SHADOW OF THE ALMIGHTY

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty, I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." Psalm 91:1,2

My Photo
Name:
Location: WESTMORELAND, Tennessee, United States

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Bye Bye Blogger

My track record with blog locations has not been that good. My first had a lot of traffic, was easy to work with, had a lot of support; it was just ideal! Then came the notice that they were no longer going to offer blog service and said I could transfer all my information to this new pay site, only 8.95 per month. It looked the same, worked the same, had the same amount of help and was supposed to be a different company - NOT! Just a bait and switch - I hate that! Blogger was next. The support was the pits, but it seemed to work well. It was used by many of the blogers I read, so I switched to Blogger. Hey, it was free, why not. That was in November of 2005. If I was more familiar with HTML language, and more computer savvy in general, I would probably stick with Blogger through their growing pains, but that is not my temperament, so I am off to my new site at Blog.com. I have archive links on the new site to material here, in the event you would want to go back and get a past post or look for information. Blog.com is fairly easy to work with, the lay out and side columns are much easier to change and add to. It can be easily upgraded and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to do so. All in all I think it will work fine - for now. (-: So don’t forget to change your bookmarks or do what ever you do to keep up with your favorite locations. OH, I almost forgot! Here is the Link: Rabboni Hope to see you there!

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Words of Wisdom from the Corporate World...Not!

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow is not looking good either. I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by. Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue. Needing someone is like needing a parachute. If he isn't there the first time, chances are you won't be needing him again. On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key. Don't be irreplaceable -- if you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted. After any salary raise, you will have less money at the end of the month than you did before. If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit, and remove all evidence that you tried. No use being a fool about it. You are always doing something marginal when the boss drops by your desk. If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done. When you don't know what to do, walk fast, carry a clipboard, and look worried.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

No Commentary Needed

There are some quotes that don’t need commentary, just meditation. This is one of those quotes. “When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit, when the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendor of the past; when faith becomes a heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion – its message becomes meaningless.” (Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, NY, 1983, pp. 3). Dual Post at: Rabboni

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

The Least Of These

I posted the following song on my blog a year ago. Apart of being incarnational is often caring for those we would consider "The Least Of These" That is the title of Michael Wallace's song. I’ve Seen Innocent Eyes Cry Innocent Tears They did not deserve their hunger They did not earn their fears I’ve seen single mothers Struggle to leave the past Trying to balance children With jobs that will never last And I’ve seen their hope disappear And I’ve seen their eyes filled with fear But I’ve walked right by With my hands in my pockets And my head down to the ground Cuz they don’t’ look like I do And they don’t talk like I do And they don’t act like I do They sure don’t smell like I do You see I have not done unto the least of these And so I have not done unto you I’ve seen prostitution Spilled out into the streets They’re willing to sell their bodies For anything to eat I’ve seen an alcoholic Fall down upon his face No better than this self-righteous Christian In the freedom of God’s Grace And I’ve seen their hope disappear And I’ve seen their eyes filled with fear But I’ve walked right by With my hands in my pockets And my head down to the ground Cuz they don’t’ look like I do And they don’t act like I do And they don’t talk like I do They sure as hell don’t smell like I do You see I have not done unto the least of these And so I have not done unto you (Dual Post can also be found at: Rabboni

Monday, July 10, 2006

I Never Watch Soccer...

I never watch Soccer. That is until yesterday when I tuned in to the final match of The World Cup, just in time to see the infamous head butt. What a dirty shot! I am glad France lost. There I said it and now I will go back to never watching Scocer. Mike Cope shared some lessons learned from watching Soccer with his sons yesterday. 1. Reports of religion being out of favor in Europe are incorrect. It’s just that soccer is the religion. 2. Remember what you learned in kindergarten: no head-butting. Especially if a billion people are watching. It’s considered rude. 3. A 2-hour game can come down to about an inch — that must be about how much lower the ball hit on the crossbar early in the game for France (when it came down across the line as a goal) than it did in the shootout (when it come down on the line). 4. When watching the World Cup Final with teenage boys who actually play soccer and love soccer, do not try to make insightful comments. You only look like an idiot who ought to stick to coaching baseball. ********************************************* Patrick Meads post from Friday the 7th is a must read. Here is just a short burb from one of his best yet! "We sit in worship with people who look like us, who like the things we like, and with whom we are comfortable. Outside are single mothers, rockers, slackers, addicts, the divorced, the slaves of consumerism, gray minions of corporate America, skateboarders and.... you get the idea. None of them will ever feel comfortable with our ways or in our buildings. In those rare instances in which they want to be a part of us, we force them to become us first! They have to be more like us, agree with our preferences, and behave themselves.... then and only then are they allowed access to the Kingdom.That's not okay with me." Read the rest, it is excellent.

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Lifting Holy Hands

Back in April I did a post dealing with posture in prayer. One thing I didn’t touch on in that article was lifting hands in prayer. I had never seen anyone from our tribe pray with lifted hand(s) until recently. (Maybe its because I always keep my eyes closed) Now before I go any further let me say that I know that the posture of the heart is what is important to God. But I can’t help but wonder why it has never been a practice within my tribe? We are the folks that preach loud and long to , "Speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent." Well the Bible isn’t silent on this one. Take a look... "I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands." (Ps. 63:4) "I call to you, O Lord, everyday; I spread out my hands to you." (Ps. 88:9) "Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord." (Ps. 134:2) "Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, ’Amen! Amen!’" (Neh. 8:6) "Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens." (Lam. 3:41 KJV) "I fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the Lord my God and prayed." (Ezra 9:5-6) "Solomon knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven." (2 Chron. 6:13) "As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up – one on one side, one on the other – so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword ... Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner. He said, ’For hands were lifted up to the throne of the Lord.’" (Ex. 17:11-16) "I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer." (1Tim. 2:8) "Everyday," David says in Psalm 88:9, "I call to you and spread out my hands to you." Note the following from Buddy Owen in an article adapted from his book, "The Way Of The Worshiper" "Look at your hands. They aren’t going to hurt you; just look at them for a moment. Magnificent aren’t they? Who gave us our hands? God gave them to us. What do we do with our hands? Well, we work with our hands. We feed ourselves with our hands. We play with our hands. We give gifts and receive gifts with our hands. We show affection with our hands. We also fight with our hands. We sin with our hands. Why are we so hesitant to worship God with our hands? Lifting our hands to God is a biblical posture of prayer. It is another physical demonstration of a spiritual truth. Just as we bow our hearts when we bow our knees, so we lift our hearts when we lift our hands (Lam. 3:41). By kneeling before God and lifting our hands to him, we are presenting our bodies to God as a spiritual act of worship. " When we lift our hands with palms open it is a physical display of openness. As with kneeling in prayer, lifting our hands is simply another posture of devotion, humility and worship.

Friday, July 07, 2006

Considering A Move

I have been having a lot of problems with Blogger of late. I thought it was my old computer at home, but I have a top of the line one at the office and am having the same problems. I have been looking for a new Blog home with upgrade potential for the future. I have started a new Blog there and for the next few weeks will be doing dual posting to give the new site a test, and see how things go with Blogger. I hate to change again, been there and done that, but will see how it goes. Fell free to check out the new site and let me know what you think. Rabboni...which is to say Master.

Worship Renewal

I can’t pinpoint the day or the month or even the year when it happened, but I am so glad it did. That time when worship went from being about me to being about Him. The obligation to worship was instilled in me as a child. We were at church at least three times a week and more if there were special services. I began leading singing when I was a teenager and remember being praised for my talent. I enjoyed singing. I have always loved four part harmony done well. But back then it was more about me than it was about Him. Many in my tribe today decry the changes in types of songs we sing, the hand clapping, raising hands in worship. It is interesting that the same types of things were said when the songs used by many today were introduced many years ago. I believe that worship should be expressed in the language of the century in which you live. When worship becomes mundane and ritual, it is no longer about Him, it is about us. The Apostle John opens the book of Revelation with his introduction to a message he has from the Lord for the seven churches of Asia. While he was an Apostle, and could have introduced himself that way, he simple refers to himself as the bond-servant of Jesus, your brother and fellow-partaker in the tribulation and the kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus. (Rev. 1:1,9) John opens the book telling of a past encounter with Christ. He describes the image of Jesus in such majestic language. John is awe struck! “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man.” (Rev. 1:17a) Think about that reaction with me for a moment. This is John, the favorite disciple of Jesus. John didn’t run away as the others did. John was at the foot of the cross with Mary. This is the John to whom Jesus commits the future care of His mother. This is the John who walked and served this same Jesus for well over half a century. If anyone knew Jesus and had a close, close relationship with Him, it was John. Yet, when he sees Jesus he falls lifeless before Him. When worship becomes stale as week old bread, or fizzles as an unfinished can of coke. When we can sing from memory and never think about the meaning behind the words or the One to whom they are directed. This is not worship, it is ritual and God despises ritual. “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalms 51:16,17) God had commanded those sacrifices to be offered, but the heart of the people was not being brought with their sacrifices. May we never become so “familiar” with God that we fail to honor and worship Him. When we are in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day may our vision of The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit always cause us to fall before Him, our audience of ONE. John did and so should we.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

This Will Tell Your Age Part II

If you missed, "This Will Tell Your Age Part I, just click here. Remember "Continental kits?" They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire covers that were supposed to make any car look as cool as a Lincoln Continental. When did we quit calling them "emergency brakes?" At some point "parking brake" became the proper term. But I miss the hint of drama that went with "emergency brake." I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone who would call the accelerator the "foot feed." Didn't you ever wait at the street for your daddy to come home, so you could ride the "running board" up to the house? Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth but never anymore, "store-bought." Of course, just about everything is store-bought these days. But once it was bragging material to have a store-bought dress or a store-bought bag of candy. "Coast to coast" is a phrase that once held all sorts of excitement and now means almost nothing. Now we take the term "world wide" for granted. This floors me. On a smaller scale, "wall-to-wall" was once a magical term in our homes. In the '50s, everyone covered his or her hardwood floors with, wall-to-wall carpeting. WOW! Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors . When's the last time you heard the quaint phrase "in a family way?" It's hard to imagine that the word "pregnant" was once considered a little too graphic, a little too clinical for use in polite company. So we had all that talk about "stork visits" and "being in a family way" or simply "expecting." Apparently "brassiere" is a word no longer in usage. I said it the other day and my daughter cracked up. I guess it's just "bra" now, "unmentionables" probably wouldn't be understood at all back then. I always loved going to the "picture show," but I considered "movie" an affectation. Most of these words go back to the '50s, but here's a pure '60's word I came across the other day, "rat fink." Ooh, what a nasty put-down! Here's a word I miss - "percolator." That was just a fun word to say. And what was it replaced with? "Coffee Maker." How dull. Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this. I miss those made-up marketing words that were meant to sound so modern & now sound so retro. Words like "DynaFlow" &"Electrolux." Or “Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with "SpectraVision!” Just food for thought - Was there a telethon that wiped out lumbago? Nobody complains about that anymore. Maybe that's what castor oil cured, because I never hear mothers threatening their kids with castor oil anymore. Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list. The one that grieves me the most is "supper." Now everybody says "dinner." Save a great word. Invite someone to supper and discuss fender skirts.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Vive La Revolution!

I have been thinking about the cost of being a revolutionary. Two hundred and thirty years ago the signers of the Declaration of Independence put it all on the line. They put at risk their finances, possessions, their families and their own lives. But they were not the first. Those first followers of the Master - Rabbi - Jesus also laid it all on the line. They walked away from professions, money and family. Both groups were taking a stand for freedom, the first political, the second spiritual. It takes a revolutionary spirit to stand against legalism and the chains it seeks to bind us with. But a few have and they have breathed a new spirit into the dieing body of my tribe. It takes a revolutionary spirit to put all you have at risk to reach a people group you don’t know and that doesn’t know you. But a few are doing it here in this country and abroad. Revolution is first a vision, then a declaration and then a movement. It starts by planting the flag of the Kingdom of Heaven in our own hearts. The church in Rochester Michigan is a part of the revolution. Here is the last couple paragraphs of Patrick Mead’s blog Monday July 3rd. “At Rochester, we are determined to join Him in revolution again. While maintaining our building as a worship, teaching, and service center, we have three other prongs of approach to Jesus' dream. Charitable works is one of them and this church runs several efforts on a daily basis, some of which have garnered national attention. Next comes the launching of people into communities (as mentioned previously), giving them our blessing and backup as they reach out to Goths, rockers, the homeless, addicts, and various prisoners of suburbia. Fourth, we are sending out teams of sixty to one hundred to start congregations in target communities. All of these works are small group based and they aren't your usual small groups. Forgive me, but most small groups are merely an alternative to checking the "Sunday night" box on our righteousness ticket or a fun way to stay close to people we see every Sunday morning. Our small groups are evangelistic and service oriented (and are getting more so). Jesus launched a revolution. We've decided to rebel with him. Wanna come along? Vive la revolution!” The status quo just won’t get it done, never has, never will. It takes a revolution to bring about change. Sign me up!

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

HAPPY 4TH.

HOPE EACH AND EVERYONE HAD A WONDERFUL 4TH. OF JULY

Monday, July 03, 2006

Incarnational

In 1969 I made the first of a number of trips to Ghana West Africa. We would go for 4 to 6 seeks at a time, preach on the streets and teach Bible classes in their schools. It was not the ideal way to do mission work, but the Lord blessed those efforts. I am so glad that our Father didn’t approach his mission to provide a Savior in the same way. Jesus didn’t just come on short trips to visit and share, He became one of us. That transformation was so complete that He was known as, Jesus of Nazareth. He was apart of community. “Thought he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to, instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being”, Phil. 2:6. This verse is the definition of John 1:14, “So the Word became human and made his home among us.” Literally it says he “pitched his tent among us”. When we speak of the incarnation we normally speak of how it enabled Jesus to be the offering for our sin. He truly did in a body of flesh what we in our bodies cannot do, and that is live a sinless life. But another dynamic of His becoming one of us was that it gave Him the ability to relate to our weaknesses and gave us the ability to relate to Him as a human being. (Heb. 2:14ff). In my post on Friday I stated that we may have to make some radical changes if we are ever going to reach our world with the Good News. One of those changes I believe will be in the way we seek to reach certain target groups. If we reach out to these groups as I first did mission work, we may meet with some success, but it will be limited. Until someone is willing to make a “Christ like sacrifice” and be willing to lay aside their privileged status, and become one of them, I fear they will never be able to relate. This is how we become incarnational with the Gospel. Jesus’ ability to relate to us was a direct result of his life experience. Our ability to relate to Him was dependent upon that as well. I was reading this morning about a couple in Great Britain that has chosen to hang out at a local Pub a few evening a week in order to reach others with the Gospel. Our first thought might be that, “well that is not the kind of place you would expect to find a Christian couple”, and that my friends is the problem. That is also what surprised the religious folks of Jesus’ day. Sharing the Good News is not about a class you take, a campaign you go on to preach to the lost, it is about a Christ like life style lived among those you want to reach. It is about being able to relate, us to them, them to us. It is all about relationships.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

What Is It?

OK, here is one more from the "What Is It" category. These were very popular for a short period of time during my teen years. Can you guess what they are?