A Preposterous Tale

The idea that God would take human form, and allow himself to be mutilated, tortured and eventually killed so that my sins might be atoned for, is a preposterous tale. It simply cannot be accepted.

The Creator of the universe, who literally spoke into existence the stars and planets; the plants the animals, the exquisite elegance of the periodic table of the elements and the simplicity of the gravitational constant. This all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-seeing being, who exists outside of time-space, entered into His universe and took on human flesh to bridge the unfathomable chasm that separates His holiness from me. To reach out His hand and offer eternal life by His side. Not because I did something to deserve it, but rather He chose me and loved me from the foundation of the world. The beginning of time. It is simply unacceptable.


But then I look around. I see the total depravity of the human condition. No philosophy without God survives the test of barbarity. No society void of God’s Grace is free from cruelty and wickedness, not just extant, but woven into the very fibers of the public discourse and the government itself.

In my own life, I cannot function without sin. I cannot go a day without a lewd thought, anger toward another – all rooted in my selfish pride and lusts. I fool myself of my righteousness, only to be exposed at a later date.

And then I realize that this preposterous tale, is so outlandish and so crazy, that it must be true. Like a man dying of thirst I grasp for the chalice of God’s Grace and drink deeply, forever grateful for His mercy. There can be no other answer. Nothing men can conjure up, fabricate or hallucinate comes close.

Which turns my disbelief and dismissal into awe and humility. His Grace literally takes my breath away.

May God Bless you this Easter weekend, in the inestimable name of Jesus, I pray.

Sadness Has A Weight Of Its Own

"But the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23

Sadness. It has a way of pressing down on your chest.

Your sobs pour out in labored lunges, forced by the pressure you feel. It is hard to breathe.

I was awoken this morning with the urgent call to come down to the hospice care facility where my friend was fighting his last hours against cancer today.

Andy Tofel passed away into the Glory of the Lord today surrounded by people that loved him dearly. We cried a lot. We mourned the loss of our brother, our friend, our husband, our child, our grandchild, our father, our nephew…our BROTHER. But during the day, we could not be sad for long stretches. We inevitably transitioned into conversations of what a wonderful man Andy is. What a tremendous blessing that he was to everyone who had the good fortune of knowing him.

I cannot think of one of the 'fruits of the spirit' that are mentioned in Paul's Letter to the Church at Galatia that Andy didn't display in my 21 years of knowing him. Emails and text-messages came pouring in to the family as we were gathered around his bedside. The nurses told us that hearing was the last sense to go. So we talked to him. And we read notes from people. The stories were amazing. Andy touched so many people in such a direct and personal way that it is hard to exaggerate his influence amongst those who knew him, however tangentially it may have been.

I think I speak for everyone there when I say a note of gratitude for all the love expressed and felt throughout this time. As I gather my thoughts and prayers, I will write more of Andy, for he is worthy of the effort and will be too sorely missed for words to express so soon after.

He was a once in a lifetime friend for most of us and, as hard as it is, it is harder still to think of a man more deserving or worthy to send to glory today.

Andy would have been embarrassed by this kind of talk and would have noted how he too was a sinner, and unworthy of God's grace…which makes me feel all the smaller, meaner, and less significant…and more grateful for Andy's friendship in my life.

Thank you Lord, God Almighty, for Andy Tofel, without which my life would have been much nastier and more brutish. I go to sleep now, hoping the weight of the sadness is lifted tonight by the irresistible joy that comes from remembering his life.

Tears From Heaven, Fall Like Rain

There is something magical and breathtaking about rain falling on the desert, even in winter.  There was a great sadness that came over me today, and the storm clouds came in over Tucson, as if to sympathize.  It was a cold spell that rolled in today, because the day before it was 70 degrees.  The rain would drizzle and spit for awhile, and then the clouds would open up to pale blue sky and sun for a bit, then a dark cloud would rush in and sprinkle some more. 

These swings would coincide similarly to my ability to contain my sadness.  I started to think that my mood was much like the sky today, here and there pulling it together for some sunshine and losing it again to rain.  Like the tears, falling from heaven to sympathize. 

I decided that my sadness was caused by an event for which the angels in heaven were in attendance and had an interest in the outcome.  Then I began to see the beauty in the sunshine playing joyfully with the clouds, creating mozons and reflections, backlighting and haziness.  As I drove towards home, the mountains were shrouded in mist, which always makes them seem like islands and of stunning beauty.

As I observed this, my sadness was tempered with a realization of the eternal nature of God and the vastness of His creation; "Cease striving, and know that I AM God." Psalm 46.  The words "the tears of heaven fall like rain" came into my mind and I started to see the heavens pouring out their tears upon the earth

In my Bible study group this evening we looked at the 30^th chapter of the book of Isaiah and I ran across this; 

"Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him.
O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.  Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher.  Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left"  Isaiah 30:18-21

And I was stricken.  In this sadness, I have seen a glimpse of the "bread of privation and water of oppression", and in that moment the beauty of the Lord's creation was splendid before my eyes.  And I cried out.  And my eyes saw the heavens sending tears down to the earth.  And I contemplated the restorative and healing nature of water falling upon the desert, and my eyes beheld my Teacher.

Amidst great sadness, is great joy that can be found if one focuses on God.  Amidst great suffering is great wisdom and beauty and love.  We can choose to focus on the privation and oppressions of your life, or on the countless blessings.  We can be resentful, hurt and angry, or thankful, encouraged, and joyous.  The choice is ours.

"Who can hold the oceans, in the hollows of His hands?" 

Let us pray for the green pastures and still waters offered us in Psalm 23, and the peace and rest that surpasses all understanding.  Amen.

 

Educating Gabby, Part II

Still insensed, I wrote this with more ammunition...

I thought it would be good to repost them for the upcoming election to remind everyone what happened back then.

Educating Gabby, Part I

This is a repost of something I wrote last year in the furvor of the health care debate...

A Puritan Prayer

"When Thou wouldst guide me I control myself

When thou wouldst be sovereign I rule myself

When thou wouldst take care of me I suffice myself

When I should depend on thy providing I supply myself

When I should submit to thy providence I follow my will

When I should study, love, honour, trust thee, I serve myself;

I fault and correct thy laws to suit myself,

Instead of thee I look to man's approbation,

And am by nature an idolater.

Lord, it is my chief design to bring my heart back to thee.

Convince me that I cannot be my own god, or make myself happy,

Nor my own Christ to restore my joy,

Nor my own Spirit to teach, guide, rule me.

Help me to see that grace does this by providential affliction,

For when my credit is god thou dost cast me lower,

When riches are my idol thou dost wing them away,

When pleasure is my all thou dost turn it into bitterness.

Take away my roving eye, curious ear, greedy appetite, lustful heart;

Show me that none of these things

Can heal a wounded conscience,

Or support a tottering frame,

Or uphold a departing spirit.

Then take me to the cross and leave me there."

 

Arthur Bennett, ed., "The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1975),91  -- taken from  "The Owner's Manual for Christians" by Charles Swindoll", 2009, p119.

Charles Swindoll's book is excellent, refreshing, and cleansing.  I highly recommend it to anyone…even non-Christians.

Holiness and purity are the rarest of things and wonderful to behold.  You feel cleaner just reading this book.  Truly a blessing.

Bought With A Price

"Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body" 1Corinthians 6:18-20

I was reading last week about this new diet regimen, developed by A.W.T. Simeons quite some time ago, and ran across this little piece that struck a nerve:

A careful enquiry into what may have brought on such an attack almost invariably reveals that it is preceded by a strong unresolved sex-stimulation, the higher centers of the brain having blocked primitive diencephalic instinct gratification. The pressure is then let off through another primitive channel, which is oral gratification.

I realized that most of us are being stimulated sexually all day long every day simply by living in modern day America. You cannot drive or walk around in the city, or watch TV, or listen to the radio, or even go to work for some people, without being exposed to countless sexually suggestive, if not actually explicit imagery…everywhere.

This one is at the bus stop that I drive by every day on my way home from work.
There are countless ones just like it all around town on bus stops, billboards, storefronts at retail stores, etc. If you walk into a nice office where women dress up, they often will wear beautiful, but very sexually suggestive clothing. The universities, especially in the warmer parts of the country are filled with half-dressed young ladies wander around campus.

Television? Forget it. It seems that every single show is filled with gorgeous women, wearing form-fitting, and revealing clothing and most prime time shows have, at the very least, a tacit understanding and acknowledgement of sexual activity, if not a very plain reference or display.

Movies are no better unless you carefully watch only animated movies for the little ones. Now this is just the passive stuff. If you actually go looking, there is much, much more from simple celebrity gawk sites all the way to porn on demand internet sites.

My hypothesis is this:

As sexual imagery has become more and more available to us as a nation and technology has made it easier and quicker to access and as advertisements and the popular culture has supposedly become "desensitized" to it, I argue that we haven't. Not only that, but I would be interested if there was a way to track obesity in our nation as a function of the quantity of sexual imagery passively and even actively available to the general public.

My hypothesis, is that even people that are in sexually gratifying and healthy monogamous relationships, can be and probably are, sexually-stimulated in a way that cannot possibly be resolved often enough or complete enough. In turn, people turn to eating, drinking and smoking in an unhealthy manner.

As a very unscientific piece of evidence, how about tracking the size of a proper drink that one orders at a restaurant or a convenience store? A cup, a measely 8 ounces, is called a cup, because that was how much one supposedly drank at a sitting in polite company. Sure, you might have a second or third cup over the course of a meal, but that is only 16 or 24 ounces. Go to a convenience store and observe the sizes of the soda fountain drink cups available. There are some stores that you won't even find one as small as 24 ounces. The standard seems to be 44 ounces, with some stores having a 64 ounce option. That is over a half a gallon.

Now consider that a person working might down this half gallon drink once or twice a day and consider that this might be Dr. Pepper, Coke or some other soft drink, and we have the source of our obesity problem. The source of that desire to continually put junk in your mouth? Bebe. Not to put all of this on Bebe, but you get what I mean.

I think I've always understood the concept that what you put into your body directly contributed to your health and quality of life. I've never gotten into the drug scene and don't like taking medication of any kind. But I overeat and now have gotten into a rut of over-eating junk.

After reading Simeon's essay, however, I think I now believe that consumption is not only what you eat and drink, but what you listen to and what you watch, and I think it affects your health in a physical way that I had not considered before.

And wouldn't it be the perfect truth if the false promise of gratification by consuming large quantities of sexual imagery, results in obesity and a reduced ability to function sexually?

Isn't it the truth that chasing after worldly delights always ends badly?

What if by keeping your mind on purer stuff, was the cure for obesity? Smoking? Alcoholism? I guess obeying God's commands can actually be good for you after all.