Granted I’ve gone through a somewhat convoluted process to reach this resolve (... to thank God this Thanksgiving and all year long.) But it’s been worth it because, once again, I’ve come to the fundamental fact of our “faith.” Our God favors us! Call it mercy. Call it grace. Call it love. Ultimately it’s “the Lord’s favor.” And, you must certainly know, most if not everything we can think of to be thankful for is the by-product of mercy.
One of the best-selling books in the late 70’s and most of the 80’s – an actual “best seller” for 4 years – was written by a Psychiatrist; M. Scott Peck. His book was titled, “The Road Less Traveled.” To me the most amazing thing about Dr. Peck’s book is that he devoted an entire section of it – 14 chapters of it – to “Grace.” I find it quite remarkable that a psychiatrist would even acknowledge, let alone celebrate, “Grace.” But he does. In one of those 14 chapters, “The Miracle of Health,” he writes, “We know very well why people become mentally ill. What we don’t understand is why people survive the traumas of their lives as well as they do. We know exactly why certain people commit suicide. We don’t know, within the ordinary concepts of causality, why certain others don’t commit suicide … An individual may suffer a single, relatively mild attack of ulcerative colitis … recover completely, and go on to live through life without ever again experiencing this difficulty. Another may have repeated attacks and become chronically crippled by the disorder. A third may … go on to die rapidly from even the first attack … The amazing thing is not the failures of the resistance system; it is that the resistance system works as well as it does. In the ordinary course of things we should be eaten alive by bacteria, consumed by cancer, clogged up by fats and clots, eroded by acids. It is hardly remarkable that we sicken and die; what is truly remarkable is that we don’t usually sicken very often and we don’t die very quickly.” He continues in his reflection on what he acknowledges as the “truly amazing grace” that surrounds us. It is remarkable “not simply that certain people at certain times in their lives are accident prone; it is that in the ordinary course of things most of us are accident resistant … Although [this whole variety of phenomena] generally regarded as separate, I have come to believe that their commonality indicates that these phenomena are part of or manifestations of a single phenomenon: a powerful force originating outside of human consciousness which nurtures the spiritual growth of human beings. For hundreds and even thousand of years before the scientific conceptualization of such things as immune globulins … this force has been consistently recognized by the religious, who have applied to it the name of grace. And have sung its praise. ‘Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound …’.”
Reflecting on this marvelous truth today I am inspired. God wants us to live long and well; forever, in fact. Furthermore He’s created a universe in which we can. Evidence of it is all around us. Dr. Peck shows us some of that evidence. As I examine my life now in the light of “Amazing Grace,” I must acknowledge its influence in even more personal ways. This year our 8th Grandchild was born. His name is Luke James Denison. Check out the middle name! And he is well; very well in fact. He is Jonah’s Brother. Jonathan and Larina say his disposition is, thankfully, much more mellow than Jonah’s though he’s not a traveler. Our first Son, Jim, his Wife Korenne, and their 3 Sons, Samuel, Evan, and Kaleb, have made the radical decision to leave a position with salary and benefits to plant a new Church. They’ve had to sell their house and move to a new Community – Canterbury an hour away from where they previously lived. They have no guaranteed income. They’ve already been able to purchase a new house and are finding provision daily. Shirley and I are in the same place financially. We have no guaranteed income. But everything we’ve needed has been provided. Before this year ends we will need an exceptionally dramatic demonstration of our Lord’s provision due to some living expenses that have been generously held over ‘til then. Still we live in the embrace of His AMAZING GRACE! Jason and Ingvild, and their 3 Kids Marissa, Maddie, and Ethan, survived the wildfires in Spring Valley – Greater San Diego. They were evacuated for a night but spared any loss. We work with parents, often, who are brokenhearted over what has become of their Children. We have 3 great Sons who are walking with, working with our Lord. Their Wives are exceptional partners who seek God passionately too. They are great Mothers and beautiful, delightful people. They are highly competent professionals. And, of course, the Children they’ve borne are the smartest, fittest, most beautiful and delightful in the world! Why should we be so favored? It is, simply, “mercy”!
Our business venture, “destiny:Life!” is gradually expanding. Our Board of Directors continues to stand with us, despite the financial challenges, and believe in us; our vision; and the Lord who has called us to it. We have a small but growing group of spiritual partners who pray for us and give money to support us and our work. More opportunities for speaking, teaching, mentoring, writing and caring for people are coming available. And always we are being inspired by our Lord as we prepare to declare, to our world, that “LIFE IS REALLY ONLY LIFE WHEN IT’S LIVED JESUS WAY!”
Above all of that, we are deeply grateful for a continually new awareness of God; His presence; the wonders of the world around us; and the expanding influence He’s trusting us with. While Shirley’s battle with migraines and an issue diagnosed as parathyroidism concern us, this spiritual well-being truly is “our strength.”
We are most highly favored and on this “Thanksgiving 2007” we sing “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I’m found; was blind but now I see!”
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
LifeLog - 11.19.07 - Thanksgiving 2007 (Part 2)
Habakkuk is God’s messenger to me this Thanksgiving. He has reminded me that, regardless of what I see with my flesh eyes, there’s something else, far more important, that I must see by faith. My faith must see that what is going on is revealing. We are learning. God is teaching us what we need to know about ourselves and Him. We are learning that our “labor,” – the “desperate flurry of panting feverishness” that is our life – “is only fuel for the fire.” We “exhaust ourselves for nothing.” Facing that head on, honestly, we recognize how “unmanageable” our lives really are. Here God’s promise that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,” gets our attention. There is something “glorious,” despite our despair. The proverbial “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” may just exist. But before we run off into fantasy God stops us short and reminds us that He is the one whose “glory” is being revealed. “God is in His holy temple – He’s still the one on the throne where ultimate decisions are made – we on earth must silence ourselves in His presence and wait for His intervention.” (Habakkuk 2:20) It is in the “silent” waiting, as we are “still,” that we come to “know” God (Psalm 46:10) And, “knowing” God is really what we need most. In fact, Jesus said it is the essence of our lives as immortal beings. “(L)ife eternal,” He said, in a conversation with our Heavenly Father, is “to know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)
This has been my passionate desire for most of my life and especially during recent years. Our Father used Habakkuk to refocus my attention this Thanksgiving Week and I am, truly, grateful. I’m grateful for the nudge back to “first things.” But I’m even more grateful for some new insights. I’m also grateful for his reminders.
One new insight, in particular, stands out for me. As I read God’s direct command to Habakkuk, “the LORD is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him,” for the umpteenth time, I wonder, why would He use “temple” in this context? He’s talking like a ruler but using a religious term. I began to unpack the words. “Holy,” to the Hebrews is about being “clean.” “Clean” in the sense of “consecrated.” Something that is “holy,” to the God of the Bible, is something that is prepared meticulously, and used, exclusively, by Him, or for Him. The “holy temple,” is for and about God and God alone. The more I thought about the “temple” itself the more I realized how awesome and formidable it is. In the Scriptures of the Jewish people it is the place where God lives. Before there was a temple there was a “tabernacle.” Descriptions of the construction of that “traveling temple,” in the Exodus, are meticulously intricate in their detail and jaw dropping exquisite in their elegance. The same is true of the temple Solomon built (2 Chronicles 3 & 4). The reverence and wonder ... the phenomenal demonstrations of God’s presence that characterize its history truly expose the raw power of the “God of terrible aspect.” No part of the temple embodies that more than the “Holy of Holies.” This place, “set apart” from all the other rooms, and halls, and porticoes of the temple was where God and His chosen representative man met face-to-face. The meeting, once a year at a precisely appointed time, was a terrifying prospect. No one who was unprepared and unacceptable to God would survive in that place. Men died in there because they weren’t worthy to be there. Special provisions were routinely made for their removal should they fall before the “unapproachable” God. But, once inside, a marvelous reality awaited the yearly visitor. The “ark,” kept in this holy place, was covered by a skillfully crafted gold cover. Moses describes this “cover.” “(A) lid of pure gold for the Ark … forty-five inches long and twenty-seven inches wide … two seraphs with wings … one on each end of the lid … one seraph attached on one end of the lid and the other … on the other end … both one piece with the lid at the ends. The seraphs’ wings … spread upward, covering the lid, and they … face each other across the lid.” Moses recalls the directions God gave Him for this lid. “Put this lid on top of the Ark, and put in the Ark the Agreement which I will make with you. I will meet with you there, above the lid between the two winged creatures on the Ark … . There I will give you all my commands for the Israelites.” That “lid” was called “The Mercy Seat.” The priest had just entered the presence of the unapproachable God. He’d survived. He had to be relieved. He may have been tempted to dwell on the ways he’d met the ritual requirements for such an entrance. This golden symbol of the “mercy” of His God checked that inclination. The “God of terrible aspect,” whose presence silenced worshippers for millennia, had met their representative, yet again, in a Spirit of "mercy." Year-after-year the Priest was reminded that the God he met with on behalf of the people of Israel was not a vengeful potentate. The symbols in the “holiest” place declared beyond question that He is a “merciful Lord.” The God who is “in His Holy Temple,” is, truly, the God before whom “the earth trembles.” But, once we are “silent before Him,” we discover He is “mercy.”
Hundreds of years after Habakkuk staged his protest, and learned this lesson, a Christian writer wrote to Hebrew Christians, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) He and his readers were Jews who believed that Jesus was their Messiah. They had come to realize that Jesus is the consummate expression of the mercy of our God. They knew that He was then in the “throne room” of the Father, “seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) They knew that, because of the work of Jesus, it was, now and forever, the “throne of mercy.” The “throne of God,” is "the mercy seat." And, because Christ’s death brought down the “veil” that prevented our coming near it, any one of us can, now, approach the King. Not only can we approach Him. We are invited to “come boldly.” Once there we are assured we’ll find more than “mercy.” We'll find “grace that will be helpful to us in our time of need.” God’s favor is revealed to be a given. If we’ll presume it is so and come to him “with confidence,” He will provide whatever help we need regardless of the situation.
Needless to say my mood has changed. That’s what happens every time someone listens to God. It’s what happened to Habakkuk. He reveals truth to us. He shows us how things really are. Knowing the truth we’re no longer jaded by what seems to be. We expect the best despite appearances. That is what “faith” looks like. Then Thanksgiving is the only appropriate response; official Holiday or any day!
With that I will thank our God this Thanksgiving and all year long! ... There is more ...
This has been my passionate desire for most of my life and especially during recent years. Our Father used Habakkuk to refocus my attention this Thanksgiving Week and I am, truly, grateful. I’m grateful for the nudge back to “first things.” But I’m even more grateful for some new insights. I’m also grateful for his reminders.
One new insight, in particular, stands out for me. As I read God’s direct command to Habakkuk, “the LORD is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him,” for the umpteenth time, I wonder, why would He use “temple” in this context? He’s talking like a ruler but using a religious term. I began to unpack the words. “Holy,” to the Hebrews is about being “clean.” “Clean” in the sense of “consecrated.” Something that is “holy,” to the God of the Bible, is something that is prepared meticulously, and used, exclusively, by Him, or for Him. The “holy temple,” is for and about God and God alone. The more I thought about the “temple” itself the more I realized how awesome and formidable it is. In the Scriptures of the Jewish people it is the place where God lives. Before there was a temple there was a “tabernacle.” Descriptions of the construction of that “traveling temple,” in the Exodus, are meticulously intricate in their detail and jaw dropping exquisite in their elegance. The same is true of the temple Solomon built (2 Chronicles 3 & 4). The reverence and wonder ... the phenomenal demonstrations of God’s presence that characterize its history truly expose the raw power of the “God of terrible aspect.” No part of the temple embodies that more than the “Holy of Holies.” This place, “set apart” from all the other rooms, and halls, and porticoes of the temple was where God and His chosen representative man met face-to-face. The meeting, once a year at a precisely appointed time, was a terrifying prospect. No one who was unprepared and unacceptable to God would survive in that place. Men died in there because they weren’t worthy to be there. Special provisions were routinely made for their removal should they fall before the “unapproachable” God. But, once inside, a marvelous reality awaited the yearly visitor. The “ark,” kept in this holy place, was covered by a skillfully crafted gold cover. Moses describes this “cover.” “(A) lid of pure gold for the Ark … forty-five inches long and twenty-seven inches wide … two seraphs with wings … one on each end of the lid … one seraph attached on one end of the lid and the other … on the other end … both one piece with the lid at the ends. The seraphs’ wings … spread upward, covering the lid, and they … face each other across the lid.” Moses recalls the directions God gave Him for this lid. “Put this lid on top of the Ark, and put in the Ark the Agreement which I will make with you. I will meet with you there, above the lid between the two winged creatures on the Ark … . There I will give you all my commands for the Israelites.” That “lid” was called “The Mercy Seat.” The priest had just entered the presence of the unapproachable God. He’d survived. He had to be relieved. He may have been tempted to dwell on the ways he’d met the ritual requirements for such an entrance. This golden symbol of the “mercy” of His God checked that inclination. The “God of terrible aspect,” whose presence silenced worshippers for millennia, had met their representative, yet again, in a Spirit of "mercy." Year-after-year the Priest was reminded that the God he met with on behalf of the people of Israel was not a vengeful potentate. The symbols in the “holiest” place declared beyond question that He is a “merciful Lord.” The God who is “in His Holy Temple,” is, truly, the God before whom “the earth trembles.” But, once we are “silent before Him,” we discover He is “mercy.”
Hundreds of years after Habakkuk staged his protest, and learned this lesson, a Christian writer wrote to Hebrew Christians, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) He and his readers were Jews who believed that Jesus was their Messiah. They had come to realize that Jesus is the consummate expression of the mercy of our God. They knew that He was then in the “throne room” of the Father, “seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) They knew that, because of the work of Jesus, it was, now and forever, the “throne of mercy.” The “throne of God,” is "the mercy seat." And, because Christ’s death brought down the “veil” that prevented our coming near it, any one of us can, now, approach the King. Not only can we approach Him. We are invited to “come boldly.” Once there we are assured we’ll find more than “mercy.” We'll find “grace that will be helpful to us in our time of need.” God’s favor is revealed to be a given. If we’ll presume it is so and come to him “with confidence,” He will provide whatever help we need regardless of the situation.
Needless to say my mood has changed. That’s what happens every time someone listens to God. It’s what happened to Habakkuk. He reveals truth to us. He shows us how things really are. Knowing the truth we’re no longer jaded by what seems to be. We expect the best despite appearances. That is what “faith” looks like. Then Thanksgiving is the only appropriate response; official Holiday or any day!
With that I will thank our God this Thanksgiving and all year long! ... There is more ...
LifeLog - 11.19.07 - Thanksgiving 2007 (Part 1)
It is, for the 230th time, Thanksgiving – or the 218th time depending on whether you count from the 1st year, 1777, when the 13 Colonies celebrated it at the same time, or 1789 the year George Washington declared it a Holiday.
So what do we do?
Some of us eat ‘til we’re engorged and near comatose and call it “Turkey” day. I’m never sure whether the “turkey” is the fowl or the fool spread eagled on the couch.
Others of us go through a kind of quasi religious exercise by which we attempt to project some appearance of gratitude.
Many of us grope for some sort of authentic observance of festivities that seem almost incongruous.
If you’re sensing skepticism in my tone you’re perceptive. I’ve been reviewing the 360 plus days since our last “T” day and many of the things I’ve heard and observed are troubling. I have Friends who’ve suffered through the death of a Child. A young woman, who’s harassed by influences that must be devilish, is battling an obsession with self-mutilation. Colleagues are crippled by an economic downturn, inflated energy prices which have pushed up the cost of just about everything else, and back breaking mortgages coming due as the bubble of a delusionary housing boom busts around them. We are feeling the monetary crunch personally. Families we know have lost their Homes in the wildfires. A man I’ve provided with periodic guidance is literally just days away from homelessness and desperately hopeless. The endless cacophony of radio, television, newspapers, signboards, and pubic conversation relentlessly bombards us with politically correct predictions of doom, partisan prophecies, empty promises, and mindless offers of health and wealth to the tune of rapid fire recitations of sinister “side effects.” Folks are bewildered to the point of despair.
Disturbed by all of this I was drawn to the reflections of an ancient prophet. Habakkuk – not a name you’d want to give to your Son – lived in a time much like ours. He was bewildered too. Being a man of faith he took his complaint to his God. “How long, O LORD, must I call for help? But you do not listen! ‘Violence!’ I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see this sin and misery all around me? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has become paralyzed and useless, and there is no justice given in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, and justice is perverted with bribes and trickery.” (Habakkuk 1:2 – 4 NLT) Sound familiar?
Interestingly, God replies. The way Habakkuk tells it the response was immediate. God told the prophet he’d be astounded at what he was about to hear. Sure enough God’s words were as far from what Habakkuk was expecting as they could be. “Look at the nations and be amazed! Watch and be astounded at what I will do! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it. I am raising up the Babylonians to be a new power on the world scene. They are a cruel and violent nation who will march across the world and conquer it. They are notorious for their cruelty. They do as they like, and no one can stop them.” (Habakkuk 1: 5 – 7) Habakkuk’s call for help is answered with a promise of more trouble.
He can’t understand why his God would do such a thing and He says so. “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” (Habakkuk 1:13) He doesn’t just protest. He takes action. His action is virtually a one man protest movement. “I will stand like a guard to watch and place myself at the tower. I will wait to see what He will say to me; I will wait to learn how God will answer my complaint.” (Habakkuk 2:1) This is a protest vigil.
True to His nature God comes out and talks with the protestor. He reminds the exasperated prophet, “people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?” (Habakkuk 2:13) All that is going on in the kingdoms of men is futile and burns itself out. Babylon will be just one more nation, “full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” God makes a promise to His messenger. Things that last will ultimately appear and “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14) “But the LORD,” God declares, “is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.” (Habakkuk 2:20)
What follows is dramatically illustrative of what “faith” is all about. Habakkuk says, to his God, “I’ve heard what our ancestors say about you, and I’m stopped in my tracks, down on my knees. Do among us what you did among them. And as you bring judgment, as you surely must, remember mercy.” (Habakkuk 3:2 THE MESSAGE) He proceeds to summarize what God did “among” his “ancestors.” And then he concludes, “I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones – they felt like liquid – and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights – the high places.” (Habakkuk 3:16 – 19) ... There's more ...
So what do we do?
Some of us eat ‘til we’re engorged and near comatose and call it “Turkey” day. I’m never sure whether the “turkey” is the fowl or the fool spread eagled on the couch.
Others of us go through a kind of quasi religious exercise by which we attempt to project some appearance of gratitude.
Many of us grope for some sort of authentic observance of festivities that seem almost incongruous.
If you’re sensing skepticism in my tone you’re perceptive. I’ve been reviewing the 360 plus days since our last “T” day and many of the things I’ve heard and observed are troubling. I have Friends who’ve suffered through the death of a Child. A young woman, who’s harassed by influences that must be devilish, is battling an obsession with self-mutilation. Colleagues are crippled by an economic downturn, inflated energy prices which have pushed up the cost of just about everything else, and back breaking mortgages coming due as the bubble of a delusionary housing boom busts around them. We are feeling the monetary crunch personally. Families we know have lost their Homes in the wildfires. A man I’ve provided with periodic guidance is literally just days away from homelessness and desperately hopeless. The endless cacophony of radio, television, newspapers, signboards, and pubic conversation relentlessly bombards us with politically correct predictions of doom, partisan prophecies, empty promises, and mindless offers of health and wealth to the tune of rapid fire recitations of sinister “side effects.” Folks are bewildered to the point of despair.
Disturbed by all of this I was drawn to the reflections of an ancient prophet. Habakkuk – not a name you’d want to give to your Son – lived in a time much like ours. He was bewildered too. Being a man of faith he took his complaint to his God. “How long, O LORD, must I call for help? But you do not listen! ‘Violence!’ I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see this sin and misery all around me? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has become paralyzed and useless, and there is no justice given in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, and justice is perverted with bribes and trickery.” (Habakkuk 1:2 – 4 NLT) Sound familiar?
Interestingly, God replies. The way Habakkuk tells it the response was immediate. God told the prophet he’d be astounded at what he was about to hear. Sure enough God’s words were as far from what Habakkuk was expecting as they could be. “Look at the nations and be amazed! Watch and be astounded at what I will do! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it. I am raising up the Babylonians to be a new power on the world scene. They are a cruel and violent nation who will march across the world and conquer it. They are notorious for their cruelty. They do as they like, and no one can stop them.” (Habakkuk 1: 5 – 7) Habakkuk’s call for help is answered with a promise of more trouble.
He can’t understand why his God would do such a thing and He says so. “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” (Habakkuk 1:13) He doesn’t just protest. He takes action. His action is virtually a one man protest movement. “I will stand like a guard to watch and place myself at the tower. I will wait to see what He will say to me; I will wait to learn how God will answer my complaint.” (Habakkuk 2:1) This is a protest vigil.
True to His nature God comes out and talks with the protestor. He reminds the exasperated prophet, “people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?” (Habakkuk 2:13) All that is going on in the kingdoms of men is futile and burns itself out. Babylon will be just one more nation, “full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” God makes a promise to His messenger. Things that last will ultimately appear and “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14) “But the LORD,” God declares, “is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.” (Habakkuk 2:20)
What follows is dramatically illustrative of what “faith” is all about. Habakkuk says, to his God, “I’ve heard what our ancestors say about you, and I’m stopped in my tracks, down on my knees. Do among us what you did among them. And as you bring judgment, as you surely must, remember mercy.” (Habakkuk 3:2 THE MESSAGE) He proceeds to summarize what God did “among” his “ancestors.” And then he concludes, “I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones – they felt like liquid – and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights – the high places.” (Habakkuk 3:16 – 19) ... There's more ...
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