“You can hold back from the suffering of the world. But this very holding back is the one suffering that you could have avoided.”

Franz Kafka

The Joy of Losing

I’m always amazed at Christians who cheat on obedience. I’ve come to believe that those who think they can pick and choose which instructions to obey are those who never really lived a “bad” life. They grew up in a pretty decent home and they’ve lived a pretty decent life. They don’t know how desperately dangerous it is to disobey.

I’ve never been part of that group.

I know what spiritual death looks like

I remember thinking, “I didn't reach the bottom but I could see it clearly from where I stood.”

Those of us who have lived far from God know just how desperately we need, we literally need Jesus for our survival.

For me to live is Christ. He is the object of my deepest dedication, my most devoted love. To live for Jesus is the whole of my life, its source, its sustenance, its everything. All else (my love for my wife and children, my dedication to any work that I’m doing, my compassion for those less fortunate etc.) flows from that source.

If anything good has come out of the first thirty years of my life, if there is any joy to come from being such a God rejecting loser, it’s that I’ve seen my desperate need for Jesus in every area. There is no area of my life where obedience is optional. Where ever I justify disobedience, I suffer and so do those who are in contact with me. 
Change me Lord and make me whole again.

“Many people do not like the idea that time has a beginning, probably because it smacks of divine intervention.”

Stephen Hawking

From The Woman Atheist Leaders Hate

As one atheist said just today, “All religions are for weak, morally retarded losers who need to be told what to believe.”

Well, here is what one morally retarded weak loser said and lived.

“People are often unreasonable and self-centred.

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.

Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you.

Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous.

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough.

Do your best anyway.

For you see in the end it is between you and God.

It was never between you and them anyway.”

Mother Theresa of Calcutta

You know how atheists almost never venture outside of the Old Testament lest they run into teachings of Jesus that convict them of wrong? And you know how atheists accuse Christians of cherry-picking verses to make our case? Do you think atheists ever do the same thing? Like, have you ever seen them ranting about this?

Leviticus 19: 32-34 - Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD. When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself. I am the LORD your God.

This is what drives atheists crazy

“All this bastard has to do is say, "Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name I repent of my sins and open my heart to let Jesus come inside of me. I come before you to say that I’m guilty. I admit to you that I’ve done horrible things to many people. Jesus, You are my Lord and Savior and even though I’m a degenerate scum, I believe you died for my sins and you were raised from the dead. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Thank You Father for saving me in Jesus' name. Amen.” See. Anybody gets to go to heaven. You accept Jesus as your personal lord and savior and whatever you’ve done, it no longer matters. Ignoring that you might have even killed a child? NOT IMPORTANT. Because according to the New Testament, all you have to do is ask for forgiveness and BAMMO. Get out of hell free card. Fuck That!"

This was written by an atheist woman who was judging someone who she was certain was a worse human than she. Without knowing what they're asking for, atheists demand justice - for those who they think are worse - which is pretty much everyone. But that's not their biggest mistake. 

When atheists say, “it no longer matters [what you’ve done],” why are they wrong? How are they wrong?

Atheists fail to comprehend that what you’ve done, no more than that, who you are matters so much that it cost Jesus His very life to cover the cost of your sins and to repair the damage of your sinful nature.

Because they don’t get that, the concept of grace is an abomination to the atheist mind. They seem unable to think far enough ahead to a time when more than anything else in the world, they will cry out for grace, but it will be too late. 

The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it's comprehensible.

Einstein

Just Let Go!

Lot’s of people, even some who call themselves Christians think that if things are going well, then God must love them and if life is filled with sorrow and loss, then God must be angry.

What childishness!

God IS love. Jesus coming to earth to die for you proves it.

Our circumstances say nothing about your right standing with Him. He is the source of life for you and everyone else. It is His job to transform you into someone who resembles Jesus, and reality is, that transformation only comes under intense trial and tribulation.

Atheists of course want nothing to do with transformation. They want, no, they demand ease of life each day and every day and if it's not forthcoming they use that as an excuse to reject their Creator.

Forget them.

Just let go.

Let Him take you where you need to go and let Him change you as you need to grow. Let Him take the suffering that comes naturally with our time on earth and let Him defeat the evil inherent within that suffering. Creator God can be trusted absolutely. He will never do you wrong.

Just let go!

DNA DAY

"We have to keep reminding ourselves that what we're seeing was not designed."
Francis Crick

Reality Is For People Who Can't Handle Drugs

I once had an atheist accuse me of making my decisions based upon emotion. Honestly, I don't even know what he was talking about but I can tell you that ever since Descartes, atheists have seen emotions as inferior to reason. Only reason, the say, is a reliable guide to truth. Therefore the meaning behind emotions is ignored and that ignoring is seen as a personal strength. Well, I'd say that the results suggest otherwise.

One in four adults in America seek professional help for anxiety. One in six seek help for depression. Seeking escape from our fear and grief and sadness is practically a full-time job in North America. Whether it's sports or mood altering chemicals, or work or relationships, mistaking those things that distract us from life for life itself is ubiquitous in the West. We're obsessed with the lives of celebrities. Tens of millions of supposedly reason-based people watch the most mind numbing crap on television. We join the newest diets and buy the newest gadgets as soon as they hit the stores. We believe the sales pitch that introduces us to a new fear or need that can only be resolved, says the pitch, by buying their product. We'll go after anything that helps us deny that the existence of sorrow and fear and grief are normal parts of life. Being “happy” every hour of every day has become an expectation.

The problem is, distracting ourselves from difficult emotions and/or situations allows those difficulties to grow and metastasize into other areas and relationships. We in the West actually see the development of ignoring our strong emotions as a “skill.” This causes us to treat the symptoms and ignore the root problems.

Christianity, on the other hand goes right to the root of our issues. Jesus was known as a “man of sorrows, well acquainted with grief and suffering.” Jesus did not avoid the hardships of life. He stepped into the middle of reality and then He said, “Follow Me, be like Me, do in your relationships what I did in My relationships.”

That of course is what atheists hate. In fact they rail against God for allowing difficulties, pain and suffering in the world. Rather than pretending to deal with pain like a stoic, Jesus shows us how to endure pain without denying its existence, to transcend suffering without pretending it isn't awful, to escape loss without resorting to addictions.

Atheist David Silverman and Sex

David Silverman is of course a hard-core atheist relativist. No concept of objective morality enters his life. Or so he claims. He may be right. Here's an example. What do you think?

Let's say David had spent the morning making sure that some cheerleaders at a small rural school stopped praying to God. This kind of thing really gets atheists jacked up and David was ready to go at them all day long. In fact David had told his wife that he wouldn't be home till late. Surprisingly the young girls were easily intimidated and said they'd quit praying as of that moment. David gave a shrug of success and headed home – early.

He came in the front door of his home and was about to say, “Honey, I'm home,” when he heard some noises from upstairs. It sounded like his wife was in physical trouble. She was moaning, and gasping for breath. He ran up the stairs, two at a time. When David got to the bedroom door there was his wife humping their best friend. The noises she was making were not from physical distress but from extreme pleasure.

“What the hell are you doing?” screamed Silverman.

Panting and turning to look back over her shoulder, David's wife said, “What am I doing? What does it look like I'm doing?” She gave a grin at her bedroom partner and shuddered with remembered pleasure.

“Get out” Silverman yelled at their so-called friend. “If I ever catch you with my wife again I'll kill you!”

“What is wrong with you?” David's wife asks. “We're having some fun. Besides, what are you doing coming home in the middle of the afternoon?”

Ignoring her question, David fumed, “This is so not okay.”

“According to who?”

“According to me, you stupid bitch. Not only are you screwing around with who knows how many men, but you lied to me. When we got married you told me that being faithful was important to you.”

“It was. I guess I changed my mind.”

Silverman reiterated, “You lied to me. How can I ever trust you again?”

“Looks like you can't, I guess. You're not going to tell me that's wrong, are you?”

“It is wrong. Screwing around on your partner is wrong!”

“According to who?”

“According to me. How dense can you be?”

“Well, according to me, it isn't wrong. What makes your opinion any better than my opinion?”

“Society says it's wrong.”

“What society? Lot's of people have open marriages. I guess I belong to a group that thinks it okay to explore my sexuality when I want, where I want and with whomever I want. Have you ever considered that maybe it's your prudish morality that's wrong? Listen to Greta Xtina. She'd agree with me. And your friend Dawkins says that it's abusive to expect husbands and wives to remain monogamous. And isn't it you who says that nothing is right or wrong? Just a couple days ago in Boston you said, “Sometimes life sucks. We need to accept that and support each other when it happens.” Isn't that exactly what you said to those at the atheist memorial service? Sometimes life sucks and I guess that for you, this is one of those times. Relax David. Hey, I could use one more orgasm. You up for it?”

=====

Do you think that's how the hard-core relativist David Silverman would handle this situation? Or does he, like all other atheists, say morality is relative but actually live as though it's objective? 

The existence of evil is an argument for the existence of God. For objective evil presupposes objective good and objective good requires God.

Way Beyond What's Necessary

So I'm sitting in my kitchen working on a solution to Bernoulli's Brachistrochrome Problem, and I look out the window. I've been told that because of the harsh and ever changing Continental Weather Patterns, living in Saskatchewan develops character. Well I have to tell you, this weather has gone way beyond character-building.

It's almost the end of April and there is still .5 metre of snow in the backyard. This morning the temperature was 26 degrees below the seasonal norm. We've had seven months of snow and my character is deteriorating fast.

And just to make sure I tip over the edge, I've got 5 little kids practising the “Cup Song” at the table behind me.

“We have all heard people say a hundred times over, for they seem never to tire of saying it, that the Jesus of the New Testament is indeed a most merciful and humane lover of humanity, but that the Church has hidden this human character in repellent dogmas and stiffened it with ecclesiastical terrors till it has taken on an inhuman character. This is, I venture to repeat, very nearly the reverse of the truth. The truth is that it is the image of Christ in the Churches that is almost entirely mild and merciful.”

G. K. Chesterton

Look Before You Leap

Have you ever been in a building or room that’s new to you; without any good source of light? I remember as a child I was visiting my cousin on his farm. We were playing in the upper floor or loft of the barn. It was pretty much full of hay bales but enough of them were spread around that it was perfect for chasing each other around. With evening approaching and the lights turned off it was perfect for generating just a little bit of fear. I was running across the floor and jumped over a couple bales, thinking that I would hide behind them. Instead, my feet hit nothing but air and within a second I found myself lying in a manger - on the main floor. I’d gone completely through a hole in the floor that had been put there to push hay down to animals below. The hole, barely bigger than the width of my body, could have inflicted some pretty good bruises had I hit the sides. I never touched a thing. I went straight down into some soft hay and was now looking straight into the eyes of a big black Angus bull. He looked back at me like humans falling out of the sky happened quite regularly. I scrambled to my feet, climbed out of the stall and made a mental note to never jump into the unknown again.

Life is like that. We are strangers on earth, foreigners not knowing which customs are important, which are vulgar or dangerous. That is why the light of the Gospel is so precious. It presents and unfailing guide for any and every situation. In the light of Jesus' purity, the true and dangerous nature of sin is laid out for us to see clearly.

As the saying goes - I know the Sun exists, not because I can see it, but because of the Son, I can see everything else clearly. 

What Would An Atheist Say?

After the recent bombing in Boston, there was a huge outpouring of insult and anger from atheists over the interfaith service.

Atheists (those who mock and ridicule faith and treat with disdain, derision and contempt those who live by faith in Creator God) felt terribly offended that they weren't invited to speak at this interfaith service.

In fact, atheists who posted their thoughts were certain that they would find no comfort at such an event and so, in a huge pout they refused to attend.

And so I wonder, if there had been an atheist memorial service, if there had been a purely secular event, what words of comfort would an atheist say? What words of comfort would an atheist say that wouldn't have been said at the interfaith service?

What words of hope?

What words of assurance?

What words of life would an atheist say at a time of tragic death? I mean, besides the usual, “God is evil. God is a monster for causing such an awful thing to happen. Christians are idiots for praying at a time like this."

At such a gathering of the proud and godless, I would anticipate the same old saprogenic crap that one encounters every day on atheist blogs.

Of Pencils and Catheters

I've had several major surgeries over the last few decades. Five to be exact. In four of them I've awakened with a catheter already inserted. On one occasion however, and for the life of me I can't remember for which surgery it was, the catheter was inserted prior to the operation.

It was done in a teaching hospital.

If that doesn't mean anything to you, thank whom or whatever it is to which you attribute your salubrious and arbitrary good fortune.

The bed upon which I'm lying is wheeled into a small ice cold room where I'm forced to stare at a row of cupboards, tan in colour, in silence for 15 minutes. The doctor arrives through a door behind me and with him, I can hear, are several medical students, probably nurses although I can't be certain. They gather round and greet me with such cheer and wide smiles I think that perhaps they've also discovered that I have terminal cancer and are hoping I won't find out until after they've left.

Upon realizing that all of the students are female, my eyebrows, synclinal with despair, never left that furrowed position throughout the ordeal. My heart sinks as quickly as my respiratory rate rises. All of the nurses could become cosmetic and/or bathing suit models if their medical career goes south. Pathetic or not, I want beautiful women to think highly of me. I prepare to be utterly and completely mortified.

The doctor invites his students to join the colloquium now being held between my legs, feet in stirrups. Picture the doctor, head sighted perfectly on a line from the tip of my nose and belly button, with eight other heads gathered round, some only 20 centimetres from my rectum.

Did I wipe good enough?

Do I smell?

Yes, yes, I know. Women giving birth go through this all the time. The thing is, women were MADE to be able to handle this kind of stuff. Men are different! 
Please smile. It was said as a joke.

The doctor grabs hold of my penis and pulls. And pulls. And pulls until I'm certain that what these women are looking at resembles a brand new Dixon #2B pencil.

“O Lord Jesus, could you not just let me die right now?”

Did I say that out loud?

They don't care.

They have something far more amusing to look at.

I try to believe they only want to learn.

I don't even remember the insertion of the foreign object. 
Where is that “Men in Black” memory eraser thing when you need it most?

ALBERT CAMUS (French atheist writer)

“In 1940, Camus married again. His second wife was Francine Faure. Although never divorced, Francine suffered immensely from Albert’s persistent and public infidelities.”

“Camus bought a handsome stone farm house for his family in Province. (Mr, Camus’ young Danish mistress often stayed at the farm house nearby.”

“Camus neither believed in God nor accepted the specific morality of Christianity. He liked to think of himself as instinctively pagan, a man in love with the tangible pleasures of this earth rather than the blessings of Heaven.”

Kamber, R., On Camus. Belmont, California: Wadworth Philosophers Series, 2001, 3, 5, 7

Just ask the children of adulterous parents how much fun it is to have the adults in their lives set aside Biblical morality.

Atheists and Chronological Snobbery

“Bronze-age Camel Herders.”

Ever hear that term?

If you have, you'll have heard it in reference to atheists and their sardonic ideas about people who wrote the Bible.

Atheists actually believe that we are not only more intelligent than those who lived several thousand years ago, they think that we're more morally advanced. In my opinion, one must be totally out of touch with reality to be able to hold those beliefs.

Those among us who display chronological snobbery actually believe that newness is automatically a virtue and that oldness is a vice. These people believe that there is a “Best Before Date” on truth. They fail to notice that truth and beauty and goodness are not determined by time. They fail to notice that ideas are not inferior just because they are “old” nor are ideas valuable just because they are modern.

Richard Dawkins says, “it's a sign of historical puerility to see the writings of one century through the politically tinted glasses of another.” Yet this is exactly how Dawkins reads both the Old and New Testaments. Sadly so too do those who follow the example of their High Priest. 

"The life growing in a woman is just a useless blob of cells."

Fiery, Atheist home schooler. 

Atheists and Sadness

My view of humanity is dropping like a rock. All things being equal, I've only got 10 to 15 years left on this planet and my despair over how stupid we are is peaking way too early.

Last week I saw an atheist blog where the author proudly asked, “Has any Christian ever asked why the names of the New Testament writers are Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul and so on?” This atheist thought that he had stumbled on a sure fire case of Bible tampering because he saw names that sounded “nothing like Middle Eastern names.”

I had to quickly click to a different blog because reading that made my sadness plummet even further. I think I felt a tear run down my cheek.

I suppose I should have returned to point out, “Did you notice that none of the other words in your Bible are in Greek either? You see, you're reading an English translation of documents originally written in Greek. Therefore you're reading names that are English derivatives of Greek names which may have also come from Hebrew or Aramaic names.”
Matthew - Levi
Mark - Markus
Luke - Lukas
John - Ioannes
Paul -  Paulus
and for what it's worth
Jesus - Yeshua

I couldn't go back. Sometimes atheist bloggers just break my heart for the condition of humanity.

Now, don't get me wrong. Christians, including me have said really stupid things as well. But as every atheist knows, we Christians are stupid. It's expected of us. Why even Richard Dawkins has stated, “Thinking is anathema to Christians.”

It's Brights who love to show off their Beautiful Minds, just like Justin Bieber likes to stroll half naked through airports to show off his beautiful body.

Oh . . . 

“ To live for his own sake means that the achievement of his own happiness is man’s highest moral purpose.”

Rand, Ayn, The Virtue of Selfishness. New York: Signet Books, 1964, 27.

Ya, that’s what the world needs is more selfishness.

When Atheists Attack

Have you ever notice how atheists almost always miss the big picture? 

Perhaps they can't help it. 

After all, no one reads the Bible as literally as do atheists. 

It's like they're completely unaware that different genres of writing exist, and what's more they exist within the covers of the Bible. As well, atheists seem oblivious to the fact  that different authors have the right to emphasize different aspects of an event. Because of this, atheists will do things like endlessly argue whether there was one angel or two angels at the tomb of Jesus. Were their two women or more than two women at the tomb of Jesus? Are these accidental contradictions or are they deliberate fabrications? Never once realizing that all the accounts are correct, for centuries atheists have been arguing over these details, and all the while missing the big picture –

The tomb was empty

The grave clothes lay there like an empty cocoon

Jesus had risen from the dead!

Or atheists will roll on the floor laughing at the absurdity of a talking snake. And they'll mock and ridicule those of us who hold to the Christian paradigm of original sin. Now, I don't know what the account in Genesis means. Is it literally true? Is it metaphor? An allegory? What I do know is this. Atheists have once again missed the big picture. Every single one of us who have ever lived or ever will live are fundamentally flawed with a sin nature that produces a corrupt self-love that is destroying us and our planet. So corrupt are we that those who deny the Christian paradigm actually believe they are good people.

When atheists attack, just let it go. They don't know any better. They're drowning in details and are hobbled by the paralysis of analysis and there is nothing that you or I can do about it. 

"To my surprise, it turned out that members of more fundamentalist faiths experienced greater hope, were more optimistic when faced with adversity, and were less likely to be depressed than their counterparts. Indeed, the people most susceptible to pessimism and depression were the Unitarians, especially those who were atheists. The presence of so many rules didn’t debilitate people; instead, it seemed to empower them. Many of their choices were taken away, and yet they experienced a sense of control over their lives. This study was an eye-opener: Restrictions do not necessarily diminish a sense of control, and freedom to think and do as you please does not necessarily increase it."

Dr. Sheena Iyengar, professor at Columbia University

It seem to sadden and enrage atheists to leave organised religion because it told them what to do, only to enter organised atheism and have A+ tell them what to do. 

The Atheist's Extreme Fail

For some reason, and I'm not sure why, those who consider themselves to be the most logical and rational among us never seem to say, “I'm an atheist because there is evidence that this is a material universe only.”

It's always, “I'm an atheist because I don't believe what those other people believe.”

This is odd coming from those who say they never believe anything unless it's been scientifically proven. Perhaps that's why atheists have repeatedly revised the definition of the term, atheist. It's gone from:

“God does not exist, TO

God probably doesn't exist, TO

I don't believe in God, TO

I'm a non believer in gods.”

Atheists have chosen this last definition because a “non belief” doesn't require evidence. Materialists think that this gets them off the hook for holding a belief that does require supporting evidence. You see, atheists may fancy themselves as someone who is just a non believer in gods, but they DO believe this is a material universe only. And since that's what they DO believe, wouldn't you think, as logical, rational people, they'd want some evidence for that?

If they really were logical and rational, those who claim to be scientifically based thinkers would instead be saying something like:

. I don't believe that material things can begin to exist without an external cause because this has never been observed, tested or verified.

. I don't believe that everything material can come from literally nothing material without a material cause, because this has never been observed, tested or verified.

. I don't believe that an infinite regress of cause is tenable, because this has been scientifically refuted.

. I don't believe that the material infinite is tenable, because this has been scientifically refuted.

. I'm not going to change the definition of nothing to mean there was actually something because this is a ludicrous, absurd, illogical and an irrationally desperate thing to do.

BUT give me one example of these things occurring and I'll start believing that this is a material universe only, i.e. I'll start being an atheist.

Until then, I must believe that a Creator of some sort is the most logical explanation of why there is something rather than nothing. In fact until the above scientific facts are overturned, I'll accept that the existence of a mathematically precise, life supporting, moral universe is best explained by the existence of an immaterial Creator."

For some reason, and I'm not sure why, those who consider themselves to be the most logical and rational among us expend great amounts of time and energy explaining that they don't believe in an immaterial God because there is no material evidence for Him, other than the existence of, you know, everything.

My question to the atheist is, “Why do you care what other people believe?” Why do you spend so much time trying to take apart the beliefs that other people possess in an entity you “never even think about?” Wouldn't you be far better off trying to find scientific evidence to support what you do believe, rather than ignoring the science that refutes your beliefs?

"Both Theist and atheist physicists are in agreement on a few key points. Notably, because matter, space, time, and energy are properties of the universe, they cannot be the cause of the universe. Therefore, whatever the cause of the universe is, it must be immaterial, spaceless, timeless, and energy-less. But God and nothing are just that – immaterial, spaceless, timeless and energy-less.

However, since science is not and never will be capable of examining things of an immaterial, spaceless, timeless and energy-less nature, deciding whether God or nothing is the best candidate for the cause of these can, ultimately, only done philosophically. So we must decide whether an eternally existent consciousness (God), or nothing is the best candidate for having creative properties. And unless one is an ideologically driven atheist, the choice is clear. How and why the majority of the most important contributors to modern physics have concluded that God is the best explanation. Theism is the view which is by far most compatible with modern physics and what we know re: cause and effect." 

The Beauty of Gratitude

On an episode of “The Office” the boss, Michael said, I think to Dwight, “Money cannot buy happiness. Do you know what the source of happiness is? Joy.”

I know, it’s “Far Side” cartoon level humour but it got a laugh out of me. What’s that got to do with this post. Mmm, like much of what I write, this post includes a large dose of non sequitur comments, but here it is, When we are not able to express gratitude for all of our past and even our present, it removes from us the ability to be completely hopeful about the what’s coming at us from the future.

Because I can see how God has worked in every aspect of my past, especially in the most difficult portions of my past, I actually look with anticipation to see what He will do in me as future difficulties unfold. Because I am grateful for past difficulties, future difficulties hold only promise of maturity and growth. God is so very good to me.

In every atheist there is a Salieri to our Mozart as God’s chosen people. As Salieri said to God (in the movie), “From now on we are enemies, you and I. Because You choose for Your instrument a boastful, lustful, smutty, infantile boy (isn’t that exactly how atheists view Christians?) . . . You are unjust, unfair, unkind (isn’t that exactly how atheist view Creator God?)! I will block You. I swear it. I will hinder and harm Your creature here on earth as far as I am able. I will ruin Your incarnation.

I Don't Like “tits”

I had a friend, Ziffle. Atheist to the core. A lot of fun.  I share the following reminiscence.

We're at a party. Standing room only with not only the house but both front an back yards full of people coming and going. Cars lined up down the block and around the corners in both directions. For some reason several members of the University football team are in attendance.
Big Boys.

Really big boys.

I'm in the living room grinning with disbelief as a good looking female seems genuinely enthralled with my bass air guitar. Brian H. sitting on the couch at 12:00, throws his head back in laughter at the sight. I smile back thinking, “I can't help it if I'm lucky.” One of the football players, across the room to my right at 3:00 has taken his shirt off to show a gorgeous girl why he was the right pick for Defensive End. The music was loud, but the sound of a kitchen table with chrome legs sliding, a thump on the floor and a kind of “Whoa” and “Ooo and Ahh” going up from the crowd in the kitchen grabbed my attention. My mood instantly turned supercilious toward any girl who would be enthralled by someone stupid enough to do an air guitar at a party. Spinning on my heal, almost nauseous at the image of me playing an air guitar, I made my way to the kitchen.

There, on the floor was a girl, passed out drunk, flat on her back. The chair she'd been sitting on was being reset, red plastic seat up, legs down. You would be wrong if you thought that the people staring down at the floor were looking only at the passed out girl. For straddling this girl, on his knees, was my friend Ziffle. He'd hiked up her T-shirt (this was in the days when no self-respecting feminist would wear a bra) and – wait for it – he has an ice-cube in each hand and he's rubbing each cube around the tip of each breast – i.e. Nipple. Left hand clockwise. Right hand counter clockwise. More or less in unison. Ziffle's look is one of intense concentration.

Now, if you think this is similar to modern day sexual assaults that make the News every few months, you would be wrong.

First of all there are no cell phones > no pictures. No one is laughing or making fun. Although if I remember correctly there are some smiles and a “get a load of this,” type remark here and there. The reason for this is,

Second, Ziffle is practising medicine.

I'm serious!

This had nothing to do with sex. Well, it only has a little bit to do with sex. Ziffle had read somewhere that rubbing ice cubes on the bosom (or bosoms if you like) of a female who'd been rendered unconscious by copious amounts of alcohol would bring her back to a counscious awareness of people staring at her lying on a floor or sidewalk or some such more or less flat area. “It might even save her life!” says Ziffle to the crowd. “No shit. I read about it.”

It was at about this point where the shirtless and utterly malefic football player shouted, “What are you doing to my girlfriend's tits?”

I've never liked that word. It sounds crude, even rude. Bosom, breasts, chest, on occasion maybe even boobs or knockers. They're all fine. But not – well – you know. Not that one. I don't like the sound of it and I don't think much of those who use it.

After a terrific amount of violence within a remarkably short period of time, we were driving Ziffle to the hospital to mend what looked like, but as it turned out was not a broken jaw or fractured cheek bones. All the way to Emergency he openly grieved his inability to see the profitable results of his medical intervention.
His glasses were never recovered.

Ziffle is now a Social Worker. A Christian. Married with grown children.

Ain't life strange?

”When it comes to the origin of life, we have only two possibilities as to how life arose. One is spontaneous generation arising to evolution; the other is a supernatural creative act of God. There is no third possibility. Spontaneous generation was scientifically disproved one hundred years ago by Louis Pasteur, Spellanzani, Reddy and others. That leads us scientifically to only one possible conclusion — that life arose as a supernatural creative act of God. I will not accept that philosophically because I do not want to believe in God. Therefore, I choose to believe in that which I know is scientifically impossible, spontaneous generation arising to evolution.” 

George Wald, in the Scientific American

Do You Know Me?

I wish that was a constant in my life. Oh, sure, God has brought me a long way, but I want more and more. I want to love more consistently, care more intensely, help more practically, forgive always in thought, word, and deed. 

I want humility and gentleness - everything that never used to be me.

I want to reach through the thin places more consistently to experience Jesus more intimately and purposefully. I want to “grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour.” I want to attain the blessings that come with obedience. I want the joy that comes from knowing and being known by Him.

I’m afraid that if you don’t long to know Jesus more, it says that you probably don’t know Him at all. 

A Devoted Life

A devoted friend draws out a life that is devoted to increasing communication.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Colossians 4:2.

It’s incredible just how much of the Bible is dedicated to describing prayer; either written copies, or prayers said, or talking about the principle of prayer.

I remember a Pastor saying something like, “If something is mentioned in the Bible once, pay attention. If it’s mentioned twice or more, pay close attention.” Communion with our Creator is very important to our emotional and spiritual well-being. If prayer plays a large role in the Bible, it needs to be a large role in our lives as well.

Pray always.

That’s a command from Paul, someone who knew that to walk with God is to talk with God. The longer I walk with God the more important I realize my prayer life to be. Thank you Father for revealing yourself to us through Creation, through Your Word, through Your Spirit. 

Sandy Hook is Small Time

You think Sandy Hook was the deadliest school shooting? 

Mmm, nope. 

In 1890 the U.S. Army shot and killed 290 First Nations people while they attended school. 200 of those students were women.

For what it's worth, they'd given up their guns under the promise of safety.

“O Lord, deliver me from the lust of always vindicating myself.” 

Jesus never vindicates Himself, He deliberately stands aside and lets all sorts of slander heap on Him. 

St. Augustine 

Hoist the Mainsail

“I can only spread the sail;

You Jesus must breath the wind”

I wonder how often God has sent the breeze but I’ve not had my sail raised.

Ah, let me live each and every day ready for action. Let me begin by asking God for direction, strong in faith, constant in prayer, diligent in seeking His will to sail more closely with Jesus.

Thank you Lord for keeping me spiritually safe.

This Is Not A Joke

(CNN) – Republican leaders in Congress received a dire warning on Tuesday from former Vice President Dick Cheney on the ongoing crisis in North Korea.

One lawmaker present at the session, Rep. Steve Southerland of Florida, said Cheney wore a cowboy hat and "spoke really clearly, lucidly.”

“We’re in deep doo doo,” Cheney told lawmakers, according to a GOP leadership aide. “We just need to make sure that we don't assume why he's doing what he's doing because he could be doing what he's doing for any number of reasons.”

"Imagine a man seeing hell without at the same time perceiving salvation through Jesus - his reasoning must begin to wobble. 

Pseudo-evangelism makes and enormous blunder when it insists on conviction of sins as the first step to Jesus. When we have come to the place of seeing Jesus, then He can trust us with the facing of our sin."

Invincible

Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever wanted to feel like that? Is it something only for superheros in movies? For teenagers? For someone on cocaine? Listen to this!

“So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without His unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2^nd Corinthians 4:16-18

The “Message” says, “We’re not giving up.” The NIV translation says, “So we do not lose hope.” Paul is saying and I’ve found that what he says is true, that there is a way to encounter life that literally makes us invincible, impervious to the attacks of life. It doesn’t mean that we don’t take some hits, that we don’t become wounded. What it means is that we cannot be beaten. Resilience is ours to be had. This ability is not built on wealth or power or looks. It is built - wait for it - on what cannot be seen. Victory is assured by fixing out spiritual eyes on what cannot be detected with our senses.

Do I hear groans? So what do you want, victory or something that agrees with your philosophy? Do you want victory over life or popularity?

Do you want to be able to love extravagantly or do you want to bail when the going gets tough?

What kind of person would choose to ignore and reject that kind of gift?

“Belief that you are accepted by God by sheer grace is profoundly humbling. The people who are fanatics, then, are not so because they are too committed to the Gospel, but because they are not committed enough. Think of the people you consider fanatical. They’re overbearing, self-righteous, opinionated, insensitive, and harsh. Why? It’s not because they are too Christian but because they are not Christian enough. They are fanatically zealous and courageous, but they are not fanatically humble, sensitive, loving, empathetic, forgiving, or understanding - as Jesus was. What strikes us as overly fanatical is actually a failure to be fully committed to Jesus and His Gospel.”
Tim Keller

That's True – Bob True

Unlike myself, who most people would describe as borderline incompetent in most everything I try to accomplish, my old friend Bob True succeeds where most have failed. This is nowhere demonstrated more clearly than when Bob tried to “surprise” the Dean of Boy's Dorm #3 at the school where both Bob and I did time.  

The story goes like this.

Our Dean, a spaghetti thin, limp-wristed, squeaky voiced Christian shared a place in the hearts of both Bob and me that was dark and dangerous. While we could not specifically name the crimes that this man had committed, we both agreed that he was vile and deserving of the worst that two grade ten boys could conceive. And so (this was all Bob's idea) an extension cord was purchased at the local “Home Hardware.” The female end (of the extension cord) was snipped, and wires were bared. Sinister smiles were exchanged as we both anticipated . . . well, we didn't exactly know what to anticipate but we were certain the results would be spectacular.

Every night the Dean of Boy's Dorm #3 did room checks. He especially did room checks on the rooms of we who had gradually throughout the year been moved from other floors down to the first floor where he, the Dean, wouldn't have to race, leaping two or three stairs at a time, in order to catch whomever it was causing at ruckus after lights out.

The wires were carefully screwed into the locking mechanism on the door. Bob, who normally slept on the top bunk, crouched by the plug-in. He said not to worry, he could jump into bed before numb-nuts makes it through the door, IF he even made it through the door.

Without any attempt to keep from waking us up (See! that's one of the crimes that ignited our hatred), the key was shoved into the lock. The extension cord was shoved into the outlet.

A shower of sparks.

A piercing scream.

All went black.

I mean, the whole dorm went black. Moaning could be heard from the other side of the door. Was that the smell of smoke and burnt human hair that wafted under the door?

You may not believe this, but I swear it's the truth. Nothing happened. Nothing happened! No pounding on the door. Certainly no attempt at re entry via the locking mechanism. No calls to parents. No trips to the Principal's Office. When, the next day, the Dean appeared with a severely wrapped arm, ticked off names as students entered the dining hall for breakfast, not even eye contact was made. Or so I'm told, because none was made on my part either.

It would seem that only sheer luck, and the immediate blowing of the breaker kept a profoundly stupid act (It was all Bob's idea) from turning into an event that would have gotten me kicked out of school a whole year sooner than when it actually happened.

And the Dean? He retired that summer. He was never really cut out for a job like that. I heard he was teaching swimming lessons at a Bible camp somewhere in Manitoba. 

You know how atheists rarely venture outside of the Old Testament lest they run into teachings of Jesus that convict them of a deep need for forgiveness? And you know how atheists accuse Christians of cherry-picking verses to make our case? Do you think atheists ever do the same thing?  Do you think you will ever see or hear an atheist ranting about this?

Leviticus 19:10 - Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.

Immense riches are seldom possessed by leaders of countries or corporations without the oppression of their citizens, employees or investors. Immense riches are seldom gained without the willingness to rape and plunder the earth. Unlike their neighbours, and unlike our modern industrial societies, people in ancient Israel (those who atheists call dim-witted bronze-age goat herders) were to make sure they did nothing to take advantage of each other.

Peace, Mercy and Justice were then and are today to be the hallmark of God's people.