After God's own heart

When you read the title, do you read it the way I do? I have always thought of the "after" in the same way that you think of being made in God's image. One came first...the other came "after".

I was listening to KCBI 90.9 (originally started as one of the extended ministries of First Baptist Church of Dallas...W.A. Criswell was the senior pastor at that time and the CBI stands for Criswell Bible Institute.) The on-air announcer made a comment that changed my view of that phrase.

As an aside: when I was a toddler, my parents were members of FBC Dallas and I was a regular attender. I have vague memories of those days. One of the constant themes of my life has been the continual return to the Dallas/Fort Worth area every few years:

• My parents moved to Dallas from my birthplace in Brownwood, Texas after my dad graduated from Howard Payne in 1962. We lived in both Dallas and Fort Worth from then until my parents' graduation from Southwestern in 1968.
• We returned to Ft. Worth as we awaited visas to go to Indonesia in 1973. That stay was about 8 weeks.
• After leaving the field in 1977 on medical leave, we stayed in a mission house in the northeast Ft. Worth suburb of Haltom City for a little over a year.
• After graduating from both high school and college, I matriculated at Southwestern and took 26 hours towards a Master's degree. When I ran out of money, I took a job with a company in Irving and eventually bought my great-grandmother's house when she moved to Bowie. That stay lasted from 1985-1988
• In 1998, six years into our marriage, Jennifer and I (and our two oldest) moved to the Dallas area so I could take a job with Fiserv. Our younger daughter was born in Lewisville.
  
• This January, I returned to work with my current company. Jennifer and the children followed this June.

My point in bringing this up is that my memories of Dallas are very layered. Each trip brought a different perspective. Some things are very clear and easy for me to remember. Others are what you might called "sepia colored" like an ancient family photo (though I'm not THAT old!!)

The same is true for my memories of the Bible. There are things I learned very early--like John 3:16--that update themselves as my faith grows. Others relate to very specific times. I memorized Psalms 1 for Camp Miki (a camp for Indonesian missionary kids that we held every summer) and it was a Psalm memorized "just in time" for the onset of young adulthood.

The comment that David was a man "after God's own heart" has always been a favorite of mine and a goal of mine. But I always thought of it as I described above. The "after" being a reflection. Until the KCBI on-air announcer changed that completely for me yesterday.

After Chuck Swindoll's presentation about David yesterday on Insight for Living, the announcer said that David "chased God's own heart." I haven't looked at the Hebrew yet to confirm that reading. I did some quick checking online (I lack a useful commentary of any kind at the moment.) Several sites addressed this way of looking at that verse. One of the most interesting was a song by Andrew Peterson called "The Chasing Song." (I've linked the title to the lyrics page for your enjoyment!!)

The concept took my breath away. Whether it plays out hermeneutically (big word meaning "the interpretation is correct"), it has already started changing my thought process in relating to God.

YES, God chases me!! "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." But do we chase HIM? The opening to the promise "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you" suggests calmness and diligence. But chasing "after God's own heart" suggests PASSION.

I am passionate for God, but I'll be honest with you. It isn't like David's passion for God. David wrote the Psalms TO God. They reflect his honest conversation WITH God. They are filled with passion FOR God. They lead US to worship OF God. David's chase for God's heart found favor with God. God sought a man after his own heart in order to replace Saul.

I hope I don't sound condescending as I draw conclusions from that:

I need to chase God's heart for all I'm worth. In doing so, God will add everything else I need. And I will be prepared for him to accomplish his will THROUGH me...in spite of my holes...because I am open to his leadership ABOUT those holes.

Won't you join me in the chase for God's own heart? Let's get PASSIONATE about him!! Let's put aside all those things that surround us that get in the way of that. Let's set aside our excuse making and start today making that the CENTRAL theme of our lives. I'm just getting started today. I don't have a head start. Come on...let's RUN after him!!

UPDATE: Hermenuetically speaking, replacing the word "after" with the word "chasing" is not supported by the original texts. A more accurate replacement would be "a man in accord with God's own heart".

Found an online Hebrew-English Interlinear at Scripture4All.org. This interlinear has the King James on the right, the Hebrew (in reversed, left-to-right word order) line-by-line, and an English transliteration in between each line of Hebrew. A transliteration attempts to directly render every word of the original language with exactly equivalent expressions in the target language (English in this case.)

There is no attempt to resolve idiomatic components of the original, but we have the wealth of English translations and paraphrases that provide resolution of idioms. The dashes in the words hold together phrases that transliterate single Hebrew 'memes' that are more complex than equivalent English words. For example, the verb 'meme' carries action, a sense of gender of the subject, and may include a pronoun for the object...all in what looks like a single "word". All of these are fairly technical concepts that you don't have to understand in depth, but that will help you tear apart the interlinears that I'm linking to.

The transliteration from the interlinear of 1 Samuel 13:14 reads like this:

1 Samuel 13:14: "And-now kingdom-of-you not she-shall-be-confirmed he-sought Yahweh for-him as-heart-of-him and-he-shall-instruct-him Yahweh for-governor over people-of-him that not you-observed which he-instructed-you Yahweh."

The KJV reads:

1 Samuel 13:14: "But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him [to be] captain over his people, because thou hast not kept [that] which the LORD commanded thee."

Another prominent use of this phrase is in Acts 13:22. This is in Greek and I also looked up Acts 13 in Scripture4All.org's Greek interlinear. The Greek preposition "kata" (not a verb like "chasing") conveys the relationship from David to God's heart. The transliteration of the verse is:

Acts 13:22: "And after-standing (deposing) him He-ROUSES THE DAVID to-them INTO KING to-WHOM AND (als) He-said witnessing (testifying) I-FOUND DAVID THE OF-THE JESSE MAN according-to THE HEART OF-ME WHO SHALL-BE-DOING ALL THE WILLS (will) OF-ME."

And the KJV:

Acts 13:22: "And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found David the [son] of Jesse, a man after mine own heart shall fulfil all my will."

Sorry for the update adding so much to the length of the post, but I thought the readers of the Salt Mill would appreciate a more in-depth look into the Truth.

Even though the insight is not based on a strict, literal interpretation of the Hebrew and Greek, I find the concept of "chasing God's own heart" to be very uplifting for my spirit. I believe in the passion for God that it suggests...a passion that is indeed a reflection of God's original and preceding love for us. I still intend to chase him!!

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Working through some ideas out loud...

As I told Jennifer (my wife) and Wendy (the person whose blog inspired this one) when I started the Salt Mill, it really is a test of how to do something like this. I have invited several friends whose opinions matter to me to take a look at it.

That has gone very well. The feedback about tone and voice has been encouraging. I don't expect everyone to "keep up" with it. I know a few that have. Thanks for the support.

I subconsciously feel myself looking around at similar sites in a search for meaningful structure. The nature of "blogs" is that they are essentially online journals with all of the limitations of a journal.

The desire to do something daily leads to a sense that the "big picture" isn't being attended to in any meaningful way. It works well for collecting thoughts, so to speak, but not for exploring bigger ideas. There have been several times where I felt I wrote too much and said too little. Where the format exposes the reader to my thoughts in reverse order or forces me to fully explore a series of thoughts and POST in reverse order.

That leads me to consider a full-blown web site that links to the blog and an effort to roll out specific "theses" onto that site in an attempt to create a structure that has a longer life.

The one thing that prevents me from doing that--more than anything else--is a sense from the Gospels of how Jesus personally presented himself to those that were closest to him. He didn't create a big structure or leave behind a systematic theology. He lived daily with those he sought to influence. And they extracted the meaning from that (with the help and reminding of the Holy Spirit, of course).

Necessarily, writing is conceited...especially when the writer seeks an audience. I admire Jesus for allowing others to do the writing about him. None of US really deserves fame or attention of others. But many of us seek to make a difference in life by gaining the attention of others.

Some seek attention in order to create their own monuments--leaving behind their mark on the world. Others do so, they hope, for higher purposes. I would like to think my efforts fall into the latter category with the Salt Mill. But my humanity and my presence on this earth will always cause my motives to be subject to comment and at times even to just criticism.

I actually welcome that. It is something I have learned in the business world: complaints are gold ready to be mined. Attentive companies listen to all complaints and seek to make themselves better THROUGH the complaints. While eschewing the word "better", I seek to grow through this effort.

As Jennifer walked out the door just now, she said "ut-oh...he's blogging." I told her that when you blog about blogging it is a meta-blog (a nod to the somewhat presumptious but thoroughly entertaining geek culture classic Göedel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter).

So...if you will...this is thinking about thinking. It isn't intended to take you anywhere, just to let you know that I do it...and that I am open to comments of all kinds.

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Brent is haunting me...

As I posted earlier, Brent sent me a treasure chest full of his music. I have been drinking it by the pint and I'm fully drunk at this time. Some of it just won't let me go. One of the pieces that does that to me is called "Slips Away" and it has a haunting little piano trill (for lack of a better word, but not exactly that, perhaps a flourish?) that is a repeated theme.

Another is a care-full lament of friendship almost lost called "Silly Little Me". These are working titles, and I hope I'm not betraying a confidence by mentioning them. I woke up four times last night and "Silly Little Me" played through my mind each time.

Listening to all of it makes me want to spend a week with Brent and just sit and listen to him like some of us did when we were at the Hostel down in the entrance foyer where the piano was. I don't remember it happening often, but we would gather around as he played and just listen.

Many of us were in Concert Choir together under the tutelage of Patsy Knight. I contacted Patsy recently and she is in her final year of teaching. During my first year of high school 30 years ago, she taught me 7 days a week--5 days at school, adult choir rehearsal for Kebayoran Baptist English Service on Saturday, and the worship service on Sunday. She was one of the people that I would have showed up for an eighth and ninth day if we had that many in a week.

Many of us in the Hostel shared music as a language of love that year. There were guitars and trumpets and pianos constantly being played. Frequently these sons and daughters of missionaries would lead the music at the Sunday evening youth get togethers. The isolation of the mission stations sometimes added enormous practice to already great talent. I think Brent was one of those.

I regret not staying in contact with Brent through the years. He suffered through many difficult years when I was enjoying success. I wonder how things would have been different for him if I had chosen to stay closer as a friend. I could have...

...but I can't change anything other than the present. And I've started the process of renewing that friendship with him. He understands difficulty and he is sympathetic for me in ways that are...well...comforting. And his music provides an expression for feelings that were somewhat hard to deal with...things I haven't even mentioned here.

Friendship...real friendship...eventually gets to that point, I think. The point where life makes you REALLY glad that someone knows your name and is glad to hear it...will talk on you on the phone even if it is really inconvenient. Someone that connects you directly back to that earlier time--a LONG time ago--when and where you met them. Brent is one of those friends like that. Thanks again, Brent, for being a great friend.

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First Some Praise!!

I'm posting this last, but I hope you end up reading it first. Please read through these words and--if it won't annoy those around you--softly hum with the words or sing them aloud.

Holy, Holy, Holy!

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Who were, and art, and evermore shall be.

Holy, holy, holy! though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see;
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in power, in love, and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy Name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy; merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

words recorded by Reginald Heber, 1826
music "Nicea" by John B. Dykes in Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1861

Let me pray for you, too:

Our heavenly Daddy...our Abba, hear my prayer O, Lord!!

I'm approaching you...approaching your throne...for the sake of those that read my musings at the Salt Mill. I don't know who they are. You do.

I'm not keeping a record of how many are coming. Will you keep that record for me? And will you read that record aloud in heaven for my sake?

And will you send messengers of Good News to each of them today? Please assist them in their work. Uplift their spirits so the work is easy and light...not hard. Give them the cool, autumn breeze of the assurance of Your gentle presence...help them see the leaves moving from the moving of Your Spirit.

I hope I'm not asking too much for them!! I long for each of them to go deep with you today! I long for each of them to have the Ah-ha!! of your presence with them!

Lord, bless them! And keep them!! (I know you do and you will!!) May your face, with all of its Shekinah Glory, shine on them. Grant them an overflowing portion of your peace that passes understanding. Let it flow through them into the conflict and trouble that surrounds each of them.

Be gracious unto them...in the name of your Holy and Majestic Son, Jesus.

Make it so!! (That is what amen means, you know??)

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Physical Analogies & Truth

Someone reading "Hole-ier Than Thou" could easily conclude, if they don't know me, that I'm more interested in turning a phrase or sounding like I have it together (in spite of the list of sins/holes that I've listed.) It is very difficult to write in a way that communicates to someone how deeply you feel about something.

If you critically read others' writing that moves you, you will find that the writer usually spends a lot of effort setting you up to think a certain thought or to feel a certain way. The best spend tremendous time crafting something until it is "just so", I've been told.

Jesus had a knack for using the common, the everyday to teach. He often used stories and analogies to make points first to his immediate group of 12 followers and then to the evershifting audience that surrounded them. The New Testament pictures Jesus as being in demand every day and getting very little time to himself.

In a situation like that, you consume ideas more quickly than you create new ones. You begin to have a sense of why he spent 30 years of life prior to his 3 years of public ministry.

You also almost feel like he chose his immediate audience to challenge himself. His disciples (learners)--specifically the 12 men that follow him that we later refer to as apostles (sent ones)--sometimes seem to be pretty dense.

I appreciate that the Bible presents them warts and all. Peter's denial and his desire to set up tabernacles rather than come down from the Mount of Transfiguration. The recurring events that demonstrated a lack of faith in dealing with spiritual issues (think inability to cast out demons, grumbling about the perfume.) The mom of the Sons of Thunder (James and John) wanting them to be on the right hand and the left hand of Jesus in heaven. The in-fighting that followed that.

Not only do you get a sense that these were real men of the more usual kind--providing a clear distinction from the one they are following--but it helps us identify with them to see those stories. They didn't get what Jesus taught in all cases. Sometimes it seemed like he was being intentionally obscure. The Bible records that he often explained things.

For some of you, the explanation of the flashlight and the holes probably makes sense, but you may not have thought through how the analogy relates to reality. I woke up this morning thinking about that.

In my memory there is one very vivid picture of this principle. My friends Chris and Randy took in a young, homeless man named Joe the year I was repairing typewriters in San Bernardino. They witnessed to him and he accepted Christ and then they had to figure out what to "do" with him.

He wasn't very clean at that point. He didn't have a job. He was in his late teens or early 20s. He was very difficult to get along with. With patience and enormous love, they worked through the things we learned in Problems of Democracy at San Gorgonio.

That "civics" class also included tons of practical instruction. How to plan a budget, how to make a weekly food menu, how to avoid the traps marketers/advertisers use to sell their products. It was scary stuff.

Their budget planning exercise was brilliant. They asked us to work off of the premise that we were paid minimum wage and to design a budget that would work. This included trips to the grocery store to find items that we could live off of and researching rental costs in the San Bernardino Sun.

I left that class with a healthy appreciation for how very minimal minimum wage was. I understood that education mattered. And I gained the ability to plan things out in advance to a deep level of detail. Both things have served me very well.

These were things that this young man had to be re-taught. Not just the spiritual things, but the everyday things.

This friend also came to our Singles department that met at the Bobbitt Funeral Home during the 11 o'clock Sunday School time period. Immanuel Baptist had THREE worship services and THREE Sunday Schools at the time. I attended my own class at 8 o'clock, worship at 9:45, and taught at 11. I recently looked at a department/class list for Immanuel and the person that taught me during that time is still teaching Sunday School at Immanuel. What enormous faithfulness and dedication!!

I had a hard time with Joe. He didn't always smell nice and his clothes were kind of ratty. I was used to that from living in Indonesia, but I wasn't used to his sullenness and bickering. There were times that he seemed to be biting the hardest at the people that wanted to help him the most. As it turns out, that is fairly common among the homeless...their spiritual need and isolation is so great that they will lash out at those trying to help.

As he grew to trust those around him that were helping him, he perceptibly softened. You could see God working on his heart on almost a weekly basis. It was grace in action...mercy flowing. What God could see with grace-colored glasses from the very beginning, we began actually seeing at the end.

Towards the end of that year...as I was dealing with God sending me on a new adventure and heading back to A&M to finish my B.S. so I could go on to seminary...I had the great privilege to hear Joe speak. I don't remember the subject. But I do remember vividly the poise, confidence, and meekness of this saved-and-changed-by-grace young man. I was awed at the work God had already accomplished in him. And because I knew Joe at the beginning of that time and saw him at the end of that time, I knew who to worship and glorify because of it.

Joe is my practical example when someone asks me to prove to them that God exists. He had no ability to "do that to himself." Even with the help of my friends, they didn't all accomplish that together. God working in his heart did that. And because of the holes in his heart that were there at the beginning, God's glory UNDENIABLY shined from Joe's life.

Some of that glory can be seen in Chris and Randy's mercy and love and evangelism. Some of it can be seen in the patience and love everyone extended to Joe in Sunday School. But most of it can be seen in the change IN Joe.

That's what I mean by God's light shining through the holes. When God redeems our sin, the certainty of his glory becomes undeniable in our lives. It should humble us. And it should draw others to us. If it doesn't, it might be because our own unloveliness is occluding God's loveliness...still.

Whether you've accepted Jesus as your leader and rescuer or not, if you are reading this you KNOW what I'm talking about when I talk about sin. You know that your sin is a sign of enmity with God. You KNOW that God will eventually deal with those signs of being his enemy.

Why not deal with him right here...right now over them. Ask him to reveal to you the sin of your life and then agree with him about it. And then turn away from the sin (that so easily ensnares us!!) and turn back to him. Ask for forgiveness and put your trust in him to restore you to himself. Right here...right now.

If the picture of Joe's transformation appeals to you--and I hope it does--ask God to visibly shine his glory through you...and to do whatever it takes to get you prepared for that. God can do amazing things when we submit to his quiet, careful, thoughtful leadership.

God can do amazing things in our lives if....

...we ask him to.

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Hole-ier than thou

I know I'm not a perfect person (that "amen" in the background as you read this is the chorus of my friends agreeing with me...if not the angels in heaven.) I have a lot of holes. Trust me...no matter what sins you think "punch you through", I may be hole-ier than thou.

I am trying to be honest with you here. I'm prideful. That pridefulness comes from an amazing gift of intelligence from God. I am trying to be honest!! I know where it comes from and I am deeply aware of its breadth and depth...the gift that is. My response to that gift is sometimes...<sighs>...prideful.

Some people call me arrogant. I can't honestly deflect that criticism in any way. Jennifer has to deal with the side of me when I'm not in a good mood (I'm usually in a really good mood when I'm writing and posting.) She has to deal with me when I'm sullen or angry. She has to deal with someone that will think a thousand thoughts in a minute and she'll wonder why so quickly I'll swing from being in a good mood to being upset.

At times, due to the gift of intelligence, I procrastinate, trusting my giftedness to catch me up. I'm like the hare in Aesop's fable...except there are times when I don't really even get started before I take my nap.

I lack tact, too, sometimes excusing the things I say because they come from my "gift of discernment." The Bible teaches us to "test every spirit." If your gift of discernment conflicts with 1 Corinthians 13--like mine has too often--perhaps you are being motivated by a spiritual gift from the enemy rather than from God.

Some of you reading this know me very well (Jen helps me by reading every entry and offering her perspective and suggestions...thank you sweetheart!!) Others just think they have a good idea of who I am. Brent probably knows me pretty well in spite of the intervening years. Cheri (if she's reading this) was my "iron sharpening iron" partner in high school. My mom definitely knows me well. If you ask them, they'll go 'yep'...he's kinda like that.

My dad may know me best of all. He tends to see through me. Pastors should be that way as should fathers. It keeps their kids on the straight and narrow. I don't always agree with my dad, but I always try to honor him (even when it seems like I'm not...it is my deepest desire.)

Doing that once...seeking to honor my dad..allowed God to more fully develop my spiritual giftedness and led to me teaching adult Sunday School for the first time...first to singles a little older than I was in the Bobbitt Funeral Home where we met off of the Date Street location of the old Immanuel Baptist Church campus in San Bernardino.

As I was responding in the Wendy's comments in Good News!! this thought came to mind:

I am really glad that I followed God's leadership and went to Texas A&M instead of a Baptist school. Before doing that, most of my friends were churched and saved. Since then, at least half of my friends at any point in my life have been unchurched and unsaved.

MANY of those friends now profess a saving faith in Jesus Christ. I was there to see God work that out in many cases. Perhaps in a few God was able to use my somewhat poor witness (holes and all) to reach some of my friends.

I thought about that a little and I came up with this explanation of how it works:

Grab a flashlight and TWO handkerchief or pieces of cloth--one with holes and one without holes--head into a dark closet. First put the whole cloth over the flashlight and turn it on. How does it light the room? Turn the flashlight off, replace it with the cloth with holes, and turn it back on. What happens?

Most likely you saw this: the whole cloth...the fabric without problems or frays or holes...obscured the light more than it transmitted it. The cloth with holes obscured SOME of the light, but it more faithfully transmitted the rest.

It's what Paul meant when he said "His strength is perfected through our weakness." God is able to shine through precisely when we just can't take another step. We stop being a container or a dam and start being a conduit...a channel.

For those of you out there that think you're just not up to the task of being as "good" as someone else or matching some artificial standard of righteousness...that is Good News!! You don't have to. God will work with who you are today if you will submit to his plan for you and to his leadership in your life.

If you want to find out more about how to invite Jesus into your heart, please do these two things for me:

1. Read John 3 (The Message).
2. Send me an email by clicking on my signature. That's gregorywh AT gmail.com

I would love to hear from you and to share with you about how to get to know Jesus. We can learn about him together since I am constantly on the search for a better understanding of who he is.

Said a little differently...I'd be glad to help not because I am holier than thou...

but because I might be hole-ier than thou...and I know where to find help.

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Music...music...music...and people..people...people

Brent Ellison sent us his "In This Moment..." cd that he self-published and that is available through www.cdbaby.com (the link should take you there, otherwise search for his name if you want to learn more about him or if you want to hear samples.) He also sent three other cds. To this one's relatively untrained ear, it sounded like one of the three had some studio time and the other two were labeled as one-takes. All were wonderful.

He said that I didn't have to become his fan just because he sent me some music. I haven't told him yet that I never stopped being a fan of his!! His parents, Ken and Mary, were really good friends to our family and I enjoyed going west to Solo--where just the Ellisons were stationed--as much as I did going east to Kediri where we had the largest mission station supporting the Baptist hospital there. His sister Melissa is one of the sweetest people I've ever met and she and Brent even got along most of the time!!

I wrote about Brent in More on Tough Questions and Cheap Answers. As we were growing up together (think early to mid-teenage years and then reacquaintance in college--he went to Baylor and I went to Texas A&M) he was the talented one and I was...well...me. I've had a knack for doing things my own way pretty much my entire life. One of my favorite stories of Brent and his family is going with them to a spring-fed stream near their house that flowed through a small dam and hydro-electric generator (SMALL...really SMAL) and over a nearby cliff.

Uncle Ken (missionary kids traditionally call other missionaries "Uncle" and "Aunt" in an effort to establish a family away from family) would lure people into the spring with "Come on in, the water's fine!!" with a look that made you wonder what he had in mind. Those who "took the plunge" at his advice were in for a surprise.

Because it was spring-fed, the experience of jumping in the water could be accurately compared to jumping into the Arctic Ocean. I'm not sure that the generator was wired properly, either, and I could swear I saw the water glow and sometimes felt like I was being shocked when I got in. If you weren't in the right frame of mind when you jumped in, you would shiver for hours.

So, when I heard Floatin', I thought back to that spring. I think I can still see Uncle Ken grinning at me. It makes me think why we were there and of the impact of his work and of my dad's work.

Indonesia is in the tropics. More accurately, between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn...the band along the globe of the earth where the sun meanders from summer solstice to winter solstice. The lengthening of the day is far less pronounced in the tropics than it is in contiguous 48 states. The day tends to be about 12 hours (ignoring dawn and dusk glow) and the night is the same.

Indonesia is an archipelago of islands that is approximately as wide and as tall as the contiguous 48 and is also the fourth most populous nation in the world with approximately 241 million people. The island of Java is the size of Tennessee. But Tennessee has 5.5 million residents and Java holds almost 60% of that 241 million or 144 million. Java is 26 times as densely populated as Tennessee.

Most of the island is within 50 meters of sea level, but there are numerous vocanic peaks--both active and inactive--that dot the island. Bandung--where the language study occurred when Brent and I were there together--is in a mountainous region and is quite comfortable year round. Most of the island is warmer (high 80s to high 90s) and humid.

The humidity and the year-round sun and almost daily showers create a verdant vibrancy that seems like a well-funded insurgency against the human occupation of the land and the hills. The Indonesians can be very diligent and mostly win that war for the land. Their spoils are rice paddies as far as they eye can see, broken up only by desas and towns and cities. We ate fresh fruit year round...bananas, rambutan, pineapples, and even strawberries (though only in the mountain regions)...all plunder from the struggle with the rainforests. Brent describes it in one of his songs as "greener year round than our lawn is in spring."

My dad and his dad were field evangelists during that time. This meant they would go village to village seeking permission to help those with needs and to teach to those that would listen. I remember my dad riding off on his Vespa at dawn and coming back as the sun was going down...day after day. I was so proud of him!! I knew he was ministering the Gospel in a land that was outwardly green but that was a desert inside. Mom would stay home and teach all four of her kids. Her classroom was frontier-like in its span: from Kindegarten through eighth grade all in a screened-in, un-air-conditioned porch.

Indonesia was home for our family...if just for a little while. It sings its siren song to me still and I want to go back. It is unbelievable that some place I lived for only three years could overwhelm every other place. And, as time has passed, the longing has faded. I know it isn't the same as it was...that it moved forward and "grew up." I grieve when I hear of the the bombings in Bali and Jakarta, of the gang murders under the control of the military when East Timor declared independence, of the infighting around Ambon between the transmigrated, militant Muslims and the Christians defending their lives and their livelihood in a traditionally Christian area.

And I was horrified with the rest of you, but in a more personal way, at the tsunami that struck Banda Aceh. My parents considered an assignment in Medan--where the Stuckey's worked--just outside of Banda Aceh. The Acehnese people are one of the most stridently Muslim of all of the people groups in Indonesia. They would have been the target of my parent's mission activities.

We have prayed for them--the Acehnese--for decades...asking that God would allow us to evangelize them...asking that they would be saved. I cry out to God in agony that so many were lost to him that horrible way before we could reach them.

But...but...but...we have had our most effective ministry among the Acehnese people ever. More of our missionaries and more of the Good News!! has reached them in the past two years than in the past 100. God redeems even the worst situations for his glory!! Pray for the Acehnese that revival would sweep them.

Pray for those that serve them that they would have endurance and courage and strength. Pray that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit and that the harvest would be white for them. Pray to the Lord of the Harvest that the harvesters would be plenty.

Thanks, Brent, for reminding me--through your songs--of the land we shared and of the peoples there and of their great need. I'll invite our readers to pray for ALL of the 241 million Indonesians, who probably are 90% Muslim. While they admit that Jesus was a good man and a prophet, they don't know him as The Way, The Truth, and The Life...YET. But--if God is willing--with enough prayer and enough going, they can. Will you pray? Can you go?

I know of an organizationthat is headed by a missionary that worked as a field evangelist in Jember on the far eastern end of the island of Java. His organization can help you get ready to go and might be able to support you in going.

If God has given you a heart for any land, even if you don't believe you're ready to go today, nurture that calling. Water it and feed it with information and statistics. Learn about the people and the languages and the geography. Get prepared just in case the opportunity presents itself to you. Often God will grow a passion within us that turns into a bonfire before he sets us loose. Maybe that little spark is his gentle, soft whisper to you.

If you'll take the first, small steps of faith towards a calling, God will meet you there and get you the rest of the way. He offers power to you through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Not an agenda...not a program...not a committee to serve on...POWER. Take one step and see if he won't enable all of your steps.

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Good News!!

I exchanged several emails yesterday with the person that inspired me--through her own efforts at journaling through a web log--to start the Salt Mill. Her honesty in dealing with the past year of life and the many difficulties and struggles that she journaled in her blog helped me gain a sense of perspective about our family's recent struggles. I have a link to her site in the right column of the main page. Her name is Wendy.

If I remember correctly--I asked my mom about this a few days ago--my mom introduced me to Wendy in the late spring of 1980. My mom doesn't remember her and Wendy didn't remember me when I contacted her at the beginning of summer. I did that because she left an impression on me when she told me--I think a year later--about a decision she made that I viewed as being spiritually bold and courageous.

She has come to mind now and then during the past two decades, but the opportunity to reconnect with her didn't "happen" (the word happen has the root "hap" which is Middle English for "chance" or "luck".) Now, I don't know about you, but I try to be careful about ascribing to mere "chance" what God very well may have planned out on purpose. So I trust that God had a reason for why things turned out that way.

Then--all of the sudden--through a "fortuitous" series of events I "happened" upon it. (I'm playing with my readers with all of the double quotes and allusions to fortune and chance.) The events were this: Jen and the kids were going on vacation. I didn't want to be bored. It was the 30th anniversary of my entry into high school. I was struggling with connectedness with other people. So I started contacting some of my old friends. I had a thought on how to get in contact with Wendy that--THIS TIME--worked out.

Now let me set the scene for you from my perspective: some random guy sends you an email claiming to know you and presents one deeply personal fact about a decision you made back then and asks how that decision turned out. What do you do?

Well, to make a long story short, Wendy responded graciously and then pointed me to her blog to "let me catch up." I took advantage of that offer and not only "caught up" but also followed links from her blogs to meet some of her friends through their blogs as well. All of this went a long way to helping me heal a lot from some of the very tough times I went through in the past few years.

I had asked Wendy to permit me to pray for her on needs in her life. I distilled some of the needs that I saw from her blog and emailed that list to her (along with some prayer requests of our family) approximately one month ago.

The exchange of emails yesterday was a discussion about how God has answered those prayer needs of mine and of hers. It gave me goose bumps when I saw not only how many needs were directly answered but as I thought through the evidence of the WAY God answered those prayers.

While the "Good News!!" in this post is sharing with you a renewed friendship that has brought me both healing and joy, I want to teach through it as well. It takes very simple actions to connect to people and to reach out and share their burdens. In most cases the simple action of asking for a few prayer needs and praying for those a FEW TIMES within a month will bring down a waterfall of God's blessings on the other person and--dare I say it??--on you.

God blesses us as we seek to connect with both fellow believers and with unbelievers. We spread the Kingdom of Heaven through those actions much more effectively than the crusaders tried to do so in the Middle East in the Middle Ages. Don't try to make serving God hard. Go for simple gestures of extravagant love. Merely praying (MERELY...I'm smiling at that!!) can change the world and certainly can change one other person's life in mighty ways.

When you're feeling down or disconnected... When you're feeling alone or "apart"... If you you're hurting from dealing with really tough circumstances...pick up a phone or write a letter or send an email or IM someone and ask them how they are doing and if there is a need of theirs you can pray for. You can trust that most people will reciprocate and do the same for you. If enough people start doing that, it weaves a web between us of mighty prayer.

And I wonder what God can accomplish if we surround each other with prayer?

Isn't that Good News?? Won't you try it today?

P.S. By the way...thanks, Wendy, for not ignoring that email from that guy you couldn't remember. You and your friends have been a tremendous encouragement to me as I've healed from difficult times...and I suspect you didn't even know you were helping me...you just thought I was supporting you!! That's the Way of the Kingdom of Heaven!

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...and Another.

So...sacrifice leads to understanding about life which leads to wisdom/understanding itself (as its own virtue).

What does THAT lead to? I hinted at it in my last post. I left an error in the post that I want to talk about in this one. The First Temple was built by Solomon. The Second Temple, if you recall, was built by Herod.

I depicted the Temple as being complete in my story in the previous post. The First Temple most likely was under construction--not finished--during the younger years of Solomon's son that is depicted in Proverbs. If that son saw it being built, he would have seen these things:

1. On outer wall surrounding the Temple Mount. The gate that led into this area led into the Court of "The Nations" (goyim) or those called Gentiles in the New Testament.
   
2. An inner wall, perhaps as short as 1 cubit (18 inches) separated the Court of The Nations from the Court of Women.
3. Inside the Court of Women was another inner wall that separated the Court of Women from the Court of Men.
4. Within the Court of Men was the Temple structure itself.
5. Within the Temple itself was a Holy area.
6. Within that Holy area was another area separated by a thick drape or curtain that obscured an inner chamber called the Holy of Holies.
7. Inside that inner chamber was the Ark of the Covenant and an altar with horns on it.

Tradition tells us that the restrictions narrowed regarding who could approach closer and closer to the the Holy of Holies. Gentiles did not go past the outer court. Israelite women were to go no further than the Court of Women. Israelite men who were neither Levites nor Priests went no further than the Court of Men. Levites that were not priests could enter the temple, but not the Holy area. Consecrated priests, later in a rotation of Aaronical families, were the only ones that could enter the Holy area. The High Priest entered the Holy of Holies, according to tradition, precisely one day per year on Yom Kippur to make atonement for the nation of Israel (and for all sojourners that observed the Law.)

Now compare that system to my story about approaching the King. God was FAR more exclusive about who could approach his presence in the Tanak/Old Testament than Kings of the Ancient Orient would have been about his retinue. (I took my example from the original King and I, with a respectful nod to Anna and the King because the Thai people find the original movie troubling.) He only allowed one person on one day PER YEAR to approach him and attend to him.

And in order to approach God, blood flowed across the temple mount. It flowed through channels into the Brook Kidron. Jesus crossed the Brook Kidron as he walked the Via Delorosa to Golgotha. The time was the time of the Passover and the blood of 10s of thousands of lambs flowed into the Brook that day. Imagine the emotional impact on Jesus if that scene occurred as I've depicted it...the Lamb reminded of his soon-to-occur sacrifice by the blood of many lambs.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia also suggests that the Brook Kidron is where the dry bones of the book of Ezekiel arise from the dead and become the nation of Israel again. What a great picture that is!! That it is the Lamb's Blood flowing into their nation that brings them back to life!!

God is the giver of Wisdom and Understanding. Proverbs says that if we diligently seek Wisdom and Understanding, he will give Wisdom and Understanding to us:

^{Proverbs 2:1-6 NIV} My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,

² turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding,

³ and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,

⁴ and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,

⁵ then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.

⁶ For the LORD gives wisdom,
and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

As a child, I viewed the 10 Commandments, the Law as the "thou shalt nots." It took me a long time to see God's Law as life-affirming while it at the same time clearly shows the deadliness and finality (outside of the grace of God and the gift of life through Jesus Christ and, even, the quickening of faith through God's spirit) of sin.

Francis Shaeffer wrote a book entitled "How Then Should We Live?" That book worthily presents the argument of God's people living in holiness, shedding sin for God's righteousness and living above the fray.

But I love the picture of how we should live that Solomon gives us in Proverbs (that his father, David, taught him):

^{Proverbs 4:3-13 NIV} When I was a boy in my father's house,
still tender, and an only child of my mother,

⁴ he taught me and said,
"Lay hold of my words with all your heart;
keep my commands and you will live.

⁵ Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget my words or swerve from them.

⁶ Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
love her, and she will watch over you.

⁷ Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.
Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

⁸ Esteem her, and she will exalt you;
embrace her, and she will honor you.

⁹ She will set a garland of grace on your head
and present you with a crown of splendor."

¹⁰ Listen, my son, accept what I say,
and the years of your life will be many.

¹¹ I guide you in the way of wisdom
and lead you along straight paths.

¹² When you walk, your steps will not be hampered;
when you run, you will not stumble.

¹³ Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;
guard it well, for it is your life.

Sacrifice leads to specific understanding of life. Specific understanding of life, collected together, leads to wisdom and general understanding. Wisdom, which comes from God, gives life.

Life, with all of its ups and downs, demonstrates God's unique and eternal character in action.

Say to wisdom, "You are my sister,"
and call understanding your kinsman.

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One thing leads to another...and then another

The thing that led to another in yesterday's title is that sacrifice leads to the ability to understand life. And the ability to understand life leads to...

Understanding. Wisdom. The book of Proverbs says to seek wisdom and understanding. Proverbs is FILLED with advice, but let's remind ourselves as to the purpose of the book:

^{Proverbs 1:1-7 NIV} The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

² for attaining wisdom and discipline;
for understanding words of insight;

³ for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,
doing what is right and just and fair;

⁴ for giving prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young-

⁵ let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance-

⁶ for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.

⁷ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Take a moment and drink those verses in. Try and reflect on what Solomon is trying to accomplish with his writing. The whole book of Proverbs is about understanding life through wise living.

Wisdom is presented anthropomorphically by Solomon to his SON as a chaste but deeply attractive woman. Someone to LONG for. Someone to CHASE. Someone to GRAB HOLD OF and to NOT LET GO OF. I'm highlighting those words because as we read the book of Proverbs, we sometimes forget the context. And then we do goofy things like try to treat Wisdom as a goddess. We must read Proverbs within the context that it is written...and for the purpose that it was written.

To help you do that, let me set the scene for you. This is purely my imagination:

You are the young son or daughter of King Solomon. Your mother is one of many wives and you are one of many children. You live in the palace that King David built in Jerusalem overlooking the Temple Mount. The palace is a multi-story structure built against a tall wall. Many of the rooms look towards the Temple including the King's Bedroom.

You are called at the end of the day to come to the King's Bedroom. Your mother is there and your father, King Solomon, is there. It is a mini-court and there are a more limited number of attendants in the room when you arrive, but it still feels very formal to you.

As he is the King, you bow in his presence, being careful not to let your eyes look at him or let your head be above his head as you enter the room. You are directed to a spot in front of him. As you are led there, the servant reminds you that today is a very busy day, but your Father has set aside time to make a proclamation on your behalf and has requested that you give your full attention.

You wait patiently, head still bowed, as you look out of the corner of your eye towards the throne. An attendant walks forward with a scroll that has the King's colors and the King's seal on it. Your Father breaks the seal open and begins to read:

^{Proverbs 1:8-19 NIV} Listen, my son, to your father's instruction
and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

⁹ They will be a garland to grace your head
and a chain to adorn your neck.

¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you,
do not give in to them.

¹¹ If they say, "Come along with us;
let's lie in wait for someone's blood,
let's waylay some harmless soul;

¹² let's swallow them alive, like the grave,
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;

¹³ we will get all sorts of valuable things
and fill our houses with plunder;

¹⁴ throw in your lot with us,
and we will share a common purse"-

¹⁵ my son, do not go along with them,
do not set foot on their paths;

¹⁶ for their feet rush into sin,
they are swift to shed blood.

¹⁷ How useless to spread a net
in full view of all the birds!

¹⁸ These men lie in wait for their own blood;
they waylay only themselves!

¹⁹ Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain;
it takes away the lives of those who get it.

Your father breaks character for just a split second and smiles at you, then regains his majestic look, and hands the scroll to the scribe standing next to him. The servant that led you into the room returns to your side and whispers in your ear, "The King has given you permission to approach him."

You stand up, walk up to the throne, and climb into your father's lap. You then start in, "Daddy, what does it mean when you say..."

I'll allow you to fill in what is said next as you pray to God for wisdom and understanding about this passage. Hopefully you can see both his majesty and his smile as you talk to him.

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One thing leads to another

Are you ready to be absolutely AMAZED? I thought you were!!!

Let's imagine that you're a lot like we are. Over time you've collected a pretty good amount of just stuff. You probably have a minimum of a few rooms full of stuff and, again if you're like us, you might have a fairly large house full.

Imagine that a fire comes along right now. Before anything can get done about it, it all burns to the ground and nothing is left. Sift through the debris with me in your mind and divide it into these categories:

1. Wow, that's expensive to replace, but I need it (clothes and beds fit in this category.)
2. I really enjoyed having that, but I can live without it (I'm going to guess for you that knick knacks and perhaps even electronics fall here. Some of us have libraries or other special collections that feel like we really need it, but in reality we can give it up.)
3. The things I just can't live without emotionally. Photographs, furniture with a special history, special books, files of personal letters, you know...stuff that matters.

Think of three examples (besides mine) of each category. Try to really think through it. Don't spend a lot of time on it (no more than 15 minutes total for all three categories.) Take a pencil and paper out, though, and write it down.

Now imagine that Jesus comes up to you and asks you to give all of that up in order to walk with him. Do you feel:

1. Disappointed?
2. Excited?
3. Surprised?
4. Unwilling?

You know who I'm referring to as I write this, don't you? The rich young ruler. The one that Jesus told "Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor...and come follow me."

^{Mark 10:17-30 The Message} As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, "Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?"

¹⁸Jesus said, "Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. ¹⁹You know the commandments: Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't cheat, honor your father and mother."

²⁰He said, "Teacher, I have--from my youth--kept them all!"

²¹Jesus looked him hard in the eye--and loved him! He said, "There's one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me."

²²The man's face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.

²³Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, "Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who "have it all' to enter God's kingdom?" ²⁴The disciples couldn't believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on: "You can't imagine how difficult. ²⁵I'd say it's easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for the rich to get into God's kingdom."

²⁶That set the disciples back on their heels. "Then who has any chance at all?" they asked.

²⁷Jesus was blunt: "No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it."

²⁸Peter tried another angle: "We left everything and followed you."

²⁹Jesus said, "Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land--whatever-because of me and the Message ³⁰will lose out. They'll get it all back, but multiplied many times in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land--but also in troubles. And then the bonus of eternal life!

If you've ever heard a sermon on this passage, you probably get what's going on. For those that haven't, let me make some interesting points:

1. The man made spiritual claims that come across to many of us as arrogant, especially considering he was talking to God's Son.
2. The passage said that Jesus LOVED him, even after he made these bald-faced claims.
3. Jesus dealt with him honestly and went to the HEART of the issue for this man: he was VERY rich.
4. The man went away sad...and is never heard from again in the Bible. I suspect the reason Mark didn't include his name is that he was protecting his identity.

God knows how to deal with the spiritually arrogant. We honestly do not have to deal with that problem. What we must do is try to find what inside of ourselves we aren't willing to give up...and release it.

I call this "open handedness." Instead of holding on tightly, simply open your hand. Make it available to God. He might take it!! Or he might add to it. Or he might replace it with something else.

Hold onto it too tightly and it becomes idolatry. Sometimes the things we hold onto are material goods. Sometimes it is pet sin that we just simply won't admit is wrong and therefore won't give up. Sometimes it is relationships: often parents struggle with letting their children grow up and refuse to give them the freedom of determining their own course without interference.

The thing that I listed in point #3 is my wife and my family (I know...it's cheating...they're not stuff). God asked me to give them up to spend a year in Phoenix working to support them. After being single so long, being away from them was the hardest thing I've ever done. It is very hard for me to look at that year as a good year. We made a lot of financial progress, but it killed my spirit to be away from them and to deal with my awayness each time I got home. It was like God saw through to the heart of me and allowed me to be tested on the one subject that he knew would hurt the most.

I think I can identify with the rich younger ruler's sadness. We made it through that year in spite of a lot of rough travel. My relationship with Jennifer was tested as deeply as a marriage relationship can be tested and remain intact just by the apartness. I referred to my hotel room as my "apartment" because it was enforced "apartness."

The part of the passage that gives me hope, though, is not the sadness of the rich young ruler. It was the love of Jesus for him. And it was these verses at the end:

²⁹Jesus said, "Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land--whatever-because of me and the Message ³⁰will lose out. They'll get it all back, but multiplied many times in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land--but also in troubles. And then the bonus of eternal life!

Notice what also multiplies as our possessions and relations are restored or replaced: The Message calls them troubles. The King James Version (KJV), New International Version (NIV), and the New Living Translation (NLT) all call them persecutions. Let me paraphrase what Jesus is saying:

"Even if you willingly sacrifice possessions and relationships, you can count on more being restored to you...but so will your troubles. But from those troubles you will come to understand and appreciate the bonus of eternal life."

I'm not there yet. My bones still ache over the things that happened the past five years. My ears still ring at the accusations by others that I brought it onto myself...even the accusations by some very close to me. I lost my hope and my confidence during that time and am just now starting to sense that there is a stable platform under my feet. I tried, as much as possible, to worship God through it all...using Job's cry to heaven: "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away...blessed be the name of the Lord."

My warning is look out! If you get too satisfied or you hold on too tightly to the blessings you are used to, or lean on them too heavily to enable your faith, the troubles will drown you. Only by letting go of your pat answers, your assumptions about who God is, your judgement of others, your rights, and your special things will you be ready to float to the top when God allows trouble to fall on your head.

Let go when the trouble comes and acknowledge him as God anyway. Regardless of how bad the trouble was, I awe God...still.

When it comes time to choose what you hold onto, what will you choose?

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Sacrifice and Sacredness

Wendy posted an opinion piece by Elizabeth Sandoval that was published by USAToday entitled A Neo-feminist's View of Abstinence. The piece is intentionally controversial and thought provoking.

The piece caused me to recall one of the verses in the closing chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews. The verse is quite recognizable to most Christians who have been discipled for more than a couple of years. It, in its more traditional form, goes like this:

^{Hebrews 13:4 KJV} Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

There is something about the nouns "whoremongers" and "adulterers" that causes us to think of those that do that as "them" as opposed to "us". So I went looking for an expression of this verse that actually helps US apply it and I think the one that spoke the most clearly was Eugene Peterson's translation/paraphrase:

^{Hebrews 13:4 The Message} Honor marriage, and guard the sacredness of sexual intimacy between wife and husband. God draws a firm line against casual and illicit sex.

If you compare the two versions, you can see the parallels. "Marriage is honourable" gets turned into the more active "Honor marriage." The phraseology that lets us off the hook in the KJV about "whoremongers" and "adulterers" is simplified and made more specific with "God draws a firm line against casual and illicit sex."

The phrase "and the bed undefiled" has been a source of continued speculation among Christians. In my lifetime I've heard interpretations ranging from a pronouncement of limitations on appropriate sexual behavior to a license for any behavior that occurs between a man and a wife as long as it stays in the privacy of their own bedroom/bed. Both extremes leave me gasping for breath because of the reach they make towards matters that seem completely unrelated to this scripture.

Peterson does something that he usually avoids in The Message translation. He uses spiritual jargon: "and guard the sacredness of sexual intimacy between wife and husband." Then he allows the preceding phrase "Honor marriage" and the trailing sentence "God draws a firm line against casual and illicit sex" to give us context for "sacredness" just as God inspired the author of Hebrews to do with the whole thought (even before it was a verse.)

Now what do we do with that word "sacredness"? It clearly is theological jargon. Where is God taking us with it? If you studied the Tanak/Old Testament very much, you probably have encountered the Levitical/Aaronic rituals of the tabernacle and of the temple.

You might recall how the original instruments of worship were created by Moses. He requested donations from the tribes of Israel and they gave from the abundance of what their Egyptian masters gave them as they left Egypt. They gave so much gold that Moses and Aaron had to tell them to stop because they had enough!!

Later we hear about Solomon's efforts to build the temple in Jerusalem after God forbids David--due to David's reputation as a warrior--from building it. Again, we hear about how gold and silver arrives from other nations as a tribute to Israel and to the God of Israel.

From both of these situations you get a picture of a God who supplies the instruments of worship from his own riches. That when people set in their hearts to fully worship him, then he will provide riches for them to give in order to create worship.

The gold and silver given in each era (Tabernacle and Temple) are built into instruments of worship (think cups for wine and platters of bread rather than harps and drums and guitars...instruments of the spirit rather than of music.) And then they are dedicated to that purpose and ONLY to that purpose. They are consecrated. They are made sacred.

What happens when you use them for common, profane (not sacred) purposes? The instruments of worship are defiled. They are no longer holy. They are no longer suited for worship. God is holy. He desires holy worship. He is angered by unholy worship or by profaning that which is sacred. How do I know this?

Look what happens when someone misuses instruments of worship:

^{Daniel 5:1-31 The Message} King Belshazzar held a great feast for his one thousand nobles. The wine flowed freely. ²Belshazzar, heady with the wine, ordered that the gold and silver chalices his father Nebuchadnezzar had stolen from God's Temple of Jerusalem be brought in so that he and his nobles, his wives and concubines, could drink from them. ³When the gold and silver chalices were brought in, the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines, drank wine from them. ⁴They drank the wine and drunkenly praised their gods made of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

⁵At that very moment, the fingers of a human hand appeared and began writing on the lamp-illumined, whitewashed wall of the palace. When the king saw the disembodied hand writing away, ⁶he went white as a ghost, scared out of his wits. His legs went limp and his knees knocked. ⁷He yelled out for the enchanters, the fortunetellers, and the diviners to come. He told these Babylonian magi, "Anyone who can read this writing on the wall and tell me what it means will be famous and rich--purple robe, the great gold chain--and be third-in-command in the kingdom."

⁸One after the other they tried, but could make no sense of it. They could neither read what was written nor interpret it to the king. ⁹So now the king was really frightened. All the blood drained from his face. The nobles were in a panic.

¹⁰The queen heard of the hysteria among the king and his nobles and came to the banquet hall. She said, "Long live the king! Don't be upset. Don't sit around looking like ghosts. ¹¹There is a man in your kingdom who is full of the divine Holy Spirit. During your father's time he was well known for his intellectual brilliance and spiritual wisdom. He was so good that your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, made him the head of all the magicians, enchanters, fortunetellers, and diviners. ¹²There was no one quite like him. He could do anything--interpret dreams, solve mysteries, explain puzzles. His name is Daniel, but he was renamed Belteshazzar by the king. Have Daniel called in. He'll tell you what is going on here."

¹³So Daniel was called in. The king asked him, "Are you the Daniel who was one of the Jewish exiles my father brought here from Judah? ¹⁴I've heard about you--that you're full of the Holy Spirit, that you've got a brilliant mind, that you are incredibly wise. ¹⁵The wise men and enchanters were brought in here to read this writing on the wall and interpret it for me. They couldn't figure it out--not a word, not a syllable. ¹⁶But I've heard that you interpret dreams and solve mysteries. So--if you can read the writing and interpret it for me, you'll be rich and famous--a purple robe, the great gold chain around your neck--and third-in-command in the kingdom."

¹⁷Daniel answered the king, "You can keep your gifts, or give them to someone else. But I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.

¹⁸"Listen, O king! The High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar a great kingdom and a glorious reputation. ¹⁹Because God made him so famous, people from everywhere, whatever their race, color, and creed, were totally intimidated by him. He killed or spared people on whim. He promoted or humiliated people capriciously. ²⁰He developed a big head and a hard spirit. Then God knocked him off his high horse and stripped him of his fame. ²¹He was thrown out of human company, lost his mind, and lived like a wild animal. He ate grass like an ox and was soaked by heaven's dew until he learned his lesson: that the High God rules human kingdoms and puts anyone he wants in charge.

²²"You are his son and have known all this, yet you're as arrogant as he ever was. ²³Look at you, setting yourself up in competition against the Master of heaven! You had the sacred chalices from his Temple brought into your drunken party so that you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines, could drink from them. You used the sacred chalices to toast your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone--blind, deaf, and imbecile gods. But you treat with contempt the living God who holds your entire life from birth to death in his hand.

²⁴"God sent the hand that wrote on the wall, ²⁵and this is what is written: MENE, TEQEL, and PERES. ²⁶This is what the words mean:

"Mene: God has numbered the days of your rule and they don't add up.

²⁷"Teqel: You have been weighed on the scales and you don't weigh much.

²⁸"Peres: Your kingdom has been divided up and handed over to the Medes and Persians." ²⁹Belshazzar did what he had promised. He robed Daniel in purple, draped the great gold chain around his neck, and promoted him to third-in-charge in the kingdom.

³⁰That same night the Babylonian king Belshazzar was murdered. ³¹He was sixty-two years old. Darius the Mede succeeded him as king.

I'm quoting the entire chapter because I believe we need a sense of who God is. And this chapter conveys it vividly. Sometimes God's judgement is immediate and swift. Think about what caused it in this case:

His people sacrificed their belongings--given to them by the Egyptians--to make some of these gold and silver chalices. Some of the rest came from the golden age of the united kingdom, when David (a man after God's own heart) determined that God deserved a permanent, glorious place of worship in Jerusalem and David collected the materials and Solomon built it. And this king Belshazzar profanes these sacred items representing sacrifices to God by using them to give thanks to other gods.

We don't live in Babylon (though we are at war with the people that live near ancient Babylon.) It's hard to relate to what upset God because as Christians (especially Protestants and Evangelicals) we emphasize spiritual worship without physical items of worship.

But there is a similarity between the Temple of Solomon and us that we cannot dismiss:

^{1 Corinthians 6:19-20} Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. ²⁰God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.

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How Things Really Are

How Things Really Are

Sometimes, often it seems,
Life gives us twists and turns
(And curves)
That we didn't expect.

God is the straight-way maker
He keeps us going and
Helps us deal
With the twists and turns.

He lifts up the head
And lifts the heart.
He sees past the outside
And sees all the way through.

He notices and he can tell
When we're down
And when we are hurting
And knows when we've sinned.

He's calling out in the Garden
Where are you? Where are you?
And we hide from him,
Try to hide who we are from him.

But we can't hide from
His compassion,
From his deep longing.
He is the Hound of Heaven.

He will hunt us down
And catch us up
In his arms
And protect us.

He wants who we really are
He starts right here
And he keeps going
All the way to the end.

Jesus is OUR Lover
We are HIS Beloved
Can you imagine
The Songs of Songs WE'll sing?

Greg Harvey
August 21, 2005

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Stillborn

In the second spring of our marriage, Jennifer and I were delighted to find out that she was pregnant. I was 34 at the time, and I was excited about going through the process of having a baby with Jennifer. We were full of hope and dreams of expanding our family. It was something that really gave us a sense of togetherness.

Then around the second or third month, her doctor noticed that something wasn't quite right. He sent Jennifer for an ultrasound which I supported her through. The radiology tech was very quiet as she did her work. There wasn't the normal excitement and the "picture taking" that I learned in later pregnancies are the "usual." I was puzzled at the look on her face.

Jen's doctor let us know (I think he called her with this, but I don't remember) that the ultrasound "couldn't locate the fetus." He wanted to take some bloodwork. So Jennifer went in for that. He then let her know that she was miscarrying the baby and let her know what to expect.

I was pretty upset about it. Jennifer was surprised that I was more upset than she was. There are some not-so-pretty aspects to miscarriage and to save Jennifer the trauma, I dealt with the aftermath of those. It was probably the first time in my life that I really felt God letting me experience the full force of death.

We did fine, and the situation wasn't like the title of this post in any way. There was no visible fetus to miscarry. Eventually pain was overtaken by healing. And then the next door neighbor to Jen's parents miscarried...and there then seemed to be purpose.

In the midst of this, I saw a statistic that said that 30% of pregnancies ended in miscarriage. I don't know what the source of that statistic is, but we have been very aware of pregnancies that are miscarried since then...and I find that statistic to be very reasonable.

I think of all of this as I am reading this from Jesus's discussion with Nicodemus:

^{John 3:5-8 The Message} Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation--the "wind hovering over the water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life--it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. ⁶When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch--the Spirit--and becomes a living spirit.

⁷"So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be "born from above'--out of this world, so to speak. 8You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone "born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God."

I don't know how this strikes you, but I think of it this way: 100% of us are stillborn spiritually according to Romans (Rom 3:23 NIV,Rom 5:12-14 NIV) . We come into this world with tremendous promise and hope, and we're absolutely dead to spiritual things. We must be born from above...reborn through God's Spirit into a life of spiritual awareness.

I'm not talking Eastern mysticism or gnostic mysteries. Jesus acted surprised that Nicodemus didn't get these things, but we're hardly better prepared to understand them even with the Holy Spirit interpreting them for us. The world around us is spiritually stillborn.

I imagine Heaven quietly watching as each new child is born. Perhaps the Father knows the spiritual destination of that child when it is born--either because he determines to woo the child or because of his all-knowing nature--but I somehow doubt that all of heaven knows the outcome then. They wait with bated breath for that moment in time...that Eureka!! That Ah-ha!! when the Spirit starts the process of rebirth for this new spirit and then it comes to a realization of its need for Jesus.

What happens if there is no midwife to deliver this spirit? What happens if no attending doctor is there to deliver it into spiritual understanding? Jesus said that we should pray for the harvest because the field is white and ready for harvest. We are called to deliver freshly awakened spirits into full spiritual understanding. Not just to the point of accepting Jesus and baptizing the person, but full spiritual understanding. That IS the Great Commission.

Why do I think that Heaven waits with bated breath? Because of the great chapter 15 in Luke of Parables of The Lost Sheep, Coin, and Sons. And because of this verse from that chapter:

^{Luke 15:7 The Message} Count on it--there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

God has entrusted to us the life-delivering ministry of evangelism and discipleship...of midwiving and nurturing new Christians. I've heard the happiest nurses in hospitals are those that work in the delivery ward. I wonder how we get there spiritually?? Perhaps by searching the sides of the road and the bushes for any that will come?

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The photograph

I wrote this in response to a specific situation, but it speaks to anyone who got dragged into the muck of life without consent. Just thought I would share it.

It isn't about a specific person and isn't just about that situation. There are several people who I thought of as I wrote it...and many situations of lost innocence--including my own--that are reflected in it:

The photograph

In my attic I keep an album
Of all the photos I’ve ever taken
Some are color, some are torn
Some I forgot to label
Others scattered on the floor

There is this one photo
That I search for
My friend tells me that
I never took it
Claimed she’d know if I had

It’s a picture of her
Wearing a white dress
Pure and innocent
Beaming like a child
Searching the clouds above

She said that I wasn’t there
That the dress was stained
She said that her hair was mussed
She told me that
She looked at the ground

I said I was sure
That I remembered
The sun shining brightly
On her golden curls
Cleansing and refreshing

If I could only find that
Photograph
She could see the
Picture that I took
With my mind’s eye

Greg Harvey
7/7/2005

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An invitation

As I read "When God's People Pray...Part 3", I feel God asking me to begin praying for readers daily. I don't think God has ever asked for me to do something like that on a daily basis.

I already pray for many of those I've shared this with often, but hardly daily. So I'm going to make a public commitment to make the effort to do this daily.

I'm going to invite readers to drop me a line when either of these two things happen:

1. You have a prayer need and need someone that has "been through the Grinder" to pray for it.

2. You intentionally share the blog with a friend so I can add their name to my list.

Neither is a 'have to'...you're just invited to do so. If you can't think of prayer needs and you just want to write me and tell me how things are going in your life, I'll try to (prayerfully) extract needs and reflect them back to you for your approval.

You can grab my email from my signature or from my profile. Or if you are willing, just post a comment. It can even be anonymous.

I also covet your prayer for me and for this ministry. It isn't clear to me where God wants this to go, but it is clear to me that it is what he wants me doing right now...yes...at 4:31 am on Aug 20, 2005.

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When God's People Pray...part 3

Can I be honest with you? I'm not the best in the world at being a disciplined pray-er. In fact, I'll be even more honest...I might be the worst of all the saints at this. So why am I asking for people to pray in Part 2??

Quite simply, because I believe prayer matters:

^{Daniel 10:12-14 NIV} Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. ¹³ But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. ¹⁴ Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come."

Daniel had a troubling vision that we're told about at the beginning of chapter 10. So he fasts and prays, basically forsaking all creature comforts for 21 days (three weeks.) He then is confronted by a man:

"I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude."

Some think this is an angel, but many scholars believe this is the pre-incarnate Son of God (prior to Jesus' birth around 4 BC.) He speaks the words I have pasted above, offering an explanation of what happens as a result of prayer. We don't understand all of the details, but these things are very important:

1. Daniel's prayer was heard and answered IMMEDIATELY.
2. The answer was sent via a messenger.
3. The messenger was delayed by a confrontation with what we believe is a spiritual power.
4. Only after receiving help from Michael did the messenger make it to Daniel 21 days later...during that time Daniel fasted for the sake of his people.

The next time you are praying, imagine that your prayer is being heard and IMMEDIATELY answered. Perhaps you should consider praying for the delivery of the answer in case the messenger is delayed. Perhaps you might consider fasting in order to more fervently pray for the answer to be delivered.

If there is any 'unlesson' to be 'unlearned' from this passage, it is that God is always slow to act. Maybe he is sometimes, but we see in this picture a God who is ready to respond to our prayers. But I think we can take something else way from this.

Daniel is referred to by the angel Gabriel as "esteemed" in chapter 8. Here is referred to as "highly esteemed." There seems to be an added urgency because of Heaven's respect for Daniel. I am reminded of the verse "The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." That verse is even more applicable in its context:

^{James 5:13-18 The Message} Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. ¹⁴Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. ¹⁵Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you've sinned, you'll be forgiven--healed inside and out.

¹⁶Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. ¹⁷Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't--not a drop for three and a half years. ¹⁸Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.

I love that: "Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other SO that you can live together whole and healed." Nothing thrills my soul like the concept that through our every day actions we access the power of heaven. And if we had no better reason than to seek holiness than so that our prayers would be effective, shouldn't that be motivating enough?

It kind of makes you shiver when you contemplate what God could do through you if you fully committed yourself to him, doesn't it?? Why not claim these verses as promises and see what he WILL do??

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When God's People Pray...Part 2

In Part 1, I highlighted "The Holy Spirit intercedes for me" from Wayne Watson's song "When God's People Pray." I was attempting to minister to a friend of mine and wrote about that. I modified what I wrote a little before posting it here in order to tone down some of the more personal bits in it:

You got beat up pretty badly, but the Holy Spirit has been right there with you the entire time. He intercedes for you in heaven with groanings and utterings that are not intelligible to human ears.

I think I know what some of them sound like:

Those utterings sound like the man sighing after the 10th call this month from creditors asking why he won't get a job and pay his debts.

They sound like the deep sadness of a single, pregnant mom-to-be when the father waltzes into church with a new young thing on his arm.

They sound like the quiet sobs of the young boy who is shocked, embarrassed, and ashamed when a respected pastor reaches into his clothing.

They sound like the silent shaking of a wife with young children whose husband attempts suicide.

The Holy Spirits utterings and groanings are even DEEPER and more PROFOUND than those hurts and those pains.

He intercedes for you in every hurt, in all of your pain, and through every situation. I believe the Holy Spirit interprets us to the Father and I believe it is because of the work of the Son that God is able to relate to our struggles.

God takes a record of everything that happens in his world according to the Bible. I believe our prayers and the Holy Spirit's intercedings are added to that record. I believe that we will be comforted when God reveals precisely how he acted to answer prayers...it is part of the story of His Redemption (Jesus Christ.)

We should make prayer an essential part of our daily ministry to others. And then we should act as God directs us to act.

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When God's People Pray...Part 1

This song soars and always grabs my attention when I listen to Wayne Watson's Home Free:

When God's People Pray

Trouble knockin' on your window pane,
Stormy weather at your door.
And the outlook for the day ahead like the day before.

People tell you prayin' changes things,
But the words don't stop the fear.
The prayer is only pious rambling without a Father's ear.

He will not turn away,
when His people pray.

When God's people pray,
and take the pains of earth to the doors of heaven.
When God's people pray,
there is hope reborn, there is sin forgiven.
And miracles you can't explain away.
When God' people pray...

Hopeless situation turns around, dilemma passes by and by.
Look, there's a never-ending field of blue,
past your clouded sky.

He alone can know the need in me before a single word begins;
The Holy Spirit intercedes for me.
I will trust in Him!

No, He will not turn away,
when His people pray.

When God's people pray...

I'll post later on why I highlighted those words.

greg.w.h

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Individuality and Grace

My younger daughter saw Jennifer looking at the entry entitled "Grace", read through the first paragraph and concluded the whole thing was "about" her. Jen explained that daddy was using her as an example in talking about something else. That, of course, did not dissuade her from believing that it was about "her."

Now, you might already think you know where I'm going with this. That we want to be recognized as being special, and that we should accept that God is dealing with LOTS of people and that we need to not look for how special we are in creation or try to make everything "all about me."

While some of that is certainly worth considering, I don't believe that, in order for God to deal with so many individuals, that he must mass produce or mass market grace. In fact, this has been a recurring theme when I teach Sunday School to adults: "God desires a unique relationship with YOU."

Now I will insert a word of caution. We don't have to "individualize" ourselves with God. We don't have to go out of our way to stand out. In many cases it will happen naturally as we seek God through our God-given talents and spiritual gifts. His plan for us is individuality. We don't have to create that for ourselves.

That means that we also should accept ourselves precisely the way HE accepts us: just as we are. As long as we are willing to confront the sin that he is convicting us of, he is faithful to deal with that sin, to help us start the process of putting it behind us (he forgets as he forgives, so he isn't the problem when it comes to putting sin behind us), and to help us lift our heads and start fresh.

That is the pattern of grace. Every day we seek God with new hearts that day. And we seek him through our own talents and gifts...in our own way...THAT day. There are some shared disciplines that are valuable--praying, reading the Bible, tithing, offering, serving--but they are the reflection of our faith not the cause of it. They should grow naturally as we grow our relationship with Jesus, but they should never be forced and while we should feel a desire to do them, it should be the desire of free, cheerful choice rather than the desire of forced duty or obligation.

I think that if we approach each day, each situation, each person as being individual--even unique--then we will be able to sense how God 'individuates' US. And we can do it without stressing out...with the "peace that passes understanding."

Now I can write all of this in part because God inspires me to write it. It doesn't mean that I am magically able to always pull it off. I sometimes fall into ruts (Rob Zinn called ruts "graves with the ends kicked out.") I often try to reduce my relationship with God to a repeatable ritual, often so I can keep at it. But I shouldn't reduce it to being JUST routine. There should be something fresh in it every day. I should expect God to deal with me in a unique way every single day...and thank him (and praise him!!) when he does.

Satan is the fan of the routine, the unmeaningful ritual, the sense of everything being the same and nothing getting better--the author of dehumanization. God is the creator of the unique snowflake, the variety of species on the earth, and is the one that makes YOU special to HIM. You don't have to do that...he already did!!

And I have another confession to make: too often my expectations of others force them into spirit killing routines that quench their spirit. I'm so sorry for being that way. Please don't give up on me (since God isn't finished with me yet, either!!)

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