Another one of those verses I've never noticed before

For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. ~ 1 Timothy 4:8

You can jog and use your bowflex as much as you like, and it is good on earth, but has no eternal value. The verse before mentioned "training yourself" to be godly, like it's a workout. Godliness is good for life and the afterlife! I don't generally think of godliness as a workout program, but it makes sense!

Was blind but now I see

Jesus and his disciples were walking along, and saw a blind beggar. The disciples asked Jesus, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?"

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

I find it cool how this man was born blind just so Jesus could show his glory. Neat how God works this stuff out. Anyhow, back to it.

Jesus made some mud and put it on the blind man's eyes. He told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. I would've been confused - this guy puts mud on you and then tells you to go wash it off. Oh well - that pool must be as good as any other, he supposed. So the man went and washed - and came home seeing.

Various people saw him walking around and whispered to each other, "hey, isn't that the blind guy that we saw begging every day?"

"Nah, it only kinda looks like him." said another.

But the man heard and said, "I am the man!"

"Well then how are you seeing?"

"The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."

The people locked eyes in astonishment. "Where is he now?"

The man looked around. "Um... I don't know."

Well, this day happened to be the Sabbath, so the people told the Pharisees about what had happened. They brought the man in for questioning and asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see." Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath."

"But how can a mere sinner do such miraculous signs?" They argued back and forth until one of them said, "Well first lets make sure this is the same blind guy we think it is."

So they called the man's parents and asked, "Is this your son? Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?"
"We know he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself." His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said. This was a solemn charge to tell the truth in those days. "We know this man is a sinner."
He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"

The Parisees pointed fingers. "You are this fellow's disciple! But we are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from."

Here's my favorite part - the man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

And he was expelled from the synagogue.

Jesus sought the man out after that when he heard that he'd been expelled, and asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
"Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."
Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."
Then the man realized that this was the one who had healed him. "Lord, I believe," he said, and he worshiped him.
Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"
Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."

Thirty-eight Years

Jonas sighed. The water of the pool was stirring again - and again somebody had gone in ahead of him. Drat these useless legs! After thirty-eight years this had become normal: wait by the pool to be healed, then before he could snatch his opportunity, someone else would go down to be healed first. If only he had somebody to help him into the water! Just then, the shadow of a man came over him. He craned his neck to look up, but he could only see the man's silhouette because of the bright sun. He heard the man ask, "Do you want to get well?"

Who does this freak think he is! Thought Jonas. I wouldn't be sitting here by the pool if I didn't want to be healed! Jonas had always been easily frustrated by worthless questions, and now he fought to keep his temper under control. "Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."

The man seemed to smile. "Get up!" he said. "Pick up your mat and walk!"

Jonas sighed in frustration. This man was either crazy and annoying, or gloating because he could walk around and he was looking at some guy who couldn't. He rolled his eyes and tried to move a foot, to show this guy that it couldn't be done. Just when the word, "see?" was on his lips, Jonas's foot moved at his bidding! This had to be a dream. Now the other foot was moving too! He carefully stood up and a wide grin broke out on his face, something that had not happened in years. He took a step - this was too good to be true! He looked around for the man who had healed him with simple words, but he had disappeared.

Daniel's Visions

In addition to being a neat book about how normal guys stand up for God and God helps them through hardship, Daniel has a lot of prophecy about the end times. Today there was a lot about horns battling each other, and strange beasts - I don't know about you, but I find that impossible to understand. So did Daniel. But there was one passage that spoke in plain English.

"...There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge."

I've always wondered if you go straight to heaven when you die, and here it sounds like we just sleep in the dust until the End, then we all are judged together. Not necessarily of course, but wouldn't it be neat to suddenly wake up to everlasting life?

I also thought about Daniel - he's just some smart kid who was brought to Babylon as a captive, and God gave him this vision instead of anybody else. You think about the other people who have seen great visions - Isaiah, who volunteered; and John, who was the disciple that Jesus loved! But Daniel sure didn't ask for these visions - in fact he didn't like them too much. It's neat to see who God can choose to do his work. Daniel wasn't anything better than the other guys he with with, but God gave him wisdom beyond all the other wise men and showed him these visions about things that would happen thousands of years later.

A Wise Servant

I just saw the movie Gladiator. There is one part in which Maximus the victorious general is talking with the emperor, who is sure he is dying. He has a son who is sure that he shall be the next emperor, and everyone else naturally assumes the same. But the emperor has other plans - he knows his son is not fit to rule and will be a tyrant, while Caesar wants Rome to be a democracy again. He asks Maximus to take the throne for him. At first the general's response is, "with all my heart NO" but he ends up agreeing because of his love for the emperor. The son of Caesar is outraged, and... well, the rest is not important right now.

Today I read Proverbs 17:2 - "A wise servant will rule over a disgraceful son, and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers."

I love finding these little parallels from the Bible to... anything else! I think it's so much fun to see a verse and have it remind you of something you've seen or have had happen. But you know what? God said it first! He didn't copy anything, everybody else copies from God! :D

Rather cliche, don't you think? :P

Drive em out!!!

We got a new verse memorizing curriculum type thing where they give you verses to memorize and you get prizes and awards for doing it. This week I have a verse I never really noticed before in Deuteronomy...

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you, saying, "Destroy them!" ~ Deuteronomy 33:27

This one gives me a cool visual - it's like Lucy in Prince Caspian standing across the bridge with her little knife facing a million Telmarine soldiers. I jazzed it up and made the Telmarines attack in my visual. Then... ASLAN comes with a whole army of centuars!!!! He roars and says to the centuars and the water god, "Destroy them!!!!"

It's great to have a God that will do that.

Why do you look for the living among the dead?

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " Then they remembered his words.

Like the Snake of Moses

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

Jesus told Nicodemus this today. It made me think of this picture:

The Israelites sinned and grumbled against the LORD, so...

the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.
The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

This is an awesome parallel! When you are dying in sin, you can look up to Jesus and live!

Also remember, today is good Friday! Go here to read a great article on it!

The Creed for the Modern Thinker

I heard this article on a Ravi Zecharias podcast. It is by Steve Turner, an atheist and English journalist. It was published in a secular paper, and I have copied most of it here...

Here is the creed for the modern thinker:

We believe in Marx and Darwin.

We believe everything is ok as long you don't hurt anyone to the best of your definition of "hurt" and to the best of your definition of "knowledge".

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.

We believe in the therapy of sin.

We believe that adultery is fun.

We believe that everything's getting better despite evidence to the contrary.

The evidence must be investigated and you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in horoscopes, UFOs, and bent spoons.

Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Mohammad, and ourselves.

He was a good moral teacher, although we think basically his good morals were really bad.

We believe that all religions are the same - at least the ones that we read were. They all believe in love and goodness, they only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes nothing because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.

If death is not the end and if the dead have lied then it's compulsory heaven for all except perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan.

What's selected is average, what's average is normal, and what's normal is good.

We believe that there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.

Americans should beat their guns into tractors and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good - it's only his behavior that lets him down.

This is the fault of society, society is the fault of conditions, and conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him, and reality will adapt accordingly - the university will re-adjust, history will alter.

We believe that there is no absolute truth except for the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds and the flowering of individual thought.

PS - If chance be the father of all flesh, disaster is his rainbow in the sky. And when you hear "state of emergency", "sniper kills ten", "troops on rampage", "youths go looting", "bomb blasts school" it is but the sound of man worshipping his maker.

The God who Avenges

I heard about a guy that put out an ad for a babysitter on craigslist, then killed the girl when she got there. What can man do against such reckless hate? Do they think God can't see?

"O LORD, the God who avenges,

O God who avenges, shine forth.
Rise up, O Judge of the earth;

pay back to the proud what they deserve.
How long will the wicked, O LORD,

how long will the wicked be jubilant?
They pour out arrogant words;

all the evildoers are full of boasting.
They crush your people, O LORD;

they oppress your inheritance.
They slay the widow and the alien;

they murder the fatherless.
They say, "The LORD does not see;

the God of Jacob pays no heed."
Take heed, you senseless ones among the people;

you fools, when will you become wise?
Does he who implanted the ear not hear?

Does he who formed the eye not see?

Does he who disciplines nations not punish?

Does he who teaches man lack knowledge?
The LORD knows the thoughts of man;

he knows that they are futile."

Folk with cool names

Today's post won't be very deep, but it will be very useful if you happen to be looking for a bunch of cool names. You see, my daily assigned reading is in Chronicles, which I assume was put into the Bible for the sake of cool names:P So here I list my favorites as I read:

Kenan

Javan

Asshur

Shammah

Ethan

Nahshon

Jotham

Tirhanah

Joash

Amon

Jether

There are the coolests. So if you're looking to name a guinea pig or a chihuahua, or if you're a writer always in need of names (like me) maybe these picks will help you out.

And I found out something interesting... David named two of sons Eliphelet! TWO of them! I mean, creativity people - please!

Were you ever confused about this one?

Did you ever wonder why the people in Jerusalem cheered and welcomed Jesus with a parade, then shouted "crucify him!" at his trial? I certainly have. Our pastor had an interesting idea about it this morning - when Jesus was standing there all beaten up by the Romans (who he was supposed to conquer by the sword) the people were shocked! The Messiah would never have that happen to him! He was supposed to whoop up on the Romans! He was a phony! I might have felt a little betrayed too - I tend to put a lot of faith into people when they know something's expected of them. So they were happy when he came, but when they found out that he was a "fake" they were furious!

Anyhoo, I think this is plausible, but apparently our dear pastor is the only one who ever thunk of this... :)

Random Instructions

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil."

I like these staccato bursts of information! Let's look at them!

"Be joyful always"

This one is self-explanatory! ALWAYS - not just when things are the way you like.

"pray continually"

Don't stop praying while you're flitting about daily life! And if you need to remember to pray right now, it's Jared M, Jordan B, and Eliza S's birthday today! Hence, it's their pray-day on my calendar:)

"give thanks in all circumstances"

We don't like to remember THAT one, do we?

"Do not put out the Spirit's fire"

Whoa. Do not put it out? How would we put it out? This one made me think - how often do you feel like the Spirit's fire is just not in you? Are you the one that put it out? Don't discourage or grieve the Spirit!

"Do not treat prophecies with contempt"

They've all come true so far! Sometimes I despair that Jesus will ever come back for us - I mean, if not now WHEN???

"Test everything"

Don't assume anything is prolly right because it sounds good - weigh it against the Bible!

"Hold on to the good"

Even when things or people circumstances are bad, think about the good of it. It makes things feel better too.

"Avoid every kind of evil"

But it's ok to dabble in a LITTLE bit right? If you see something that you're doing that leads to evil, stop doing it. And there's no "just a little bit bad" - it's evil or it's not.

These little paragraphs are fun to dissect! Think about them today and pray happy birthdays!:P

The Gift of Prayer

Last night we had some friends over and Dad was flipping through a book and it mentioned something about the "gift of prayer". Have you ever heard someone pray aloud just magnificently? I really appreciate it, since I'm praying those beautimous words as well that I could've never thought of. I never really thought about prayer being a gift, but I know when I pray aloud it's just not the same as other people. I don't have the gift! When I pray in my head, I don't use many words. I start out that way, but when I can't think of the word I just use the idea, since God knows what I mean. And sometimes I use phrases like, "Well, gosh!" or "kinda weird" and that's fine for me, but when you're leading other people in prayer it doesn't work as well, ya know?:) So I don't have the gift, but I appreciate it in other people!

So have you ever thought about prayer as a gift? Now that you have? Do you have it? I just thought that this was an interesting thought... who'd have thunk?

Weird Stages

Fencing, for example. I just got done with the beginner classes where I actually attended every class, and hence was better than everyone else. But there is no intermediate class - next you get dumped in with everybody who fences in all the tournaments and such. So last night I was basically in shock - the only new kid, a bunch of drills I didn't know, working 10 times as hard as before. Getting stomped by all the awesome fencers was weird, especially since I couldn't even see what they were doing... there was just a horrid "BEEEEEP!!!" The instructors kept telling me that every fencer goes through it - where everybody's better than you and you have no idea what's going on. But it's a weird place to be.

Also I had a friend tell me she's in a weird stage in church. She just got too old for the youth group, but she still wants to be in it. There's no intermediate for that either - you're in with the kids or you're in with the grown-ups and that's it.

I'm in another rather curious stage in school - I'm done with my high school credits, so I'm technically graduated. I'm doing college prep, but I'm not in college. It's not any trouble, but it is hard to explain.

Not that I'm sure what the point of saying all that was. I guess I just never thought about any of it before, and now I'm wondering how to get past awkward or inconvenient places.