I got my first spam comments today!

They finally found me.

Well, version 0.15 will now, officially, include some decent spam-banning / spam-filtering features. Until that time I'll have fun deleting.

Spammers are evil. They just are.

I've been thinking recently about satisfaction. Is it something that can be attained in this life for the follower of Christ?

I would conjecture that many, if not most, lost people are at some level aware of and distressed by the gap in their lives that can only be bridged by God. And I think many people spend a great deal of time and energy trying to fill that gap. They strive to find satisfaction by any means possible and to no avail, thus fulfilling the gloomy observation of the preacher in Ecclesiastes 6: "All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied".

However, I also believe that there are a number of well-integrated lost people who do feel a great deal of satisfaction with their lives. How a person finds any satisfaction at all outside of a relationship to Christ boggles my mind. But I believe some lost people attain a form of temporal satisfaction.

So what do we make of the unsatisfied Christian? Is being unsatisfied a bad thing? Because I have a confession to make: I feel unsatisfied much of the time. Now, let me explain what I mean: by "unsatisfied" I do not mean "ungrateful", or even "unhappy". I have been blessed beyond blessing, and this I know well. Anyone looking at my life circumstances would agree with that. Regardless of the winds of trouble that blow on my life from time to time, God has been very, very good to me. So, with my lot in life I am far from unsatisfied.

And yet there is an uneasiness, a longing for joy in my core that sometimes speaks with a very loud voice. As David wrote:

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Psalm 63:1 (ESV)

My understanding is that David wrote those words while physically in the desert, and his surroundings served as physical representation of the soul-thirst that he felt for his God. That being said, I believe David would agree: sometimes being in the desert is not such a bad thing. What growth he experienced in the hot sands! I've found in my own desert times that I cling to God more tightly, that I seek Him more earnestly than ever, that I do thirst and faint for His presence. And His presence and comfort become very real.

Yet for all that, here on earth we are kept (and for good reason, I believe) from experiencing God in His fullness. We are broken and bent, and even when redeemed and cleansed we are still too frail to endure His glory. While our victory was won for us on the cross and confirmed in the resurrection, there are reasons why we still have to practice faith, hope, and love. Faith, because we trust in what we cannot see. Hope, because what we will be still dwells in the future.

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. - 1 John 3:2 (ESV)

And love, because God is love, and we are God's expression of Himself to a lost world, and to each other. And then back to Him as well. And Love will endure when there is no longer need for either faith or hope, because all shall be seen, all shall be known, and we will finally have become what He created us to be, unbroken, unbent, glorified and standing joyfully in His presence.

For all my talk of satisfaction and the desire to earnestly seek after Christ, I know that much of it is just that, talk. The world calls me, comfort calls me, compromise calls me. I wonder why I'm not satisfied and the uncomfortable answer is that, while no follower of Christ can be completely satisfied until he is home, I have, in so many ways, made the world my home and become comfortable here in this far land. Therefore the trudge toward my real country has become wearisome. There's something about running with weights tangling your legs that makes for an unsatisfactory journey.

But my desire, hopefully to be coupled with action, is to set my sights more fully on the finish line ahead, and on the One who completes my faith. To cast off these weights. For joy and satisfaction for the Christian can be felt - even if only in snatches here on earth - when we are running unencumbered. When, smiling and with our head thrown back, we speed on our swift course with the landscape surging past us as we press on toward the goal.

. . . that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:10-14 (ESV)

Welcome Semicolon to the Bloogroll!

I noticed this site based on a recommendation from Mr. Standfast, and I can see why he blogrolled it too. The site is run by a homeschooling mother of 8 who's husband works at NASA. Interesting stuff.

Two items of interest tipped the scale for bloogrollage. The first was a post on poetry called Creating Silences, in which she quotes Stephen Mallarme:

"It is the job of poetry to clean up our word-clogged reality by creating silences around things."

The second is her list of The 105 Best Movies of All Time. So many of the movies I treasure are on this list.

Good reading.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!�

Romans 8:15 (ESV)

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God

I John 3:1 (ESV)

I was raised by two loving, biological parents and I've never known, physically, the special loneliness of the orphan. And another condition is also foreign to me: I've never been a slave and I've never, physically speaking, known someone who was a slave, although I do know that slavery still exists in certain dark corners of the earth.

Still, the act of reading these two passages brings with it a spark of recognition. Orphan and slave; I can't say I don't know these conditions, because, in truth, I've been both.

Sometimes I forget how precious salvation really is. Yet I was once an orphan, alone in this world. I was also a slave to sin. The portrait the world paints of the well-integrated lost person is one of "freedom" - freedom to do what you want, to say what you want, to live a life dedicated to the stimulation of the nerve endings and to the feeding of that most insatiable entity, the human ego. Yet this portrait of freedom is precisely opposite to reality.

The reality is that a life without Christ is one of slavery. Again, slavery is a concept that is thankfully beyond the physical experience of most of us, but citizens of the first century would have been very familiar with it. From the palaces of rulers to the wharfs and marketplaces to the dreaded mines, slaves were everywhere in the Roman Empire. A slave was marked by who owned him, and he had to do his master's bidding, always. He was not free to live as he chose. Often at the mercy of the whims of a disinterested master, a slave's life was one of fear.

In the same way, any freedom without Christ is an illusion. Without Christ we are orphans and slaves; in slavery to sin and unable to break its cruel bonds. We are orphans, alone in this world and without an inheritance, without a name, without hope. Alone and afraid in the cold.

Yes, I forget how precious salvation really is. My Father has redeemed me; He has paid the astronomical price to buy me back from slavery and set me free. He has adopted me into His family and given me the rights of sonship.

Those who think becoming a follower of Christ is a form of bondage have bought a lie. Life with Christ is a life of freedom! It is the unspeakable joy of the orphan, disfigured, dirty, long abandoned and without hope in this world, who is singled out in the throng and who hears a loving voice say "This one. This is the one I want. Yes, this is my son." This one was born in Zion.

It is the speechless joy of the slave, without prospect of release, who hears the words long hoped for but for which he dared not hope, "You are free", and finds himself standing, unshackled, in the warm sun, blinking back astonished tears and feeling the winds of freedom on his face.

It is the freedom of a beloved child, a child free to laugh and run and play without shame, a child who runs to the door to welcome, with joy and a tight embrace, her Daddy. This is a child who has a name, who has a heritage, an inheritance, security, hope.

It is the freedom that only comes from Jesus, our Savior in every sense of the word. Orphans and slaves look to Him and are adopted and set free.

As one who has worn the rags of slavery and known the loneliness and desperation of the orphan, I can only bow in worship and thankfulness before my Redeemer. I really do forget how precious salvation is sometimes. Thank you Father, for your indescribable gift!

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God!

Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.�

Luke 22:52-53 (ESV)

“ . . . this is your hour, and the power of darkness . . . “

The authority of Jesus is amazing. I don’t believe that anything that happened on that dreadful night was beyond His control. “This is your hour� – Almighty God gave the enemy that short time to do with His Son what he would. And what the enemy did was absolutely dreadful, but it was also all within God’s plan.

I’ve often wondered what the angels thought during the passion of Jesus. Were they aware of why it was happening? I don’t know much about angels, but scripture gives us hints about their power and, as C.S. Lewis remarked in his excellent space trilogy (I paraphrase, from memory) the ones assigned to earth are of a "decidedly military caste�. The image I hold in my imagination is of the angels looking on from the heavens in horror as their Lord is tortured and killed. Their white-knuckled hands grip golden sword-hilts as they await the order that never comes. With tears of fury running down their cheeks they tremble and strain to hear the shouted order to “Attack!!!!� Surely toward the end many of them desired to rain holy fire and destruction on the entire earth – how could a race of beings who dared touch the Beloved with such violence be allowed to survive? Why didn’t their Lord call for them to rescue Him as He suffered on the cross?

This is all conjecture, of course. I am not really sure what the angels thought and felt. But what I am sure of is that God in His sovereignty gave the enemy that “hour�. It was the time when the power of darkness had its way, with God’s permission.

The blessed good news is that an hour is all the enemy ever gets. The raft of evil stays afloat for just a moment in the wide ocean of eternity. And even the workings of the enemy get turned against him, as he discovers, time and again, that the evil he worked has been woven into the good purposes of God. As Joseph said, "I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life." (Genesis 45:4b-5). Evil can't change God's plans. It just can't.

So, in my best moments, I don’t fret about the future, and I don’t worry about the enemy winning. What he has meant for evil, God will turn to good. The enemy’s hour of darkness will be swallowed up in the bright Morning of God’s victory. Even in the dark hours I can feel the healing touch of God, the warmth coming back into my weary limbs, the stiffening of faith and resolve, and the strength returning to my arms. I can once more pick up my sword and do battle.

Thank you Lord, for the hope that sustains!

"Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning."

- Psalm 30:5 (ESV)

Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—

Isaiah 52:13-14 (ESV)

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

John 3:14 (ESV)

Lord thank You.

I've wondered what You must have felt as a teenager or a young man as You read the scroll of Isaiah. As You read about Yourself.

"his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance . . ."

I cannot imagine what went through Your incarnate mind, Lord. Did a thrill course up Your spine when reading these words? Did You have to catch Your breath? Did You understand, in Your humanity, the passion that would be required of You? And all of it for us. Though holding no illusions about the suffering You would endure, did you not ache for the day when You would say in triumph "it is accomplished!"?

May You be high and lifted up in my life. May people be drawn to You.
May Your light shine through me, and may I cease from covering Your light.
What am I afraid of? What on earth?

Even in times of weakness, or despondence - the desert times, the battle times - may You be lifted up. I have been such a timid follower.

May none ever point to me and say "he doesn't live it"
And may I rejoice at the prospect, and the reality, of living and dying for You.

I can write these words on a page, on the internet, but may I write on the wall with my blood, 'Jesus is alive'. I can write these words, but will people know that You are my one and only? Do I even understand that?

And even when discouraged, tired, and fearful, may a fire burn in me that can't be quenched, and that doesn't consume, so that people will turn aside to marvel at the Spirit that burns, with me out of view in His glory, and points all to Christ.

Lord, as Your human life was, surely, filled with a million small things that You were perfectly faithful in, preparing you for the larger things that You would be perfectly faithful in, may I be faithful in the million small things. And far less boastful about the larger.

Even when I'm discouraged, tired, and fearful, may the sparks of joy that I feel even now be set ablaze. May I have the same attitude that was in You, and may I rejoice to pour myself out for others, as You did.

I thank You that You are so close when I'm hurting - and I'm ashamed that I was surprised by that. May my urgent prayers, whispered hour by hour, be answered in Your time, and in Your way, to bring glory to You. So that You may be exhalted and lifted high.

For You alone deserve it.

Well, I have finally completed version 0.14 of Bloo, and it is currently powering the blog.

Some notes: This version represents quite a step-up in the Bloo software, even though most of the changes are behind-the-scenes type modifications. For those of you with an inner geek, I have moved all the Bloo SnapOns and Overlays into individual "packages" (Java style) that load dynamically. In other words, to add a new SnapOn to the Bloo system you can just create it based on the SnapOn API (still being finalized so I don't have the docs yet) and place it in a package file in the packages subfolder. Once this is done, the SnapOn will load dynamically, and if you, for instance, reference it in the Overlay or containing SnapOn that controls part of a page, voila, it is now a part of Bloo. I'm geeking out over this. Future releases will allow for the dynamic, non-destructive modification of Overlays, which will allow the blog administrator to change the appearance of their Blog - in all its aspects - online and dynamically. I say "non-destructive" as I plan to build in the ability to always get back to previous versions of the blog's appearance. Many blogs allow the user to modify a few templates, this plan should be like that, except on steroids.

And - eventually - I will add the ability to define a new SnapOn on-line and dynamically. That will be pretty cool . . .

By way of review: the term "Overlay" refers to a construct used in Phoo/Bloo which represents an interface, either to a database or to the web front-end. For instance, the post you're looking at is defined/formatted by an Overlay. So is the Bible verse now appearing in right sidebar. The term "SnapOn" refers to the smart objects that populate Overlays. For instance, the overlay that formats this post is contained in and populated by the PostDisplay SnapOn. SnapOns contain overlays, which can contain embedded SnapOns, and so on.

Well, enough of that kind of talk :-) - below are the major new features introduced in this release:

• Code Organization - Created the current concept of the SnapOn "package", as described above
• List Management - again, not something the casual reader has access to. But I've implemented a set of SnapOns that allow one to create and manage lists. For instance, the Bloogroll in the right sidebar is now a display of a List (before it was just a static overlay). This is a pretty important feature, since once you have the ability to create lists there are all sorts of pieces of information - both visible and behind the scenes - that can live inside a list
• A new Weblogs Pinger. Not being happy with my pingomatic pinger (which doesn't seem to work very well) I've re-written the pinger SnapOn and I'm now pinging other services (weblogs, technorati, blogrolling, etc) - we'll see if this improves my pinging luck. I'm not holding my breath (I feel like I'm missing something here)
• Small formatting changes - so, tell me, how much do you hate the new textured background in the sidebars and date header?
• Did some slight cleanup on the RSS (that probably no one will notice)
• Added the SnapOnDescriptor class - giving the developer th ability to create SnapOns that are self-documenting
• Improved the error-rendering features of the blog
• Added the "Daily Passage" SnapOn - this is retrieved from the RSS feed on the excellent English Standard Version website

That's it! Version 0.15 will be coming out . . . eventually.

Watch me for the changes . . .

He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
And I will make him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
and my covenant will stand firm for him.
I will establish his offspring forever
and his throne as the days of the heavens.
If his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my rules,
if they violate my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with stripes,
but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
or be false to my faithfulness.
I will not violate my covenant
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
His offspring shall endure forever,
his throne as long as the sun before me.
Like the moon it shall be established forever,
a faithful witness in the skies.�

Selah

- Psalm 89:26-37 (ESV)

In the middle of Psalm 89 the psalmist launches into this beautiful and powerful retelling of the promises of God to His servant David. I am no Biblical scholar, but I see in this as well God's promise extended to His Son - "I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth" - and to those of us, redeemed by Christ, who have become children of God.

When God speaks of His promises, certain words and phrases begin to establish themselves in the prose like ancient and steadfast obelisks of truth: "my covenant will stand firm", "I will establish . . . forever", "I will not remove", "steadfast love", "endure forever".

"Once for all I have sworn by my holiness"

God means what He says. He swears to it by His holiness (what greater thing could He swear by?). I praise Him for that iron determination of His, established in beautiful, beautiful truth, and for the sovereignty and Lordship that God exerts over His creation. There have been times in my life when the thought that God really is in control seemed an unfair thing. I can't fathom now what I was thinking - what a comfort it is to know that He simply will not lose, He will not let His promise return void.

God does what it takes. He lovingly disciplines us, He brings us back home. He will not let us go, will not lie to us, and will never be faithless - least of all to Himself.



These are words we can count on. He has sworn to them by His holiness.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

- Romans 8:26 (ESV)

Last night I went to bed groaning. Almost audibly. Have you ever had no idea what you were going to do? What to pray for? Thankfully, since Christ came into my life those times have been rare. But I'm in one of those times now. The feeling is the same that any man gets when "action" seems called for but he doesn't know which "action" to take. Go left? Go right? Forward? Back? Or maybe just stand here and spin around in circles.

It is such a weak feeling.

It is comforting to know that when I groan I am not alone. And that when I am weak my Intercessor stands beside me, and He lifts up my head and holds up my arms. He helps us in our weakness, and when we've exhausted all of our ideas, schemes, and stratagems, when our prayer has been reduced to a groan and, finally, to silence, He groans for us.

How can we not love God? His compassions, they fail not. He stands by the tomb of our hope and weeps with us, and then commands it to come forth! He stands by the orphan and the dispossessed, and makes of the outcast a great nation. He binds up our wounds, heals our broken hearts, dries our tears, and, when all understanding says "despair", He gives us a peace that passes all understanding.

And I feel like I just barely know Him – how can I comprehend this great King of the universe? He is lifted high in glory, the Mighty One. He is the self-existing, eternal "I AM" of all the ages. Yet I do know Him, because He has made Himself known to me, has poured Himself out for us all, has given us His last full measure.

And when I'm hurting, He stands beside me, wraps His arms around me, and groans.

For the past seven years I've been involved in our student ministry as one of the "worship band guys". Basically, every year I get the amazing privilege of helping to equip high school students to lead worship.

In December I began to feel strongly that this should be my last year of doing this particular ministry. God is calling me to something else, although I'm not sure what. But I also feel called to finish out the year with the current band I am working with - so I'm still doing this thing through August.

I must say, I have been enjoying this year immensely! Every band has been special, but I'm not sure if I could pick a group I'd rather finish strong with than this one. The pictures of these fabulous five are below - I took these at our recent flag football HSABSFFBCS "bowl games" - so it was a bit of a looser and crazier time than our usual Sunday morning worship services (hence the team t-shirts, face-paint, etc), but it still was worship! I also threw in a few pics of a recent band party.

These kiddos are precious to me - they are all very talented, but - most importantly to me - they all are growing in their relationship to God and all have great hearts. These pics represent the fun, but behind these are untold hours of hard work in getting ready to bring a fitting gift of worship to our Lord. I love these students, and I'm blessed to get to work with them and play with them. What a privilege.

Some pics (my apologies to those of you with dial-up and lower resolutions - let me know if this messes up the page too much for you and I'll adjust ;-):

Update: I have made these a single, rather than a double, column of pics. Will be a longer post but now the site won't spill off the right side of the browser for those with lower resolutions.

Joey, amazing drummer, rocking out

Kelso (you're an angel, K :-)

Gabe - always having a great time

Mego, belting it out (this girl can sing!)

Kevo - an amazing guitarist

Megan and Kelsey singing "Hey" on "Undignified

Big Gabe, "taking the bassline for a walk" - heh

Hallelujah!

Kelso, Mego and Joey (Megan held that look on her face for a good thirty seconds while I fiddled with my camera - heh)

BALDERDASH!

Love you guys! (oh - the guy with the beard is Brad Brogden, who also works with the band - and he's an amazing musician in his own right)

Just a quick update - I have been working pretty diligently on the next release of Bloo - I hope to release it this weekend if possible.

It will contain a lot of internal enhancements - in other words, it may not be immediately obvious to the casual observer what the new version actually "improves" over the previous one! But, for what it's worth, I'm pretty excited about the enhancements I've been working on. They will allow for a much more flexible, extensible and nimble system.

I also intend to start posting on some of the code constructs in Bloo, for those of you with an inner geek.

Coming soon . . .

Update 4/17/05: "soon" is one of those relative words - one of the sites I webmaster had a bit of a meltdown this weekend, and it was a busy weekend anyway. So I didn't make much progress. Of course, as my better half has reminded me, it's not like there are people clamoring for the new version :-)

The excellent Mr. Standfast today has posted a simple reminder for us: The God of the second chance. He includes no commentary, just two passages of scripture:

Acts 15:38-40 (circa 50 AD)

Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.� Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company.

2 Timothy 4:9-11a (circa 65 AD)

Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.

Don't you just love these juxtaposed passages? There is much to observe and to be read between the lines; the loyal love of Barnabas, the growth in Kingdom usefulness of John-Mark over those fifteen years, and - did you catch it? - the development of a gentle humility in the aged Paul. And even a tender hint of loneliness in the old apostle. "Only Luke is with me." - ahhh. Luke. Good man.

God never gave up on Mark. Neither did Barnabas. And in the end, neither did Paul.

May God build into me the encouragement and steadfast love of Barnabas, the boldness and single-minded drive of Paul, and the growing usefulness of John Mark. Not to mention the ability to just "be there" exhibited in faithful Luke. These are jewels in the crown of character that I desire greatly.

And may I learn to extend the same grace and second, third, and four-hundredth chances to others that God has extended to me.

Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord?
Was your anger against the rivers,
or your indignation against the sea,
when you rode on your horses,
on your chariot of salvation?
You stripped the sheath from your bow,
calling for many arrows.

Selah

- Habakkuk 3:8-9a (ESV)

Habakkuk 3 is a breathtaking chapter. It's a poem, really; a cry for deliverance and a promise of patience.

Habakkuk lived and prophesied at a time of crisis. We often use the word "crisis" to describe the temporal hardships and heartaches in our own lives, but what the people of Israel faced in Habakkuk's time was nothing short of national extinction. The Babylonians were coming.

"For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own." - Habakkuk 1:6

The state of Habakkuk's troubled mind, I would imagine, was something akin to the way a young soldier in World War I would have felt as he crouched in terror and watched, powerless, as his enemy overran his trench, killing his friends and eventually killing him. Habakkuk was waiting, in great fear, for the arrival of the juggernaut.

Yet Habakkuk, the questioning prophet, the one who pled his case before God, knew who his Deliverer was. His God was the one who had delivered His people before, the God who uncovers his bow and calls for many arrows, who mounts His chariot of salvation and rides to the rescue. Habakkuk's prayer was that God would deliver again, and he boasts of the power of his God:

The sun and moon stood still in their place
at the light of your arrows as they sped,
at the flash of your glittering spear.
You marched through the earth in fury;
you threshed the nations in anger.
You went out for the salvation of your people,
for the salvation of your anointed.

- Habakkuk 3:11-13a (ESV)

So far so good; I am staying with the prophet up to this point. Yes, Lord, come save!

But then Habakkuk does something unexpected; something that leaves me in his dust. Habakkuk silently, at the end of a thought, weighs the justice and goodness of God against the wickedness of his nation, and the calls for quick deliverance die on his lips. There is no quick fix for the predicament that his nation has brought upon itself.

Yet in this dreadful knowledge Habakkuk rejoices! It is the realistic rejoicing of a man who knows that disaster is about to strike but who has chosen to wait patiently for His Lord anyway, knowing that the calamities wrought by God are far better than the pleasures of the world apart from Him.

I hear, and my body trembles;
my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;
my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
to come upon people who invade us.

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places.

- Habakkuk 3:16-19 (ESV)

Thus the prophet who began his oracle asking God "How long until You deliver us?", "Why won't you help?", comes to the end of all his complaints and questions, and rests in the patience and strength of his Lord. And in that strength he ascends to a high place of relationship with God that few of us ever attain.

And there he waits for the Lord to come riding on His chariot of salvation! The timing may not be to Habakkuk's liking, but it is the timing and wisdom of God that he now desires.

And that is joy!

Today's Bible Gateway verse of the day describes an aspect of God's love that I wish I was eloquent enough to adequately write about. Drink this in:

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

- Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)

"Very rarely will anyone die . . ." - so true. Martyrdom is a rare thing. I've often wondered how I will react if ever given the chance to lay my life down for another. My great fear is that I will not act as Christ did, but will rather desire my own life above all others. I hope not! As Paul points out, very rarely will anyone die, even for someone who deserves to be saved.

What then can we make of God's sacrifice for us? I'm afraid that I can't fathom it. At all! As I confessed in the paragraph above, I wonder how I will react if ever given the chance to die for another. I think about this quite a bit, actually. But there is another thought that is so frightful that I never venture toward it. It is the thought of sacrificing one of my children. I simply can't imagine a situation where I could do that. It is the one area of death and pain where the choice is pretty much a no-brainer. I don't believe I could do that. Ever.

Which is why I stand in awe of our Lord. He demonstrated His own love for us in this fact: while we were still sinners and powerless to help ourselves, He sent His own Son to die for us. And yet even that statement, as true as it is, doesn't capture the full horror of the event or the extremities of sacrifice to which our Lord was willing to go for you and me. Christ didn't just die for us, He was killed by us.

Here is love. Amazing, self-sacrificing, forgiving, gracious love. Paul continues:

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

- Romans 5:9-11

"How much more" indeed! We have a God who loves us in a way that we've rarely seen demonstrated. In fact, this kind of love is not just rare, it's almost unheard of! We weren't just helpless; we were His active enemies at the point of rescue. An analogy that comes to mind is that of a fireman rushing into a burning building to save a victim, only to find that victim actively engaged in arsoning the building with a flamethrower. And, not content to bring about his own destruction, the victim then turns the flamethrower on his rescuer. Yes, we were Jesus' enemies, and we played our part with deadly efficiency.

When we were still His enemies, we were reconciled. Reconciliation is such a beautiful word. And it is a beautiful thing to see. In that word we get a picture of whispered reassurances of forgiveness and love, tears of joy, arms opened wide to receive the prodigal back home, peace, a life begun anew. We are born desperately needing to be reconciled with our Creator, and desperately powerless to do anything about it. Reconciliation is only something that God can do.

And it's what our God has done.

Here is love!

Consult together, argue your case, and state your proofs that idol worship pays. Who made these things known long ago? What idol ever told you they would happen? Was it not I, the LORD? For there is no other God but me - a just God and a Savior - no, not one!

- Isaiah 45:21 (NLT)

I stumbled upon this passage in Isaiah tonight. I find the passages in Scripture such as this one where God engages His people in debate intriguing and powerful.

Here God seems to be nearly smacking us over the head, as if to say "are you guys nuts?!". Frankly, in my observation, fallen humanity is nuts. I've marvelled at the crazy behavior of even the relatively sane people around me, and I don't fare well either in this analysis. We humans have this mad tendency to set up our own gods. This isn't a post where I plan on listing the evils of modern idol worship - the worship of money or pleasure or sports teams or fill-in-the-blank. I only make the observation that not much has changed in the last 2700 years since Isaiah penned these words. The human race still runs after idols at the drop of a hat - and usually we are the ones dropping the hat. Will we ever learn?

We can learn if we will just listen to the Lord. He continues, inviting, ever inviting us back to reason and to Him.

Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other. I have sworn by my own name, and I will never go back on my word: Every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will confess allegiance to my name."

I find in that last declaration several pivotal truths. First, God is not kidding - we can chase after idols as much as we want, we can be angry with God, we can shake our fist at Him or bargain with Him like He was some petty diety. We can pay Him lipservice one hour a week and live like hades the other 167. We can ignore Him in times of plenty, taking the credit for our own good fortune, and then complain to Him when times are tough. We can do all these things, but it won't change the central Truth of the universe: there will come a day when every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess. This will happen - He has sworn it by His own name and has made very clear that He will not go back on His word.

And, not only will we bow and confess, some of us will also finally get our theology right:

The people will declare, "The LORD is the source of all my righteousness and strength."

Yes He is. He is the Source of anything good or strong residing in me or you, much like an artist is the source of the beauty on a canvas. Paul takes up this theme in the second chapter of Ephesians, reminding us that we are God's workmanship, created for the good works in Christ that God had in mind before He created the world. Today I was thinking about the artistry of God and His workmanship in our lives - what can we do but praise Him when we think of his patience and care in molding us, often painfully, into creatures that will truly reflect His glory?

Paul takes up the soaring refrain of Isaiah 45 in the second chapter of Philippians. Written anno dominie, Paul has the blessed advantage of knowing the One whom Isaiah could only glimpse dimly from his vantage point pre-Christ.

God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

". . . to the glory of God the Father."

Amen - may it be so.

Bloo v 0.13 has been released. Below is a summary of the new features:

• I've implemented an RSS 2.0 feed (see the right sidebar). The feed has validated, but please let me know if it ever goes invalid in your reader. I basically wrote it from scratch.
• Now the posts have a day header on them
• I am now pinging to rpc.pingomatic.com, rather than to weblogs.com. Hopefully this will provide for a more reliable ping when this blog updates
• Now when creating a post I can create a "Draft" that only I can see. This will come in handy for me as I'm a major re-writer/editor of my posts. They usually change about 7 times after I publish them to the blog - now you won't have to "watch me for the changes" as my posts morph before your eyes.
• There is now a Search "snapon" - see the right sidebar. It will search the posts for words or phrases, and will highlight the words or phrases in the posts that match
• Beefed up my headers (stuff you can't see that's sent with the http request)
• Small formatting changes

Deploying this took me longer than I had hoped it would tonight. Boy am I punchy, as you can see by this poorly worded and ungrammatical release notes screed . . . zzzzzzzz

Version 0.14 should be coming out in about a week, I suppose. More on that later.

Watch me for the changes . . .

. . . All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."

1 Peter 5:5b

And what, then, is humility? Surely Peter is not referring to the image that many of us conjure in our minds when we hear that word - false modesty, the refusal to accept a compliment, the constant putting down of oneself. We've all been there before. For instance, have you ever had this experience? In church someone has sung a song beautifully that has inspired you to worship God. Seeking to bless and encourage them, and, frankly, to thank them for using their talents in this way, you offer a compliment:


When what would have been far more edifying (and, frankly, a whole lot simpler) would have been the following exchange:


Many of us have actually been on both sides of that exchange. I'm particularly bad about accepting compliments myself. And that isn't humility. Neither pride nor false modesty equate to humility, because they both are attitudes of the heart that have self as their first concern. And true humility is not self-focused. True humility is rare - in fact some of the humblest people you'll ever meet may not at first seem to be particularly humble. Because they don't act humble, they are humble, and that is a subtle yet crucial distinction. True humility is the joyful forgetfulness of self that points one's heart and attentions toward God and toward others. Being around someone who is truly humble is, frankly, a respite from the modesty and pride games that we so often engage in. It's a treat!

Peter tells us to "Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another". I'm intrigued by Peter's use of the word "clothe" here (not being a Greek scholar I can't move any further beyond "I'm intrigued" . . .). It's an interesting concept. Throughout history, clothing has been an indicator of humility, of modesty. Here we are being asked to "clothe ourselves" with humility. Almost as if humility is something we "put on", like clothing.

I'm treading on shaky ground here, perhaps, because I don't want to misrepresent the command. But have you noticed how many times in the New Testament we are asked to "put on" something? We are told to "put on the full armor of God", to "put on the new self", to "put on love". I believe that just as clothing is not part of our fleshly bodies, humility is foreign to the Flesh. It's not a natural thing for us. It's something that we have to "put on".

There have been times when I have believed I was "clothing myself with humility" when actually I was, metaphorically, wearing an outfit that would make Liberace blush. And that's the key - anytime in your heart of hearts you are saying "look at me!" you are a far country away from humility. Have you ever had this thought in that secret place your heart: "I hope people notice how humble I am"? I admit, I have.

No, true humility is the modest clothing of self-forgetfulness. True humility doesn't get embarassed, and doesn't guard its pride, because it's not thinking about itself at all. I'm reminded of that famous and most ancient exchange:


How on earth had Adam and Eve not realized that they were naked? I believe it's because, before the fall, they had never really thought of themselves at all, at least not in the way we think of ourselves. We can't fathom how an unfallen mind considers itself. It's not that they were dumb or blind. I can guarantee you, for instance, that Adam knew Eve was naked. "The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame."

We won't know what that was like until we stand redeemed in the presence of our Savior. So, in the meantime, we are to clothe ourselves.

With humility.

"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world."

Thus Luke starts the second chapter of his Gospel, linking the earth-shaking advent of Christ with a historical marker - the decree of a pagan ruler seated on his throne many, many miles away from this small, Judean backwater trouble-spot of his empire.

How long had the Jewish people waited for their Messiah? How many of the children of Abraham had been born, lived and died hungry for deliverance? In Romans Paul describes all of creation "groaning" for liberation from its bondage to decay. In the same way many of us groan under the burdens that life has placed on us and we long for deliverance.

When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took [Jesus] to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord�), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.�

Luke 2:22-24 (NIV)

I can't really imagine what was going through the minds of Joseph and Mary. They appeared to be like any other normal, young, devout Jewish couple bringing the offering designated for the less well-to-do (a pair of doves or young pigeons) in observance of the law of Moses - a law that called for sacrifice forty days after the birth of a firstborn son. But the events of their engagement, pregnancy, and, of course, the miraculous and no doubt nerve-wracking birth of the One the angel instructed them to name "Jesus" were anything but "normal".

And, in wider context, it was just a hard time to be a Jew. Their country was under occupation by the ruthless Romans. The glorious days of Israel's past were gone, and the people were anguished and troubled. Many awaited a deliverer to bring them out of this mess.

Among them was Simeon. I am humbled by the patience and perseverance of many of the people described in scripture, and Simeon is a prime example:

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.�

Luke 2:25-32 (NIV)

The old prophet took Jesus in his arms and praised God for this one simple look at his Deliverer. "You may now dismiss your servant in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation".

One look at Jesus was all this man had been waiting for his entire life. Think about that for a second. He had been promised by God that he would see the Messiah, and upon holding Jesus he knew that God had been faithful to keep that promise. Simeon got one look at the One who would not only redeem Israel but would also be a light of revelation to the Gentiles. He got one look at the One who would reveal God to those who were far away from God, mired in paganism and the vanity of earth. God would be revealed to them in Jesus because Jesus is God. Simeon was holding the King of kings in his arms. He looked in Jesus' face and saw the salvation of God.

He had waited a long, long time for this moment. Yet he did not criticize God for being late - For Simeon, the whole of his life culminated here in this one look. And, satisfied, he was now ready to go home.

But not before gently revealing to the young, wondering couple that stood before him some hard truths:

The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.�

A sword will pierce your own soul too.

How true that was, although Mary could probably not see it fully then. This little baby was indeed the Redeemer of the whole earth, and a redemption of such magnitude would not be won bloodlessly. Simeon had waited his whole life for this moment. And Jesus would wait about thirty years for His moment, for the beginning of the "falling and rising" of so many in Israel, and for His own falling under the crushing weight of a crossbar laid on his shredded back and the rising up of his torn body on a cross - the lifting up of the Christ that would draw all men to Him. No - our redemption was not won bloodlessly. It would take the last full measure of devotion from the One that Simeon held in his arms.

The world had waited on God for a long time. You may be waiting on God too - for redemption, rescue, deliverance. Perhaps for the revelation of God to one you love, or for the resurrection of your joy, or for salvation. I pray that your eyes (and mine) will see God's salvation. God's sense of time is not ours, and the wait can seem long. But He is faithful (though in my weakness I don't live that fact out all the time). I know that it is always worth waiting when the One you are waiting on is God.

I hope to thank Simeon one day for his example of what it means to wait on God, as we both drink in one eternal look at our beautiful Savior.

If you get a moment, please pray for Thinkling Jared's mom. She is in ICU today suffering complications from what was supposed to have been a routine gall-bladder removal but which has turned into two more surgeries and a lot of pain for her.

Jared's dad needs prayer too - this is hard on him. Everyone's very concerned - please pray.

Thanks

2 Samuel 22 is an amazing chapter. In it we read the song of David which the Old Testament warrior penned in exultation because God had delivered him from all his enemies.

I am struck by the power of these images.

In my distress I called to the LORD ;
I called out to my God.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came to his ears.
"The earth trembled and quaked,
the foundations of the heavens shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.

2 Samuel 22:7-11 (NIV)

The thought of the Lord mounting his cherubim and soaring on the wings of the wind . . . it sends chills down my spine. The dictionary defines the Cherubim as, basically, composite beings; the winged footstool and chariot of the Almighty. I can't even picture that. Selah, indeed . . .

God heard David's cry and He, basically, opened up a can on David's enemies. The "entrance" God makes in the poetry of David as He comes to his rescue, well, is it not awesome? It takes seven verses just to describe it (2 Sam 22:8-14), and that's just the entrance! Darkness envelops Him, bright light streams forth, bolts of lightening, His thunderous voice! We serve a mighty God!

And it fills me with awe that these apocalyptic images describe God's rescue of David. For most of my Christian life the word "rescue" has held special significance. As one of my favorite worship songs puts it:

I need You Jesus
To come to my rescue
Where else can I go?
Just as David needed to be delivered from his earthly enemies, so we need to be delivered from our spiritual enemy, the accuser of our souls and the father of the iniquity we are born into. And the work of Christ to save us from our sin is the rescue and His fame and the wonder of His heroism echo resoundingly in eternity. The older I get the more I understand - there is no where else I can go, and no other place I want to be other than in God's hands.

"He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the LORD was my support.
He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.

Amazing. Our Father stands ever ready to come to our defense, to rescue us from our powerful enemy. Because He delights in His children.

I need You, Jesus, to come to my rescue.