I was talking to one of the guys in the program the other day and he was explaining why he came to Teen Challenge and not some other drug rehab. program. His answer was that all the other programs he inquired into presented drug addiction as a disease that can be overcome but will be with him forever. When he talked to them at Teen Challenge they spoke of being set free from addiction in Christ and that it was a choice we make and there is hope of total recovery. That message of hope struck him so deeply he immediately chose Teen Challenge.

It reminded me of the words of Christ – “If you had faith like a mustard see you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.” The tree is not cut down, but it is pulled up roots and all; this was the hope this young man saw. Bless God forever.

Photo from the Internet

".... But we have a Shepherd full of care, full of kindness, full of power, who has said, " I will seek that which was lost, and bind up that which was broken, and bring again that which was driven away, and will strengthen that which was sick."

How tender are these expressions, and how well fulfilled! His sheep feed in the midst of wolves, yet are preserved safe; for though they see Him not, His eyes and His heart are upon them. Do we wonder that Daniel was preserved in the lion's den? Why, it is a common case. Which of God's children have not cause to say, "My soul is among lions"? But the Angel of the covenant stops their mouths, or only permits them to gape and roar, to show their teeth, and what they would do, if they might; but they may not; they shall not bite and tear us at their own will.

Let us trust Him, and all shall be well."

I want to add something to this but because it is a common case to be among lions I'll just say amen and thank you Lord.

John Newton - Awesome photo by James Pan

"Wesley's inspiration was a belief that no human being lived on earth, so base, so stupid, so worldly, so utterly corrupt and worthless, but that if could believe it, God was ready to kindle in his soul a fire of love which would wholly consume his evil."

Mmmm, here in lies our hope!!!!!

Photo by Michael Menekis

One of my granddaughters was telling me about a foreign exchange student from Denmark she has befriended and took to church last night; she could tell the friend was uncomfortable and later her friend commented it was "too religious" for her. My granddaughter was disappointed and was considering how to beautify religion for her new friend. The two following quotes I ran across address the situation as clearly as anything that comes to mind.

"Jennie, the working girl, brings to me

Hope and trust and a gentler grace,

Though her words are few and her manner shy,

I can read a sermon in her sweet face;

For Jennie, the working girl, makes it plain,

That to live for others is richest gain."

"To be full of goodness, cheerfulness, sympathy, and of helpful hope, causes one to move on human life as stars move on dark seas to bewildered mariners. - author unknown

So we concluded the discussion by simply agreeing that if she will just be herself and live out her faith freely, and speak her words sparingly, her impact on her new friend may well be the sermon that wins her heart.

Poem Jennie by Harriet F. Crocker - top photo by Anna Pagnacco, bottom photo by Sune Wenelboe.

I've been reading a little from St Francois De Sales and I really like the two following paragraphs.

"Everything St. Francois said, even the most casual word, to all his pupils, was aimed, by his extremely subtle approach, at eliminating all traces of fear and anguish. That is why gentleness was his keynote. Scarcely had he spoken to anyone before he knew their temperament and disposition and natural traits. He also had the ability to conform all that he had to say to the capacity and capability of the listener so that everybody, from a simple maid to a Jesuit theologian, from an unassuming widow to an argumentative Calvinist, could understand him. He served one kind of meat to the strong and another to the weak; he used one language for the extrovert, and another to the introvert........

Is not the real challenge of the spiritual guide to know the place where the person he is guiding happens to be - physically, intellectually and spiritually? So many spiritual directors write or speak from a point of view which is rigidly fixed on a particular path which they themselves have traveled. Even though they may be well advanced they frequently speak in light of some condition which they alone have experienced and often without realizing that others are not at their stage, and perhaps not even meant to experience what they have experienced, or might not ever be destined to travel the same way".

I just love the last paragraph! So often I have heard people speak without taking time to listen to the hearer, almost as though they have a one size fits all gospel. Often I recall Jesus asking a question to people that inquired of Him; "do you want to be healed?", "what does the scripture say," are just examples of Christ seeking the underlying issues. We have the gospel presented to us by four authors, each to a different audience; Jews, Romans, Greeks, Gentiles. I think this is further example of changing methods to differing people.

Photo by Tom White

Here is another section that I thought was especially good from St. Francois De Sales.

"Our dear Father (writes Camus) had a great respect for the old imperial motto - Make haste slowly; as also for the saying, "Soon enough, if well enough." His favorite words were "Little but good," and he continually warned people against supposing that perfection is to be found in a multiplicity of religious exercises, whether internal or external. If one questioned this as contrary to that insatiable love of which the masters of the spiritual life tell us -- a love which never says "enough", which never counts itself to have attained, but is ever reaching forward to greater heights, he would reply: "You must grow in this love by means of the root rather than the branches": explaining himself to mean that a multitude of spiritual exercises, imperfectly done, often superfluous, or not to the purpose, resemble the useless tendrils of a vine, which must be pruned away if it is to bear good grapes; whereas the real life or root is nourished and strengthened by a few good works very carefully performed; that is to say, done in a spirit of very fervent love of God, wherein all true Christian perfection consists."

"a very few good works carefully performed," this verse stuck out to me because it is easy to be influenced to become involved in many things when we really have barely enough time to do the necessities well. We each have spiritual gifts where we can devote ourselves to God in this 'carefully performed way'; but if we get our plate too full then we lose what we had and gain nothing.

Photo from the internet

"In a word, let us endeavor to keep close to God, to be much in prayer, to watch carefully over our hearts, and leave the busy warm spirits to make the best of their work. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him and wait on Him continually; to these He will show His covenant, not notionally, but experimentally. A few minutes of the Spirit's teaching will furnish us with more real useful knowledge than toiling through whole folios of commentators and expositors; they are useful in their places and are not to be undervalued by those who can perhaps, in general, do better without them; but it will be our wisdom to deal less with the streams and be more close in applying to the Fountainhead. The Scripture itself and the Spirit of God, are the best and the only sufficient expositors of Scripture. Whatever men have valuable in their writings, they got it from hence; and the way is as open to us as to any of them."

Don't you just love that? The Lord can take one line from the Bible or one comment from a sermon and shed His light on it making it stand out as though written exclusively for us, at that very moment. Oh for more light!

John Newton - Photo by Sheri Doty

I've posted quotes on this topic many times but it always speaks to me and as I work with many young Christians and from the mouth of these babes I find a great source of inspiration.

None are theologians, none have in depth Bible knowledge, but what they do have is a simple faith burning within them; a great hope they see in Christ, and it is contagious.

"High speculations are as barren as the tops of cedars; but the fundamentals of Christianity are fruitful as the valleys or the creeping vine. For know, that it is no mediation, but it may be an illusion, when you consider mysteries to become more learned, without thoughts of improving piety.... It was a saying of Aegidius, " that an old and a simple woman, if she loves Jesus, may be greater than was brother Bonaventure."

Lack of learning and disability to consider great secrets of theology, do not at all retard our progress to spiritual perfections."

Jeremy Taylor - photo from the Internet

The following picture is very graphic and I always get a twinge when I post things like this; but I end up considering that this is the world we live in and this woman is living it, so I think we can deal with looking at it. Her story is posted below and sadly it is one of countless stories that go on in our world. These photos tell us why we serve Christ, preach His message of peace, why we go to the mission field, why we work for justice and seek to overcome oppression wherever it is found. Lord Jesus, give us courage to do battle, because the enemy seems to rage on at every opportunity.

On August 26th 2009, Burma Army troops and soldiers of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) shot and severely wounded Ma Kin Kyi, 34, a woman from Htee Pa Doh village in Thaton District, west central Karen State. According to our local FBR relief team, the troops, from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 214 and DKBA 333 Brigade surrounded the house in which Ma Kin Kyi was staying and fired into it, severely injuring her in the neck, jaw and mouth. According to the team, Ma Kin Kyi, who has a 2 month old baby, is not likely to survive this injury because she is unable to drink or eat. The team reported that the troops entered the village and suspected that the house in which Ma Kin Kyi was staying contained soldiers from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). The FBR team is now in the area, giving Ma Kin Kyi emergency medical treatment and trying to help her survive as best as they can and will continue to report on the situation.

Post by Free Burma Rangers, courageous, love filled people supporting those in war torn Burma.

Going away

It is in the little things I'll miss,

Far lights upon the hill

That I can see here from my door,

The flowers on the sill.

Nasturtiums that are blooming bright,

I shall remember them

And vision them as they blow now

Entangling stem on stem.

The wind as it comes through the pines

Far from across the plain;

The sound upon my low tin roof

of softly echoed rain.

My heart will find new scenes, but oh,

It will come back to these

In many quiet times and seek

Known paths, old dreams, loved trees.

---George Elliston

Last Gift

Serene in his narrow coffin

The little Father lay.

The church was hushed for a moment;

Then a great throng knelt to pray.

Grave priests and censer-bearers

In the chancel softly trod,

While music and the incense

Rose like a flower to God.

All at once, along the transept,

A little figure sped,

Laid something on the casket,

And then, in a panic, fled.

There on the sombre velvet

Lay an offering, not planned --

A bunch of dandelions,

Warm from the little hand.

A kind priest found the youngster,

Who raised his hanging head.

"He was good to my sick Mamma,

And prayed when she died." he said.

--Charles Ballard -photo by Taci Yuksel

I never tire of this gospel story, and I especially like Jeremy Taylor's presentation.

"When Jesus had ended his sermon, one of the pharisees named Simon invited Him to "eat with him"; into whose house when He entered, a certain "woman that was a sinner," abiding there in the city, heard of it; her name was Mary: she had been married to a noble personage, a native of the town and castle of Magdal, from whence she had her name of Magdalen, though she herself was born in Bethany; a widow she was, and prompted by her wealth, liberty, and youth, to an intemperate life, and too free entertainments. She came to Jesus into the Pharisee's house: not, as did the staring multitude, to glut her eyes with the sight of a miraculous and glorious person; nor, as did the centurion, or the Syrophoenician, or the ruler of the synagogue, for cure of her sickness, or in behalf of her friend, or child, or servant; but (the only example of so coming) she came in remorse and regret for her sins, she came to Jesus to lay her burden at His feet, and to present Him with a broken heart, and a weeping eye, and great affection, and a box of nard pistic, salutary and precious. For she came trembling, and fell down before Him, weeping bitterly for her sins, pouring out a flood great enough to "wash the feet" of the blessed Jesus, and "wiping them with the hairs of her head"; after which she "brake the box," and "anointed His feet with ointment." Which expression was so great an ecstasy of love, sorrow, and adoration, that to anoint the feet even of the greatest monarch was long unknown....."

Sculpture by Antonio Canova

I ran across this paragraph and believe it to be true, it betrays an independent spirit but I think it is wise counsel about following the teachings of one person too closely --

"I endeavor to avail my self of the examples, advice and sentiments of my brethren; yet at the same time to guard against calling any man master. This is the prerogative of Christ.

The best are but men; the wisest may be mistaken, and that which may be right in another might be wrong in me, through a difference in circumstances. The Spirit of God distributes variously, both in gifts and dispensations; and I would no more be tied to act strictly by other's rules than to walk in shoes of the same size. My shoes must fit my own feet."

John Newton - Photo by Shane Willi

This picture of Albert Finny the actor, is taken from the movie Amazing Grace. He has a concerned look on his face as he plays the part of John Newton, ex-slave trader and the author of the song Amazing Grace. I post it because this last week at work I had my first confrontation with one of the students at work. It was my first experience with a student resisting me and giving me attitude. I think I handled it as well as I could but it left me somewhat discouraged and the following morning I needed some encouragement from the Lord and asked for a blessing. I decided to read one of the letters John Newton had written to a friend going through some difficulty and I'll quote the first lines I laid my eyes on ---

"The work you are engaged in is great, and your difficulties many; but faithful is He that hath called you, who also will do it......... He will plead our cause and fight our battles; He will pardon our mistakes and teach us to do better."

Call me a fanatical mystic, but I took that as from the lips of Christ Himself.

The following piece by Jeremy Taylor, after the loss of a son, imprisoned for his theology during the turbulent times in the 1600s, where he more than once lost all, writes the following paragraph about his remaining blessings.

“I am fallen into the hands of publicans and sequestrators, and they have taken all from me; what now? Let me look about me. They have left me the sun and moon, fire and water, a loving wife, and many friends to pity me, some to relieve me, and I can still discourse; and unless I list they have not taken away my merry countenance, and my cheerful spirit, and a good conscience, they still have left me the providence of God, and all the promises of the Gospel, and my religion, and my hopes of heaven, and my charity to them too; and still I sleep and digest, I eat and drink, I read and meditate, I can walk in my neighbor’s pleasant fields, and see the varieties of natural beauties, and delight in all that in which God delights, that is, in virtue and wisdom, in the whole creation, and in God himself.

And he that hath so many causes of joy and so great, is very much in love with sorrow and peevishness, who loses all these pleasures, and chooses to sit down on his little handful of thorns.”

I looked at a lot of photos for this piece but decided on these two because the top one by Seema, captures for me the bliss and simple pleasure of one of natures gifts to us-water.

The second picture by Maciej Dakowicz captures the essence of the post, we can be happy in nearly all circumstances if we enjoy what God has abundantly provided for all.

In reading through a section of "The Unsearchable Riches of Christ" by Brooks, he addresses the importance of a genuine, living faith in the heart of the preacher. The entire chapter is good but I will just share a few nuggets tucked within.

"Talk not of a good life," said the heathen, "but let thy life speak." Ministers should be like musk among linen, which casts a fragrant smell, or like that box of spikenard, which being broken open, filled the house with its odor.

Gregory saith of Anthanasius, that his life was a continual sermon and wooing men to Christ.

A painter being blamed by a cardinal for putting too much red upon the visages of Peter and Paul, tartly replied, that he painted them so, as blushing at the lives of those men who styled themselves their successors. Ah how do lewd and wicked lives of many that are called and accounted ministers, make others to blush!

The highest mystery in the divine rhetoric, is to feel what a man speaks, and then speak what a man feels.

Praxiteles exquisitely drew love, taking the pattern from that passion which he felt in his own heart.

It was said of Luther, that he spake as if he had been within a man. Ministers must so speak to the people, as if they lived in the very hearts of the people; as if they had been told all their wants, and all their ways, all their sins, and all their doubts.

And lastly -- "Ministers must preach feelingly, experimentally, as well as exemplarily. They must speak from the heart to the heart; they must feel the worth, the weight, the sweet of those things upon their own souls that they give out to others." 1 John 1: 1-3

Well that's a tall order and in these days they may be more rare than ever, but I can't disagree.

Photo by Steiner

"The name of a Savior is honey in the mouth, and music in the ear, and a jubilee in the heart." Saint Bernard.

I read that the other morning after a particularly sweet time of devotion and wanted to commit it to memory so I embellished it this way -

I ate of the word and I still taste its honey; I called to the Lord and my ears still hear His melody;

I cried to the Lord and now my heart is in jubilee.

I was reading some of Thomas Brooks and ran across this in his epistle dedicatory, where he gives his reasons for writing the book. As he describes his purpose I realized it is the reason we all are drawn to Christ, and it is a simple but clear description of the Gospel.

“…….You that are weak may, in this treatise, as in a glass, see your weakness, your mercies, your graces, your duties, your privileges, and your comforts. You that are weak in grace may, here find many questions answered and doubts resolved, that tend to the satisfying, quieting, settling, and establishing of your precious souls in peace, joy, and assurance. You that are weak in grace, may find here a staff to support you, a light to direct you, a sword to defend you, and a cordial to strengthen you. And you that are strong in grace, may here see what is your way, what is your work, and what at last shall be your reward. Here you will find that which tends to the discovery of spirits, the sweetening of spirits, the uniting of spirits, the healing of spirits, and the making up of breaches.”

I especially like the last line, and in particular "the discovery of spirits". I thought one application of that is as we meet people we should be on the lookout for the Godly spirits that they are graced with, so that we may better learn of Christ from them and better serve and encourage them.

I chose this delightful picture because it made me think how readily we would seek to know and learn about someone like this vibrant looking girl; so approachable, delightful and energized; but I have heard it said that, often men look upon another man they do not know as a potential threat, and I can't help but agree it is often the case.

Photo by David Larson

I was talking with a friend about the thing most needful, and I ran across the following quote by John Newton. I think it reduces things down to its essentials.

"The longer I live, the more I see of the vanity and the sinfulness of our unchristian disputes; they eat up the very vitals of religion. I grieve to think how often I have lost my time and my temper in that way, in presuming to regulate the vineyards of others, when I have neglected my own; when the beam in my own eye has so contracted my sight that I could discern nothing but the mote in my neighbor's. I am now desirous to choose a better part. Could I speak the publican's words with a proper feeling, I wish not for the tongue of men or angles to fight about notions or sentiments. I allow that every branch of gospel truth is precious, that errors are abounding, and that it is our duty to bear an honest testimony to what the Lord has enabled us to find comfort in and to instruct with meekness such as are willing to be instructed; but I cannot see it my duty, nay, I believe it would be my sin, to attempt to beat my notions into other people's heads. Too often I have attempted it in time past; but now I judge that both my zeal and my weapons were carnal. When our dear Lord questioned Peter, after his fall and recovery, He said not, Art thou wise, learned, and eloquent? Nay, He said not, Art thou clear, and sound, and orthodox? But this only, "Lovest thou me?"

An answer to this was sufficient then; why not now? Any other answer, we may believe, would have been insufficient then. If Peter had made the most pompous confession of his faith and sentiments, still the first question would have recurred,

"Lovest thou me?"

Photo by J. Gao

So, my son Eric and his family came down from Spokane to visit and we had a great time. Always, if the weather is hot, we head to water. I grew up ten miles from the beach and had a swimming pool in my back yard as a boy so I love water! I have passed this love on to my children so when Eric and his four children came we went to the Lewis River where there are lots of cliffs and rocks to safely dive from. My son Matt made a comment about this one, which is me diving off a cliff ( it's hard to make me out but I just left the top and I'm mid-air head first in a dark shirt). My Granddaughter Jordan is in the water having just jumped in. I won't repeat what my son Matt said about this picture but suffice to say it had something to do with age.

If you click on it you should get a better look.