Peachtree Road Race

On the Fourth of July is the Peachtree Road Race. It’s a 10k run through Atlanta, Georgia. There are 60,000 runners allowed to register. One person I know ran last year’s road race with a friend who had a bad knee. Evan said, “I’ve kept pace twice now with people I know held be back, but it was still fun to run.” This year he says he wants to run alone, which really means he’ll set his own pace.

It seems to me that there are several ways a person can be held back in a race. Evan paced himself alongside a person incapable of a faster run simply to keep an injured runner company, to be supportive of him. Neither of them will receive a medal at the end of the road race. They’ll finish, though. Even will run enduring the slower pace of his injured friend, and cross the finish line with the personal satisfaction of completing the run and doing so alongside his friend.

A few years ago, Evan ran another race up in Tennessee. It was a grueling obstacle course that required great endurance. He ran with another friend who, while in good physical condition, was much slower. They ran the race together, alternating walking and running, helping each other over the hurdles and obstacles. Fifty feet before the finish line, the last obstacle required that they crawl through mud covered with two feet of muddy water. As they emerged from that mud bath,

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Are Pets Thankful

Occasionally, looking into the eyes of my daughter’s dog, I will joke with my daughter about what that dog is thinking. Do animals think? I’ve heard that thinking is what differentiates animals from humans. At one time didn’t people think it was communication—talking—that separated us from animals? Huh. My daughter’s cat talks. Well, okay, not in English. Cat talk, I guess. She has a particular way of saying, “Eeyowaaaah” when it’s around the time of day she is feed. When she decides she wants attention, she says, “Eeh,” while rubbing against my leg. And the other day, at the laundry room door, she said, “Eeyo.” It wasn’t feeding time. She wasn’t near by to want her head scratched. What does “Eeyo” mean.

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R T F M

While working for the U. S. Forest Service as a “Radio Tech,” I had the pleasure of assisting in the installation of a forest-wide electronic public exchange (PBX), a telephone switch. In preparing for that experience, I attended a two-week course for certification on the Mitel 2000 PBX. It was a good course, well-taught, and I came back armed and ready not only for the installation and set up, but also for continued maintenance and upgrades. A major theme of the course was the Mitel Manual. Actually, it was not just one, but a series of manuals on the switch. Throughout the course, the instructors continually referred to one or more of the manuals stressing the critical nature of not just knowing the switch itself, but knowing the manuals. The key to expedient maintenance and repair was in knowing where to look for the answer. We were given our own copies of the manuals, and by the end of the two weeks, they were well worn.

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You are Welcome. Enjoy your Stay. Leave Money. Then Leave.

After graduating college with a degree in Journalism, we all went our ways out into the world. A friend went to a small newspaper in a very small town in Oregon. She knew she’d be better welcomed if she bought a car there, rather than flaunting California license plates, or tags as we say in Georgia. I heard from her some months later. Indeed, she was well welcomed in that town. People would stop and talk to her on the street, in stores, any where she went. Once. After the first encounter, the person would snub her upon second meeting. She said the first “welcoming” was more of an interview. And she didn’t pass the test. Eventually she moved home to her own small California town.

Molly Simpson, in her post Emotional Abuse and the Church, speaks about the way some folks feel abused in their own churches. She offers great insight to folks in dealing with such abuse, while sparing criticism of the churches themselves.

There’s a story that is said to have taken place back during the “Jesus” movement of the early 1970s. There were a lot of young folks coming to home churches where they didn’t sit in pews and wear Sunday-go-to-meeting cloths. One day a fellow accustom to such home church groups saw people heading into Sunday service at a large, traditional church. He thought about going, made up his mind to do so, and headed up the steps. The congregation was seated, and it was a full house. With no seats left, he sauntered up the aisle in his flip-flop sandals clapping. When he got to the front, he simply sat cross-legged on the floor. So. You can imagine the reaction of the congregation. They were simple aghast. Soon an usher, dressed in a three-piece suit and well-polished shoes, came up the aisle toward the disheveled young man. The faces of the congregation said it all. “That’s right. Toss that fellow oughta here!” To the amazement of the congregation, the usher came up to the young man, sat down next to him, and crossed his legs, too.

Molly points out, “referring to Galatians 5:14, “The whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Every time someone approaches us, we have the opportunity to love them as Christ did.” That’s what the usher did. That’s not what the people of that small town did when they “welcomed” my friend and reporter. That was a false love. For love, as Molly also points out, calls for us to carry the burdens of our brothers and sisters.

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Life After Death . . .

Pastor Chuck SmithIt’s been over thirty years ago that, while attending a two-week course in Irvine, California, I was privileged to attend services Calvary Chapel Irvine. Pastor Chuck Smith founded Calvary and served there as head pastor. Pastor Smith had the ability to draw an audience into a sermon taking them to places they’d never have imagined. I recall part of one of his sermons in which he spoke about Heaven. He illustrated Heaven as if it were Earth, divided up giving each person a share of land, which he calculated to be three acres. He said things like there won’t be plumbing in the house, because things will be perfect. What I have remembered about Pastor Smith’s sermon is that even if Heaven looked anything like Earth, it is very different. Perfect, for one thing. The physical presence of our Lord Y’shuaJesus is the most significant difference. And after our physical deaths, we who are saved though faith in Y’shuaJesus will experience Heaven as life in the presence of G-d.

There’s another kind of life after death. And we who are marked, having our names engraved in the Book of Life, are experiencing it right now. This life began when we responded to the call of the LORD. For our response was one of dying to our flesh and receiving a new life of the Spirit.

. . .now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. Romans 7:6.

From the time the Law was given to us on Mount Sinai, until the Cross, we were bound by the written Law. We were not certain of our afterlife. We were certain only of the overwhelming guilt that didn’t seem to come clean even with the sacrifices. We thought if G-d told us what we were to do, we could do it. Like children, we said, in effect, “I’ll be good, Father.” But we couldn’t. We needed something more. It took the Blood of Y’shuaJesus to wipe away the guilt and shame, to pay the price we simply couldn’t pay. We have now the Spirit, and the Law is written upon our hearts. We are saved. We are Genuine. We are Authentic.

Sure, we’ve from time to time fallen back into the flesh, into some sin or other. But we don’t stay in it. We see it for what it is, and move away from it. Things aren’t rigid anymore. There’s flexibility. We don’t have to fit into a mould, fit into a small rigid box. We are free to walk in the way the Spirit guides us. Free from condemnation.

This way of walking didn’t come easy for me. Call it legalism. It doesn’t have to be enforced by a church; it can be self-imposed. I must do this, or that, or . . . But I don’t have to be that way. That’s the freedom we have in Messiah. The freedom we have in the Spirit. It means we can serve G-d in a way that’s uniquely tailored to our personalities, our gifts, our talents.

There are time, however, in which we are called to stretch ourselves out of the comfortable, into other paths. We are promised, however, the Lord’s Lamp to guide our feet, His Light to guide our paths.

These were the potters, and those that dwelt among plants and hedges: there they dwelt with the king for his work. 1 Chron 4:23.

C.H. Spurgeon in Morning and Evening (June 03) uses this scripture to speak about service to Christ that is less than glamorous. He mentions that some are called to live in the country and not the city, as they might prefer.

I am reminded of the fellow in SLO with whom I once discussed St. Francis of Assisi. He said he was so very suited to be in a monastery but a friend said he could, and should, “make the world his monastery.” His life could be spent not doing what is comfortable for him, but what is not within his comfort zone.

For me, it’s helpful to know that the Lord won’t let us bite off more than we can chew. I’m a county boy at heart. I long for the wide-open range, the mountains, a long stretch of barren beach. A small town is okay, too. As I’ve said before, I’ve little use for cities. But, then here I am, a stone’s throw from Atlanta, Georgia. And I’ve accepted that it is this way for the moment. Praise the Lord, for when I am up to my neck in too much city, the Lord allows me to find times of refreshing, both physical and emotional/mental, with Him.

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The Men of Sodom were Wicked

Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. Genesis 13:12

 

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Atlanta, Photo by Randy Sanford

Cities, in my thinking, are just plain wrong. Abraham choose to settle in the land of Canaan, while Lot choose to settle near the city of Sodom. Eventually, Lot moved right into the city. A N D look what happened to him. A N D look what the Lord did to the city.

Nope. Humans were made for gardens, wide open spaces, even the vast deserts. Out in Death Valley, there is a military post, Fort Irwin, which has become important for troops preparing to depart for the Middle East. When I trained there many years ago there was a landing field called Bicycle Lake. Every year it flooded and became an actual lake, though very shallow. And just after the rain came the brine shrimp. They hatched. They lived. They reproduced. Then as water soon receded, they died. Wild flowers followed. The damp sand activated seeds that immediately sprouted. The plants grew and bloomed. The flowers dropped seeds. Eventually the flowers dried and fertilized the area beneath them, where the seeds remained until the next rain. Who’d have thought of such an incredible garden in the desert. There just isn’t anywhere on Earth that those who have eyes to see can call a “G-d forsaken” place. Unless it’s a city. A city like Sodom.

There’s nothing to argue about when you say that there are such beautiful buildings. When you travel to London, the sites include St. Paul’s, the Tower of London, Big Ben. When in 1962 the London Bridge was falling down, it was taken to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, for tourist trade. The thing that the cities have in common, including their beautiful buildings, is that they’re all creations of mankind. When we get too many man-made things in one place, I think we suppress the G-d-made wonders. When we forget G-d, we separate ourselves and fall err to pride and all the related sins.

Sure, there are some gardens in cities. New York’s Central Park comes to mind. I’ve not been there. I don’t have any desire to go there. I’ve heard about the bad things that happen there. I don’t have any desire to experience it. I’d rather spend a day on the lake, with the wind behind the sail, the sun warming my head. I’d rather look at the trees along the shore and the hills that surround the lake. I’d rather anchor near an island and enjoy the quiet, the peace, surrounded by things that G-d made.

There’s an exception, of course. Jerusalem. G-d had it in His mind long before it was settled. And G-d was part of the initial settling of Jerusalem. It’s rich in history, memories of past times, some good and some bad, seem to ooze from the stones of the Via Dela Rosa. And the Western Wall of the Temple is sacred. There’s a small road leading down out of the city. Old Roman stones are still seen here and there. Walking along the road, one can hear among the trees and rocks the whispering of its story; day after day for two thousand years the story has been told over and over.

. . .two of them [Apostles] were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. Luke 24:13-35.

Perhaps the problem with modern cities is that the sacred is not there, never was. And even most of the ancient cities that remain have lost too much of the sacredness that G-d seems not to be there.

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More Dreams & Treasures

Early, one morning about six months ago, my dreams came in several stages or developments. In the first segment, i am wearing field gear and am on a train. The train is on a large track, almost like it were a model railroad. Going too fast around a final curve before a station, the last car, which is an open gondola car with two people in it, nearly tips over forward. The two people are not injured but we are all concerned about the incident. The train’s operator and seemingly our leader is not bothered at all.

Next, I am getting my remaining gear and going through the train. Another person is with me. It is apparent we are getting ready to leave. There are two boxes I’m picking up. These boxes are similar to other boxes in another dream from the previous night.

I don’t know if it is me in this next segment or not, but the two people who were in the gondola that nearly overturned are captive in the desert. They are able to subdue their captures, and destroy their bodies with acid and the remains soak into the sand. They flee by day, though hide when satellites are overhead. They come to a village and hide there gathering stuff to equip a vehicle.

From there, the two set out by vehicle to the coast where they trade the vehicle for a boat. They outfit the boat and sail away.

There is something about the two boxes. There is something about the way I wrapped my rifle’s sling around my left forearm. I recall doing this sort of carry once before. Only once before. And I remember once, long ago, wanting a box to collect up my various remnants, left overs, of a life I’d been living.

I’m reminded of another dream some time ago. In it I approached a river I would need to cross to continue following the path on which I walked. As I was trying to figure out how to keep my backpack from getting wet, a woman came to me. She explained how to wrap my pack in plastic and said it would keep it dry.

This morning very early I dreamed that I was in a house that seemed to spring leaks all over. Water dripped from the ceiling, from pipes overhead, from the windows. Water was drenching boxes that were open. And the contents were being ruined.


It seems to me that in these dreams there are two different ways of looking at things that I have. First there are things that we use, daily, for which we must care. These are cooking utensils, bedding, and tools that we use in our trade. They are also gifts that we carry to give to people we meet along the way. The backpack I carried, that I was shown how to care for in order to cross the river, and the gear that I was collecting, and the boxes that would protect it, fall into this type of treasure.

These are treasures, however, in which we must not trust. For as the Lord spoke through Jeremiah (49:4):

Why do you boast of your valleys,
O faithless daughter,
who trusted in her treasures, saying,
Who will come against me.

The other treasures, like the ones in the dream that are getting ruined in the water leaking from seemingly everywhere in the house, are not ones kept and maintained for everyday use. These are the treasure in which I’ve put too much trust.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.—Matthew 6:19

There are things that the L-rd teaches me through dreams. There is the overview of the dream itself, and there is the various pieces of which the dreams are made. Sometimes it takes several different dreams with the same overall viewpoint to make sense. And then there’s the individual pieces, like the pieces of a giant puzzle, fitting together later on, when other pieces are put together.

My mother often said, “The L-rd works in mysterious ways.” May He work constantly in your lives, to bring you into His Peace and into the pure fellowship of His other children.

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The Nine Principles

  1. Do not think dishonestly
  2. The Way is in Training
  3. Become acquainted with with every act
  4. Know the Ways of all professions
  5. Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters
  6. Develop intuitive judgment and understanding for everything
  7. Perceive those things that connot be seen
  8. Pay attention even to little things
  9. Do nothing that is of no use

Musachi Miyamoto, 1645

Mustache Minamoto, according to Wikipedia, was a swordsman in the 17th Century that epitomizes the legend of the lone samurai, and taught “the principle that all technique is simply a method of cutting down one’s opponent.”

Question: How do these principles hold up in light of Judaeo Christian Scripture?

I’d love to hear your answers.

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Train ’til its right. . .

I’ve heard it said that some train until they get it right, while others train until they get it wrong. What’s that mean? Well. . .

Quite a while ago, while bumming around India, I was blessed to contract a persistent stomach bacteria, which came and went in varying degrees of severity for a number of months. I was just a day ahead of the monsoon rains, which made my travels especially hot and humid, with little relief. Despite this I was given the grace to take it all in stride.

On one particular adventure/trial, I travelled in last class on a train with two Brits and two Sweds. We ran into each other while trying to find a few feet of space in a crowded train car. One of them gained access to the overhead baggage shelf that was empty, and we all clamored up to join him. There we rode for twenty-three hours and twenty-three minutes. At the time, I hadn’t known where I was to go, only that I was to be on that train. I’m not sure which pair of guys, the Brits or the Sweds, was headed to Kashmir, but we all thought that a good place to visit. We deboarded the train and hopped a bus north into the mountains of Kashmiri. As the bus arrived, local rental agents boarded suggesting houseboats to stay on. I, along with the Brits and Sweds and a Jordanian man, teamed up to rent a houseboat from one of the rental agents. We deboarded the bus and were led across a path to the lake and a large houseboat.

"Dal LakeVR2" by Basharat Shah - Flickr: Dal Lake. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dal_LakeVR2.jpg#/media/File:Dal_LakeVR2.jpg
“Dal Lake” by Basharat Shah

Everything was perfect. Well, sort of. The picture-perfect houseboat turned out to be  moored by a sewerage outlet from the town. But it only stunk during the day. While the rental included three meals a day, my stomach issues returned with a vengeance, and I could barely eat. But atop the houseboat in the cool of the evenings we all sat around and talked. Despite everything, I was apparently successful at displaying my faith in Messiah Y’shuaJesus, and they saw and leaned something that was meant for them. At the end of our weeks aboard the houseboat, we all went different ways. I hopped the bus south, connecting to a train bound for New Delhi. As always, the train was packed. I found a foot of space in which to place my backpack and kneeled over it and slept all the way to Delhi. The training of these trials was going well. I seemed to be getting it right this time. That seemed to be the point of the trails, to get through them all and to do so while getting it right.

As the train pulled into the station in New Delhi, my stomach was acting up again, and I need to find a loo, as the Brits call it. I managed to stand up. But try as I might I just couldn’t make any headway to the door, as crowds of people tried to push their way into the already packed train car. Al of a sudden I stood to my full six-feet-five-inches and roared. I must have looked to the Indians as a giant bear about to attack. They pulled themselves out of my way. And. . . I’ll not soon forget the old man that was just steeping up onto the car as I barreled through the doorway. His hat fell from his head onto the step. I nearly ran him down. I nearly crushed his hat beneath my feet. I don’t know, but think I did at least retrieve his hat for him. As I walked down the platform, I felt horrible. I’d been doing so well. I’d been getting it so right. My trials took me to that point of success and beyond, until I broke. I found myself realizing exactly what I was capable of. I had it in me to be the worst of the worst. I was overwhelmed. At the same time, I realized that I liked myself. I Liked Myself. I’d trained to get it right, but went beyond and got it wrong. To The Point That I Broke Me. Now I could see myself as G-d sees me, saved through the salvation of Messiah Y’shuaJesus. He and only He experienced a life on Earth getting it totally right, without sin. He died that I might live.  I’d known that. But as I walked the platform in search for a loo, I Knew It. And I knew it in a much more pure way.

Train beyond getting it right; train until we get it wrong. Then understand our condition on Earth and the Salvation from G-d.

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Faith and Works

The Apostle James wrote (James 2:14):

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can his faith save him?

This statement has been a subject of controversy. For Martin Luther, it isn’t just the idea of faith and works that is rejected,  “Luther made an attempt to remove the books of Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation from the canon (Bible).” —Wikipedia

King David didn’t have a problem with the whole Faith and Works thing. In Psalm 61:7 he wrote:

My salvation and glory depend on God, my strong rock. My refuge is in God.

In the same Psalm, 61:12, he wrote:

For You repay each according to his works.

This is one way of explaining how Faith and Works compliment each other: “People in desperation are often prepared to resort to criminal activity such as theft and extortion (verse 11) as means of extricating themselves from the crises they confront.  David’s message here is that this tendency results from a lack of faith in the Almighty’s power to rescue and support.  If a person truly believes that, as David declares in this Psalm’s final verse, God “repays each man in accordance with his conduct,” then he would never resort to unlawful tactics during times of need.  He would instead appeal to the Almighty for salvation and trust in the assistance God extends to His loyal servants.” —Tehillim

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