THE SUPERNATURAL

Life as I am experiencing it has an intimate connection to the spiritual world.  Jesus said something like “As I am in the Father, so are you in me; as the Father is in me so am I in  you”  (Look at John 17 and preceding).  He was physically in the world: we could have seen, herd  him and touched him..  Yet he talked with the Father.  He said “my Father and I are one”.

So that should be true between Jesus and us today - - we are in him and he in us.  We should treat our daily living as if we are also somehow also presently in heaven.  What if a veil could be pulled back and we could see the spiritual beings about as it was done for Elisha's servant when he saw the heavenly army? (2 Kings 6:16)

How do I adopt an attitude of living my physical life and realizing, experiencing that I am at the same time living the spiritual life?

I'll bet we have been tricked into thinking that the physical is now, and the spiritual comes later.  Or we think that any spiritual event is unusual in the physical course of events.  What if the spiritual is coursing along at all times but we have made ourselves blind and unhearing toward it?  If everyone else chooses to be blind should we follow meekly along and be blind too?

What do I do to see?  What do I do to listen?

 -- Keep looking to see spiritual things
 -- Keep listening to hear spiritual things.
 -- Keep reading the Bible and rehearse the passages that support spiritual intimacies.
 -- Realize that “the Kingdom is at hand” means it is AT HAND.  It is here now.  It is a natural thing.
 -- Realize your “natural” perceptions could well have a supernatural component.
 -- Embrace your “natural” perceptions and ask God to show you what he wants you to supernaturally know.

THE OLD SELF DOUBT

For some reason the other night, I remembered the time a teacher (who I can see, but not remember the name) said to my mother that I “had a flare for writing”. I did with that statement as I have done with so many other similar affirming statements about me: I blew it off. I said to my self, “she's just saying that to flatter. She doesn't really mean it. She's saying what she wishes, not what is.”

Once I remembered that event I said “Why do I always disallow or minimize the good things that are said about me?” It is a bad habit. I ought rather to appreciate the positive things. I ought to try to own them and build on them. I ought to improve myself in that way that is spoken. I ought to believe that I am “that way” and that I can do “that”.

I am tempted to doubt, to say “What if I am not 'that'?” Well, If I'm not “that” I won't be able to do “it”.

But it is more honorable to discover “it” while being positive, trying and hoping. How can it be honorable by never starting the thing because I think “What if I'm not”? How can it be honorable never try 100% and only give 75%? 50%? 5%?

[[ Lord please help me to put away from me my disbelief in myself. Please help me to appropriate the “good works which you have before ordained that I should walk in them” Help me to recognize the “goodness and mercy which shall follow me all the days of my life.” After all, I am dwelling “in the house of the Lord forever”. How bad can the be - - rather, how excellent that is. ]]

WHAT'S GOING ON AT THE NEIGHBORS?

When an individual regards the Bible as the word of God - - and reads it - - he is forever become a different person. And those individuals are catalysts of change for everyone about them. Even those who do not regard the Bible as special are unavoidably influenced for change by those who do. You can not live alongside a group of people and not be changed by them.

Those cultures that have seriously regarded the Bible were changed at their roots by it. And as a result of that every other culture beside them were changed. Eventually the world was forever changed.

Even the ones who hold the view that there is no god have been solidly and unquestionably influenced by the book about Him - - the Bible. The influence spread from Israel to Rome to Europe and hence throughout the world. If the no-god believers were to attempt to reverse the influence the Bible has already had they would have to undo thousands of years of history, and explain why they did.

BACKSTAGE

The admirable qualities of Biblical characters are often hidden behind the words of certain Biblical passages. Nehemiah is a good example as can be seen in Nehemiah 2:

He was proven. After being brought as a slave to a foreign land he worked diligently within his new circumstances. He eventually worked his way up to being the King's cup-bearer (or wine steward, or wine servant).

He earned a high level of trust, for the wine servant had close contact to the king. The king and his security team knew Nehemiah would neither stab nor attempt to poison the king.

He was familiar and on conversational terms with the king. When he perceived Nehemiah was sad the king cared enough to be concerned -- and the king was interested in Nehemiah's welfare.

The king also realized Nehemiah was a capable leader in his own right. He knew Nehemiah could conceive, organize and guide the reconstruction of Jerusalem, so he sent him off to accomplish it.

The Bible does not state these facts directly to us, we have to imagine them through reading the story, by hearing the words and viewing the actions. There's a lot to be learned backstage.

GETTING RICHER THROUGH DEBT

I get a "quote of the day" via email; today's quote was: "Some debts are fun when you are acquiring them, but none are fun when you set about retiring them."

This relates directly to my previous post: Running Into Debt.  But there is one debt that is enriching and encouraging to retire, and that's our debt to appreciate and act on God's gift to us through Jesus Christ.  What we do to "retire" that debt makes us richer in character and oddly can increase our other kinds of wealth.

WE CAN DO MORE

In Nehemiah one we notice that he was the Cup Bearer to the king.  I'm not exactly sure what this position entailed but it certainly meant that he was close to, and trusted by, the king.  It must have taken years of background history for him to become established at the Cup Bearer's position. 

He was close enough that the king noticed Nehemiah was troubled and sad (chapter two).  For you, this is like President Obama personally being concerned  about you, and wanting to know why you are troubled.  It would mean you had that kind of high-flying job, which almost everyone else doesn't. 

The whole book ends up with Nehemiah going back to Israel and rebuilding the wall, making the defenseless defensible.  But he was a CUP BEARER, for crying out loud!  He had no credentials for being a General, or Governor, or Architect, or Contractor.

What this shows us is that we can do a lot more than others believe we can do, or that we ourselves think we can to.

RUNNING INTO CREDITORS

I get an email from a source that provides a "motivational quote of the day".  I absolutely disagree with Today's quote

"Running into debt isn't so bad. It's running into creditors that hurts."

If you get into debt, you put yourself there. You have creditors because you put yourself into their hands.  You borrowed because you felt you wanted something now rather than putting yourself to the discipline of working and saving for it.  It will hurt when you must put off other desirable things because now the bank is standing at the head of the pay line. What hurts worse is when you do not honestly deal with your creditors and have law enforcement guiding you to the pay line. A good man (or a good woman, for that matter) always stands behind his commitments.

It is hard to find honor in letting someone cosign for your debt, for then you are introducing risk into their lives.  You are dragging them into your pay line.  There may be cases where this is acceptable, but I'll bet more are not acceptable than are.

Very few debts are "good" debts. Paying a mortgage rather than paying rent comes close. While you are sharing some of your wealth with the bank, with the rest you are slowly gaining title to the house and land.  Car debt sometimes seems to be necessary, but many times it can be avoided (or at least greatly lessened) by buying a used vehicle - - or maybe just repairs, maintenance, or waiting and saving.  School debt is more troublesome.  Will the targeted occupation guarantee an income large enough to justify the debt?  Doctors, Engineers and Lawyers may answer yes, few others can.  Have you applied for scholarships?  Are you willing to work and pay-as-you-go?

A quote like "Avoid debt if at all possible" would be a better quote than the one above, but I guess it wouldn't be as funny.

WHAT'S NEXT

Elijah had been doing a lot of work for God and he was tired.  He was thinking he was all alone in getting it done.  In fact Jezebel was out gunning for him because he had caused the death of all her false prophets.  He told God, "I've been angry like you about all the false prophets and how your people have turned their back on you. Now I'm the only one left."  God in effect said, "Go back. I'm not finished with the work I have for you to do. You do not realize this, but there are seven thousand more like you that have never worshiped the false Gods."

We are like Elijah.  We often think there is not much more that we can do.  But it's not over; there's more to do;  there always is.  There are a few church things to do, but most are personal things and family things.  The only time we will know it's through is when we're face-to-face with Jesus in heaven; then that part of the work is done.

Be patient, the next set of tasks will become apparent soon.


(( We were reading in 1 Kings today, chapters 18 and 19. Lizzie wrote a blog too.  Here is a line to hers: .ELIJAH WAS SUCCESSFUL

LIZZIE HAS CANCER

My wife has breast cancer. A friend just wrote to her today, "My heart breaks knowing your life travel plans just got interrupted with this detour down the road of breast cancer."

Being a man, and ex military, I tend to think of things in different terms. I don't think of it as a "detour". I think of it as "new orders", or "increased responsibilities", or "greater opportunity through engagement in a tougher challenge".

A "detour" speaks of a temporary alternative road to a road which is normally better. This is not an alternative road, this is the road God has directed Lizzie (and I, and the rest of the family) to travel. We thought we were going to California, but all along on God's map the destination was Massachusetts. There is good stuff in California, but there is also good stuff in Massachusetts, perhaps better stuff, wonderful stuff.

The Bible speaks of "the peace that passes all understanding". When I had colon cancer, and now as Lizzie has breast cancer, I think we have this gift, the gift of peace. We don't feel fear, confusion, or apprehension. We know the future, although unexpected, holds good things for us. Maybe they will not be comfortable things, but they will be things through which we have the opportunity to grow. Growth is always more important than comfort and pleasure. Who wants to get to heaven and report to God, "I've had a lot of fun and pleasure, but I haven't grown much."

We will grow. And along the way we will have the fun and pleasure too

The friend who wrote above offers her valuable support. She's been there and done that. For fifteen years she has been on the road through Breast Cancer Country. She, and none around her would have chosen it, but she, and they, are the better for it. It's easy to say, tough to do, but it's still true.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT DANGEROUS PEOPLE

The Philistines sure knew about David.  They didn't want him anywhere around.  As soon as he was set up as King they set up to battle against him.  Apparently some people are influential and dangerous enough that it is worth setting up to take them out, if you can.

Hopefully, in the business world, that means getting them pushed off the CEO's chair, not actually killing them and their supporters.

WE STEP IN THE SAME MUD

Why would you follow someone else?  Why did the people follow David?  Why do people follow or belong to any group?

 -- It is something you want to do.
 -- You like that group of people.
 -- That group presents some advantages for you.
 -- You want to belong to some larger body.
 -- The group provides you some sense of importance.
 -- The group provides you safety.
 -- The group provides you direction.
 -- You do not want to be alone.

There are a dozen or so other reasons we could list.

If you admire a person as a leader you will realize that he/she demonstrates each of the above bullets personally to you:  he/she (like you) wants to do the group activity, he/she likes the group and its members, and so on.  At some point the leader gets his boots muddy with the same mud you are standing in.  From time to time he is there with you, alongside you.

The leader is not thinking, "I want to be a leader".  He/she thinks, "I have this passion I want to accomplish and I need these people and want these people to get it done."

GOING OUT AND COMING IN

David "went out and came in" before the people.  What does this mean?  Was he so prominent that people said, "There's David going away." when he left and, "There's David coming back" when he came back? How does someone get to be known before a set of people?

I don't think it just happens, I think the person has to want to be known. It could be a vein thing like the people that participate in "American Idol" -- they just want to be popular, recognized, famous. Or it could be a power thing like, "I want to be known for doing this and I want people to come to me for it." David could have said, "I want people to come to me for leadership in battle because I believe I'm better at it than almost anyone else." If that was true, he got known because he actually was better, people knew him for it.

READ, OR JUST LISTEN?

Refer to Isiah 29: 10 - 14

When we don't read God's word -- when we don't regard it as important enough to spend some time at -- God could make us dull as he has done in these Isaiah verses. When we rely too much on what men teach (v. 13 "their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men") we stupefy ourselves to what God has written to us. We find it easy to say, "we can't understand the Bible, it is a 'book that is sealed' We will not put in the effort".

Some, a few, passages are very difficult. Some we understand only after years or reading and thinking about them. Some are never more than partially understood. Some we never understand.

However, the actual number of verses in the Bible that one can not understand is very small. Almost all of them we can understand. Most all of them we can understand in English; we don't need to know Hebrew and Greek. We can understand them in Old English or New English or Slang English -- it's just not that hard.

There is one guarantee: if we don't read we will not understand. If we let someone else tell us what it means we only know that that person understands. It may be correct, or just useful, or just plain wrong.

When men go long enough not making the effort to read the Bible the wisdom and knowledge vanish. The very "wise" ones they depend on to tell them what God says -- or even to tell them what is "right" -- loose their wisdom.

BEING UP, NOT DOWN

I have been reading some old journal entries. I noticed many were about putting myself down ("I feel I am worthless") followed by attempts to uplift myself ("You are worth something, look on the brighter side ...")  I think, over the years, I am getting better at being positive.  Positive moves me forward, negative turns me backward. Positive brightens may outlook, negative dims my outlook. Positive help and improves my family, negative destroys my family.

I would like to pass this caution to my sons:  Do not waste your time by being negative about yourselves or the situations you are in.  It will not help you, it will hinder you; it will not build, it will destroy. Through negativity you not only risk yourselves, but you put your families at risk .

Being truthful and seeing life as it is good but being negative is not good. There are always two or more answers to a question; there are always several descriptions for a situation.  Travel toward the more positive answer and the brighter situation.  There is always a choice.  You must look.

GOING TO WAR

Deu 7:1-2  "When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;  And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them . . . ."

Let's view this as the nations representing our corrupt natures. They are not peoples we are to conquer, but our tendencies toward corrupt, unkind actions and words.

We do need to destroy those things. We do need to wipe them off the face of our personality. We are to war ruthlessly against ways that are not God's ways, and thoughts which are not God's thoughts.  We can leave none of them alive. They will destroy us if we do.

SELF WORTH

One thing many self-help books talk about is self-worth. We need to take account first what God thinks and says, then we need to take account of what he says about us. I propose it should be in this order:

 -- What does God want generally
 -- What does God want for mankind
 -- What does God want for me personally
 -- What is the state of my self-worth

Much of the time we think of this in reverse fashion: "How am I worthy right now, and, oh yeah, what does God think?" Or worse: "What about me and what do others thing?"

ARM CHAIRS

I've been reading "The Case For A Creator" by Lee Strobel. He shows how the Cosmologists and Astronomers make lots of statements about size, composition and distance of stars. All anyone can see of a star is a pinpoint of light. A distant star can not be resolved optically into a disk the way planets can.

From just a pinpoint of light and an armchair they make all these confident statements. "This star is this many billions of miles away and uses these nuclear processes to burn up this kind of gas." I have an armchair too; I can make confident statements.

Let us be fair. To the side of their armchairs they have advanced instrumentation to measure electromagnetic radiation and sophisticated optical devices (both on earth and in space). They have experience with nuclear processes here on earth. They have knowledge and skill with high mathematics while I need a hand-held calculator to do my checkbook.

Many times what you say from your armchair is as good or better that what the other guy is saying. But some times what the other guy is saying is better. Listen carefully before you become too proud of your armchair.

INERTIA

I have inertia and sometimes don't want to come away from my house to do things with people, or to have them come into my house. If I am alone I seem to desire to stay that way. I need to be very careful not to let this attitude over-take me.

All of us do not have much value alone, by ourselves. We need to have interaction with others: it's the only thing we leave behind. The only thing that changes and moves the world (or at least society) is the conversation, the letter, the touch, the physical presence. Of those, only the letter persists so as you can touch it.

Although -- the expression of love can persist through generations demonstrated by the attitudes and actions of those effected by it.

You can't do those things by siting in your house. I want to be known as a friendly, hopeful, knowledgeable man. But I can not do this if I do not see people. "He that will have friends must show himself friendly".

LETTER TO SONS

I wrote this letter in March and I don't know if I ever sent it, either via post or email:

Sons,

My time of actively funding and directing the course and events of your lives has long since past; as it well should. My goal as a father was to equip my sons to be fully functioning and active adults, and you all are.

One of my roles now is to encourage you without becoming intrusive or a nuisance. The greatest, most valuable piece of advice I can offer is for you to read the Bible every day. Your mother and I still read aloud to each other daily. I recommend you do the same with your wives. We find hearing God's concepts together to be very engrossing and uplifting.

However you read, individually or separately, alone or as a family, do not blindly accept what other men say the Bible means. That includes me. Know what the Bible says to you. You can not know what it says unless you read it. If the Bible truly is the word of God (which it itself says it is) it deserves more than one reading.

Do not fear that every time you see me I will be asking, "Have you been reading your Bible lately?" I will not do unto others what I would not have them do unto me. But I do talk to God about it from time to time.

I am proud of my sons and I like to be around them. And they have exceptional taste in women, they married well. I am grateful they love and provide for their children.

LEFT HAND THREADS

The handle on our toilet came off the other morning. I lifted up the lid to find the nut holding it on had come off. I screwed it back on. As I did I noticed it had a left-handed thread. They do this so that the handle won't unscrew itself every time someone flushes.

I remember my brother, David, teaching me about left-handed threads as I was watching him work on his bicycle. Bicycles use left-handed threads for the same reason toilet handles do, so the peddles won't unscrew themselves as you peddle down the road. The right-hand crank has left-handed threads on its bearing holder and peddle.

How many things we must pick up along life's path: left-handed threads, keep to the right, pass on the left (unless you are in England or a colony). We learn them, and use them, and probably pass them along to others without even realizing.

(I don't know how that handle came unscrewed when the normal effect of using the lever should be to tighten it. Is it a conspiracy? Does someone have a key and is sneaking into our house when we are away and unscrewing the toilet handle? Do they break in through the attic? Is there a Worm-Hole or Time Warp through which the aliens are moving? Is it the Evil Spirit of the Toilet Tank?)