Jars of Clay

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serendipity

I was watering flowers one morning. My wife loves to do it but the heat was too brutal so I did it for her. It is joy to her. It was just work to me.

I was on the front porch watering the petunias. I looked up and saw butterflies and bumblebees. Then something special.

I saw a hummingbird less than 5 feet away. It was feeding from the flowers. It would hover in and take a drink then back out…then reload at another. It must have seemed like the hummingbird equivalent of a gas station…acres of pumps. But it must have been gas station paradise…no payments.

It was amazing. I had my cell phone in my pocket so I thought of taking a picture…then of taking a video. Then I realized if I moved at all it would be over. The bird would disappear.  It was like a magic.

It moved over until it was about 2 feet away. It never looked at me. It was dark green on its back. Its feathers were so fine they looked like green fur.  I could barely see it wings moving. It was magnificent.  I just looked until it flew away slowly…utterly fearless…into a tree.

I thought for a moment about it. My wife should have been there. She loves the flowers. She loves the birds. She would have been overjoyed.

I was so humbled and awed.  I thought, “This is wonderful.  This is God showing off.” Bumblebees were everywhere.  I thought how ungainly they looked…lumbering around. The hummingbird looked like a jet fighter in hover mode. The bumblebees looked like tiny helicopters trying to make it back to base before they crashed.  The butterflies looked like kites…blown up and around by every breeze.

Life…creation…it all looks different now. I water the plants…the plants take in the water…the bees and birds take in the nectar and care for their families. Maybe it is all a kind of magic…a creative dance.

I did not hear anything. The hummingbird did not hum…but maybe it was singing…maybe I will listen a little more closely. Maybe it was singing a Psalm that I have to be silent and still to hear.

I think I will listen…maybe I will hear it the next time.

Peace

This is the porch where it I saw all this…

embarassingly true…but true nevertheless…

God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it’s me.“ -Author unknown

Peace

listening and stories

Stephen Covey has been teaching people how to be successful for years. His books are best sellers and his seminars cost thousands of dollars. It was noteworthy in 2006 when he released a new book. He made his reputation with “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” It was newsworthy when he concluded there was an EIGHTTH habit and essentially rewrote all of his literature.

“Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.” This is the eighth habit which leads to greatness. Learn to tell your own story and learn to listen to the stories of others. Everyone has a story to tell and they are the only ones who can tell it. Jesus had a story to tell. Maybe that is why we have 4 gospels. One was not enough to convey the richness of the character of the God revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

God has a book. He is telling a story. He knows what we need. The Scripture God’s story; God telling His story. It is how He struggles to make a new future for people. It is the story of His refusal to let us go our own way and His determination to create another way; another choice. It is the story of His willingness to pay any price to be close to His creation.

He is speaking.  Are we listening?  Are we passing on the “news?”

Peace

our story AND His story…

“We can say anthing we want to about Scripture.”

Many people say this…and they say it often.  It is as though the Bible was “their” book; their story.  We need to assert this truth.  It is our story…it is about us.  This is true.  We live in a free country.  “We have the right to our opinion…no one can silence us.”   Only the most dogmatic among us would deny this or try to take away the “voice” of those speaking.

But it is also God’s story.  He gets a voice.  When books are published they are normally copyrighted.  This means we cannot change the story without the author’s permission.  It is common courtesy to consult the person the book is about or the author who wrote it.

The Scripture is not “our” book; it is God’s book.  He inspired it.  He is its’ creator.  When we comment on it He must be consulted or at least acknowledged.

We must give an account of the the motive(s) or process that led us to the conclusions we reach.  We cannot do whatever we want to with it or say anything we want to about it.  We have to defend what we do and say.

Peace

risk of a dangerous expression ?

I was thinking about God’s expectations the last few days and a thought occurred to me.  It carries the danger of anthropomorphism…of making God too much like us…but a greater danger is making God too abstract; too removed…too much unlike us.  Incarnation was His idea…not ours.

“Do we not think that God hopes?  Do we believe God always gets what He wants?  Did He want a Fall; a Rebellion?  Does He want a Hell?  Is there a person on Earth for whom He does not desire relationship, indeed glory?  Which God do we serve and love?  The God who has everything He wants or the God who risks Incarnation to give us what we need.  Answer carefully.  His glory and character and our sanity and salvation is at stake.”

Peace

wondering about the “Gospel” and its “anarchic” implications

I was asked the other day about my political and social philosophy.  This is interesting since I was thinking about it myself.   I told them, “I am an anarchist.”

You might have expected from the response that I had said “terrorist” or radical, leftwing, antisocial criminal.  In another context it might have been “white supremacist” or even “skin head.”

I am caucasian, almost 60 and relatively well off financially (at least that is the illusion our culture lets me have).  I have a loving family and no ideas of political revolution.  I am independent politically; which means I think almost all politicians are crooks and that we are on our own to survive at their whim.

But ANARCHIST?  Where did this come from?

Let’s think about the Gospel for a minute.

Jesus announces that the “Kingdom of God is at hand.”   This means His “Reign.”  He is taking over.  He is breaking the “rule of the powers of this age.”  This is simply a declaration of war.  He will not share with the other powers.  Not with Satan.  Not with Wall Street.  Not with Main Street.  Certainly not with the Republicans or the Democrats.  Not with ANYONE !!!  “The Kingdom (the Rule) of THIS world has become the Kingdom (Rule) of Our Lord and of His Christ.”  You may recognize this quote from Revelation 11:15.  This is not an event waiting to happen; it has occurred.

This makes the Gospel a statement of anarchy.  It may be peaceful.  It may not shout for death or destruction.  But it clearly means that the “end” of the world’s way of doing things has been announced…by God Himself.  The conflict may not be over but God’s triumph is inevitable.

In December 1944 the Germans attacked the Allies in Belgium.  It was called the Battle of the Bulge.  It was an horrific battle in the worst winter in decades.  When it was over so was the war.  Some pedantic historian will remind us that WW II ended in May, 1945.  He is wrong.  The war was over in January, 1945.  It took 5 months for everyone involved to realize it.

Jesus Christ announced the Gospel as the coming of God’s Reign.  This was the end for all the other powers.  Not the second coming.  Not the crucifixion.  Not the resurrection.  The ANNOUNCEMENT was the end for all of them.  Christianity is the announcement of the beginning of a new life for all people who submit to God’s “Rule.”  It is “anarchy;” God brings down all the powers arrayed against Him.
Peace