Simply A Night Owl

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth ~ Genesis 1:1

I like to browse the Internet and in doing so, I occasionally will find my way on to the Hubble Telescope Site and look at the newest images taken by the space telescope. One of my favorites is a photograph of the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula.  Even more than that, I like the Cone Nebula. (Pictured)  A nebula is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen gas and plasma gaseous area of space where stars are formed and birthed. The highlight of these areas for me is the vast amount of color which emanates from them. I can only imagine that this is what God was speaking of when he said, “Let there be light”.

To be there at the birth of creation; what a magnificent sight that must have been!

Last October, I got to witness a little piece of that creation in the birth of my son.  I stood there in amazement as he emerged from the darkness, opened his eyes and took his first breath. I was brought to tears at the miracle of creation that was occurring right in front of my eyes and I suspect that Mary and Joseph may have felt the same. I can imagine that God’s reaction was much the same as his creation emerged out of darkness. I am also sure that He cries tears of joy even now, at the emergence of one of his creations from the darkness.

I never even began to imagine how much my father loved me until I loved a son of my own. Just the same, I never knew how much The Father loved me until I loved his son. The love that I have for my son or that any father has for his son is merely a glimpse into the love that God has for all of us. It was that love for his children that sent his Only Begotten to the cross and then raised him from the tomb.  When I look at my son, I see Jesus. I see creation and I see renewal. I see a future worth living in and a future worth living for.  I not only see the necessity of Jesus’ sacrifice, but I see the abundance of love that was required to make it.

Go to the Wheeler4Sheriff page on this site and listen to Daryl’s radio advertisement and sign the petition to stop construction on a waste of taxpayer money! 

Vote Daryl Wheeler for Bonner County Sheriff in 2008!!

The original post has been moved to its own page here or by clicking the tool bar above that says Wheeler4Sheriff. 

Daryl’s campaign site can be accessed by clicking the link below.   

Daryl Wheeler for Sheriff of Bonner County

*SIGH*

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns” ~ Isaiah 52:7

My good friend Rachel recently said this in reference to the above scripture:

“It’s one of those golden oldies that those of us who’ve been in church circles for a long time will be familiar with, but I’m wondering if familiarity hasn’t possibly clouded my eyes to something that could alter me substantially.”

So I thought I would see what I could come up with.

I read a newspaper article this morning with genuine interest. Allegedly, a man in response to seeing a bartender batter his girlfriend, drove his Jeep Cherokee into the door of the bar knocking the bartender about thirty feet back from the door and rendering him unconscious. The man was also charged with a DUI in the incident. Now, the man and his “supporters” are making themselves out to be the victims, claiming that the bartender was the aggressor and have made accusations of corruption against the Chief Public Defender. Well here’s an idea! Don’t aim your car at people and then drive into buildings.  It’s really a common sense thing, yet this is what the world seems to be coming to.

These are some of the U.S. News Headlines that I read today at MSNBC.

• Georgia fugitive father and three children found dead.
• Vehicle hits twelve at Chicago auto auction
• New York man sentenced for race related death
• Suspect held after four killed in junkyard rampage.

Depressing, isn’t it? It doesn’t take much more than read or watch the evening news to know that some of God’s children are going down the wrong path again. Of course, this is a very well established pattern and seems to often repeat itself. It’s like every generation has its own golden calf.

I recently wrote a piece that has not yet been published on the patience of God and how many times throughout history that he has redeemed his people. In this particular instance in the life and times of God’s people, even after deliberate sin and outright rejection of God, (did I say pattern?) His people are again freed from bondage, this time from the hands of Babylon. Even still, God’s children still seem to lose sight.

In the midst of wars going on the world and wars going on in our streets, among the drugs and alcohol abuse, among the mental illness and the homeless, among the thievery that lives in our neighborhoods and in our governments, among the lying and deception that make people see life as a lesson in futility and among those who sit by and idly watch it all happen; there are still those brave souls who stand up tall and speak out against these things. They proclaim that God is king, that he loves us, forgives us no matter what and that He is in control.  These are people like Jimmy Munson, Ruth Palnick, the staff at World Impact St. Louis or the hundreds of thousands of people just like you and me, maybe from our own congregations, who go into our communities, stand up and make a difference for the Lord.  It’s a beautiful thing to behold.  It’s awesome!  Since I believe that God speaks to us in a language that we can understand, I see him looking down on this effort and saying, “Sweet!”

So go tell it on the mountain.

Recently a discussion was had at the Cybercongregation in reference to Smith Magazine’s book entitled, “Not Quite What I Was Planning.  Six Word Memoirs By Writers Famous and Obscure”.  

I thought I would share my six word memoir.   (Sounds like a tagging opportunity so how many people want to jump on the bandwagon?  Consider yourself tagged!!

“A REBEL TO THE BITTER END”

I was tagged by my friend Sicarii to reveal seven random and/or wierd facts about myself.   I had already done a similar post here but since it’s taboo to refuse a tag and he’s making me do this, I feel no discomfort in leading you directly to his self proclaimed idiosyncracies. 

1.  I have a very low opinion of my ability as a writer and equally less of an opinion of my ability as a “lay-scholar”.

2.  I absolutely LOVE getting up in front of a large group of people and speaking.

3.  The inside of my truck is spotless.  The outside hasn’t been washed in two years.

4.  I stayed up for 18 hours straight in order to watch Season 2 of “24“.

5.  I spent five years obsessed with getting into my career field and now after twelve years, I would give it up in a New York minute if the right opportunity came along.

6.  If one thing is out of place on my desk, I will, without even thinking about, put it back where it belongs.  (This theory has been proven to be true)

7.  I am forgetful to the nth degree.  That’s why anyone who has read this post prior to right now knows that there wasn’t a number 7 here before. 

Now, since I have previously tagged some folks on this same subject, I will tag no further.  If you’re reading this, consider yourself tagged (or tagged again) and participate at your own choosing.

Ok, another political post from me.  Thanks Sonja!!

As you know, I am no lover of Hillary Clinton so when I saw this little gem from Dailykos posted on Sonja’s site, I couldn’t help but do my part in sharing it with the world.

Saying that Hillary has Executive Branch experience is like saying that Yoko Ono was a Beatle.

Judge for yourself

So what is this title and the new header all about?  Recently, I read this and found this quote from Mark Driscoll, Pastor of Mars Hill.  Go here for the entire article.

“Who cares what the emerging church is doing,” he stressed. “It’s a junk drawer category for all kinds of different people.” (Emphasis Mine)

I think that maybe that fits me pretty well.  

(HT: Heather)

Of all of my childhood memories, one of my favorites is running home from school as fast as I could to watch Dark Shadows, a daytime soap opera on T.V.  (Yeah I know!)   Dark Shadows was a gothic soap opera that showed from June of 1966 until April of 1971.   As with any other show, the ratings were kind of sinking until the introduction of something that grabbed the interest of the viewers.   In this case, that grab came in the form of Barnabas Collins; a 175 year old vampire who actually had a loving side to him.   The problem was that people couldn’t see it through their focus on what was in the shadows.

What is this fascination of humans to focus on perception rather than reality, negative rather than positive, that which lies in the shadows?

In the movie Wyatt Earp, Kevin Costner had a couple of classic lines; one of which was in response to a question about something he did.

“People make up a lot of things. Sometimes even I don’t know what really happened. I know this though, the stories are always better.”

Wow!  Is this something that I see often or what?  Some of the stories that have made it back to me are so far removed from the truth, it’s hard not to laugh.  I am now Robocop; the automaton with no feelings or emotions.  Folks, it’s only what I do, not who I am. It’s only a shadow of the person that I really am. Like Costner said in Wyatt Earp,

“It’s a tricky thing; the reputation business.”

Why is that people need to conjure up some counterfeit image of something or someone so that it fits neatly into their vision of reality? Is it a need for justification or is it simply a need to deflect attention and remain hidden in the shadows? 

Shadows are darkened shapes of objects caused when the object blocks light. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Character is like a tree and reputation is like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”  Wise words from a wise man.   I look at it a little differently in this context.  The shadow represents the law and when we live in the shadow, that means that there is something between us and the light. The tree represents whatever is standing between us and Christ.  He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” If we’re living in the dark shadows of the law, isn’t it high time we moved out of the shadow and into the light?

The law is a mere shadow of Christ; a darkened shape of the Light of the World which was to come. The law cannot keep us from feeling guilty about our sin.  Actually, it is more of a constant reminder.  The law is simply a shadow of perfection; it cannot make anything perfect.   That was in the hands of “The Light”; who by one sacrifice, made us pure once and for all.

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves.  For this reason, it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship ~ Hebrews 10:1