Lord of Sea and Earth and Air,
Listen to the Pilot’s prayer-
Send him wind that’s steady and strong,
Grant that his engine sings the song
Of flawless tone, by which he knows
It shall not fail him where he goes;
Landing, gliding, in curve, half-roll–
Grant him, O Lord, a full control,
That he may learn in heights of Heaven
That rapture altitude has given,
That he shall know the joy they feel
Who ride Thy realms on Birds of Steel.
— Cecil Roberts
The Dutchman lives in a town in central California called Modesto. It was to be named for it’s founder a one Mr. Ralston. He was too humble to allow that so the town was renamed Modesto for his modesty. That spirit of modesty is sadly lacking around these parts.
I wish I were more like Job. I wish I could make that covenant with my eyes not to look upon a girl with lust. I’ve been living life for 40 years now and still haven’t been able to make that covenant. Ladies, you are enchanting creatures and we men simply cannot take our minds off of you. God made women just right. Has mankind made anything more attractive or beautiful than the female form? The female form is exquisite, enticing, comforting.
Even so I wish women would understand what their forms do to men. I implore all Godly women to dress modestly. Something you may think is cute may reveal portions of your body that should only be revealed to your husband. Save your most precious gifts for him (and all that those words imply.) A flash of cleavage or inner thigh can set even the most Godly men on a course of thought that neither they nor you appreciate. I can’t begin to tell you how much cleavage, how many bellybuttons, or lower back tattoos I’ve see — at church!
Another reason I’ve left the two churches I was attending and found a very conservative reformed church. The elders of my current church are always reminding heads of households that EVERYONE needs to dress modestly but women especially because men are so visual. Paul appealed to women to dress in a way “which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.” (See 1 Timothy 2:9-11)
I make the same appeal. Adorn yourself in a way to be ready to do good works for the Lord. Helping a Christian brother to not commit adultery in his heart is a wonderful work! Something every Christian sister can do every day.
I attended our church’s Reformation Day celebration this past Friday night. What a blast. The theme was the Scottish reformation. Our pastor dressed as John Knox. We had a lot of highlanders and one lowlander (me, because I’m so short, heh, heh.)
Anyway, at one point in the little service we had a bagpiper began playing Amazing Grace and lead us out of the make-shift chapel we were meeting in. We all began singing but when the piper and the paster left the building, the singing started to die off. I was still singing in my baritone-profundo and so were most of the women but the men just stopped. Wha? What has happend to us men?
In the old days men sang as they worked. Men sang stories to their children. Men sang in bars and pubs. Men even sang as they went off to war. Come on men, we cannot abandong singing to the women. In my opinion, there is nothing as grand, as heartening, and sometimes as chilling as the sound of a large group of men singing with all their heart.
Singing is not childish or feminine. I don’t know when we began to think this but I believe this is how many men feel about singing. Women and children sing sweetly to be sure but there is power in a man’s voice. There is strength in the voices of several men. There is the echo of God’s voice in the sound of a hundred or more men singing praise with all their heart. I am certain that our adversary flees at the sound of Godly men raising their voices to the Lord.
So next time you are at church, or prayer meeting, or church camp, raise your voice when the singing starts. Your voice isn’t bad. You are not singing a solo you are joining the chorus with all those who sing with you. God’s ears hear your voice along with all those who went before you. The very next chance you have join in song with Godly men everywhere and put our adversary to flight!
Holy Father,
I admit I am a sinner. I admit that there was no way I could save myself. I admit that it was only by your sovereign grace that I was saved. More to the point, I admit you chose me long before I chose you. My will is crushed and broken, let yours prevail. Your will is perfect. The fight in me is gone. Let me accept with humility your gentle reproach and instruction. Let me join now with like-minded and wiser souls than I into your church. I am your willing subject. Now take me and make me into the man you would have me be.
I make this confession publicly in the hopes that seeing my faith, which was planned by you before the creation of all things, that someone else’s faith may be solidified. I make this confession and plea to please no one but you Holy Father. It is in the holy and precious name of your beloved and perfect son, Jesus Christ, who died for my sins, and for the sins of believers everywhere, that I pray.
Got to listen to some co-workers talk about voo-doo and people who talk to spirits. I’m usually very talkative but I sat silently while they talked about relatives that could enter the spirit world like it was cute. They went on and on about how cool it was but how it was also kind of scary. Yeah. You don’t know that half of it boys.
My silence didn’t go unnoticed. They wound up the conversation with, “but you don’t believe in that stuff do you?” Directed to me. I told them that I did indeed beleive in such things but that I thought they were far from cute or interesting. I told them that the Bible tells me not to even discuss such things. So I didn’t. I told them that they are cracking the door to peak into a world in which we have no business. Cracking the door open to the spirit world may give you a peak at what’s inside, but it also lets what’s inside into your world. God blinded us to the spirit world to protect us. That realm is reserved for God and His angels and we have no business being there.
No, give me the world of light. I do everything by light of day. When darkness comes I pray to God to deliver my family to the morning. My hopes are pinned on the one day that dawns in which there will be no sunset. Our Lord will come riding on the clouds, His face shining brighter than the sun, He will carry judgement in one hand, mercy in the other. His appearance will be unmistakable and all darkness will scatter before Him. Amen, come Lord Jesus!
I think I’m finally beginning to understand. I’ve read the same arguments for years. It’s much easier to rely on my own wisdom rather than God’s. At least, I thought so.
I once said that the day I stop believing in the free will of man to accept or reject God’s salvation would be the saddest day of my life. As that day creeps closer, I’m beginning to see that it will give me hope rather than sadness. You see, my own father has chosen to reject Christ. He views all religeon as equally bad (ie. controlling, manipulative, self-serving, etc.) If I am to hope that he will someday change his mind, I have no hope. He won’t. So in the Arminian paradigm, my father is as good as lost. In the Calvinistic paradigm, there is still hope that God may yet regenerate my father’s heart. I still plan to witness to him despite his rejections. Perhaps his faith will yet be kindled.
Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty
Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain
Highest praises, honor and glory
Be unto Your name, be unto Your name .
Wierd night. Lots of dreams. Glad that’s over. Until tonight. Need to pray more.
Though technically it is tomorrow, my wife and I are celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary today. It’s been an amazing trip. We came from being two good church-going kids to sinking into sin, repentance, and now sanctification. God has been more kind to us that either of us deserve. I couldn’t tell you why but I’m extremely grateful. My wife is an amazing woman. I’m looking forward to many more years with her.
One of my sticking points with Calivinism is the concept that Christ’s death was sufficient to save all people but is only effective for the elect. My incredibly patient pastor is trying to work through this with me. I think I know what Calvinists are trying to say there but it doesn’t seem to come across well. However this is my forum so I shall muse on this.
Scripture states that Christ died to pay our penalty for not obeying God’s commands. Or as Paul puts it in 1 Timothy 2:6 “who gave Himself as a ransom for all men” I submit that Jesus did in fact pay that penalty for all men. His death was sufficient to retract the death sentance all humantiy had on it from Adam’s first act of disobedience. So through Christ’s death everyone shall be made alive again and everyone shall live forever. Hallelujah!
Now. Where are we going to spend that eternity? If you believe in Jesus, confess yourself a sinner, turn from your sinful life, confess him Him before others, and strive to do His will, you will spend eternity joyfully in His presence. If you don’t believe in God, if you do believe in Jesus but you don’t really want to do all that “Bible stuff”, if you live a double life: Christian on Sundays at church, devil during the week when no one’s looking, well, you’re going to spend eternity cast out of God’s presence. No one knows what that’s like because no one has ever experienced it. God has always made His presence felt since time began. He makes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on both the evil and the good. I have no idea what such a situation is like. I hope you never find out either. A merciful god wouldn’t do that you say? What about a just god? His mercy is perfect but so is His justice. Besides if you don’t believe in God how merciful would it be to have you stand in the presence of the deity you spent your life demanding didn’t exist? For eternity! Wouldn’t that be humiliating? But He is also just. He’s got rules. You’ve got to follow them.
Turn to Jesus. Accept His sacrifice. When He died for you He ensured you would live forever. You will have to pay your penalty once but you will be raised from the dead. Where will you be? Come to Jesus. He desires that you be saved.
I’ve spent almost the entire day trying to upgrade Symantec Antivirus 9.0 to 10.0 on one of our servers at work. You see, when I’m not a reformed Christian aviator, I’m a server and network geek. I spent the whole day getting nowhere. Three installs with subtle differences in each approach yielded nothing.
Some of my co-workers were pretty annoying today too. Nobody wanting to step up to the plate and take responsibility for a system problem that’s completely unrelated to anything I do. So I stepped up, made a couple of phone calls that anyone could have made and found the problem in short order — a server problem at another site.
Finally this fancy new VPN appliance we bought for a branch office isn’t working as well as I’d hoped. It requires user intervention to establish the connection with the main site. It needs to be automatic. It does not appear to work automatically. Frustrating.
So… why am I so happy? I am, I really am. Not like Paxil happy, just content, not worried, going with the flow, cool. I have a feeling my God is playing a big part in this. If I rest in Him and allow Him to have control of my life things just seem to work out. It really frustrates the people around me.
“How can you be so relaxed??” they demand to know. “What do you mean you just ‘figured it out’? How??”
I’ve found that God even helps me with my little petty mundane problems if I just lift them up to Him. God has ordered me to work. So I work. If I work as if working for Him (which admittedly I don’t always do) He helps me. He helps me because I am doing his will. I’m not out there scouring the streets for converts or feeding thousands of people. I just try to perform my own quiet service to Him and those He has created. Perhaps they will see me and jealously wish to have what I have. Perhaps they will ask and I will tell them. If it is God’s will, they will believe and be my companions forever.
It could happen.
Air Prayer 