A Deadly Foe

I have been reading in a book titled, "Plain Living and High Thinking". In the chapter on chivalry and obedience, I found this story interesting.

"Take another illustration of the way in which chivalry shows itself from the annals of the Knights of St. John. At one time during their residence in Rhodes, the island was infested by a monster -- it is not know whether it was some huge crocodile or python -- which had made many victims. Several knights had attempted its destruction, but as all had perished, the Grand Master commanded that the grisly creature should be let alone. To one young knight this order was very grievous, as he longed to kill the monster which had caused the loss of so many lives, and hoped thereby to gain great favour. So secretly he made a model of it, and trained two young mastiffs to fly at the belly, which was known to be unprotected by scales, while he mounted his war-horse and accustomed it to the sight of the strange and laidly foe. His preparations completed, he rode out towards the haunt of the dragon, and when it made its appearance, set his brave dogs upon it to divert its attention, and after a desperate struggle smote it in the undefended parts and killed it. As soon as his victory was known, the people of Rhodes went forth to do him honor, and conducted him in triumph to the Grand Master's palace. But there his reception was of the coldest. The Grand Master, turning upon him a grave brow and a stern eye, demanded of him what was the first duty of a Christian Knight. Helim, with his cheek aflame, murmured, "Obedience." The Grand Master proceeded to do justice to the admirable courage of his achievement, but declared that by disobeying his command he had bred a deadlier foe than his hand had killed -- the spirit of contumacy (obstinate or perverse opposition to authority) and disorder.

I ran across this account of a rector of a church who showed great bravery during the times of the plague. I will set the stage by adding some correspondence made concerning the horror and virulence of the plague.



“The condition of the place hath been so dreadful, that I persuaded myself it exceedeth all history and example. I may truly say our town has become a Golgotha, a place of skulls; and had there not been a small remnant of us left, we had been as Sodom, and like unto Gomorrah. My ears have never heard such doleful lamentations, my nose never smelt such noisome smells, and my eyes never beheld such ghastly spectacles. Here have been seventy-six families visited within my parish, out of which died two hundred and fifty nine persons.”

So virulent was the contagion, that ninety one years after, in 1757, when five laboring men, who were digging up land near the plague-graves for a potato garden, came upon what appeared to be some linen, though they buried it again directly, they all sickened with typhus fever, three of them died, and it was so infectious that no less than seventy persons in the parish were carried off.

“The rector of the parish, the Rev. William Mompesson, was still a young man, and had been married only a few years. His wife, a beautiful young woman, only twenty-seven years old, was exceedingly terrified at the tidings from the village, and wept bitterly as she implored her husband to take her and her two children, who were three and four years old, away to some place of safety. But Mr. Mompesson gravely showed her that it was his duty not to forsake his flock in their hour of need, and began at once to make arrangements for sending her and the children away. She saw he was right in remaining, and ceased to urge him to forsake his charge; but she insisted that, if he ought not to desert his flock, his wife ought not to leave him; and she wept and entreated so earnestly, that he at length consented that she should be with him, and that only the two little ones should be removed while yet there was time.”

“Day and night the rector and his wife were among the sick, nursing, feeding, and tending them with all that care and skill could do; but in spite of all their endeavors, only a fifth part of the inhabitants lived.”

In the end his wife became ill – “She lay peacefully, saying, “she was but looking for the good hour to come,” and calmly died, making responses to her husbands prayers even to the last….He himself had never been touched by the complaint; nor had his maid-servant.”

The reason I posted this heroic account is that it dovetails with an earlier post of mine, about how we influence our spouses.

"The more affectionate and doting, a woman is the worse for her husband, unless he be a saint. Were she a termagant (loud and violent), he could harden himself against her, but when she coaxes and cries like Sampson's wife, in the nine cases out of ten he will do what Lygate did when he married Rosamond Vincy--give up all his ambition for study, stifle the voice of his conscience when it demands sacrifice, and devote himself to gaining the wherewithal to keep sunshine at his fireside by the unlimited indulgence of a frivolous woman's fancy." -Author Unknown

"My heart is stirred by a noble theme" Ps. 45:1

What I love most about Christ

“Suppose you had never heard of Christ, never heard of the particulars of Christ’s history, but were told in general that, ages ago, an extraordinary man appeared in the world, whose mind was wholly possessed with the idea of having come from God, who regarded himself as clothed with divine power and charged with the most sublime work in the universe, who had the consciousness of sustaining a relation of unexampled authority and beneficence, not to one nation or age, but to all nations and all times, and who anticipated a spiritual kingdom and everlasting power beyond the grave. Suppose you should be told that, on entering the world, he found not one mind able to comprehend his views, and felt himself immeasurably exalted in thought and purpose above all around him, and suppose you should then be asked what appearance, what mode of life, what tone, what air, what deportment, what intercourse with the multitude seemed to you to suit such a character, and were probably adopted by him; how would you represent him to your minds?”

“But, what is his look? What is his manner? He comes in the ordinary dress of the class of society in which he had grown up. He retreats to no solitude nor seeks any spot which had been consecrated in Jewish history. Where would you find him? Go to the house of Peter, the fisherman. Go to the well of Samaria, where he rests after the fatigues of his journey. Would you hear him teach? You may find him, indeed, sometimes in the temple, for that was a place of general resort; but commonly you may find him instructing in the open air, now from a boat on the Galilean lake, now on a mount, and now in the streets of the crowded city. He has no place wherein to lay his head, nor will he have one.

Something more striking remains to be told. He did not merely live in the streets and in the houses of fishermen. But in these places and everywhere, he lived with men as a man, a brother, a friend, sometimes a servant; and entered, with a deep, unexampled sympathy, into the feelings, interests, wants, sorrows of individuals, of ordinary men, and even of the most depressed, despised, and forsaken of the race. Here is the most striking view of Jesus. This combination of the spirit of humanity, in its lowliest, tenderest form, with the consciousness of unrivalled and divine glories, is the most wonderful distinction of this wonderful character. Here we learn the chief reason why he chose poverty, and refused every peculiarity of manner and appearance. He did this because he desired to come near to the multitude of men, to make himself accessible to all, to pour out the fullness of his sympathy upon all, to know and weep over their sorrows and sins, and to manifest his interest in their affections and joys.
I can offer but a few instances of this sympathy of Christ with human nature in all its varieties of character and condition. But how beautiful are they!"

William Ellery Channing

Criticism

" Criticism often takes from the tree caterpillars and
blossoms together." Richter.

The painting "Escaping Criticism" by Pere Borrell del Caso 1874

It is often better to have a great deal of harm happen to one than a little; a great deal may rouse you to remove what a little will only accustom you to endure." -Greville

I have a book on child rearing called "The coming man is the present child". The title, in itself, is evocative. The following quote comes from this book---

"Only that man 'in whom the child-heart hath not died' can successfully teach the young. 'Men from whose narrow bosoms the great child-heart has withered' are unfit for so sacred a task."

With that in mind, if you find you cannot enter into the picture above, you may want to stay single.

Jesus Camp, you must see it.

I finally rented “Jesus Camp” last night. I see this video nearly each time I visit Blockbuster; it has tempted me but each time I consider it I get this sick feeling that it will either be another syrupy Christian movie or another attack on my faith. But this time I rented it and I’m glad I did, although I came away from it with many differing emotions, and some confusion; but it made me think and that is good.
It is a documentary about a children’s ministry in Missouri. It is a charismatic church and they have a strong children’s program. The movie is filmed through an unbeliever’s camera lens. That in itself is interesting; there are many things that as Christians we do in worship and in ministry that would take some context to understand. The context was not supplied in the movie, and I think they documented honestly from their perspective. It may have been more biased than I think, and if I were in the editing room with them I may have seen that bias.
That really wasn’t my concern but rather what are we teaching our children?

In this movie there are some great Christian children, and they are very devoted and charming as well. I just wanted to hug them over and over again. But, the thing that I found disappointing is it appeared to me that the children, in many ways, were taught their parents theology and concerns, and that limited the children’s vision. There was a big focus portrayed in the film regarding political issues. Now this is certainly of concern to all Christians, but it can dominate the conversation of some Christians, and the focus becomes so narrowed you would think Jesus came only to stop abortion and elect a Christian President as well as hand out a track to lead to salvation. Now, all these things are good, and I would like to see abortion stopped, a Christian elected to President and the way of salvation presented to all; that being said, it is not the whole counsel of God, it reduces Christianity to an impersonal level which I think is what most troubled me about the film.
One example was when a sweet little girl about ten approached three men in a park and asked them if they were to die today did they think they would go to heaven. I won’t get into the wisdom of young children approaching adults, but when the man said he thought he would, her abilities were exhausted.
She left and her comment to her friends was, “They are probably Muslims.”
The way it struck me, and I may be wrong, is she knew what to say, but not what to do. She approached them out of a devotion to God, doing what she thought was her duty, but what she lacked was a concern for the man. And I couldn’t help but wonder what she had been taught about Muslims.

I thought to myself, does she care if he’s lonely, sick, poor, happy, hungry, or if he would enjoy talking with her? It appeared to me, from the content they were taught in the movie, that people are souls that need to be saved and not people to be loved.
I thought if I were sitting in the park and a nice young girl approached me and began to talk first, that I would be happy to talk with her, listen to what she thought and believed, I would have soaked up her youthful joy and energy and thoroughly enjoy her visit. It would make an impact on me and whether I believed the way she did or not she would have been a delightful blessing.

Another part of the children’s ministry that was heavily emphasized was the defeat of sin. I think these four things are the total emphasis, victory over sin, defeat abortion, get the salvation message out, and vote in Christian leaders.
Again, all good, but not all I would teach my children.
Let me use this illustration from James Dobson, he used a sport analogy saying we should teach our children to play offense as well as defense, meaning, if our focus is always about what we shouldn’t do instead of what we should do, or be involved with, we will have much less of a faith.
All Christians need to be taught to look for the needs in our fellow man. If we come to the conclusion that we know what the need is before we even meet the person, we will miss many an opportunity and allow faith to become impersonal. Christianity is learning to hear the mind and heart of Christ; He was busy doing many things, what ever the task at hand was, healing the sick, forgiving the adulteress, feeding the hungry, teaching about the Kingdom, correcting, reproving, encouraging.

I liked the fact that they got some of the children involved in demonstrating; the issue was abortion, and I thought, this is what the parents should do and the children should be visiting a children’s hospital, a nursing home, raising money for the hungry, and let the high school kids and parents march on Washington.

It was a movie all about subtleties, and it is difficult to describe all the things I saw, just watch it and see what you think. This is one movie I wouldn’t miss.

Here is another opinion on the movie.

February 15, 2007Written by Cara de Pescado
Jesus Camp is one of the Oscar nominated documentaries this year. I found it both fascinating and terrifying at the same time. It is the only nominated documentary I have seen so far, but I can certainly understand why it earned a nomination. If it is anything to judge the others by, the documentaries this past year have been excellent.
The documentary is exemplary in that there is no commentary from the filmmakers. I have no idea what their stance is on the subject, if they are from an Evangelical Christian background or a nonreligious one. It is truly a documentary in the sense that only what is filmed is presented, and there is no agreement or disagreement with what is being shown.
The only disagreement was from an Air America radio host who happened to be a former minister and against the particular type of Christianity being taught at this camp. These clips are probably the only things that didn’t seem to work within the documentary. There wasn’t equal time spent with the radio host, nor much explaining what exactly his views are. The film would have been just as well made and unbiased without them, if not more so. But he is as “intolerant” in his views as the children at the Christian camp are taught to be in theirs, just reversely so.
Jesus Camp documents a camp in North Dakota that children (and some of their families) attend to get closer to God. It is an evangelical Christian camp with guest speakers and a few select child speakers. The film focuses on a few children and the camp director, documenting their experiences at camp and following them into their lives away from camp.
What is frightening is that this film is a documentary and these things are real. Don’t get me wrong — I grew up Christian, that isn’t what makes it frightening. But it is the extreme to which the people – the children – are taking their faith. They only listen to Christian music, watch Christian television, and read Christian books. They are taught science has no answers and is stupid.
They are forming a bubble around their lives and developing a world view that can only prove to hurt them later. When they are in their teens and someone offers them a square, will they know enough to reject the offer or will they be so ignorant about life outside their bubble to not know and take it? There is a difference between having a strong faith and denying the existence of anything not a part of that faith.
At the camp, no messages of God’s love are shared. Instead the speakers share messages of politics through a religious avenue – smashing mugs to demonstrate the breaking of the power of evil over our government or duct taping mouths to demonstrate the value of life. The mix of religion and politics is what makes this film terrifying. Our future generations are growing up being fed this hodge-podge under the guise of Christianity and not being taught to think for themselves.
No longer are Christian children taught messages of the Good Samaritan or how faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains. No longer is God our shepherd and we his flock. Now children are being raised to be warriors for Christ, part of God’s army. Uncontrollable convulsions, hysterical tears, and speaking in tongues are badges of honor – the proof of one’s faith.
But in showing all of this, Jesus Camp strangely has a tinge of hope about it. Hope that these children will grow up and become more compassionate in their passionate faith. Without saying a word, that is the only hope you can come away from the documentary thinking. We can hope these children give up their desire to be martyrs and instead hope to be beacons of light and hope, helping those in need – like the Christ they worship.

Two of my favorite singers are Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Brown.
In this duet they sing together a mournful song of loss. If you have experienced separation and loss you may find your eyes well up with the poweful lyrics.
To watch these two professionals singing and playing effortlessly is what has made their careers endure.
Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXgegiFhAEQ

Christian Martyrs

The picture is of St. Eulalia, her method of death is traditionally said to be torture by fire. In this painting by J.W. Waterhouse, he depicts no miraculous intervention but for the snow which the Christians conceived a heaven-sent shroud for the young saint, whose body was exposed in the Roman Forum. The composition of St. Eulalia is daring by any standards, leaving the center of the canvas virtually unoccupied. Yet is succeeds beyond measure. The youngest mourner points upward at the rising dove which symbolizes the departing soul.

The following story of another young girl martyerd for her faith comes from a book called "Martyrs of the Colliseum", I have condensed this from 17 pages.

Christian Martyr – St. Prisca

The identity of St Prisca is uncertain. One tradition claims that she is identical with Priscilla, who is mentioned in the New Testament, another that she was the daughter of Aquila and Priscilla. In the Acts of the Apostles (Acts XVIII, 1-4), it is written that St Paul stayed with Aquila and Priscilla, Jewish Christians exiled from Rome, when he was in Corinth and again in Ephesus after they had moved there. Later, they were apparently able to move back to Rome, as St Paul sends his greetings to them there (Romans 16, 3-5). The tradition claims that this was her house. This has been challenged, and Prisca may be another woman altogether. Prisca was supposedly baptized by St Peter the Apostle, and this event is shown in a fine 17th century painting by Domenico Cresti.

The Story

At the time when Claudius was Caesar, he issued a new and most impious edict to the whole world, that the Christians should offer sacrifices to the gods or be put to death. He ordered his presidents and judges to carry out this law that he might destroy the worship of the Christians.

There were then malignant men who ardently desired to destroy the Christian worship; and coming to a certain church, they found the blessed Prisca praying. She was of noble blood; her father had been thrice consul and was exceeding rich. This holy child was in her eleventh year, and was adorned with the grace of God and the most perfect purity of morals. The ministers of the Emperor said to her,” Our Emperor Claudius has commanded you to sacrifice voluntarily to the gods.”
Prisca went and many times was ordered to pray to the gods, which she did not and instead called out, “But I will sacrifice without blood, and only to the immaculate God, my Lord Jesus Christ.” Many miraculous things occurred but the heart of the Emperor was hardened and he ordered many tortures, this is the account of one when she was ordered to be fed to wild animals—

The perfect said, “Behold, O Emperor, this sorceress who overthrew our gods; may she be torn to pieces by the beast.”
Amongst the animals was a savage lion, which had not been fed for four days. The Emperor, sitting on his throne, said to Prisca, ‘Believe and consent to my wishes; avert this terrible calamity that is hanging over you..”
The holy child raised her eyes to heaven, and said, “O Lord Jesus Christ, who has manifested the knowledge of thy divinity, and crowned Thy saints with glory, preserve me perfect in this combat to-day.” Then turning towards the Emperor, she said: “O miserable wretch! Know that I would rather be devoured by beasts, that I may merit eternal life with Christ, than fall into the snares of eternal death by yielding to thy seductions.”
The Emperor then ordered the most ferocious lion to be let loose to devour her. The lion was roaring in his den, so that he terrified all the people. His keeper let him out, and he entered the arena bounding and roaring; then he walked towards the Saint, not showing terror but love, and leaving forward he adored her, and kissed her feet. The blessed Prisca, praying to the Lord, said; ”O God, Thou permittest me to combat like a criminal in this theater of guilt, but Thou preservest my soul unsullied and undefiled.” Then turning towards the Emperor, she said,” You see, O Emperor, you have but manifested our power over tortures and wild beasts because Christ, who made heaven and earth, and everything in them, is always victorious ; to Him everything is subjected by the will of His Father.”
The Emperor commanded the lions to be taken back to his den; but, before he left the arena, he attacked one of the relations of the Emperor, and killed him. The enraged Claudius ordered the blessed Prisca to be cast again into prison; she was filled with the grace of God, and said; “Preserve me, O Lord, from the snares they have laid for me, and from the scandals of the workers of iniquity.”
After three days the Emperor once more ordered a sacrifice to be offered in the temple, and sent for the holy virgin. She came, and was resplendent as the sun. Claudius said to her, “ Believe and sacrifice, and you will be safe.” But she said,
“I do sacrifice, and I believe in Jesus Christ.” Then the Emperor in anger ordered her to be suspended and torn with hooks. When she was drawn up, she said,
“Thou hast rejoiced me, O Lord, in Thy holy will, and I will delight in they works of Thy hands; They judgments, O Lord, are true and eternal light!

Saying these things, immediately the arms and bones of those who were tormenting her were afflicted with the sharpest pain, so that they cried out to the Emperor; “Free us, we beseech thee, from these pains; the angels of God are tormenting us.”
Then the Emperor, enraged beyond measure, ordered her to be led outside the city to be beheaded. The holy martyr Prisca, rejoicing, said; “O, Lord Jesus Christ, Redeemer of all, I praise Thee, I adore Thee, I beseech Thee, I implore Thee, who hast liberated me from all the evils intended for me. Save me now, O Lord Jesus Christ, with whom there is no acceptation of persons; perfect me in the confession of Thy name; order me to be received into They glory, that I may happily escape the evils by which I am surrounded; and reward the impious Claudius according to his works towards Thy helpless handmaid!”
And having said this she turned towards the executioners and addressed them thus : “Fulfill the orders you have received.” And thus did the blessed Prisca end her life by the sword….”

Then it was announced to the Bishop of Rome by a Christian who watched in concealment, how they led the blessed Prisca along the Ostian Way, to about the tenth milestone, and there beheaded her, and took away her life. The Bishop, having heard this went with him to the place he mentioned, and they found her body between two eagles, one at her head and the other at her feet, guarding it, lest the beasts should touch it.

There are many stories of Martyrs that have had miraculous graces during their deaths. I don’t know if they are all true or if some are exaggerated, but while reading and typing this story I welled up so many times, and could scarcely type at times. Whether it be the protection and graces Jesus gave to this eleven year old girl of great faith, which I believe this savior of ours would do, or some other element I cannot describe, but I want to pass it on to those who get the same inspiration and blessing that I do from reading it.

What God Is Doing For Us

This post and the one below are excerpts by Jeremy Taylor. It comes from a chapter on Judgment Day, and the parts I drew from speak to our assistance from God and the second, he gives us insights on the terrors of facing God without a redeemer.


"I shall draw a short scheme, which, although it needs be infinitely short, of what God hath done for us, yet it will be enough to shame us. God did not only give his Son for an example, and the Son gave himself for a price for us, but both gave the Holy Spirit to assist us in mighty graces, for the verification of faith, and the entertainments of hope, and the increase and the perseverance of charity. God gave to us a new nature, he put another principle into us, a third part of a perfective constitution; we have the Spirit put into us, to be a part of us, as properly to produce actions of a holy life, as the soul of man in the body does produce the natural. God hath exalted human nature, and made it in the person of Jesus Christ, to sit above the highest seat of angles, and the angels are made ministering spirits, ever since their Lord became our brother. Christ hath by a miraculous sacrament given us his body to eat and his blood to drink, he made ways that we may become all one with him. He hath given us an easy religion, and hath established our future happiness upon natural and pleasant conditions, and we are to be happy hereafter if we allow God to make us happy here; and things are so ordered that a man must take more pains to perish than to be happy. God hath found rare ways to make our prayers acceptable, our weak petitions, the desires of our imperfect souls, to prevail mightily with God.
Add to this account that God did heap blessings upon us without order, infinitely, perpetually, and in all instances, when we needed and when we needed not. He heard us when we prayed, giving us all, and giving us more, than we desired. He desires that we should ask, and yet he hath also prevented our desires. He watched for us, and at his own charge sent a whole order of men whose employment is to minister to our souls; and if all this had not been enough, he had given us more also. He promised heaven to our obedience, a province for a dish of water, a kingdom for a prayer, satisfaction for desiring it, grace for receiving, and more grace for accepting and using the first. He invited us with gracious words and perfect entertainments; he bears our charges; he is always beforehand with us in every act of favor, and perpetually slow in striking, and his arrows are unfeathered; and he is so long, first, in drawing his sword, and another long while in whetting it, and yet longer in lifting his hand to strike, that before the blow comes the man hath repented long, unless he be a fool and impudent; and then God is so glad of an excuse to lay his anger aside, that certainly, if after all this, we refuse life and glory, there is no more to be said; this plain story will condemn us; but the story is very much longer; and, as our conscience will represent all our sins to us, so the Judge will represent all his Father’s kindnesses, as Nathan did to David, when he was to make the justice of the divine sentence appear against him.

"We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ."

As there are treasures of good things, and God has crowns and scepters in store for his saints and servants, and coronets for martyrs, and rosaries for virgins, and vials full of prayers, and bottles full of tears, and a register of sighs and penitential groans, so God hath a treasure of wrath and fury, of scourges and scorpions for the wicked. When the Lion of the tribe of Judah shall appear upon his own mountain of the Lord, in his natural dress of majesty, and that Justice shall have her chain and golden fetters taken off, then Justice shall strike, and Mercy shall not hold her hands; she shall strike sore strokes, and Pity shall not break the blow; and God shall account with us by minutes, and for words, and for thoughts, and then he shall be severe to mark what is done amiss; and that Justice may reign entirely, God shall open the wicked man’s treasure, and tell the sums and weigh grains and scruples; and then shall be produced the shame of lust, and the malice of envy, and the groans of the oppressed, and the persecutions of the saints, and the cares of covetousness, and the troubles of ambition, and the insolences of traitors, and the violence’s of rebels, and the rage of anger, and the uneasiness of impatience, and the restlessness of unlawful desires…..

We may guess at the severity of the Judge by the lesser strokes of that judgment which he is pleased to send upon sinners in this world, to make them afraid of the horrible pains of doomsday --- I mean the torments of an unquiet conscience, the amazement and confusions of some sins and some persons. For I have sometimes seen persons caught and surprised in a base action, and taken in the circumstances of crafty theft and secret injustices, before their excuse was ready.
They have changed their color, their speech hath faltered, their tongue stammered, their eyes did wander and fix nowhere, till shame made them sink into their hollow eye-pits to retreat from the images and circumstances of discovery; their wits are lost, their reason useless, the whole order of their soul is discomposed, and they neither see nor feel, nor think, as they used to do, but they are broken into disorder by a stroke of damnation and a lesser stripe of hell…
If guilt will make a man despair – and despair will make a man mad, confounded, and dissolved in all the regions of his senses and more noble faculties, that he shall neither feel, nor hear, nor see, anything but specters and illusions, devils and frightful dreams, and hear noises, and shriek fearfully and look pale and distracted, like a hopeless man from the horrors and confusions of a lost battle, upon which all his hopes did stand – then the wicked must at the day of judgment expect strange things and fearful, and such which now no language can express, and then no patience can endure.

What's next?

"Man is great only in his transitions. The truest state of mind, rested in, becomes false." Emerson

When I read this it reminded me of a conversation I had last week about change and what comes next? These are thoughts we all have and often we draw back and take comfort in what is, although we hear an inner call to step out. Something like that, anyway, this quote about covers it. Now of course we resist change, or like Mark Twain said-"Nobody likes change but a wet baby."

Sunshine at the fireside

I came across the following thought, author unknown, likely story; anyway, it can be applied to either sex, but it carries with it a strong warning to find the right person when considering a life-long mate.

"The more affectionate and doting, a woman is the worse for her husband, unless he be a saint. Were she a termagant (loud and violent), he could harden himself against her, but when she coaxes and cries like Sampson's wife, in the nine cases out of ten he will do what Lygate did when he married Rosamond Vincy--
give up all his ambition for study, stifle the voice of his conscience when it demands sacrifice, and devote himself to gaining the wherewithal to keep sunshine at his fireside by the unlimited indulgence of a frivolous woman's fancy."

No question, life is a balancing act, but there are some battles that must be fought and they will intrude on our home life. If a man and wife are in the battles together, it is a stronger chord, but if not, much will be left undone.

Some Christian History

China a century ago: The Boxer Rebellion
"Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you,and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Mans sake.Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!For indeed your reward is great in heaven." Luke 6:22-23

What Was The Boxer Rebellion? "...188 foreign missionaries and more than 32,000 faithful Chinese believers were butchered simply because they were Christians. ... This is not simply the story of cruelty and death, but more a testimony of God's people staying true to their Savior despite desperate circumstances.
"The Chinese view the 1800s as the most degrading and humiliating time in their long history. The Japanese, British, Dutch, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russians and other countries had seized Chinese land by military power, and were raping China of its wealth and natural resources.
"It was in this atmosphere that a secret Chinese society, known as The Boxers, was born.... Working behind the scenes, the Boxers grew rapidly in influence until they had members in every part of the country.
"In the last few years of the 1890s foreign missionary activity became more and more difficult, and Chinese Christians were persecuted and accused of being 'running dogs' for the Western Imperialists. Something was about to erupt.... In June 1900 one observer noted,
'Crazed mobs rampaged through the cities of north China, looting and burning churches and the homes of missionaries and Chinese Christians. They were led by bare-chested fanatics called Boxers who brandished long-curving swords and cried for the heads and hearts of Christians and missionaries."[1-page 15]
"...Chinese Christians were forced to kneel and drink the blood of the many foreigners who had been beheaded. Some also had crosses burned into their foreheads. One Chinese Christian mother and her two children were kneeling before the executioner when a watcher suddenly ran and pulled the children back into the anonymity of the observing crowd. ...the mother went to her death because she would not deny her Lord. A quick flash of steel, and the executioner's sword separated her head from her body, and her soul from this world into the presence of her loving God." [See the rest of the story and other testimonies at Asia Harvest]
The Boxer Rebellion exploded in early 1900. Like countless other brave Chinese Christians, a pastor refused to deny His faith in Jesus Christ. The enraged mob cut off his eyebrows, ears and lips. When he still remained "uncooperative," the furious mob cut out his heart and displayed it for the public.
His brave fourteen-year-old daughter followed his footsteps. After watching her father choose a torturous death rather than betray the God he loved, she could only do the same. Bravely she stood her ground through the terrifying test and died as a martyr for her King. Like her father, she won the reward of eternal glory and joy with her beloved Friend who first gave His life for them....
The details of these atrocities are documented in the revealing book, By Their Blood, by James & Marti Hefley. It tells us that in 1900, almost 170 Chinese had committed their lives to Jesus and served Him in Tsun-hua. When the Boxers swept through their land intent on stamping out the "White Devils," almost all were killed. When a pastor was tied to a pillar inside a pagan temple, he preached to his captors and friends all night. In the morning, "a thousand-strong mob "descended on him and literally tore out his heart." [1-page 15]
The same crowd chopped the feet off a Christian Chinese teacher who refused to renounce Christ -- then ran a sword through her. Another teacher was burned alive as she shouted to her pupils, "Keep the faith!" [1-page 16]
When violence broke out in June, the missionary compounds in Taiyuan were torched. The believers -- Chinese and Western together - linked hands and sought temporary refuge in a Baptist boys' school. One missionary realized that two Chinese girls were left behind, so she ran back to rescue them. The girls had managed to escape from their building, but the mob forced the lone missionary back into the blazing house. The girls she come to save watched her kneel in the midst of the flames. [1-page 20]

I watched a movie Called "The Namesake". It is the story of an Indian woman who is given in marriage to an Indian man who lives in the US. It painfully portrays her life in America and gives one a true sense of the loss one feels as an immigrant. If you have an interest in how refugees, and immigrants feel coming to America, and leaving their families and culture behind, I strongly recommend this film.

No defense against reproach but obscurity

I read this piece the other day and just thought I'd post it for all the people that are in ministry or other prominent positions; hopefully to find some comfort in it.

"Censure," says a late ingenious author, "is the tax a man pays to the public for being eminent." It is a folly for an eminent man to think of escaping it, and a weakness to be affected with it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age in the world, have passed through this fiery persecution. There is no defence against reproach but obscurity....... If men of eminence are exposed to censure on one hand, they are as much liable to flattery on the other. If they receive reproaches which are not due them, they likewise receive praises which they do not deserve. In a word, the man in a high post is never regarded with an indifferent eye, but always considered as a friend or an enemy.

Children or idiots--

“There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice. We look upon the man who gives it to us as offering an affront to our understanding, and treating us like children or idiots. We consider the instruction as an implicit censure, and the zeal which any one shows for our good on such an occasion, as a piece of presumption or impertinence.
The truth of it is, the person who pretends to advise, does, in that particular, exercise a superiority over us, and can have no other reason for it, but that, in comparing us with himself, he thinks us defective either in our conduct or our understanding. “ Addison

I don’t know when I have read anything so directly on target. This is so common as to be seen nearly every day in one way or another. Whether it is a commentary on the day’s news, an insight into a behavior, or simply the stroke of a pool cue, we resist advice. This is what perplexes teachers and preachers, moms and dads, and anyone who may have a friendly word of advice or warning.
Certainly one of the reasons the “meek with Inherit the earth,” is because they won’t be dashed to smithereens by avoiding good advice and listening to wise counsel.

Loss of childhood

This was one of my very early posts. I am re-posting it because I came across this picture by Bob Beyerley that captures the subject so well.


"I remember with entire distinctness the moment when the consciousness possessed me that my childhood was transcended by dawning manhood, and I can never forget the pang that moment brought me. It was on a bright, moonlight night, in midwinter, when my mates, boisterous with life, were engaged in there usual games in the snow, and I had gone out expecting to share in their enjoyment. I had not played, or rather tried to play, five minutes before I found that there was nothing in the play for me -- that I had absolutely exhausted play as the grand pursuit of my life. Never since has the wild laugh of boyhood sounded so vacant and hollow, as it did to me on that night. In an instant, the invisible line was crossed which separated a life of purely animal enjoyment from a life of moral motive and responsibility, and intellectual action and enterprise. The old had passed away, and I had entered that which was new; and I turned my steps homeward, leaving behind me all my companions, to spend a quiet evening in the chimney-corner, and dream of the realm that was opening before me. Such a moment as this comes really, though not always consciously, to every man and woman. Today we are children; tomorrow we are not. Today we stand in life's vestibule; tomorrow we are in the temple, awed by the sweep of the arches over us, humbled by the cross that fronts us, and smitten with the mysteries that breathe upon us from the choir, or gaze at us from the flaming windows. --- Timothy Titcomb "Lessons in Life"

I had considered adding some thoughts to this but his thoughts are complete, so I'll not.

Joy of children

"No man can tell but he that loves his children, how many delicious accents make a man's heart dance in the pretty conversations of those dear pledges; their childishness, their stammerings, their little angers, their innocence, their imperfections, their necessities, are so many little emanations of joy and comfort to him that delights in their persons and society.
But he that loves not his wife and children feeds a lioness at home, and broods a nest of sorrows; and blessing itself cannot make him happy; so that all the commandments of God enjoining a man to love his wife are nothing but so many necessities and capacities of joy. She that is loved is safe, and he that loves is joyful."
Jeremy Taylor

Picture by Bob Beyerley

There's a great tool on the Prevention Magazine web-site. Under weight loss, there is a daily calorie counter. You put in the weight you would like to be, then your height, age, sex, activity level and then it calculates how many calories you should eat a day to maintain that weight. It surprised me how many calories I can eat a day. Here's an example--

For a male that is 6'2" 37 years old, lightly active and say wanted to weigh 210 pounds-- His daily calorie intake should be 2,726 calories.

It is nearly impossible to be the weight you want to be and not know how many calories you should eat a day. This tool makes it simple. Handy huh?

Buried in the forehead

Often young Christians here amazing stories how someone was saved in a most dramatic way and they can scarcely remember when they did not believe or if later in life they became a Christian, there was no dramatic salvation. I have known some that this troubled. In reading I found this addressed in a sermon by Thomas Guthrie, a Scottish preacher that covers the subject well---

“On these subjects the experience of saints is very different. Some can tell the time of it—giving day and date, the hour, the providence, the place, the text, the preacher, and all the circumstances associated with their conversion. They can show the arrow which shot from some bow drawn at a venture, pierced the joints of their armor, and quivered in their heart. They can show the pebble from the brook, that, slung, it may be, by a youthful hand, but directed of God, was buried in the forehead of their giant sin.
They can show the word that penetrated their soul, and ---in some truths of Scripture – the salve that healed the sore, the balm that stanched the blood and the bandage that Christ’s own kind hand wrapped on the bleeding wound. Able to trace the steps and whole progress of their conversion--- in its most minute and interesting details--- they can say with David, “ Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.”

It is not so, however, with all, or perhaps, with most. Some, so to speak, are still-born; they were unconscious of their change; they did not know when or how it happened; for a while at least, they gave hardly a sign of life. With many the dawn of grace is, in more respects than one, like the dawn of day. We turn our face to the east, and our back to the setting stars, to note the very moment of the birth of morning; yet how hard it is to tell when and where the first faint, cold, steel-gray gleam appears! It is so with many in regard to their spiritual dawn, -- with the breaking of an eternal day, -- with their first emotions of desire and of alarm, as with that faint and feeble streak, which brightened, and widened, and spread, till it blazed into a brilliant sky.”

No question there are these two types of conversion, and I have always wondered if God uses the more dramatic experience, for that soul that is less sure, more apt to wander, and needs something of a more tangible experience to stick in their mind of faith. Whether that’s true or not, He uses whatever means are necessary, of that I’m sure.

"sinless state"

I had a conversation the other day about the stringent demands of some scriptures and how they are beyond our capabilities. How do we look at those texts that demand, seemingly, more than we can live up to. The following paragraph came to my mind and after some searching I found it. I find comfort in this perspective and although it is not the total answer, I think it has a great deal of wisdom in it

"Now, if God did proceed against us as we do against one another, no man could abide innocent for so much as one hour. But God’s judgment is otherwise; he inquires if the heart be right, if our labor be true, if we love no sin, if we use prudent an efficacious instruments to mortify our sin, if we go about our religion as we go about the biggest concerns of our life, if we be sincere and real in our actions and intentions. For this is what God requires of us all; this is that “sinless state,” in which if God does not find us, we shall never see his glorious face; and if he does find us, we shall certainly be saved by the blood of Jesus. For, in the style of scripture, “to be sincere and be without offence,” is all one.
Thus David spake heartily, , “I am utterly purposed that my mouth shall not offend; and thou shalt find no wickedness in me.” He that endeavors this, and hopes this, and does actions and uses means accordingly, not being deceived by his own false heart, nor abused by evil propositions, -- this man will stand upright in the congregations of the just; and, though he cannot challenge heaven by merit, yet he shall receive it as a gift by promise and grace.
For God makes no judgment of us by any measures, but of the commandment without and the heart and the conscience within; but he never intended his laws to be a snare to us, or to entrap us with consequences and dark interpretations, by large deductions and witty similitudes of faults; but he requires of us a sincere heart, and a hearty labor in the work of his commandments; he calls upon us to avoid all that which his law plainly forbids, and which our consciences do condemn. This is the general measure".

"To be sincere and be without offense," or to be sincere is the "sinless state," not that we have no sin, but that our weaknesses are pardoned, when we seek after God with a sincere heart.
I think this is about as close to the truth as one can come.

The two languages we speak

I was reading a sermon by Horace Bushnell, I have never read him before but this one on, how we influence others, I found interesting.

“ The law of human influence is deeper than many suspect, and they lose sight of it altogether. The outward endeavors ( he means speech ) made by good men or bad to sway others, they call their influence; whereas it is, in fact, but a fraction, and, in most cases, but a very small fraction, of the good or evil that flows out of their lives.
Nay, I will even go further. How many persons do you meet, the insensible influence of whose manners and character is so decided as often to thwart their voluntary influences; so that, whatever they attempt to do, in the way of controlling others, they are sure to carry the exact opposite of what they intend! And it will generally be found that, where men undertake by argument or persuasion to exert a power, in the face of qualities that make them odious or detestable, or only not entitled to respect, their insensible influence will be too strong for them. The total effect of the life is then of a kind directly opposite to the voluntary endeavor; which, of course, does not add so much as a fraction of it”.

Stay with me now, he explains a little further—

“I call your attention, next, to the twofold powers of effect and expression by which man connects with his fellow man. If we distinguish man as a creature of language, and thus qualified to communicate himself to others, there are in him two sets or kinds of language, one which is voluntary in the use, and one that is involuntary; that of speech in the literal sense, and the other, that expression of the eye, the face, the look, the gait, the motion the tone or cadence which is sometimes called the ‘natural language of sentiments’. This ‘Natural language’ too, is greatly enlarged by the conduct of life, that which, in business and society, reveals the principles and spirit of men. Speech, or voluntary language, is a door to the soul that we may open or shut at will; the other is a door that stands open evermore, and reveals to others constantly and often very clearly, the tempers, tastes, and motives of their hearts. Within, as we may represent, is character, charging the common reservoir of influence and through these twofold gates of the soul, pouring itself out on the world. Out of one it flows at choice, and whensoever we purpose to do good or evil to men. Out of the other it flows each moment, as light from the sun and propagates itself in all beholders”.

Okay, let me see if I can explain how this affected me; I tried to think of a scripture that clearly describes this “natural language” and the only one that came to mind is in Isaiah 3:16—

“Moreover, the Lord said, “Because the daughters of Zion are proud, and walk with heads held high and seductive eyes, and go along with mincing steps, and tinkle the bangles on their feet.”

This is an example of the “natural language”, now these women may speak words of humility, or spirituality, but their “natural language” contradicts it.
Although this example is blatant, I think the author was trying to speak more to subtleties, the kinds that betray the soul, though we may think they are invisible.

T. DeWitt Talmage gives another example of bold “Natural Language” in this passage—

“But when I see a woman of unblushing boldness, loud-voiced, with a tongue of infinite clitter-clatter, with arrogant look, passing through the streets with a masculine swing, gaily arrayed in a very hurricane of millinery…..”

Now forgive me for giving two female examples they were first to come to mind.
Certainly this is not gender specific, I think rather men are the greater offenders but the point is that we can go through life with a “Natural Language” that is contradicting our words and be completely oblivious to it, because it is the true state of the soul.
The true state of the soul is our greatest testimony, for or against Christ.
I found that quite humbling.

I posted this picture as an example of how vividly thoughts are conveyed without words.

Well, I received my first Christmas card! My grandson Micah drew this just for me. He is coming to visit for Christmas and I can't wait to see him and thank him for his picture!!!!!!

At thirty, man suspects himself a fool;

At forty, knows it, and reforms his plan;

At fifty, chiding infamous delay,

Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve.

In all this magnanimity of thought

Resolves, and re-resolves; then dies the same.

Edward Young

Take a Load Off Your Ticker

Never, ever, get cocky about your heart health. You can ace your cholesterol test and still end up clutching your chest. While analyzing the medical histories of more than 300,000 adults, Dutch researchers discovered that just 5 pounds of extra weight increases your heart-attack risk by 20% -- even if you don't smoke and your blood cholesterol are at safe levels. 'Stored fat produces inflammatory chemicals that damage blood vessels and alter blood makeup, promoting clots.' says study author Rik Rogers, PH.D.

The good news is that within all berries, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes are heart protecting components that help your body prevent clots, as well as fighting cancer and every other ailment.
So, eat a handful of nuts a day, six servings of either fruits or vegetables, more if you like, and you will have little room for killing foods. I can't believe I've heard we need six servings of fruits and vegetables a day and never took the advice. I'm gonna do it!

'So run'

I wondered if John Bunyan’s sermon “The Heavenly Footman”, was as good as I remembered it from years past. Sometimes you go back and find you have outgrown what once seemed like perfection. But few preachers can lay open bare one’s soul as quickly as John Bunyan. He can wound and then dress the wound like few others.
I began reading the opening statements as his earnest warnings began to flow I knew I was up for some growth this morning. I’ll write a few paragraphs so you can get the flavor---

The Heavenly Footman

"So run that ye may obtain." 1 Cor. 4:24

Heaven and happiness is that which every one desireth, insomuch that the wicked Balaam could say, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.” Yet, for all this, there are but very few that do obtain that ever-to-be-desired glory, insomuch that many eminent professors drop short of a welcome from God into this pleasant place.
The apostle, therefore, because he did desire the salvation of the souls of the Corinthians, to whom he writes this epistle, layeth them down in these words such counsel which, if taken, would be for their help and advantage.

First. Not to be wicked, and sit still, and wish for heaven; but to run for it.
Secondly. Not to content themselves with every kind of running, but, saith he, “So run that ye may obtain.” As if he should say, some, because they would not lose their souls, they begin to run betimes, they run apace, they run with patience, they run the right way.
Do you so run? Some run from both father and mother, friends and companions, and thus, they may have the crown. Do you so run? Some run through temptations, afflictions, good report, evil report, that they may win the pearl. Do you so run?
“So run that ye may obtain.”

Okay, after I read the first two paragraphs I realized I had better roll up my sleeves and brace myself for a barbed arrow has left the bow and doubtless I was the target. I was ready to cry Uncle and the sermon had scarcely begun!
I half considered exchanging this sermon for one on how broad the narrow road really is, but decided to take my medicine and venture on to the next page.

“They that will have heaven, they must run for it; because the devil, the law, sin, death, and hell follow them. There is never a poor soul that is going to heaven, but the devil, the law, sin, death, and hell, make after that soul. And I will assure you, the devil is nimble, he can run apace, he is light of foot, he hath overtaken many, he hath turned up their heels, and hath given them an everlasting fall. Also, the law, that can shoot a great way, have a care thou keep out of the reach of those great guns, the ten commandments. Hell also hath a wide mouth; it can stretch itself farther than you are aware of. And as the angel said to Lot, “Take heed look not behind thee, neither tarry thou in all the plain” (that is, anywhere between this and heaven ), “lest thou be consumed;” so say I to thee, Take heed, tarry not, lest either the devil, hell, or the fearful curses of the law of God, do overtake thee, and throw thee down in the midst of thy sins, so as never to rise and recover again. If this were well considered, then thou, as well as I, would say, They that will have heaven must run for it.”

Bunyan goes on and lays out the “Way”, and lest you faint, I will include where he dresses the wounds he so intently administered.

Overcoming discouragement—
“In the next place, be not daunted though thou meetest with ever so many discouragements in thy journey thither. That man that is resolved for heaven, if Satan cannot win him by flatteries, he will endeavor to weaken him by discouragements; saying, Thou art a sinner, thou hast broken God’s law, thou art not elected, thou comest too late, the day of grace has passed, God doth not care for thee, thy heart is naught, thou art lazy, and with a hundred other discouraging suggestions. And thus it was with David, where he saith, “ I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the loving-kindness of the Lord in the land of the living.”
As if he should say, the devil did so rage, and my heart was so base, that had I judged according to my own sense and feeling, I had been absolutely distracted; but I trusted to Christ in the promise, and looked that God would be as good as his promise, in having mercy upon me, an unworthy sinner; and this is that which encouraged me, and kept me from fainting. And thus must thou do when Satan, or the law, or thy own conscience, do go about to dishearten thee, either by the greatness of thy sins, the wickedness of thy heart, the tediousness of the way, the loss of outward enjoyments, the hatred that thou wilt procure from the world or the like; then thou must encourage thyself with the freeness of the promises, the tender-heartedness of Christ, the merits of his blood, the freeness of his invitations to come in, the greatness of the sin of others that have been pardoned, and that the same God, through the same Christ, holdeth forth the same grace as free as ever.
If these be not thy meditations, thou wilt draw very heavily in the way to heaven, if thou do not give up all for lost, and so knock off from following any farther; therefore, I say, take heart in thy journey, and say to them that seek thy destruction, “Rejoice not against me, O my enemy, for when I fall I shall arise, when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me.”
So run.

So, there you have it, a few snippets from The Heavenly Footman.

Remembering Thailand

It’s been three weeks since I returned home from Thailand. I should have sat down when I first got home and wrote while I was still under the spell of exotic Thailand. Thailand rapts one away with its intoxicating charms. It is a land of many sights, sounds, smells and tastes. Whether I was walking down a small town street or in a tiny village, there is a never ending array of sights. The people are simple, busy about making a living in any way they can. They are industrious and are free to go into any kind of business they can without government interference. Matt and I were sitting in a street side café when a man in his eighties walked by with a handful of baskets in his hand. The kind you might find bread sticks in when dining; When he passed by again I motioned him over to us and Matt asked him if he was selling them and how much. He was thrilled at our interest and told Matt he bought them for seven Baht and sells them for ten Baht. Seven Baht is about twenty two cents. I asked if I might buy a couple, which he promptly laid down and I paid him. He continued to talk with Matt for a minute or two, with much enthusiasm and many smiles. He was tall and thin with a rugged appearance. He then went on his way with a few baskets left. Not long after he walked by with all his baskets sold, he looked over at us and gave us a thumbs up signifying his successful marketing.
We also met another woman, very old, in the farmers market area with two large baskets, each one hanging from a 4’ stick, they were filled with herbs she was selling. Matt’s wife Thanita went over to her and bought a variety from her. Thanita told me later that she offered the woman more than she asked but the woman politely declined. I admired her dignity.

Floating Market

We visited the floating market where down narrow waterways, merchants bring their canoes filled with food, goods and woks, where they will cook your meal on the water and pass it to you by long-handled baskets

When I was at the floating market, a woman about 35 and her child, came up to me offering a beeswax looking product. I had no idea what it was and when she saw I was perplexed, she dabbed a bit on my temples and the back of my neck and began giving me a shoulder and neck massage. I sat there, not truly knowing what was going on, and enjoyed the massage and when she finished I gave her some money, she smiled and walked away. I was told later she sold massage oil? Beats me but later when she saw my wife Sue fanning herself and I had no fan, she brought me one to use as we waited for our ride.
She seemed to have no agenda other than to be nice. She was.

Thailand's spell

Much of my trip was spent simply under the spell of Thailand, art galore, an unending display of markets, far more than you ever have energy to explore, filled with handmade goods. Farmers markets with such an array of foods, Thailand is know to have the biggest variety of food in the world, and yes, I did eat an insect, a cricket. I had to choose from large larvae, huge roaches, grasshoppers, beetles and crickets. I thought the cricket seemed the most harmless and probably would be salty and crunchy—wrong! They have a very distinct taste, a taste that ten minutes of swigging iced coffee couldn’t remove. But I did it, once.
Little hidden restaurants, in out of the way places, more like gardens than eateries. Highways with heavy traffic that rival any large US city but jolted back to Asia by the presence of a man riding an elephant down the street.
Ethnic clothing nothing short of a riot of color with jewelry hand beaten out of silver adorning the wearer.

Your Thirties

The Metabolic rate that allowed you to burn through supersize burritos in your 20s is slowing-- dropping by 1 percent every 4 years. And even if the number on your scale isn't rising, it's likely you're getting fatter. In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, scientists found that men who managed to maintain their weight for 40 years still gained 3 pounds of fat each decade-- while losing 3 pounds of muscle. The likely reason: after you pass 30 your testosterone levels decrease by up to 1 percent a year. This means it becomes harder for you to build , or even maintain, metabolism boosting muscle. See the connection?

Men's Health

Chariot of the Devil

Ps. 120:2 "Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips..."

I read this little blurb from Edward Reyner, out of the Treasury of David. Such poignant language!

An unbridled tongue is the chariot of the Devil, wherein he rides in triumph. Mr. Greenham doth describe the tongue prettily by contraries, or diversities; "It is a little piece of flesh, small in quantity, but mighty in quality; it is soft, but slippery; it goeth lightly, but falleth heavily; it striketh soft, but woundeth sore; it goeth out quickly, but burneth vehemently; it pierceth deep, and therefore not healed speedily; it hath liberty granted easily to go forth, but it will find no means easily to return home; and once inflamed with Satan's bellows, it is like the fire of hell."

The course of an unruly tongue is to proceed from evil to worse, to begin with foolishness, and go on with bitterness, and to end in mischief and madness. See Eccles. 10:13 The Jew's conference with our Savior began with arguments; "We be Abraham's seed," said they, etc.; but proceeded to blasphemies; "Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?" and ended in cruelty; "Then they took up stones to cast him out." Jn. 8 - 33,48,59

This also is the base disposition of a bad tongue to hate those whom it afflicts. Prov. 26:28

Life is but an empty dream

One of my favorite scriptures of late is Psalm 45:1
“My heart is stirred by a noble theme”.

My Godly ambitions are like the tide with ebb and flow. I seem to be in a continual state of need; need of a noble theme to urge me along to fulfill my responsibilities in life. When I was in my twenties someone told me, “Life expects more from us than we are willing to give”. I have found that to be true. I may be more stubborn than the common lot, but I find that if I don’t have a combination of prayer, Bible reading and inspirational thought, whether it is from pulpit or pages, I begin the easy slide backwards. I think Paul mirrors the thought of David in Philippians 4:8 as he sums up how to live at the level we have already attained.”……..Think about such things”. So whether deeply spiritual or highly practical, I seek the noble theme.
With that I’ll pass along these thoughts from a book called “Beaten Paths”…

"You can always forecast the future of a young man by his disposition and ability to overcome circumstances. If he dreads trouble, if he shirks hard work, if he is continually stipulating for the least amount of labor and the greatest amount of remuneration, if he seeks the easiest, softest places in life, and looks for success to “turn up” through some favorable freak of fortune, he is almost sure to be a nobody as long as he lives. But where a young fellow takes hold of his work, resolved not to spare himself, but to win an honorable place against all costs and obstacles, that young man is going up, and no power on earth can keep him down."

These sentiments were put to poem by Longfellow---

“Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
‘Life is but an empty dream!’
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not the goal;
‘Dust thou art, and dust returnest,’
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Finds us farther than today.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, -- act in the living present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.

Footprints that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate,
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.”

By the way, the pictures are of two warriors, the girl is the church, the other a decorated English officer

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”

I like the way Orison S. Marden puts flesh to this verse with some practical applications in his chapter “Useful obstacles”. –

“Will he not make a great painter?” was asked in regard to an artist fresh from his Italian tour. “No, never,” replied Northcote, “Why not?” “Because he has an income of six thousand pounds a year.” In the sunshine of wealth a man is, as a rule, warped too much to become an artist of high merit. He should have some great thwarting difficulty to struggle against. A drenching shower of adversity would straighten his fibers out again.
The best tools receive their temper from fire, their edge from grinding; the noblest characters are developed in a similar way. The harder the diamond, the more brilliant the luster, and the greater the friction necessary to bring it out.
Only its own dust is hard enough to make this most precious stone reveal its full beauty.
The spark in the flint would sleep forever but for friction; the fire in man would never blaze but for antagonism.
From an aimless, idle, and useless brain, emergencies often call out powers and virtues unknown and unsuspected. How often we see a young man develop astounding ability and energy after the death of a parent, or the loss of fortune, or after some other calamity has knocked the props and crutches from under him.
The prison has roused the slumbering fire in many a noble mind. “Robinson Crusoe” was written in prison. The “Pilgrims Progress” appeared in Bedford Jail, Sir Walter Raleigh wrote “The History of the World” during his imprisonment of thirteen years. Luther translated the Bible while confined in the Castle of Wartburg. For twenty years Dante worked in exile, and even under sentence of death.

Chickens, hogs and a spinning top

The weekend following my return home from visiting my son Matt in Thailand, I went to a birthday party for a relative held at "Big Al's". This modern recreational wonder, hosts two bowling alleys, countless buzzing, ringing, exploding video games, cakes, pizzas, bubbly drinks of every type. Deafening rock music dancing on multiple huge screens throughout, with enough neon, tinsel, and glitz to put Wally World to envy.

I doubt this would have made the impact if I had not just the week before been, deep in the hills of Thailand, visiting an impoverished Hill Tribe of Hmong people.
The village was silent but for chickens clucking, a few hogs snorting and the peals of laughter from the playing children. I was captivated as the children from this dirt poor village ran and played with such enthusiasm and glee. They spun large wooden tops, ran along-side spoked tires, spinning them with a stick, made mud bridges in the dirt and hunted dauntingly with sling-shots. The little girl in the picture so charmed me with her broad smile and endless giggling and laughter as she demonstrated her prowess with her spinning top. With sunshine in her face, clear mountain air to breath and all of outdoors to run in, it seemed to me she had all the ingredients for childhood happiness.

Masonry Quilt

I took this picture in a garden restaurant while visiting my son Matt in Thailand.
I was looking at the beautiful foliage when I looked at the path I was on and the contrasts and directions of the tiles caught my eye. What was the builder thinking when he laid these differing tiles? Three or four different patterns within a few feet. Was it patch-work or intention? A masonry quilt? The applications are many and I hope you enjoy it as I do.

Trifles

I was reading in Pushing To The Front in the chapter
called "The Might Of Little Things", where he
encourages us to consider the importance of details
and all the little things that life is made of.
I liked the following illustration--

"I cannot see that you have made any progress since
my last visit," said a gentleman to Michael Angelo.
"But," said the sculptor, "I have retouched this part,
polished that, softened that feature, brought out that
muscle, given some expression to this lip, more energy
to that limb, etc." "But they are trifles!" exclaimed
the visitor. "It may be so," replied the great
artist, "but trifles make perfection, and perfection
is no trifle."

The application of this is endless; our marriage, and how we treat our spouse, our studies, rearing children, our pursuit of holiness, and just about every other life endeavor.

"Thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands."

Men have dreamed fascinating dreams of removing the disabilities and limitations of the world and the evils of life, without sorrow.
Poets have pictured earthly paradises, where life would be one long festival,---
"Summer isles of Eden lying in dark purple spheres of sea."

But vain are all such dreams and longings. They are of human, not of Divine origin, and spring from a root of selfishness and not of holiness.
They cannot be realized in a fallen world, full of sorrow because it's full of sin. All blessings in man's economy are got from pains. Happiness is the flower that grows from a thorn of sorrow transformed by man's cultivation. The beautiful myth which placed the golden apples of Hesperides in a garden guarded by dragons, is an allegory illustrative of the great human fact, that not till we have slain the dragons of selfishness and sloth can we obtain any of the golden successes of life. Supposing it were possible we could obtain the objects of our desire without any toil or trouble, we should not enjoy them. To benefit us really, they must be the growths of our own self-denial and labor. And this is the great lesson which the miracles of our Lord, wrought in the manner in which they were unfolded. They teach us that, in both temporal and spiritual things, we should not so throw ourselves upon that providence or grace of God as to neglect the part we have ourselves to act,-- that God crowns every honest and faithful effort of man with success: "Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee."
Hugh Macmillan 1871

I think one of the most perplexing things in Christianity is learning when to let God and when to let man. Some things God will do and some things we will be left to do. If we believe God will do something, and then walk and labor in that belief, I think for the most part, we will not stray far from the path.