There is life after death.

I have been trying to figure out how to write this post for a few weeks now. Death is not something that people generally enjoy to dwell upon so I was stumped as to how I could present it in a hopeful manner. A couple of things happened today to help me understand it myself and also communicate what it is I have come to know in part.

I have been meditating on Hebrews 11 for the past couple of weeks now. It is called "the chapter of faith" by many people and as I have read and considered it I have come to understand it more deeply as a chapter about hope in the face of death. As it says in the beginning, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. What have I hoped for? What is the promise that I have faith in that I do not see? I hope for a perfected life that is characterized by love and peace. The evidence of my hope is my desire to receive these better things and the full assurance that these better things will be given to me.

Why do I hope for these things? I hope because this life I have been given is subjected to futility. I wake up from unfulfilled sleep, go to work to a job that is never finished, seek praises of men who the next day withdraw them, earn money to buy things which do not last, fall in love with people who will die and eat only to be hungry again. It is all vanity. I entered naked into a world that is disappearing and will leave this life naked with nothing that I have worked for.

Yet, as for my sleepless nights, God's compassions never fail and are renewed every morning. As for my unfinished work, Christ finished His work on the cross and sat down to rest at the right hand of God. As for the praises of men, I have the praises of my Father in Heaven which never disappoint. As for money and that which does not last, the Lord is my portion forever. As for love that ends in death, Christ's love for me was forever perfected by His death. As for my hunger, the Lord is my bread of life. I have eaten and drunk of Him and will never hunger or thirst again. I was blind but now I see.

How is my sight evidence? Can I point to the things I see as a proof of something others don't know? Perhaps. I have an analogy that is the first of the two things that helped me to better understand death. Do you remember the Magic Eye stereogram books that came out years ago with all those 3D images you had to find in a jumble of of seemingly random colors? I hated those books because I could never find the images. It always seemed like others were able to pick them out with ease. Still, would it not have been absurd for me to demand proof that they were seeing the pictures? They would simply reply that they could see the image!

Death is much the same way. The world looks at it and sees a terrifying end to a confusing life and it dies for lack of a better promise. But those who believe look at the stereogram of death and can see the image of perfected life.

Death is very often abrupt and unexpected and happens to those who seemed to have their entire lives set before them. The death of my cousin's boyfriend of a year and a half was the second clarifying event for me today. My cousin just turned 18 this weekend and was unable to celebrate with her boyfriend because he was ejected from a car that his drunken friend was driving and died. I called my cousin's family up and shared some tears and consolation for their sudden loss. He had been like family to them. I pray to God that he is in Heaven with His Father now. I have found the song "Homesick" by Mercy Me to be good to listen to at times like these:



Also, "I Will Rise" by Chris Tomlin:



Lastly, "Carry you to Jesus" by Steven Curtis Chapman:



With Christ, death is simply a gateway for those who would love to be with God, the giver of life. The believer does not mourn as those who have no hope for he knows that precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Death is the culmination of love for Christ died to save His children so that He could raise them up to live for eternity in the everlasting city of God. That is why I can quote these scriptures from Hebrews 11:

On Abraham's hope for his inheritance:

"¹⁰For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."

On Abel, Enoch, Noah and Abraham's deaths:

"¹³ These all died in faith, not having received the promises [on earth], but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth...¹⁶ But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them."

On Moses' faith of better things to come:

"²⁴ By faith Moses...refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, ²⁵ choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, ²⁶ esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward."

I must admit that there is much that I am missing here. I can truly only say that this world was not worthy of Christ, but we were of great worth to Him and He came to this sad planet to save us in order that we would be worthy of a better world. He came to take us from a place of unnatural death in order to present us before God, holy and blameless, so that we might live in His city forever in natural life.

Carrying our crosses.

Jesus said, "...anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'"

Freaking Ants (part two)!

My previous blog about ants reminded me of a blog I wrote in October of last year. Let me see if I can scrounge it up for you for it is quite funny (uncomfortable though it was for me):

Tickling my brain

"This morning I woke up with my brain tickling. Not only was it like the itch you can't scratch, it was like the itch you can't scratch that hurts really badly if you even think about scratching it. I think it was about 1:30 am when I noticed it. I was slowly brought back to consciousness in a most unpleasant manner. The sensation got worse and worse until about 20 minutes later I desperately jumped out of bed to plunge my ear with a cue tip. Amazingly, a little black ant was all the way back in my ear canal. It had been marching on my ear drum as if it were a parade deck!

With my sleep interrupted as it was, I was really tired at work all day. When I got back to the house, I decided to take a nap. No more than 20 minutes into my nap my nose started to itch as if the feather dusters of the world had united and shoved themselves into my nostrils. I'm not joking when I say that for the second time in one day an ant had found its way into my face. It felt like the itch you get in your nose before you sneeze (though this one burned)...and it didn't go away! I was finally able to get the ant out of my nose but now I'm terrified of going to sleep tonight..."

Other than that, a couple of other interesting things about ants popped up onto my radar. A writer on the blog site Open Salon (Tim Cordle to be precise) made an interesting point behind the meaning of sacrifice. On sacrifice for personal gain (a homicide bomber gaining their harem in heaven) he says, "Whatever a terrorist believes about his or her just cause, the altruism of their act is considerably diminished by virtue of the fact that by committing such atrocities they hope to guarantee a special reward in the hereafter. That is hardly a selfless act."

On sacrifice for the gain of others he provides the example of a specific type of ant mentioned by the December 2008 Smithsonian:

The Collective Good

"Scientists in Brazil have observed an unusual act of selflessness. When Forelius ants retire for the night, one or more workers remain outside the colony, kicking sand to seal the entrance. If that protects those within from predators or rain, it also dooms the outside ants to die overnight of exposure. It's the first known case of "pre-emptive self-sacrifice" among insects."

To make his point about sacrifice, Cordle compares the two forms of sacrifice and their worth: "No, a true selfless act is that of the ant that barricades itself outside the nest and expects nothing for its sacrifice but death. For at least as far as we know, there is no Paradise in the metaphysics of ants."

To read Cordle's blog in its entirety is to read a post disclaiming religion because it does not provide for a form of sacrifice that is selfless. This is where he drops the ball, not having spiritual eyes to see with. My challenge to him would be to tell me how the sacrifice of Christ was in any way selfish. The scriptural proof I give to show how others-centered Christ's sacrifice was I present Hebrews 12:2-3:

²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

The joy of Christ was to be with His Father in heaven, in perfect fellowship with His children whom He lived, died and rose again for, forever. AMEN!

Freaking ants (part one)!

There's an ant problem underfoot! They're also in the walls, in the ceiling, on the counters, in the food...you name it and they are there. The slightest crumb...NO, even the slightest rumor of a crumb and they scurry from their hiding places to obtain the prized possession! For years we have blasted them with Raid, dusted their walkways with diatomacious earth, rinsed them into the disposal, washed them with the dishes, stepped on them, slapped them, poisoned them with Terro baits and STILL they continue to come! As Kyle Reese says in Terminator (slightly modified), "They will not stop, ever, until you are dead!" And even then I am certain they won't stop haunting me.

One particularly feisty group of them is coming into the house from behind a light switch plate; I caulked behind the plate. They started coming in from from the actual switch; I caulked around the entire wall mount. They started coming in from a hole in the mount; I gave up.

Even the ancients considered the wise ways of the ants. Remember Aesop's fables and the story of the Ant and the grasshopper? The synopsis given on Wikipedia is this:

The fable concerns a grasshopper who has spent the warm months singing away while the ant (or ants in some editions) worked to store up food for winter. When winter arrives, the grasshopper finds itself dying of hunger, and upon asking the ant for food is only rebuked for its idleness. The story is used to teach the virtues of hard work and saving, and the perils of improvidence. Some versions of the fable state a moral at the end, along the lines of:

Idleness brings want
To work today is to eat tomorrow
It is best to prepare for the days of necessity

Proverbs 6:6-11 speaks of the relentless creature in terms of laziness as well:

6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!

7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,

8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?

10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest-

11 and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man.

We see what the perseverance of the ant can do in the parable of the persistent woman when Jesus speaks of her in Luke 18:

"In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. ³And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'

⁴"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "

Thus, will I continue in my quest to learn the perseverance of the ant...in order to destroy the ant! MUWAHAHAHA! ::evil laughter::

What's the application in all this? Well, if there is Scripture then it must speak of the Lord! So, do not tire in seeking the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near for He is our portion in the land of the living. Trust in Him and He will carry you through all of life's trials for God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.

Christ follower vs. Christian videos

I stumbled upon some pretty funny videos on YouTube based upon the successful Apple advertising mold of the Mac vs. the PC. I thought they would be fun to post seeing as they depict the believer who lives by rules and the one who lives by liberty. I've come into contact with many of them and the strangest ones are always:

1) Those who proclaim the virtues of the King James Bible over all others.
2) Those who say that you should always wear your "Sunday best" to service.
3) Those who say that you shouldn't read secular books, watch secular movies, or listen to secular music.

Come on people! Don't you know that the law puts to death those who try to live by it? Is it not what comes out of a man's heart that defiles that man? It is for freedom that we have been set free. Give us Christian liberty or give us death!

Rule books and ethics manuals.



Slacks or pants?



Christian Jpod and secular Ipod.



Holy Spirit Hard Drive (HSHD).



There are other videos on this topic if you just follow the links that YouTube gives you. Enjoy!

The absolute confusion behind our failures.

"Breaking The Habit" by Linkin Park

This song is probably the world's best answer to what troubles it; namely confusion. Consider the chorus:

I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
I don't know why I instigate
And say what I don't mean
I don't know how I got this way
I know it's not alright
So I'm breaking the habit
Tonight

The world cannot give a satisfactory answer to the evils surrounding us. In fact, the mere mention of evil determines that the person mentioning it believes in good. But where does goodness and evilness come from since we can comprehend it when we see it? It cannot be ambiguous or morally relative as we are prone to be. Apart from one above us who defines it and holds us accountable to it we cannot give a satisfactory answer. Let's look at it from a personal perspective.

It's easy to view the world and realize how messed up it is without considering our own hearts. We should be asking ourselves whether or not we are living a life that is reflective of Truth. Most of us look at the world and see how evil it is but don't look at our own hearts and see the wickedness that is trapped within. However, we cannot shrug away the piercing eye of that truth or else there would be no place for our feelings of guilt and shame. Such feelings demand that there be a consequence for the actions that led to such emotions. We would not feel guilty of our actions if we did not realize that we deserved judgment for what we have done.

How is your truth reflected in your life? Does what you believe match up with how you live? Who will suffer the consequences of your guilt? Justice demands that it be paid for. Either you will pay the cost of disobedience towards the One who gives Truth or One who lived perfectly according to the Truth will pay the cost for you. To clarify, a segment of Isaiah 53 speaking of that Savior is given below:

¹¹ After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

As to the world's answer, you have it in its entirety below. The actual video is below the lyrics.

Memories consume
Like opening the wound
I'm picking me apart again
You all assume
I'm safe here in my room
Unless I try to start again

[Bridge:]
I don't want to be the one
The battles always choose
'Cause inside I realize
That I'm the one confused

[Chorus:]
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
I don't know why I instigate
And say what I don't mean
I don't know how I got this way
I know it's not alright
So I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
Tonight

Clutching my cure
I tightly lock the door
I try to catch my breath again
I hurt much more
Than anytime before
I had no options left again

[Bridge:]
I don't want to be the one
The battles always choose
'Cause inside I realize
That I'm the one confused

[Chorus:]...

[Bridge:]
I'll paint it on the walls
'Cause I'm the one at fault
I'll never fight again
And this is how it ends

[Chorus:]...

Click: Holding your heart in the palm of your hand (my first movie review).

After cleaning up the house in preparation for Mike's graduation party we sat down and enjoyed some hot Papa John's pizza last night. Mike hadn't yet seen the movie Click with Adam Sandler and Kate Beckinsale so Josh and I tried to finagle him into watching it with us last night. Not to be outdone by a mere mortal such as myself, Mike tried to persuade me to watch Rurouni Kenshin with him instead of Click. Kenshin is some sort of crazy anime Japanese show and he was on episode 40 or so. Why in the world would I want to jump in on episode 40? Don't get me started.

The persuading arguments drove us from the dinner table, to the ping pong table and then finally straight to despair. No, not really. We actually went straight for the ice cream and hookah and took the hookah downstairs so that Mike would have to follow if he wanted some. Smoking cheap tobacco makes a convincing argument I guess! Having seized the day, we started the movie.

I found the entire premise of Click absolutely fascinating. The main character, Michael Newman (played by Sandler), finds himself in need of a universal remote for all of the electronics in his house. He comes to realize this supposed need amidst the turmoil of an insufficient family life and a time consuming job that forces him to choose between his family and shadowy promises of future success in his job. One of my favorite quotes from the movie comes when Newman is grumbling about scrapping a long planned camping trip with his family to do some work. He says to his wife, "It's just every choice I make, everything I do, I disappoint somebody." His wife, Donna (played by Beckinsale), responds, "So maybe, you make sure you don't keep disappointing the wrong people!" Desperate to alter these circumstances, Newman actually desires a way to control his own personal universe. However, without a heart change, we see that, "Fear of man will prove to be a snare." (Proverbs 29:25)

Christopher Walken's character, Morty, offers Newman "control" with a "universal remote." In other words, Newman is now able to pause, fast forward and even skip entire "chapters" of life that are a nuisance to him. In these times his body runs on autopilot or, as Morty says, "The lights are on but nobody's home."

The remote consumes Newman as he fast forwards through sex, showers, arguments, sicknesses, traffic, etc. He is figuratively holding his heart in the palm of his hand and has the opportunity to live only in the moments that appeal to him. However, the remote eventually configures itself to Newman's desires by programing itself to skip to his previously expressed ambitions such as work and promotions. His life devolves into bullet points. The problem is that he believes he controls his heart but begins to find out that his intentions in life are self-destructive. His deceitful heart has actually enslaved him. He can recognize his selfish intent but he cannot deny it as the remote simply gives him his heart's desire. To wit, in Jeremiah 17:9, it is written, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"

Morty sternly warns Newman by analogy in talking about Lucky the Leprechaun and his Lucky Charms: He says, "He's always chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but when he gets there, at the end of the day, it's just corn flakes." Still, Newman believes his life's value is bound up in his performance at work and his salary instead of the content of his character and perseverance through adversity. He continues to shirk his familial responsibilities and goes straight for the ruinous rewards. Applied through scripture we read, "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:26)

Newman eventually gets exactly what he wants from life. He becomes the CEO of his company and a multi-millionaire at the expense of a family that he wanted so little to do with. His heart has dominated him and stripped him bare of anything of true worth and value. He loses his wife, a relationship with his family and his life. Ironically, Newman briefly rails against the heavens and yells "why did you do this to me?" Yet, he has been given exactly what he wanted. His ruin is owned solely by him. As James 1:13-15 states, "When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

Yet, all is not lost for Newman for he is aided by an outside agent. Morty (revealing himself as the Angel of Death) takes mercy upon Newman and returns him to the moment at which he sought the remote. By grace, Newman may start over with eyes to see how capable his heart is of evil. He is granted the gift of his life and restored, though he deserved no such thing. He is given another chance and his response to this gift of unmerited life is great love for his family. Should not the love of all who are "born again" be just as obvious? As it is written in Ephesians 2:8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."

Do not be fooled into believing that you can do any better than Newman could apart from Christ. Let the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be your Good Helper and let Him bear your sins and burdens and give you life.

My (slightly humorous) take on why Christians are so annoying.

I understand the annoyance for God's people, I really do. We are the veritable "people of the cloth" or the "Frozen Chosen" as the "reformed" Presbyterians are so named. I generally roll with that group for some reason. Prior to my conversion I was Episcopalian or, as my friend Rory called the denomination: "Catholic-lite." Apparently we had all the ceremony and only half of the guilt! It sounded like an ad espousing the benefits of Margarine over butter. We love our labels and others love to label us. We usually seem to get labeled in direct accordance with our hypocrisy.

Anyhoo, I came face to face with this Christian hypocrisy my first year as a believer. I was invited to a beach gathering up in LA with the regional church and was very excited to go. For reasons that will become apparent later, I did not get much sleep that night. We had a nice hour and a half long drive up to the beach house where I was lulled into a false sense of serenity. I won a huge container full of Gummy Bears when I guessed closest to the proper amount, won a Bible verse locating round against all odds, swam in the ocean amongst breaker waves that literally crushed my body into the sand and rolled me up the embankment like a ball of limp, masticated noodles, drained fluids from my nose for half an hour after sand burning my face all the way up the shore, oozed into a fabulous leather chair with little mechanical massaging rollers and ultimately fell asleep. Big mistake!

With those rollers buffing relaxing patterns into my musculature I was like a bittersweet square of soft imported Dutch chocolate left on a hot car hood in the middle of the Death Valley desert; I melted. My body sank into every nook and cranny of that chair and time died to me. I woke up half an hour later to the sound of poorly concealed snickering that took place behind hands that were pushed up so hard against mouths that their teeth were almost extractable from behind their ears.

It seems that I had been drooling upon my heaving bosom for the duration of my false-safety, sleep induced coma. Oh, it wasn't just a little drool and it wasn't just a small wet mark; it was foamy white around the edges and encompassed up to half of my now embarrassingly dripping chest. My shame was so thick around me it could have been cut with a chainsaw! I gave a couple of nervous laughs while everyone around me guffawed with open mouths and flapping tongues. They flopped as fish out of water and made a similar, though more guttural sound.

I wiped the last lonely strands of spittle from my sopping chin and made my walk of shame out into the sun to dry my saturated shirt. It was a welcome heat and much more natural than the fire that burned with the heat of a thousand suns within the tips of my ears. Alas, to have had a friend willing to warn me against my own lack of classiness! I would almost have rather walked amongst the best looking women in the world with my fly unzipped for an entire day. I would have at least had a great excuse for being clueless!

I pose this challenge to you believers out there (and a last convenient label): The next time you have the chance to save a brother from embarrassment ask yourself, "What would Jesus do?"

Hope amidst the hopelessness.

I have often wondered what the Christian church would be like nowadays if it were just coming out of the system of laws and ceremonies that God had established prior to the New Covenant. To be obligated to commit sacrifices for every personal sin at one's own expense would be a difficult burden to bear. Then to know that the high priest once a year would still have to go make intercession for sins by entering into God's presence behind the veil of the Holy of Holies... Where would our hope be? What would be the purpose of our sacrifice? All it could show us was our poverty of spirit. However, what else could give us cause to trust in Christ were we not destitute?

I would feel dispossessed knowing that there was no sacrifice capable of being given by me that would be able to cleanse me of my blood guilt. God desires mercy over sacrifice but I am not merciful. How great my need for a Savior Messiah is! To know that God looks at my heart and finds my sacrifice useless should be crushing but, Oh! To know that He looks at Christ's heart and finds him pleasing for us!

God, in love, gave His Son to be our scapegoat in order that He could bring to fruition His scripture in Romans 12:1 where it is written, "I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship." Through Christ's merciful and deathly sacrifice, we may now live mercifully: A sacrifice of life. We love because He first loved us!

Because of this love, I can share with you some bits of the horror stories from the Rwandan genocide and how God's love has enabled murderers to find forgiveness from God and victims to forgive those who murdered their families. These glimpses into evil (and good's power to overcome it) come from Christianity Today in an article entitled "Reconcilable Differences."

When the killings began, [Felicita] Mukabakunda, a Tutsi, hid in nearby marshes while [Marc] Sahabo and other Hutus went on their rampage. She overheard them say that they planned to take turns raping her before killing her. She also heard Sahabo say he had killed her father, her uncle, and four other family members.

[Surviving the genocide] Mukabakunda learned that 29 family members-including 16 brothers and sisters-had been murdered.

Felicita speaks of the hatred she harbored in her heart towards Marc and how she wanted him to die a "slow, painful death," preferably at her hands. Facing this hatred that works in the hearts of both groups of tribesman, Theo Mushinzimana, the in-country director of Rwanda Partners (RP) says, "When you have a Tutsi who has forgiven, this is huge. It's a process that requires great truth-truth that only God's Word can make possible."

A Rwandan Anglican priest by the name of Nyirindekwe Celestin tells of confession and reconcilitation only being possible through Christ:

It's very hard to forgive a killer. It takes power from above to transform a person. Our main focus isn't to tell people to forgive, but ot accept Jesus as their Savior, and let him transform you. Only then can you forgive.

One program of reconciliation invites the victims and perpetrators without either knowing that they will meet together face-to-face. It is part of the healing process as the victims are able to pour out 15 years of pent up hatred and, under the watchful eye of local police, takes most of the first day. The arbitrator of this program, Rugirangoga, says, "The killers do not say anything. They are insulted and spat upon, but they keep quiet, because they feel guilty, and they want these people to forgive them."

This takes us back to Marc Sahabo and Mukabakunda Felicita. Felicita was encouraged on numerous occasions by her brother to forgive Marc for the murder of her family. The soil of Marc's heart had been plowed by the Spirit and he came seeking forgiveness. He says, "My heart was changed by Jesus. I wanted to ask the victims for forgiveness, to tell them I was no longer the killer they used to know."

When they finally met face to face, Sahabo got down on his knees before Mukabakunda, folded his hands, confessed his crimes, and begged for mercy. Mukabakunda put her hand on his shoulder, looked him in the eyes, and said simply, "I forgive you."

Sahabo felt like he "just came out of a shower, a clean man, except it was like a holy shower, because I felt clean on the inside." For Mukabakunda, a heavy burden lifted, and the migraine headaches and nightmares she had suffered for ten years immediately disappeared and have not returned.

Marc and Felicita are now best friends and their families spend much time with one another. The two friends now ride a bike between villages sharing the story of the power of God's grace and His healing power.

"I'm not scared of him anymore," says Mukabakunda. "Without Jesus, I'd go back to hating Marc. But because of Jesus, I have forgiven Marc, and I love him now."

The dance of life under the radar of our sight.

Realizing that there is another world besides that which is bigger than us I figured I would put some effort into portraying the world that exists beneath our skin and how much more magnificent it is even than the rest of the universe around us. This video visualizes structures within our cells and a precision of movement that even the best human minds could only dream of replicating. How can we deny the existence of a created order that is within and without us?




Another video I found details the relative size of our universe by factors of 10 starting at the level of a quark and extending out beyond our galaxy. Check it out below:



Lastly, we can see comparisons of the planets within our solar system to one another and the sun. Then, we see how our sun compares to the size of other measured suns. It's quite amazing!

The universe: The size of a marble?

One of the more intriguing scenes of a movie that I have seen belongs to Men in Black. If I remember correctly, every galactic player is seeking after a jewel that has enclosed within it a universe capable of endowing upon its keeper great powers. It's not hard to imagine why a nasty, Grizzly sized cockroach would want to own it! As the movie comes to a close you should recall this famous zoom-out scene from the streets of New York:




I thought it was brilliant that an enormous alien hand would be playing marbles with something so... cosmic! There have been a number of zoom-out scenes that have come along since then that are equally awe-inspiring. The video shown below probably took a number from MIB seeing as the universe ends in the shape of a marble here as well. This begs the question and boggles the mind: "Exactly what is beyond the edge of the universe? Nobody but God knows but whatever it is, we can be assured that the lame line at the end of the clip that the narrator gives is correct: "It's really, really big!"


Amidst all this splendor and grandeur sit we in a pile of dust and yet it has pleased God to tabernacle (live) amongst His people. David, who never knew of such things in the universe yet knowing God's love was able to proclaim in Psalm 8:

³ When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

⁵ You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.

⁶ You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet.

Christian Renewal in Manhattan.

While I was at the Superior Court today waiting to find if I would be picked as a juror I began thumbing through some magazines that were brought in. One that caught my eye was Christianity Today and an article in it entitled "How Tim Keller Found Manhattan." I heard of Tim Keller years ago from a friend who has extremely high regard for the man but I knew nothing about him so I was interested to investigate.

He is the Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in Manhattan. He started his own ministry in the city in 1989 and has since seen it expand to five services at three different locations that he preaches at. Keller has helped to plant 65 other churches (of which only ten are his own denomination). He is a strong believer in God's ability to use different denominations as distinct tools to bring others to Christ.

I wanted to share some of the words he gave for this article. The magazine details how he believes that all human being are equally defined by the their original creation into innocence and fall into sin. Keller states that, "nonbelievers are far better than their wrong beliefs should make them, and we Christians are far worse than our beliefs should make us." It is a great explanation of the hypocrisy that we all possess and helped me to more greatly understand our need for grace. A Christian can turn only to God for righteousness and salvation if he knows that there is nothing that makes him inherently better than another. All men are created in God's image whether broken or restored.

On detailing his approach to moral relativists whose response to his call to understand the first commandment (to have no other gods) is "That's just your opinion," he responds: "When you say the ultimate sin is to put things in the place of God you take that argument away. You find that they say, 'Hmm, I don't know if there is a God.' When I describe sin in such a way that people wish there were a God, I'm making progress."

So what is the response to the life of grace that this attraction to God should produce in those who come to Christ? Or, in the words of Francis Schaeffer, "How shall we then live?" Keller's response is to speak of church in saying that, "The difference between a solid church and a terrible church is pretty much up to you. The difference between a solid church and incredible success has almost nothing to do with you at all. It's like you are out there paddling on your surfboard, and suddenly the wave comes and you ride in, standing up like you're a Greek god. That has everything to do with the wave."


That wave is the Spirit as it rushes upon us and strengthens us to do the works of God, whether great or small.

Self-government or tyranny?

This comes a little bit late for the 4th of July but we don't have to celebrate the great ideas of this country founding on just one day a year!

I've been reading the Declaration of Independence and find it to be a wise historical explanation on the state of human nature. Take this quote for instance:

"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."

What are "light and transient causes" concerning Governments? They are quickly passing things that have little effect on the personal welfare of recipients. What does this welfare include?

In this document, welfare is simply "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" protected by Governments "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed" for the ultimate purpose that "when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Reading farther on in the document will evince the "long train of abuses" that the crown of England had placed upon the people of the Americas.

In truth, the document was written to espouse the virtues of self-government over that of tyranny. Why else would the government get its power only from the consent of the governed? The Declaration was written to declare that man had a right to be free from government that did not warrant continued existence because it no longer protected one's opportunity to advance through one's own hard work.

We live in a day though where people vote themselves benefits by burdening the backs of others. The taxpayer is forced to work harder to subsidize the livelihoods of those who don't work. We have allowed some to take power over us that, in order to administer their own pursuit of "happiness," they whittle away at that same right for us. We should be goal-oriented creatures that strive to work for what we need and desire. That is our right. It is not the Government mandated "right" to education, health care, retirement, and such. There is much to be said for earning that which is of value.

Tocqueville said of such a Government that it is a "tutelary power" that is "absolute, attentive to detail, regular, provident, and gentle." It would duplicate the "paternal power" that would "prepare men for manhood" but instead will "keep them irrevocably fixed in childhood" in that it bestows "their security, foresees and supplies their needs, guides them in their principal affairs…"

Ultimately, a good government is given to protect the legitimate accumulation of wealth and private property through hard work; not the taking away of such to provide for those who vote themselves benefits without any of the necessary responsibility. Thus, our choices are clear: Will we suffer ourselves to greater increments of dispossession or will we fade slowly into the imposed slavery of a state that promises security at the expense of liberty?

Professor Paul Anthony Rahe defines our worth by saying that, "Human dignity is bound up with taking responsibility for conducting one’s own affairs." He states, "We can be what once we were, or we can settle for a gradual, gentle descent into servitude." Let us choose responsibility and strive to change institutions whose causes are not so "light and transitory" in our lives.

You're not Shaken by Phil Stacey

Jury duty.

I will soon be going to the courthouse in Vista to find out if they can use me as a juror. Thankfully, it happens to fall during a time when I am not working so it is possible that it will be a great experience and I don't have to sacrifice any earnings I might be making from work.

The potential to be a juror has caused me to ponder the necessary causes for the justice system to deny a person as juror. The reason coming before my thoughts at this moment as I'm brain storming is moral relativism. How can one stand in judgment over another person if they themselves are not grounded in morality and truth? How can one believe in a system of morality unless it is is first given to them to believe? If we don't believe that morality has been handed down to us or comes from an outside agent, then by default we make ourselves gods and judges of men.

Years ago in 2004 as I was preparing to go on my deployment to the Persian Gulf we had what is called a "workup." It is something that naval vessels do in home waters to prepare for a scheduled deployment. Workups happen a year out and six months out from the actual embarkation date to train the crew ahead of time and hopefully avoid future troubles when out in potential enemy waters. One of the Marines I was on the carrier training with for our workup was a moral relativist. His mantra was, "strive for perfection."

Deciding to walk in his shoes and thus get a better look at how his mind worked I asked him some probing questions to see if he had actually thought about what perfection was. His answers pertained to his performance within the Marine Corps and life in general. His perfection was the standard of the Marine Corps and his own values. He wanted to maintain a perfect score of 300 for his physical fitness test and "be a good person." He couldn't really define what a "good" person was.

Having pinned him to standards of perfection I asked what he would do if he did not either achieve or maintain them. He simply said that he would "lower his standards." Isn't that what we all do? We have an ideal quality in our minds that we strive for and when we find that we cannot achieve it we bring the proverbial bar down to a more manageable level. We smooth out our path and pat ourselves on the back for a job well done because we reached a plateau that an infant could scale and not fall off of. All the while we have this weight bearing down on our backs when we realize our previous standards are leaning over our shoulder and crushing us. For the purpose of revealing our sinful motives Al Pacino says in The Devil's Advocate, "Look but don't touch; touch but don't taste; taste but don't swallow."

The rushing voice in the back of our heads that leads us to doubt and lose strength is saying to us "YOU DO NOT MEASURE UP!" What other reason could we have for our feelings of guilt and fear? Why else would we spend time wasting away in self-doubt, pity, loneliness and depression?

We have days where all seems well and we can feel happy for a time but they are like the last few hours of a waning Sunday night when we realize that we are drunk and exhausted and have to wake up early for work the next morning. Worldly happiness is a fading shadow that is a constant reminder of the sorrows that are to come. We can eat, drink and be merry, but tomorrow WE WILL DIE! There has to be something better than this!

Thus, the result of moral relativism is the establishment in our own hearts of a throne that we sit upon in judgment. We judge the world through scandalous and haughty eyes and rule unjustly from a heart that is sinking in shifting sand. We fail to live up to our standards but we are furious and demand justice for those who also fail to live up to our expectations. We hate in others what is most prominent in us. How can we judge when we are worthy of judgment? How can we be faithful stewards of the lives of men unless we can find a firm foundation and rule in the truth of justice? How may we depart from the deceit that has struck us a mortal blow from within? We are nothing but moral anarchists.

We see before us the need to judge the wickedness of others when we ourselves are wicked and deserving of judgment. However, we cannot let a child rapist or serial murderer roam the streets if it is within our power to take them away. The convicted murderer will serve his time, but what of us who rail and hate in our hearts? If the convicted murderer could not escape just punishment in this life then how can we escape judgment for the very same sins that abide within us? True justice demands an account of all iniquity that is committed in the flesh AND in the heart! We cannot escape our sins without help.

From where does our help come? Our help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth! Our help comes from our advocate who stands before the Judge in our place. Our help comes from the cross! It is the Good Helper who has healed us from all our iniquities and stains. He has clothed us in His righteousness and taken the judgment for our sins upon Himself. His name is Jesus! His name is Messiah! He is the Lord's anointed one; the Holy Lamb of God! He alone can teach us to judge with justice, mercy, grace and compassion for He abides perfectly in shiftless standards.

Emmanuel (God with us)

One of the teachers at the school I work at is a Jehovah's Witness and we've talked about the Scriptures and Christ a number of times. She's a fun person and I enjoy her a lot. She seems to enjoy our talks and my presence as well as she has invited me to a number of gatherings of the Witnesses. I have not had much experience with them other than what I have basically read and heard. Apart from everything else they believe (no matter how strange), the important difference between them and Christians is that they have a works-based religion whereas God is grace-based. I don't say this from hearsay but from knowledge I gained from attending their church last Sunday. Their sermon (they would probably call it a lecture) could literally have been labeled "Obey God's law because He commands it." Only lousy parents would give such a reason to their children to obey them. I can see it now:

Mom: "JOHNNY! You go apologize to Carla right this instant!"
Johnny: "But whyyyyyy mom?"
Mom: "Because I said so!"


God does not deal with such frivolous explanations. He focuses on the heart and changing it. He explains to us why we should obey Him. For instance, in many places all over the Bible His reason is basically, "because I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of bondage and slavery." Our motivation to do what is right is not motivated out of fear, guilt or confusion but out of gratitude for our rescue from slavery and death!

I was angry over the words of the lecturer simply because his teachings were so wicked and wrong. For him to teach in the name of Christ who alone was able to obey the law for us and then tell those he was teaching to do the same is like giving them concrete boots and throwing them into the ocean to swim. We live a life of GRACE! Our works are filthy rags and at best we are unprofitable servants! Nothing we can do will gain us favor or right standing before God. That is why it took His perfect life, unjust death and glorious resurrection to purchase our entrance into God's presence. Who wants to trade pearls for sand? Trust in God's grace and not in yourself and you shall find life.

Still, I was not surprised to hear the law preached and was trusting that God would provide me the opportunity to minister His truth. One of the students from the school was there and he came to say hi. We chatted a little bit, parted ways and then saw one another again on Monday when he came for class. He asked me what I thought about the church service and I told him that I was "disappointed." I was thankful that he asked why and then actually listened as I registered complaints against the teaching.

I took with him the position from Romans 7 that in living through Christ we are now dead to the law:

⁴So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. ⁵For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. ⁶But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

We bear fruit through the law keeping of Christ and the grace He showed to us when He gave Himself as a ransom for us. As children who put their hand in the cookie jar after being told not to do so, so are we before the law when it tells us how to live. In Christ, we are bound to righteousness through the power of His blood and no longer to sin that, through the law, made us unrighteous.

⁷What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." ⁸But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. ⁹Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. ¹⁰I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

The law was necessary to teach us of our own incapacity to be righteous before God. It was meant to drive us to the mercy which Christ provides. Without a code to tell us the proper path to walk, we would have no reason handed down by God to live a certain way and could not be judged as sinners. Paul, as Saul, found his righteousness through the keeping of the law and thus did not consider himself judged by it.

¹¹For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. ¹²So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. ¹³Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

Sin had deceived Paul into believing himself blameless before the law and ultimately blinded him to his own spiritual death before Christ gave him sight to see. So the law is good because it reveals the heart of sin that is withing us. the punishment for sin is death and if we don't realize that we deserve such punishment then we cannot understand our need for Christ to supply our redemption. Either justice will find you, or you will find your shelter from justice in Christ who took your punishment. Either way, justice must be carried out. The law will be upheld by the sword and no one who is outside of Christ will be spared.

The next attribute of God I explained was that Christ is God incarnate. Anyone who knows a little bit of Spanish knows that "carne" is meat. Carne is a Spanish word derived from the Latin word incarnare which means "make flesh" and caro which means "flesh." Thus, Christ is the enfleshment of God. I said to Him that if you do not believe that Christ is God then you cannot be saved. In other words, if you don't believe God in the flesh who is with us then how can you believe God in the Spirit who is transcendent?

Praise God that we were able to speak again on Wednesday. He wanted me to bring Scripture detailing how Christ is God. I brought a lot. If you would like to read some of what I showed him then you can find it on this site: http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/jesusgd2.htm. We'll see where God takes it from here.

From the heart.

Beauty that flows from the heart makes the entire person beautiful inside and out. Beauty is not defined by the outward appearance of a person but rather a mixture of qualities that bless other people. Asymmetry of features, beautiful hair, shiny nails, glossy lips, soft skin and the like mixed with contention and hatred do not a beautiful combination make. A countenance that shines with the light of peace, humility, compassion, joy and love is much more to be desired. Yet, these qualities that pour forth from the heart are not to be obtained by the natural man. We do not have the ability to quell the dissensions within our souls. It is not within our power to end the lusts, jealousies, hatreds and disgusts we have for such things as the wicked desire for another person, the aggravating success of a neighbor, the wounds of a friend who became an enemy, or the quirks of a parent or sibling who drives us crazy.

The video I show gives a good description of what must take place within us. We must be given the capability to reveal true beauty from a heart that has so often been lost in self-doubt and pity. Whereas the video shows the beautification of a the outward appearance, the need for a reformation of our heart is much more difficult and necessary. Who among you can point to your heart and successfully say, "Heart, I don't like the way you've been acting so you will change this instant"? We cannot remake the heart that so often strives against what is right. The truth is that it must be remade for us by One who is able to transform the soul.



WARNING (FOR MEN): The video is meant primarily for women who happen to read this post. Most guys don't care about their outward appearance so much since they fart, scratch and belch in public. For a man to be told that "there could never be a more beautiful you" would be far too sappy to acknowledge. I would encourage any man who thinks of watching this to have a daughter or a close relationship with a beloved female! Only then will you have the wisdom necessary for understanding!

Regardless of gender, the Gospel is this: God made us His children and cared for us from the womb. He fed and clothed us and protected us and yet we turned our hearts from Him (Deut. 32:1-18). Being holy, He turned His face from us and pronounced a curse upon mankind that we would bear the wounds of our sins and face judgment (Deut. 32:19-26). Yet, He did not deal with us according to our iniquities. He called us His inheritance and His portion and, according to His everlasting kindness, claimed Himself as the atonement for our sins so that He could have the glory in leading us away from our captivity to wickedness and death (Deut. 32:43). All of this He did by coming in the form of a man and living the only perfect life of any person on earth, in accordance with the law. He gave Himself up to suffer an unjust death to take our sins upon Himself so that the Scripture would be proven in Revelation 5 where it is written:

¹Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. ²And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" ³But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. ⁴I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. ⁵Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."

⁶Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. ⁸And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹And they sang a new song:
"You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
¹⁰You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth."

¹¹Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. ¹²In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!"

¹³Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!" ¹⁴The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.