All things new!

From Isaiah 43:

"Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.
The beast of the field will honor Me,
The jackals and the ostriches,
Because I give waters in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert,
To give drink to My people, My chosen.
This people I have formed for Myself;
They shall declare My praise."



I was sitting behind the driver's seat in my friend Liz's car a few years ago as a number of us were heading to the shopping center to run some errands. We were on the highway for only a short distance before we had to take the off ramp to reach our destination. I remember that it was a beautiful day with very bright colors and rejuvenating sunshine. These things come easily to mind when you come face-to-face with your own death. Every detail of life is magnified too greatly for description.

We hit the green light at the bottom of the off ramp and began to make our left turn towards (the now out of business) Mervyn's. I craned my head to the side to watch the turn when I saw an extended cab large bed, black, Dodge pickup hurtling right towards me in the back seat of the tiny red Honda. My first thought was, "Lord, it's time to come home" but by providence, Liz saw the truck at the last moment and with a shrill scream mashed down the accelerator. That's when I heard the breaks squealing from the truck as smoke jumped away from its quickly balding tires. The driver missed our car by perhaps a foot. It was not my time to cross the proverbial Jordan into the promised land and I remember feeling a sense of disappointment. My soul wanted to make that journey so that I could finally see Christ face-to-face.

The promises of God are not fulfilled for me on this earth. God is preparing a house for me in Heaven as we await the day when He will come again and make all things new. I may spend 70 or 80 years here, but the rest of my life will be spent in eternity with my Savior.

This all brings me to the book of Hebrews where it is written, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, [our forerunner] has entered on our behalf." It was important for me to realize that there is not simply one nautical term in this verse. We have the word "anchor" which is synonymous with Christ who is our Rock because we are secured in Him and the word "Prodromos," or forerunner. An anchor is an amazing and necessary instrument for ships because when they drop it, it secures itself to the bottom not by its own weight, but through the movement of the ship as it is pushed across the face of the water, causing the anchor to bite deep into the sea bed. I will discuss the Prodromos later.

For Scriptural application we can look at that which is shaken (like a ship on the water). God says in Hebrews, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire."

Though like a boat we may be shaken and buffeted and pushed across the sea, we have an anchor that bites more deeply in such times into the immovable foundation of God. "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

The second nautical term is "forerunner." Greece, in the time of Paul, had many boats with small drafts called "Prodomoi" that were utilized in harbors with shallow water during low tide. Prodromos is the singular usage of the word which, when translated, means forerunner. They had an important use for when a boat would not be able to gain entrance into the harbor at low tide a Prodromos would leave the harbor and meet up with it. Its purpose was to haul the boat's anchor (attached to a chain of course) past the breakers and sandbars, thus depositing it in the safety of the harbor. When high tide came, the boat would have a berth within the harbor to stay in.

Amazingly, Christ our anchor is also the Prodromos that deposits our anchor firmly upon the promise of God that can never be broken or shaken. That deposit is in Heaven's harbor and not of this world. When the tide rises, those whose anchors are grounded on the Lord will find safety in His harbor under the shelter of His wings. Those who have not trusted upon the Lord will have no anchor to cement them to the love of God and will be overwhelmed by the judgment waters. One day, when false foundations are destroyed by the shaking of God's judgment, we will be born again to witness the glory of God and the renewing of His creation. Behold, He makes all things new!!!

Protection of money or life?

I found the picture for my blog here: http://mediocracy.us/category/hypocrisy/

In a macabre display of worldly hypocrisy I watched the Brinks armored car pull up to the school today. Out came an armed security guard carrying his money bag inside while the armed driver kept a close watch. Apparently, they weren't told that our school is a "gun-free zone" as are all public school in California.

There I was in the front of the school with a badge clearly stating "security" on it and a small self-defense pepper sprayer on my hip. My jaw went slack for a moment as I realized the implications of what I was seeing. Here I was as a security guard at a school in charge of protecting hundreds of students and, though I am qualified to own a gun, I was not allowed, by law, to keep it on my person outside of the home. So why can someone in charge of hundreds of thousands of dollars in actual money pack heat to protect the greenbacks in his possession?

This small act proved to me that society, as a whole, believes that money is worth more than the people who eventually produce the capital to make it. We potentially sacrifice our future growth and prosperity by not adequately defending our children while we simultaneously protect something that is worth far less. Money's worth is found only in the strength of the government promise that backs it. A person has worth invested in them by others who sacrifice of themselves to build them up.

We should not have the expectation of making a sacrifice of death to uphold life especially when it is within our ability to provide safety. A few people wanting to burying their heads in the sand and calling a place "gun-free" does not a "gun-free" place make. It just means that those who have the guns and the desire to use them nefariously will detect no threat in bringing them into the gun-free zone. At that point, the badge on my arm will no longer mean "security" but instead "shoot me first." It is a sacrifice I will hopefully be willing to make if I am called to do so and, by God's grace, I will be allowed to defend the lives of those students who have been entrusted into my care.

I am grateful that at the end of the day I do not have to worry about such things as death. My God invested me with great worth that will never perish. It was granted to me by the incorruptible blood of Christ that washed away my sins. I have gained worth from the sacrifice of Christ and if I am able to sacrifice of myself to prove to others that they too have worth then I will be thankful for the opportunity. My hope is found in these words and I encourage you to read them carefully and meditate upon them:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls."

Providential randomness.

I'm not sure what my subject heading is going to have to do with what I write about but perhaps it has everything to do with what I am going to write about since this will be random. It's wonderful how God exercises absolute authority over all randomness and weaves it into a rich tapestry of life that can only be seen through faith.

The lesson of faith is this: Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And also: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

And again: Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

I was considering the ways of faith in the tempest on Monday night while driving back home from school. As I was entering the on ramp for I-78 I saw a spider walking across my windshield. At that moment I got the green light to go and began to accelerate in my merge lane. I began to think that it would be neat to see how fast I had to go before the spider was torn from my astonished gaze. The speedometer needle crept up to 30 mph and then 40 and, as I watched, the spider began to hunker down into my windshield to cut down its wind profile. I marched my way up to 75 mph and could see that the spider had attached a silk line to the glass and was using every measure of its strength to hold on. Still, its windward legs flipped over its head and it began to slide. At this point, I took mercy on the spider and slowed down to 65 mph to see if it could endure the test of its strength all the way to my off ramp. It didn't make it through its tempest and blew off into the dark night.

Allow me to extrapolate my thoughts: I have found that I am in the place of that spider more often than I care to admit. I am caught in a situation that I cannot handle and my response is to buckle down defensively and use my strength to maintain an untenable position. My foundations are my sins and I run to them for comfort. In so doing, I am fearful that I will be taken by the night without support beneath my feet. Yet, it is fear that drives the engine of destruction if I am fearing those things that have no endurance before God. I fear my sin because I know that it has no power to save me and will lead me to death. But what is my lack of faith to the God of all creation? What is my fear to the God who casts out fear with His perfect and mighty love? He can provide even in the midst of my faithlessness and does even provide for me the small measure of faith that I have. It pleases Him to prove His faithfulness to me when I am lacking in faith.

We have a firm foundation in the middle of the tempest. We fear and stand in awe of a God who is mighty to save. We can release our grip from those things that so easily ensnare us and trust that Christ is holding us in His tender grasp. We can do this because He is the one who faced the tempest and was forsaken by God. Our Savior had no place to rest His head. He held onto our worthless sin and became sin when it held the power of death over us. By so doing, He enslaved death which had no power over He who gives us life. May Christ be our foundation because He is not dependent on our strength to hold onto Him. We are dependent on His mighty hand and its hold on us.

Service Entitlement.

To those who find my blog: Thank you for reading my first post on Blogger!

This blurb starts with a pureed meat sauce that a class at school made. Yes, it does sound vaguely revolting! "Pureed meat sauce," you're thinking. "Who would ever THINK of such a thing? Well, I assure you that one of the classes at the high school I work at DID think of it. What astounds me more is the thought process that then went through the mind of one of the young ladies in that class. She thought to herself that it would be funny to dump a bunch of said meat sauce into a planter bed and pretend like she had thrown up in it. Needless to say, the thought did not enter her mind to clean it up. Either that or her laziness and sense of entitlement got in the way. Probably a bit of both.

About a week later one of the students comes up to me and begs me to clean the meat sauce up. Apparently it had started to smell very bad and because I am one of the custodians it was my responsibility to fix her sense of smell in that small corner of her world. I told her that I would not clean it up until she told me who had dumped it there. Her response (as it is with the majority of high school students) was basically that she would not rat the person out. I told her that basically the mess was not going to get cleaned up. She caved, or broke like a dam, depending on your preference of descriptive phrases.

Armed with a name I promptly forgot about the mess and seeing that this was Friday afternoon there were going to be a couple days over the weekend for everything to "ripen" even more, as it were. Finally, Monday rolled around and I rolled by the detritus in my golf cart and caught a whiff. I decided to clean it up because I didn't want to wait to find the girl who had done it with the smell being as bad as it was. She would pay later.

One of the teachers came up to me and watched as I gingerly scooped the trash into a bag. He kindly offered to me the name of the girl who did it, at which point I turned to him and asked why he or none of the other teachers asked her to clean it up. He was silent.

When the school day ended the next day, the culprit was lounging around with a few friends and I went up to her and told her to pick up trash around the place for the mess that she had left for me to clean up. Her response was basically to tell me that it was my job and if I didn't want to do it then I shouldn't have chosen the profession I went into. Trying to put a polite and slightly humorous spin on her comment I said to her that, "I didn't choose it. It was chosen for me since before time began." I then stated that, "Sometimes a man needs to take a job to get by in life." She gave me an odd look of incomprehension and began to whine her way through trash pick up.

Returning to my thought on laziness and/or entitlement I believe that she felt entitled to the right to make a mess and not clean it up. This thought reminded me of a story that my mom told me about her dad when he was a janitor at the Air Force Academy supporting his family. My details are probably a bit wrong but I believe a cadet threw some trash on the ground and my grandpa saw the act and told him to pick it up. The cadet's response was, "If I didn't litter then you would be out of a job." Human nature doesn't change and, in a sense, I'm happy with the way I can now relate with my grandpa. I have found that wisdom has a way of growing with age if you cultivate it through action by means of meditation on the Truth.

I want to approach the girl and pose to her a question. I want to ask her if she has ever made a mess at home and had her mom tell her to clean up after herself. Of course, the question would be rhetorical seeing as no mother besides Mary mother of Jesus would ever lack that opportunity! Those are words passed from mother to daughter within every generation for the purpose of aggravating children. Do you suppose her response to her mother would be something like, "No! You clean it up mom! If you don't want to clean up after your children then why did you choose the profession of motherhood?"

I have prayed that God would give me a love for this girl regardless of her gross attitude. After all, my response to Christ when I sin is to say to Him, "You made this mess, now you clean it up!" How wrong my thinking is when I say that. I forget that I have perverted myself and chosen to walk down the streets of sin. Thankfully, God paces the highway of holiness.

When God made me, He looked upon me in my mother's womb and said, "This child is VERY good. He is the apple of my eye and the object of my affection." God has already cleansed me and the demands I place on Him effectively state that I have no responsibility for myself and no desire for His love. I try to prove that I am unworthy of love, but praise God that He loves apart from any worthiness of the recipient of His love. Worthiness comes through service and God shows that we can love others by being responsible for ourselves and serving them, for while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.