The faith of the original disciples, especially Peter and Paul carried the story of Jesus Christ forward for 60 years after His resurrection. The writing down of the words of Jesus in to the Gospels occurred in the last half of the first Century.
This clearly tells us that the events witnessed by the disciples were so life changing that they were compelled to be the seed planters of Christianity until their deaths. It is a powerful experience if we can put our selves in that place where we can imagine for a moment witnessing events that are so important that we would spend the rest of our lives
telling as many people as possible of their importance in the face of incredible hardships including persecution and horrible deaths.
The teachings of the disciples were assembled into the Gospels we recognize today, essentially after their deaths. The story of Jesus Christ, the beginnings of Christian faith were preserved in the second half of the First Century. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were likely written between 60 AD and the early part of the 2nd Century.
In the Bible, the path to salvation runs through Jesus Christ. When we believe that the Bible is God breathed, that what is in the Bible is there because it is the truth, it decrees that we must set aside controversial challenges such as the Nostic Gospels, written many years after the original Gospels had come into existence.
With a Bible to create an organizational focal point, the church as we know it began to emerge and with it the establishment of a power base that attracted those seeking spiritual enlightenment.
When the Romans began severe persecution of the Christian faith, centered around life after death, they created an army of martyrs to further the spread of the Jesus message.
And when the plague in the 13th century wiped out 75 percent of the worlds population there were still strong forces trying to wipe out the Christians, essentially because they were people who were upsetting the apple cart so to speak.
What history tells us is that violence has been associated with God from the beginning.
The love of Jesus is what changes the equation. Even when we are spiritually reborn in that faith it is not a guarantee that we will live a perfect life on earth.
As saved souls we still continue sinning. Thank God for his love and patience as he says how we too often continue to live. Our salvation really is only in heaven. Only then do we reach the platitudes that Jesus asked us to reach out for.
This is really the only explanation that makes any sense of the history of violence that we see throughout history in the name of Christianity and in the attempts to wipe it out.
Religious ‘experts’ always get caught up in trying to find answers with human-based critical thinking. The search for historical affirmation of the Bible story always produces rich confirmation. But in trying to carry through a variety of scenarios about what the Christian faith is all about they invariably lose sight of the single most import fact. The story of Jesus Christ is not about a human. It is about God coming to earth in human form through a virgin mother and returning to earth in human form through resurrection after death. If this is ‘not’ true then the whole story of Jesus is nothing more that a fascinating tale.
The Nicean Creed, written in the 13 th Century during the time of Constantine, legalized Christianity and formalized who Jesus Christ is…the Son of God. And when the Roman Empire collapsed the Christian faith emanating for the same geographical focal point spread through out the world.
Today, we see escalating violence that at its core is more and more emerging as a global battle for religious superiority as seen through the eyes of Islamic faith and interpretations of the words of the Prophet Mohammed.
The battle for truth is one that will go on until an unchallengeable event occurs to establish what is truth. But until that happens the most important search for every person needs to be a recognition that we need to know what is true.
It is said by many in these life and times that each of us is entitled to believe what we think is right or wrong. This thinking is strongly rooted in the denial of a God or Creator and leans more toward the concept of evolution, that we humans have no substantial difference from animals other than being more intelligent. And then of course it sensibly follows that there is no guiding set of moral values.
That thinking is seen by many as the more destructive force.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Truthiness. Word of the year for 2006 says Associated Press. Although I SHOULD KNOW BETTER, I was surprised to hear that ''words'' were up for consideration in an Oscar like environment. Guess I missed the original announcement for all the words that were nominated.
I don’t want to discuss the fellow who apparently invented the word and what he says it means. When I heard the word for the first time, it started me thinking about how it reflects on how our world runs in the 21st Century. Less and less on one truth…more and more on truthiness. What is put forth as truth. The entitlement of everyone to have their own truth.
This topic easily could turn into a deep philosophical discussion by using a comprehension defieing tangle of words that everyone except the word smiths who relish the opportunity to express themselves with massive explanations that leave mere mortals with blank expressions thick with a glaze of HUH?
A PHD to be, person I know often pulls out the phrase that goes something like this, ‘the essence of higher education is being enlightened to think critically about everything’.
This concept is very idealistic in the sense that to me it creates the ground rules for everything to be questioned with potential total disregard for the facts. That does not mean that I don’t accept that critical thinking is not an important part of the education process. Thinking that is grounded in finding solutions to problems, determines the facts, sorts out the problem areas and then figures out how those problems can be fixed: Man is very good at this as evidenced by all the technology imbedded in everyday life.
Call me a conspiracy theorist but to me critical thinking seems to be aimed at creating intellectual and spiritual anarchy. In the spiritual vein, preferably people would not acknowledge any god but if they choose to, which ever one they picked is okay because everyone is entitled to believe what they want. Once people are convinced to do that then all the moral codes of conduct rooted in Biblical ‘truth’ can be thrown out.
What I see us left with is truthiness. It eliminates a single truth for anything. If it sounds like the truth to you no one has the right to disagree and they probably won’t. They’ll just be happy with what they think is right.
There must be truth. If there wasn’t, gravity wouldn’t be reliable, 2 plus 2 wouldn’t always be 4 and not everyone would die. So far all the health research in history has not kept one person from dieing. All the honest accountants always get the answer 4 and you will always get to the bottom of the hill on skis, even if you do have a garage sale on the way.
Find truth and accept it whether or not you like the answer. That is where our evolution as human being lies not in popularizing the idea that we’re merely smart animals and a little spirituality of some kind is just a genetic quirk.
I don’t want to discuss the fellow who apparently invented the word and what he says it means. When I heard the word for the first time, it started me thinking about how it reflects on how our world runs in the 21st Century. Less and less on one truth…more and more on truthiness. What is put forth as truth. The entitlement of everyone to have their own truth.
This topic easily could turn into a deep philosophical discussion by using a comprehension defieing tangle of words that everyone except the word smiths who relish the opportunity to express themselves with massive explanations that leave mere mortals with blank expressions thick with a glaze of HUH?
A PHD to be, person I know often pulls out the phrase that goes something like this, ‘the essence of higher education is being enlightened to think critically about everything’.
This concept is very idealistic in the sense that to me it creates the ground rules for everything to be questioned with potential total disregard for the facts. That does not mean that I don’t accept that critical thinking is not an important part of the education process. Thinking that is grounded in finding solutions to problems, determines the facts, sorts out the problem areas and then figures out how those problems can be fixed: Man is very good at this as evidenced by all the technology imbedded in everyday life.
Call me a conspiracy theorist but to me critical thinking seems to be aimed at creating intellectual and spiritual anarchy. In the spiritual vein, preferably people would not acknowledge any god but if they choose to, which ever one they picked is okay because everyone is entitled to believe what they want. Once people are convinced to do that then all the moral codes of conduct rooted in Biblical ‘truth’ can be thrown out.
What I see us left with is truthiness. It eliminates a single truth for anything. If it sounds like the truth to you no one has the right to disagree and they probably won’t. They’ll just be happy with what they think is right.
There must be truth. If there wasn’t, gravity wouldn’t be reliable, 2 plus 2 wouldn’t always be 4 and not everyone would die. So far all the health research in history has not kept one person from dieing. All the honest accountants always get the answer 4 and you will always get to the bottom of the hill on skis, even if you do have a garage sale on the way.
Find truth and accept it whether or not you like the answer. That is where our evolution as human being lies not in popularizing the idea that we’re merely smart animals and a little spirituality of some kind is just a genetic quirk.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Drowning Eagles
There is no road to the Tsmpsian Reserve. Boats or float planes like the Beavers and Otters are the only reasonable ways to get there. Somebody rich like B.C. Hydro men or loggers coming to look at our trees come by helicopter. Once, a fella from Ontario with a shiny suit and sharp pointed shoes came by helicopter looking to buy some of the gold jewellery I carve. I didn’t like the way his slippery,city voice told me how famous I was.
I am a traditional Indian. My son Samual has been raised to know the old ways. I’ve taught him the Tsmpsian language. It was easier to do with just the two of us which is the way it was most of the time in our house. Since he was a baby, I’ve told him all the stories passed to me by my parents and grandparents and other elders in the village. Samual most liked hearing stories that had any part about an eagle and sometimes I would add a part about an eagle just to make him smile. I’ve taught him many old songs and chants. Now Samual is nearly 16 and he gets confused about the old ways and all the new things he sees in the modern world. Like some of the songs I taught him; he made them into songs with English words and made up the tune on an old guitar his friend Rickey Robertson gave him. Samual wails like a wolf in the autumn suffering with a big bellyful of rotten Sockeye.
Our house is in the old section of the village. We got some new shingles on the roof last year to fix the leaks. It needs paint. The front window that looks out on Burl Bay has a big crack that runs a crooked trail from from corner to corner. Samuals’ complaining made me fix the roof and now he wants the window fixed. I tell him that at least it looks out on the ocean instead of what the people in those houses up in the new section get to see. “If all I had to see was mountains with the trees torn off,” I tell him, “The window might as well be boarded up.”
“Why don’t we burn this old shack down and go for one up in the new section?” Samual asked, one night after visiting his friends up there.
Even though he laughed, his eyes told me he was only half kidding. Others had done it. When Samual talked that way it made me think of his mother. She had taken off from us when he was two years old. I blamed my cousin, Moses Usher, for turning her away from the traditional ways. He always talked lots about the big city. Then he took her there. He came back to the village ten years later wearing a big cowboy hat with a fake eagle feather in it, boots made from “real” alligator skin according to him and he walked like he had a prawn trap between his legs. All he talked about was being a cowboy in Montana and all he said about Connie was that they split up five years ago and he didn’t know “where the fuck she went.”
Whenever I saw Moses walking around the village I got this worry that Samual would also get taken away from me someday. And I get this nightmare about two strangers coming to the door. They tell me to let Samual come with them. No reason. Just smiling faces. And I wake up in cold sweat feeling sticky like a salmon that has just died.
*****
Samual is a real hero in the village. He scored the winning points for our team when they won the All-native Tournament in Prince Rupert this spring. He played on the men’s team all winter even though he is only 15 years old. Basketball is very important in all the villages in this part of the land. It is like a test of manhood...a way to still do battle. I have accepted that Samual has more gifts from the Spirits for basketball than for carving. I see his warrior eyes and his eagle ways when he moves on the hardwood floor. When the team won the trophy Samual also got one for Best Newcomer. The team carried him around the village on their shoulders when they had a victory parade. I sure was proud too but I couldn’t explain why something about it didn’t feel right inside my heart.
It was three weeks after the big parade. One of those Vancouver Island Helicopters swooped over the mountain and put down on the big cement pad by the village Band Council Office. I watched through my cracked front window as a tall, skinny white guy with legs that flopped in all directions when he walked and a short white guy with a bald head and sun glasses talked to Moses Usher who always appeared when strangers came to the village. Moses waved his arms a lot and strutted around like he was doing a real bad Chicken Dance.
“Is this where Samual Abraham lives?” The tall one looked over my head when I answered the knock at the door. The short one looked up at me from behind. He pushed his glasses back up the bony bridge of his nose with thin white fingers. I could see he breathed hard and sweated from the five minute walk.
When I let them inside, they started piling on the praise about Samual.
“Your boy has a big future...a BIG future in basketball,” said the tall one.
“Think about the good education Samual is going to get if he goes out to school,” the short one squeaked.
His voice resembled his mousy body which paced back and forth in front of the front window. They said the same few things over and over again like maybe I didn’t understand.
“This is a big, big opportunity for Samual.” They both talked at the same time and nodded with each other in agreement.
Samual was all smiles and nodding his head with them. When they left, Samual was ready to go too. I told them we had to think about it. What I was really thinking about was my dream.
It is the biggest thing to ever come between us. At my work desk I go through the motions of carving. I cannot feel the gold or the tools in my hands. When Samual is home he lies slumped in a corner on the old couch that has its stuffing sticking out in the places where the cats have sharpened their claws. The argument is the same every day.
“It doesn’t matter how hard I try, my feelings stay the same. Leaving home will be no good for you.” My voice is low and the words have no emotion left in them.
“No good for you.” Samuals’ voice sounds the same as mine. “That’s what you mean isn’t it?”
“You know all the stories about what happens to young people from the village when they get out in the big city.” My hands stop their work; the one that carves hangs over the one holding the golden shield. Time is frozen like the half finished circling eagle on the shield. “Is that what you want to happen to you?”
“How many times do I have to say it?” Samual’s voice slaps me like his hand slaps the worn out arm of the couch. ”I am not like the others.”
“Basketball is just a game.” I say. Those guys that came here were saying all those things just to get you to play a game. When they don’t want you anymore you’ll be back here. Sounding just like Moses Clayton....walking around with a big bunch of stories to tell whoever would listen. What’s the good of doing that?”
The couch groans a sound of relief. Samuals scuffs his way to his bedroom. Soon the guitar strings moan into their box. Samual plays loud and hard. BOMP PA PA BOMP PA PA BOMP BOMP BOMP BOMP... BOMP PA PA BOMP PA PA BOMP BOMP BOMP BOMP. Hi tongue grabs words from deep in his throat and throughs them like shooting flames....
Ohhh..oh powerful and mighty eagle
Give me your spirit
Let your strong and fierce ways
Run through my heart
The vibrations from Samuals singing and playing shake loose little pieces of dust from the window frames. I watch them drift their aimless paths to the floor.
Ohhh...oh powerful and mighty eagle
I need these gifts from you
So the lands and the waters
Will serve me like they serve you
BOMP PA PA BOMP PA PA BOMP BOMP BOMP.
I turn to see Samual standing with his legs wide apart. His straight black hair snaps backwards then forwards in the opposite direction of his snapping head. His eyes are shut tight. His face makes strange shapes that belong on a mask. His arms are stretched to each end of the guitar which is slung low across his body. The right hand pounds against the strings. Louder and harder.
When he is wet on his hair and face and where his blue denim shirt goes under his arms,finally there is silence. He walks near to my working place. He looks straight into my face. “What if we both moved to the city? That would be better wouldn’t it? There’d be money from the government I’d get for going to school. We could get a nice place. You could still carve.”
“This village. This is the place where I must carve Samual. You should know that by now.”
“What about me?” Samuals’ voice is different than I have ever heard it before. “What about my life?” He smashes the guitar across the couch. “You don’t care shit about my life! All you care about is yourself!”
The words crash into my ears like ocean storm waves on a slab of seashore. When the front door slams behind him the force shakes loose the cracked halves of the front window. The spears of glass fall like they’re being dropped one by one, splattering across the linoleum. My chest feels like a ceremonial drum with the beats coming from the inside. Heaviness closes my eyes. I must remember, I must remember...
*****
It is the early part of summer; the warm days that come near the end of May and early in June. Out on the government dock the young boys fish. They are jigging with their rods and buzz bomb lures for the Tommy cod lazing in the shadows of the big black posts under the dock. The fun is to watch the boys reel up their wriggling catches. When the tide is low the air dances of the fish are about 30 feet long. I see Samual lay down his fishing rod and pick up one of the dead fish. He hollers loud so everyone will watch. The fish spins through the rays of sun and splats on the water.
The eagles are around because they have nesting places not far from the village. They
glide and flap and circle and play their eagle games of chase over the bay in front of the village. When they’re tired of that they fight for the best perches on the big spruce across from the dock. Now, from the big tree a six foot wing span rides a silky curtain to the ripples on bay. Yellow talons grab the fish cleanly. Surging wings grab big chunks of sky. I have seen the eagles all my life and their spirit fills me with joy.
“Mr. Abraham! Mr. Abraham!”
One of the boys is trying to get me watching another fish thrown, I think.
“Mr. Abraham! Come quick!”
I try to see who it is. I rub my eyes. Through the sharp edges of the front window I see Billy Dundas running as hard as he can. I make it to the front door the same time as he does.
“Mr. Abraham, come down to the docks. It’s Ricky Robertson. He was fishin’ and...”
air scrapes into his chest. “And he fell off the end of the dock!”
Billy stumbles behind me down the path towards the dock. “And Samual jumped in to try and save Ricky cuz he was screamin’ he can’t swim. And now we can’t see nobody down there!”
At the dock all the kids are trying to tell me at the same time what has happened. “Samual brought Rickey up two times. I seen him!” It is Billys younger brother Art. “What did you do?” I scream in his scared face. What did any of you do? Stand around and watch?” I run along the edge of the dock looking over. A running shoe drifts out from the black shadows. It wallows in the ripples. White. Lifeless. Long after night comes, village men poke the inky sheen with gaff hooks and spotlights from boats tied to the slimy fingers of the dock.
*****
There was a time we looked after our own dead. Now, two men in a helicopter come and take Samual and Rickey away. They have to go to the hospital for a doctor to make sure they are dead. Then they go to a funeral place to make sure they are ready to bury. The new tradition we have now is the way we return to the village with our dead. A funeral procession of boats carry the coffins and families up the coast from Prince Rupert, into the bay and up to the dock.
The day is sunny. The glistening, white hull of the seine boat, Blistered Harvest plows through soft rolls of green water and the breeze is just enough to feel cool on my face as I stand beside the polished oak. The other boats follow our wake. They make such a straight line it gives only glimpses of waving masts, one behind the other. Then when we turn past the green buoy off Blistered Point just outside the village it is like we are a rope being pulled through the water. Only when the boats enter the inside harbour do they go different directions to find their tie-up places at the docks.
Rickeys’ parents, Joe and Wanda Robertson, look pretty sick when I see them inside the church. When I walk past where they are sitting I get the smell of liquor real strong. I know they are on the “go” lots. That’s the word for partyin’. They weren’t in the village when Rickey drowned.
In the hot, stuffy church Pastor Beams leads in the singing of Amazing Grace. Pastor Beams is a thin, white guy with a lump that goes up and down in his throat when he sings. His voice doesn’t fit his size. When we sit down at his direction he moves over to the pulpit. “This is such a tragic loss for all of us. Our young people should not be taken from us in the dawn of their day. And it is at these times we need Gods’ strength to find the difficult answers.”
There is a rattle of feet finding the floor. It is Joe Robertson standing up. His face is puffy and twisted by unnatural forces. His words come out thick and wet. “If the government didn’t build a dock with no God damned guard rails my boy wouldn’t have fell off it.” He lurches his distorted, liquor swollen face towards me. “And if there were some ropes or life rings down there, Samual wouldn’t be dead either!”
The force of his own words seems to push him backwards. Wanda has to hold him off of herself as falls back into his seat. They both wail and moan and hang on to each other.
After the funeral , I am alone at last with the night air that comes off the sea. The only sound is the soft roll of waves licking at the rocky shores of the bay. I look down from my place on the edge of the government dock. The water is shiny and black as a Ravens back.
“Samual.” I say. “Today I will tell you the story about the eagle that could swim.
Well , there was this eagle back in the times when eagles ruled our land. Rok. That was his name. Rok had a special gift. He never waited for the salmon to rise up to the top of the water. When Rok was hungry he dove into the sea....deep down to where the fish are. He would pick the fattest one, grab it with his mighty talons and with one big push of his wings would soar up through the water as if it was air. And when he came to surface he’d rise right up into the sky like he was fired from a white mans fire monster. Rok was a hero be cause he always caught extra for all the other families.
But Sa-la, his father, did not like this. He loved his son and was afraid he would lose him. Maybe to the sea...maybe to all the others that would depend on Rok for fresh fish. One day Sa-la could not keep his thoughts silent any longer. “Rok, you must stop swimming in the sea. It is dangerous and I don’t want to lose you. Just be like the other eagles.”
“It is my gift, father.” Replied Rok. “I must use it.”
Later that day, Rok went out to fish. He dove into the sea and grabbed a big, fat salmon. But when he tried to lift it, the gift was gone. Try as he might the fighting salmon which he could not release from his claws dragged him deeper into the blackening depths. His father’s words echoed in his mind and then with a blinding white flash he entered the spirit world.
“ Did you like that story, Samual. I hope it isn’t too sad for you.” Lincoln Abraham let his eyes rest on the golden eagle medallion in his hand. “We are all drowning eagles, Samual.”
Lincoln Abraham arched his arm and heaved the medallion onto the sea. As it touched the water he was blinded by a white explosion. An eagle erupted from the waters like a shooting star returning to the heavens. In an eye’s blink the light was gone. Lincoln Abraham stood for several minutes in stone silence
He did not to notice the vapours seeping around his clenched fist. In the darkness, he feltThat his hand again clutched the eagle medallion.
There is no road to the Tsmpsian Reserve. Boats or float planes like the Beavers and Otters are the only reasonable ways to get there. Somebody rich like B.C. Hydro men or loggers coming to look at our trees come by helicopter. Once, a fella from Ontario with a shiny suit and sharp pointed shoes came by helicopter looking to buy some of the gold jewellery I carve. I didn’t like the way his slippery,city voice told me how famous I was.
I am a traditional Indian. My son Samual has been raised to know the old ways. I’ve taught him the Tsmpsian language. It was easier to do with just the two of us which is the way it was most of the time in our house. Since he was a baby, I’ve told him all the stories passed to me by my parents and grandparents and other elders in the village. Samual most liked hearing stories that had any part about an eagle and sometimes I would add a part about an eagle just to make him smile. I’ve taught him many old songs and chants. Now Samual is nearly 16 and he gets confused about the old ways and all the new things he sees in the modern world. Like some of the songs I taught him; he made them into songs with English words and made up the tune on an old guitar his friend Rickey Robertson gave him. Samual wails like a wolf in the autumn suffering with a big bellyful of rotten Sockeye.
Our house is in the old section of the village. We got some new shingles on the roof last year to fix the leaks. It needs paint. The front window that looks out on Burl Bay has a big crack that runs a crooked trail from from corner to corner. Samuals’ complaining made me fix the roof and now he wants the window fixed. I tell him that at least it looks out on the ocean instead of what the people in those houses up in the new section get to see. “If all I had to see was mountains with the trees torn off,” I tell him, “The window might as well be boarded up.”
“Why don’t we burn this old shack down and go for one up in the new section?” Samual asked, one night after visiting his friends up there.
Even though he laughed, his eyes told me he was only half kidding. Others had done it. When Samual talked that way it made me think of his mother. She had taken off from us when he was two years old. I blamed my cousin, Moses Usher, for turning her away from the traditional ways. He always talked lots about the big city. Then he took her there. He came back to the village ten years later wearing a big cowboy hat with a fake eagle feather in it, boots made from “real” alligator skin according to him and he walked like he had a prawn trap between his legs. All he talked about was being a cowboy in Montana and all he said about Connie was that they split up five years ago and he didn’t know “where the fuck she went.”
Whenever I saw Moses walking around the village I got this worry that Samual would also get taken away from me someday. And I get this nightmare about two strangers coming to the door. They tell me to let Samual come with them. No reason. Just smiling faces. And I wake up in cold sweat feeling sticky like a salmon that has just died.
*****
Samual is a real hero in the village. He scored the winning points for our team when they won the All-native Tournament in Prince Rupert this spring. He played on the men’s team all winter even though he is only 15 years old. Basketball is very important in all the villages in this part of the land. It is like a test of manhood...a way to still do battle. I have accepted that Samual has more gifts from the Spirits for basketball than for carving. I see his warrior eyes and his eagle ways when he moves on the hardwood floor. When the team won the trophy Samual also got one for Best Newcomer. The team carried him around the village on their shoulders when they had a victory parade. I sure was proud too but I couldn’t explain why something about it didn’t feel right inside my heart.
It was three weeks after the big parade. One of those Vancouver Island Helicopters swooped over the mountain and put down on the big cement pad by the village Band Council Office. I watched through my cracked front window as a tall, skinny white guy with legs that flopped in all directions when he walked and a short white guy with a bald head and sun glasses talked to Moses Usher who always appeared when strangers came to the village. Moses waved his arms a lot and strutted around like he was doing a real bad Chicken Dance.
“Is this where Samual Abraham lives?” The tall one looked over my head when I answered the knock at the door. The short one looked up at me from behind. He pushed his glasses back up the bony bridge of his nose with thin white fingers. I could see he breathed hard and sweated from the five minute walk.
When I let them inside, they started piling on the praise about Samual.
“Your boy has a big future...a BIG future in basketball,” said the tall one.
“Think about the good education Samual is going to get if he goes out to school,” the short one squeaked.
His voice resembled his mousy body which paced back and forth in front of the front window. They said the same few things over and over again like maybe I didn’t understand.
“This is a big, big opportunity for Samual.” They both talked at the same time and nodded with each other in agreement.
Samual was all smiles and nodding his head with them. When they left, Samual was ready to go too. I told them we had to think about it. What I was really thinking about was my dream.
It is the biggest thing to ever come between us. At my work desk I go through the motions of carving. I cannot feel the gold or the tools in my hands. When Samual is home he lies slumped in a corner on the old couch that has its stuffing sticking out in the places where the cats have sharpened their claws. The argument is the same every day.
“It doesn’t matter how hard I try, my feelings stay the same. Leaving home will be no good for you.” My voice is low and the words have no emotion left in them.
“No good for you.” Samuals’ voice sounds the same as mine. “That’s what you mean isn’t it?”
“You know all the stories about what happens to young people from the village when they get out in the big city.” My hands stop their work; the one that carves hangs over the one holding the golden shield. Time is frozen like the half finished circling eagle on the shield. “Is that what you want to happen to you?”
“How many times do I have to say it?” Samual’s voice slaps me like his hand slaps the worn out arm of the couch. ”I am not like the others.”
“Basketball is just a game.” I say. Those guys that came here were saying all those things just to get you to play a game. When they don’t want you anymore you’ll be back here. Sounding just like Moses Clayton....walking around with a big bunch of stories to tell whoever would listen. What’s the good of doing that?”
The couch groans a sound of relief. Samuals scuffs his way to his bedroom. Soon the guitar strings moan into their box. Samual plays loud and hard. BOMP PA PA BOMP PA PA BOMP BOMP BOMP BOMP... BOMP PA PA BOMP PA PA BOMP BOMP BOMP BOMP. Hi tongue grabs words from deep in his throat and throughs them like shooting flames....
Ohhh..oh powerful and mighty eagle
Give me your spirit
Let your strong and fierce ways
Run through my heart
The vibrations from Samuals singing and playing shake loose little pieces of dust from the window frames. I watch them drift their aimless paths to the floor.
Ohhh...oh powerful and mighty eagle
I need these gifts from you
So the lands and the waters
Will serve me like they serve you
BOMP PA PA BOMP PA PA BOMP BOMP BOMP.
I turn to see Samual standing with his legs wide apart. His straight black hair snaps backwards then forwards in the opposite direction of his snapping head. His eyes are shut tight. His face makes strange shapes that belong on a mask. His arms are stretched to each end of the guitar which is slung low across his body. The right hand pounds against the strings. Louder and harder.
When he is wet on his hair and face and where his blue denim shirt goes under his arms,finally there is silence. He walks near to my working place. He looks straight into my face. “What if we both moved to the city? That would be better wouldn’t it? There’d be money from the government I’d get for going to school. We could get a nice place. You could still carve.”
“This village. This is the place where I must carve Samual. You should know that by now.”
“What about me?” Samuals’ voice is different than I have ever heard it before. “What about my life?” He smashes the guitar across the couch. “You don’t care shit about my life! All you care about is yourself!”
The words crash into my ears like ocean storm waves on a slab of seashore. When the front door slams behind him the force shakes loose the cracked halves of the front window. The spears of glass fall like they’re being dropped one by one, splattering across the linoleum. My chest feels like a ceremonial drum with the beats coming from the inside. Heaviness closes my eyes. I must remember, I must remember...
*****
It is the early part of summer; the warm days that come near the end of May and early in June. Out on the government dock the young boys fish. They are jigging with their rods and buzz bomb lures for the Tommy cod lazing in the shadows of the big black posts under the dock. The fun is to watch the boys reel up their wriggling catches. When the tide is low the air dances of the fish are about 30 feet long. I see Samual lay down his fishing rod and pick up one of the dead fish. He hollers loud so everyone will watch. The fish spins through the rays of sun and splats on the water.
The eagles are around because they have nesting places not far from the village. They
glide and flap and circle and play their eagle games of chase over the bay in front of the village. When they’re tired of that they fight for the best perches on the big spruce across from the dock. Now, from the big tree a six foot wing span rides a silky curtain to the ripples on bay. Yellow talons grab the fish cleanly. Surging wings grab big chunks of sky. I have seen the eagles all my life and their spirit fills me with joy.
“Mr. Abraham! Mr. Abraham!”
One of the boys is trying to get me watching another fish thrown, I think.
“Mr. Abraham! Come quick!”
I try to see who it is. I rub my eyes. Through the sharp edges of the front window I see Billy Dundas running as hard as he can. I make it to the front door the same time as he does.
“Mr. Abraham, come down to the docks. It’s Ricky Robertson. He was fishin’ and...”
air scrapes into his chest. “And he fell off the end of the dock!”
Billy stumbles behind me down the path towards the dock. “And Samual jumped in to try and save Ricky cuz he was screamin’ he can’t swim. And now we can’t see nobody down there!”
At the dock all the kids are trying to tell me at the same time what has happened. “Samual brought Rickey up two times. I seen him!” It is Billys younger brother Art. “What did you do?” I scream in his scared face. What did any of you do? Stand around and watch?” I run along the edge of the dock looking over. A running shoe drifts out from the black shadows. It wallows in the ripples. White. Lifeless. Long after night comes, village men poke the inky sheen with gaff hooks and spotlights from boats tied to the slimy fingers of the dock.
*****
There was a time we looked after our own dead. Now, two men in a helicopter come and take Samual and Rickey away. They have to go to the hospital for a doctor to make sure they are dead. Then they go to a funeral place to make sure they are ready to bury. The new tradition we have now is the way we return to the village with our dead. A funeral procession of boats carry the coffins and families up the coast from Prince Rupert, into the bay and up to the dock.
The day is sunny. The glistening, white hull of the seine boat, Blistered Harvest plows through soft rolls of green water and the breeze is just enough to feel cool on my face as I stand beside the polished oak. The other boats follow our wake. They make such a straight line it gives only glimpses of waving masts, one behind the other. Then when we turn past the green buoy off Blistered Point just outside the village it is like we are a rope being pulled through the water. Only when the boats enter the inside harbour do they go different directions to find their tie-up places at the docks.
Rickeys’ parents, Joe and Wanda Robertson, look pretty sick when I see them inside the church. When I walk past where they are sitting I get the smell of liquor real strong. I know they are on the “go” lots. That’s the word for partyin’. They weren’t in the village when Rickey drowned.
In the hot, stuffy church Pastor Beams leads in the singing of Amazing Grace. Pastor Beams is a thin, white guy with a lump that goes up and down in his throat when he sings. His voice doesn’t fit his size. When we sit down at his direction he moves over to the pulpit. “This is such a tragic loss for all of us. Our young people should not be taken from us in the dawn of their day. And it is at these times we need Gods’ strength to find the difficult answers.”
There is a rattle of feet finding the floor. It is Joe Robertson standing up. His face is puffy and twisted by unnatural forces. His words come out thick and wet. “If the government didn’t build a dock with no God damned guard rails my boy wouldn’t have fell off it.” He lurches his distorted, liquor swollen face towards me. “And if there were some ropes or life rings down there, Samual wouldn’t be dead either!”
The force of his own words seems to push him backwards. Wanda has to hold him off of herself as falls back into his seat. They both wail and moan and hang on to each other.
After the funeral , I am alone at last with the night air that comes off the sea. The only sound is the soft roll of waves licking at the rocky shores of the bay. I look down from my place on the edge of the government dock. The water is shiny and black as a Ravens back.
“Samual.” I say. “Today I will tell you the story about the eagle that could swim.
Well , there was this eagle back in the times when eagles ruled our land. Rok. That was his name. Rok had a special gift. He never waited for the salmon to rise up to the top of the water. When Rok was hungry he dove into the sea....deep down to where the fish are. He would pick the fattest one, grab it with his mighty talons and with one big push of his wings would soar up through the water as if it was air. And when he came to surface he’d rise right up into the sky like he was fired from a white mans fire monster. Rok was a hero be cause he always caught extra for all the other families.
But Sa-la, his father, did not like this. He loved his son and was afraid he would lose him. Maybe to the sea...maybe to all the others that would depend on Rok for fresh fish. One day Sa-la could not keep his thoughts silent any longer. “Rok, you must stop swimming in the sea. It is dangerous and I don’t want to lose you. Just be like the other eagles.”
“It is my gift, father.” Replied Rok. “I must use it.”
Later that day, Rok went out to fish. He dove into the sea and grabbed a big, fat salmon. But when he tried to lift it, the gift was gone. Try as he might the fighting salmon which he could not release from his claws dragged him deeper into the blackening depths. His father’s words echoed in his mind and then with a blinding white flash he entered the spirit world.
“ Did you like that story, Samual. I hope it isn’t too sad for you.” Lincoln Abraham let his eyes rest on the golden eagle medallion in his hand. “We are all drowning eagles, Samual.”
Lincoln Abraham arched his arm and heaved the medallion onto the sea. As it touched the water he was blinded by a white explosion. An eagle erupted from the waters like a shooting star returning to the heavens. In an eye’s blink the light was gone. Lincoln Abraham stood for several minutes in stone silence
He did not to notice the vapours seeping around his clenched fist. In the darkness, he feltThat his hand again clutched the eagle medallion.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
shuttle view
How many of us Christians fully understand Gods word ? My answer is; none.
How many Christians believe that it is crucially important to believe that the Bible is Gods breathed Word where lies the truth about the way God would have us live our lives?. The most knowledgeable person on earth is delusional if they believe they have figured out more than small portions of Gods plan. But a dramatic shuttle crash gave me a thought about how me might look at Gods plan.
Our destiny is laid out in precise detail in the Bible and explicit occurrences that are going to happen or have already happened are numerous. I am not qualified to detail all of them but
the disciples clearly asked Jesus about the end of the world and what the signs would be. In Matthew 24:4-8 He answers that many shall come saying I am Christ, and he says there will be wars and rumors of war. Famines, pestilences and earth quakes. But this is just the beginning…to use another description, the birth pangs and Jesus said in Matthew, don’t be frightened because these things must take place. But it is not the end and he offers hope to those who are faithful.
There are two other significant events which fulfill the prophecy of end times and Jesus’ return. They concern Jews.
First was Christs prediction that Jeruselem would be taken by the the Gentiles and at some point in time they would regain it. Well the first event occurred only 40 years after his death. The second event became fact in 1948 when the state of Israel came into being nearly 2,000 years after Jesus said.
Against all odds, the second part of the prophecy was now able to unfold.
For Jesus said, you will see me no more until you (meaning Jews) say, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord (Matt:23:39)
It is an emerging reality that Jews for Jesus is a growing movement. There are Jewish Christian churches. There are increasing testimonials of Jewish acceptance of the Messiah. This quote appears in a book titled Future Hope. A Jewish Christian look at the end of the world.
“When I accepted Him it was strictly because God showed me, yes Jesus is the accepted Messiah and that was reason enough to believe in him. The realization that I had become a Christian has never made me doubt for a moment that I was still Jewish. My belief is the natural result of my search for God and fulfillment of my Jewishness. This was spoken by Dr. Vera Schlamm, a holocaust survivor.
This view tells us is that God already knows the final outcome. In the world we live in today, it might seem like we are closing in on that time but only God knows and in the interim he need to put our trust in Him.
When the shuttle Columbia crashed and seven lives were lost, Americaan President George Bush quoted scripture in his first words. At the time, having just read a book titled How Now Shall We Live, which calls on Christians to develop their worldviews as a vehicle to point to Christianity and the Bible as the source of truth and purpose of people, I was quite surprised by this bold statement from the leader of the world’s most powerful country. With potential warfare in the Middle East overshadowing even the stunning shuttle crash, as a Christian, I was lifted up by the American President taking such a high profile opportunity to state the ground on which he stands. History books will confirm it is the ground on which America was built but it is not fashionable to make that point in our age of person rights instead of human rights. In our age of denial of wrong doing, even if you are caught and convicted, judges may decide they know a better way to exercise justice where there is no real expectation for the wrong doer to admit his wrong and be punished accordingly.
I’m certain it was not lost on world leaders that heard President Bush’s message. In context, I am one Canadian, with one small opinion, an opinion that probably is not held by the majority in my country.
However getting back to the shuttle flight, I listened and watched on radio and T.V. to the aftermath of speculation about what happened, to cause the disintegration, on re-entry of the Columbia to the earths’ atmosphere. I heard one ‘expert’ describe how the flight may have been doomed 80 seconds after lift off when chunks of insulation ripped off the launch rockets fuel tank and hit the wing of the shuttle, possible tearing off some of the tiles that form the protective shield on reentry and possibly even doing worse damage. The gentleman further described that even if it had been determined that re-entry was not a possibility due to the damage, the orbit of the shuttle was considerably lower than the orbit of the space station. This meant that the crew on Columbia did not have the capability of docking at the space station and awaiting rescue. It has not been common knowledge as to whether any conversation along these lines took place between Columbia crew and Mission control. Regardless, the decision was made to return to earth, but as the fellow on a radio program that i listened to, described it, there really was no other choice.
Thinking about that option, there is no other choice, caused me to reflect on the Bible and how it describes events that will come to pass in the final days before the return of Jesus.
These are specific, historically significant events and since so many astounding prophecies of the Bible have come to pass there is no reason to logically conclude that what is described in Revelations will not come to pass as well.
Since these are pretty horrific developments in terms of human suffering, they are not dwelled upon in much of Christian teaching because it is intrinsically more important to accept Jesus Christ into your heart and lead others to do the same.
What I think most people that have a problem with God have the biggest problem with is fully accepting that God, Creator of heaven and earth and everything within it is in control of everything that happens.
If you have a secular point of view, it is paramount to believe that humans are totally in control of outcomes.But we see such huge examples everyday that humans aren’t in control of much, it seems more and more like a seriously flawed theory.
I believe that many Christians, Jews and Islamic believers also do not fully understand that Gods will is what will be done and the chapters of planet earths' history will unfold to prove Gods word - that which we have had in front of us for thousands of years in the Bible simply foretold of mankind’s battle against sin and the ultimate outcome. There are many differences and religious struggles because each group believes that it has cornered the truth.
We have no option but to go forward. Our destiny was cast shortly after we first walked the earth in the Garden of Eden. There is no short cut that mankind can create to escape the inevitable. And as that realization comes to us we have no cloice but to continue the journey, like the space shuttle crew, knowing that our time is coming to an end, and even as they did, with their last voice messages, showing calm and resolute belief that all would be well.
For all those with trust in the Lord will pass through the fiery end into peace and calm.
And it is important to realize that as time goes on we may just be messengers to spread the miracle of Jesus Christ, the plan that God created so that all who choose to follow have an escape hatch.
We do know that there were Christians on board Columbia and the first Jewish person in space. We do not know all their relationships to the Lord but as described in the Bible when the day came one brother was called and the other left behind. One person in the field was taken and one was left.
Standing back to look at the shuttle flight, I think it is a good example of a way to look at God’s destiny for mankind. Our flight was predestined at the moment of creation.
Our end is foretold in Gods word. Our hope is the last words of the Book of Revelations: The grace our Lord Jesus Christ is with you all. Amen.
How many Christians believe that it is crucially important to believe that the Bible is Gods breathed Word where lies the truth about the way God would have us live our lives?. The most knowledgeable person on earth is delusional if they believe they have figured out more than small portions of Gods plan. But a dramatic shuttle crash gave me a thought about how me might look at Gods plan.
Our destiny is laid out in precise detail in the Bible and explicit occurrences that are going to happen or have already happened are numerous. I am not qualified to detail all of them but
the disciples clearly asked Jesus about the end of the world and what the signs would be. In Matthew 24:4-8 He answers that many shall come saying I am Christ, and he says there will be wars and rumors of war. Famines, pestilences and earth quakes. But this is just the beginning…to use another description, the birth pangs and Jesus said in Matthew, don’t be frightened because these things must take place. But it is not the end and he offers hope to those who are faithful.
There are two other significant events which fulfill the prophecy of end times and Jesus’ return. They concern Jews.
First was Christs prediction that Jeruselem would be taken by the the Gentiles and at some point in time they would regain it. Well the first event occurred only 40 years after his death. The second event became fact in 1948 when the state of Israel came into being nearly 2,000 years after Jesus said.
Against all odds, the second part of the prophecy was now able to unfold.
For Jesus said, you will see me no more until you (meaning Jews) say, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord (Matt:23:39)
It is an emerging reality that Jews for Jesus is a growing movement. There are Jewish Christian churches. There are increasing testimonials of Jewish acceptance of the Messiah. This quote appears in a book titled Future Hope. A Jewish Christian look at the end of the world.
“When I accepted Him it was strictly because God showed me, yes Jesus is the accepted Messiah and that was reason enough to believe in him. The realization that I had become a Christian has never made me doubt for a moment that I was still Jewish. My belief is the natural result of my search for God and fulfillment of my Jewishness. This was spoken by Dr. Vera Schlamm, a holocaust survivor.
This view tells us is that God already knows the final outcome. In the world we live in today, it might seem like we are closing in on that time but only God knows and in the interim he need to put our trust in Him.
When the shuttle Columbia crashed and seven lives were lost, Americaan President George Bush quoted scripture in his first words. At the time, having just read a book titled How Now Shall We Live, which calls on Christians to develop their worldviews as a vehicle to point to Christianity and the Bible as the source of truth and purpose of people, I was quite surprised by this bold statement from the leader of the world’s most powerful country. With potential warfare in the Middle East overshadowing even the stunning shuttle crash, as a Christian, I was lifted up by the American President taking such a high profile opportunity to state the ground on which he stands. History books will confirm it is the ground on which America was built but it is not fashionable to make that point in our age of person rights instead of human rights. In our age of denial of wrong doing, even if you are caught and convicted, judges may decide they know a better way to exercise justice where there is no real expectation for the wrong doer to admit his wrong and be punished accordingly.
I’m certain it was not lost on world leaders that heard President Bush’s message. In context, I am one Canadian, with one small opinion, an opinion that probably is not held by the majority in my country.
However getting back to the shuttle flight, I listened and watched on radio and T.V. to the aftermath of speculation about what happened, to cause the disintegration, on re-entry of the Columbia to the earths’ atmosphere. I heard one ‘expert’ describe how the flight may have been doomed 80 seconds after lift off when chunks of insulation ripped off the launch rockets fuel tank and hit the wing of the shuttle, possible tearing off some of the tiles that form the protective shield on reentry and possibly even doing worse damage. The gentleman further described that even if it had been determined that re-entry was not a possibility due to the damage, the orbit of the shuttle was considerably lower than the orbit of the space station. This meant that the crew on Columbia did not have the capability of docking at the space station and awaiting rescue. It has not been common knowledge as to whether any conversation along these lines took place between Columbia crew and Mission control. Regardless, the decision was made to return to earth, but as the fellow on a radio program that i listened to, described it, there really was no other choice.
Thinking about that option, there is no other choice, caused me to reflect on the Bible and how it describes events that will come to pass in the final days before the return of Jesus.
These are specific, historically significant events and since so many astounding prophecies of the Bible have come to pass there is no reason to logically conclude that what is described in Revelations will not come to pass as well.
Since these are pretty horrific developments in terms of human suffering, they are not dwelled upon in much of Christian teaching because it is intrinsically more important to accept Jesus Christ into your heart and lead others to do the same.
What I think most people that have a problem with God have the biggest problem with is fully accepting that God, Creator of heaven and earth and everything within it is in control of everything that happens.
If you have a secular point of view, it is paramount to believe that humans are totally in control of outcomes.But we see such huge examples everyday that humans aren’t in control of much, it seems more and more like a seriously flawed theory.
I believe that many Christians, Jews and Islamic believers also do not fully understand that Gods will is what will be done and the chapters of planet earths' history will unfold to prove Gods word - that which we have had in front of us for thousands of years in the Bible simply foretold of mankind’s battle against sin and the ultimate outcome. There are many differences and religious struggles because each group believes that it has cornered the truth.
We have no option but to go forward. Our destiny was cast shortly after we first walked the earth in the Garden of Eden. There is no short cut that mankind can create to escape the inevitable. And as that realization comes to us we have no cloice but to continue the journey, like the space shuttle crew, knowing that our time is coming to an end, and even as they did, with their last voice messages, showing calm and resolute belief that all would be well.
For all those with trust in the Lord will pass through the fiery end into peace and calm.
And it is important to realize that as time goes on we may just be messengers to spread the miracle of Jesus Christ, the plan that God created so that all who choose to follow have an escape hatch.
We do know that there were Christians on board Columbia and the first Jewish person in space. We do not know all their relationships to the Lord but as described in the Bible when the day came one brother was called and the other left behind. One person in the field was taken and one was left.
Standing back to look at the shuttle flight, I think it is a good example of a way to look at God’s destiny for mankind. Our flight was predestined at the moment of creation.
Our end is foretold in Gods word. Our hope is the last words of the Book of Revelations: The grace our Lord Jesus Christ is with you all. Amen.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Defending Freedom
Canadian soldiers die in Afghanistan and it triggers emotional, pragmatic, political and a swash of other responses across our country.
Our unfettered freedom to express ourselves is pretty much our right in this unique, unbridled expanse of incredible global geographythat we call Canada. We became a country through exploitation and proclamation. Any historic skirmishes to solidify our borders are fairly insignificant in the big scheme of countrification history. Don’t bother to look up countrification….I just made it up.
We baby boomers and our kids have witnessed armed conflict but mostly in our living rooms. These days it's through the astounding reality of ‘imbedded reporters’.…not to dismiss flairups like those with our native Indian populations or the ongoing spats over the years between our two founding nations or the mainly peacekeeping roles our armed forces have played on the international war scene in the past 50 years.
It is this insulation that makes it so difficult for most Canadians to comprehend our emerging new role that is costing lives. But here is my view.
You see, my parents were both veterans of World War II, one English and one Canadian.
Before I really knew anything else about wars or really bad people in the world, I was taught the meaning of Remembrance Day each November 11th. This was not heavy handed or fearfully presented knowledge. Quite frankly most of the ‘war stories’ I heard from my parents were adventurous and more often than not tainted with some kind of humor. But attached to their story was a message of respect that we the younger generation should have for the sacrifice, courage, bravery and commitment made on our behalf in the defense against those who sought to conquer, destroy and exploit.
Like most of us I know nothing of armed conflict in my country. So my only right to a viewpoint is the freedom I enjoy which, speaking only for myself with thanks to my parents, I wholeheartedly try not to take for granted. The waning number of veterans on Remembrance Day provide another necessary revival of my acknowledgement to every single person who gave themselves over to preserving my freedom.
So when Canadian soldiers die in Afghanistan, how do I feel? It's not an easy question to answer.
We are constantly asked in our media saturated environment of the 21st century to drink the kool-aid of individual rights. This of course is the right to purchase every silver bullet solution that guarantees us solutions to all our problems, from whiter teeth and slim waists to millions of dollars from one little paper ticket with a few numbers on it. There is less and less of a moralistic overview of society. It's all about what "I" deserve.
When a 23 year old soldier dies in Afghanistan all of those rights are stolen from him and a family has hole in it than cannot be filled. In a country where most of the people feel their freedom is granted through a paper document and no one has ever really challenged that concept it is a natural reaction that this is little more than a governmental waste of human life.
Well, I for one and I pray there’s more like me out there, want to remember these soldiers for their bravery in going to the front lines of our battle scarred planet to defend the freedom we take for granted….the same freedom our ancestors came half way around the world to find….the same freedom generations hold as a pipe dream in conflict torn countries.
There is a harsh realty here folks. Freedom is not a right. We must stand up for freedom because there is another reality. There are bad people who will take it away if we don’t. There is another reality. These battles will scar and kill innocent people either by criminal design or the heart wrenching circumstance of wrong place at the wrong time. These events also initiate the psychological dilemma of “why did I survive instead of him….or her or that innocent bystander?”
Through those teachings of my parents, and the common knowledge I gather simply through having an interest in such things, I express the opinion that our soldiers are knowingly defending freedom under extreme risk. As far as dieing is concerned, I don’t think any normal, healthy adult in their 20’s thinks they are going to die. I know far more people who have died driving drunk, died taking extreme yet pretty much unnecessary physical risks or have died just being in the wrong place at the wrong time when senseless events occurred within our own society.
For Canada to ignore the intent of terrorists in our world is akin to other historical miscalculations like Chamberlains declaration of Hitlers lack of evil intent or the self-incrimination expressed by Solzhaneetsyn in describing how Communism got its stranglehold on Russia. Solzhaneetsyns’ Gulag Archepaelago, a soul searching account of what life in Russia became after 1917 when Tzarist ruled was ended by the rebellion and take over by the workers. He revealed a history of decades of human suffering that surpassed any before it and yet was unknown to the rest of the world. And how did this man describe it?
“We didn’t love freedom enough. In 1917 we hurried to submit. We submitted with pleasure. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
So when Canadian soldiers die in Afghanistan, I remember what was said to me by a Canadian fighter pilot I recently had the good fortune to meet and talk to. He said when we’re keeping them busy over there they don’t have time to plan other stuff.
Before I heard that, I had a much more complicated opinion. Now, I know that as a Canadian swaddled within the borders of this great, safe, nation I grieve for those soldiers killed in Afghanistan. I pray for their souls and those whose grief grips the very core of their own being. I l stand proud for these brave defenders of our freedom. I remember that their lives are not wasted because what is not worth fighting for is of questionable value. A far greater waste is a national ignorance of their sacrifice.
It is a great aspiration, the wish for peace for all mankind. Unfortunately goodness and peace is not something inherent within everyone. Terrible evil lurks in some. It takes conflict to win the battle.
As was explained to me by a well known Canadian writer in a writers workshop many years ago, if you don’t have conflict in your story, you don’t have a story. That my friends is at the core of who we are as human beings. We live the life we are meant to live when we struggle and strive for what is right with in us not what is pragmatic within us.
Our Canadian soldiers set the standard at its highest and sometimes pay the ultimate price. May God Bless them.
Our unfettered freedom to express ourselves is pretty much our right in this unique, unbridled expanse of incredible global geographythat we call Canada. We became a country through exploitation and proclamation. Any historic skirmishes to solidify our borders are fairly insignificant in the big scheme of countrification history. Don’t bother to look up countrification….I just made it up.
We baby boomers and our kids have witnessed armed conflict but mostly in our living rooms. These days it's through the astounding reality of ‘imbedded reporters’.…not to dismiss flairups like those with our native Indian populations or the ongoing spats over the years between our two founding nations or the mainly peacekeeping roles our armed forces have played on the international war scene in the past 50 years.
It is this insulation that makes it so difficult for most Canadians to comprehend our emerging new role that is costing lives. But here is my view.
You see, my parents were both veterans of World War II, one English and one Canadian.
Before I really knew anything else about wars or really bad people in the world, I was taught the meaning of Remembrance Day each November 11th. This was not heavy handed or fearfully presented knowledge. Quite frankly most of the ‘war stories’ I heard from my parents were adventurous and more often than not tainted with some kind of humor. But attached to their story was a message of respect that we the younger generation should have for the sacrifice, courage, bravery and commitment made on our behalf in the defense against those who sought to conquer, destroy and exploit.
Like most of us I know nothing of armed conflict in my country. So my only right to a viewpoint is the freedom I enjoy which, speaking only for myself with thanks to my parents, I wholeheartedly try not to take for granted. The waning number of veterans on Remembrance Day provide another necessary revival of my acknowledgement to every single person who gave themselves over to preserving my freedom.
So when Canadian soldiers die in Afghanistan, how do I feel? It's not an easy question to answer.
We are constantly asked in our media saturated environment of the 21st century to drink the kool-aid of individual rights. This of course is the right to purchase every silver bullet solution that guarantees us solutions to all our problems, from whiter teeth and slim waists to millions of dollars from one little paper ticket with a few numbers on it. There is less and less of a moralistic overview of society. It's all about what "I" deserve.
When a 23 year old soldier dies in Afghanistan all of those rights are stolen from him and a family has hole in it than cannot be filled. In a country where most of the people feel their freedom is granted through a paper document and no one has ever really challenged that concept it is a natural reaction that this is little more than a governmental waste of human life.
Well, I for one and I pray there’s more like me out there, want to remember these soldiers for their bravery in going to the front lines of our battle scarred planet to defend the freedom we take for granted….the same freedom our ancestors came half way around the world to find….the same freedom generations hold as a pipe dream in conflict torn countries.
There is a harsh realty here folks. Freedom is not a right. We must stand up for freedom because there is another reality. There are bad people who will take it away if we don’t. There is another reality. These battles will scar and kill innocent people either by criminal design or the heart wrenching circumstance of wrong place at the wrong time. These events also initiate the psychological dilemma of “why did I survive instead of him….or her or that innocent bystander?”
Through those teachings of my parents, and the common knowledge I gather simply through having an interest in such things, I express the opinion that our soldiers are knowingly defending freedom under extreme risk. As far as dieing is concerned, I don’t think any normal, healthy adult in their 20’s thinks they are going to die. I know far more people who have died driving drunk, died taking extreme yet pretty much unnecessary physical risks or have died just being in the wrong place at the wrong time when senseless events occurred within our own society.
For Canada to ignore the intent of terrorists in our world is akin to other historical miscalculations like Chamberlains declaration of Hitlers lack of evil intent or the self-incrimination expressed by Solzhaneetsyn in describing how Communism got its stranglehold on Russia. Solzhaneetsyns’ Gulag Archepaelago, a soul searching account of what life in Russia became after 1917 when Tzarist ruled was ended by the rebellion and take over by the workers. He revealed a history of decades of human suffering that surpassed any before it and yet was unknown to the rest of the world. And how did this man describe it?
“We didn’t love freedom enough. In 1917 we hurried to submit. We submitted with pleasure. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
So when Canadian soldiers die in Afghanistan, I remember what was said to me by a Canadian fighter pilot I recently had the good fortune to meet and talk to. He said when we’re keeping them busy over there they don’t have time to plan other stuff.
Before I heard that, I had a much more complicated opinion. Now, I know that as a Canadian swaddled within the borders of this great, safe, nation I grieve for those soldiers killed in Afghanistan. I pray for their souls and those whose grief grips the very core of their own being. I l stand proud for these brave defenders of our freedom. I remember that their lives are not wasted because what is not worth fighting for is of questionable value. A far greater waste is a national ignorance of their sacrifice.
It is a great aspiration, the wish for peace for all mankind. Unfortunately goodness and peace is not something inherent within everyone. Terrible evil lurks in some. It takes conflict to win the battle.
As was explained to me by a well known Canadian writer in a writers workshop many years ago, if you don’t have conflict in your story, you don’t have a story. That my friends is at the core of who we are as human beings. We live the life we are meant to live when we struggle and strive for what is right with in us not what is pragmatic within us.
Our Canadian soldiers set the standard at its highest and sometimes pay the ultimate price. May God Bless them.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Gulag
When we hear of arrests in western society…
When we hear what is described as unfair treatment abusing the ‘rights’ of the arrested person…
It would be enlightening to know what being ‘arrested’ can mean.
The meaning of arrest cannot be more graphically explained than through the words of Alexandor Solzhaneetsyn in the opening chapter of Gulag Archepalego, his Pulitzer Prize winning book about life in Russia. Then, “arrest” terrorized to tens of thousands.(Page 3)
He described arrest as’ a blinding flash and a blow which shifts the present instantly into the past….The traditional image of arrest became trembling hands packing for the victim and no one knows what is permitted.’ His words scorch the pages as though synapsed from raw nerve endings to raw nerve endings, arking from memory to fingertips, to be revealed stark and real on the page so that the reader is conjoined to Solzhaneetsyns’ soul searching account of what life in Russia became after 1917 when Tzarist ruled was ended by the rebellion and take over by the workers.
He revealed a history of decades of human suffering that surpassed any before it and yet was unknown to the rest of the world And how did this man describe it?
“We didn’t love freedom enough. In 1917 we hurried to submit. We submitted with pleasure. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
“The principal revulsion you feel is against the humiliating, repulsive spiritual baseness that once was pride and implacability.”
Solzhaneetsyn asks the questions: What do you need to make you stronger? How can you stand your ground when you are weak and sensitive to pain, arrests, interrogations and prison conditions that we cannot imagine were the formidable weapons? Page 130
The reply of an old woman who held fast TO HER Christian and moral principals describes how victory comes. “There is nothing you can do to me even if you cut me to pieces. After all, you are afraid of your bosses and you are afraid of each other and you are even afraid of killing me. But I am not afraid of anything. I would be glad to be judged by God right this minute.”
Power is a poison well known for thousands of years. To the human being who has faith in some force that holds dominion over all of us and who is therefore conscious of his own limitations, power is not necessarily fatal. For those however who are unaware of any higher sphere it is a deadly poison. For them there is no antidote.
Solzhaneetsyn saw first hand evil working at its most revolting level. AS Christians we identify and knowledge where good and evil come from. God and Satan respectively. But it is difficult to describe how these forces work within us. Solzhaneetsyn says, if only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.
There is irony in these sentences because it actually describe what those in power in Russia at that time said they were doing. A human solution to the problem which we now understand to be an evolution based line of thought which assumes that all life emerged from the slime and humans are the most intelligent level of slime. Thereforeit is inherent within us to devise the perfect solution to the problem.
A.S. goes on to write; But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? One and the same human being is at various ages, under various circumstances, a totally different human being. At time he is close to being a devil, at times to sainthood.
He acknowledges God in his writing. But it seems that in this writing he chooses not to acknowledge Satan and how he flourishes in an environment and ideology that has no God present.
It is through this window though that there is stark insight that unmasks the terror and havoc that Satan creates.. The freedom we experience in the western world is built around Gods principals but they are being eroded from our laws and we need to make sure we love our freedom enough that we don’t throw it away to those who are trying to convince humanity that it’s the smartest and most intelligent force.
When we hear what is described as unfair treatment abusing the ‘rights’ of the arrested person…
It would be enlightening to know what being ‘arrested’ can mean.
The meaning of arrest cannot be more graphically explained than through the words of Alexandor Solzhaneetsyn in the opening chapter of Gulag Archepalego, his Pulitzer Prize winning book about life in Russia. Then, “arrest” terrorized to tens of thousands.(Page 3)
He described arrest as’ a blinding flash and a blow which shifts the present instantly into the past….The traditional image of arrest became trembling hands packing for the victim and no one knows what is permitted.’ His words scorch the pages as though synapsed from raw nerve endings to raw nerve endings, arking from memory to fingertips, to be revealed stark and real on the page so that the reader is conjoined to Solzhaneetsyns’ soul searching account of what life in Russia became after 1917 when Tzarist ruled was ended by the rebellion and take over by the workers.
He revealed a history of decades of human suffering that surpassed any before it and yet was unknown to the rest of the world And how did this man describe it?
“We didn’t love freedom enough. In 1917 we hurried to submit. We submitted with pleasure. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
“The principal revulsion you feel is against the humiliating, repulsive spiritual baseness that once was pride and implacability.”
Solzhaneetsyn asks the questions: What do you need to make you stronger? How can you stand your ground when you are weak and sensitive to pain, arrests, interrogations and prison conditions that we cannot imagine were the formidable weapons? Page 130
The reply of an old woman who held fast TO HER Christian and moral principals describes how victory comes. “There is nothing you can do to me even if you cut me to pieces. After all, you are afraid of your bosses and you are afraid of each other and you are even afraid of killing me. But I am not afraid of anything. I would be glad to be judged by God right this minute.”
Power is a poison well known for thousands of years. To the human being who has faith in some force that holds dominion over all of us and who is therefore conscious of his own limitations, power is not necessarily fatal. For those however who are unaware of any higher sphere it is a deadly poison. For them there is no antidote.
Solzhaneetsyn saw first hand evil working at its most revolting level. AS Christians we identify and knowledge where good and evil come from. God and Satan respectively. But it is difficult to describe how these forces work within us. Solzhaneetsyn says, if only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.
There is irony in these sentences because it actually describe what those in power in Russia at that time said they were doing. A human solution to the problem which we now understand to be an evolution based line of thought which assumes that all life emerged from the slime and humans are the most intelligent level of slime. Thereforeit is inherent within us to devise the perfect solution to the problem.
A.S. goes on to write; But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? One and the same human being is at various ages, under various circumstances, a totally different human being. At time he is close to being a devil, at times to sainthood.
He acknowledges God in his writing. But it seems that in this writing he chooses not to acknowledge Satan and how he flourishes in an environment and ideology that has no God present.
It is through this window though that there is stark insight that unmasks the terror and havoc that Satan creates.. The freedom we experience in the western world is built around Gods principals but they are being eroded from our laws and we need to make sure we love our freedom enough that we don’t throw it away to those who are trying to convince humanity that it’s the smartest and most intelligent force.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
About the three Bibles on my nightstand
Let me tell you about the three Bibles on my nightstand.
Hands down, the Bible is the world’s most popular book. It is also maintained that many Bibles are never read. In our house, there are at least 6 and I’m pretty certain that if I searched a bit there are two or three more.
Probably the most and best used of these is that of my mother-in law, Rolette Proskiw. It was literally worn out from daily use over many years. I wish I could say that the three next to my bed are witness to her level of devotion to God’s Word…but I can’t. The reason these Bibles are there is because they do represent compelling evidence that the Lord watched over me during too many years when I most certainly never considered Him to be the master of my life. Not that I wasn’t presented with opportunities but my human weakness –my human nature- mistakenly thought it was me in control of all the important decisions in my life.
The oldest of these Bibles is a black, hard covered New Testament. The binding is broken and it must be carefully held together when picked up. Incredibly, no pages are missing. Inside the front cover is the name M.H.D.Allen, my grandmother. I remember her with the memory of a boy between the ages of five and 13. During those years, we lived in the same home in southeastern Nova Scotia in a tiny village named Sable River West. It is the only time we ever spent together except through photographs, letters and possibly the occasional long distance phone call. Sable River West is also inscribed on the inside cover of this New Testament, printed in London, England in 1921. I did the math to figure out that my grandmother would have been 34 or older when she received this Bible.
I don’t know a lot about her Christian life, but I do remember an extremely warm-hearted person and enough family history to know that she held firm Baptist beliefs. The signature and the writing of Sable River West in the New Testament I recognize as her distinctive elegant penmanship. Inside the next blank page is a handwritten Bible verse that is obviously not her writing. I assume the person who gave her this New Testament wrote it. There is no identifying signature. The verse from the Old Testament is Psalm 1-3.
And he shall be like the tree planted by the rivers of waters that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The giver of this Bible seems to have carefully chosen a verse that points to the enrichment and reward that lies within the wisdom of God. Whether or not this particular gift opened the door for my grandmothers’ life with Christ I can’t say but it seems there was clear Christian intent and knowledge from some one.
I’m sure my grandmother had other Bibles although this one was obviously well used and at some point had been scotch taped by what must have been some of the earliest scotch tape ever made. This New Testament was among my Dad’s personal possessions. My mother gave it to me along with other items. My Dad has been gone for a number of years. I really had no clear recollection of having it in my possession until this past year.
An authorized King James Version in extremely fine print is the second Bible on my nightstand. Given to me by my grandmother, the first page, in perfect lettering says presented to: Glenn Terrence Allen by Grammie Allen Date March 3, 1958. That was 19 days before my 10th birthday. Regrettably I have no recollection at all of receiving this gift. There are a few verses marked or highlighted in red pencil that could have been marked during Sunday school at the Baptist church in Sable River West or verses she wanted me to read. This Bible spent many, many years lying alone in drawers or boxes. All I can say with certainty is that some of the seeds of my Christian beliefs were planted with the help of this Bible and the person who gave it to me.
Inscribed inside the cover of the third Bible, also a King James Version but larger than the previous one and with bigger print are the words:
Presented to Glenn (Valerie) Allen and family
By Mother Rolette Proskiw
Date January 20, 1977.
Please read often to the family.
I have often described Rolette as the perfect mother-in-law. God presented her with many challenges including that of raising five children with out their father –taken from them by cancer when four of them were challenging teenagers. Rolette had a faith so large and strong that she was able to know that her heavenly Father would see her through the most difficult of days and give her many days and moments of joy. So the fact that her second youngest daughter married a hippy looking guy, going to college who would ultimately take her several hundred miles away did not prevent her from loving her son-in-law and never having a harsh word for him even though he probably didn’t fit even her wildest dream of a fitting husband for her daughter.
The events of this gift of a Bible, which was given to us 5 years after our marriage, are also not significant in my memory. But these days, sometimes during Bible study in our home I will bring out this Bible to read a ‘classic’ version of scripture we are studying to contrast the NIV study Bible we use.
It has been over 5 years now that Val and I have rediscovered and recommitted our lives to service in Christ and more significantly for my self I now clearly understand that the Lord must be put at the head of my personal life and I work to fulfill that commitment every day to the best of my abilities. This includes daily Bible verse reading and prayer.
And these Bibles on my nightstand, well they are a small token of appreciation to my Heavenly Father. His greatest and free gift to me is salvation through Jesus Christ,
But the ‘Bible gifts’ inconspicuously accompanying me along life’s path ensured that I would come to the time in my life when I would finally know His incredible and unconditional love for me and fully accept Jesus as the unchallenged leader of my life.
And he shall be like the tree planted by the rivers of waters that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The prophesy of these words written some 80 years ago enriches the knowledge of Gods plan for each of us and the incredible detail he prepares in advance.
God and his infinite love gently guided me to the circumstances where I could become a new improved Christian over the past few years. I have never been so filled with joy and I am overwhelmed with the certainty that it was no accident! He just waited for me to throw open the door to my heart and let the light flood in instead of seep in through a tiny little crack. I praise God and I love His Son with all my heart.
Hands down, the Bible is the world’s most popular book. It is also maintained that many Bibles are never read. In our house, there are at least 6 and I’m pretty certain that if I searched a bit there are two or three more.
Probably the most and best used of these is that of my mother-in law, Rolette Proskiw. It was literally worn out from daily use over many years. I wish I could say that the three next to my bed are witness to her level of devotion to God’s Word…but I can’t. The reason these Bibles are there is because they do represent compelling evidence that the Lord watched over me during too many years when I most certainly never considered Him to be the master of my life. Not that I wasn’t presented with opportunities but my human weakness –my human nature- mistakenly thought it was me in control of all the important decisions in my life.
The oldest of these Bibles is a black, hard covered New Testament. The binding is broken and it must be carefully held together when picked up. Incredibly, no pages are missing. Inside the front cover is the name M.H.D.Allen, my grandmother. I remember her with the memory of a boy between the ages of five and 13. During those years, we lived in the same home in southeastern Nova Scotia in a tiny village named Sable River West. It is the only time we ever spent together except through photographs, letters and possibly the occasional long distance phone call. Sable River West is also inscribed on the inside cover of this New Testament, printed in London, England in 1921. I did the math to figure out that my grandmother would have been 34 or older when she received this Bible.
I don’t know a lot about her Christian life, but I do remember an extremely warm-hearted person and enough family history to know that she held firm Baptist beliefs. The signature and the writing of Sable River West in the New Testament I recognize as her distinctive elegant penmanship. Inside the next blank page is a handwritten Bible verse that is obviously not her writing. I assume the person who gave her this New Testament wrote it. There is no identifying signature. The verse from the Old Testament is Psalm 1-3.
And he shall be like the tree planted by the rivers of waters that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The giver of this Bible seems to have carefully chosen a verse that points to the enrichment and reward that lies within the wisdom of God. Whether or not this particular gift opened the door for my grandmothers’ life with Christ I can’t say but it seems there was clear Christian intent and knowledge from some one.
I’m sure my grandmother had other Bibles although this one was obviously well used and at some point had been scotch taped by what must have been some of the earliest scotch tape ever made. This New Testament was among my Dad’s personal possessions. My mother gave it to me along with other items. My Dad has been gone for a number of years. I really had no clear recollection of having it in my possession until this past year.
An authorized King James Version in extremely fine print is the second Bible on my nightstand. Given to me by my grandmother, the first page, in perfect lettering says presented to: Glenn Terrence Allen by Grammie Allen Date March 3, 1958. That was 19 days before my 10th birthday. Regrettably I have no recollection at all of receiving this gift. There are a few verses marked or highlighted in red pencil that could have been marked during Sunday school at the Baptist church in Sable River West or verses she wanted me to read. This Bible spent many, many years lying alone in drawers or boxes. All I can say with certainty is that some of the seeds of my Christian beliefs were planted with the help of this Bible and the person who gave it to me.
Inscribed inside the cover of the third Bible, also a King James Version but larger than the previous one and with bigger print are the words:
Presented to Glenn (Valerie) Allen and family
By Mother Rolette Proskiw
Date January 20, 1977.
Please read often to the family.
I have often described Rolette as the perfect mother-in-law. God presented her with many challenges including that of raising five children with out their father –taken from them by cancer when four of them were challenging teenagers. Rolette had a faith so large and strong that she was able to know that her heavenly Father would see her through the most difficult of days and give her many days and moments of joy. So the fact that her second youngest daughter married a hippy looking guy, going to college who would ultimately take her several hundred miles away did not prevent her from loving her son-in-law and never having a harsh word for him even though he probably didn’t fit even her wildest dream of a fitting husband for her daughter.
The events of this gift of a Bible, which was given to us 5 years after our marriage, are also not significant in my memory. But these days, sometimes during Bible study in our home I will bring out this Bible to read a ‘classic’ version of scripture we are studying to contrast the NIV study Bible we use.
It has been over 5 years now that Val and I have rediscovered and recommitted our lives to service in Christ and more significantly for my self I now clearly understand that the Lord must be put at the head of my personal life and I work to fulfill that commitment every day to the best of my abilities. This includes daily Bible verse reading and prayer.
And these Bibles on my nightstand, well they are a small token of appreciation to my Heavenly Father. His greatest and free gift to me is salvation through Jesus Christ,
But the ‘Bible gifts’ inconspicuously accompanying me along life’s path ensured that I would come to the time in my life when I would finally know His incredible and unconditional love for me and fully accept Jesus as the unchallenged leader of my life.
And he shall be like the tree planted by the rivers of waters that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The prophesy of these words written some 80 years ago enriches the knowledge of Gods plan for each of us and the incredible detail he prepares in advance.
God and his infinite love gently guided me to the circumstances where I could become a new improved Christian over the past few years. I have never been so filled with joy and I am overwhelmed with the certainty that it was no accident! He just waited for me to throw open the door to my heart and let the light flood in instead of seep in through a tiny little crack. I praise God and I love His Son with all my heart.
The Spirit within us...
6 years into the 21st Century, it seems that God is guiding history in a direction that is going to draw Christian, Islamic and Jewish believers closer than they’ve ever been.
Geographically we see increasing migration into each other’s dominant territories.
Philosophically we have historically high exposure and access to information and views that validate these three different belief paths that ultimately lead us back through the descendents of Abraham to Almighty God.
Fearfully and sometimes accusingly the world witnesses the horrors of angry conflict that accompany extreme rigidity in the belief of absolute right and wrong and the influence of those who exploit these differences for their own agendas.
As if to prove to those who claim that the human race has defied all common sense odds and reason, to evolve from single cells in slime to the top of the intelligence ladder, God seems out to demonstrate we are His Own creation in His Own image and within us, there are complexities to humanity far, far above our ability to comprehend.
Until about 5 centuries ago there really was no credence whatsoever given to the concept that there is no such thing as an unseen or “parallel” universe…a place wherein a power resides that rules over everything in the world that we live in. From the question: “What if there is no god?” grew the concept of evolution.
In its extreme implementation, the world witnessed the horrendous flaws in this concept when Lenin was able to achieve control of a disillusioned population in Russia and ultimately failed to snuff out the undeniable reality that God is encoded within us.
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries another more subtle approach to godless thinking concentrates on ‘factual proof’ of evolution, a university centered sociological bias that empowers and entitles each and every human being to have an opinion that is right and that wrong is not your fault or a sinful nature but more plausibly a bad decision that can usually be blamed on how your mother raised you, a corporate evil empire that controls privilege or chauvinistic intolerance. This is proving to be a powerful argument in the sense that it desensitizes the concept of right and wrong which is a cornerstone of religious belief.
However there is increasing statistical validity to an increasing gravitation toward the original human sense that there is a spiritual component within us that is not touchable or visible but undeniably truthful in its existence. Of course if that is true then it is also true that there is undeniable ‘untruth’.
There are also more controversial confirming statistics that indicate that the most growth in spiritual belief is that as described in the Christian Bible and specifically in the Triune God as told through the story of Jesus Christ.
Trinity is not an easy concept for the human mind to wrap itself around even for most Christians. Ultimately and firstly, it requires the acceptance of an Almighty God with whom all outcomes rest or are known in advance. Secondly we believe that Gods’ omnipotence, Jesus Christ, came to earth through a virgin birth, walked among humans as one of them and conscripted the disciples who would spearhead the deliverance of His message to future generations. Thirdly we believe that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and His ascension to Heaven, the Holy Spirit was made available to every child of God for the rest of time for the rest of their lives from the moment of salvation. This free gift accepted through faith in what is unseen guarantees our ticket to eternal life.
One of the best introductions to Jesus Christ is presented through the Alpha program which has spread exponentially around the world as a non denominational, exceptionally frank and truthful look at the incredible story of Jesus and his life guiding, life changing message.
The truth in the story of Jesus is what Christians hold up as Gods’ Living Word in comparison to the Laws of Moses and the writings of Mohammed.
The strength of belief is super human. There is no measuring the strength of belief established in a fully mature expression of faith whether it comes from a Christian, Jewish or Islamic belief system or for that matter other religions.
Changing beliefs also requires superhuman achievement or divine intervention. Ultimately it must be rooted in a pursuit and desire to go in the direction of what is the truth.
The most controversial of these truths requires examination of three central figures: Moses, Mohammed and Jesus. If Jesus is who He claims, God made known to us in perfectness, albeit in a human form by all earthly standards, then He is delivering the truth.
Moses and Mohammed make no such claims to divinity. Their credence is empowered through direct wisdom from God.
Believing that Jesus too was ‘just’ a man makes the leap of faith that He asks for a much more difficult or even impossible decision to make.
Obeying Laws and measuring heavenly worth in deeds seem better measuring sticks of allegiance to God or Allah.
God as our all powerful creator and heavenly Father, would not mistakenly open the gates to our heavenly home by earthly means and actions. The truth is we must believe in what is not seen and know the truth that he sent Jesus for our eternal salvation.
Geographically we see increasing migration into each other’s dominant territories.
Philosophically we have historically high exposure and access to information and views that validate these three different belief paths that ultimately lead us back through the descendents of Abraham to Almighty God.
Fearfully and sometimes accusingly the world witnesses the horrors of angry conflict that accompany extreme rigidity in the belief of absolute right and wrong and the influence of those who exploit these differences for their own agendas.
As if to prove to those who claim that the human race has defied all common sense odds and reason, to evolve from single cells in slime to the top of the intelligence ladder, God seems out to demonstrate we are His Own creation in His Own image and within us, there are complexities to humanity far, far above our ability to comprehend.
Until about 5 centuries ago there really was no credence whatsoever given to the concept that there is no such thing as an unseen or “parallel” universe…a place wherein a power resides that rules over everything in the world that we live in. From the question: “What if there is no god?” grew the concept of evolution.
In its extreme implementation, the world witnessed the horrendous flaws in this concept when Lenin was able to achieve control of a disillusioned population in Russia and ultimately failed to snuff out the undeniable reality that God is encoded within us.
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries another more subtle approach to godless thinking concentrates on ‘factual proof’ of evolution, a university centered sociological bias that empowers and entitles each and every human being to have an opinion that is right and that wrong is not your fault or a sinful nature but more plausibly a bad decision that can usually be blamed on how your mother raised you, a corporate evil empire that controls privilege or chauvinistic intolerance. This is proving to be a powerful argument in the sense that it desensitizes the concept of right and wrong which is a cornerstone of religious belief.
However there is increasing statistical validity to an increasing gravitation toward the original human sense that there is a spiritual component within us that is not touchable or visible but undeniably truthful in its existence. Of course if that is true then it is also true that there is undeniable ‘untruth’.
There are also more controversial confirming statistics that indicate that the most growth in spiritual belief is that as described in the Christian Bible and specifically in the Triune God as told through the story of Jesus Christ.
Trinity is not an easy concept for the human mind to wrap itself around even for most Christians. Ultimately and firstly, it requires the acceptance of an Almighty God with whom all outcomes rest or are known in advance. Secondly we believe that Gods’ omnipotence, Jesus Christ, came to earth through a virgin birth, walked among humans as one of them and conscripted the disciples who would spearhead the deliverance of His message to future generations. Thirdly we believe that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and His ascension to Heaven, the Holy Spirit was made available to every child of God for the rest of time for the rest of their lives from the moment of salvation. This free gift accepted through faith in what is unseen guarantees our ticket to eternal life.
One of the best introductions to Jesus Christ is presented through the Alpha program which has spread exponentially around the world as a non denominational, exceptionally frank and truthful look at the incredible story of Jesus and his life guiding, life changing message.
The truth in the story of Jesus is what Christians hold up as Gods’ Living Word in comparison to the Laws of Moses and the writings of Mohammed.
The strength of belief is super human. There is no measuring the strength of belief established in a fully mature expression of faith whether it comes from a Christian, Jewish or Islamic belief system or for that matter other religions.
Changing beliefs also requires superhuman achievement or divine intervention. Ultimately it must be rooted in a pursuit and desire to go in the direction of what is the truth.
The most controversial of these truths requires examination of three central figures: Moses, Mohammed and Jesus. If Jesus is who He claims, God made known to us in perfectness, albeit in a human form by all earthly standards, then He is delivering the truth.
Moses and Mohammed make no such claims to divinity. Their credence is empowered through direct wisdom from God.
Believing that Jesus too was ‘just’ a man makes the leap of faith that He asks for a much more difficult or even impossible decision to make.
Obeying Laws and measuring heavenly worth in deeds seem better measuring sticks of allegiance to God or Allah.
God as our all powerful creator and heavenly Father, would not mistakenly open the gates to our heavenly home by earthly means and actions. The truth is we must believe in what is not seen and know the truth that he sent Jesus for our eternal salvation.
Why Read the Bible
In his New York Times bestseller, The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren explores the question, What On Earth Am I Here For?
In answering that question he says our time on earth should be used to “practice” the kinds of things we will do during our eternal life in heaven and he defines those activities worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism.
Rick Warren quotes nearly a 1000 Bible verses from 15 different Bible translations in his book. He makes the case that the Bible is the Manual God provides so that we make the best possible use of our short time on earth.
Rick Warren has endeavored to broaden for his readers the meaning of Bible verses by comparing translations and paraphrasing in an attempt to let readers view Gods truth in a broadened perspective.
My incredible realization that the Bible provides every guideline to live the life God intends for us has been a springboard for me to work harder to fully understand this Manual.
I think I’m like a lot of people who consider themselves Christians. Through faith, I truly have accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior but in no way can I consider myself devoted to studying Scripture to a level where I freely quote it and intimately know the structure of the Bible.
In my mind I’ve often made the excuse that I just am not the kind of person who memorizes easily. And I am deeply moved when Scripture is explained and brought alive by people gifted with such ability. But I personally struggle to read and receive deep understanding when its just me and my Bible. It just always sounds better coming from someone else.
I don’t know if there are others like me….. I struggle with all Manuals unless they are very simply constructed with lots of simple drawings to explain the instructions. Most pieces of new technology that become available these days..and there’s a steady stream of them, come with a thick manual. I know that I manage to get the bare basics out of them but more often than not do not get the full understanding that is available.
So if I understand and believe that the Bible is the most important manual I will ever lay my hands upon I had better figure out how to use it to its maximum capability.
In knowing that it truly is Gods’ handbook for our lives, it is amazing how new and deeper meaning keeps coming out of its pages even as civilization challenges and expands the boundaries of knowledge at record pace.
I read Hemmingways’ explanation of good writing once. He described it as the ability to explain something very complicated in a simple easy to understand way. I think that is what God has done as He uses easy to understand examples to explain what He is trying to get across to us. But sometimes his examples are not easy to understand at least from a laymans point of view.
In answering that question he says our time on earth should be used to “practice” the kinds of things we will do during our eternal life in heaven and he defines those activities worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism.
Rick Warren quotes nearly a 1000 Bible verses from 15 different Bible translations in his book. He makes the case that the Bible is the Manual God provides so that we make the best possible use of our short time on earth.
Rick Warren has endeavored to broaden for his readers the meaning of Bible verses by comparing translations and paraphrasing in an attempt to let readers view Gods truth in a broadened perspective.
My incredible realization that the Bible provides every guideline to live the life God intends for us has been a springboard for me to work harder to fully understand this Manual.
I think I’m like a lot of people who consider themselves Christians. Through faith, I truly have accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior but in no way can I consider myself devoted to studying Scripture to a level where I freely quote it and intimately know the structure of the Bible.
In my mind I’ve often made the excuse that I just am not the kind of person who memorizes easily. And I am deeply moved when Scripture is explained and brought alive by people gifted with such ability. But I personally struggle to read and receive deep understanding when its just me and my Bible. It just always sounds better coming from someone else.
I don’t know if there are others like me….. I struggle with all Manuals unless they are very simply constructed with lots of simple drawings to explain the instructions. Most pieces of new technology that become available these days..and there’s a steady stream of them, come with a thick manual. I know that I manage to get the bare basics out of them but more often than not do not get the full understanding that is available.
So if I understand and believe that the Bible is the most important manual I will ever lay my hands upon I had better figure out how to use it to its maximum capability.
In knowing that it truly is Gods’ handbook for our lives, it is amazing how new and deeper meaning keeps coming out of its pages even as civilization challenges and expands the boundaries of knowledge at record pace.
I read Hemmingways’ explanation of good writing once. He described it as the ability to explain something very complicated in a simple easy to understand way. I think that is what God has done as He uses easy to understand examples to explain what He is trying to get across to us. But sometimes his examples are not easy to understand at least from a laymans point of view.
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Does the Bible Explain Evil and Suffering?
Many people share this predicament when considering Christian faith. If God is good and has power over all, why does he allow evil and suffering? Albert Einstein, the greatest scientist of the last Century saw the orderly and designed nature of the universe as revealing intelligence superior to all of human intelligence – the result of a mind not coincidence. But Einstein could not come to understand the contradiction of why a God this powerful would allow evil and suffering. A deeper look at Einstein’s premise that humans are essentially robots severely limited his ability to think his dilemma through to a Christian conclusion. Any conclusion is only as good as the premise on which it is based. A number of books are available which explain Einstein’s’ grappling with God. However this is a problem people throughout history have tried to answer with something other than a biblical solution.
In their book, How Now Shall We Live, Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcy detail five of the most common false solutions and the explanation that comes from Scripture. This is just one chapter in a powerful book. Briefly here are their points.
The most common false solution is that God doesn’t exist. This means that events are just natures’ random actions, not good or evil. So look at this. If we’re just part of nature (which is what we are if we are not created by God and put on this earth by Him for a purpose) why does evil and suffering deeply disturb us? Why do we cry out, “Why is this happening to me?” Why do atheists get angry at a God that doesn’t exist or out of instinct point blame for bad things at some unknown force and possibly look skyward when they do it?
There are others, and this is the second false solution, deny suffering exists. This is a particular view point of Christian Science and other religions. This line of thought literally convinces you that it’s all in your mind. Denying reality can have serious consequences. You probably don’t know that four of Richard Nixon’s closest advisors were Christian Scientists. Charles Colson mentions this fact in the book I referred to a few moments ago. Mr. Colson admits he made his own mistakes, as a close Nixon advisor and he went to jail for them, but his observation is insightful, that if we do not believe in evil we cannot cope with reality when it hits us in the face. Realistically, do you think you can make suffering go away by convincing yourself it doesn’t exist?
The third false solution some people come to is that God is at a place totally above anything we humans can comprehend. So what’s the point of getting angry with God if he’s not even connected to our reality? How could God understand our pain and our suffering if He is a universe unto Himself? If that were the case talking to God wouldn’t change anything.
Solution # four: God’s power is limited. This line of thinking rationalizes that God is still working on becoming all-powerful and that someday he will be able to prevent bad things from happening. Like He’s still trying to figure how to be all-powerful. That won’t make us feel any better today or maybe for generations. Be patient. I’m still evolving. It sounds a little bit like Tim the tool man Taylor.
The fifth false solution is that God created evil to achieve a greater good. Philosopher John Hick has described this position in a book titled Evil and the God of Love. He states that struggle for good is necessary for us to freely choose God. However this draws the conclusion that God created evil. What would be the sense or logic in worshipping a God that requires evil as part of human destiny? This is not to say that God doesn’t get good things from bad. But that is different than saying God put the bad things there as part of the plan.
So none of these explanations properly answer what every sensitive person asks. Why does God allow evil and suffering?
What the Bible teaches is that God is good and he created a universe that was very good.
Scripture also teaches that the universe is marred by evil and suffering. For both of these statements to be true then there must be a source of sin, outside of God. And that is what the Bible tells us. A part of human intelligence is freedom. This is the right to choose to obey or disobey the goodness and the perfection of God. When Adam and Eve made their first decisions to disobey, sin was created which is the spiritual realm of Satan. This establishes that sin entered the world at a particular point in history, not in the beginning.
The reason God can comfort us is because he did not create evil. Don’t you think that God hates what sin has done? However, fully creating humans meant that they must be able to make choices and therein lay the risk of choosing between good and evil.
Being that he is the God of goodness also meant that when he looked ahead to the evil and suffering we would suffer in consequence to sinfulness, he decided to create us anyway. The alternative would have been to end human history with Adam and Eve.
In addition He turned sin into the means of salvation. He took on all the punishment Satan dished out through the God-man Jesus Christ. Who but God could have figured out a Divine Justice whereby Jesus would die on the cross for all sins until the end of time?
This is how much God loves us.
Only the Bible explains the true meaning and true significance of evil and suffering
When we fully trust this truth, we can come to worship our Creator with every fibre in our being.
We can submit to a feeling of completeness that no other lesser explanation achieves when we accept Jesus Christ dieing on the cross and being resurrected as the single expression of God’s will that reconnects us to the good and perfect creation that we were in the beginning. It is nothing that we can earn. It is a gift given to us by our Heavenly Father. All we must do is accept it.
In their book, How Now Shall We Live, Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcy detail five of the most common false solutions and the explanation that comes from Scripture. This is just one chapter in a powerful book. Briefly here are their points.
The most common false solution is that God doesn’t exist. This means that events are just natures’ random actions, not good or evil. So look at this. If we’re just part of nature (which is what we are if we are not created by God and put on this earth by Him for a purpose) why does evil and suffering deeply disturb us? Why do we cry out, “Why is this happening to me?” Why do atheists get angry at a God that doesn’t exist or out of instinct point blame for bad things at some unknown force and possibly look skyward when they do it?
There are others, and this is the second false solution, deny suffering exists. This is a particular view point of Christian Science and other religions. This line of thought literally convinces you that it’s all in your mind. Denying reality can have serious consequences. You probably don’t know that four of Richard Nixon’s closest advisors were Christian Scientists. Charles Colson mentions this fact in the book I referred to a few moments ago. Mr. Colson admits he made his own mistakes, as a close Nixon advisor and he went to jail for them, but his observation is insightful, that if we do not believe in evil we cannot cope with reality when it hits us in the face. Realistically, do you think you can make suffering go away by convincing yourself it doesn’t exist?
The third false solution some people come to is that God is at a place totally above anything we humans can comprehend. So what’s the point of getting angry with God if he’s not even connected to our reality? How could God understand our pain and our suffering if He is a universe unto Himself? If that were the case talking to God wouldn’t change anything.
Solution # four: God’s power is limited. This line of thinking rationalizes that God is still working on becoming all-powerful and that someday he will be able to prevent bad things from happening. Like He’s still trying to figure how to be all-powerful. That won’t make us feel any better today or maybe for generations. Be patient. I’m still evolving. It sounds a little bit like Tim the tool man Taylor.
The fifth false solution is that God created evil to achieve a greater good. Philosopher John Hick has described this position in a book titled Evil and the God of Love. He states that struggle for good is necessary for us to freely choose God. However this draws the conclusion that God created evil. What would be the sense or logic in worshipping a God that requires evil as part of human destiny? This is not to say that God doesn’t get good things from bad. But that is different than saying God put the bad things there as part of the plan.
So none of these explanations properly answer what every sensitive person asks. Why does God allow evil and suffering?
What the Bible teaches is that God is good and he created a universe that was very good.
Scripture also teaches that the universe is marred by evil and suffering. For both of these statements to be true then there must be a source of sin, outside of God. And that is what the Bible tells us. A part of human intelligence is freedom. This is the right to choose to obey or disobey the goodness and the perfection of God. When Adam and Eve made their first decisions to disobey, sin was created which is the spiritual realm of Satan. This establishes that sin entered the world at a particular point in history, not in the beginning.
The reason God can comfort us is because he did not create evil. Don’t you think that God hates what sin has done? However, fully creating humans meant that they must be able to make choices and therein lay the risk of choosing between good and evil.
Being that he is the God of goodness also meant that when he looked ahead to the evil and suffering we would suffer in consequence to sinfulness, he decided to create us anyway. The alternative would have been to end human history with Adam and Eve.
In addition He turned sin into the means of salvation. He took on all the punishment Satan dished out through the God-man Jesus Christ. Who but God could have figured out a Divine Justice whereby Jesus would die on the cross for all sins until the end of time?
This is how much God loves us.
Only the Bible explains the true meaning and true significance of evil and suffering
When we fully trust this truth, we can come to worship our Creator with every fibre in our being.
We can submit to a feeling of completeness that no other lesser explanation achieves when we accept Jesus Christ dieing on the cross and being resurrected as the single expression of God’s will that reconnects us to the good and perfect creation that we were in the beginning. It is nothing that we can earn. It is a gift given to us by our Heavenly Father. All we must do is accept it.
DON'T LEAVE ANYTHING TO CHANCE
Don’t leave anything to chance…
Isn’t that an expression we use when we’re trying to make sure something works out?
We try to foresee every possibility; pay close attention to the smallest detail.
Isn’t this really a process whereby we see ourselves achieving perfection which we believe represents the highest level of success…when what we are trying to do works out perfectly.
When I heard this phrase used recently, it resounded as a piece of potentially irrefutable evidence in the ongoing discourse that debates the origin of the human race.
Did we evolve – are we the result of random, sequential events against all reasonable mathematical odds…
Or:
Are we Gods’ creation - begun in the Garden of Eden as described in the Bible; part of an exactly executed plan by the Lord of the universe?
Sometimes rational people try combining these divergent lines of thinking. I have heard a ‘devout’ Christian express the belief that evolution occurred as the scientists say but at a certain period in history God entered the picture and in a magic kind of way changed these evolved creatures into His people and at that point the story in the Bible began.
Is this not a severe questioning of the Bible?
Non acceptance of God as Creator and Ruler of the universe was less challenged by Albert Einstein. As he developed his deep knowledge of the universe around him he became convinced that the perfection he always discovered was no accident. It had to be the work of someone with a master plan.
Einsteins’ problems with God laid within his inability to reconcile that kind of power with the realities of good and evil and pain and suffering he saw in the human condition and why if there was a God with such power He allowed pain in the world.
The fact we as humans desire perfection is a total validation that humanity is a God Creation. Perfection leaves nothing to chance.
Whereas if you truly believe we have evolved – by chance- why would your core belief not be that random, accidental chains of events over time are what produces perfection?
I think that when we believe: Thy will be done…………..Gods’ will be done;
That is the acknowledgement of the real truth at our center – from the day of our creation onwards.
When we attempt to apply a human standard of perfection we are falling far, far short of what perfection really means.
Doing what comes natural to us is to try for perfection.
Knowing and understanding that only Jesus Christ who walked as one of us achieved that goal frees us from the bondage of believing that perfection is attainable on earth by humans.
Believing that human endeavor can encompass and envision every eventuality goes against the very supposition that the human process began in the slime and followed along an evolutionary pathway leading to a time of human perfection.
Leaving nothing to chance mean the exact opposite. It means putting trust in our Creator who controls the final outcome and already knows what that outcome will be.
Leaving nothing to chance is the way we should try to live our lives especially because we are dealing with our eternity. We are more than a microscopic, evolutionary pixel on the high resolution screen of nature. We are Gods’ children and he wants us all, of our own free will to turn towards Him.
When you truly aspire to leave nothing to chance, you reach for perfection in every thing you do knowing Gods will means understanding that you will not achieve perfection until you move up to heaven. God put the quest for perfection in our hearts and he allows us to see glimpses of it in the universe that surrounds us..
Isn’t that an expression we use when we’re trying to make sure something works out?
We try to foresee every possibility; pay close attention to the smallest detail.
Isn’t this really a process whereby we see ourselves achieving perfection which we believe represents the highest level of success…when what we are trying to do works out perfectly.
When I heard this phrase used recently, it resounded as a piece of potentially irrefutable evidence in the ongoing discourse that debates the origin of the human race.
Did we evolve – are we the result of random, sequential events against all reasonable mathematical odds…
Or:
Are we Gods’ creation - begun in the Garden of Eden as described in the Bible; part of an exactly executed plan by the Lord of the universe?
Sometimes rational people try combining these divergent lines of thinking. I have heard a ‘devout’ Christian express the belief that evolution occurred as the scientists say but at a certain period in history God entered the picture and in a magic kind of way changed these evolved creatures into His people and at that point the story in the Bible began.
Is this not a severe questioning of the Bible?
Non acceptance of God as Creator and Ruler of the universe was less challenged by Albert Einstein. As he developed his deep knowledge of the universe around him he became convinced that the perfection he always discovered was no accident. It had to be the work of someone with a master plan.
Einsteins’ problems with God laid within his inability to reconcile that kind of power with the realities of good and evil and pain and suffering he saw in the human condition and why if there was a God with such power He allowed pain in the world.
The fact we as humans desire perfection is a total validation that humanity is a God Creation. Perfection leaves nothing to chance.
Whereas if you truly believe we have evolved – by chance- why would your core belief not be that random, accidental chains of events over time are what produces perfection?
I think that when we believe: Thy will be done…………..Gods’ will be done;
That is the acknowledgement of the real truth at our center – from the day of our creation onwards.
When we attempt to apply a human standard of perfection we are falling far, far short of what perfection really means.
Doing what comes natural to us is to try for perfection.
Knowing and understanding that only Jesus Christ who walked as one of us achieved that goal frees us from the bondage of believing that perfection is attainable on earth by humans.
Believing that human endeavor can encompass and envision every eventuality goes against the very supposition that the human process began in the slime and followed along an evolutionary pathway leading to a time of human perfection.
Leaving nothing to chance mean the exact opposite. It means putting trust in our Creator who controls the final outcome and already knows what that outcome will be.
Leaving nothing to chance is the way we should try to live our lives especially because we are dealing with our eternity. We are more than a microscopic, evolutionary pixel on the high resolution screen of nature. We are Gods’ children and he wants us all, of our own free will to turn towards Him.
When you truly aspire to leave nothing to chance, you reach for perfection in every thing you do knowing Gods will means understanding that you will not achieve perfection until you move up to heaven. God put the quest for perfection in our hearts and he allows us to see glimpses of it in the universe that surrounds us..
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Finding Faith
Finding your faith
Do you feel that God is in your life?
Do you thank Him nearly every morning for a new day?
Do songs from church cause you to sing them or hum them or whistle them throughout the day?
Do you have spiritual reading material?
Do you read the Bible because you want to?
Does Gods presence help you enjoy your workday and the people around you?
Or is your life a little different than that?
You feel no one understands the problems in your life and there’s no one that you can turn to.
The act of waking up and getting ready for work puts you in a bad mood.
Your favorite rock radio station that came on with the alarm gives you some obscene words to sing.
Reading is restricted to only what is required and certainly not something to be enjoyed or enlightening.
You have a Bible given to you by your grandmother when you were young but you haven’t seen it or even remembered it in years.
Work is something to be endured and from which there is no escape because it makes the money you need to survive and stay ahead of the bill collectors.
Putting up with the idiots is worse than the work.
Taking the first step toward finding your faith is asking God to tell you about himself. This acknowledgement allows Gods presence, which by the way is available to everyone of us, to enter your life. When you turn toward God you turn away from yourself in the sense that when you accept Gods plan fro your life, hand in hand comes the realization that the reason for feeling unable to make your life joyful is mainly caused by following the wrong plan. Like it should be you at the center of your world.
When you drive by a construction site and see a new project rising out of the ground, whether it’s a house or a high rise you see workers busy at many different jobs. If you continue to drive by that site every so often you will see whatever it is they’re building, take shape and eventually all signs of construction disappear and they’re this new facility complete with landscaping, and regular looking people coming and going.
The reason those workers complete the job properly is because there’s a plan for them to follow, a set of blueprints, a thick sheaf of engineers drawings covering every detail of what is required to achieve the finished product. And don’t believe they get it perfect. As the workers follow those plans they find errors and omissions and sometimes they come up with better ideas that cause the plan to be changed. But imagine if those workers showed up and were simply directed to build say a 10 story building and given only a few photographs of something similar to go by. What kind of building do you think they could build…without knowledge of exact dimensions or the specific structural requirements and buildings codes?
That is what choosing to live you life without Gods plan is like. When you choose to fully accept Jesus Christ as your only savior and you fully accept that God has a specific and exact plan for you personally, you want to know how to follow that plan and know its details. God’s word is the blueprint and once you begin to trust and understand that His plan for you will make itself known to you each and every day for the rest of your life here on earth.
Trusting God, loving Jesus and having the Holy Spirit working within you will bring you a life with riches you could never imagine when you were trying to live life with only your own insights and capabilities at you disposal.
Do you feel that God is in your life?
Do you thank Him nearly every morning for a new day?
Do songs from church cause you to sing them or hum them or whistle them throughout the day?
Do you have spiritual reading material?
Do you read the Bible because you want to?
Does Gods presence help you enjoy your workday and the people around you?
Or is your life a little different than that?
You feel no one understands the problems in your life and there’s no one that you can turn to.
The act of waking up and getting ready for work puts you in a bad mood.
Your favorite rock radio station that came on with the alarm gives you some obscene words to sing.
Reading is restricted to only what is required and certainly not something to be enjoyed or enlightening.
You have a Bible given to you by your grandmother when you were young but you haven’t seen it or even remembered it in years.
Work is something to be endured and from which there is no escape because it makes the money you need to survive and stay ahead of the bill collectors.
Putting up with the idiots is worse than the work.
Taking the first step toward finding your faith is asking God to tell you about himself. This acknowledgement allows Gods presence, which by the way is available to everyone of us, to enter your life. When you turn toward God you turn away from yourself in the sense that when you accept Gods plan fro your life, hand in hand comes the realization that the reason for feeling unable to make your life joyful is mainly caused by following the wrong plan. Like it should be you at the center of your world.
When you drive by a construction site and see a new project rising out of the ground, whether it’s a house or a high rise you see workers busy at many different jobs. If you continue to drive by that site every so often you will see whatever it is they’re building, take shape and eventually all signs of construction disappear and they’re this new facility complete with landscaping, and regular looking people coming and going.
The reason those workers complete the job properly is because there’s a plan for them to follow, a set of blueprints, a thick sheaf of engineers drawings covering every detail of what is required to achieve the finished product. And don’t believe they get it perfect. As the workers follow those plans they find errors and omissions and sometimes they come up with better ideas that cause the plan to be changed. But imagine if those workers showed up and were simply directed to build say a 10 story building and given only a few photographs of something similar to go by. What kind of building do you think they could build…without knowledge of exact dimensions or the specific structural requirements and buildings codes?
That is what choosing to live you life without Gods plan is like. When you choose to fully accept Jesus Christ as your only savior and you fully accept that God has a specific and exact plan for you personally, you want to know how to follow that plan and know its details. God’s word is the blueprint and once you begin to trust and understand that His plan for you will make itself known to you each and every day for the rest of your life here on earth.
Trusting God, loving Jesus and having the Holy Spirit working within you will bring you a life with riches you could never imagine when you were trying to live life with only your own insights and capabilities at you disposal.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Gods' Care Van A Play in Two Acts
Act I
Scene I
IT IS A STREET SCENE ON HASTINGS IN VANCOUVER, A VERY ROUGH PART OF THE CITY. IT’S A PLACE WHERE LOST PEOPLE GATHER AND TOO OFTEN FIND REFUGE WITH THOSE WHO EXPLOIT THEM AND ENSURE THAT THEY HAVE NO ESCAPE. A WHITE VAN WITH CHRISTIAN MESSAGES WRITTEN ON ITS SIDE PANELS IS PARKED ON THE STREET.
A CHICKEN DANCER LURCHES PAST(STREET TERMINOLOGY FOR ADDICTS WHEN THEY EXHIBIT ERADIC BODY ACTIONS CAUSED BY THEIR ADDICITION).
OTHER PEOPLE EXHIBIT MANNERISMS AND WEAR CLOTHING THAT BLENDS THEM INTO THE STREET CULTURE OF THE AREA. SOME LOOK IN DISGUST AT THE VAN, SOME APPEAR TO BE WAITING FOR WHATEVER THE VAN MAY OFFER AND OTHER ARE OBLIVIOUS.
A YOUNG MAN AND WOMAN GET OUT OF THE VAN. THE MAN WEARS A TINY YALMACA ON HIS HEAD AND A STAR OF DAVID ON A CHAIN AROUND HIS NECK. THE YOUNG WOMAN HAS A RICH ARAB HERITAGE ETCHED IN HER BROWN FEATURES.
THEY COME TOGETHER AT THE BACK OF THE VAN ENGAGED IN EXPRESSIVE, ARM WAVING CONVERSATION WHICH WE CANNOT HEAR.
CRESSA: You’re a crazy man! There is ABSOLUTELY no way we get this van from Hastings Street in Vancouver to Jerusalem. No way!
DEVON: Why not? Don’t you believe the song the youth group from Maple Ridge sang at Missionfest last week? (He sings) All things are possible! All things are possible!
CRESSA: No this. (She smiles at his enthusiasm but shakes her head no)
DEVON: All things are possible! All things are possible! (He laughs and dances around Cressa with childish exuberance)
CRESSA: (She acknowledges that she knows his passion for a challenge.) Even if….What about
this mission? (waves her arm toward the van) God’s Care Van is touching many lives right here. Do we not change hopelessness to hope every day, right here?
DEVON: Hey, wasn’t this just a dream once? Remember when I drew that picture of God’s Care Van on the back of a scrap of paper I’d written a song on? Or even before that when I told you about how this old van parked down the stree from where I lived just seemed to be calling out to me and I couldn’t figure out why?
CRESSA: Hey,I know how stoked you get telling me about how one night you were laying in bed and it just came to you…this picture of Gods Care Van….a van that just parked by people and offered help, like some food, or some clothing or someone that would just listen to people who have something in their life they need to talk to about, or sharing the music of God with people that might come around the van to check it out.
DEVON: And look at us! Are there two more unlikely people to be out on the street sharing the love of Jesus? We blow the minds of most of our friends when they just think about me being raised Jewish and you growing up in an Arab Muslim home.
CRESSA: Yeah we’re the odd couple for sure. Maybe that’s why people don’t get that offended down here or at least we seem to get away with it.. They figure if we believe or if we think alike, maybe there is something to believing in God.
STREET PEOPLE BEGINNING TO GATHER AROUND THE VAN. HE REACHES INTO THE VAN AND PULLS OUT A GUITAR. SHE REACHES IN AND BRINGS OUT A BOX THAT CONTAINS BIBLES AND SHE TAKES ONE IN HER HAND AND OPENS IT.
CRESSA: In Isaiah 53 it says: "All we like sheep have gone astray. "
That means all of us.(waves her arm in a big circle and ends pointing at her own heart)
Each and every single person in this world. With no exceptions, not me, not you, not the Prime Minister, not the Pope. Each one of us needs a Saviour. Why? Well for starters that’s what it says so here in God's Word (holds the Bible up to them)
"Each of us has gone his own way."
In this line, God is telling us that we all have within us our biggest fault as a human being.
We want to do our own will over God's will. When we look around our world today the evidence is overwhelming. And not just here where it looks like we’re in hell. Money may seem like a saviour but it's not. So called successful people wear themselves out ! Yes! Wear themselves out looking for happiness, looking for peace in their heart. Believe it. They are often worse off for having made what you might think of as all the right decisions with their lives because they have nice things and live adventurous lives. Those that are not following Gods will for their lives are suffering as much as anyone standing here. In this verse of prophecy in Isaiah there is one solution to this problem.
"The Lord has laid on Him the inequity of us all."
This is a prophecy in the Bible written hundreds of years before Jesus but the Him God is foretelling Isaiah about is Jesus, His Son who will come and die in payment for every inequity, that means every sin or every shortfall we commit. The Lord has laid of Jesus the sins of all
human kind for all of time.
Devon: (Playing guitar softly in the back ground now becomes louder and begins to sing. As the song progress more people come around the van. Some sing and celebrate some stand and listen others peer from dark corners as if they don’t want to be noticed)
There will be peace when we belong to Jesus
Evil will cease when we belong to Jesus.
His arms will open and He will receive
All of His people who come to believe
And there will be peace when we belong to Jesus
Evil will cease when we belong to Jesus
That Jesus a Jew – most famous of all
Is who He said – went to the cross
And there will be peace when we belong to Jesus
Evil will cease when we belong to Jesus
Died for our sins – stands outside our door
Awaits for your call to wash sin away
There will be peace when you belong to Jesus
Evil will cease when you belong to Jesus.
When we belong to Jesus enemies will fall
When we belong to Jesus Heaven will be ours
When you belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to you
When you belong to Jesus enemies will fall
When you belong to Jesus Heaven will be yours
When you belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to you
Yes when you belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to you
CRESSA: (Taking in the scene around the van) I just can’t imagine doing this in Israel. Someone would blow us up! Not to mention even being allowed in that country. Public worship is barely legal in this country.
DEVON: Hey there’s a growing movement of Jews for Jesus. Maybe God is saying to me that the timing is right for this to happen. Who better than Jesus to divert attention from all the conflict that exists there now?
CRESSA: Just because your grandmothers maiden name was Rosenberg doesn’t mean you’ll be seen as a Jew bringing news of Jesus much less the wonderful word that He really is their Messiah.
DEVON: No one can mistake a nose like this even if I don’t wear a yalmaka. Just like you…and I mean this in a beautiful way but that solid line of hair above your eyes that you call your eye brows makes you look right out of Iraq, even though you and I know its just a genetic remnant from a second cousin in your fathers lineage. We’ll fit right in, in Jerusalem.
CRESSA: I think it’s crazy talk Ted.
DEVON: (Looking skyward as if he sees what he talks.) Imagine! Gods Care Van reconnecting Jews with their true King. And Muslims drawn to us. They too can come to see that only Jesus died for sins. Think of us as world Christians. I heard someone say that not long ago.
CRESSA: This is not the 14th Century Devon. Maybe there was a time when Christians and Jews and Muslims peacefully shared Jerusalem as a holy place but a lot has happened since those times. I just don’t see it. Just look at our challenge here just reaching out to people who have lost hope and faith without any of the other baggage. I know what it means to be a Muslim. I was raised one. Believe me. I pretty much lost my family when Jesus entered my life.
DEVON: (Puts his arm softly around her shoulders) Did you see that movie (Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner? Build it and they will come. That’s what I feel inside me. I know there’s parts of my life that I’ve lost by putting my trust in Jesus. (They begin to sing)
I never knew what you could do
Until I loved you Lord, until I loved you Lord
I never knew that you loved me Lord
No matter how much I failed, no matter how much I failed.
I opened my heart and let Your love in
Life began in the way you provide
I gave you my life for what Jesus gave me
Suddenly I felt so alive, so alive, so alive, so alive
What a feeling to know God loves me
What a great joy to serve Him
To hold Him high, oh most high
Hold hands high…to Him
(repeat song and at end repeat last two lines twice
more)
A MYSTICAL NARRATOR APPEARS AS THE STREET SCENE FADES TO BLACK. A SLIDE COLLAGE BEGINS ON SEVERAL SCREENS AT DIFFERENT ANGLES. THE PICTURES WILL RELATE TO THE NARRATORS STORY.
NARRATOR: There are some things about Jews that you don’t hear much. You don’t hear much that there are Jews for Jesus. There’s even organizations like Jews For
Jesus. Jesus said to the Jews in Matthew 23:
"You shall see me no more ‘til you say blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. "
Defining moments of prophecy have shaped Jewish recognition that Jesus is who He said He was. So prophetical was the creation of Israel in December,1948. So overwhelming, the victory of Israel in the Six Day War in 1967. Jerusalem is the chosen place. Jews are Gods’ chosen
people. Remember the milkman in Fiddler on the Roof when he said, ‘maybe You could choose someone else for a change’. There is such truth for Jews but for now Jerusalem continues to attract much world attention.
God is clearly saying that this is the place where His plan for His people will be executed. If Jews and their nation had been wiped out, the prophecies in the Bible would carry no weight. Their exile…. their extinction through the holocaust would have worked. Is their another such example of people streaming back to a homeland from which they were exiled?
God keeps his promises. He promised Abraham to make his name great. Look at Judaism. Look at Christianity. Look at Islam and how it has grown and Mohammed came along several centuries after Jesus. The truth is that all these are are children of Abraham. All honour the name of Abraham. In the New World of western civilization, Scripture served as the foundation for ethics and jurisprudence. The way may be shown from this side of the planet. Maybe we are the bystander with the missing piece of the puzzle for Gods’ plan. What we see in the world today are great chasms of separation between these followers. And in the human
capability for wisdom it might seem incomprehensible that they could come together. And there is one monumental stumbling block. Grace and mercy are the only weapons that bind these
children together. And the Bible tells us Grace and Mercy can only be experienced through Jesus Christ. This is a simple truth lost in the complexity of human free will. The miracle of truth that is being recognized by Jews accepting Jesus as their Saviour! There is still much to be done. Things are not nearly as they should be. The Apostle Paul referred to ‘partial blindness in Romans 11:25. The truth now is that Israel and Islamic nations do not recognize Jesus for who He is even though it can be said that in these nations they 'severely' persecute those who proclaim Him. In Ecclesiastes it says: God has firmly lodged eternity in our hearts. We cannot help that we sense that there is something more to our lives than this brief snapshot of a lifetime within a physical body that we have only for use this on earth. Believing in and serving Jesus Christ means more than an assurance of our place in heaven. It means believing that there is work for us to do before He returns.
NARRATOR EXITS.
•
Scene I
IT IS A STREET SCENE ON HASTINGS IN VANCOUVER, A VERY ROUGH PART OF THE CITY. IT’S A PLACE WHERE LOST PEOPLE GATHER AND TOO OFTEN FIND REFUGE WITH THOSE WHO EXPLOIT THEM AND ENSURE THAT THEY HAVE NO ESCAPE. A WHITE VAN WITH CHRISTIAN MESSAGES WRITTEN ON ITS SIDE PANELS IS PARKED ON THE STREET.
A CHICKEN DANCER LURCHES PAST(STREET TERMINOLOGY FOR ADDICTS WHEN THEY EXHIBIT ERADIC BODY ACTIONS CAUSED BY THEIR ADDICITION).
OTHER PEOPLE EXHIBIT MANNERISMS AND WEAR CLOTHING THAT BLENDS THEM INTO THE STREET CULTURE OF THE AREA. SOME LOOK IN DISGUST AT THE VAN, SOME APPEAR TO BE WAITING FOR WHATEVER THE VAN MAY OFFER AND OTHER ARE OBLIVIOUS.
A YOUNG MAN AND WOMAN GET OUT OF THE VAN. THE MAN WEARS A TINY YALMACA ON HIS HEAD AND A STAR OF DAVID ON A CHAIN AROUND HIS NECK. THE YOUNG WOMAN HAS A RICH ARAB HERITAGE ETCHED IN HER BROWN FEATURES.
THEY COME TOGETHER AT THE BACK OF THE VAN ENGAGED IN EXPRESSIVE, ARM WAVING CONVERSATION WHICH WE CANNOT HEAR.
CRESSA: You’re a crazy man! There is ABSOLUTELY no way we get this van from Hastings Street in Vancouver to Jerusalem. No way!
DEVON: Why not? Don’t you believe the song the youth group from Maple Ridge sang at Missionfest last week? (He sings) All things are possible! All things are possible!
CRESSA: No this. (She smiles at his enthusiasm but shakes her head no)
DEVON: All things are possible! All things are possible! (He laughs and dances around Cressa with childish exuberance)
CRESSA: (She acknowledges that she knows his passion for a challenge.) Even if….What about
this mission? (waves her arm toward the van) God’s Care Van is touching many lives right here. Do we not change hopelessness to hope every day, right here?
DEVON: Hey, wasn’t this just a dream once? Remember when I drew that picture of God’s Care Van on the back of a scrap of paper I’d written a song on? Or even before that when I told you about how this old van parked down the stree from where I lived just seemed to be calling out to me and I couldn’t figure out why?
CRESSA: Hey,I know how stoked you get telling me about how one night you were laying in bed and it just came to you…this picture of Gods Care Van….a van that just parked by people and offered help, like some food, or some clothing or someone that would just listen to people who have something in their life they need to talk to about, or sharing the music of God with people that might come around the van to check it out.
DEVON: And look at us! Are there two more unlikely people to be out on the street sharing the love of Jesus? We blow the minds of most of our friends when they just think about me being raised Jewish and you growing up in an Arab Muslim home.
CRESSA: Yeah we’re the odd couple for sure. Maybe that’s why people don’t get that offended down here or at least we seem to get away with it.. They figure if we believe or if we think alike, maybe there is something to believing in God.
STREET PEOPLE BEGINNING TO GATHER AROUND THE VAN. HE REACHES INTO THE VAN AND PULLS OUT A GUITAR. SHE REACHES IN AND BRINGS OUT A BOX THAT CONTAINS BIBLES AND SHE TAKES ONE IN HER HAND AND OPENS IT.
CRESSA: In Isaiah 53 it says: "All we like sheep have gone astray. "
That means all of us.(waves her arm in a big circle and ends pointing at her own heart)
Each and every single person in this world. With no exceptions, not me, not you, not the Prime Minister, not the Pope. Each one of us needs a Saviour. Why? Well for starters that’s what it says so here in God's Word (holds the Bible up to them)
"Each of us has gone his own way."
In this line, God is telling us that we all have within us our biggest fault as a human being.
We want to do our own will over God's will. When we look around our world today the evidence is overwhelming. And not just here where it looks like we’re in hell. Money may seem like a saviour but it's not. So called successful people wear themselves out ! Yes! Wear themselves out looking for happiness, looking for peace in their heart. Believe it. They are often worse off for having made what you might think of as all the right decisions with their lives because they have nice things and live adventurous lives. Those that are not following Gods will for their lives are suffering as much as anyone standing here. In this verse of prophecy in Isaiah there is one solution to this problem.
"The Lord has laid on Him the inequity of us all."
This is a prophecy in the Bible written hundreds of years before Jesus but the Him God is foretelling Isaiah about is Jesus, His Son who will come and die in payment for every inequity, that means every sin or every shortfall we commit. The Lord has laid of Jesus the sins of all
human kind for all of time.
Devon: (Playing guitar softly in the back ground now becomes louder and begins to sing. As the song progress more people come around the van. Some sing and celebrate some stand and listen others peer from dark corners as if they don’t want to be noticed)
There will be peace when we belong to Jesus
Evil will cease when we belong to Jesus.
His arms will open and He will receive
All of His people who come to believe
And there will be peace when we belong to Jesus
Evil will cease when we belong to Jesus
That Jesus a Jew – most famous of all
Is who He said – went to the cross
And there will be peace when we belong to Jesus
Evil will cease when we belong to Jesus
Died for our sins – stands outside our door
Awaits for your call to wash sin away
There will be peace when you belong to Jesus
Evil will cease when you belong to Jesus.
When we belong to Jesus enemies will fall
When we belong to Jesus Heaven will be ours
When you belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to you
When you belong to Jesus enemies will fall
When you belong to Jesus Heaven will be yours
When you belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to you
Yes when you belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to you
CRESSA: (Taking in the scene around the van) I just can’t imagine doing this in Israel. Someone would blow us up! Not to mention even being allowed in that country. Public worship is barely legal in this country.
DEVON: Hey there’s a growing movement of Jews for Jesus. Maybe God is saying to me that the timing is right for this to happen. Who better than Jesus to divert attention from all the conflict that exists there now?
CRESSA: Just because your grandmothers maiden name was Rosenberg doesn’t mean you’ll be seen as a Jew bringing news of Jesus much less the wonderful word that He really is their Messiah.
DEVON: No one can mistake a nose like this even if I don’t wear a yalmaka. Just like you…and I mean this in a beautiful way but that solid line of hair above your eyes that you call your eye brows makes you look right out of Iraq, even though you and I know its just a genetic remnant from a second cousin in your fathers lineage. We’ll fit right in, in Jerusalem.
CRESSA: I think it’s crazy talk Ted.
DEVON: (Looking skyward as if he sees what he talks.) Imagine! Gods Care Van reconnecting Jews with their true King. And Muslims drawn to us. They too can come to see that only Jesus died for sins. Think of us as world Christians. I heard someone say that not long ago.
CRESSA: This is not the 14th Century Devon. Maybe there was a time when Christians and Jews and Muslims peacefully shared Jerusalem as a holy place but a lot has happened since those times. I just don’t see it. Just look at our challenge here just reaching out to people who have lost hope and faith without any of the other baggage. I know what it means to be a Muslim. I was raised one. Believe me. I pretty much lost my family when Jesus entered my life.
DEVON: (Puts his arm softly around her shoulders) Did you see that movie (Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner? Build it and they will come. That’s what I feel inside me. I know there’s parts of my life that I’ve lost by putting my trust in Jesus. (They begin to sing)
I never knew what you could do
Until I loved you Lord, until I loved you Lord
I never knew that you loved me Lord
No matter how much I failed, no matter how much I failed.
I opened my heart and let Your love in
Life began in the way you provide
I gave you my life for what Jesus gave me
Suddenly I felt so alive, so alive, so alive, so alive
What a feeling to know God loves me
What a great joy to serve Him
To hold Him high, oh most high
Hold hands high…to Him
(repeat song and at end repeat last two lines twice
more)
A MYSTICAL NARRATOR APPEARS AS THE STREET SCENE FADES TO BLACK. A SLIDE COLLAGE BEGINS ON SEVERAL SCREENS AT DIFFERENT ANGLES. THE PICTURES WILL RELATE TO THE NARRATORS STORY.
NARRATOR: There are some things about Jews that you don’t hear much. You don’t hear much that there are Jews for Jesus. There’s even organizations like Jews For
Jesus. Jesus said to the Jews in Matthew 23:
"You shall see me no more ‘til you say blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. "
Defining moments of prophecy have shaped Jewish recognition that Jesus is who He said He was. So prophetical was the creation of Israel in December,1948. So overwhelming, the victory of Israel in the Six Day War in 1967. Jerusalem is the chosen place. Jews are Gods’ chosen
people. Remember the milkman in Fiddler on the Roof when he said, ‘maybe You could choose someone else for a change’. There is such truth for Jews but for now Jerusalem continues to attract much world attention.
God is clearly saying that this is the place where His plan for His people will be executed. If Jews and their nation had been wiped out, the prophecies in the Bible would carry no weight. Their exile…. their extinction through the holocaust would have worked. Is their another such example of people streaming back to a homeland from which they were exiled?
God keeps his promises. He promised Abraham to make his name great. Look at Judaism. Look at Christianity. Look at Islam and how it has grown and Mohammed came along several centuries after Jesus. The truth is that all these are are children of Abraham. All honour the name of Abraham. In the New World of western civilization, Scripture served as the foundation for ethics and jurisprudence. The way may be shown from this side of the planet. Maybe we are the bystander with the missing piece of the puzzle for Gods’ plan. What we see in the world today are great chasms of separation between these followers. And in the human
capability for wisdom it might seem incomprehensible that they could come together. And there is one monumental stumbling block. Grace and mercy are the only weapons that bind these
children together. And the Bible tells us Grace and Mercy can only be experienced through Jesus Christ. This is a simple truth lost in the complexity of human free will. The miracle of truth that is being recognized by Jews accepting Jesus as their Saviour! There is still much to be done. Things are not nearly as they should be. The Apostle Paul referred to ‘partial blindness in Romans 11:25. The truth now is that Israel and Islamic nations do not recognize Jesus for who He is even though it can be said that in these nations they 'severely' persecute those who proclaim Him. In Ecclesiastes it says: God has firmly lodged eternity in our hearts. We cannot help that we sense that there is something more to our lives than this brief snapshot of a lifetime within a physical body that we have only for use this on earth. Believing in and serving Jesus Christ means more than an assurance of our place in heaven. It means believing that there is work for us to do before He returns.
NARRATOR EXITS.
•
Ellis Island Wall
There's a wall of names on Ellis Island in New York harbor.
The first soil in America that millions touched
After watching homelands fade on disappearing horizons
Running to where a dream might come to life.
In a new land their journey spread out where freedom
Reigned supreme and where new life could begin
They never asked for handouts or recognition
They just bent their backs to making wilderness their home
The families that were built in just a century or so
Now fulfill a hundred times over the wildest thoughts back then
It’s a land strong and free and its inhabitants
Can work and wish with no boundaries or limits
And these people barely know how they got to be this way
Unless a God who has a plan to change it
And that’s how Valerie Iris got her chance….
To say hello and thank you to the names on the wall on Ellis Island
She’d heard Daddy say to Mommy in a fun and kidding way
As 5 kids asked where they were going if they got away for an hour or two
“I’m taking your Mom to New York City for breakfast.”
And Valerie Iris did not even know where that was.
But it was one of those little events in life that stays with you in a prairie town
And Valerie Iris always yearned to see New York City
And when she finally went, it completed a circle of life
As she touched the names on the waving wall at Ellis Island
The first soil in America that millions touched
After watching homelands fade on disappearing horizons
Running to where a dream might come to life.
In a new land their journey spread out where freedom
Reigned supreme and where new life could begin
They never asked for handouts or recognition
They just bent their backs to making wilderness their home
The families that were built in just a century or so
Now fulfill a hundred times over the wildest thoughts back then
It’s a land strong and free and its inhabitants
Can work and wish with no boundaries or limits
And these people barely know how they got to be this way
Unless a God who has a plan to change it
And that’s how Valerie Iris got her chance….
To say hello and thank you to the names on the wall on Ellis Island
She’d heard Daddy say to Mommy in a fun and kidding way
As 5 kids asked where they were going if they got away for an hour or two
“I’m taking your Mom to New York City for breakfast.”
And Valerie Iris did not even know where that was.
But it was one of those little events in life that stays with you in a prairie town
And Valerie Iris always yearned to see New York City
And when she finally went, it completed a circle of life
As she touched the names on the waving wall at Ellis Island
How Life Fits Together
Today I experienced what it feels like to tie together pieces of your life that until that moment have just dangled there in your memory. And its difficult to explain to someone other than yourself. That’s because, other than God, no one else really knows your life or how you interpret yourself, and the moments and events in your life that stick out.
My friend Richard, lost his wife 2 years ago. Just when they figured that everything was in place to enjoy the rest of their lives together, she died from lung cancer. An ironic death to add to to the agony because she was an athlete, a nurse and had never smoked.
Richard and I have played hockey on the same team for about 10 years. But our lives seldom crossed if it were not related to hockey.
3 weeks ago he attended the church my wife and I attend. We discovered that he had been invited by a lady from our church who was a friend of his wife and works to counsel people as well. Richard came up to me after the service, surprised to see me there. I am a strong enough believer to express how great it was to see him there. The next Sunday I saw him sitting alone and invited him to sit with us. This Sunday he and his lady friend sat with us on their own accord. The worship music was very moving. Pastor Art gave a very touching and powerful sermon message around the fact that going to heaven was a final step, but Jesus encourages us throughout our lives to see, feel and understand how He is always with us along lifes’ journey. Pastor Art concluded with a brief summary of his mothers life. She had passed away at 98 ½ the previous week.
Having listened many times when Pastor Art shared emotional, challenging, painful and joyous moments of his personal life with the congregation at our church, I as many others were lifted and moved by his ability to bring us closer to the fire of Christ that burns within him.
Richard stood up with the rest of us when the service ended. He was in need of some one to talk to. We stood together for about 20 minutes. Richard touched on the loss of his wife and he wanted to express some feelings about his parents who are living in Northern Ontario.
I hoped afterward that I had been able to be a comfort to him. I said that when you believe in God you come to know that everything happens for a purpose and maybe he and I sitting together in church today was no accident. I hope that in some small ways I will be able to stay connected with Richard.
During our conversation, I talked about losing my father and some of the circumstances around that.
Later at home as I ate lunch and flicked through the channels on T.V., I stopped when I recognized the movie, Field of Dreams. It is a baseball story by Canadian writer W.P. Kinsella, turned into a movie. It’s the only movie I’ve ever bought a copy of. I caught it near the end when the central figure, Ray Kinsella, played by Kevin Costner is having surrealistic meeting with his father who had died when Ray was a young boy. Ray is now fully understanding a vision he had and a voice he heard saying “If you build it he will come.” Until this moment Ray believed that the person who would come was Shoeless Joe Jackson, a baseball player form the 30’s who was caught up in an infamous baseball scandal. But now Shoeless Joe who did come to life in the movie points to another figure on the ‘field of dreams’. Ray instinctively knows it his father as a young man, in his prime as a baseball player. He tells his wife he had only known his Dad as a shadow of this figure… worn down by life.
In the emotional conclusion Ray asks his Dad to play catch with him and they do.
In that moment I seemed to realize for the first time that I had only known my Dad worn down by life, not that he acted that way because he always showed the brighter side of his life even though I knew that as an adult, most of his energy had been given to fighting in WWII for five years and then shortly after returning home an unexpected start to marriage and family meant he was destined to provide enough to raise a family of four kids and he only knew ‘hard work’ as means to that end.
And I wondered, forcing back a tear or two of my own, what I would do with my Dad if I were given the opportunity that Ray Kinsella was given.
Although hockey is really the only sport I’ve played I knew my Dad had played a bit of baseball when he was young and in his prime and I remember him saying that my Uncle Mel had been a real pro prospect but didn’t want to leave home back in Nova Scotia in the 30’s.
So I thought that playing catch with my Dad in his prime would be a pretty good wish.
Our last plan before he died was a fall hunting trip. It never happened so as I think about possibilities, I think spending time with my Dad in his younger days in the bush of Nova Scotia in autumn would pretty much be a dream day with him.
As Pastor Art told us that his Mom was now in a glorious place meeting again her husband and others waiting in heaven, I know that my faith in our Lord needs to stay strong and grow, so that I will know without doubt there is a day when my Dad and I can begin spending an eternity together.
Richard has known tragic loss and I believe fears further loss such as his aging parents. I will pray for Richard that through the grace of Jesus Christ he can prepare himself in strong faith to understand that the plan God has for us reigns over our best abilities as human to understand the real meaning and purpose of life.
As I look back on today, it is overwhelming to see the journey that the Lord has planned for me in these past few hours. None of it is anything I planned or thought about. I am strengthened to be shown Gods’ hand on me and to gain a little more wisdom that will lead me to trust this truth even more. As God ties the dangling moments of my life together, I feel there are many more days to come during which I will feel His presence and His peace within me.
My friend Richard, lost his wife 2 years ago. Just when they figured that everything was in place to enjoy the rest of their lives together, she died from lung cancer. An ironic death to add to to the agony because she was an athlete, a nurse and had never smoked.
Richard and I have played hockey on the same team for about 10 years. But our lives seldom crossed if it were not related to hockey.
3 weeks ago he attended the church my wife and I attend. We discovered that he had been invited by a lady from our church who was a friend of his wife and works to counsel people as well. Richard came up to me after the service, surprised to see me there. I am a strong enough believer to express how great it was to see him there. The next Sunday I saw him sitting alone and invited him to sit with us. This Sunday he and his lady friend sat with us on their own accord. The worship music was very moving. Pastor Art gave a very touching and powerful sermon message around the fact that going to heaven was a final step, but Jesus encourages us throughout our lives to see, feel and understand how He is always with us along lifes’ journey. Pastor Art concluded with a brief summary of his mothers life. She had passed away at 98 ½ the previous week.
Having listened many times when Pastor Art shared emotional, challenging, painful and joyous moments of his personal life with the congregation at our church, I as many others were lifted and moved by his ability to bring us closer to the fire of Christ that burns within him.
Richard stood up with the rest of us when the service ended. He was in need of some one to talk to. We stood together for about 20 minutes. Richard touched on the loss of his wife and he wanted to express some feelings about his parents who are living in Northern Ontario.
I hoped afterward that I had been able to be a comfort to him. I said that when you believe in God you come to know that everything happens for a purpose and maybe he and I sitting together in church today was no accident. I hope that in some small ways I will be able to stay connected with Richard.
During our conversation, I talked about losing my father and some of the circumstances around that.
Later at home as I ate lunch and flicked through the channels on T.V., I stopped when I recognized the movie, Field of Dreams. It is a baseball story by Canadian writer W.P. Kinsella, turned into a movie. It’s the only movie I’ve ever bought a copy of. I caught it near the end when the central figure, Ray Kinsella, played by Kevin Costner is having surrealistic meeting with his father who had died when Ray was a young boy. Ray is now fully understanding a vision he had and a voice he heard saying “If you build it he will come.” Until this moment Ray believed that the person who would come was Shoeless Joe Jackson, a baseball player form the 30’s who was caught up in an infamous baseball scandal. But now Shoeless Joe who did come to life in the movie points to another figure on the ‘field of dreams’. Ray instinctively knows it his father as a young man, in his prime as a baseball player. He tells his wife he had only known his Dad as a shadow of this figure… worn down by life.
In the emotional conclusion Ray asks his Dad to play catch with him and they do.
In that moment I seemed to realize for the first time that I had only known my Dad worn down by life, not that he acted that way because he always showed the brighter side of his life even though I knew that as an adult, most of his energy had been given to fighting in WWII for five years and then shortly after returning home an unexpected start to marriage and family meant he was destined to provide enough to raise a family of four kids and he only knew ‘hard work’ as means to that end.
And I wondered, forcing back a tear or two of my own, what I would do with my Dad if I were given the opportunity that Ray Kinsella was given.
Although hockey is really the only sport I’ve played I knew my Dad had played a bit of baseball when he was young and in his prime and I remember him saying that my Uncle Mel had been a real pro prospect but didn’t want to leave home back in Nova Scotia in the 30’s.
So I thought that playing catch with my Dad in his prime would be a pretty good wish.
Our last plan before he died was a fall hunting trip. It never happened so as I think about possibilities, I think spending time with my Dad in his younger days in the bush of Nova Scotia in autumn would pretty much be a dream day with him.
As Pastor Art told us that his Mom was now in a glorious place meeting again her husband and others waiting in heaven, I know that my faith in our Lord needs to stay strong and grow, so that I will know without doubt there is a day when my Dad and I can begin spending an eternity together.
Richard has known tragic loss and I believe fears further loss such as his aging parents. I will pray for Richard that through the grace of Jesus Christ he can prepare himself in strong faith to understand that the plan God has for us reigns over our best abilities as human to understand the real meaning and purpose of life.
As I look back on today, it is overwhelming to see the journey that the Lord has planned for me in these past few hours. None of it is anything I planned or thought about. I am strengthened to be shown Gods’ hand on me and to gain a little more wisdom that will lead me to trust this truth even more. As God ties the dangling moments of my life together, I feel there are many more days to come during which I will feel His presence and His peace within me.
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