Parking was easy; we had a small rental car, low curbs and no real space markers. Pay at the credit card machine, don’t push the wrong buttons; decide how much time needed and add amounts slowly. Place your ticket on the dash visibly. We bought time together. Brother to brother, we were enjoying each other’s rare company. To the used book-nook, yes the sign said “open.” Mildew hits the nostrils, faintly, then stronger; the stay would have to be shortened. What treasures would be found? — Civil war, Christianity, Sociology, Nazi Germany? Personal stories of psychological exploration, biography of a war spy, sports strategies, the brain book; mining for gold, we endured as long as possible. Throats red, we paid and left; but happy with our tiny jewels. A free day, great conversation followed us throughout, unforced but “come as it may,” we enjoyed the next thought, and the next.…
Tag: <span>grace</span>
“All emotions are, in essence, impulses to act, the instant plans for handling life…”– Daniel Goldman from his book, “Emotional intelligence” 1995. Daniel comes from a neural-scientific point of view; were talking about raw brain. “…the brain has two memory systems, one for ordinary facts and one for emotionally charged ones,” Goldman again. He quotes Joseph LeDoux from 1989-93. When alarmed, the amygdala (emotional brain center) sends an urgent message out. “It acts before there is full confirmation.” “It frantically commands that we react to the present, in ways that were imprinted long ago.” What? Yes, Goldman says “the message the amygdala sends is often ‘out of date.’” In a personal example of this, when I was a child I was placed on a horse with great fear of falling off. I feared horses for years after, and the very childhood fear, when triggered, panicked me again and anew. Problem;…
“For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ” are the words of Philippians. What are these bowels? “All real spiritual love is but a portion of Christ’s love which yearns in all who are united to Him.” Henry Alford. Okay, Christ is the source, but what of bowels? “The word ‘bowels,’ in the Scriptures denotes the upper viscera – the region of the heart and lungs. That region was regarded as the seat of affection, sympathy, and compassion…” Barnes notes. Dr. Stevens associated bowels with emotions also. Are these the same bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering that we are to put on in Colossians 3:12? Yes, not just the words but the emotions. Caroline Leaf says that “when the thoughts move into the conscious mind, we feel the emotions of the thoughts.” So, when Bible words are invested…
Our lives are made for balance Christian life must have balance. We are not hanging on a few verses or a pet doctrine or a one-dimensional approach. Our lives are made for balance and the other side is fanaticism. Friends, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Why the need for equilibrium? Why the necessity for a set of scales? Longevity, baby, longevity. We’re not in a sprint, folks, this is a marathon. Twenty six/odd mile runners gotta pace themselves, even the very well trained. Well, we think, “I’m going full steam ahead; I wanna burn out for Jesus.” You will. Impacting impingement happens to all“The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.” Ecclesiastes 9:11. Time and chance? Yes…
“Knowledge is flour, but wisdom is bread.” Austin O’Malley. “Like water in the desert is wisdom to the soul. Wisdom is a treasure, the key whereof is never lost.” Edward Counsel. “Necessity teaches wisdom, while prosperity makes fools.” Wellins Calcott. “Ever learning, yet never coming to the knowledge of the truth”; “knowledge puffs up but love builds up.” Knowledge is a subtle friend and foe; as a means to an end, friend — as an end in itself, foe. Knowledge is money for the purchase of wisdom; the principle thing. Wisdom builds a house, wins souls. It is collecting, earning, gaining, and securing. It gathers by attraction; it draws, inspires, encourages, and breathes life into others. It is efficacious; more than alive, it is life giving. Now, which do we want? Wisdom delights in the sons of men, Proverbs 8. It rejoices where people live, it accompanies God Himself as…
“And when this life is through; even then, your hand will lead me, your right hand will hold me.” “No more night, no more pain, no more tears, never crying again.” “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” “Wonderful, merciful Savior; Precious Redeemer and Friend … you give the healing and grace, our hearts always hunger for. You rescue the souls of men.” We hunger for it. “Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea, a great High Priest whose name is Love, who ever lives to plead for me. My name is graven on His hands, my name is written on His heart, I know that while in heaven He stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart.” “Mercy there was great and grace was free, pardon there was multiplied for me, there my burdened soul found liberty, at…
Was Jesus ever sad? Isaiah 42:4 prophetically shows Him unfailing and in-discouraged. In chapter 53, He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He wept more than once prior to His agony — at the grave of his friend and on the overlook of Jerusalem. Perhaps it was vexation which He experienced. I sense a frustration for man’s unbelief. Jesus came unto His own, but His own received Him not. Could we say that the experience of becoming man taught the Savior some hard lessons? He was despised and rejected of men. To what sense, to what rationale do men reject goodness? Is it fear, is it deception, is it a dumb spirit? To what degree do men not comprehend their disease, and so seek healing? To what quirk of psyche do men love darkness rather than light? This last one gives an explanation; “because their deeds were evil.”…
“Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. Exodus 19:19-20 The place of austerity carried sacred implications; no man could look at God and live. Old Israel learned early to fear the voice of God as it resembled thunder. God’s people were forbidden approach to God’s mountain, and begged Moses that God not speak to them directly. Only through Moses did they dare receive communication from Yahweh. In the midst of fire and brimstone came the ten commandments through Moses. In…
Baltimore Maryland Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: Philippians 3:8-9. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Rom 5:17 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness…
Jeremiah_15:18 “Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed?” Jeremiah_30:12 “For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Of course not! “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.” Jeremiah 13:23. “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?” Matthew_6:27 “The patient cannot permit himself to perceive the trauma until he is ready to take a stand toward it.” “…we are unable to give attention to something until we are in some way to experience an ‘I can’ toward it.” Merleau Ponty “Memory is like perception in this regard; the patient…