FTP is unreliable at blogger. My new blog is at: http://landofmysojourn.net/blog/

Journey 4/15/08

This week I've been thinking about a lot of things and have posted a couple of entires about those thoughts, so in my Journey I just wanted to share a quote that I found to be impacting.

“To evangelize a person is to say to him or her: you, too, are loved by God in the Lord Jesus. And not only to say it but to really think it and relate it to the man or woman so they can sense it. This is what it means to announce the Good News. But that becomes possible only by offering the person your friendship; a friendship that is real, unselfish, without condescension, full of confidence and profound esteem.”

Brennan Manning

Expectations and Eternal Perspective

Since the ladies retreat in March I've been mulling over the topic of expectations and how it relates to faith. I've thought a lot about the subject and could spend days discussing all the different perspectives that I can see in the Scriptures, but the theme that I have found repeating itself remains the centrality of an eternal perspective.

Why would God not move and do the thing that we think would be good and right and glorifying to Him in the moment? He sees all of eternity and can evaluate with perfect knowledge whether that thing is the BEST thing or not. We don't know whether a thing is really the best thing or not when held in light of eternity. We see only in the finite.

My own expectations and desires, as dear as they are to my heart, are still finite. I was re-reading The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis again the other night and once again I was left pondering the quotes below.

How many of my expectations and desires are simple little mud pies compared to what God really has planned for me? What will I miss if continue to focus on what I think I want in this life? If I fail to make the hard choices (over and over again) to lift my eyes up and look beyond the circumstances of the finite, then I lose sight of the hope, the true expectation, that will never disappoint and the eternal perspective that is so central to the Scripture.

"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are halfhearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like the ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot image what is meant by the offer of a holiday by the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

"If a transtemporal, transfinite good is our real destiny, then any other good on which our desire fixes must be in some degree fallacious, must bear at best only a symbolical relation to what will truly satisfy."

On a side note: I think that eternity, including teaching on heaven and the Kingdom, may be one of the most under-taught aspects of the Scriptures in the modern church. I understand the catch phrase that someone can be "so heavenly minded they are no earthly good," however, what we often refer to as the apostolic hope, what we really believe about eternity, effects every aspect of our Christian life. We were made for more than this world and if you want to challenge yourself to awaken hope in your life I'd recommend doing a Bible study on the theme of the Kingdom and Eternal Hope, in both the prophets and the New Testament. For further reading I would also recommend Ted Dekker's The Slumber of Christianity and, of course, C.S. Lewis' essay The Weight of Glory. Below is another quote from the essay, not on the subject of expectations and desires, rather on the subject of how our views of eternity and the eternal nature of mankind impacts our life here and now, just for thought.

"It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often of too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor's glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility will carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and circumspections proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal."

Ack - I'm having trouble with Blogger's FTP transfer not working! I've been getting error messages for the last week and occassionally I actually get something published, but nothing is working since Sunday the 13th. I wish they would hurry up and fix this! I guess I'll just keep writing posts and some day you might see all kinds of new things show up. In the meantime I am starting a new blog at : http://landofmysojourn.net/blog

The Love of God

I was reflecting on the words of the song "The Love of God" and I thought that I would share them with you. See my comments at the end.

By Rich Mullins
Romans 8:18-39, Ephesians 3:14-21

There's a wideness in God's mercy
I cannot find in my own
And He keeps His fire burning
To melt this heart of stone
Keeps me aching with a yearning
Keeps me glad to have been caught
In the reckless raging fury
That they call the love of God

Now I've seen no band of angels
But I've heard the soldiers' songs
Love hangs over them like a banner
Love within them leads them on
To the battle on the journey
And it's never gonna stop
Ever widening their mercies
And the fury of His love

Oh the love of God
And oh, the love of God
The love of God

Joy and sorrow are this ocean
And in their every ebb and flow
Now the Lord a door has opened
That all Hell could never close
Here I'm tested and made worthy
Tossed about but lifted up
In the reckless raging fury
That they call the love of God

The song really speaks for itself but here are some of my thoughts...

I've been thinking about the Christian life lately and about the character of God. So often I am tempted to put God in a box that I feel safe and comfortable with. Yet, God is so much bigger than me, (That is the understatement of the century!) and if I am feeling too comfortable, if I have lost that sense of awe that comes with realizing how beyond me He is, then I need to go back to my knees and repent of, once again, making Him too small in my eyes.

I often need to be reminded of the character of God in the line "There's a wideness in God's mercy I can not find in my own." It is like God to redeem His enemies, to love the most vile of sinners and to forgive those that we desire to see pay for their crimes. His mercy is what saved me, but His mercy far exceeds what I can imagine or give. In fact, to be honest, sometimes His mercy is more than I am comfortable with.

Also, I love the lines, "Keeps me glad to have been caught in the reckless, raging fury that they call the love of God."

To truly follow God is not something controlled or comfortable. It is often an overwhelming path that may appear reckless (as it may very well lead to a cross or some other path of abandon). We don't know how we will be tossed about in this world. We must trust his character, trust his goodness and hang on for the ride. If I wasn't sure that God was really good, if I wasn't certain that this life is fleeting and that I was made for eternity and if I wasn't convinced that God really does have a plan that will work out all things for good, then this would be terrifying. But God is good. I was made for eternity and He will work out all things for the ultimate and eternal good of those who love Him. God's perfect will is so much bigger and more unpredictable than can compare to my small plans and controlled ideas. And yes, for those of you who know me well, I do see the dichotomy that for all my personal desire for structure, clear plans and carefully laid out pathways, I find something irresistibly captivating about the wildness of God.

Like a river rapid, God's love doesn't so much offer a calm wading in a small creek as it sweeps over and consumes you, with the intent of leading you to surrender your life to this love even as Christ did. If we let Him, if we abandon ourselves to Him, then we will be enfolded and swallowed up in His love and I want to be consumed with nothing else.

Gödöllö Outing - Ibolya Nap (Violet Day)

Today we met the students from the Pécel English Club in Gödöllö for a tour of the palace. We have been looking for ways to get to know them better by meeting them outside of the school grounds. Only two students came but we still had fun. When we got to the castle we realized that today was a celebration called "Violet Day" with special programs, food, booths of items for sale and even pony rides. Here are some pictures of the outing.

Spring Flowers

One of the things I love about where I live now is that I have a garden. When I moved in the owners told me how the last renter let the garden become completely overgrown. I told them that I didn't have much free time, but that I enjoy gardening and I would try to keep it under control.

The front and side yards were completely dirt so last fall I planted a lot of bulbs. This spring it is very nice to see the flowers emerging and there are also a number of bulbs that were already here that are coming in now. I am waiting to see for sure what variety of flower they are.

The back yard is bulbs, grass, wildflowers and ivy. It needs a lot of work, probably more than I have time for. This year I plan to concentrate on the front and side yard and the circle of roses that I planted in the back.

The weather is nice and it is good to be out in the yard. The few random conversations that I have been able to have with my neighbors have happened while I was gardening.

I thought I would share some more flower photos. God's amazing handiwork is uplifting!

Florida Pictures

In March I was away more than I was home and one of the places I got to go was Florida. I enjoyed being at my home church for a Mission Conference. Here are some photos from my time in the Sunshine State. They automatically scroll forward but you can pause to enlarge the photos that say "click me." Enjoy

Glory Revealed

When I was at the missions conference in Florida I heard the song By His Wounds on the radio. The other day I went looking for it in Itunes and I found this amazing album. It is a collection of songs straight from the scripture by popular artists.

What could be more encouraging than listening to the very words of God! You can watch the trailer about the project below.

FLASH and my Flowers

Today I played with some Macromedia tutorials and created my first flash slideshow. I chose the flowers in my yard for this project at my mom's request. Enjoy.

PS - I am trying to learn Flash for a project that I am working on for my team. If any of you know any good, free tutorial sites I'd love to know about them. Thanks

I recently received a challenge from the CSFF Blog to tell ten people about three Christian Fantasy books that I think highly of. So here they are. I went overboard and listed more than three Christian Fantasy Books that I love.

My favorite Christian Fantasy Books –

1. Series: The Legends of the Guardian King by Karen Hancock The Light of Eidon, The Shadow Within, Shadow of Kiriath and Return of the Guardian King

2. Series by Kathy Tyers Firebird, Fusion Fire and Crown of Fire

3. Series by Stephen Lawhead The Search for Fierra and The Siege of the Dome

4. Series by Ted Dekker Black, White and Red

5. Arena by Karen Hancock

6. Gideon’s Dawn by Michael Warden

7. Perelandra by C.S. Lewis

If you are into youth fantasy some of my favorites that I would recommend:

8. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (of course)

9. The Dream Voyagers by T.Davis Bunn

And just in case I leave out some much talked about series, these are the series that I am have purchased which I’m looking forward to reading:

The Legend of the Firefish series by George Bryan Polivka
The Restorer series by Sharon Hinck

You can see more of my favorite books on Shelfari

Journey 4-2-08

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did – with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke him to anger. 2 Kings 23:25-26

This past weekend I was at a conference where one of the topics was unmet expectations. During one of the sessions someone pointed out how we often have formulas that we expect God to abide by: A + B will surely equal C.

I was thinking of that statement as I read about Josiah. Josiah did all the right things. When the book of the law was found he wholeheartedly set out to follow all of its instructions. He renewed the covenant and cleansed the land. Wouldn’t it be expected then that God would respond in kind sending revival throughout the nation and establishing Judah? But the LORD’s anger was not turned away. God had a plan that included punishment of sin and also future redemption that included the removal of the nation of Judah.

So often we are surprised by God’s unexpected plans. We pour our lives out in obedience, serving as He has called us and often deep inside we expect to see something like Obedience + Sacrifice = A Mighty Movement of God (A church planted, a revival occurring, the ones we are serving turning to the Lord finding salvation of revival, etc). Yet, as C.S. Lewis often illustrated in his Narnia chronicles “He is not a tame lion.” God’s ways are above us. God is wild and free and ruler of all. He does not abide by our formulas, but blazes His own path of love, redemption and restoration in His own way.

Now Josiah had advanced knowledge of this situation through the prophetess Huldah. He knew that all his efforts and the results of his obedience would only last for his lifetime. I stopped and thought of that for a moment. Josiah was faithful even though he, not only had no promise of success, but when he had the assurance that what he was working toward would not last. Can I be as faithful when I don’t see God moving? Can I trust God’s long term plan when He moves outside of my carefully constructed formulas? When the formula doesn’t add up and the people are not yet restored, I want to still follow hard after the Lord Jesus.

Josiah may not have enabled the long term restoration and renewal of Judah, but his life still stands as a testimony of wholehearted obedience. I want my life to reflect the same, a testimony to the faithfulness of God in my lifetime.

It is April FIRST--no foolin'--, time for the FIRST Day Blog Tour! (Join our alliance! Click the button!) The FIRST day of every month we will feature an author and his/her latest book's FIRST chapter!

The special feature author is:

ERIC REINHOLD

and his book:

Ryan Watters and
the King's Sword
Creation House (May 2008)
Illustrated by: Corey Wolfe

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Eric J. Reinhold is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. The former Naval officer writes extensively for a variety of national financial publications in his position as a Certified Financial Planner® and President of Academy Wealth Management. His passion for writing a youth fantasy novel was fueled by nightly impromptu storytelling to his children and actively serving in the middle and high school programs at First Baptist Sweetwater Church in Longwood, Florida.

Visit him at his website.

I haven't read this book yet so I have no review to offer, but you can read the first chapter below.

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

The Angel’s Visitation

It first appeared as a gentle glow, almost like a child’s night-light. Heavy shadows filled the room as the boy lay face up, covers tucked neatly under his arms. A slight smile on his face hinted that he was in the midst of a pleasant dream.

Ryann Watters, who had just celebrated his twelfth birthday, rolled lazily onto his side, his blond hair matted into the pillow, unaware of the glow as it began to intensify. Shadows searched for hiding places throughout the room as the glow transformed from a pale yellow hue to brilliant white.

Ryann’s eyelids fluttered briefly and then flickered at the glare reflecting off his pale blue bedroom walls. Drowsily, he turned toward the light expecting to see one of his parents coming in to check on him. “What’s going on?” his voice cracked as he reached up to rub the crusty sleep from his eyes.

***

Under a pale half-moon, Drake Dunfellow’s house looked just like any other. A closer inspection, however, would reveal its failing condition. Water oaks lining the side of the curved driveway hunched over haggardly, like old men struggling on canes. The lawn, which should have been a lively green for early spring, was withered and sandy. A few patches of grass were sprinkled here and there. Rust lines streaked down the one jagged peak atop the tin-roof house. The flimsy clapboard sides were outlined by fading white trim speckled with dried paint curls. Hanging baskets containing a variety of plants and weeds all struggling to stay alive shared the crowded front porch with two mildew-covered rocking chairs. Inside, magazines and newspaper clippings both old and new were carelessly strewn about. Encrusted dishes from the previous day’s meals battled each other for space in the bulging kitchen sink. In the garage, away from the usual living areas, was a boy’s room. Dull paneling outlined the bedroom, while equally dreary brown linoleum covered the floor. The bedroom must have been an afterthought because not much consideration had been given to the details. A bookcase cut from rough planks sat atop an old garage sale dresser.

Moonlight pressing through the dust-covered metal blinds tried to provide a sense of peacefulness. Instead it revealed bristly red hair atop a young boy’s head poking out from beneath a mushy feather pillow. His heavy breathing provided the only movement in the quiet room. Tiny droplets of perspiration lined his brow as he began jerking about under the thin cotton sheets.

Starting at the edge of the window, the blackness spread downward, transforming all traces of light to an oily dinginess. Drake was slowly surrounded and remained the only thing not saturated in the darkness. Bolting upright to a stiff-seated attention, Drake’s bloodshot eyes darted back and forth. He stared into the black nothingness shuddering and aware that the only thing visible in the room was his bed.

“Who . . . who’s there?” Drake cried out, puzzled by the hollow sound that didn’t seem to travel beyond the edge of his mattress. Beads of sweat trickled down his neck, connecting his numerous freckled dots. He strained, slightly tilting his head, ears perked. There was no reply.

***

Neatly manicured streets wandered through the Watters’s sleepy, rolling neighborhood. If someone had been walking along in the wee morning hours of March 15, they would have noticed the brilliant white light peeking out from around Ryann’s shade. Below his second-story window the normally darkened bed of pink, red, and white impatiens was lit up as in the noonday sun.

Ryann was fully awake now and quite positive that the dazzling aura facing him from in front of his window was not the hall light from his parents entering the bedroom. Golden hues flowed out of the whiteness, showering itself on everything in the room. It reminded Ryann of sprinkles of pixie dust in some of his favorite childhood books. His blue eyes grew wide trying to capture the unbelievable event unfolding before him.

“Fear not, Ryann,” a confident, yet kind, voice began. “I have come to do the bidding of one much greater than I and who you have found favor with.”

Read the rest of the chapter here.

BUY THE BOOK AT
WWW.RYANNWATTERS.COM/