here

The lights are off in my little apartment as I write. Less than a means of greenly conserving energy it is a means of reducing heat. The weather has been stifling in Bremerton these past days, more or less like what you, dear reader, have experienced today. It should remind us that we misrepresent perfection. In the winter we dwell on thoughts of lakeside fun and in the summer we think of wearing knitted clothing again. We long for another place. "Here is the difficulty. Surely, it is right here in the present is the difficulty," we naturally assume. Another place, a piece of bread, a warm embrace, that is what I need. "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). If we struggle with unpreparedness it is only because we have struggled to take Jesus honestly. Those that stand before the judgment seat of God will not plead deafness, they will instead plead for special treatment, "if you had only said it such and such a way, then..." The words of Jesus are spoken for our peace. My sheep hear my voice. They are listeners. The voice of Jesus is a voice of concerned warning for our peace. Take heart! The words are spoken because the means of thriving survival are also offered in Him. "I have overcome the world." Be wrapped in Him.

Please pray with us in Bremerton. There are massive spiritual battles before us and we need your companionship in prayer.

on the mind and in the heart

There are many things on my mind.

Compassion: Sharing tears with the brokenhearted. Something Jesus did often. My eyes are dry.

Faithfulness: A living amen to what is righteous and eternally pure even when I don't feel like it. A discarding of selfish impulse and a throbbing mind that is filled with "what ifs" and "me."

Purity: An uncompromised conscience and fresh heart. Eye to eye with Jesus on moral issues and hand in hand on moral actions and personal decisions. An open and honest vulnerability that He knows the desires of my heart and the thoughts of my mind.

Love: I want your joy. I am patient to see that fruit in your life and will not boast in my investment when it comes. I have also received this gift from Jesus. I hope for you and trust. Is there reason to trust? Ha! no, never if it we are the only common denominators. But we have one perfect in love and complete in power, Jesus Himself, who will not leave or forsake us. Love is far to dangerous of a journey for me to try alone. I rely heavily upon Him and long to be like the meek lamb who fought and defeated all the armies hell had to guard its grim gates.

Christian: One who is slow to speak, quick to listen and slow to anger. We need to more often think of the character of a Christian. Never are we told to be hasty to judge ourselves or others. It is God who judges. The soul who listens will be reproved and instructed on schedule. Instead be "sober minded." This sobriety does not makes us morose; rather, people who "hate what is evil and cling (fierce delight!) to what is good."

some said it well

"O my Lord! my calling is becoming almost too high. In Thy compassionate love, too, I must follow and imitate and reproduce Thy life. In the compassion wherewith I see and help every bodily and spiritual misery, in the gentle, tender love wherewith every sinner feels that I long to bless men, must the world form some idea of Thy compassion. Most merciful One! forgive me that the world has seen so little of it in me. Most mighty Redeemer! let Thy compassion not only save me, but so take hold of me and dwell in me that compassion may be the very breath and joy of my life. May Thy compassion towards me be within me a living fountain of compassion towards others.
Lord Jesus, I know Thou canst only give this on one condition, that I let go my own life and my efforts to keep and sanctify that life, and suffer Thee to live in me, to be my life. Most merciful One, I yield myself to Thee! Thou hast a right to me, Thou alone. there is nothing more precious to me than Thy compassionate countenance; what can be more blessed than to be like Thee?
Lord, here I am. I have faith in Thee, that Thou Thyself wilt teach and fit me to obey Thy word: 'Thou shouldest have had compassion, even as I had compassion on thee.' In that faith I go out this very day to find in my intercourse with others the opportunity of showing how Thou hast loved me. In that faith it will become the great object of my life to win me to Thee. Amen"

- Andrew Murray

the narnian

more coming soon...
in the meantime a quote that I have chewed on much these past weeks.

The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis (HarperCollins, 2005), xxii-xxiii:

In most children but in relatively few adults, at least in our time, we may see this willingness to be delighted to the point of self-abandonment. This free and full gift of oneself to a story is what produces the state of enchantment. But why do we lose the desire--or if not the desire, the ability--to give ourselves in this way? Adolescence introduces the fear of being deceived, the fear of being caught believing what others have ceased believing in. To be naive, to be gullible--these are the humilitations of adolescence. Lewis seems never to have beenfully possessed by this fear.

. . .One could say, then, that Lewis remained in this particular sense childlike--that is, able always to receive pleasure from the kinds of stories that tend to give pleasure to children. . . . Surely Lewis himself would have said that when we can no longer be "wide open to the glory"--risking whatever immaturity thereby--we have not lost just our childlikeness but something near the core of our humanity. Those who will never be fooled can never be delighted, because without self-forgetfulness there can be no delight, and this is a great and grievous loss.

chariots of fire

The odds are for the Christian. "oh!" but you say "surely we are despised and rejected, and lack the means to stand out in this humid land." and so elisha stood on the top of the wall surveying the gathered army of the Arameans. flee? is that what you plan to do? surely we have not been surrounded by such a formidable force that has required our lives. but surrounded we have been, and accused on every side. we have felt gathered against us a thousand accusers that tempt us to fear them rather than fear the living God. elisha's prayer was not for a change of scenery, but a revealing of reality. when elisha prayed for his servant to see and understand he beheld a multitude of flaming horses and chariots, a greater and more impressive army in stature and force. i think in our desperation we often feel as though we are waiting for a change in the reality of the situation. more often we need an eye opening understanding of the ever-present force of God--"He does not weary or grow faint" and "He is an ever-present help in time of trouble, therefore WE WILL NOT FEAR." does your heart find the basic truths of scripture distasteful? then you need an eye opening. do you scorn the commandments? then you are blind. perhaps we would find ourselves in more active and heroic spirituality--encountering the living God--if we picked up again the passionate and embrace charge of our childhood faith to trust and obey. i am tempted to call trust and obedience "simple," but they are not. they are cliffs that we scale and walk carefully, attentively, and purposefully upon. one long look and desire for the lower land will plummet us to our basic life of low expectation. God does not want low expectations of Him. "I am God and there is no other...I will be known among the nations." and the result is praise.

are you aware that there are chariots of fire?