King of the Jews

This last Sunday Pastor David was preaching...He was talking about several things but there was one thing that stood out to me. He read Matthew 2. In verses 1-7 an interesting thing transpires. As you read take special note of Herod.


Matthew 2
The Visit of the Magi 1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: 6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"
7Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route."


Did you see it? I hadn't ever noticed this particular little thing before Pastor David pointed it out...Herod is called "King Herod" with a capitol "K" until verse 7. From that point on he is referred to with a small "k" or by his name only. This is no minor detail as, well, he could have bought Bill Gates out for what would have seemed like a song to him.


I love the small things of the Bible that say so much...

Edges...

I was just listening to John Piper on youtube.com. He made an interesting statement. He said, "God has edges." God IS this. God IS NOT that. I can get to know Him if I know what He is and is not. That is so polar opposite of our culture where everything is GREY. EVERYTHING is ok. EVERYTHING is acceptable...There are no "edges" as it were. "Tolerance overtakes TRUTH." (Mark Driscoll) "And the feelings of people overtake the feelings of God. Passivity takes over and it changes how you live...if it's all just opinion and perspective and ideology...why live passionately? Why live differently?..." (Mark Driscoll)

Hebrews 4:12, 13 "God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon's scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God's Word. We can't get away from it—no matter what."

meandering thoughts...

It snowed today! Beautiful white snow. I love how the world looks when it's snowed...so cozy, so clean. I was thinking how in the Bible how it says, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow..." (Is. 1:18).

I was also thinking about children...how much joy they find in the simplest thing. It struck me that Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18:3)...there are so many days that I forget the simplicity and joy and wonder of a child. Life gets so complex. I'm so thankful to have the children that God gave me around me every day. When I take the time they are a constant reminder...I think He's pretty strategic in His reminders...when we are children it's easy to remember what that verse means, when we are parents or auntie and uncles, it's easy if we take the time...and then as grandparents those wee ones remind us again...at every phase. God is good all the time...

fences vs. relationship

Today in church our wonderful Pastor Mark gave a really good teaching on a particular text that I have always stopped over and pondered but never really got what it was saying...well I thought it was saying one thing but it was really saying something else.

Matthew 5:17-20

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."

ok...I will break it down like he did (or I will try is what I should say :)).

1) that word "law" is a REALLY bad translation, come to find out. Because when we see that word we associate it with rules to keep. So here is the more accurate word "Torah": the very words of God...the Bible. The Torah is about relationship...not rules and regulations. It's a spiritual map. I.E.: Deut. 6:5 says, "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." Mark 12: 30-31 says, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark added "with all your mind" to the original text b/c he was a Greek writing to Greeks...our culture is much more Greek than Jewish...the mind vs. emotion.)

-Here's a clarifying point :): There is something called "Rabbinic Fences". And example of this was with Moses (Ex. 19:12-13 "Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, 'Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. He shall surely be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on him. Whether man or animal, he shall not be permitted to live.'). So were did the mountain start? Did it start at the base of the mountain or the foothills...where? So Moses built a fence and told people not to cross it. There is nothing wrong with fences. We all need limits. But the thing is that we tend to focus on the fences and in doing so miss the whole point...Rabbinic Fences. The Rabbi's of Jesus' time had 613 laws (and some still today) that they kept this way focusing on the fences...remember in John 9 or Luke 13 and 14 when Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath and the religious leaders went nuts? He had "worked" on the Sabbath. In Luke He asked them if they would help their animal out of a ditch...wouldn't you heal a man from sickness then? The point was they were looking at fences. The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). The Sabbath was made for us so we could know God, love Him, and love people.

-the Rabbi's of that time had laws that were more important, in the 613, and less important. I.E.: After loving God the most important one was "Honor your father and mother...that your days may be long and it may go well with you (Ex 20:12, Deut. 5:16, and Lev. 19:3)". The least law can be found in Deut. 2:6,7 having to do with not killing a mother bird, etc.. It's something like we view certain sins...murder vs. lying...which is worse in our eyes? Murder of course!

So what Jesus was saying to them (and us really) is that they/us had missed the whole point. It's not about the laws/rules...the fences...those are there for protection. It's about 2 simple things..."Love the Lord your God..." with ALL of you. And "Love your neighbor as yourself". That about covers it. That's what the whole Bible and the kingdom of heaven are all about. Very simple. It's about right relationship not keeping fences.

In Vs. 18 of Matthew 5 He talks about us being able to count on the Word of God. John 1:1-5,14 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.
3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it...14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." Jesus is the Word. All the Torah will be accomplished. So this is where not taking the Bible and picking our favorite parts or the understandable parts comes in. It's all in...it's "Whatever You say we will do" vs. taking the Bible under advisement.

In order to do what He asks

1)we have to know WHAT He asks and that means we have to be people of the Word. We need to know the very words of God. Be men and women of the text.

2) we cannot twist it for our desires...now I have been thinking about this lately with my Grandpa dying. As I was sitting in his room watching him struggle more and more to breath as his lungs filled with fluid. Watching the end approach I had thought of understanding why people do euthanasia. My grandpa was suffering and it was uncomfortable for me to watch. It was uncomfortable for him. I felt completely helpless. Now this goes against what I understand the Bible to say about life and it's value. It goes against EVERYTHING I believe...God holds all life in His hands...but it sure would have been easy to twist what I believe for my own comfort and his (not that it was an option not that I wanted it to be an option...but it was the first time I understood people who do this...their thinking). It's true with complex things like that and simple things like stealing. I realize there is mercy and grace in this life...Romans 6:1 says do we keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? NO WAY!

...there were lots of other excellent point like not using the Bible to judge others or inflate ourselves...but the above 2 are the ones that stood out to me.

Psalms. 19:7-14 is to be our view of the text of the entire Bible:

"The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together.

The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road.

The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy.

The directions of God are plain and easy on the eyes.

God's reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee.

The decisions of God are accurate down to the nth degree.

God's Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds.

You'll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.

There's more: God's Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure.

Otherwise how will we find our way? Or know when we play the fool?

Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!

Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work;

Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.

These are the words in my mouth;

these are what I chew on and pray.

Accept them when I place them on the morning altar,

O God, my Altar-Rock, God, Priest-of-My-Altar. "

May I be a woman of the text of Lord my God...

death...and some of it's faces

I had the unexpectedly wonderful and sad opportunity, the last few days , to go back to Reno and say goodbye to my Grandpa. I also got to see my Mom's side of the family for the first time since I was 16 (and before that since I was 6). I also got to hang out with my dad for a few hours. It was a good trip. It was an incredibly hard trip.

I received the news that my Grandpa was taken off of life support (as per his living will) and moved to a care home (from the hospital). So my mom flew me down. It was great to see everyone and to have little visits. They were very generous to me and welcoming. My mom and I spent a fair bit of time just hanging out with my Grandpa. At one point a few of my cousins had left, after visiting, and my mom was talking to the head nurse so it was just Grandpa and I. And I received a very precious gift...he had a clear moment (he is on a lot of morphine) and he just started talking to me. Sometimes it was hard to understand due to how slurred his words were. But the main gist of what he said was that he was so glad I had come and that he loved me. We were talking about how he loves to chew on ice and that must have been where I got it. Just simple things but important when it's really the last things we will have said to each other in this life. It was a precious time. It lasted for about 20 minutes. After he started to fade I sung him to sleep. He fell asleep with a smile and look of peace. I think I will always cherish that memory. As I was typing that my mom phoned. My Grandpa died today at 2:55 p.m.

(this painting is by Akiane and it's called "Returning Home")

I didn't get to know him as well as I would have liked. But when I was little he was always very kind and always had a smile and a hug for me. From what I have heard about him he was just a very sweet person. He generally deferred to others. Even on a high dosage of morphine he was concerned about others. He had an artists soul I think. A lover not a fighter...although I think there was some feistiness in there. When he was in his early twenties he was in University to become a pastor until he came down with Tuberculosis. He was in a sanatorium for several years. My mom's earliest memories of him are him wanting to be with Jesus. My grandparents were married married for 62 years and he loved my Grandma deeply. They just wanted each other it seems. Very rare that kind of love. Yes I would have liked to know my Grandpa more...perhaps in the next life...

I didn't like the retirement home he was in the last 5 days of his life. It really is just a warehouse where people go to die it seems. My mom and I really had to stand in the gap for him so he would get the proper treatment. I don't know what people who don't have relatives to intervene for them do. They must feel so forgotten. It was so draining being there in his room. My mom was there much more than I. I really respect the complete sacrifice of herself in that. She really hates anything like that but for her dad she was willing to put aside personal feelings and be there. So I imagine she will feel pretty emotionally frayed. I don't know how people go through these things without God. Where is the bigger picture if you don't know Him and rely on Him?

I was thinking about Keiko and wondering what it would take to train her to be one of those dogs that can go into a care home or hospital and cheer up people. She would be fabulous at that. She is such a happy and pretty puppy. I will have to look into that. I also saw some children coming to visit one of their relatives and watched my grandpa when some of my cousin's kids came to visit him. The light came back into their eyes just for a moment. Children are so precious. They bring such joy with them and delight. I have found that between children and a dog EVERYONE will talk to me because it is rare to find a person who doesn't like one or the other. I will think and pray on this...what I can do for the forgotten and helpless.

Anyway, all this reminded me that life is short...that each moment is precious. It made me think...if my funeral was held today...what would my legacy be? What would people be left saying about me? And most importantly, what would God say to me? Did I point others to Him or away from Him? It really puts what's important into perspective.

Our wee girls and the dog

There are days that simply exhaust me. There are days that make me thankful, to God, to be who I am at this time and make me giggle. The other day was the latter. I was praying with Portia before she went to sleep. Usually I start praying and she interjects thanking Jesus for "Papa, and Nanny, and Grandma, and Auntie Becca, and Jack ,and Sammy, and Pickles (Sammy's big doggy), and..." on and on she goes. Where she stops we never know. Anyway, this particular night she interjected with "...and thank you Jesus for my princess body." Now I was prepared for a person's name...I double checked with her to make sure I had heard correctly and not misunderstood her. She came up with that one on her own. We hadn't even talked about princesses that day. She just knows she is a princess...the girls and I have had many discussions about that. :)

Then yesterday we were driving in the car. Mercedes and I were having a discussion about semis. I was trying to pass all of them on Mary Hill by-pass. I don't know why I thought I needed to...perhaps because it was a beautiful sunny day and I have a V6. I like going fast. Always have... I digress. Mercedes asked me why I was going fast and I said "because the trucks are slow". Instantly I thought I better not leave it there so I went on to tell her how important those semis are to our world. How they bring food to the stores for us so we can then buy it. How they bring gasoline to the gas station so then we can pump it into our cars and so we can keep going fast. We were having quite the question and answer time when all of a sudden Mercedes says, "Mommy look there's a plane up in the sky. I wonder if it's going far away like to South An Erica?" I said, "Ummmm...Where?" "South An Erica Mommy". I asked her if she meant "South America?" "Oh yes that is what I meant. "


Whenever her Papa goes traveling for work we always show her on the map where he is going. As he goes all over the world she has seen a fair bit of the map. Anyway, it was just very cute and very funny all at the same time. Those are the jewels some of the most precious jewels of my day. Thought I would share them :).

oh and I just thought of one more thing...this afternoon as I was coming home from the park with the girls and Keiko our neighbor waved at me. She said she knocked on our door yesterday to tell me that Keiko had brought a whole roast into their yard. And was I missing a roast? I said no I was not...wondering where in the world my crazy dog had gotten a huge roast. She said it was still packaged nicely so it was still edible and did I want it. I said no thank you feel free to keep it. The fence needs to be fixed in our yard so Keiko is forever taking herself on walks down the alley. The landlord won't fix it...so I think we will have to do a make shift fix for now...it will look pretty tacky but hey at least the neighbors won't be annoyed and Keiko, when in heat, won't find herself "with puppy" as it were. The only thing I can figure it that she went in the back door of the grocery store and nabbed it.

well that's about all the interesting things I have to share :) Be blessed!

Disturbed

Ya know I'm gonna rant! So here is another grand opportunity to tuck your toes in...

The other day I was listening to the radio and I heard that in the States Planned Parenthood has been allegedly performing late term abortions...that means AFTER 21 weeks of pregnancy.They get something like 1 billion dollars of funding a year from the government. If this is found to be true all this funding dries up for them. I have to say I have heard the term abortion thrown around for years and it is defiantly disturbing...but this was the first time that I had really thought about it since having my own children. I just started crying right there in the car. I could feel my babies kicking by 21 weeks. I had heard their heart beat and felt them rolling around inside of me. I had seen them moving on an ultra-sound screen. At what point does a baby become a baby and not a fetus? Well I guess that's where ethics come in. That's were you're whole world view comes in. What do you believe? And at the end of the day does it really matter what YOU believe? I mean does it make it true? If you don't believe a baby is a baby until birth does that mean it's truth? In this present age we know SO much...so much more than even our parents about what goes on in the womb from a scientific perceptive.



I remember reading a story about the Assyrian about 4,000 years ago or so and one of their war tactics for their enemies was to slash the women's bellies (who were pregnant) to make sure that the mother AND baby were dead. Obviously they didn't know that when the mother died so did the baby. How barbaric! You think we are any better? You think we are so advanced? Listen to this...Ever heard the term "partial birth abortion"? Do you know what that is? I didn't! I had just heard the term...It's when a pregnancy has gone past the 21 week mark and is considered late term...the abortionist goes in with forceps and grabs the baby's legs and delivers the baby up to it's head. Then the doctor grabs some scissors and punctures the baby's head and then uses the scissors to enlarge the hole. Then they get a high powered suction and suction out the brains...the baby only stops moving and doing the startle reflex at the very end of the "procedure"... (http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/diagram.html) or sometimes the doctor just pulls until the head pops off...or a foot or an arm...how barbaric...only you know what? Instead of an enemy doing this as an act of war...it's a mother doing it to her child. A child that she was given by God to love, to protect...
This is still legal in Canada. We are legally allowed to murder our own children and walk around free. Yeah for us! Wonder what God thinks of us now! We're so amazing...we agree to these laws without a blink of an eye. "Well it's the woman's right to choose". Tell me something...why do people, then, think it's so horrible when mother's kill their children who are born? I mean...what's the difference?



Psalms 139:13-16 "Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day." http://www.dougbrittonbooks.com/onlinebiblestudies-cultureandsocietyinfluences/abortionoflifeinthewomb-sinandgodsforgiveness.asp



I know that some women (well many) have had abortions. I know someone very close to me who has. The scarring, the guilt, and so many other psychological factors from that never ends but for the grace of God. I know there is mercy for such an act if you seek it. I know that there is forgiveness. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God can turn this act (just as any other sin) into something good for His glory and honour.



And then I watch some of my friends and relatives go through the very difficult time of desperately wanting a child and not being able to conceive...