Tag Archives: Christian

ISS

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ISS

International Space Station

ISS

I remember looking up excitedly as I saw the new International Space Station passing right overhead!  That was more than a decade ago now.  This morning at precisely 6:43 am I looked up and, for the first time since then saw it pass over again, right on schedule.  Since I first looked up more than 200 visitors have been to the ISS while its odometer has approached the two billion mile mark! Since I first saw the ISS it has passed within my sight over 2, 700 times and not one time have I looked up to see it until today.

I have to admit though that while the ISS has circled the globe over 75,920 times I haven’t really thought much about it.  For me it has been ‘out of sight and out of mind’.  But though I have not been aware of it, looked up to see it, or thought much about it, none of this changed the activity, research or impact of the ISS on the nations and crews with their families who have actively worked with it.

Late one night in a conversation never to be forgotten Jesus chastened a very religious man, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? … But if you don’t even believe me when I tell you about things that happen here on earth, how  can you possibly believe me if I tell you what is going on in heaven?” (John 3:10-12)  Just because we are unaware of what God is doing in the world and in people all around us it doesn’t mean He is not busily working in all sorts of ways!

My prayer for all of us is that the ‘eyes of our heart’ will be opened to become more aware of the God all around us who always has been, who is and who will always be. (Revelation 1:8)  It is only through knowing Him that we shall always be.

When the Bottom Drops Out

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When the Bottom Drops Out.

Psalm 130 is essentially a cry for help when the bottom has dropped out from beneath us. How often we may feel this way! When we do it may be tempting to think that the thing the “bottom” was resting on has shifted or moved. As Christians that thing is our faith in a Holy God. Has He moved? Has He changed? Has He left us? Of course not! Perhaps the real issue is that of a false bottom.

Too often we rest in a false sense of security in “things”. Our families. Our homes. Our careers. Our bank accounts or retirement plans. All of this ” life stuff” does not really provide a stable foundation. They perhaps bring some relative stability. They can make us feel safe and comfortable for awhile. But life is full of storms and tempests. It is easy for any one of these things to fall away. When it does, we are left feeling like the bottom has just dropped out from beneath us. In our desperation to find equilibrium, we may frantically try to recover the shattered pieces of our lives and entrust them once again to the wrong thing.

The wise psalmist knows where to turn. He cries out to God. He acknowledges his sin. He begins to wait upon the Lord. Herein lies the tricky part. The waiting part. For when we are in distress we want immediate action. We despise living in uncertainty. We long for the stability of what has been lost. The temptation is to pick up the pieces and start plowing forward under our own steam. True redemption occurs when we wait for a solution in God’s time. ” Waiting and watching till morning. Waiting and watching till morning”. This is so very difficult to do. And yet, so necessary. Amen.

Truth

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bibles

bibles (Photo credit: fancycwabs)

Truth

“The Bible is not inerrant, but the eternal truths contained within it are”. If you are a student in either of my Bible study classes you have heard me say this before. What do I mean by this? There seems to be a lot of bickering among Christians and non-Christians alike about the Bible and whether or not we are to take it literally. We have a tendency to get hung up on wording. We labor over minute points. What I know for certain about the truth in scripture is this. The Bible, first and foremost, is the love story of an almighty and eternal God for His people. It begins when that dream is but a spark in His eye, a hope yet to be born. As the pages unfold, we find a story of astonishing depth and breadth- of incredible majestic heights and plunging depths of betrayal. Had these sacred truths never been recorded by his people in this endearing and enduring form it would be nonetheless The Truth in all it’s resplendent beauty.

However, it is this Truth contained within the pages which make the Bible a sacred text, not the way in which the story is particularly worded or told. Any time we as human readers of it attempt to change this revealed truth into browbeating legalism, we are guilty of destroying the sacred Truth in Love that the text is meant to reveal. Indeed, it is not the words on the pages themselves as they are written or expressed that are sacred, but rather the heart of God as revealed to the reader which comprises the holy and sacred. Just as Christ said of the Sabbath- man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man. So the message of the Bible was not designed to make His children a slave to legalism and restricted interpretations of other men, but rather to free them in truth and love to live a life redeemed by His grace. May each of us remember as we search and study scripture that it is not the text itself that we should revere, but rather the heart, mind, and soul of Love who created The Word Eternal who is worthy of all our praise. Amen.

Getting Started

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Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglica...

Stained glass at St John the Baptist’s Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus’ description of himself “I am the Good Shepherd” (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: “To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I began to follow this living Christ in 1972.  Standing alone in the field behind my barracks in San Antonio I looked up and said to God, “I am not leaving this field until I have what they (the people I had met several months earlier at a Monday night Bible study) have.”  In that very moment He was there, within me and I knew it.  This was a new and fresh step in a marvelous, the most wonderful journey any human being can undertake.

But this is a winding road.  The scenery can be breathtaking and heartbreaking in the same moment.  Along the way there have been wonderful companions and stunning surprises.  One constant through those years has been that I often “see” a new truth in the form of a metaphor.   Jesus called them Parables.  We are told that He never spoke to the people without them.  Now a pastor for more than 20 years I have discovered time and again I “see” some truth I am struggling to explain to another in such terms.

In October of 2007 while in Scotland following a wedding of a dear family friend I was staying in a home and one evening I was overwhelmed with the urge to write.  I have journaled my entire Christian life but this was different.  I felt as if it was a command.  But God does not drive but rather leads His children.  He is the Great Shepherd.   Filled with excitement and anticipation, for I know God is Light and only Goodness, I struck pen to paper.  In that moment I felt as if I had closed an electric circuit and power previously unseen flowed from an unseen to a visual world.

Since that moment I have sought to carefully preserve the moments of my life when He speaks in order to lead others to His Light.  Often after a conversation I have scribbled down notes in the notebook in my back pocket or even a napkin on the table after dinner.   What I will place here are these Parables which I believe as long ago are gifts from above intended to guide us safely through this world to our true Home above.

I have been given the gift of a dear friend who has offered to help select and edit these and for this I am profoundly grateful.  None of us lives life alone.  We are surrounded by a vast array of companions in our journey some seen others unseen.  At just the right moment I have been,  I believe, invited by the Father to share these things with others.  All gifts from the Father of Lights and Goodness are intended to be generously shared.

As I begin this part of my journey I invite you, as fellow companions to come alongside.  Whatever you find upon these pages which may profit you I hope you will share as you are led with the hope that it will bring clarity, guidance and hope as we continue ….