On Abundance

Thinking on our spiritual lives and the reality of what surrounds us in this culture.  I often have to remind myself to take my eyes off of the world and worry, and restart walking in faith.  Be that with my family, my kids, my schooling or my fascinating employment situation.  And, when I can take hands off, things do go oh so much better, I learn more and everyone else is going crazy - not me!

So, thinking on Luke 12:13-21 and John 10:10 for right now.

Abundance is God Given.
It is NOT man-made however.  Abundance is not found in our creature comforts, in our circumstances, in our feelings or impressions, certainly will not be found through the accumulation of stuff.  No, living in abundant life is not easily done at all!

He wants you live abundantly!
Be glad, God wants to bless you!  That blessing is the abundant life.

We are a new creature, once we have found life in Jesus, as the Christ.  With that comes a new life.  Are you living it?  Or just hanging on to the old comfortable one?

That new life is for now, living here on this earth, not for Heaven - though some book writers would like you to think it is a future blessing, for a future life.  So, what exactly are we supposed to be living in the here and now?

• God's Grace
• Jesus' Love

Think on these references, yeah there are more, but this is supposed to be fun to think on!  Psalms 56:7-8; 2 Corinthians 9:8; Ephesians 3:20; Philippians 4:19; Romans 8:37.

That abundance should be like a Tsunami in your life!  You have unlimited Grace from God and unlimited Love.  Just think about it!  How would it change your life if you could step out your door this morning and FORGIVE others, no matter what they do to you?  How would having LOVE change your associations with your friends, family and even complete strangers.  A love that brings you nothing in return.  A love that is genuine.....  The Tsunami hits!  The water of God's love and grace, swirling around everything in your life, drowning out the chaos, the self seeking, the idols of our lives.  And it just keeps coming - as long as we are able to walk in faith....

Beware!
We have a very sneaky enemy.  He just lives for finding ways to steal your abundance from you!  He comes as a thief and honestly wants to destroy you, deflect God's blessings from you, make you as ineffectual as possible.

We have seen through the tireless eyes of the media the scores of Christian ministers and teachers whom have been misled to their own destruction, taking with them their churches, their sheep, destroying families, marriages and the fulfillment in life which is due others.

Jesus warned us almost 2,000 years ago, and we still do not listen to his words!  Nor are we as watchful and vigilant as we must be!  Well, at least I tend to drop my guard when all is well, or when I feel safe and secure.  Do you?   Is it any wonder then  that we get into the situations we do and then lose everything through exposure to the world for our sin!?!?!?!?!?  GAAAAACK!

Becareful!
The world, just in an of itself, and of course our Accuser are always waiting, always yearning to provide us with the distractions necessary to led us away from God, Jesus, Church, even our testimony!

You can be misled by your looks into the Fame and Fortune the world offers and lose your soul.
You might have a talent which rockets you to the FF world as well, with the same results.
Money and the pursuit of power both led you far form where God would have you.
No matter how PIUS you are, write a book, become famous, wake up far from where you were.

So is there a standard formula?  Fame + Fortune + Fun = "success", repeat as necessary until "happy".  Don't you just love the world's lies?  Just look at all of the happiness in Hollywood!  And how often do we seen in the headlines, the tragedies of these peoples lives whom have bought into the lie?

Walk away today with the idea that only God can give abundantly, of what you really need..  No God does not need beautiful people, whom fard their faces regularly.  He do not need millionaire Christians, nor politicians, etc.  He just needs an army of everyday people living their faith where they are in life, willing to forgive through God's Grace, willing to Love through Jesus' Love, willing to give their last nickel to make an impact in others lives.....

Daydreams

Do you have a daydream?  No, not the kind where your brain checks out and you suddenly can understand the whole Zac Efron weirdness - that would be more like a day-mare to me!

No, a dream, something that used to occupy your thoughts - only you never acted upon?  For my father, it was to be an accordion player in an oom-pah-pah band.  Really?  Not designing bigger and better toys that go boom and flatten square miles of terrain (with associated loss of life, of course!)?  Just an accordion player?  Dutchman always wanted to build his own boat and set sail to distant lands.  We built the boat - it just never set sail.  Now that is the stuff daydreams are made of.

For me, it was to drive a VW van from the most northern point to the most southern point.  When I lived in Europe that would have been from probably Murmansk, Russia to the Cape of Good Hope.  Living in America, it was modified to be a run from Barrow, Alaska - down the CANAM, then hop on the PANAM series of roads forming a trail all of the way to the tip of Terra del Fuego - on the Argentina side.  Why?  Well, I read an old magazine, circa 1960, about a guy whom did this for his honeymoon.  It took them one year and about $10,000 US at the time.  Yeah, I could totally see me doing this - though was a little unsure as to the whole traveling companion part.  Probably would do better to have a spare engine than a "skirt" along I imagined.....

One Whom Made It!

I had long ago forgotten that dream, but I was in about as happy a mood last night as I have been in years.  So, I guess, as I slept, and the old dream worked its magic back to the surface of my mind.  Oh, yeah, though long forgotten - I still want to do this!  That school boy has re-awaken within me!  And given decades of road building, it is probably all the more doable today than it was when I was in high school!

When I was in high school I even researched out the route and got trip reports on various sections of the PANAM Highway which seemed problematic.  All I needed was one year free and about $30,000.  Yeah, that dream faded away through a lifetime so busy that I failed to keep in touch with dreams.

I wonder where all of those papers are that I kept on this trip?  Gotta be in the basement somewhere......

Cinco de Mayo

It was our annual gathering this weekend, minus Dutchman, whom is vacationing and Timothy whom is still in Ohio.  So missing a few characters for the first time since our first Mexican eat-a-thon in 1974.  Yeah, two missing and then there were the attitudes this weekend!

Gaelic Girl was on the warpath.  Dear Lord help me when she is.  Unfortunately, she was displaying the symptoms as her sister back in January - severe mental issues.  So, going to call around and see what I can find in the way of help for her - then I have to convince her to do something - like that has ever happened before.

I was so upset that I told Timothy I was not going to be a part of his wedding - I could really see my selling everything to try and get GG the help she needs.  Yeah, it is that serious (big prayer item!).  But, daughter reminded me that GG's requirement is a long term need whereas Timothy's is three days at the most.  It is a major life event for him and I really need to be there.....  Yeah, she is right, so Timothy and I had a LONG conversation about everything.

The Swede was in town and not in the hospital for a change, so I expected him to be cheery, but alas he was in attack mode.  One thing I can trust him to do is speak his mind and yup he did.  It was sort of unexpected and I sort of expected to be in the hospital by now.  But, my blood pressure seems to have stabilized.  Sigh.  I never expected an attack from him.

So, it was a rather quiet time.  I spent most of the "party" on my computer and just let others yak it up. 

In my heart I was asking God why and all I got was Zechariah 4:6 - "...not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts.

And then I was reminded of the knowledge God gave me.  Yeah, I can see His hand at work, playing out a drama in the lives of those around me.  No, I have never seen God move as He has this past year.  I can not tear down spiritual walls, nor turn a dead heart back to life, nor any of a myriad of things none of us can do apart from God - yet, He can do those things.  We (I) just have to sit back and let him do His work to accomplish His goals.....

So hard staying hands off, when you already know the outcome, the goals, the how and the why.  "But God, I could do this now and it would make it all so much easier later....."  Famous last Kris words!  Nope, mouth stays shut for now and Kris is to do nothing.  Apparently, God really does not need any assistance from me.....

Hrair

Daughter laughs at me because my English is a bit strange.  Sometimes she even confesses that she has to call her mother to find out what on Earth I was saying because she knows the words - just not their meaning in conjunction.  Of course, my mind just went blank and I can't think of an example now!  Oh well - old age.

But, I am also noticing at school the same tendency with my group partners.  Perfectly good English is wasted because sometimes they have never even heard of the words - and a few of them are as old as I.  Take the word - Hrair, for example.

No one had heard that word before.  I think I was in grade five at my NATO school, where we were forced to read Watership Down.  Personally, I really did not care for the book, but I do like rabbits, and it is about rabbits after all.  So hrair was explained as being the maximum conceivable  number - might be the only question I got right on the test which followed.  Why?

Well, Richard Adams, in a section wrote at how the rabbits were counting - One, Two, Three, Four, Hrair!

Yeah, silly bunnies could not count past four, therefore any number of bunnies over four were Hrair!

I remember laughing myself silly over that one!  Probably a hormone surge and my brain shorted out.  But the idea stuck with me, Hrair - an inconceivable number.

Now how many uses can you find to use Hrair for today?!?

A Bully Strikes Out

So it seems that there is this dude named Dan Savage, I have no clue whom he is, with a political and social agenda, and oh, by the way he is a bully too.  To bad Christians are not like Muslims and rise up against him and his sponsors - they would be learning a very hard lesson .....

In any event, he was asked to speak at a convention of young journalists.  He used his podium time for this.  Oh yeah, by the way it is not kid friendly, is insulting, rude and coarse, and he shows the kind of spineless bully he really is -



Did you enjoy that?  Did you side with the majority of those whom yelled and clapped at his rather baseless tirade against Christians.  If you did not enjoy it, then you need to figure out how a godless man forms such opinions about you - and then do something about it.  If you enjoyed it, then you really need to pick up a Bible, read it using a subject index and then a history book to figure out exact if what Dan Savage was saying is historically and Biblically correct.....  (Hint: he is using sources out of context without an understanding of Christianity or history - historically, real Christians are the ones whom have brought freedom and cures....)

Obviously about a dozen had the balls to stand up and walk out when someone begins a tirade of bullying others for their religious beliefs.  And he is so blind to his own hypocrisy as to use them as a comic foil.  He should take lessons from Milton Berle if he to try that one successfully.  All he really managed to do was damage his own reputation.

And how did his sponsors feel?
http://studentpress.org/nspa/

And what did Dan Savage then say?
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/29/on-bullshit-and-pansy-assed

Yeah it was supposed to be an apology, only if you actually read it, is more of his attempts at bullying.

So sorry for you Dan - God really does not care about "pansy-assed" bullies whom use their pulpits in the media to attack His people.  Yeah, you might get away with it for now, but one day you will be called to account for your actions and the harm you do to others.....  Amazingly, exactly like He deals with those whom do the very things you blame Him and Christians for.  The day you can be honest with yourself in the mirror, drop me a note and maybe we can talk.  Unlike you, I am not a bully, but I am willing to talk to another non-bully - especially when they need to learn about a living God and their need for salvation.  When you reach bottom, you can only look up.

Trapped in Time

Were but that God had not shown me Yesfir's past, present and future.  Oh yeah we like to ponder the future and that is one of my favorite movie genres, but in reality - no you really do not want to know.

And I find myself trapped in time.

I have commented about the past before.  God gave me His view so that Yesfir could be held accountable to the truth in her dealings with me.  It was to shock her into awareness that God knows, there are no secrets, and oh by the way - He told this is silly old German dude!  Yeah, that point was not missed on her.  There is no embarrassment held back.

Her present I needed to know because like all of us, she attaches no real importance upon where she is.  God does.  It has changed her life about 90% so far, still another 10% to go.  God wants all of her - past, present and future to be His.  And He does tend to get His way.

But her future plays upon my mind.

How would you like to know that you are going to win a million dollars?  Cool, bring it on God!  But, wait a minute, it is the future we are talking about here.  Is it in God's determinative will or His permissive will that you are going to win a million dollars?  It does matter.

If it is Determinative - then at some point, no matter what you do or how hard you fight God's leading, you are going to win a million dollars!  Awesome!  But, when?  If you are completely obedient it might be sooner than later.  If you are the strong willed type, it might be later in life.  Oh phooey!  But, yippee, I get a million!  I am a good boy, bring it on God!

But, let us say that that future where you win the million dollars is a product of God's Permissive will - then what?  Well, it means that God places no importance upon that million and you may or may not get it.  It is not a carrot, it is just one serious possibility for a path you may traverse.

Of course, all of us want that million and want to be on that path which will bring us that million.  So if determinative - YAHOO! it is mine.  Then again, permissive, we take the tact of what must I do to win the prize?  Only it does not work that way.  You make choices, those choices set you on a path and it might be the correct one for the million or not.  Dang!  God just cost me a cool million!  Not really, and you did not either,

Now let us take the exact opposite.  Instead of a million dollars, it is going to be an agonizing death.....  Ready to sign up now?  Determinative or permissive, we are all going to do die one day.  Why not martyrdom?  Yeah, get a shiny crown too!  Not too many will volunteer for this one - death is too real to us and though it is not, we see it as permanent and final.

I can so clearly see her choices in her future.  One of them is very hard, it sets her upon the path which will define her life.  So it makes me think that her future is permissive.  One path might have a rainbow and cool prizes.  Another might bring frustration and death.  Yet another might bring God His glory played out in her life.  And, I can not tell her which path leads to which because I do not know - very wise of God there.  Whom would choose death for their child?

So I find myself dwelling upon that choice and those futures.  Conversations we have today, I see in another time, in another venue - only I am explaining how she got where she is.  And if this is of God, then I can understand that she is permanently linked to my life.  Which also means that I had better get her "right".....  If that linkage is determinative after all. LOL!

And yes, I do feel pressured.  What if I get her "wrong", something I do/show/teach turns her sideways to her path?  Is it even possible?  I do not know, but I do contemplate this.  Does success or failure depend upon me and my getting it right?  ARGH!  The pressure!

Frustration, Ha!

And I thought I was frustrated before, yesterday was a really horrible day for frustration!  Yeah, I was in, "Why me?" mode.  And I was being very verbal with daughter over my frustrations, the worse of them being - why must I be put in a position where I am having to choose a side no one else will back, I am to sacrifice everything?  It is just not fair. (wah, wah, wah!)

I have been growing increasingly irratated with my courses at college.  They are about as useless as anything I have encountered in life.  I finally blew on Sunday night when one of my tests was arguing that solid fuel rockets are not bombs.  Really?  And Jack Parsons' home, which was leveled by a solid fuel rocket in 1954, was not a bomb explosion?  They did not even find enough of Parsons to really have much of a burial.  Oh, yeah, he was the inventor of the solid fuel rocket.

So I am meeting with the professor of this class so he can explain to me the relevance of tests for which the correct answer is that SFR are not bombs.  Somehow this helps me how to hold this viewpoint.........?

Frustrated in school, frustrated with  my family's stance on the Yesfir issue, frustrated with Yesfir herself, etc .  Yeah a very nice pity party for one.  So there I am sitting in my computer networking class, day nine, nothing is working on my server, the manuals are useless for debugging the problem - even the teacher is challenged trying to figure out what has gone wrong and then the text messages start to roll in!

Yesfir's mother has decided I need perked up and is sending me a series of text messages telling me to "buck up".  Very sweet of her and probably what I needed, but they only made me more frustrated.  How can I buck up , when NOTHING is as it should be?

So I am driving home and I thought, I will distract myself with the radio and clicked on what ever Christian station it was set to.  Some guy was talking about the, Chariots of Fire, guy - Little if I am remembering correctly.  Of great, another sermon on what passes for faith in this God-less culture!  Don't get me wrong, I know the guy died for his faith in China following the Paris Olympics.  Good for him.  That helps me how?

Just so I would not miss the point, the voices says, ".....and you will never be able to serve God unless you are willing to sacrifice everything you have to accomplish God's goals ....."  Was that voice a part of the program message?  Or was it God?

I had to pull over and call Yesfir's mother and tell her what just happened.  We both got to laughing so hard!

Yeah, here was Kris, only hours earlier complaining that the future I saw for Yesfir, required everything I had.  Family, friends, knowledge, faith, whatever finances I have - for what looks mighty bleak on the horizon.  And I am angry, I am selfish, I am confused, I am frustrated.

And now here is Kris, understanding that God is demanding my all, everything, because nobody else will.  Yeah, how messed up is that.....

Kris is now not frustrated.  I have to find a way to pass classes of meaningless value.  I have to find a way to support Yesfir and her discipleship.  I have to know that my family and life long friends will not be standing with me, or if they do it will not be any easier for them either. 

By the world's standard, I am soon to play the fool .....