Wading through life

Great… Just great. Pat Robertson’s on TV talking about our need to assassinate Venezuela’s president. What an idiot.

On Monday, Robertson said on the Christian Broadcast Network’s "The
700 Club": "We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time
has come that we exercise that ability."

"We don’t need another
$200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator," he
continued. "It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert
operatives do the job and then get it over with."

Their VP even went so far to say that "religious fundamentalism is one of the great problems facing humanity in these times" and that Robertson’s remarks were "very Christian."

I’d say he’s right on, given the filter he’s viewing this through. Why wouldn’t he think Christians are kooks when Robertson is apparently our spokesperson?

Read the rest of it…

Is this an old hymn or something? Sure reads like one…

"In Christ Alone"
Newsboys, Adoration: The Worship Album

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
‘Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost it’s grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Brought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
‘Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

I was able to restore some vital files from my backup hard drive. So, even though I am without computer No. 1 as the motherboard is being serviced (or replaced), I loaded my backup HDD onto Scott’s computer and then plugged by laptop into his computer via Firewire and then pulled the files off the backup file on my HDD in his computer onto my laptop.

Quite the process, ya?

Works great. So, that’s why I say "God bless technology."

But…it’s the failure of technology that got me to this point in the first place, so that’s why I say "God curse technology."

The Complete Green Letters, chapter 2

Time

“But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land
would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.” Exod. 23:29-30

Sound familiar? How often is it that we just don’t understand how God wants to work in our lives? We want things now, quick and in a hurry. We often figure that just because God can do something in our life (such as “fix it,” to be exact), then he must want to do it…and do it now.

Stanford’s insights into the Christian walk seem to be dead-on in my mind. He connects with me well. And this chapter on time and it’s role in our spiritual development is powerful–especially for someone who’s experienced seasons of rapid spiritual growth only to be followed by seasons of apparent stagnation, if not backsliding.

But Standford is quick to point out that they likely are not seasons of backsliding…that it’s possible the Lord pulled the reigns on the growth for our own good.

“God himself will modify the pace. This is important to see, since most instances when seeming declension begins to set in, it is not, as so many think, a matter of backsliding.”

An insight I had never thought of is this:

“Since the Christian life matures and becomes fruitful by the principle of growth (2 Peter 3:18), rather than by struggle and experiences,’ much time is involved.”

So, Stanford poses, what do we want to grow to be? An oak, or a squash? Do we appreciate the investment in time God puts into the mighty oak? 100 years? Then we must be willing to abide in the process.

“Growth is not a uniform thing in the tree or in the Christian. In some single months there is more growth than in all the year besides. During the rest of the year, however, there is solidification, without which the green timber would be useless. The period of rapid growth, when woody fiber is actually deposited between the bark and the trunk, occupies but four to six weeks in May, June and July.”

And some more key quotes:

“Unless the time factor is acknowledged from the heart, there is always danger of turning to the false enticement of a shortcut via the means of experiences and ‘blessings’ where one becomes pathetically enmeshed in the vortex of ever-changing
‘feelings,’ adrift from the moorings of scriptural facts.”

“Fruit ripens slowly; days of sunshine and days of storm each add their share. Blessing will succeed blessing, and storm follow storm before the fruit is full grown or comes to maturity..”

“The temptation to shortcut is especially strong unless we see the value of and submit to the necessity of the time element; in simple trust resting in His hands, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Phil. 1:6

I’m learning that everything requires committed communication with the Lord, including this “time” thing. We need to talk to him about the process we’re in. We need to speak our occasional frustrations with the process so that he can respond to us and assure us he’s in control and has us on a path.

When I don’t dialog with God about what’s going through my mind, I end up having weeks like this past one where I feel kinda aimless…and lost and without purpose.

But all isn’t lost, because in spite of the temporary aimlessness I sometimes experience, there exists a gnawing, underlying sense that I’m on some sort of journey…some sort of path. And though I might be in the middle of a wilderness and misplaced my compass and feel like I’m going to arrive at my destination a few decades too late, I am still en-route. And just as he’s still in control of Saturn’s orbit around the sun, he’s in control of my life.

We have a winner folks!

Congratulations to Krista Meckling from Ft. Wayne, Ind., for correctly answering today’s trivia question. She was able, after three guesses, to figure out which remark I left in response to the article on relevantmagazine.com mentioned below.

This is what I said:

I think this is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read. But maybe I just wasn’t supposed to take it seriously.

Please add "*** for stupid humor only! ***" disclamers to future articles.

I could have been a lot more mean…but I didn’t want to get too worked up about things. Just wanted to let him know that I felt it was, in fact, pretty stupid.

There are currently 47 people who’ve had an opinion about it one way or another…most in agreement with me. Though some found it honest and funny…and some felt outright sorry for him.

Anyway, Krista gets to pick a picture off my photo site and I’ll ship it to her. I’m not going to frame it or anything, but it’s a free print of a to-be-famous photographer!

Thanks for playing…and be sure to rip on anything I write you think is stupid!