Embracing the pain...

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. Although He was a son, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. - Hebrews 5:7-10 (NIV)

There are different kinds of pain: physical, emotional, and spiritual, to name just three arenas. I'm certain there are more. They all have a purpose; quite often far different than we think.

How we handle the pain differs for everyone, and it has consequences.

I've had the privilege of knowing many types of pain intimately. One of the most powerful, and intimate, pain I continue to experience is loneliness. At some point in my life I figured out a way to deal with the pain and isolated myself in just about every way possible. No one knew. Not even me, really.

I have no idea why I'm sharing this now. Maybe someone needs to hear this. Maybe I need to hear this.

As far back as I can remember I've always trusted people. I didn't know that people would hurt me. I didn't think they would hurt me. But, they hurt me. I didn't know what to do with that. Why would they hurt me? Why did they hurt me?

I didn't want to live in a world where people would hurt me, but I had no choice. I felt trapped. I wanted to trust people; there was something holy about trusting people. I didn't want to give that up, even if they hurt me. And, I had to learn that some people are not trustworthy. I didn't want to know that. I didn't want to believe that.

I was able to create a place with enough layers of insulation where even if people did hurt me it didn't feel so bad. But it wasn't a very good place; whatever I filtered out went down deeper inside of me.

I tried to shake it off. I learned to forgive. I continued to think the best of people, but I could not keep the hurt deep enough, it kept coming to the surface and I had to find new ways to bury it. It didn't dawn on me to face it and deal with it. I didn't know how; I didn't know it was possible.

(Think about this... Jesus had no filters. He couldn't have filters. He took it all, He felt it all, He absorbed it all. The more I meditate on this the more I love Him.)

When I was sixteen God spoke to me twice, two weeks apart, in a high school history class. That began my most excruciating walk of loneliness that continues to this day. It has been a walk where He has introduced me to pain, His pain.

People tell me all the time how wonderful it would be to hear the audible voice of God. They have no idea what they're saying. Hearing the audible voice of God is hard to explain, of course, but it puts you in pretty lonely place. There aren't many people that experience it, and there aren't many people you can talk to about it.

I've learned that I can talk to Jesus about it.

I've spent my life asking the One behind the voice to make Himself known to me, in a new way, every day. I want to know His nature, His character, how He thinks, why He does what He does, and why He does it when He does it. There is no end to my desire to know Him better; it grows with every day.

I've lived enough life now to know that it's only through pain that any of us can know Him better. It's a lonely walk; not many want to walk with you. Who likes pain?

This is exactly how Jesus felt, not only when He walked this earth, but it's exactly how He feels now as well. He was, and still is, excruciatingly acquainted with pain, especially the pain of loneliness. He is the champion of the lonely. And He is the champion of pain.

He is the only One who really knows, and I mean really knows, how you or I feel. He's the only One that will listen to me with His whole heart. He's the only One that understands the deepest depths of my soul. He's it, and my earthly loneliness drives me deeper into Him.

I know that I've asked the impossible of my wife when I expect her to love me like Jesus does. I know I've asked too much of my girls when I expect them to understand how their daddy is really doing in the depths of his soul. I know I've asked too much of my parents to understand their kid who became so isolated for so many years when our family has always been a loving and safe family.

Jesus is the only One that understands all this, can speak into it, and heal it all. He's the only One that I trust with my eternity. He's the only one that I trust to care for my wife if He called me to Him.

He has never 'hurt' me, He cannot hurt me, and He will never hurt me. He is my Healer; He heals me. He sustains me with green pastures and still waters; He restores my soul.

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The wonder of the Bible

I've started to write a book numerous times but it never gets written. And honestly, I have no idea if it will ever be completed. Anyone who has ever put pen to paper knows how difficult it is to write a pamphlet, let alone a book. Even today, with all the tools we have to make the job easier, books do not write themselves; they still require a person to author them.

Over the past forty three years I've read hundreds of books (or more), multiplied thousands of newspapers, magazines, and everything in between. Each one required research, time to organize and think through, and then to begin the writing. It is very hard work to write, and to do it well.

That is why I believe the Bible is authored by God and not man. Man put it on paper, so to speak, but it was the Lord God who authored the entire work. The Scriptures themselves are proof enough that man did not author them.

Any serious person, knowing how the Bible was put together (66 books, approximately forty authors, over 1500 years) cannot conclude that any man or number of men are the actual authors of the 'book'.

Why?

Because it all works together, in symphony, with no dissonant notes. Simple as that.

Those who struggle with the Bible have never had it read to them by the One who wrote it.

Iran: Discovery will collapse Christianity

Iran’s Basij Press is claiming that a version of the Gospel of Barnabas, found in 2000, will prove that Islam is the final and righteous religion and the revelation will cause the collapse worldwide of Christianity.

Turkey confiscated a leather-bound text, written on animal hide, in an anti-smuggling operation in 2000. Turkish authorities believe the text could be an authentic version of the Gospel of Barnabas, one of Jesus’ apostles and an associate of the apostle Paul.

Read the article

What can be shaken will be shaken...

Psalm 15 - A psalm of David.

Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?

He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things will never be shaken.

* * * * * *

There will be a time when all things will be shaken, even the heavens, and that which is of the Lord will stand and that which is not will crumble.

In our nation, and around the globe, foundations are being shaken. Marriage and family, the fundamental rock of civilization, is not only being questioned and challenged, but redefined. The life blood of effective commerce is morphing into something that has never worked, and will never work.

Principles that have been bedrock for millennia are now considered unenlightened and tossed aside like refuse. Man has crossed over to open defiance of common sense and common law and has become a law unto himself.

I saw some children playing a game where you build a tower and gently remove piece after piece until the tower falls into a heap. Man has decided to play the game of removing the supporting pieces of civilization, assuming that some how he can replace the pieces with their own and the tower can remain intact.

It won't. Just like the game, when you pull the supporting pieces the tower crashes. Kids learn over time how to identify these pieces and only remove the ones that don't support anything. Civilization has already learned these lessons but never really learns to keep them. If history proves anything it's that each generation has not been schooled to build on the wisdom of the one that proceeded it, but to reinvent the wheel and start pulling pieces without any understanding of what they're doing.

In the end, it all collapses, there is weeping and contrition, and those who remain begin to read again, they begin to learn again, and attempt to rebuild what they had. They will have a chance of success if they invite God into the process.

Evening thoughts...

"When the righteous triumph, there is great elation;
but when the wicked rise to power, men go into hiding."
Proverbs 28:12

When the righteous rule, men come out into the light and they do their commerce in the light. When the wicked rule, men go into hiding and do their commerce in the darkness.

When commerce is fair, taxes are paid freely, and the people flourish. When commerce is a burden, taxes are hidden, and the widow and orphan go without.

When the free market is allowed to set the price the price will be fair, with great variety. When the price is set by the ruler it will not be fair, and the goods will be scarce.

When men are free to purse happiness, the fruit of their labor is abundant. When men have no incentive to dream they wither up.

When a man thinks he knows what you need and does not consult you, what he brings to your door will be for another man.

When a people are burdened to the point where they must lie, cheat, steal and bribe to exist, they are no longer a people at all.

Back to blogging; no phone for three days!

I got sucked back into Facebook again, but it's time to get into some serious blogging.

I left my phone at my daughter's home in Virginia and I've been sans Droid for three days now. At first it was really bizarre; not withdrawal exactly, just very weird. I couldn't call anyone and they couldn't call me. I couldn't check my seven email accounts, follow up with customers, tweet, check the weather. It was great.

Great? Yes, great. No one could contact me. I was completely cut off from the civilized world. It was so liberating. I didn't feel obligated to check it every five minutes. But...

My youngest daughter couldn't call me this morning to tell me the ultrasound proclaimed her baby was a boy. I missed that call. I can't get that call back. My wife couldn't call me and tell me how her day was going so I'd know how to pray for her.

My other two girls couldn't call to share with their daddy whatever was going on with their day.

My overseas friends couldn't get hold of me for whatever they might need at any hour of the day.

I couldn't rely on the never ending timers and alarms that remind me of important things like eating, supplements and medications. And, I couldn't get my email calendar reminders of upcoming appointments.

And, I couldn't get President Obama's important text messages. (Yes, I'm on his list.)

But, in the end, I survived. My phone should arrive in the morning and all will be right with the world. Or will it?

Dean Martin and John Wayne

Dean Martin asks John Wayne how he'd like to see his daughter raised.