Vision Statement Courtesy of translation by Mary E Burke
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdon, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son,
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise;
Thou mine inheritance, now and always;
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.
High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall.
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
The World's a stage
What in the hell . . . no wrong place.
What in the world . . . no, still wrong place.
What in heaven’s name was Satan doing in heaven when the angels, or “sons of God,” were presenting themselves to God? –God only knows.
So God, in His “God way” asks a question to Satan – of course He already knows the answer. He says, ”Wha’sup?” or really He says, “Where've you been?” Literally the scripture says in NIV and the looser yet God’s Word translation, “Where do you come from?” (I think that God’s grammar is not this bad, but you understand that Hebrew is hard to make sound relaxed and proper in everyday English. - Like I would know a jot from a tiddle!)
The devil or Satan or the Evil One, or the Fallen one, or the tempter or the accuser (you get the picture of his character) answers, “Hanging out on earth.” (Literally the English words are, "From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it." Or another says, "From wandering all over the earth."
The next part is scary. Not my brave boys, “someone-is-in-the-dark-watching-me” scary, but realistic, bone chilling scary. God throws poor old Job out as bait and says to the #2 most powerful being ever – who hates our guts- “Have you considered (or thought about) my servant Job?”
First scary thought: Is God nuts? Sure the Evil One is no big deal to Him, but to throw Job’s name out there as a challenge to the Evil one seems like He is slapping the bear then setting Job in front of Him. He describes what He likes about Job which is like pouring salt in the ancient wounds of Satan. “There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
That “shuns evil” part is “In your face, Satan!” from God
Scary thought #2: The Evil one knew exactly who Job was. He has already scoped him out and has looked for his weaknesses. Satan answers, ”Big ____ deal.” (Satan, being the most vile thing ever, probably used the “F word” between Big and deal, but my mouth is G rated.) "Haven't you given Job a reason to fear God? Haven't you put a protective fence around him, his home, and everything he has? You have blessed everything he does. His cattle have spread out over the land. But now stretch out your hand, and strike everything he has. I bet he'll curse you to your face."
See what’s happening here? Satan has taken the bait on Job and challenged God on what God holds most dear – the faith and devotion of His prized creature - man. And Job was a good one, one of the best (Maybe even #2 behind John the Baptist.)
Scary thing #3: So, what does God say? - Holy moly - God says, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."
WHAT? WHOSE hands?!! He just gave Satan the go-ahead to smash everything Job has and loves. What is He thinking? What did Job do to deserve this beating? Later God gives Satan the go ahead to hit job himself! This is not FAIR!
(OK kids, all together now, “Life is not fair!” – See, I did not make this stuff up.)
The rest of the story goes on to describe Job’s losses, the escalation of the contest to include Job’s health and all the dialogue by Job and his stupid friends trying to figure out what went wrong. They never did figure it out, by the way. And God never told them . . . in their lifetime.
As an aside, God was not training Job, or giving him special insight for future ministry, or any of the other things we say to ourselves and each other when we want to make everyone feel better about a life trial. We ALWAYS think everything is about us and this world. Quite apparent in this, the oldest story in the Scriptures, is the truth that it is NOT ABOUT US! We are players on God’s stage. It is ALL about Him, and we are privileged to have a role in the drama.
Convinced yet? Is our life about work, fun, college, marriage, money, saving lives, flying jets, acting in New York, Bahama Bash, BSF, travel, South America, children, other people, school, friends, building stuff . . .? You get the point. It cannot be that shallow. God has big things for us to do, and we do not know what those things are. We cannot even see those things. They are not here in our “me-centered,” easy-to-believe-because we can see it world. It is in the Heavenlies.
In Ephesians Paul is writing along trying to explain the best news ever, - that non-Jewish people can belong to God because of Jesus and His doings. It says this previously hidden mystery that being one of God’s people is not about being Jewish, but about being such a believer that everything is bet on God. That is why we non-Jews can be in. And he throws in this little phrase that we usually blow right past. -in the Heavenlies-
Why did God do this mysterious thing? Why does He base His whole system on the flimsy faith of man? “He did this so that now, through the church, he could let the rulers and authorities in heaven know his infinite wisdom.”
Who are these rulers and authorities IN HEAVEN? Look down a few chapters in Ephesians 6:12,”This is not a wrestling match against a human opponent. We are wrestling with rulers, authorities, the powers who govern this world of darkness, and spiritual forces that control evil in the heavenly world.
It is NOT ABOUT US!
All of creation is about God showing His opponents, these forces etc., that His way of doing things and His being is the best, right, most powerful, most wonderful. He allows us tiny little weaklings to show the 2nd most powerful being ever that He is so wonderful. That happens when we choose Him with faith in the little, tiny bit we know about Him.
We choose Him. We choose Him. . .
It does not sound all that powerful, but by choosing Him, as demonstrated by continually basing our whole life on believing Him, we show how wonderfully, powerfully, supreme He really is. Just hearing His story is so powerful that we abandon chasing after all the stuff the Evil one uses to tempt us. That shows how powerful He is. - We follow Him because of His story.
The story shows up as truth to us, because God allows us to really hear it. Our “heart ears” are open – by the will of God doing something in our heart. We show up for God in front of all those “rulers, authorities and powers” by believing Him and because we believe, acting out that faith. (Of course, because we really believe, there is no acting – only being. Sorry Actress.)
So enjoy the battle. You were selected for your role – your position on the battlefield or - OK for most of our family, it’s mostly a story on the stage - to play the role that only you can play in the story of the universe called “God’s Love.” That is why you are different from each other and your parents. You each have your own role.
So, “as you go” in that role, believe God and make disciples for Him out of the people you meet and love. Use words only if you absolutely have to.
What in the hell . . . no wrong place.
What in the world . . . no, still wrong place.
What in heaven’s name was Satan doing in heaven when the angels, or “sons of God,” were presenting themselves to God? –God only knows.
So God, in His “God way” asks a question to Satan – of course He already knows the answer. He says, ”Wha’sup?” or really He says, “Where've you been?” Literally the scripture says in NIV and the looser yet God’s Word translation, “Where do you come from?” (I think that God’s grammar is not this bad, but you understand that Hebrew is hard to make sound relaxed and proper in everyday English. - Like I would know a jot from a tiddle!)
The devil or Satan or the Evil One, or the Fallen one, or the tempter or the accuser (you get the picture of his character) answers, “Hanging out on earth.” (Literally the English words are, "From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it." Or another says, "From wandering all over the earth."
The next part is scary. Not my brave boys, “someone-is-in-the-dark-watching-me” scary, but realistic, bone chilling scary. God throws poor old Job out as bait and says to the #2 most powerful being ever – who hates our guts- “Have you considered (or thought about) my servant Job?”
First scary thought: Is God nuts? Sure the Evil One is no big deal to Him, but to throw Job’s name out there as a challenge to the Evil one seems like He is slapping the bear then setting Job in front of Him. He describes what He likes about Job which is like pouring salt in the ancient wounds of Satan. “There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
That “shuns evil” part is “In your face, Satan!” from God
Scary thought #2: The Evil one knew exactly who Job was. He has already scoped him out and has looked for his weaknesses. Satan answers, ”Big ____ deal.” (Satan, being the most vile thing ever, probably used the “F word” between Big and deal, but my mouth is G rated.) "Haven't you given Job a reason to fear God? Haven't you put a protective fence around him, his home, and everything he has? You have blessed everything he does. His cattle have spread out over the land. But now stretch out your hand, and strike everything he has. I bet he'll curse you to your face."
See what’s happening here? Satan has taken the bait on Job and challenged God on what God holds most dear – the faith and devotion of His prized creature - man. And Job was a good one, one of the best (Maybe even #2 behind John the Baptist.)
Scary thing #3: So, what does God say? - Holy moly - God says, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."
WHAT? WHOSE hands?!! He just gave Satan the go-ahead to smash everything Job has and loves. What is He thinking? What did Job do to deserve this beating? Later God gives Satan the go ahead to hit job himself! This is not FAIR!
(OK kids, all together now, “Life is not fair!” – See, I did not make this stuff up.)
The rest of the story goes on to describe Job’s losses, the escalation of the contest to include Job’s health and all the dialogue by Job and his stupid friends trying to figure out what went wrong. They never did figure it out, by the way. And God never told them . . . in their lifetime.
As an aside, God was not training Job, or giving him special insight for future ministry, or any of the other things we say to ourselves and each other when we want to make everyone feel better about a life trial. We ALWAYS think everything is about us and this world. Quite apparent in this, the oldest story in the Scriptures, is the truth that it is NOT ABOUT US! We are players on God’s stage. It is ALL about Him, and we are privileged to have a role in the drama.
Convinced yet? Is our life about work, fun, college, marriage, money, saving lives, flying jets, acting in New York, Bahama Bash, BSF, travel, South America, children, other people, school, friends, building stuff . . .? You get the point. It cannot be that shallow. God has big things for us to do, and we do not know what those things are. We cannot even see those things. They are not here in our “me-centered,” easy-to-believe-because we can see it world. It is in the Heavenlies.
In Ephesians Paul is writing along trying to explain the best news ever, - that non-Jewish people can belong to God because of Jesus and His doings. It says this previously hidden mystery that being one of God’s people is not about being Jewish, but about being such a believer that everything is bet on God. That is why we non-Jews can be in. And he throws in this little phrase that we usually blow right past. -in the Heavenlies-
Why did God do this mysterious thing? Why does He base His whole system on the flimsy faith of man? “He did this so that now, through the church, he could let the rulers and authorities in heaven know his infinite wisdom.”
Who are these rulers and authorities IN HEAVEN? Look down a few chapters in Ephesians 6:12,”This is not a wrestling match against a human opponent. We are wrestling with rulers, authorities, the powers who govern this world of darkness, and spiritual forces that control evil in the heavenly world.
It is NOT ABOUT US!
All of creation is about God showing His opponents, these forces etc., that His way of doing things and His being is the best, right, most powerful, most wonderful. He allows us tiny little weaklings to show the 2nd most powerful being ever that He is so wonderful. That happens when we choose Him with faith in the little, tiny bit we know about Him.
We choose Him. We choose Him. . .
It does not sound all that powerful, but by choosing Him, as demonstrated by continually basing our whole life on believing Him, we show how wonderfully, powerfully, supreme He really is. Just hearing His story is so powerful that we abandon chasing after all the stuff the Evil one uses to tempt us. That shows how powerful He is. - We follow Him because of His story.
The story shows up as truth to us, because God allows us to really hear it. Our “heart ears” are open – by the will of God doing something in our heart. We show up for God in front of all those “rulers, authorities and powers” by believing Him and because we believe, acting out that faith. (Of course, because we really believe, there is no acting – only being. Sorry Actress.)
So enjoy the battle. You were selected for your role – your position on the battlefield or - OK for most of our family, it’s mostly a story on the stage - to play the role that only you can play in the story of the universe called “God’s Love.” That is why you are different from each other and your parents. You each have your own role.
So, “as you go” in that role, believe God and make disciples for Him out of the people you meet and love. Use words only if you absolutely have to.
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