roman army and instead of throwing them against Hannibal hoping for a different result he took them to Spain and fought and defeated Hannibal's allies there. After Spain he made a pact with the Numidians in Africa and marched on Carthage in modern day Tunisia.

With his home in danger Hannibal was forced to return to defend it. With Spain in Roman hands Hannibal couldn't return overland the way he came. Instead his army was loaded onto ships in Italy and sailed across the Mediterranean. No room for the horses of his deadly Numidian cavalry so they were left behind. Since Scipio had made peace with the Numidians there would be no calvary there to take their place. Africa would be the grave of Hannibal's "barbarian horde" and the city of Carthage razed. For his victory Scipio would receive the moniker "Africanus".

Sometimes I feel like I'm gripping the wheel too tightly and I've got the pedal to the floor. I'm going nowhere and the harder I try the more the wheels spin. In the rear view mirror all I see is smoke. Scipio had the wisdom to try something different, we have the wisdom of God. The relationship between work and results isn't linear. At best its a logarithmic curve that begins to degrade once I hit my limit. Or maybe that's just how it feels.

And so I stop and breathe.

God is gracious. His strength made perfect in my weakness. His will is perfect, and so is His timing and sequence. God has chosen fools to have understanding and guides us with His eye.

For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You in a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near him.
You are my hiding place;
You shall preserve me from trouble;
You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah - Psalm 32:6-7

Choose your diversion

My family and I took a realignment cruise from LA to Vancouver last year. We had high expectations of a fun, relaxing and er...well, cheap 3 day sail. We boarded our vessel shortly after the Swine flu hysteria had begun. And one of my least favourite memories of this trip was standing on the deck waiting for and then having a safety briefing. At the end of it I actually felt less safe, I felt if there was a real emergency that we would all drown before we could get organized and into our lifeboats. I did learn a valuable lesson though. I learned how to make a group of kindly-looking senior citzens turn militant.

It's actually pretty simple, here's what you do:

1. Have all 2,000 passengers try to board the ship at exactly the same time so they have to wait in line for hours. Ensure there are only a few seats in the waiting area. This is actually better than no seats because invariably some 30 something couples and their annoying children will be the first to grab these seats. This will be like the first breath over the dark coals of rage.

2. As they board the vessel spritz each person's hands with a bleach solution. This will actually accomplish two things; It will frustrate them that the whole delay appears to be due to a mix of poor organization and your ineffectual "enhanced" hygiene. It will also irritate their sensative skin. If you're lucky they will rub their eyes.

3. If they don't smoke make sure their room smells like a wet ash tray.

4. Force them to take part in a mandatory safety briefing on an outside deck. Make sure it's difficult to find and get to their muster station. Don't start the briefing until every single person has arrived. Make sure there is nowhere to sit down comfortably.

5. The captain can do part of the briefing using the intercom but large parts should be spoken by the individual cruise attendant and this part is important... he or she should not have a microphone.

6. When it comes to the attendant's directions, there are two schools of thought. One is to have the attendant speak quietly the whole time. The other, which I prefer, is to have the attendant alternate speaking loudly with long sequences of intelligble speech interspersed. This can prove particularly effective if you start with the quiet part and then in a loud and clear voice end with "... and if you don't do it precisely this way you will die"

7. At some point you will reach the tipping point. Previously friendly and optimistic elderly ladies and gentlemen will begin to yell, "We can't HEAR YOU!". You must ignore their cries until their malevolent discontent turns to jeers. When that happens you're done. Quickly dismiss everyone.

This experience will prove so uncomfortable and frustrating that for the rest of the trip your poor service and hidden costs will seem insignificant in the stark light of this first experience.

Of course I didn't actually enjoy seeing the elderly people suffer like this. At the time if there was anything I could do (other than giving up our seats in the waiting room) I would've done it in a heartbeat. Ok, I'm kidding about the seats too. I respect my elders but I see it as a picture of how I sometimes view my Christian life.

Sometimes I feel like I'm somehow entitled to a certain life. The world constantly tells us that life is all about getting an education, becoming sucessful, getting married (or not), having children (or not), entertaining ourselves, retiring early. It's almost as if we're on a cruise where we get to choose our diversions and if the ship breaks out with Norwalk or the steak is overcooked I want my money back. I'm like the little sunburnt kid stamping my feet on the deck. I'm hungry and bored and someone put too much chlorine in the pool.

So many people are itching to hear from "prophets" who preach prosperity. "God wants you to have that (promotion/success/new car/etc.)" They quote proofs from the Old Testament while ignoring the experience of the early church in the New.

Now I'm not saying everyone is like that, I see people working hard at their faith, helping their brothers and sisters. And I'm not saying its wrong to enjoy life but to pray for God's will to be done as Jesus taught us. I think the idolatry of hedonism has crept into the church.

I've been reading 1 John this week and it's a powerful message of how children of God ought to live, here's a sample.

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. - 1 John 1:5

He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. - 1 John 2:10-11

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. - 1 John 2:15

But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. - 1 John 3:17-18

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. - 1 John 5:14-15

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. - 1 John 5:21

Chaff in the wind

It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria;and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi). And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. So Judah gathered together to ask help from the LORD; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD. - Chronicles 20:1-4

Have you ever wondered why it seems that God sometimes works a miracle and sometimes He doesn't? Why is that?

When this happens in my own life I always find myself wondering if there is anything I can be do? Pray harder? More often? More fervently? Is there something else?

Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the LORD.

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly.

And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.”

And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with voices loud and high.

So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:

“Praise the LORD,
For His mercy endures forever.”

Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped - 2 Chronicles 20:13-24

I don't know for sure How God works but 3 things come to mind when I read about this event:
1) The people all came together to petition God

2) They believed in God and sang praises to Him

3) When they began to sing and praise Him He set invisible ambushes for their enemies

“Look, I go forward, but He is not there,
And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;

When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him;
When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.

But He knows the way that I take;
When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. - Job 23:8-10

Plead my cause, O LORD, with those who strive with me;

fight against those who fight against me.
Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my help.

Also draw out the spear, and stop those who pursue me.
Say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”

Let those be put to shame and brought to dishonor who seek after my life;
Let those be turned back and brought to confusion who plot my hurt.

Let them be like chaff before the wind, and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
Let their way be dark and slippery, and let the angel of the LORD pursue them. - Psalm 35:1-6

For since the beginning of the world
Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear,
Nor has the eye seen any God besides You,
Who acts for the one who waits for Him. - Isaiah 64:4

Unspoken

I kill the children before they're born
As their little feet begin to form
Don't buy them shoes, they won't be worn
I kill the children, I am not scorned - Fiend or foul

Between 1933 and 1945 Hitler's Nazi's killed approximately 1.5 million children http://www.auschwitz.dk/docu/Faq.htm. The cold efficiency with which they carried it out is horrifying. Canadian hospitals and clinics are coming close to this number with 1,059,925 million unborn children aborted between 1996 and 2005.

I think its crazy that I live in a political world where people who share my opinion of abortion are seen as dangerous and narrow-minded.

I remember travelling home from work one day in the crew boat and one of the guys who liked to "stir the pot" (as well as smoke it) all of a sudden said "hey Jimmy what do you think of abortion?"

Now this guy was commonly referred to as "dirtbag". Ok you're probably wondering how a guy goes about earning an unfortunate handle like that. Well, he had an unfortunate habit of seducing guy's girfriends. I don't like to call people names so I'll refer to him as Mister "D".

There were also 5 or 6 other guys in the boat and one of the guys had brought his Brazilian girlfriend out for the day. Anyway, I guess the crew boat ride was too boring for Mr D because he already knew my opinion about abortion but when he asked the question he looked at me expectantly with a wry smile creeping across his face. I had no idea what to say.

If I said it was a woman's right to choose I would be lying. If I said it was wrong, he would shout "En garde, you patriarchal religious fiend!" and debate me into a corner with one hand tied behind his back. Defeated, my head low and the crowd howling for blood he would deliver the killing blow. All of this of course would play out in front of this woman who would be thankful that he stood up for women's rights.

Then my spine showed up in the strangest place.

"It's wrong", asserted a voice from the back of the boat.

It was the girl from Brazil.

Her educated, politically-correct boyfriend then began to shush her and gently explain how women had the right to choose. To his obvious chagrin, she was unrelenting. Probably raised Catholic and brainwashed to believe that all life should be protected.

I don't think Mr D ever imagined that he would end up in a duel with the very woman he was likely trying to impress.

Most of my life I've always either felt one of two ways after an emotionally charged conversation: "Why didn't I think to say (fill in the blank)?" or "I wish I hadn't said that." God sometimes gives us the wisdom to say exactly the right thing, this time He gave me the wisdom to say nothing. And when I was unable to say anything someone else spoke up for me. I pray God will continue to cause people to speak for those who can't speak up for themselves

O that you would be completely silent, And that it would become your wisdom! - Job 13:5

This you know, my beloved brethren But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. - James 1:19-20

Once bitten

Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.”

So Moses prayed for the people.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”

So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. - Numbers 21:7-9

I've often wondered why the medical profession uses the symbol of a serpent. One theory is that it's a reference to the bronze serpent of Numbers. Even knowing that it still seems strange to see the serpent as a symbol of healing but not as strange as seeing the bronze serpent as symbol of Christ.

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. - Galatians 3:13-14

Suffering and dying, anyone who looks at Christ through the eyes of faith can be saved.

Sister Synergy

What's the best way to stand up to a bully?

When we were young the saying was "sticks and stones may break my bones but words would never hurt me" but this isn't really true.

My Dad told me how he dealt with one particular bully when he was little.

He was 9 years old and this 14 year old boy used to pick on him and his friend. It was the usual verbal abuse, threats, intimidation and when necessary, this kid would put the boots to my Dad and his friend.

Then one day the bully came across my dad and his friend together and started in on them again. Something made these little boys decide they weren't going to take it anymore or maybe they decided that together they could take this guy. They fought back together and ended up laying a beating on a kid 5 years older. He never bothered either of them again after that day.

I can remember an episode from my own experience but its not as generous to my vanity.

I was probably about the same age and I was playing at a neighbourhood friend's house. For some reason his older brother started picking on me. So I left but he followed me home. When I got to the back gate that led into my yard I thought I was safe. He had other plans and went to follow me into my yard. This really concerned me because this guy was probably about 17 years old and seemed to wish me ill.

Anyhow, unbeknownst to both of us my sister, who was about the same age as my pursuer was in our backyard and had heard and seen him chase me home.

She walked right up to him and this new threat made him pause in the back alley. He lost the appetite to chase me any further and decided to berate me from the safety of his side of the fence. He got a few words out before she cut him off. From that point on she did all the talking and he did all the listening. I don't remember what was said but I can see her standing in the backyard like it was yesterday and I remember gaining some amount of pleasure from observing the exchange.

I can be a loner. I like to help other people but won't ask for help unless its offered. I tend to fight my battles alone and not ask for prayer. I wonder how effective that is? In the military, soldiers fight in platoons, battalions, regiments, divisions and army corps and at ground level, infantry soldiers usually fight in groups of two or three.

Two are better than one,
Because they have a good reward for their labor.
For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.

But woe to him who is alone when he falls,
For he has no one to help him up.
Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;
But how can one be warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

What I find interesting about this scripture is that it repeatedly talks about the synergistic principle of two working together until the sudden mention of three at the end. Is this what Jesus meant when he said “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” - Matthew 18:19-20

Between a rock and a hard place

I was reading my nephew's blog about a young teenage boy subjected to bullying this week and I still haven't gotten over it. When I read about his last morning at home something inside me broke and I had trouble putting it out of my mind for the rest of the week.

You can read it here if you like http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/Bullied+teen+still+missing/2621326/story.html

I immediately thought of my own children. Do I spend enough time with them? Do I listen? I also feel guilt for my own words when I was young because I know I used them for evil at times. I hope God protected and strengthened the people I was mean to or didn't stand up for.

The part of me that I don't like to talk about craves an eye for an eye but it's infinitely more powerful to have your own heart condem you.

When I think of the Psalms I often think of them as beautiful prophetic poetry but some are dark...

O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed, Happy the one who repays you as you have served us!
Happy the one who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock! - Psalm 137:8,9

This is classic eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Depressed and angry Israel was craving revenge for the atrocities that she had suffered. Israel's children were broken against stones. Now, with hearts of stone, we break children with words. God's Word breaks the heart of stone.

“Is not My word like a fire?” says the LORD, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" - Jeremiah 23:29

The gathering

"Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. - Matthew 24: 23-28

The statement Jesus makes at the end about the "carcass" has always intrigued me. It seems like such a random thing to say and I'm still not 100% sure what he means.

Some years ago the body of grey whale washed up on the beach near our home. Someone told us that it was out there so we took the kids and went to find it. We walked along the grey rocky beach looking for a the body of a grey whale and I knew we would clearly be able to spot it from a mile away because I imagined that it would be covered with eagles. I was right and even though I didn't know where it was we found it without any trouble.

If you told someone in Israel to go out into the desert to look for a body they would likely scan the sky. If they saw nothing in the sky they would ignore you. But if they looked up and off in the distance they saw eagles or vultures circling, that sign would lead them with complete confidence to a body.

I think what Jesus is saying it that false Christs and false prophets will be misleading "even to the elect" but when Christ actually returns like lightening flashing from the east to the west all doubt will be removed.

Not alone

See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.
And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, "YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN."

This expression, "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;

for our God is a consuming fire. - Hebrews 12:25 - 29

Scientists say the earthquake in Concepcion Chile was so powerful that it caused the earth to shift slightly on it's axis.

Click here to read the report --> NASA

We tend to trust the created things around us more than we probably should: money, technology, doctors, etc. It's fairly common to trust those things and arguably just as common to have our trust in them shaken. But the earth... shouldn't that always be secure? 3 minutes of solid ground behaving more like a liquid would be an extremely frightening experience.

Scripture says heaven as well as the earth will be shaken. Having that knowledge doesn't make it any less frightening. In fact it makes me a bit apprehensive to even think about it, but it gives me hope that what can't be shaken... won't be.

O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;
Nor do I involve myself in great matters,
Or in things too difficult for me.
Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child rests against his mother,
My soul is like a weaned child within me.
O Israel, hope in the LORD
From this time forth and forever. - Psalm 131

No matter what happens in this world our spiritual lives are secure. Everything might fall down all around us, and if we fall down in this world its comforting to know that there will be Someone to catch us in the next.

This reminds me of one of my favourite quotes from the movie Signs:

"People break down into two groups. When they experience something lucky, group number one sees it as more than luck, more than coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence, that there is someone up there, watching out for them.

Group number two sees it as just pure luck. Just a happy turn of chance. I'm sure the people in group number two are looking at those fourteen lights in a very suspicious way. For them, the situation is a fifty-fifty. Could be bad, could be good. But deep down, they feel that whatever happens, they're on their own. And that fills them with fear. Yeah, there are those people.

But there's a whole lot of people in group number one. When they see those fourteen lights, they're looking at a miracle. And deep down, they feel that whatever's going to happen, there will be someone there to help them. And that fills them with hope. See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky?

Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?"

Dark matters

He stretches out the north over empty space;
He hangs the earth on nothing. - Job 26:7

Are you aware that the majority of the universe is missing?

I don't mean that we can't see it with telescopes or travel across it in a spaceship but that a good deal of it is totally unaccounted for. The space between the sun and Pluto, even between two objects in the room your sitting in. Scientists know there is more... they see it's effects, they can calculate it's product with math. There's more energy and more matter all around us but no one can find it. For this reason they call what they can't find dark matter and dark energy.

This sort of thing might sound weird but in a similar way Neptune's existance was predicted before it was ever discovered by observing the motions of it's neighbour Uranus. Motions that could only be explained by another large object nearby.

Here's an interesting passage from a book on this topic...

"Almost all of the universe is missing: 96 percent, to put a number on it. The stars we see at the edges of distant galaxies seem to be moving under the guidance of invisible hands that hold the stars in place and stop them from flying off into empty space. According to our best calculations, the substance of those invisible guiding hands - known to scientists as dark matter - is nearly a quarter of the total mass in the cosmos. Dark matter is just a name, though. We don't have a clue what it is.

And then there is the dark energy. When Albert Einstein showed that mass and energy were like two sides of the same coin, that one could be converted into the other using the recipe E=mc2, he unwittingly laid the foundation for what is now widely regarded as the most embarrassing problem in physics. Dark energy is scientists' name for the ghostly essence that is making the fabric of the universe expand ever faster, creating ever more empty space between galaxies. Use Einstein's equation for converting energy to mass, and you'll discover that dark energy is actually 70 percent of the mass in the cosmos." - From the book "13 things that don't make sense"

More dark matter

When I read this I'm reminded of Paul walking into Athens and seeing the statue to the unknown god. The people of Athens worshiped a plethora of gods but they knew somehow that there was something more. Today scientists also know there is something more. Their creators are abiogenesis and evolution, dark matter and dark energy the invisible hands that hold the universe and their supreme entity is the theory of everything.

Silver bullets

How can we attain a righteous life?

I think it falls into two categories; man's way and God's way.

Man's way is to work

Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return. - Genesis 3:17b - 19

The end of this path is thorns, thistles and ultimately death. So we can rule that out which leaves only one way.

God's way

God's way is faith in Jesus Christ.

Faith in Him that leads to action. The moment when you see yourself and what He has done for you. When the veil is lifted and you see His face. Never the same and at this moment your life is His. Being transformed into His image.

Strangely, this reminds me of the life cycle of a salmon.

Bear with me... Salmon are born into fresh water as fry. Their blood is saline like ours and so they need to retain salts and pump out freshwater through their gills to maintain this balance in freshwater. As the days get longer in the spring the fry literally "see the light". Sunlight triggers a small photo sensor buried in their skull called a "pineal gland". You and I have one too, it kind of looks like a tiny pine cone and it's why you might notice you may feel happier or more energetic in the summer. When the daylight portion of the day reaches a certain number of hours the photo sensor is triggered and the fry begins to change. This change is called "smoltification" and it happens routinely every year. It probably seems insignificant to most people but it is an even more material change than the transformation of a caterpillar into to a butterfly.

Smoltification is a transformation process involving changes on the inside and out. It's a mix of biology, salt, light and a bit of the miraculous. Inside the fish, the gills that once retained salt must be able to complete a 180 degree turn and pump salt out of the fish. To do this new chloride cells are constructed inside the gills. Every chloride cell has within it something called ATPase which is an enzyme required to convert the nucleotide adenosine triphosphate. ATP is required for growth and energy. Without ATPase the fish will die.

On the outside, while the fry are in freshwater their scales are small and hardened so that they can handle some abrasion while hiding under sticks and in the gravel. They are also covered in greenish camouflage. On their way to sea they trade in their green camo for their more stylish blue and whites. Now they have a bluish green dorsal colour and a silvery white ventral colour - ideal for the deep blue sea. Their scales become less hardened as their body is no longer intended for gravelly subterfuge but more or less built purely for speed.

This is what happens when a skinny green fry hiding in a dead lake becomes a silver bullet in an ocean of life. God intended for salmon to be changed on the inside and out just like you and me. All that's required is salt, light and a miracle from God.

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. - Matthew 5:13-16

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved - Luke 5:37-38

How to poison a king

A PICNIC SPREAD is laid out. A tablecloth, two goblets and between them, a small leather wine container. And some cheese and a couple of apples. The picnic is set on a lovely spot, high on the edge of a mountain path with a view all the way back to the sea.

As Vizzini fills the goblets with the dark red liquid, the Man In Black pulls a small packet from his clothing, handing it to Vizzini.

MAN IN BLACK "Inhale this, but do not touch."

VIZZINI (doing it) "I smell nothing."

MAN IN BLACK (taking the packet back) "What you do not smell is called iocane powder. It is odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in liquid, and is among the more deadlier poisons known to man." - From the screenplay for "The Princess Bride"

Arsenic is known as "the poison of kings" or the "inheritance poison" since it's been used many times for murder due to it's ability to kill and disguise it's effect as some other common ailment. Someone once told me that you can poison someone slowly over many years by giving them smaller amounts. I've also heard that there could be traces of arsenic in our local drinking water. The symptoms are myriad but it usually affects the brain.

This gets me to thinking, if I was the devil how would I poison believers? Would I show up all horns and fangs with a bubbling poison cocktail to drink? Or smiles and friendship with a drink of something good. Something delicious, odourless, tasteless but at the end it would carry the sting of death. Something to slowly but inevitably bring about your death.

I'd slip trace amounts in the things you watch and do. Small enough so you think its not poisonous and after awhile I'd hope you wouldn't even notice. I'd try to change the way you thought and hopefully you'd stop reading the Word.

Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are filled with poison, and their clusters with bitterness.

Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.
- Deuteronomy 32:32-33

Strange attractor

Most of us tend to view information one of two ways.

The first is to simply observe events.

Imagine you are watching the waterwheel in the picture below. Water drips from the yellow bucket into the multi-coloured cups on the wheel and as the cups fill and get heavier they cause the wheel to move one direction and then the other. Back and forth, there seems to be no pattern as the wheel spins chaotically.
If you look closely, you'll see that the wheel is hooked up to a computer that plots its every motion on a graph versus time. This is fairly common, produces the boring graph you see below and is the second way we usually look at information.
But there is another way to look at information and it's a way of looking at it outside of time when velocity and direction are plotted in something called "state space". In state space, the motions of the waterwheel, that once looked random and unpredictable, instead now form a beautiful shape resembling the wings of a butterflyYou may find it hard to believe but these are two graphs made from exactly the same data. When data that may have seemed random or chaotic takes on an ordered shape like this the shape is called a "strange attractor". It's an attractor because the data is attracted to the shape in the sense that it continues to draw the shape over and over and it's strange because... well, no one knows why it would form this shape.

I've often looked at Biblical prophecy like an x/y graph, looking for patterns in the seemingly random happenings of the current events or past history to see if I could get some hint of where we are on the revelation continuum. This is probably at best naive and at worst, arrogant. Since God exists outside of time its likely that the prophetic books can't be read as if they are step by step lists of what is going to happen in sequence. Maybe each state relates in some way to the "next" state in the pattern but not necessarily to what happens next in time.

So many people have tried to predict Christ's return or Armageddon or the rise of Antichrist maybe they've seen some seemingly obvious sign that suggests that they can predict what will happen next or maybe there is some greater pattern that is being formed that we are unaware of or unable to visualize and the best thing for us to do is to just make sure we're awake

Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” - John 8:58

Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. - Revelation 3:3

Perceptual rendering

‘…Has a dead man any use for money? Is it possible for a dead man to have money? What world does a dead man belong to? 'Tother world. What world does money belong to? This world. How can money be a corpse's?

Can a corpse own it, want it, spend it, claim it, miss it? Don't try to go confounding the rights and wrongs of things in that way. But it's worthy of the sneaking spirit that robs a live man.' – Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens

Money belongs to this world, Jesus taught this as well. And the dead to this world belong to the next.

And they questioned Him saying , “Teacher, we know that You speak and teach correctly, and You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

But He detected their trickery and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?”

And they said, “Caesar’s”

And He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” – Luke 20:21-25

I picked up a devotional the other day that got me to look at what Jesus said from a totally different perspective. The writer of the devotional asked three simple questions and I was left to extrapolate if Jesus was speaking to people other than the Pharisees? Maybe He was speaking to me too?

Whose image am I made in?

Whose inscription do I bear?

Knowing this what should I do?

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female He created them. - Genesis 1:27

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit – Ephesians 1:13