With His arms wide open He rescued you and me; with His arms wide open…This line from a song rings in my heart much. When I was 25 years old He came and rescued me; from what? He rescued me from me. We fished off the sea wall on our breaks at work. Folks caught carp and cat fish and some of these grew pretty big. Workers gathered there to eat lunch. I cared not much for the fishing possibilities this day. “The Crack in the Cosmic Egg,” I had been reading a book called “The Crack in the Cosmic Egg,” I really lived cracked in my own cosmic egg is why I read this book. I liked the book as it came from the ideals of some far-out mystical religious teacher and captured my attention. He was teaching about Jesus walking on the water and how we can…
Tag: <span>grace</span>
New Mexico Scene “What is grace?” I asked God. And He said, “All that happens.” Then He added, when I looked perplexed, “Could not lovers say that every moment in their Beloved’s arms was grace? Existence is my arms, though I well understand how one can turn away from me until the heart has wisdom. ”St.John of the Cross Christ’s coming brought grace. The law came by Moses but grace and truth by Jesus Christ. O happy day! The subject of grace presents a vast topic but essentially grace means favor; a disposition to grant something freely. Christ releases the Father’s disposition to grant something freely, having died in our place as our representative man. Any “worthiness” aspirations by us to gain a thing, would eliminate grace. Self-merit can only conjure a wage. Grace earns no paycheck, neither becomes one; grace stands outside of this rationale as screened. A…
Earlier in the book we talked about the streaking racers that follow every person in their lifetime. Well, where did the other racers go; I mean the negative ones? Well they are not conceding victory yet, instead they hold a couple of “aces in the hole” which they pull out when someone gets near grace’s healing. The Law, the Old sin nature, and the Kingdom of darkness, may have lost ground as grace surged at Christ’s coming, but patiently these streakers ready for re-opportunity. So the answer to where did they go is simple; nowhere. One of the secret tactics of the negative racers is the effective use of certain cliched sayings. The first and biggest phrase goes this way; “you are using grace as a license to sin”. What is implied here is that if you use too much grace you will feel free to go out and sin…
River in Nevada Love never fails. But how do I get love? Love comes to me through grace. “Where sin does abound grace does much more abound,” This is true love. The operations design of a man (inward adjustments) can be drastically altered in the current pre-rapture era. Physical bodies will have to wait till after the rapture for complete makeover, however. Does it mean nothing at all will happen to the body till then, and if something will happen, to what extent? Let’s think about what the body does for us now and also then. The body is our bridge to the world and our shield from it. Skin makes contact with our external world and converses with it using facial expressions and body language etc. It deflects that screaming baseball be-lining my squirming skull. It senses, smells and touches and much more. Future body will also bridge us…
Woods and Snow “That men were ashamed, was the essential consequence of the fact that their glory; that clothing of honor of their body had been perverted into the shame of nakedness… Franz Delitzsch So far, (in this book), we have reviewed an abstract on hair-raising trauma, a treatise of the ego, and a true to life tale about how the downward drag of religion started the negative ball rolling in my young life. What do these three very different thoughts imply? Where do they overlap? Do you relate at all to the parts, or whole? I actually asked myself a similar question; what is a very real similarity in it all? The striking point of cohesion is written in one word: shame. Shame and awareness of inadequacy, awareness of a need for more, a groping to reach for something not yet there, and the thing that brings a…
Pump house from the side door Some guys on T.V. talk about what we have to do, and they use a lot of Bible verses. Most of the talking sets the record straight on our responsibilities, and how to go about accomplishing them. These guys teach us how to not lose God’s favor and maintain a good standing. They are good at this kind of instruction. They speak this way all the time. I notice also how they appear so intelligent and have gained a lot of applause in other circles. Truly they are leaders and generally they know more than me so I must quietly learn from them. Boy, I wish I could learn all of their techniques and how-to-do-its. Some are Doctors and some Bishops or Elders even. When we hang out listening to these men and women, we sure feel good about finally knowing what some things…
Josh and Puddle Sometimes folks can’t focus in life, lured away toward a seductive universe, one featuring a soothing state of mental relaxation, centering problems removed. Let’s explain. People with attention deficit disorder are known to have remarkable powers of concentration without distraction, but only in the world of their chosen fantasy. Amazing. The more a person succumbs to the alluring facade, the less able they are to concentrate on other things? Interesting and telling. A person watches porn on the internet or immerses themselves in a video game, or plays excessive bingo, or whatever they give their heart to, and the real world becomes a loathsome chore. Not too hard to understand. How can the natural course of life compete with such intense and provocative views that challenge, stimulate and require some perceived risk? Likewise, some believers are distracted from fervent preaching and teaching of the Word, because they…
Arizona Lake 1989 Folks in general don’t want to talk about anything too negative. Why is that? Darkness and light are both alike to God, but not to us. Psalm139:12. See, the highway of holiness admits and allows the wayfaring man, and the fool does not err therein. Isaiah 35:8. This gives all of us entry there, but few find it. For this reason men struggle still with the hills and valleys of life and mostly ride the ups and downs. We have a tendency to see God as a mere moral One and prosperity means God’s favor, where adversity means God is mad at us. To most He is a God of circumstances. Let me open a thought. Do we have an expectation for our life, or are we contented to handle anything that life dishes up? Careful. Well no, we are not contented to take anything, we have…
Frustrating things humble a man or woman’s soul. They do things in two categories: (1) take away something that was there prior, narrow resources, block or limit the number, etc. (2) open up, redirect, or painfully bring into view what is left, in its raw and pure form, heightening the need for creativity of a distinctly unique breed of living result. What do I mean? I’m squeezed by events, illness, wrong decisions, people and their decisions, money matters, or even jail. Why? Wrong question! If you can figure out “why,” you have rationally charted your future in the image of your carefully derived and wise findings. In other words you may have allowed the frustrating limits to also inhibit your ability in going forward. I would like to ask you a question: are you sure about “why”? Why do I ask? Because it is better, maybe, if we don’t know…
When I was starting out in the religious way as a mere sprig, I had a few harrowing moments. New beliefs and practices tutored us (my sister and I). We never doubted their veracity. In the Catholic Church you ‘go’ to confession, every second or third Friday evening. Church was usually empty, with the exception of the few confessors, and dim looking, especially when dark outside. It had the feel of a museum, with echoes resounding at a door closing, or, drop of a missal. (Yes, I meant “missal”; the Catholics called a prayer book a “missal”). So; high cathedral ceilings dropped huge chandeliers from long long cable wires, but tonight only a little light shone on the many pictures in the auditorium-sized building, Michelangelo’s brush-strokes emanating. Life-sized statues of saints and Mary and Jesus with a golden heart were also visible without spot-lights, from secondary illuminations, and the…