Tuesday, August 28, 2012

(8) Welcome to the Godcast...we've got fun and games... (8)

This entry is intended to serve as a 're-dedication' of this blog to serve God and also a remembrance of the fact that sometimes some anonymity is necessary to protect the security of myself and those I love, after all, no matter what you do, you'll always have enemies, even Jesus had enemies and as much as I try my best to keep at peace with everyone around me, there's always people out there that have something to at the very least 'complain' about me.

So true Master Jedi: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PI2kWTrxVVU

Perfect timing yet again my sovereign Lord, this is perfect reopening post that was sitting as a draft entry on my Blog. But Jesus first Jesus, I open with a passage that probably best works as a commentary for Phillipians 4:13 ->

Isaiah 40Tree of Life Version (TLV)

Comfort, Proclaim Good News

40 “Comfort, comfort My people,”
says your God.
Speak kindly to the heart of Jerusalem
and proclaim to her
that her warfare has ended,
that her iniquity has been removed.
For she has received from Adonai’s hand
    double for all her sins.
A voice cries out in the wilderness,
“Prepare the way of Adonai,
Make straight in the desert
    a highway for our God.[a]
Every valley will be lifted up,
every mountain and hill made low,
the rough ground will be a plain
and the rugged terrain smooth.
The glory of Adonai will be revealed,
and all flesh will see it together.”
For the mouth of Adonai has spoken.
A voice is saying, “Cry out!”
So I said, “What shall I cry out?”
“All flesh is grass,
and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades.
For the breath of Adonaiblows on it.
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades.
But the word of our God stands forever.”[b]
Get yourself up on a high mountain,
you who bring good news to Zion!
Lift up your voice with strength,
you who bring good news to Jerusalem!
Lift it up! Do not fear!
Say to the cities of Judah:
    “Behold your God!”


10 Look, Adonai Elohim comes with might,
    with His arm ruling for Him.
Behold, His reward is with Him,
    and His recompense before Him.[c]
11 Like a shepherd, He tends His flock.[d]
He gathers the lambs in His arms
    carries them in his bosom,
    and gently guides nursing ewes.

Who Is Like Him?

12 Who has measured the waters in the palm of His hand,
or measured out heaven with a span,
or calculated the dust of the earth in a measure,
or weighed the mountains in scales,
or the hills in a balance?
13 Who can fathom the Ruach Adonai?
Or instruct Him as His counselor?
14 With whom did He consult,
    and who instructed Him?
Who taught Him in the path of justice
    or taught Him knowledge?
Who informed Him about
    the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
    and count as a speck of dust on the scales.
Behold, the islands weigh as fine dust.
16 Lebanon is not enough to burn,
or its animals enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before Him.
By Him they are accounted null and void.
18 To whom then will you liken God?
To what likeness will you compare Him?
19 To an idol? A craftsman casts it,
a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and fashions silver chains for it.
20 One too poor for such an offering
chooses wood that will not rot.
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to prepare him an idol that will not totter.
21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told to you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 He sits above the circle of the earth—
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers—
He stretches out the skies like a curtain,
spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
23 He reduces princes to nothing.
He makes the judges of the earth a confusion.
24 Scarcely are they planted,
scarcely are they sown,
scarcely their stem takes root in the earth,
when He blows on them and they wither,
and a storm carries them off as stubble.
25 “To whom then will you liken Me?
Or who is My equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see!
Who created these?
The One who brings out their host by number,
the One who calls them all by name.
Because of His great strength and vast power,
    not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from Adonai,
and the justice due me escapes
    the notice of my God”?
28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Adonai is the eternal God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not grow tired or weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives strength to the weary,
and to one without vigor He adds might.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall,
31 but they who wait for Adonai
    will renew their strength.
They will soar up with wings as eagles.
They will run, and not grow weary.
They will walk, and not be faint.

[Isaiah 40, Tree of Life Translation]

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

What if K was one of us? Just a stranger among us?

There are some lies my friends have to tell...

Some months ago, my long term spiritual director suggested I look into the phenomenon that sometimes God can 'speak very loudly through our circumstances' and I've been giving this concept some thought and prayer considering that I usually am not unemployed for this long and I have recently been inspired and been praying about applying for work much outside of 'Gotham City', I changed the name of my city to protect the reputation of those who know that Christians sometimes have to live 'in the world' while they are also chosen to be out of it, in essence, it is like we are all sheep in wolves' clothing (I intentionally reversed the order from scripture).  We earn a worldly paycheck that goes to a worldly bank account and we often get around the same way the people around us do, but in reality our bodies are kind of like our 'Avatars' for doing the work of our heavenly Kingdom. 

My decision to one day leave 'Gotham' does not necessary come from what a 'so called-schizophrenic' decision of taking the latest Batman movie too literally, but I realize that some steps, as a close friend of mine put it, at times can be necessary to 'protect the innocent' and at times that includes me as well so a fresh start is something that does seem to be a long time in coming and I wonder sometimes if perhaps the director himself was also a Christian and the one who left the 'COMMENTary' on my own commentary of the second film.....

Friday, August 10, 2012

i-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0963178/: The International

A lot has been going on with my life lately and I think there's something to be 'absorbed' in what one of my former University fellowship counselors once told me about being unemployed that during those times you have more time to 'learn about yourself'.  Though now, having being also transformed by my experiences with The Meeting House, I also think that we can still 'get over ourselves' [see the series "Get Over Yourself" in the archives] and use the unorganized time slots to reserve more time for God to continue to mold, transform and use us.  Just like a friend I met some months agO put it, God can give us the water in Jeremiah 18, but we still have to make ourselves available and susceptible to being molded by God. 

Because this is meant to serve as a 'surface' blog and I also have other matters to attend to prior to tomorrow, I want to close off by briefly summarizing that I've been having a very interesting and challenging summer and I want to continue to rely on God as I put the gas back on the book writing I am doing in addition to trying to do more reading to possibly return to school again part/full time and I also continue to pray that God will use me and my relationships to transform both myself and others much more into his likeness, because 'in the end...that's all the really matters....'

Thursday, August 09, 2012

iNN: The Y!





We rode into town the other day
Just me and my daddy
he said I'd finally reached that age
And I could ride next to him on a horse 








That of course was not quite as wide 

We heard a crowd of people shouting
And so we stopped to find out whY,,,
And there was that man....
That my dad said he loved 


But today there was fear in his eyes (and he turned over to Buddhism...)

So I said "dAddy, why are they screaming?
Why are the faces of some of them beaming?
Why is He dressed in that bright purple robe?

I'll bet that crown hurts Him more than He shows....

dAddy, please can't you do something?
He looks as though he's gonna cry
you said he was stronger than all of those guys
dAddy, please tell me why...


Why does everyone want Him to die?".......



Later that day the sky grew cloudy
And Daddy said I should go inside
Somehow he knew... things would get stormy
Boy was he right....






But I could not keep from wondering...If there was something he had to hide...
..So after he left I had to find out...I was not afraid of getting lost
So I followed the crowds...To a hill where I knew men had been killed...


 And I heard a voice come from the cross
And it said, "Father, why are they screaming?
WhY are the faces of some of them beaming?
WhY are they casting their lots for My robe?
This crown of thorns hurts Me more than it shows
Father, please can't You do something?
I know that You must hear My crY
I thought I could handle the cross of this size
Father, remind Me whY
Why does everyone want Me to die?
When will I understand whY?"


"My precious Son, I hear them screaming
I'm watching the face of the enemIES beaming
But soon I will clothe You in robes of My own
Jesus, this hurts Me much more than You know
But this dark hour I must do nothing
Though I've heard Your unbearable crY
The power in mY blood destroys all of the lies 


Soon You'll see past their unmerciful eYES
Look there below, see the child
Trembling by her father's side
Now I can tell You whY
he is why You must die"


Because I could never maintain my composure during this part JM.....

"Thank you..." :D 


"Why are you so excited about the (Cineplex) being located on Sydney road?" [Mystery Girl]

"OH you have no idea..." [Shakespeare] 

--------------------------

 What's important in all this is that if you keep a holy day, keep it for God's sake; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you're a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli. None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It's God we are answerable to—all the way from life to death and everything in between—not each other. That's why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other.
 So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother? And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister? I'd say it leaves you looking pretty silly—or worse. Eventually, we're all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. Your critical and condescending ways aren't going to improve your position there one bit. Read it for yourself in Scripture:

   "As I live and breathe," God says,
      "every knee will bow before me;
   Every tongue will tell the honest truth
      that I and only I am God."
So tend to your knitting. You've got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God.

[Eugene Peterson]

...the next generation

Not sure who invented it, but presently, it has been a number of years ago now that I have heard someone express that "a generation is ...