Admit What?!

I cried at the end of a book. Yeah. Me. I've never done that. I've come close, but never actually done it. Until last night. And I wouldn't have admitted it except for the cool thought I got out of it.

So, to back up. This was the second time I've read this book. Pretty sure the first time, nearly a year ago, was one of those 'came-close-to-tears'.

For those who were wondering, the book is actually two books, but the second isn't really a sequel, it's more like a continuation. Yeah, the first one leaves you like, in the middle of a sentence. They're Black Out, and All Clear by Connie Willis. They're Sci-fi/Time Travel books that explore the power and purpose of a single variable in a situation. They're excellent, although I must warn that there is some language. Also, they're a little hard to follow if you haven't read any of her works before. That is because as with most time travel books, the author came up with her own system as to how time travel would work. And, it's never exactly explained precisely. You kind of have to pick up on it as you go. To Say Nothing of the Dog may possibly be better to start with. Her non-time travel book, Bellwether is also fascinating by the way...It's about fads...or influence...or variables...or all of the above.

Anyway...

I cried when I finished All Clear. It was just so, so...beautiful.

So, I was sitting there crying, and I thought..."Now wait a minute, I'm here crying over something beautiful in a Sci-fi book, but I've never cried over the beauty of the cross when I read it?"

Something seemed out of whack there, so, I followed that train of thought for a few minutes. And then it hit me...

It's OK not to have been super emotional about the cross. Maybe it'd be nice once in while, and maybe that time will come. It's OK to have been super emotional about a work of fiction that was beautiful.

Why?

Because the Sci-fi will never change my life, and the Bible has, and will, and does, and that is the most beautiful thing of all.

Which is not to say that no other book has changed my life. There have been a select few that have. (Works of fiction, so far, have not been among them)

God's Smuggler, by Brother Andrew, began a change in my outlook of mission, ministry, persecution, and suffering. There were several books I read right afterwards that solidified that change. If I Perish by Esther Kim, Of Whom the World was not Worthy, by Marie Chapian, Brother Andrew's sequels, or updates, The Calling, and The Light Force, also, Against the Tide, by Angus Kinnear.

Andrew Murray's School of Prayer, obviously the title indicates the area of change. I also read a biography of Hudson Taylor and John Hyde, or, Praying Hyde, which, again, reinforced the change. Also, I have in my possession a biography of George Mueller, which has influenced me greatly in regards to faith and prayer.

Radical, by David Platt, is a book I would include in the life-changer list, but not exactly because it began a change than that it reinforced and directed a change.

But, in spite of that, none of these books have the power to change every aspect of my life. Only God, through His Son, and His Word, the Bible, have that power.

So, obviously, the next thing for you to do would be to sit down, read the Bible, and then go read all the books I just listed, including the Black Out, and All Clear, which won't change your life, but might make you cry, and it might give you a break from all the hefty ones I just listed, (some of which aren't that hefty.)

Cheers!

San Antonio 2012

I had a Great time! Here are a few highlights

+Flying with Captain Diamond, Captain Gross, and Captain Hook on the way there. Captain Hook looked like Einstein which made it all the better!
-Not feeling to well at the change-over location
+I was able to give tracts out to my seat mates on the way over.
-I was too scared to go through the Gospel with any of them.
+One of them was a Kentuckian and worked with violence victims...so, that was interesting.
+/-Sitting in the Wrong Row! And having to move! At least everyone was nice about it.
++++ Seeing Paul and Sarah!
+Sarah's cooking
+Sarah's decorating
+Getting ideas for Christmas presents. *Grin* It's always hard when you haven't seen them in a long time...and I got some ideas for other people too.
-Texas water...I had terrible hair all week.
+Dominion. A game they had. It was fun
+Legos...I've always liked them, and it was nice that they were already built, because I've never been brilliant at making something out of them. Duplos on the other hand...those I can do.
+Church
+'Mexicans'
+Brownies
+The River Walk. We passed out tracts there too. It was interesting to do that in the "Bible Belt"
+/-Mission Concepcion. An old Spanish Mission. Also an active Catholic Parish. The grounds and masonry were beautiful. But it was sad to see a dead religion in action like that, and to know the great influence it has down there.
+Church. It's a good one. :)
+Sleep. And Relaxation. And pillows that I want and miss.
+Music
+/- Movies.
+Family
+Getting to know Sarah a bit better
+Skype
-Missing Dad's birthday
+Walks
+No trick or treaters
+Piano
+Jokes. Laughter. Tears. Forgiveness. Mercy. Grace. Love.
+Cracker Barrel
++Sarah's excitement over the sock monkey display
+The checker-outer person at Cracker Barrel. "That will be $1,825.00 please..."
+Warmth
+/-Dryness
++++/- All the other things I'm forgetting
-Flying with Captain Mumbo-Jumbo. Couldn't hear a word he said. (that's a nickname by the way. I don't think anyone has such an awesome name for a real name.)
---Feeling extremely sick. I frequently get that way when I fly. I guess I don't eat enough or something.
+They had a Ruby's Diner in L.A. They have good milkshakes
+/-Losing my boarding pass. They were able to print me a new one though.
++The reaction of everyone I gave a tract to there.
--Not having any tracts to give out on my last flight.
+/- Sitting in the wrong seat. Again. Something I never do...I was dissappointed because the lady I sat beside the first time seemed really really nice. But then, the couple I sat next to in my proper seat were also very sweet.
+The very sweet Chinese Presbyterian couple I sat next to.
+The man was reading a book on Christian Warfare
+There excitement that we were all Christians. (I think they were more than just professing...)
+Flying with the humorous Captain Shepherd. "We're about to begin our descent into Seattle. The temperature is 54 degrees. And...it's raining............of course.
+Cloud shadows from the air
++Flying into Seattle. I admit I was a little homesick
++Flying over the black hole which was in reality the extremely dark clouds over Washington...
++Dropping down from the sunlit lands above the clouds into the darkness of the clouds
++The cloud layers that looked like a new land. And the sun touching the tops of the Olympic? mountains in the far distance.
+/- The solid red and white ribbons of headlights on the freeways. Unfortunately, my ride was in that traffic.
+Home.
+Family
-Exhaustion
-A very busy next day
+Rest eventually

Yep. I had fun!

God's Amazing Second Mile

In our house, we have a saying. It goes something like. "Go the second mile, dude!" Well, this year, I've been realizing that God has been doing just that.

It started with me asking God for one mile. "Lord, please, help me not to be so stingy this year."

Deep down, I meant something more like, "Lord, I don't want to be so stingy with regards to my gift giving."

But, since that wasn't what I had actually said, He took it literally.

The first three months of the year I was slammed with unexpected expenses. Some were entirely unexpected one-time-only, and some were partly-expected-more-than-I-thought-long-term expenses. The latter ones took a hike mid-year; Kind of like a tax increase, but it wasn't taxes. By mid-summer, nearly 85% of my income was pre-allotted, leaving 15% for gifts, personal spending, and personal saving.

Then the Lord convicted me that at this time, I didn't need to be saving for a car. He also seemed to want me to spend the money I'd saved already on an airplane ticket to see my brother and sister-in-law. (That trip is coming up next week!! Yay!)

As September rolled to an end, I suddenly realized that:
a) I was about to enter October, which has about five important friends/family's birthday's. And,
b) It was almost Christmas.
c) I had a few important other items to purchase as well

All of which meant that I that 15% of my budget would be incredibly insufficient given my income, (which, by the way, took a significant decrease towards the beginning of the second quarter)

I only had one option, because cutting my pre-allotted expenditures was not an option. Getting smaller birthday presents wasn't an option this year either, because, in line with my lesson in non-stinginess/God's providence, I made a sort of un-spoken policy to give my best, regardless of cost, and let the Lord provide the rest.

So, I prayed, "Lord, I need some more money for these next few months, please."

Last week, the Lord provided me a second job. I was grateful. But since I charge an hourly wage not much over the minimum wage, and since I wouldn't be working more than a few additional hours, I wasn't sure it would be enough.

That is, until I discovered that my new employers randomly decided to pay me double what I was charging.

Isn't God good? He took my 'one-mile' request, tweaked my attitude about the whole thing, (quite a bit), and took it the second mile in more ways than one. This is only a short version!

Top Eleven Things I Said While Learning to Drive

1: I am slowing down!

2: Whoops, I guess I should slow down a bit. Don't want to get my permit suspended.

3: I am speeding up, your gas pedal just has a slow response time.

4: Where are you going, can I drive?

5: How'm I doing?

6: I'm such a good parker!

7: What should I have done?

8: *tears* I'm a terrible driver, I'll never get my license!

9: I am staying in my lane!

10: Night driving sure is different!


11: Let's do a road trip, I'll drive!

The Top Ten Things I Heard While Learning to Drive

1: Slow Down!!

2: Speed Up.

3: Look over your shoulder when changing lanes!

4: It's not a staring contest, just glance!

5: Stay in your lane.

6: You have to be aware of everything around you.

7: A merge is like two people trying to get into the same place at the same time without hitting each other.

8: Slow down, no, BRAKE!

9: Stay in your lane.

10: Don't panic.

And now, I am a Licensed Driver. Congratulations, Self!

Have I Mentioned...?

...That I love the book of Hebrews?

I saw another cool little thing in Chapter 9 this week.

"Whereupon, neither the first testament was dedicated without blood, 
"For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
"Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you." ~(Hebrews 9:18-20)

The Old Testament verses for this is in Exodus 24:1-8.

What's cool about this, I thought, was the similarity of vs. 20 to Matthew 26: 26-28 which reads:

"While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is My body.
"And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them saying, Drink from it, all of you:
"For this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

In the same way that the sacrifices of the Old Testament were a type of salvation from sins, the blood of Jesus is the way of salvation. And both covenants were dedicated with almost exactly the same wording. Cool? I think so.

Musings, Part 2

Last time, I spoke about a passage in Deuteronomy. This time, let's look at something entirely different, but equally cool. It's from Hebrew's chapter 8:4

" Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law."

I've always known the ascension of Jesus Christ was important. After all, it's the ending of His physical work on earth. He completed His job on the cross. He gave us a way to be saved.

But this verse brings the whole ascension thing to a whole new level, and to understand that, you have to know a little bit about the Old Testament law.

The Old Testament law is the law spoken about in this verse. It refers to priests who offer blood sacrifices for the people's sins. Under the Old Testament law, such sacrifices were sufficient. But, as the writer of Hebrews continues in verse 9 of the same chapter, the new testament, or covenant, is:

"Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, for they did not continue in my covenant."

The Israelites broke the covenant, so Jesus came to earth to establish "a more perfect covenant." (vs. 6) Hebrews 7 dwells extensively on the subject of Jesus's priesthood. He is a priest, the high priest. His priesthood is especially important. His death on the cross established Him as a valid blood sacrifice, which is what washes away the first covenant. There could not have been a new covenant without a blood sacrifice, and Jesus was the priest who made that sacrifice. (Hebrews 9:22)

Now the question is, why didn't Jesus just remain on earth?

The answer is that His great sacrifice would have been invalidated. Jesus would have been relegated to the same role as the Old Testament priests. "If He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all."

Isn't that cool? The ascension of Jesus Christ is His stamp of permanency and validity on the new covenant. Without the ascension, there would be no salvation. I just love the book of Hebrews, don't you?