|
|
Getting somewhere requires effort, it takes
faith to push on, it's easy to screw up,
|
|
Friday, September 20, 2013
What’s the cuckoo in your life? Wikipedia says
“Cuckoos
are often highly secretive and in many cases best known for their wide repertoire of calls. Calls are usually relatively simple,
resembling whistles, flutes, or hiccups. The calls are used in order to demonstrate ownership of a territory and to attract
a mate. Within a species the calls are remarkably consistent across the range, even in species with very large ranges. This
suggests, along with the fact that many species are not raised by their true parents, that the calls of cuckoos are innate
and not learnt. Although cuckoos are diurnal, many species call at night”
Do you ever have idle daydream moments in your life?
I do and thoroughly enjoy the free thoughts and free associations that mingle, merge and finally emerge with a flow
of semi reasonable ideas which if scrutinized often have parts of them that can help me solve a problem or consider a new
way of checking up on something.
This daydream process is a creative soup from which formative ideas mold and flow.
I was
pondering about the cuckoo this morning and considering how like cuckoos our current Christian church has become.
The church rather than being
open and understood ,has slowly drifted into a place of more obscurity and mystery that anyone in the early church would have
liked. Our church projects itself into the world at regular intervals with noisy, somewhat amusing, and somewhat annoying,
but hopefully helpful interjections.
When we discuss church with the average non-Christian young person the immediate reaction is that the church is
an unknown and mysterious entity, probably best avoided.
Into their minds may flow thoughts
of angry sounding people with weird words trying to manipulate peoples thinking. (Tele-evangelists to many have had a generally
negative impact).
Yet, the one thing people seem to know about the church is this driving call “to get saved”.
This “to get saved” for the church is one of many terms and phrases which cause church attenders to
recognise
each other and come together to practice their rituals. These terms and phrases are almost seen by many as a war
cry and a banner to rally behind. These terms and phrases establish contextual property and Christian folk can get quite concerned
if others should mimic or use them.
It isn’t often that a Christian can get out of their own world view far enough to gain
perspective and see how scary these terms and thoughts are to outsiders.
It is also of interest that Christians who grow
into Christ using only biblical teaching, and who are rather disconnected from other Christians, also seem to get the same
language and concepts.
Holy Spirit seems to be the spiritual DNA linking
Christians together. These young Christians can grow without huge amounts of contact with other Christian’s (although
contact with other Christians is always advisable)
The church from a totally different perspective is often viewed by
outsiders to be like that of the cuckoo of nurturing its young by using anothers nest.
People coming to Christ are
not always the children of Christian parents. The parents will nurture and grow the child, but in the end the child is more Christian
than wordily (if the Christian teaching has been appreciated and taken root.)
Parents grow the child, but Jesus forms the spiritual
strength and by this forms the true life direction of the child as they mature. The growth appears to be innate to a person who loves
God and is not necessarily dependent on surroundings.
Yet, unlike the cuckoo Christians do not replace children in a family with
a new child, but rather transform and existing child into a more happy, joyful and loving member of their own family. The person loves more deeply
and wants to help more earnestly. The family grows as the person stays with the family.
Then when there is a Christian in a family there
is another miracle that sometimes happens.
Sometimes those in the family of a solitary Christian get a glimpse of Jesus and they become
Christian as well. Sometimes the whole family can access Christ and rejoice together.
This is true Christianity. This is a time where pure love
flows freely to others causing them to also want to have it. Then when they get this love of God, they want to share it and
the process starts again.
The difference between the cuckoo and the Christian, is that the cuckoo is parasitic, but the Christian
is transformative.
In transforming we as Christians are spreading truth. Not everyone likes it or wants it, but everyone needs
it!Today let’s
lead transformative lives in our families, our jobs, our communities and our churches.Have a great day!
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Okay, so let’s see someone without medicine and in a few moments unshrivel a shrivelled hand… The difficult
is what takes a little time the impossible is what takes a little longer. – Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Nansen was a Norwegian
explorer, a scientist, diplomat and a Nobel peace price winner. He is best known for making great progress in polar travel, polar equipment and
clothing.
A
great man, but a man who almost killed himself and his party when he attempted to go to the North Pole in 1896.
Having had their timekeeping devices stop,
they lost their ability to know where they were while out in the arctic ice searching for the pole. Then out of nowhere,
a walrus attacked their canoes forcing them to stop for a while.
In that huge waste where no-one ever travelled in those days,
getting lost was basically a death sentence.
Then the impossible happened.
A man walked in out of the white and took them to safety. It was British
explorer Frederick Jackson.
He took them onboard their supply ship and into safety.
Despite huge sacrificed, elaborate plans, innovations and determination,
Fridtjof just didn’t have enough time in his life to achieve his goal. Unfortunately, he also probably never reached heaven. His funeral
was non-religious.
Sad!
We as the human race have done a lot, but to think we can compete
with God is just incredibly stupid!
Let’s look at just one thing that Jesus did on a warm day in the Middle East, without drugs, machines, or other
scientific mechanisms.
On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was
shriveled. 7 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched
him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. 8 But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man
with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.
9 Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which
is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”
10 He looked around at them all, and then said to the
man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. 11 But the Pharisees
and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus. Luke 6:6-11
Jesus unshrivelled a
shrivelled hand in front of everyone, and a few moments, without touching the guy.
This has never been done again by any person and
today we still cannot do this unless it is by movie animation tricks.
Doing this same thing in reality is impossible, even today.
We still have no way to do it or explain it.
Yet, people saw it happen and then wrote it down because it impressed them as being astounding.
Humility when approaching
God is our only true attitude we should have!
If we think we have the answers then we are deluded. We to date cannot even say how life originated. It’s
interesting to see how scientists avoid that question and offer wild hypotheses up to cover ignorance.
The reality is that no-one knows! The scientific
method says to prove something you experiment and prove it true.
Can any scientist from the dust, primeval air components, and
our sea or liquid environment of the time assemble DNA?
If not, the origin of life is still a debate.
Simply explaining it came from outer space means nothing either.
How?
We are not God!
We have very limited time to do anything. God has eternity!
Perhaps if we in humble submission turn to God, he will save
us. Like Fridtjof Nansen we may only see a walrus or other event, but it can be life changing. We can do better than Fridtjof
Nansen if we realize that God is the one who engineers life events and give him the glory for it.
Today as we start our activities,
why don’t we ask God to be part of them?
To
guide help and rescue us from our own failings! To make the way right for us! To show through the little events of today how
much he loves us!
Have a wonderful God blessed day!
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
What our mouths say about us? It is better
to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt. ~ Mark Twain
We have two ears and one mouth so that we
can listen twice as much as we speak ~Epictetus
We often seem to get ourselves into trouble by what we say. No other creature suffers from this malady
to the same extent. It is a condition known to humans and God.
We humans do it, and God warns us to be careful doing it.
The bible says...
“A good man says good
things. These come from the good that is put away in his heart. An evil man says evil things. These come from the evil that
is put away in his heart. Their mouths say everything that is in their hearts.” Luke 6:45
Have you considered that what
we say defines us to others, and it is the alignment of what we say to what is true that either wins or looses the respect of others.
Truth is not always easy to find and speak,
but the reward is high
for finding and aligning with it.
We as Christians have it relatively easy in this area since God has laid out for us what truth is and where to find
it. Others who have no such guidance are afloat in a world of ambiguities and have it much harder than we Christians do.
God wants us
to have a pure heart, and out of that the truth will flow with ease.
Have you noticed those who fall into using swear words soon fall into
bending truth and then into failing to live up to even the lesser expectations they have for themselves. Then they lower their
standards, claiming that their standards were wrong anyhow. Next they try to drag others down with them.
Silly and shameful isn’t it?
Yet as a Christian when we
do this(and we also fall prey to this selfish, nasty and ignorant approach to life), when we do this we simply ask Jesus to
forgive us.
Jesus extends forgiveness and cleans our hearts. Then, we start anew. We ask forgiveness of those we have hurt, we try to do things correctly, we search
for great guiding principles and apply them. As we succeed, we let other know and try to help them. Soon we are improving
ourselves and those around us. People like being around this type of person.
This brings me to the question.
How will you chose to speak today?
Have a great day with God's support and love!
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
13 Killed by a man suffering from evil temper  Aaron Alexis took a weapon to innocent people at a Navy yard and killed thirteen people.
According to the news this man had lost his cool
twice before and shot-up a car and put a bullet into neighbour’s home.
In talking to the police in previous incidents
he says he had a “blackout”.
I have to ask why a man who did these things was still permitted to have a gun and ammunition. Yes he had been given the National
Defence service and global war medals, but that only means that he knew how to use weapons, not that he was in control when
using them. He obviously was not.
We will find out more in the coming days, but it seems this man was lost and searching. The media paints a picture
of a person who felt he was been discriminated against and carried a chip on his shoulder. Then he changed religions and became
a Buddhist.
He was apparently a person who felt permanently aggravated and my guess he had a fear and anger that formed an undercurrent
of his life.
So why does God allow Aaron Alexis to kill 13 wonderful people?
The simple answer is that while
I do not know, I do know God didn’t kill them and Alexis did.
I also know that Alexis had many points at which he chose between good
and evil.
Sometimes he chose good, the medals seem to indicate that, and then he chose evil, the killings indicate that.
We have free will folk!
That
means we get to choose for ourselves and the consequences are ours, even when they overflow into the lives of others.
Free
will is necessary or we would all be prisoners. A loving God does not want prisoners. A loving God wants people to choose
to follow his guidelines and advice because we love him.
A loving God also does not give us false perceptions.
God warns us life is tough!
Jesus says in John 16:33
says “I
have told you these things, so that you can have peace because of me. In this world you will have trouble.
But cheer up! I have won the battle over the world.” There is trouble in this world! Our choices do count!
Not everyone can have their way!
God’s way is right and
until we respect that and start to make good choices, be willing to forgive (Alexis’ major failure was not turning to
God and forgiving others), God cannot use us fully or protect us from eternal harm.
There is pain on this earth. To the extent we
follow Jesus and God’s principles, we can reduce it.
Let’s also keep an eye out for those who are having difficulty
and show them God’s love. In that way maybe we can improve the world and save lives. Perhaps you already do this?
I
wonder how many lives you have saved so far?
Monday, September 16, 2013
The miracle of the scarlet threadThe miracle of the scarlet
thread  How we love stories
of miracles! The miracles of Jesus make great reading, as do the amazing feats God did through Moses and other prophets of
God.
Yet how
many people know of the miracle of the scarlet thread?
In the ancient days until forty years before the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed
by the Romans in 70A.D. there was a miracle that was put out for everyone to see each year.
On the day of atonement, once a year, the high priest would
go into the Holy of Holies and offer sacrifices to make amends for the selfish, nasty and ignorant things the people of Israel
had done.
Now the
Jewish people have texts other than the bible that us Christians use. They have the Talmud, which is Jewish civil and ceremonial
law and legends comprising the Mishnah (text) and the Gemara (commentary). They also have the Zohar, which is the chief text
of the Jewish Kabbalah, which is an allegorical or mystical interpretation of the Pentateuch.
The Talmud says...
"Forty years before the destruction of
the Temple, the western light went out, the crimson thread remained crimson, and the lot for the Lord always came up in the
left hand. They would close the gates of the Temple by night and get up in the morning and find them wide open" (Jacob
Neusner, The Yerushalmi, p.156-157).
Okay so what was this about?
There were two goats used in the sacrifice, one would die and the other would be
let go free, and which would do what, was chosen by lot. One goat was for the Lord, and the other was the scapegoat. Now the
interesting aspect is that there was a crimson, or scarlet cloth or thread, tied to the scapegoat. A piece of this was removed
and tied to the temple door. Each year, this red cloth would turn white to signify that the making of amends was acceptable
to God.
Yet,
for 40years before the destruction of the temple, this never occurred!
From the account in the Zohar (Vayikra, Section 3, condensed)
All the
sins are (taken) away…. on this day, the defilement of the soul and of the body…All that day…God makes
atonement for Israel and purifies them from all their sins and they are not accused before Him…On this day the priest….makes
atonement for himself and his house and the priests and the sanctuary of all Israel…They used to know by a certain
thread of scarlet if the priest had been successful…It was known by the thread changing its color to white, when there
was rejoicing above and below. If it did not, however, all were distressed, knowing that their prayer had not been accepted.
This changing of
color was in direct reference to Isaiah 1:18
“Come. Let us talk some more about this matter,”
says
the Lord.
“Even though your sins are bright red,
they will be as white as snow.
Even though they are deep red,
they will be white like wool.
Yet the Tamud also says
(Rosh Hashanah 31b):
Originally they used to fasten the thread of scarlet on the door of the Temple court on
the outside. If it turned white the people used to rejoice, and if it did not turn white they were sad…For forty years
before the destruction of the Temple the thread of scarlet never turned white but it remained red.
So, perhaps Jesus’ work on this earth
replaced that of the day of atonement. Perhaps God was showing that his Son was the new covenant, the new promise, and that
the new promise fulfilled the old and replaced it.
We also know the curtain that kept the Holy of holies separated from the people was torn in two when Jesus
died.
Matthew 27:50 After Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, he died.
51 At that moment the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom
Things changed!
For about 1500 years the miracle of the scarlet thread occurred,
then for 40 years it did not.
Was God speaking through the miracle that stopped?
I think so!
Let’s realize today how amazing Jesus is, and give ourselves over to him to make our lives white as snow, pure
and full of Holy Spirits guiding and power.
Have a great day!
Mon, September 16, 2013 | link
|
|
If you want to see a short blog describing a perspective on what I believe click here
 |
Rift in Evil
By Ken
X Briggs - Published: September, 2010
- Format: Perfect Bound Softcover(B/W)
- Pages: 208
Size:
6x9 - ISBN: 9781450250894
Available from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iUniverse. |
Credit cards are acceptable on sites having Ken's books: 
:)
 |
|
Click
on XML Click here =>  to be told of new blogs
| Ken's book covers are displayed below. . . | |  This
suspense thriller centers on Kiara, a beautiful young woman pursued by a murderous group of people, who relentlessly and ruthlessly
hunt her and her sisters. Kiara has no idea why she is being targeted! When Kiara and her family turn to the law for help,
this fails. Her pursuers’ powers reach deeply into the political and law enforcement world. Family support for her dwindles
when they too have to flee her pursuers. Can Kiara escape the clutches of both the law and dishonest big business? With the
media broadcasting that Kiara and friends are dangerous and subversive, can Kiara clear her name and bring her pursuers to
justice?
| | | | | To purchase Kiara's Pursuer ebook
@ $1.99 kindle version click here, To contact the author contact Author@KenXBriggs.com | | | | | | | | The town of Zinaville is dropped into a spiral of evil causing a young man and a beautiful but abused woman
to launch into an investigation that unveils an evil conspiracy. A horrific mining accident results in Joshua
Robyn's father being killed. Joshua struggles both with himself and his townsfolk as he tries to make sense of an incomprehensible
situation. Is it an accident or a murder? Why is there a seeming link to evil? Why is his work environment suddenly threatening?
What is the conspiracy about and what are they trying to do? As action moves dramatically from exotic African grasslands to
the heart of North America's cities, the plot unfolds and the pace quickens. Will there be time? Why is a beautiful abused
young woman in the center of this plot? Evil tendrils tighten on their lives and the interplay between the visible
and invisible world shows opposing forces at work. Will there be a rift in evil? Will they be able to stop the
evil in time? | | - Published: September, 2010
- Format: Perfect
Bound Softcover(B/W)
- Pages: 208
Size: 6x9 - ISBN: 9781450250894
Available
from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iUniverse. Chapters | | | | |
| Frugal Eating Advice |
|
| Good advice for students living on limited $'s. Click on the image! |
May you be blessed today!
|
|
