Jawbone of a Donkey

Side by side are seen the deadly Kukri knife and a jawbone of a donkey. The Kukri is considered an awesome weapon. Wielded in the hand of a skilled practitioner, there is no question as to how many foes one could dispatch. Why people question whether Samson could have really slain a thousand with the jawbone of a donkey is not, therefore, so much a matter of ergonomics, but faith.

I’ve only been wielding my arrow saber, seen in the following video update, for a couple months. I’m an old man. Inspired by God, there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that Samson did exactly what the Bible recorded. The important lesson in the matter is this: archaeologically or otherwise, everything in the Bible is plausible. One need only question one thing – why does God want us to make leaps of faith? Time to ponder…; but, for now, more arrow sabering…

You are Never ALONE!

Just completed a proposal I’ve been working on for the last few months and have been isolated for much of this time; thus, the lack of posting I have done lately. After finishing my proposal I sat down and celebrated with a glass of Blackberry wine and a biscuit with blackberry jelly. I clicked on my favorite BarlowGirl song, Never Alone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8QubLxJI54&list=PLCHvUusNn3Ux6wbgWi_dBK_-lPEL36vdL

I had to remind myself that, even though I felt self-absorbed and isolated during the time of my proposal research and writing, I was never, truly, ALONE.

Jesus Christ, Almighty Father, Holy Spirit, and all the angels and saints and my brothers and sisters in Christ were always there.

The time for branching out and expanding this blog to the open plain is now.
Here is one of my initial ventures into this increased time of sharing, my Arrow Saber, available on YouTube:

Soon, my entire philosophies for life and the preservation thereof will commence, with alarming speed, versatility, and exuberance; but most of all, faith – faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and the fact that without Him, I am nothing!

Why am I being perfected?

As a Christian I am determined by none other than God to be perfected. But to what ultimate purpose am I being perfected?

I snapped the picture above the other day and thought, “This is not what I would consider a perfect picture.” Yet, there also came an accompanying thought – “What if, at the moment I took that picture, someone had been there that was blind for their entire life. Maybe that person was decades old and had been blind from birth.” You know what? To them, that might be the most amazing picture of the sun they had ever seen in their life, even if they had imagined other ones.

You may never know just when you might shed a different light onto something that, for a lifetime, might have challenged someone else; yet, your insight might just be the one that caused an epiphany for them.

I cannot argue that God did not have all this in mind the moment he created us. I believe he truly does have the whole world in his hands and is active and alive in doing so – not as some might think, absent and afar.

Why am I being perfected? As any great Creator (and being THE GREAT I AM THAT HE IS), God has created us as sacred, protected notes on a great symphony of life, eternal, which none of us could ever have dreamt up otherwise. The up and down beats and rhyme and reason, we cannot understand. We simply must trust in his enterprise – even if, in blindness, we flounder for understanding. He has given us His Word, the Holy Bible; through which we can seek better understanding of just how it is he can be in every moment of our lives – by simply opening the pages and realizing them to be a living testament, the lamp unto our feet, the light in our lives.

To consider myself fortunate enough to be a part of his plans; and, that by his only begotten Son, I am saved from sin and death, is to believe in the impossible and improbable; yet, inextricably, something which is entirely imaginable, if only we choose to believe.

I hope you do. I hope you think you are a part of something so much more beyond this world than what this world has to offer. I hope so – for, to be a part of a great symphony is one thing; to be so, for all eternity, now that’s truly something to look forward to!

Why am I being perfected? I am being perfected to be in CONCERT with God. In this world and the next, that equals the best jam session I can imagine. If this defines me as marching to a different drummer, SO WHAT!

To march with God is to march with a majority, along with all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, we’ll just keep a marching along!

TRUE LIFE

What does it mean to truly be alive? As I sit here today I am reminded of my fragility as a human being and, upon deeper reflection, am reassured all the more that, though this life is important, it is not all that there is. Beneath the surface of this momentary existence is something perpetual, everlasting, eternal, working inside of me, restoring and renewing and regenerating a call for TRUE LIFE, inextinguishable by human means.

Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior, thank you this day for being the light that shines in the darkness; that draws me from the depths of any despair this world may bring; and renews me as only an eternal spring can – hopeful and vibrant, fearless; yet, fearing and knowledgeable of God the Almighty and respectful to the TRUE LIFE, eternal, which he has granted me through Jesus Christ.

Your uniqueness is a Divine Act!

The Relativists’ claim

This does not mean anything, categorically, nevertheless, there is the claim, mostly presented by many Relativists, co-opted from the Bible, that no one should judge anyone else, for in the same manner they judge others, likewise, they will be judged. They have joined this with another powerful rule which is not so much a rule when accurately analyzed; but, rather, an opinion that has gone awry, simply because it has not been subjected to critical analysis – that is, the more things become different; the more things become the same.

When used in combination, these two claims present a challenge against every rugged individualist that, if they should think themselves so haughty as to suggest that they can pioneer some new effort, or idea about anything, it is considered by these Relativists to be overly pious for them to think so; and, furthermore, bigoted, selfish, and the height of egomania to do so – as if it were criminal, in the same sense Hitler was criminal to have fashioned Nazism around his ego.

The problem with this claim by many Relativists leads to many problems which can be cleared up with one picture – a sunset.

A sunset, or a sunrise, is something that, once seen, witnessed, gloried in and, digested for what it is, is something that gives witness to a unique event – yes, I did say unique, as in, there will never be another sunset like it, no matter where you look in the world and no matter how many times you repeat the process. Each sunset or sunrise is unique, for many special reasons, but simply for just one – the feelings, emotions, history, etc. that a person brings into that event is unique. What the person is going through in their own very precise point in the universe, at any moment in time, is particularly unique to them at that precise moment, never to be duplicated again by any other set of uniquely collaborated series of events.

The United States Declaration of Independence is also a call to protect individuals’ rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – and, the right to express oneself freely and independently.

No, we are all not going towards the BORG, i.e. some universal assimilation whereby we lose such individual liberties and freedoms!

Our uniqueness is a Divine Act, whereby God continues to develop an eternally rich and diverse universe, neverending and, always interesting just because of those very diversities. Let freedom ring but at least give thanks to God from which all richness in such flows.

The Peace of the Salvation Piece

If one could devise a system of government and rules whereby all men could live peaceably in such a utopia, there would be no need for the Salvation of Jesus Christ; for Christ came for sinners.
Is this ever going to happen?

No.

All anyone has to do is simply ask – how hard is it to push away from that last jelly donut; or, how difficult is it to fight the urge to watch the next blockbuster movie, even if it goes against some of ones very own ideas of what is right or wrong? Have you ever watched a movie, just in order to know what the controversy behind the movie was? As a matter of fact, this is most likely one of the very tactics by which some savvy movie makers decide just how it is they can generate the most interest in their project, i.e. can people be enticed to see the movie just because of the very nature of its controversy?

Maybe this musing comes about naturally at this moment because, for once, and at last, France has decided to stand up to the Islamists in the world, in Mali in North Africa. This needs to be applauded as loudly and widely and on the rooftops across the world as a great sign of hope – that, if France can stand up against Islamists, then maybe there is, yet, hope in this world – that America and the UK and others, that have been doing their part, won’t have to go it alone!
And maybe, just maybe, the popularity of one blockbuster movie, Les Miserables, had something to do with France’s stance in Mali.

We’re always going to need the Salvation of Jesus Christ for all of us have sinned, are going to sin; or by some means, are going to miss what God has planned for us – and it is for this fact, that we are not perfect and cannot overcome our imperfection to sin, that Jesus came:
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” – Luke 23:34

God Bless France’s efforts in Mali and if you haven’t seen Les Miserables, what are you waiting for???

The link for the free YouTube of the Musical is on my Authors Tab – under View Complete Profile.

“Upon this rock…” Matthew 16: 13-18

“13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

I stumbled upon the rock pictured while hiking and was taken by its look. I wondered, “There are those that would say this rock is the result of 13 billion or so years of natural evolution. They are entitled to their opinion and I respect them wholeheartedly for their faith in the matter. I choose, rather, to believe that nothing so amazing as this rock could have been made other than by the hands of a divine maker – and not one who just set a clock to ticking and left, as some divine watchmaker.

No, the Lord Jesus Christ who, as the chief cornerstone of the church was laid bare then risen by God was in no way absent from his Creation, ever. Even dying for our sins, God the Father in the Trinity oversaw Jesus’ resurrection and, upon Jesus’ ascension to Heaven, sent the Holy Spirit.

We have never been alone and as I walked by the rock pictured; nor was I. It caused me to reflect on just how glorious the Lord and all his creation is.