God's 2 cents

One of the greatest things about following Jesus is learning to hear His voice. Sure, there are times when I wonder if it's His voice I'm hearing or just my own wishful thinking. But sometimes the words are so powerful, so unexpected, or said in such a way that I absolutely know: it's Him!

And He can say more in two words than anyone else could say in their entire lifetime. He spoke to me earlier this year. It was a simple question from me and prompted a response so succinct, yet powerful, that there was no doubt He had spoken.

I had been feeling overwhelmed at my job. It seemed like the artist in me was for naught. Often in my life I've felt my vocation and my heart's desire were at opposite ends of the spectrum. And for me life can really be frustrating when there isn't time for the art to be expressed. (One reason I am blogging, actually. Expression.)

Anyway, I asked God, why did you give me this artistic talent? What am I supposed to do with it? What am I supposed to do with my life?

And He said, "Get creative."

A good teaching on John 15

Since I don't have time for much of a post, I'm stealing from Don Francisco. Here's the intro:

Vine and Branches A wrong understanding of this passage of Scripture can leave us with a harsh impression of Christianity. John 15:1 - 6Vs. 1 - 3 "I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He lifts up* The verb here is "airo", to take up, to lift up, to raise. While it can mean "to remove," if a branch is "in Him", it will not be removed if the other promises of the New Covenant are valid ("I will never leave you or forsake you."). In the context of the New Covenant as a whole, "lift up" is the only meaning of "airo" here that is consistent.

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.rockymountainministries.org/Articles/Christianity101/VineAndBranches.html

Hidden in my Bible

It seems like God is always hiding new things in my Bible. You know, those passages that just jump out at you after twenty years of being a Christian, that sudden revelation about a portion of scripture that you've read hundreds of times, the connection between something you read in Luke and something else you read in John. That sort of thing. Well I had it happen again this week. I was reading the last chapter of John's gospel:

John 21: 1-14

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?"

"No," they answered.

He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.

The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."

Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn.

Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.

This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

*

Upon reading this I was immediately puzzled by the verse I put in blue. It's like they are scared to ask him who he is, and yet they know it is him? That makes no sense. It's obvious that He is in disguise, since the question of who He is even comes up. (These guys just spent three years with Him, they would know His face.) And their hearts recognize Him, even though their eyes are veiled. Yet, why this almost tangible nervousness?

Then the Holy Spirit took me to the book of Luke, where two followers (though not of the eleven) are on the way to Emmaus:

Luke 24: 28-36

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."

*

There it was, the answer to my question. He's appearing and disappearing all over the place. He had disappeared on some of them before, right after the disguise was lifted. It's as if they are all holding their breaths; Don't say anything that might make him disappear.

And why would Jesus do such things? I'm not sure. We can speculate that he simply wanted to talk to them without them clinging to him frantically. Which is what Mary started to do at the tomb. Remember, they'd just seen him crucified--a terrible death, certain finality. To behold him again, living--yet still bearing the marks of the nails--fills them with an initial fear, that he might be a ghost, and then uncontrollable joy. Peter leaps from the boat to run to Him!

And then there is that terrible realization that He just might leave them again.

Which is what He eventually does, but not before commissioning them and telling them to go wait for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. And did you notice, when He first calls them He tells them to throw their nets to the other side. And He does the same thing after the resurrection, once they've given up and gone back to fishing. Like bookends on His time with them, He frames it all with the simple act of telling them where to fish. Wow.

Anyway, that's what I found hidden this week. To paraphrase a famous ad:

What's in your Bible?

The Heavens Declare!

The above picture was taken by Sabahattin Bilsell and can be seen at SpaceWeather.com. It is a photo of Venus and Jupiter as seen from the Turkish Riviera. (Special thanks to my friend Phil "the Real Deal" Johnson for tuning me in.)

If you get up early enough to see the sunrise, then be looking for these two bright 'stars'. Phil and I saw them on the way into work this morning. On Monday morning, Feb. 4, the moon is also supposed to be really close to them forming "one of the most exquisite celestial triangles you'll ever see."(Dr. Tony Phillips, NASA)

(Note: Venus and Jupiter aren't actually close right now. One is nearer to the sun than we are, while the other is further away--a yawning gulf of 700 million km between them. The planets are merely aligned as seen from Earth, a beautiful yet misleading arrangement.)

To me Psalm 19 says it best:

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,
which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course. (vs 1-5 NIV, emphasis mine)


Ever heard of Sundogs? Phil also informed me of these. (He is my source of all astronomical knowledge.) Here is some info from Wikipedia:

Sundogs typically, but not exclusively, appear when the sun is low, e.g. at sunrise and sunset, and the atmosphere is filled with ice crystals forming cirrus clouds. They are often bright white patches of light looking much like the sun or a comet and, occasionally are confused with those phenomena. Sometimes they exhibit a spectrum of colors, ranging from red closest to the sun to a pale bluish tail stretching away from the sun. White sundogs are caused by light reflected off of atmospheric ice crystals, while colored sundogs are caused by light refracted through them.

A picture from Wiki:




The sun is in the center, flanked by sundogs, which are always at 22 degrees to either side.



Here is a picture I took:





My hand is blocking the sun. There was a lot of cloud cover that day, but the sun dog is right there at 22 degrees to the right of the sun. Up and to the left of the pine tree.



Something I have seen twice so far is the circumzenithal arc, or CZA:





It is very high in the sky and looks like an upside down rainbow. Like the sundogs, this is caused by light refracting through ice crystals in the atmosphere.

There are also sun pillars, all kinds of arcs and tangents, and at night moon halos (and of course meteor showers). Here is a site that has a wealth of info and some very striking photos: http://www.atoptics.co.uk/

And here's the link that will let you know about some of the coming attractions: http://www.spaceweather.com/



So look around on cold days when the sun is close to the earth, or on clear, starry nights. You might just see the heavens shout.

If I had a chisel

I love good art. (I'll define 'good art' for you someday.) If you scroll down to the bottom of this blog, you'll see one of my paintings that pays homage to Michaelangelo. It's called Redemption and depicts Christ, arms outstretched, upon a background that purposely mimics that of Michaelangelo's Creation scene from the Sistine Chapel.

Everyone knows Michaelangelo was one of the greatest artists who ever lived (or they should know it). What you may not know is that when he was 24 he completed my favorite of his sculptures, the Pieta. Five years later he finished David. I have a book of his complete works that my wife bought me a few years ago. If I had a chisel and could chisel in the morning, all day, and all over this land, there is no way I could even begin to approach his output. After all, the man lived to be 88, never married, and worked all the time.

I had a conversation about that very thing with a coworker of mine a few years ago. He is the father of four children and his response was right on target. "I've got four masterpieces I'm working on at home."

Yes! Sometimes I think we lose sight of the most important things in life. If I could paint a picture to rival the Sistine Chapel, it would still pale in glory to the masterpiece that each one of us is to God. Ephesians 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Here the word translated "workmanship", is the Greek word poiema, which means something which has been made, a handiwork, or something that has been written or composed--like a song or poem. (This is where our word 'poem' originates.) The word actually would better be translated "masterpiece".

And here's the incredible, unbelievable thing: God wants us to help in creating his masterpieces. I mean, the very fact that he uses my DNA in creating another human being, a human being that I get to shape and influence, is so overwhelming to me when I really sit and think about it. Why God? Don't you know how badly I could mess this up?

Yes, He does. And yet He still gives us that priviledge and responsibility. I've got a chisel. So do you. Whether you have children or not. Whether you are married or single. We shape one another all the time, by our actions and words. Pro 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.

Let's go create a masterpiece with God.

Lost in translation

No this is not about the movie, which I haven't seen.

I'm thinking of making routine posts about Bible passages that I'm currently reading/pondering. (Maybe I'll give it a really cool title like Cullen does when he blogs about the guitar. His "Because I'm all about the guitar" posts are incredible. http://halfapica.blogspot.com/)

But on to the topic at hand. Sometimes, after translating from the original language, we lose a little of the meaning. Especially in cases where there is one English word whereas the Greek has three. (Agape and Phileo are both translated Love when Peter and Jesus first talk after His ressurrection, but I'll save that example for later.)

What I've been pondering lately are the stand alone italicized words that you find in the Bible. In the KJV, words in italics indicate the use of additional English words where expressions in the original language require clarification. At least that what it says in the preface of my pocket Bible. And I think sometimes it's not what is left out that takes away meaning, but rather what is put in.

Case in point. In the gospel of John, Chapter 10 verse 30. Jesus is talking to a group of Jews in the temple. This is during the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem. He has been surrounded and is confronted with the challenge: "If thou be the Christ tell us plainly."

Jesus answers them by talking about the works He did that bore witness to him. He talks about His sheep knowing his voice, eternal life, no one being able to snatch us out of His hand. Then He gets right to the point:

My KJV has his response in vs 30 as: "I and my Father are one." Keep in mind, the word my is added for clarity.

The NIV says "I and the Father are one." Again, clarity?

What's so misleading about this? Let's read it and leave out the added words.

"I and Father are one."

A bit more intimate, if you ask me. Let's get rid of 'the' when we talk about Father. Better yet, let's use our good old southern vernacular and just call Him "Daddy". After all, this is what Paul tells us to do in Romans 8:15

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba (Aramaic for Daddy), Father." NIV, parentheses mine.

Wow! With all this in mind, I think this is closer to how it went down:

"Are you the messiah or not?"
"...Me and Daddy are one."

Think about it.