Wednesday, January 25, 2006
A Matching Pair
This is my sister and me in matching vests that we got at Christmas. I have not yet worn my vest since then; I think it's more a Brookinator style. I'm too much of an old fart to wear neon yellow-green. Besides, I do not have a shirt that would really match it, so I ponder if I will wear it in the future or if I should give it to someone. Or, if that may potentially offend the one who gave it to me. Or, if it would be most right to do it quietly to not attract attention. That last option sounds like a pretty decent idea. But I feel lazy. Actually, no, it's just I have other things to do. Thus, I will store my vest in my closet! Or perhaps the sister could use a spare!!Brookie, I love you and hope you are all better today. Don't puke.
Friday, January 20, 2006
Just a little request
Lord, help me to live your Word.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Trusting Angels.
I'm sure some would find it silly, me posting what other's have written, but I'm going to do it again. How many of you have heard of Jason Upton? I went to his site, and he has made a lot of music. Here is some narrative he wrote about his CD Trusting Angels. I don't know much about this guy, but I know he's touched the hearts of a few strong Christian's I know...any comments about this welcome.
Psalm 91:11 “For he will give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” From before the time Israel chose a human king (the days of Cloud by Day and fire by night) to the rise and fall of Nebuchadnezzar …….from the rejection of Jesus and the inconvenience ‘The God-child’ created for so many in his day to the inconvenience children seem to now create in American society, God has always been sending angels to help “keep us in all his ways.”
How extreme should we be about trusting our lives to “messengers” (these angels) that might inconvenience us, or even hurt us? In one of the Gospel accounts of the betrayal of Jesus, Peter cuts off the soldier’s ear. Jesus then heals the man and says, “Peter, this cup my Father has for me, do you think I should not drink it?” Jesus was saying: ‘Don’t be afraid, Peter! We are not alone! This is no random act of betrayal. This is my Father’s will concerning my purpose for living.’ You see Jesus was so submitted to his Father that his gut reaction to betrayal was not to fight it but to receive it. Amazing! That is not my gut reaction to betrayal. And I believe that is why God has been giving me these songs and revelations……because He wants it to be my gut reaction. He wants me to see God as so sovereign that He “works the angels” to fulfill his purposes for me, whether that be changing me or moving me or even betraying me. Jesus did not see life as a competition (something to be fought for) but as a cup (something to be received). He had “made” the Father his refuge.
When we do not make the Lord our refuge but place our protection in the hands of false-comforts (i.e. self, home, friends, economy, national leaders, or even religion) humanity has a biblically recorded history of acting out of fear, thus killing its enemies. ‘Self-rule’ led the Catholic church to attempt to kill Luther, Luther then tried to kill Zwinglie, Zwinglie tried to kill Calvin, and Calvin tried to kill Huss. And it continues with us: fighting for our land and our rights and our control, killing our enemies, aborting our children and divorcing the spouses who inconvenience our lives. And why? Simply because we innately know that we are not in control of our destiny and yet are not willing to submit to God. So we attempt to control anything we can.
As one of my friends said recently concerning the American church: ‘if we had all the money in the world we would buy anything but a miracle, but only because we cannot buy a miracle.’ Knowing this, we would rather buy everything we can and control it, than give up all our rights and submit ourselves to God’s rule thereby gaining the miracle of the Kingdom in this life and the life to come. I speak here of the church not because we are worse than the world but because we should know better. We must begin to be an example on earth of the Kingdom. When Jesus walked the streets and hillsides and wanted to show us an example of a ‘creation’ living in trust and submitted to the Kingdom of his Father, He did not point to a middle aged man fulfilling his dream, He did not point to religious leaders gaining crowd approval, and He did not point to kings and rulers. Rather, He pointed to children, lilies, trees, and birds. Trusting the Angels is all about learning to trust God’s sovereign rule over our lives to the extent that every child, spouse, friend, and yes, even enemy can be seen as a cup to drink in from our Father. He has truly given ‘his “Angels” charge over us, to keep us in all his ways.’
Jason Upton
"Trusting the Angels"
Psalm 91:11 “For he will give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” From before the time Israel chose a human king (the days of Cloud by Day and fire by night) to the rise and fall of Nebuchadnezzar …….from the rejection of Jesus and the inconvenience ‘The God-child’ created for so many in his day to the inconvenience children seem to now create in American society, God has always been sending angels to help “keep us in all his ways.”
How extreme should we be about trusting our lives to “messengers” (these angels) that might inconvenience us, or even hurt us? In one of the Gospel accounts of the betrayal of Jesus, Peter cuts off the soldier’s ear. Jesus then heals the man and says, “Peter, this cup my Father has for me, do you think I should not drink it?” Jesus was saying: ‘Don’t be afraid, Peter! We are not alone! This is no random act of betrayal. This is my Father’s will concerning my purpose for living.’ You see Jesus was so submitted to his Father that his gut reaction to betrayal was not to fight it but to receive it. Amazing! That is not my gut reaction to betrayal. And I believe that is why God has been giving me these songs and revelations……because He wants it to be my gut reaction. He wants me to see God as so sovereign that He “works the angels” to fulfill his purposes for me, whether that be changing me or moving me or even betraying me. Jesus did not see life as a competition (something to be fought for) but as a cup (something to be received). He had “made” the Father his refuge.
When we do not make the Lord our refuge but place our protection in the hands of false-comforts (i.e. self, home, friends, economy, national leaders, or even religion) humanity has a biblically recorded history of acting out of fear, thus killing its enemies. ‘Self-rule’ led the Catholic church to attempt to kill Luther, Luther then tried to kill Zwinglie, Zwinglie tried to kill Calvin, and Calvin tried to kill Huss. And it continues with us: fighting for our land and our rights and our control, killing our enemies, aborting our children and divorcing the spouses who inconvenience our lives. And why? Simply because we innately know that we are not in control of our destiny and yet are not willing to submit to God. So we attempt to control anything we can.
As one of my friends said recently concerning the American church: ‘if we had all the money in the world we would buy anything but a miracle, but only because we cannot buy a miracle.’ Knowing this, we would rather buy everything we can and control it, than give up all our rights and submit ourselves to God’s rule thereby gaining the miracle of the Kingdom in this life and the life to come. I speak here of the church not because we are worse than the world but because we should know better. We must begin to be an example on earth of the Kingdom. When Jesus walked the streets and hillsides and wanted to show us an example of a ‘creation’ living in trust and submitted to the Kingdom of his Father, He did not point to a middle aged man fulfilling his dream, He did not point to religious leaders gaining crowd approval, and He did not point to kings and rulers. Rather, He pointed to children, lilies, trees, and birds. Trusting the Angels is all about learning to trust God’s sovereign rule over our lives to the extent that every child, spouse, friend, and yes, even enemy can be seen as a cup to drink in from our Father. He has truly given ‘his “Angels” charge over us, to keep us in all his ways.’
Jason Upton
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
To the parents
"Television"
by Roald Dahl
The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set --
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotised by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink --
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK -- HE ONLY SEES!
'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?
'How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ! They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There's Mr. Rate and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start -- oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.
by Roald Dahl
The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set --
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotised by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink --
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK -- HE ONLY SEES!
'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?
'How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ! They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There's Mr. Rate and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start -- oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.
