The Great God of Logic and Feelings

I can't wrap my mind around the concept of a Being that can be personal and loving to one million different people at the same time.  My head and heart stop right here.  I can't possibly understand how this is possible, and I can't possibly feel how real this truly is.  Yet Paul prayed in the New Testament that we would know the width and breadth and depth of the love of Christ which passes all understanding.  Think about that.  He prayed that we would know something that is beyond our ability to understand.  I can remember when Jesus started becoming personal to me that I wrote in a journal that God must dissect seconds to be with His children.  I wasn't at the time writing to explain the concept of the omnipresence of God.  I was just so overwhelmed that the God of the universe cared enough to be personal with everyone of us.  He doesn't just tell us if you do this and this my angels will write it down and you will go to heaven one day.  No!  He comes to us personally and turns our hearts eyes to His.  This is to awesome to fully understand, but man I'm so thankful its true.  As A.W. Tozer says.  We can always be confident that when we look to God we have kind eyes looking back at us.  If we really let this sink in more we our lives would change dramatically.  He is just as present with me while I am calling role at school as He is when I am singing a song in church, though I may not realize it.  

This is such a freeing concept that ties with another one.  God is.  I may find out different things or see more light to show me Him more clearly but He is and always was the same.  This may be the most stabilizing fact I know.  God is.  Now I can search things without fear that my foundation will prove false.  I now have a sure place to see life from.  His name is 'I am'  

Continuing down the trail

So it has been a good while since I posted something.  I want to continue what I was talking about on my last post.  I was typing about thinking about things in relation to the beginning of creation.  It has been pretty freeing to me.  I say that not like I have found 'new light' but instead rediscovered what has always been here.  Now this may seem silly or over-simplistic, but its valuable to me and maybe it will be to somebody else.  

One thing I was thinking about today was the fact that there was no written language in the beginning.  Now this has a lot of implications.  I'll list a few I can think of.  God must be much more aware to everyone than we tend to think of Him.  Now of course God was more aware to Adam and Eve before they fell into sin, but I am talking about after that.  God was just as present during the unwritten years as He is now in the written years.  Now hold on a minute.  I know that the Word of God is the brightest light to show us Him, and the message of the gospel of Jesus must be believed for us to be born-again and made right with God.  What I am saying weakens none of that truth, instead I thing it strengthens it.  God is so much more aware to those He hasn't saved yet than we think.  I think Romans establishes this fact as well as many other texts.  The whole Bible establishes this fact really.  They know at the deepest root of who they are that God made them and is near.  The gospel breaths on this fact.  It does not come upon us like magic.  The good news about Jesus (the gospel), comes to all people that hear it not as another language, but as more of the same truth leading us to the God who has always been so near.  Once again the Word of God is essential as well as the Holy Spirit of God to convict us and draw us to God, but it all builds off of the light we already know from the beginning of creation.  

That is just one implication.  It also affects the way I think about education as well, which is becoming more and more important the older Garrison and soon to be Allie Parker get.  

Anyways, thanks again for reading

Ryan

New train of thought...

Lately I have been thinking about things with Genesis in mind.  I mean by that, that I have been wondering how did men and women do certain things from the beginning of time.  This has been freeing to me, because I have found in thinking that way that many of the things we take as just matters of the way things should be done may actually just have come around the last century or so.  This is of course very important I think in the way we raise our children.  Unfortunately I will have to continue this later, because my wife needs to use the computer.  I will definitely continue this later.  

Ryan

Best option available

When something is not directly spoken of in the Bible, we as christians have the responsibility to use the principles we know along with the best knowledge we have at the time to make the best decision on the issue at hand.  In all of this we should always ask God to help us think through the decision or set of decisions.  Yet, does God promise to tell us the answer to every question?  I don't think so.  We can however, trust that God is working through us as we trust Him.  "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Phillippians 2:12-13).  From this verse and many more I think we find that God is much more concerned with us being concerned with our attitude than the actual decision at hand.  If we seek with honest sincerity to please Jesus then we will please Him in the decision.  This does not mean that we do not need to really think through some decisions.  We do. This means that we can have the assurance of knowing that our Father is in control, that He works through us in our limited frames.  He has never promised that we will have perfect knowledge here on earth.  Instead the new testament says that we see through a glass dimly lit.  However we can have the assurance of knowing that we are never on plan B with God if our heart is turned to Him.  He works even through our mistakes for our good and His glory.  (Romans 8:28)  Now should this lead us to presuming on His grace.  Absolutely Not.  I should never go jump off of a mountain and then pray for God to catch me. 

 I say all of that because, I have found in raising children there are a lot of things that the Bible does not speak specifically to.  It gives us a great set of principles and then says raise them.  There is no labor manual in the Bible.  I'm pretty sure C-sections were not performed during the years when the Bible was written, so many of the babies that are able to survive because of them today would have probably died back then.  So does this mean that needed C-sections that save babies lives are outside of God's will?  Well, if you make that argument you need to go protest the hospitals that are allowing doctors to treat cancer patients too.  I don't think that Luke was condemned for having lack of faith in God for being a physician.  You know he wrote one of the gospels under the Holy Spirit's inspiration.  There is no babywise section there either.  It never shows Sarah laying little Isaac down to cry himself to sleep.  To my knowledge it never tells us about a rocking chair either.  What do you do?  I'll tell you one thing that I don't think is smart:  raising any book to the equivalent of the Bible in instruction.  It seems many of us christian parents have done this with Babywise.  Christian author does not equal inspired author.  I'm not saying the book is wrong.  I don't know.  I will say that some of the instruction tends to make parents go against nurturing instinct, but what do I know.  My B.S. degree is in physical education not child raising.  But that in it self is a good point.  Must we really be educated to know how to care for our newborn baby.  Sometimes I think all the new found insights just make us question our God-given instincts.  I can't imagine

God handing Adam and Eve a manual and saying "now Eve make sure you read this thoroughly prior to Cain's birth.  Man what the heck would she do when she got to the section about feeding every three hours?  She better learn quick on how to read the Sun.  Or maybe clocks came about quicker than what history says.  Now I seem to have contradicted myself, because just a few types ago I was saying how medical knowledge is a good thing, and that God doesn't condemn physicians and stuff like that.  But I think there is a difference between medical science and child raising.  Who knows?   Anyway I kinda went off on a side road for a little bit.  All of the stuff about the question I have with Babywise are mine alone.  In fact we still use some of the methods.  I just have some questions that I'm not afraid to ask anymore.  Pray that the babywise god will not get me.  If you see it differently, and I'm sure many of you good parents do, I will not ask you to meet me somewhere to fight over it.  The second paragraph was just illustrating my point about unspecified issues that we face as christians.   

God's Will For Us

What is God's will?  was a question that made me very unsettled for a long time.  I wondered, "if God cares about and has a distinct choice I am to make to be in His will then this must encompass every single decision.  This includes from which path to take to work and what shoes to wear.  It literally liked to have drove me nuts.  I eventually through a pretty long and painful process figured out by I believe God's help that He is interested in our heart's attitude.  He will direct our steps if we fix our eyes on pleasing Him.  I just summed up in a couple sentences what took about two years for me to come to and I am still having to correct my thinking all the time.  

I am convinced so many christians are wasting their time worrying about following 'God's will for their lives' instead of seeing what Jesus says is important and incorporating those attributes by His help into our lives.  Many christians including myself have thought of God's will as either your in it or out of it.  The truth is if you are His child your in it.  What many of us have prescribed to in trying to follow God's will is a type of fortune-telling.  God has not, nor do I believe will tell us the specific future.  We are to place our hearts before Him to please Him and stop worrying about miniscule things.  You see, one problem with the either in or out way at looking at God's will is that it will make you unable to learn some really valuable lessons from people.  We may be afraid to question whether or not it is wrong to live luxuriously in this world of poverty because of a pastor that we know is a Godly man lives this way; or we may judge that a pastor is not in 'God's will' because we believe him to be living in overboard luxury.  The truth is throughout the day each of us can be in or out of God's desired will for us by where we have our hearts set.  This is the will we ought to all seek to follow. 

Man, I have been awakened again to the awesome news that being a christian means trusting and following Jesus.  If I do this I think I will find myself following the will of my Father.  If I started worrying more about seeking out the lost and hurting and helping them and loving my wife and little boy and students I wouldn't worry so much about the next career step.  Yes the career steps may change and surely I will have to make some decisions but the most important things will be set in place and make the other decisions have the right light on them.  

Anyway I have been greatly encouraged by a book I am reading called 'Searching for God Knows What' by Donald Miller.  Thanks to Allison Rouss for the Christmas gift.  I would recommend it to anyone.  

Question

Which of the following does faith in Christ look like, or are both faith?

Person #1  "If I choose to follow Jesus and live the christian life and then die one day and find out that I was wrong, I haven't really lost anything.  In fact I still would have made a good decision because if you follow what the Bible teaches you will live a good moral and happy life.

Person #2 "If Jesus Christ is not God and has not died for my sins and is not going to give me a place with Him one day then I have wasted my life.  If I don't get to go to heaven with Jesus after this life on earth then I am the biggest fool of all.  If it is true that this life is all there is then let us eat the best all the time at every meal, let us drink to a drunken stupor every chance we get, let us do everything we can to make our bodies feel happy, because in a sense just in a few short days we die.

I have heard quite a few people say something like person number one when defending why they choose to be follow Jesus, and when I hear it it always terrifies me.  It may not be the exact words as what I used to describe the thought process.  I heard one man say, "you know I'm just not willing to take the chance."  By this he meant, the chance that there actually is heaven and hell and that if he hadn't 'got saved' he would go to hell.  It sounds like insurance to me, and I don't think Jesus deals like that.  The New Testament followers looked to Him as the life boat, not a life jacket to wear in case your boat wrecks.  This is not over-analyzing either.  It only takes about two minutes of honest reading in the New Testament to see that there faith was not casual.  Paul said near the end of 1 Corinthians that if we have hoped in Christ in this life only we are of all men most to be pitied.  He said if Christ is not raised let us eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.  There he was quoting the secular Greek philosophy of his time, and was affirming that if this faith in Jesus does not turn into sight one day then we all that have chosen follow Him are pitiful fools.  If Jesus has not died for us and rose for us then we are idiots who have chosen to give up our agendas for His will.  

Anyway, as always I appreciate any of you who take the time to read this.  I know I am choppy at times.  I am trying to get better and better at getting these ideas out.  These are all rough drafts from my head.  

Ryan

The Christmas Season

I love the Christmas season.  I have a ton of great memories from my childhood that still make me happy when I think of them.  I know some folks out there have not had such good memories of the holidays and that makes me sad.  I love remembering about seeing all my family and eating the most awesome home-made food from my grand-parents.  I have some great memories of some family members that have passed away in that last few years that I was so blessed to be around.  I have a few bad memories around the holidays too, but the overarching feeling I get when I think back is a warm one.  Without going any further into the details of my christmas time memories, I would like to talk about something that has been the topic of conversation for me and my wife lately....what are we going to do with our children as far as Santa Claus goes.  I personally think it is a conscience decision that is not specifically spelled out in the Bible.  However, I do think we ought to make every decision with the light of God's Word guiding us.  Where it does not specifically tell us what to do we ought to decide based on Biblical principles.  I think the Bible teaches us to be very purposeful with everything.  We are not just to decide whatever we want as long as the Bible does not say.  We are to 'do all things to the glory of God' (1 corinthians).  So with all that in mind, me and Emily have decided teach our children first and foremost about the wonderful Gift of Christmas that is Jesus, and within that mind-set to teach them about a man of God who followed truly followed Jesus, St. Nicholas.  As far as Santa Claus goes, we are not going to treat him as an evil idea.  I consider him along the same lines as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, all of which are fictional characters.  I don't think this will in any way take away any happiness from our children.  How can focusing all of their attention on a wonderful God that loved them so much that He gave His only begotten Son to live and die for them so that they could go to heaven one day be boring or a strike against their happiness.  On top of this there are some things about Santa Claus that I am weary of.  For one thing He supposedly only gives gifts to you if you have been a good boy or girl.  I guess poor children are all bad.  Another thing is that He is supposed to be able to see them at all times.  (He sees you when your sleeping, he knows when your awake.......)  Personally the only one I want my children to ever think about seeing them at all times is God.  Now I know, I can already hear some of you saying how overboard this is, but once again I'm just giving you my train of thought about it.  If we as parents are supposed to do everything to point our children to a personal relationship with Jesus, (a relationship that is not based on their performance, but on His mercy), then shouldn't we at least consider the possibility that Santa Claus could be a stumbling block to this.  Santa Claus teaches them to be good and they will get gifts, Jesus teaches them that He died for them in spite of their actions.  Now the story of St. Nicholas on the other hand teaches us to be like Jesus, who gave in spite of, not because of.  I have just recently researched to historical St. Nicholas.  There are tons of stories, some of which seem sure to be folklore, but some which seem to be true.  The most famous one was told by just about every writer I read.  The story is about this man that had three daughters.  He was poor and on the verge of starving along with the rest of his family.  So in desperation he decided to sell one of his daughters into slavery.  The night before he was going to take her to be sold, St Nicholas dropped a bag of gold down the chimney and hurried away before he was found.  The man found the money and did not sell his daughter.  The story is told a little different by each writer, but the jest of it is the same.  St. Nicholas gave to a man that was in real need.  That is the example of Jesus.  He became poor, so we could be rich.  He died, so we could live.  What an awesome Saviour!  Another reason I think teaching only Jesus at Christmas is a good idea is because of the possibility of teaching our children the joy of giving to those who really need it.  Now I would never go into any details or say we or anyone else should give any certain amount to those in need each Christmas, but the example of Jesus leads us to do something.  If we allow our children to take part in this their whole lives, they will hopefully be drawn to the God who inspires all the giving.  This type of thinking is in sharp contrast to 'being good so that I can get all the toys I want'.  I want my children to think,  "Mommy and Daddy love us and give us gifts at Christmas."  That is all.  I can't wait till Garrison and Allie are old enough to enjoy the anticipation of getting gifts on Christmas morning, but I want them to know that they got them because we love them not because they earned them.  

Honestly, it scares me how tightly we hold on to Santa Clause.  It seems for some of us that our affections are stirred much more by thinking of him than by thinking of Jesus.  Its seems to me that, though we would never say it, we believe Jesus is the necessary part and Santa is the fun.  God help us if this is the case.  We need to be brought back to the wonder of how awesome the real story of Christmas is.  

With all that said I will not cut you off as friends if you disagree with me.  I would love to hear other angles on this topic if you would like to comment.

Ryan