Idea post

Soo...... right now is a bit of a dry spell for me in writing. What do you think I should write about?

On another note, I was at a cathedral the other day, and a man turned to me, shook my hand and said "paix du Christ." I thought he was introducing himself, so I replied, "Jon." The person on my left then turned to me and said "paix du Christ." Then I crawled into a hymn book.

there is no title for this one

There isn't much I can say about this. "Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!"

http://heritage.stsci.edu/gallery/gallery.html

p.s. possibly the coolest thing i have ever found on the internet is the "stumble upon" button on mozilla firefox.

On A Lion, a Lamb, and an Ipod

I am struck with our utter dependence on the Lord. What a blessing it is to want nothing other than to do the will of our Father. I speak as if I know this personally, but I confess that I do not. I have tasted of it though, and the taste is sweeter than the sweetest fleeting aroma of sin, or the fattening of our pride by indulging the flesh. It is impossible to get our minds around, for the fellowship of the Trinity is not an experience of the intelligent, the worthy, or the capable. It is that which is initiated, prepared, enabled and blessed by the One who commands it, but limited by our seeming unlimited ability to squelch it. This fellowship begins in the mind, with the truth of the Scripture that has the power to bend the neck of the proud, capture the attention of the distracted, still the hands of the occupied, and satisfy the craving of the starving. It continues as the Holy Spirit uses this Scripture to pierce to the inner parts of the soul and divides us to our core. It separates the sin and the saint in us, so to speak. It, at the same time, stirs the soul for righteousness in praise to God, and humbles us in view of our despicable lust for evil. This is the beginning to fellowship with the Creator of the universe, and as we practice bending our knees and hearts the presence of our King, He gradually changes us from the inside out. We learn what the Psalmist meant when he said that his soul waits for the Lord in the early watches of the morning. We learn what he meant when he said the steadfast love of the Lord is better than life. We find the joy only to be found in that communion with Christ. Unfortunately though, we often rob ourselves of this opportunity. We take the tools out of the hands of the Savior for we are too busy and have many other priorities. What a terrible injustice, that the Savior and Lord of our life stands and knocks at the door of our heart, and we prefer to flirt with the kingdom of darkness! We have a grave need for holiness, but I fear that the Father of Lights and the King of Glory cannot as much co-habit our heart with the pleasure of the world, as can a lamb enter the cage of a lion and not be instantly devoured. The thing is, Christ often does not fight, for He is a humble and patient King. He does not often speak over the noise of our ipod, and He does not compete with the devil for our time. He shows up in the still and the quiet places, when we decidedly shut out the pollution and noise of the world, so our hearts might be conformed by the renewing of our minds by the Word. The Word that can soften the hardest of hearts, break the chains of sin, death and sadness, set the captive free and strengthen the feeblest of minds. A great man of God once said, "Its not black marks on white pages, ya know, its the living Jesus." Even as I write this, my heart is burdened beyond words because we fail to give the the Living Jesus a proper place in our hearts and minds. He stands at the door and knocks.........

finally...what you've all been waiting for! my opinion!

I am writing this to clear up a common misconception. That misconception is that I like to hear myself think, which is why I write this blog. FALSE. I write this blog because I think you like to hear me think. Just kidding. I write this blog because I want your feedback, arguments, agreements and disagreements. There are many things on which I am opinionated, there are a few things on which I have strong opinions. One of my stronger opinions is that you should respond. Especially when you disagree or agree- which is all the time.

thoughts on Christ.....

I have been thinking recently that we serve the most unselfish of all Beings. It might be easy, without becoming educated in the Scripture, for us to think there is something odd about a perfect God who longs for our glory. This might be caused by the fact that we wouldn’t have the wisdom to remain humble with that kind of power. However, God in His infinite power and ability and purpose, allowed Himself to be humbled by His own Creation. He allowed Himself to be beat with the hands that He created. He designed the strength and the sharpness of the thorns driven into His brow, and the tree on which He hung. Christ did this because He loved the world, not for love of self. For what really did this accomplish? This one act of kindness and righteousness did what a thousand acts of sin could not reverse, for it redirected the flood of God’s wrath onto His own Son and in Him was absorbed our rightful penalty. What more, the inheritance that was originally Christ’s is now ours in Him. We are now fellow heirs along side of Christ. We are promised recipients of life in fellowship with the Creator of the Universe. We are brought into fellowship with God though His Holy Spirit who dwells in us. We are able to come boldly before the throne of God, with our requests and frustrations, and He hears them and answers us. And now, the hands that would once pin their Savior to a tree are now raised in Worship. The tree, on which we would have hung our Lord, is used to make a dwelling for His people. And though we ignore Him as we live and die, we fail to speak with Him as He wishes, and listen to His Words as we need, and follow His perfect will as He has commanded, He is all the while preparing a place for us. He is pleading our cause before God, and preparing a mansion that we might live and fellowship for all eternity, in spite of our desire to build our own earthly mansions. Unfortunately, however, we treat His Words like they are science to be tested, we treat His sacrifice as if its something that can be bartered for 3 hours per week in Church. We treat His Holy Spirit like an Ipod which we can turn on for a few minutes when we need some good advice. We care more for our opinions on God’s Word than for our obedience to it. We care more to discuss it than to read it. We treat our refuge in Christ like the first aid kit in the back of our car. We pull it out only in extreme cases and use sparingly, preferring to make do in our own help. No, Christ is not the selfish one in this relationship. Praise God we are in a personal relationship with an infinitely gracious God who sends to Heaven people deserving hell.

Here is a response my 14 yr. old sister posted. Some very practical thoughts;
funny you should post that...lately i've been reflecting on how selfish we are, and especially myself. i think we(as human beings) can and do react in different ways to the truth that we are selfish, ugly humans who, in our finite minds, are consumed completely with self and self alone. our highest aspirations-be it for world peace or personal wealth, fame or power-are all to exalt this monster that is self. our greatest achievements and sacrifices are also the result of a consuming fire, spurred on by thoughts of admiration and love from others. in short, all we do is to satisfy whatever it is we crave in our depraved minds. i think that all, upon realizing this, are first driven to the brink of despair and hopelessness, which is also another manifestation of our selfishness. that is, until we turn to God. this knowledge, this...realization of what we truly are must come before any substantial spiritual growth may truly occur. we must see ourselves stripped of the pretenses, the smiles, the fake compassion and snivelling flattery(yes, harsh words, i know, but aren't they true?). we must see ourselves as God sees us. only when we see that, when we see our nothingness, shame and debasedness(yeah, i think i made that word up) spread out before God's holiness, and beg Him to do His perfect Work in us; that He would remove ourselves, and accomplish that through us which He has been patiently waiting to accomplish. when this happens, we can realize the full potential that God has for us. the full measure of His blessing and love. thought i'd just add this rather lengthy side-note.

on splints, pillows, indians, driving and George Bush

In this picture is represented 7 nations; France, Germany, America, Lebanon, England, Switzerland, and South Africa. These are a few of the people that stayed in the mountains this weekend for retreat with the ministry. It was encouraging to experience many cultures but only one faith. Praise God for His Spirit. It's also really amusing to experience the stereotype of Americans. I think they think we use guns for everything. Shooting at out neighbors, our friends(thank you Dick Cheyney), harassing animals, fixing our cars, clearing traffic jams, mopping the floors, brushing our teeth, supporting our pillows, splints, revoking people's driver's licenses, painting the house, cleaning the windows. When they picture America, they picture West Philly at midnight but only with cowboys and indians and nuclear bombs and everyone driving a tank around in a cornfield being chased by robbers, jack bauer and listening to Metallica while trying to burn off all the worlds resources in one minute and find someone to sue for it. I am having a lot of fun with this stereotype though. Its amazing what the words, "you just wait until I call my uncle George Bush on you!" will do in a department store.
Seriously though, it has been challenging to think through some other views on this. There are some positive arguments for either side. I think I need to go shooting though and release some stress. WHAT!?!?!

christian evolution- closer than you think???

I had a conversation with a French Christian today about evolution vs. creationism. They were arguing that Evolutionism is to be preferred over creationism or intelligent design because it better agrees with science. Irregardless of the accuracy of their argument, they have an important point. Let me explain: For most people there are several groups of things to be considered/reconciled in Christianity; faith, God, the Bible, opinion, philosophy, reason and science. For this person, science and opinion were the thing that dictating the others. We argued for about 40 minutes about the facts before I realized we were arguing the wrong subject. We weren't really in a discussion about evolution, in fact we weren't even in a discussion about truth. We were in a discussion about faith. Faith vs. science. You might be surprised that this lady believes evolution is true. You might even be surprised if I tell you that most of the French Christian community believes evolution over the teaching of the Scripture on Creation. In fact, you might be surprised if I tell you that this is what they teach priests in Jerusalem, or at what I found in a historic catholic church the other day (in a more prominent place than the pulpit)- a souvenir vending machine. You also might be surprised that I would say I don't believe we are any better off than these. Think of the last conversation regarding God, the Bible and Faith that you had. How many times did you hear the words, "I think.." How many times did you say the words "I think." This is the same error as people who interpret the Bible through the lens of Science, opinion, philosophy or reason. Bear with me for a moment; whenever we answer a question of importance with the words "I think" we are stealing the teeth from the Scripture and from the mouth of God Himself. That is not a position He has granted us. There is only one way to approach questions of faith and importance. This is in humility and faith, as prescribed by the Scriptures. This is an unpopular view for it leaves no room for that to which mankind turns most readily; opinion, philosophy, reason and science. The one pursuing faith, truth, wisdom and understanding through those means will never find it, but the one who pursues wisdom and understanding, faith and humility will find that and more, for in the Scripture lies all this and more. There is no room therein for lofty knowledge and opinion, eloquent philosophy and the reasoning of man, there is room only for a humble and contrite disposition, faith in God's work and Word. In this disposition is true power; power of faith, the power of the Holy Spirit in truth, power in humility that enables true wisdom. There is no place for opinion here. This is why we are in the same place as those believers who prefer evolution to creationism, for we would rather interpret the Scriptures, than have the Scriptures interpret themselves. We would rather come to the Scriptures with wisdom and understanding than come poor in spirit and leave rich in Christ. The problem is that faith in Christ and His Word does not buy the respect of the intelligent, the scientist and the noble. It places us with the weak, the feeble-minded, the simple and the naive; but that is exactly where Christ wants us. Therefore let us not find our answers in the wisdom of man, in the opinions of much knowledge, or in the wealth of science, but let us approach the Scriptures for in them is Life. Life that satisfies the deepest of craving of the poorest sinner but mystifies the proud and arrogant. Let us find our strength of knowledge in the refuge which God has built for us- the strength of His Word.
p.s. On a thought from a friend, I think it is wise for me to put a comment on this. The words "I think" communicate wisdom when discussing things that are not black and white in meaning, and when we are unsure of the interpretation. However, when relating as fact the words 'i think' we run into danger for there is little room for human opinion on matters about which the Bible has much to say.

je pose une(merci Joram) question

In light of Jesus teaching, what is meant by Christians when they say, "accept Christ?" Does this paint an accurate portrait of salvation for one considering "the way?" why or why not?

I would find your feedback useful on this matter.

a bon week in Nice and Monaco

Well for all of you that didn't know the Mediterranean was attached to France like myself, it is! And as God saw fit, it is where I ended up for a few days this week. I went with two Germans, two Canadians, and a Brit from la Feu. It was quite an experience complete with bagettes(a French essential), mountains, cheese, swimming in the Mediterranean with jellyfish, view finding, good christian love and fellowship, and circular conversations due to cultural differences. I learned that the British think butter and batter should be said identically, Germans can't understand me when I say "sting" like "stink" and that Canadians don't mind singing the American national anthem, though their's has better motions. It was a bon time and there was just something good about being able to swim in the Mediterranean with the jelly fish in November. Speaking of November, happy birthday Ariel!