Muscles twitching

Still hard. T secret route that is.  It is an off road route from my house to Fulsher.  Pit of despair and the road of remorse survived.  Missed the Tennis court water stop and had to bail on the return dam and hit FFPS for water 61 miles 11 water bottles 4 hours, dealing with cramps.  Lots of time to think.   The ripples of our lives expand in many directions.  So if one person's ripple expands out in the same way they have been treated, then the are they responsible.  The tangle of the interrelations may or may not have been considered, but the end results are the same.

I think it is a retorical question

^{From Vode Bachum}

Jeremiah 32

²⁶ Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ²⁷ "I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? ²⁸

This verse

Psalm 139

 ¹ O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.  ² You know when I sit and when I rise;  you perceive my thoughts from afar.
 ³ You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
 ⁴ Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
 ⁵ You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
 ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
 ⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
 ⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, ^[a] you are there.
 ⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
 ¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
 ¹¹ If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"
 ¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
 ¹³ For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
 ¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
 ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
 ¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book
       before one of them came to be.
 ¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
 ¹⁸ Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
 ¹⁹ If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
 ²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
 ²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you?
 ²² I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
 ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
 ²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

God's Hospital

There are one about three things I remember from my college days.  One is the steps to system analysis and design.

1. Define the problem
2. Gather Solutions
3. Decide on the best
4. Implement 
5. Review

Most projects go south because people did not define the problem so they did not know what they were solving and/or they did not review so they did not know if they were successful.
One of the other things was from Dwight Edwards.  He would say that "I am just one beggar showing another beggar where to get some food for the night"  this is the attitude we should have as we show others the way to the cross.   Not proud or haughty, just moving towards the cross and picking up the wounded as we go.
I would like to suggest my own for the times when God is really moving around me.  "I am just an orderly changing bed pans in God's hospital"  Relationships are harder and more weird and sometimes God moves in because we are not able to handle it ourselves.  There is God picking up the steaming pile of goo that we create in our own failings.  Sometimes He disciplines, corrects, sometime He leans into us as we lean into Him.  Sometime He, like in the Garden, hides and we must stretch to find Him. Third Day - Call my Name
He never leaves us.  He never forsakes us.  He does refine us, test our mettel
(met·tle (met′'l) noun quality of character or temperament; esp., high quality of character; spirit; courage; ardor) bend us to the point of breaking, catches us when we fall. Yes all to His Glory and all to trust more in His huge capacity to love us.

This of course like basic training does for a soldier, prepare us to battle.  When the storm of life come we have been trained and we know how to react.  There is no question, we draw, fire and hit our mark.  The story of policemen who were found dead with their spent brass in their pockets from when they reloaded.  You see that is how they did it on the practice range.  So when they needed to do it for real they took the time to put the brass in their pocket instead of dropping it and reloading and focusing on the task.  Their improper training essentially killed them.
What great thing it is that God takes up through the various trials in training.  We are able to recognize the oncoming storm clouds gathering, batten the hatches down and get ready. Prepare ye the way

The Word of the Lord came one evening
Concerning His bride's great sin
He'd send down His Word to renew her
To prepare for the Bridegroom again
The Word said repent
From seeking vain glories
While the gifts in the Lord's name you give
Repent of all the first stones cast to kill
While your own self-righteousness lives

Prepare ye the way for the Lord
Prepare ye the way for the kingdom
Prepare ye the way
Prepare ye the way for the Lord

The Word said repent and turn from your strivings
Repent and turn from your hatred
Repent from the doctrines of men that divide
And fear like the wedding gown ripped

Walk in His love like newborn children
Walk in His love, let the wedding gown mend
Walk in His love, with humility come with pure hearts
And cast all your cares to the wind

The Word of the Lord came one evening
Concerning His bride's sin
He assured me we will be forgiven
And then let the marriages begin

Luke 3

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

 ¹In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— ²during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. ³He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁴As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
   "A voice of one calling in the desert,
   'Prepare the way for the Lord,
      make straight paths for him.
 ⁵Every valley shall be filled in,
      every mountain and hill made low.
   The crooked roads shall become straight,
      the rough ways smooth.
 ⁶And all mankind will see God's salvation.' "^[a]

Particpate in the battle?

Jim suggested that we move towards another book leaving the Eldredge Books behind.  The suggestion on the table is http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/4pillars.html 
Reading the review, this is another battle book.  "Satan's effectiveness in destroying God's image through male-female alienation, by whatever means, has been incalculably costly to the human race."(5) This is where the current battle rages.

I was wondering in yesterday's class if there is a way to rise above the battle and live victoriously.  Put another way is Jesus in the battle with us, or is He leaning on a fence post saying "what fight?  I am victorious over it"   Is this what is meant by "turn the other cheek"

Jeremiah 9:4-6

 ⁴ "Beware of your friends;  do not trust your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer.
 ⁵ Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning. ⁶ You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,"
       declares the LORD.

Isaiah 55:6-8

 ⁶ Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
 ⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way  and the evil man his thoughts.
       Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
 ⁸ "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,"
       declares the LORD.

1 Peter 3:10-12 (New International Version)

¹⁰For,  "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.
 ¹¹He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.
 ¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
   but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

If each day turn away from our habitual sins then we can have the Jesus leaning on the fence post.  Since to get drawn down in the pit there requires a wanting to deceive ourselves, where does the pride, envy, strife come from? We would deceive ourselves to not recognize that the one who left us continued on to this day in her immorality. It is so hard to think that someone loved would be on the side of "evil" in the sight of the Lord.  Is God just mean and puts lots of arbitrary rules in place?   To look at the pain that has been created in two people immediate lives and the collateral pain from the larger community, I would say God knows best.
 How to turn?
In class they went for just a second into how to turn from evil. Sure we are pretty good at identifying evil  Being one who has been caught up in doing evil in the sight of the Lord, I would say a couple of words "you just need to stop doing that" is not all that helpful in turning away.   "I am going to stop doing evil" will just result in another day of doing it.  Real friends who speak truth into your life are a great help in this area.  The shame of them "finding out" is sometimes enough.  Of course we delude ourselves into not thinking it is not evil, but deep down we know it is. Or sometimes we just get comfortable with the evil or start drinking or drugging to make the evil comfortable by becoming numb.

Ephesians 4:24-26 

²⁴and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
 ²⁵Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,

By wanting the fencepost Jesus am I ignoring or running away from a fight that is going on that has been set up by God, or am I living expectantly and where God wants me to be.

Basics

This morning's lesson in the class that we were visiting was one of basics.  I was thinking this would be good for a high schooler or new christian.  But there are always gems to be had whenever God's word is proclaimed.  One of the themes was to not let Satan get a foot hold.  This verse was used of thing Christian's should flee and totally avoid to keep satan from getting a foot hold

Corinthians 6:8-10

Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers.
 ⁹Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders ¹⁰nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

I was thinking how Burning Man was exactly opposite of this verse.  Where the things done there are celebrated and how that could provide a foothold for satan.  For the one who left us, is this where the shadow began to over take the light?

Confidence

Like the air in the sky confidence is not seen but can be felt.   John would have us just slap some Jesus on it and then we are going to make it through whatever, but we don't learn to trust Jesus in on fell swoop.  It is a consistent process every day to turn little bits over to Him and learn that He is trust worthy with whatever we have.  So why would it be any different with patching the crack in the wall, or changing the tire.   You build confidence, not buy it.  Sure there may have been pieces of confidence that our dad's in some way failed to give us, but they would not have given us the confidence to say ride a motorcycle on the freeway, because that was not one of the things they did.   Should you go buy a motorcycle and jump into Houston traffic on day one?   That would be your last day on the unforgiving streets of Houston. 
Just last week I had Jury duty.  I thought it would be at the Clay road and hwy 6 office. There was the plan for a nice cruise on the motorcycle through the back of the dam and over to do my duty. I looked at the paper right before I left and it was at 59 and Chimney Rock.  Now it was a rush to get through some of the worst of Houston traffic.  When I was riding all the time this would have been no big deal, but being the occasional rider, it was a big deal.  I did not want to go 610 by the Gallaria since that is the worst of the worst.  So I took the second worst option and went via Westhiemer.  It was time to relearn all those Houston traffic survival skills, lane placement, following distance... etc.  I had a level of concern, but I had done it before so I knew it could be done.

I don't think jumping off the edge is the way to go, learning to build the skills will get you there in one piece.  The bigger question would be "Does God become annoyed when we only trust Him with a little?"  and maybe this is an unrealistic expectation since the phrases running through my head are "Being sold out to Jesus"  "a fully devoted follower of the Cross" "Luke warm will spit you out" "fence sitter"  Yes that is the goal, but do you become that overnight?  God is pretty powerful, and I would not put it past Him to do this, but we are also made in God's image so the fear and  doubt is known to God.  Maybe we need someone to tell us the steps to get to become "fully sold out for Jesus".

What did your dad do?

Mr Eldredge would suggest our current daily fears are about something our dad's did or didn't do.  How long are we under that spell?   Is it a constant fight to get out of that injured mode, or is there the image of the new creature in Christ that will heal us and let us be what God want's us to be.


When the worries of this current day's issues about what to do next degenerate into the "Gosh what is holding you back?" "I don't know" "you could fail" "Is it the right move?" Then how much time do we spend stuck.   Is the answer always "move forward"?  

The healer chapter 6

Can Jesus heal the wounds that were left by our father?  Jim says yes.  and thus it is so.   Where are the people that could mentor?  Maybe it is a collection.  Why can't guys complete projects?  Kathy has no idea how men work was her response. :-)   My theory of why men can't get a project finished is that we are perfectionist.  Once the project is not meeting up with the idea in our heads, we are not willing to put more time into it.  There is probably the fear of starting a tape from our past about "Well you are not really good at anything anyways" or something like that.  One of us has the "how do I start"?

Wounds

Emotional Wounds -  why can women see them, and we can't?  Are we so trained in the no blood, nothing dangling so you should be good to get back into the game.  That means when someone is emotionally wounding us, we don't know that someone is hurting us.  That means we don't know to tell that person to stop hurting us.  Are all us men that obtuse in the emotional division.

I know that going through the dating process for so long made it rather mechanical for me.  I eventually lost some of the fun out of it because I never knew what was working or what was not.

What is the healing if we are emotionally not plugged in?

Thursday 2/26/2010

Wounded Heart - The primary premise for the rest of the book.  We all agree we have one.  The shift focuses on the young ones and how to grow them up in faith.  To allow them to explore and become what they are to be in Christ

Where is the battle that would interest a want to be warrior?  The word battle come up 201 times in the OT, but only 6 time in the NT and 4 of those are in Revelation. Possibly all the great battles have been fought.  Is the war against "terror" a war against satan and his evil?

^{Ephesians 6:10}Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Does God care if all the evil goes on and people participate in it? God would care that people are hurt and separated from Him?  How does God know about a person that is separated from Him since he can not look on evil? Where is it said that God is so Holy that He cannot look on Evil? In the days of old, He had Israel destroy evil people.  He discussed the Evil people in Soddam with Abram.   Maybe He knows about evil and chooses to destroy those that practice it in defiance of His calling them back.

Does "adventure" replace battle?

Election or chosing to be unelected

Hollis's Elected makes a lot of sense backed up with good bible verses.  To say that we save ourselves is an undermining of God's glory, especially since we are like filthy rags to Him.  Hollis hangs his hat on

^{Romans 8:27}And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. ²⁸And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,^[a] who^[b] have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Without a full blown move to predestination and Calvinism which would negate the verse. 
^2Peter3:9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

What if like sanctification we work through our lives becoming more fully like God, we are all elected from the foundation of the earth, but some choose to turn away from that election. Some choose sanctification and some choose to turn their backs on God.

 ^{John 3:1}Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. ²He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."  ³In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.^[a]"
 ⁴"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
 ⁵Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ⁶Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit^[b] gives birth to spirit. ⁷You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You^[c] must be born again.' ⁸The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
 ⁹"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
 ¹⁰"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? ¹¹I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹²I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
 ¹⁶"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. ¹⁹This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

Getting Lost

What if we start out "found" and elect, then get lost and deny God.  Do babys go to heaven if they die at birth? 6 months?  Most people would say yes, so what age is it that if you die you are not "elected" by choosing to repent and follow God?

^{2 Timothy 2:18}who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. ¹⁹Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his,"^[a] and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."
 ²⁰In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble.

This is not done... more work it needs.

Chapter 4 - The Wound

The premise for the rest of the book is that we are wounded by our fathers in some way that then rest of the book shows how God can heal the wound.  Does the wound dominate our lives?   Was Jesus wounded?  Does everyone have the wound?  What does it look like when our wound is healed?  Is this just a set up for more counseling?
My Wounds - words, not shown the confidence, never given the keys to the kingdom
What happened when I failed and it was exposed?
Welcome Joel

Sage

I think I would like a Sage in my life. No not the department store that used to be at I-10 and the beltway. I wonder if God has sent me sages and I discounted them, so they left.

So I looked for the Fathered by God handbook and came upon this http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-46-wild-at-heart-sword.aspx

I don't know what to say... I want to say how trite, for real warrior stuff go to Home Depot or Carter's Country... I am not sure.

I think through the list I know and wonder which one is a Sage.  I think Ed Jensen may be one,  I am not sure.

Don't get off the trail

Even in the wilds we can't get off the beaten path. Sad. Why? Who was the one that was allowed to get off the beaten path? Luckily I get to be that person at Stephen F. Austin state park. Even when I go out into places that most folks don't get to go, I still want to be the first one there. That thought is crushed when I find trash from someone that beat me there.

Don't know

So reading the fathered by God book. I don't know if he give enough information for people to know what stage a person is in or what stage you might have missed. I guess there is some point that God will show you if you let Him.

Funny

The Fathered by God Book by line is "Learning what your Dad could never teach you" Then Eldredge dedicates the book to "To Pop"

The risk - Chapter 3 & 4

God risks it but we do not

God risk it back in the garden with Adam, and we try to make it safer day by day. Mr. Eldredge would suggest this is what is wrong with us. Is it because we missed a stage? The Stages suggested are:

• boyhood
• cowboy
• warrior
• lover
• king
• sage

One feels like he missed the warrior stage and does not know how to fight, two are new to the concept and must explore the stages further.

God is good and put the good in us, God is also adventurous. God wanted Adam to choose good because God formed him in His image.
One wants to head out on a motorcycle for two weeks. Unfortunately that is not long enough to make it out of Texas

Oh I did that and survived

Does that mean it was suicidal to begin with? But yet we gain confidence to experience the next adventure.

Is it OK to be OK

Sometimes I think we miss out on God's wonderment because we are too busy being not OK. And OK is a level of perception. If you don't get shot at or spit on traveling to church, then everything else is OK. We are so rich in this country that we don't know what not O.K is.
Walking through a darken field letting/teaching a little girl know it is O.K. to walk without the light on.
I was listening to the wife of @troylivesay their blog on a runner show (click through to the middle) talk about Haiti and she kept breaking into tears. Haiti (poorest country in western hemisphere)is not OK, but yet they praise God.

Level of Riskyness

1. In bed
2. car with helmet, five point harness and roll cage
3. car not wearing a seat belt or helmet
4. motorcycle with gear/helmet
5. motorcycle with no helmet

I think we can all agree that there is an increasing level of risk that goes along with each of these activities. But no one thinks about jumping in a car with no helmet, but race car drivers can't race without a helmet. We don't wear helmets when we ski, because we were brought up that way, but to rent skis for youth, they have to have a helmet. What is the acceptable level of risk and where is God in the protection of us with or without helmets? What is your list of what you are good at?

Welcome

This is a blog of notes from our chat's. Thank you for letting join in and be a part of your lives. Three men starting a journey to find out where the man shaped by God's precepts will grow. This morning:
* Dad/Grandfather's leading
* Was Jesus Mother Theresa or Brave Heart
* Risky or illusion of safety
Grandfather's Leading
Are we a blank slate that fathers and grandfathers write on, or do we make ourselves into self made men? Why was the author mad that he had to ask someone how to do fix his sprinklers, instead of enjoying the learning process?

Was Jesus Mother Theresa or Brave Heart Was Mother Theresa Brave Heart is more the question.

Safety
Is a motorcycle safer than a Chevy economy car? This one I put to the collective wisdom of the cranky motorcycle people. Is safe driving an illusion of the management of risk? Am I not being "safe" when I ride my motorcycle? These are the questions that I ask myself.