Autobiographical, General Principles, Law & Grace

Tainted Windows

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Yesterday my teenage daughter came to me and said she was bored and needed money and could I pay her for washing the windows of our house? I explained to her that I could get a professional window cleaner to do the whole house inside and out including the conservatory for less than €50. I also explained that it was not a simple job and that it would take her several hours just to do the downstairs windows inside and out to the standard a professional would do. But she insisted and we agreed on a price and I helped her out with some tips. Only I forgot one and that was to ensure that the cloth she used for buffing was clean – or use newspapers which also works.

So she got through a lot of windows. At the back of the house is our conservatory which is mainly glass. The sun sets on that side and here in these northern climes we get long evenings of low sun. Having spent 2-3 hours cleaning windows the sun began to reveal things as it does when shining low into windows in the early morning or late evening. Every smear mark, every missed part of every window was shown up.  Needless to say she was quite discouraged.

However in the morning I came down to the conservatory. It was a bright morning but the sun was on the other side of the house. No joke, you couldn’t see any of the smears without looking very closely. All the windows looked clean!

Yesterday I also was listening to a man giving a TED talk. He had done more good in his life for more people than many a Christian man. He claimed to be a humanist and gay and had helped raise millions for charity. By some light he seemed a good man. But still I wonder, if the Son shines His gaze on his life, will it look as well as in the duller light of our understanding of good?

Isaiah said all our good works look like dirty underwear in His sight. (Isaiah 64:6)

I think I’ll trust in Jesus for my righteousness. I’ll also let Him do the judging about what that means in my life or in anyone else’s. What about you?

Creation, General Principles, His Story

Naming the Stars

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In Psalm 147 v.4 and in Isaiah 40:26 the bible explicitly says that God named the stars.  The bible itself contains several of these names.  They are really beautiful, try saying some of them:

The PleiadesThe Pleiades

Orion:  Betelgeuse, Rigel

Aldebaran

Sirius

Regulus.

According to Wikipedia this name means:  “Latin for ‘prince’ or ‘little king’. Regulus was known to Persian astrologers as the Royal star Venant, Watcher of the North.”

Which ties nicely into the true story of the Bethlehem Star.  If you haven’t already been there, I would strongly recommend that site.

Creation, General Principles, His Story

Creative Words

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You could choose any aspect of creation to see God’s astonishing imagination but let’s just take the plants as an example, or more specifically the flowers of plants.

Here are some pictures I took one afternoon at Russborough House. Well worth a visit by the way, and at this time of year you simply must visit the garden of Eden which is their Rhododendron Garden at the back of the house from which the following pictures have been taken.

So God says, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.”

How did God speak into being the specifics of His creation?  Or did He have to?  Perhaps He just imagined it all and then the words recorded in Genesis were all He had to say.

However I guess He must have said a lot more also. But where do you begin?Magnolia in the Rhododendron Garden at Russborough House

Well here’s a part of a creative conversation by God (perhaps): “Let’s create a sheltered beauty that, when it appears, will reflect purity and innocence, fragility and perfection all at once.”

Voila! A magnolia (and a lot of other flowers also).

Elsewhere I have written about the amazing stored program that is a seed. Flowers are part of that amazing idea that is reproduction. I think God loves that idea a lot, he seems to have reserved some of his most Red Rhododendronsbeautiful creations to carry it out.

So God says: “Lets create fire and invitation, embrace and sustenance all at once.” Voila! A rhododendron.

What kind of Mind was it that thought of bees? They are beautiful in their own right and absolutely indispensable for the reproduction of many plants. And what a way to do it! They are looking for something else altogether when they come to a plant (nectar) and only take away the pollen by accident – designed accident that is. Hence the invitation, embrace and sustenance in these flowers (and in lots of others).

And so we come to the crown of His creation. For we have been created to appreciate these things. Evolutionists and atheists would try, if they could, to rob us of that.

God did it all in 6 days and rested on the 7th knowing that from then on His physical creation would run itself. This leaves Him free to rest and think about getting involved in the creation of each soul.  And relationship with them.  And the cost of that.

Autobiographical, Discipleship Series, General Principles

Perfect Love

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John mentions perfect love in 1 John 4:18 in a way that seems to indicate – taken along with the rest of his writings – that he had first hand experience of it.  I’m not sure I have now because I experienced a level of love I have never had before both mentally and emotionally last night and it has left me realising that I have a lot more to know.

It wasn’t a mushy thing nor a cold, crucified kind of love.  It reminded me more of the kind of love that Paul talks about in Ephesians 3:17 – a rooted and grounded kind of love.  Like all God things ultimately it is a revelation.  It sounds simple when you describe it but the experience is profound, moving and revealing all at once.

I fancy myself as a bit of a mystic.  My mind is on heavenly things a lot.  The truth is that it is probably on earthy things more often but, as I said, I like to think in mystic ways.  I’m partial to Akiane Kramarik’s way of thinking about things and I would have a lot of time for the ideas explored in the various Star Trek series and movies.  Thankfully as someone impacted by Jesus in an experiential and life changing way I don’t have time to explore that kind of mysticism much.  As Paul says (in 1 Corinthians 8: 5) there are many gods and many lords and they are all more powerful than me without Christ – or at least most of them are I guess.  I’m better off ensuring I know the Lord of lords and God of gods first and it will take me a lifetime to do that.

But that kind of mystical tendency has left me floating a few inches above the ground most of the time I think.  Or at least that is what it seemed like when God showed me His love for me in a fresh new way last night.  Being rooted and grounded in love is to be totally in touch with the here and now.  God showed me last night that in the here and now He has done nothing but protect, love and esteem me for the last 35 years.  It is just in my imaginations that I have been fearful, imagining what suffering together with Christ might mean.

Book Reviews, General Principles, Life College

Victor Hugo and the French Worldview

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Victor Hugo is best known outside France for two novels he wrote, Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I recently tried to read an unabridged version of the former and I may have read abridged versions of the latter as a child. The latest film version/ musical of Les Miserables is a powerful work which captures the main story line of the novel very well. However when I read the book, the level of detail (“God is in the details” according to the translator) was difficult to wade through. The book had about 1500 pages and I gave up around page 1000. Maybe I will complete it some day.

France and the UK have always stood poles apart – especially during the 19th Century. This is mainly because France had a bloody revolution at the end of the 18th Century and the UK didn’t. Victor Hugo was an apologist for the revolution. He argues extensively in Les Miserables that it was a great thing for France and for the world that it happened. On that point I could not agree. Charles Dickens’ novel “A Tale of Two Cities” which I did complete not too long ago brings out the contrast between London and Paris at the time. Dickens is distinctly not apologetic for the French Revolution. In fact you would be hard pressed to find many Englishmen who are or were.

Being Irish I understand the power of blood sacrifice in nationalist revolution. I came to live in Ireland at 12 having been schooled and reared in England until that time. I can still remember the shock of the Irish view of revolution and what it meant to the Irish. Everything in the Irish worldview is coloured by 1916 and 1922 as well as the history of revolutions extending back through 1798 and before. Around where I live there are 3 plaques and a monument within a 2 km radius commemorating battles and deaths that happened in the local area during the revolution of 1798.

Blood sacrifices have power. As Christians we should know this only too well.

The rising up of the ordinary people was praised throughout Les Miserables. Victor Hugo helped lay a foundation in French thinking that makes it perfectly acceptable for a large amount of people working in a particular industry to hold the rest of the country to ransom. He also had a wife and a mistress, another pattern of French public life he reinforced.

“Victor Hugo’s death from pneumonia on 22 May 1885, at the age of 83, generated intense national mourning. He was not only revered as a towering figure in literature, he was a statesman who shaped the Third Republic and democracy in France. More than two million people joined his funeral procession in Paris from the Arc de Triomphe to the Panthéon, where he was buried. He shares a crypt within the Panthéon with Alexandre Dumas and Émile Zola. Most large French towns and cities have a street named after him.” (Wikipedia)

Autobiographical, Discipleship Series, General Principles

15 Minutes

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Whether it is because our lives are too busy, or because our attention spans have dropped away due to social media, but for whatever reason it seems increasingly difficult to find time to do anything – at least if you mean by the word “time” anything greater than about 15 minutes.

We can all usually find 15 minutes:

  • 15 minute coffee break
  • 15 minutes on Facebook (normally turns into 30 though)
  • 15 minutes over a meal (which should be at least 30 but often isn’t)
  • 15 minutes power napping

So recently I’ve been trying 15 minutes praying (having been prompted about this in a number of ways). First thing in the morning before doing anything else, sitting on the edge of my bed. When I get home in the evening from work. Last thing at night. Seems to work. You should try it.

Now it has taken me 15 minutes to write this blog (including time being distracted by someone’s birthday on Facebook) which is enough time. Anymore and you will probably not read it.

Next 15 minutes of exercise. Hopefully I’ll also get 15 minutes of teaching myself the electric organ before the day is out.

Isn’t it amazing what you can do with 15 minutes?

Discipleship Series, General Principles, good news

Peace and Rest

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There are many places in Scripture where God tries to tell us just how important he considers it that His people should be walking in peace.

In the New Testament we are commanded to strive to enter the rest that the Israelites failed to enter because of disobedience (Hebrews 3: 12 – 4:11).

In the Old Testament God enshrined rest in the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8-11). He considered it so important that the penalty for violating that commandment was death (as shown in Numbers 15:32-36).

Despite being told the penalty for breaking the Sabbath, when faced with the violation (Exodus 31:14) they hesitated before carrying out the punishment -understandably. Of all the various death penalties meted out to the Israelites under the Law this one seems most harsh.

Thankfully we are not under the Law. Nevertheless there are sins that lead to (spiritual) death (1 John 5:16) and for us as Christians it would appear that consistently not being in rest is one of them.

Jesus emphasized again the importance of resting in Him in John 15: 1-7 where he mentions some quite shocking consequences of not abiding in Him. We can be cast out of His body that way.

From my own experience I have noticed both in myself and others that if I am not in rest it is usually because I am not trusting in God – I am anxious or worried –  or I am proud and rising up in myself, full of myself. Neither of these states is pleasing to God and, if continued in, they will inevitably result in separation from God.

Actually, spiritual death is worse than physical. So let’s strive to enter that rest.

And remember, there is always hope in Christ. All you have to do is come to Him. No matter where you’ve been – or how often you have been out of rest – you will find a welcome there every time you turn to him (the old fashioned word is “repent”). His death on the cross has made that possible.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Matthew 11: 28-30 (NASB).

Autobiographical

Chosen Part 2: A Strange Flight

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I was sitting on the third bus on the Dusseldorf Airport apron and it was going nowhere.

Next, someone is calling my name. I see an official on the apron with my bag in front of him. He explained to me that 121 people had been booked into the plane when in fact there was only 119 seats on it. He apologised for the inconvenience but they had been asking for volunteers and only one person had come forward. They then chose me from the other 120 passengers! They would compensate me for missing the plane by giving me free accommodation, a meal, a flight back the next day (Saturday) and £150 (which was quite a lot in 1996). And they hoped that was OK. No explanation as to why they chose me.

I stood forlornly on the apron waving goodbye to the other 119 passengers and joined my fellow detainee for the meal back at the airport hotel. I can’t remember much about the meal. My fellow inmate explained that he had volunteered to come off the plane partly because of the £150 but mainly because his fellow passenger was his boss from the Dept. of Transport who was in a foul humour at being messed about so much by Aer Lingus.

I rang Olive again, and again, and again. Some things don’t change much over the years and my wife’s tendency is still to either not have her mobile phone or to have it on silent or buried in her handbag where she can’t hear it. Bless her. Anyway, she could have saved herself a trip to the airport if she had decided to turn it on before she reached there. When she did eventually reach the airport she rang me with rather a strange opening line: “Hi love, I see your flight has been cancelled…” I was about to say: “No, I’m just not on it.” but that didn’t make sense so I checked with her again. It had definitely been cancelled.

I looked up at my fellow prisoner and told him. By this stage we had been about 2 hours at our meal and the cooks had gone home. So we wandered up to the hotel reception and sure enough, there were the other 119 passengers and the crew coming in the door. They had spent 3 hours on the tarmac only to discover that there was a technical fault with the airplane.

Sadly for those who weren’t chosen, a technical fault is not one that Aer Lingus compensated passengers for at the time. So the next day I got home on an earlier flight than they did and happily took my £150 compensation.

120 to one. Not bad, Dad.

Autobiographical

Chosen Part 1: A Strange Airport

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This is a true story.  Sometime in mid 1996 I was in Kiel, Germany at a GSM standards meeting. It was Friday evening and I was on my way home, looking forward to the weekend.

The first leg of the journey was by train from Kiel to Hamburg Airport where I took a plane to Dusseldorf. It was then that things began to become a bit surreal. When I got off the plane I got onto a bus which brought us to a tent/ marquee. Everyone got off the bus and calmly walked into the marquee as if there was nothing unusual about using a tent to receive passengers from an airplane in a first world country. I was wondering was there a special wedding being planned or something.

Things got even more surreal after I entered the tent. The first thing I saw was a conveyor belt with luggage on it. The thing that was different about this conveyor belt was that it wasn’t a loop – if you didn’t get your luggage off it, it fell into an ever increasing pile at the end of the belt! I watched this for a while a bit bemused. I could see the airport employee loading the belt from behind a tent flap. He saw me looking at him with my bag. The dream like nature of the whole experience was reinforced when he pointed at the bag and signed that it was going straight to Dublin, which it was….

I walked on. At this stage it had begun to rain. Water was dripping down between the joints in the marquees. I walked from the arrivals marquee towards a check-in marquee. There was a long line of what looked like hot dog stands stretched out the length of the tent with queues of people at each one.
I walked along the line looking for my flight number. These were written on sheets of paper in thick black felt marker and tacked to the top of each stand. I queued up with some others at the stand with my flight number on it. At the side of each stand was what looked like a bathroom weighing scales with a couple of wires out of it. People were putting their luggage on the scales.

Dusseldorf Airport Passport hotdog stand The girl behind the stand looked a bit flustered. She almost seemed to be crying when I asked her what happened: “Oh” she said, “we only got the franchise to manage the Aer Lingus luggage two weeks before the airport burnt down!”
I had been out of the country and had missed the news about the airport burning down. On the 11th April 1996, a fire broke out inside the passenger terminal at Dusseldorf Airport and 17 people were killed. I arrived a couple of weeks later.

Things made a bit more sense now. After getting my tickets I walked on to the X-ray machines which were sitting on pallets on the grass and towards the duty free tent. I pointed at what I wanted for Olive and the woman behind the counter entered the value into a handheld calculator and put my money in a grey petty cash box. I don’t think I got a receipt but then nothing was surprising me much any more. I walked over to the departures tent, found departure flap number 11 and sat down on a wooden form at the back of the area.

Much and all as I wanted to get home I was in no rush to get on the plane so I let the first and second bus leave and got on the third one.

That bus sat on the apron outside the tent and went nowhere. I could see a man remonstrating with an Aer Lingus official further along the apron.  I didn’t know it but things were about to get even more surreal…. (to be continued)

General Principles, good news

The sower sows the word

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faithfulwon's avatarfaithfulwon

This was the first blog that I posted almost exactly 4 years ago.  It addresses a theme – the Word of God – that comes up many times in subsequent blogs.

Luke 8:11 explains that when the Scripture talks about seed it  is referring to the word of God.  Its one of those key verses like Rev. 1:20 which explains an object picture that God uses to describe something spiritual.

The parable of the sower in Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8 is an important one to understand (Mk 4:13).  Seeing our souls as a garden enclosed (Song 4:12) helps.  It is a very large garden capable of growing all sorts of trees and plants.  Just like any garden, if it is left untended it will grow weeds.  The best thing is to clear it, break it up (Hosea 10:12) and sow the word of God.

However there is a more general sense…

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A Christian in a relationship