The Straw That Broke The Tiger's Back

When I initially began to draft up this blog I was rather irate. I have since calmed down and modified/toned down my upset a bit. But the governing issue remains the same: The status and treatment of women in this world greatly saddens me.

What angered me at first was the fact that Tiger Woods was issuing an apology to the public that consisted of a five page letter expressing apparent remorse. The first thought that came to mind was, “Did he bother to offer the same courtesy to his wife?” I do not know the answer to that question but something made me doubt it. During the course of the apology I was expecting to hear him not only apologize to the public but also to his wife AND the women he hurt throughout this entire ordeal. I assume most people do not have compassion for the “other” women but I do feel sadness for them. Regardless of the lifestyles that they lead, they are also victims of a society that even to this day places the majority of affirmation for women on their sexuality and little else. We find ourselves victim to this mentality and then aid in perpetuating the mistreatment of women in this manner because we cannot find validity by any other means. That saddens me.

Tiger did not wrong the public. He wronged first off, God. He wronged his wife. He wronged the other women. And he wronged himself. We did not need his remorse… they did. The element that incited most of my animosity was the reason Tiger gave for having strayed. He said it was due to his lack of devotion to his religion – Buddhism. I thought long and hard about that and have come to a conclusion that I am still processing in its entirety. The conclusion is this: you can tell a lot about a religion based on its underlying respect and treatment of women. So let’s have a look, shall we, at the treatment of women across the lines of religiosity.

The sex trade running rampant throughout the world is contributed to mostly by countries that pride themselves in Buddhist principles. Young girls and women of all ages are exploited and treated as objects to be used, abused, and discarded.
In countries that cling to the Hindu faith women are placed at the bottom of a caste system and treated as slaves and personal property.

In countries that are predominantly Islamic, women are treated worse than property and are allowed to be raped or killed by men who are displeased with them without consequences.

In countries that are Catholic, family is highly valued at the appearance level but women are instruments of status and pleasure. Men have their wives to give them the much coveted image of a family well in order but they keep their mistresses on the side as instruments of use and pleasure.

In mainstream evangelical Christianity women are treated slightly better but given no equality or voice. And while the practice of taking a mistress is not condoned at times the wife is treated as nothing but a means to sexual gratification which in all actuality makes us no better than a prostitute.

In many denominations of Christianity that have accepted, at least in appearance, the equality of women go too far in stripping the essential elements of femininity from women and transform them into an oddly deformed replica of masculinity. I believe the mentality is somewhere along the lines that gender must be erased to experience true equality.

In the United States where we pride ourselves on freedom of expression in areas of religion, our freedom of expression in our sexuality runs rampant. When I analyze these patterns I ask myself… does our treatment of women reflect on some level our view of spirituality? It would for all appearances sake seem so. If this is true then it would stand to reason that the true value of women as genuinely expressed by Christ, were it to truly be grasped and exemplified in its fullness would be earth shattering to our faith, expression and grasp of the Church and her true image as seen by God.

I have been accused of many things, one of them being a feminist. I say this honestly when I tell you I do not ever wish to rule over man… I wish to stand by his side and rule with him as God intended in the beginning without having to erase or hide my femininity in the process. But until the world’s objectification of women ceases, this will never transition from fantasy into reality. I love my fellow woman dearly. But I also love my fellow man dearly and I wish he could see me with the wonderment that exists in God’s perspective – not as a means to an end or merely an object or instrument of pleasure but as a beautiful reflection of the image of God. The transformation however, must begin with women. If we cannot respect ourselves and see ourselves as God sees us then men definitely never will. They say that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Let us then focus on the strengthening of each other instead of the weakening that characterizes and plagues our past. The monstrosity of objectification in its weakening of women inadvertently weakens men and the entirety of humanity.

All of this to say the following to Mr. Woods: I'm afraid that a return to your faith of Buddhism will not improve your view of women or your treatment of them... but God can. Of course Mr. Woods will probably never read this so what I have to say instead to my readers is this: Do you view femininity as a genuine reflection of part of the character of God? Is a negative view of women/femininity affecting your faith and relationship with God? What if we are missing something exquisitely beautiful and glorious about Him because of a dysfunction in our view of ourselves?

The Lost Symbol

I recently finished reading Dan Brown’s book The Lost Symbol and thoroughly enjoyed the captivatingly woven tale. From a fictional perspective it was very intriguing. From a Christian perspective it was slightly off kilter but not too far gone so as to blatantly offend. Before I begin my evaluation of the book I would like to explain my view of the author. I find that in all themes Dan Brown chooses there is a legitimate issue being identified and a subsequent fictional tale surrounding this issue. I suppose, were Dan Brown to function in a spiritual gifting setting he would readily be identified as either a Teacher or Prophet. That’s how dead on his sensing of needs is. I do not, however, feel that Mr. Brown functions in this arena and so the solutions he arrives at fall short of biblical accuracy and encompass much broader solutions than simply those that align with Scripture. In my book, Made In Their Image, I go into much greater detail concerning the accuracy of his concept in The DaVinci Code. (Notice I say concept not factual or fabricated data presented…but you’ll have to read the book to understand *wink wink nudge nudge*.) With that being said I will begin.

“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by man, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion, A Chief Cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.’ …’The Stone which the builders rejected…a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’” I Peter 2:4-8.

The setting in The Lost Symbol is amidst the world of Freemasons. The underlying philosophy behind Freemasonry and its building concepts is not evil and can in fact be aligned with much of Scripture. The problem I have with Freemasonry as a belief system is its understanding of truth. Truth takes on many different forms in Freemasonry because it means something different to each man. This dabbles far too much into the area of “but every man did that which was right in his own eyes”. Judges 17:6 But the core beliefs of Freemasonry are not all that different from those of Christianity: brotherly love, salvation, morality, charity, faith, and relationship. But they lack a unifying element: the bond of the Spirit which is only available through Christ. So in essence what you have is many different faiths attempting to reconcile with one another and arrive at truth. As wonderful and peaceful as that sounds… it’s not possible. According to Scripture the only way, light, and truth is Christ and all else is darkness. Based on that one must question what kind of bond or yoke is created by aligning with other faiths. Paul says it best in II Corinthians 6:14 “…for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” The bond of brotherly love is not wrong… which is what Freemasons are striving for. But if you are attempting to bond with another outside of Christ then it won’t work as God intended. If I am living for Christ and trying to excel in life but others are attempting to bond with me out of darkness and have no light in them then they become parasitic leeches who will ultimately drain the light out of me.

The second main theme in the book is that of Noetic Science. Noetic Science deals with the study of the mind and its relationship with the divine intellect. The form it takes in the book is that of changing physical matter or circumstances with ones mind – “the power of focused conviction and intention.” Theoretically then, the more minds, the more power, and the more that can be accomplished. It sounds far fetched but it’s not really. Based on Jesus words in Matthew, “Where one or two are gathered together in My Name, I am in their midst” (Matthew 18:20) this is a very real concept. Christianity has been relying on the concept of Noetic Science for nearly 2000 years now (longer if you factor in the similar elements of Judaism). Jesus also said that “faith can move mountains” supporting the theory that one’s mind can change physical matter. One of my favorite quotes from the book concerning this concept is the following: “If thoughts affect the world, then we must be careful how we think.” Very profound… guard your thoughts, submitting each one to Christ.

Dan Brown uses several Scriptures throughout the book but unfortunately they are used out of context, which was annoying to the teacher in me. (ie: our bodies being the temple was twisted into an understanding that we are gods versus its true meaning that God lives in and through us.)

The most profound concept of all in the book was concerning the Word. Unfortunately this was misunderstood as well yet still accurately noted if you place it into the right context. The author failed to grasp the idea of Word become Flesh and attributed Word to spoken words of wisdom given by all famous prophets and further attributes the Word to the Bible, Koran, Torah, and Vedas. I rather like my own picture of what the Word made Flesh looks like. You remember in the movie Wizard of Oz when the good witch materializes out of particles of glitter? All these tiny little particles coalesce and come together to form the image of Glenda. Now try and apply that picture to the Word of God as Christ. The very words of God throughout the ages all travel through time gathering together until one day they simply burst forth as does all conception into the product of the Incarnation transforming what God thought and spoke into physical matter – Jesus Christ. The Word is not some conglomeration of letters on a page… but a very real person who always existed and was the very fruit and essence of God and became manifest here on earth in the person of Jesus.. The Lost Symbol or Word is not then just any book containing wisdom; it is Christ Himself. But what the author did get right was the fact that the Word is lost to us.

I have heard many complaints over the past decade or so concerning the ever evolving teaching of the Word. It never fails regardless of the age lived in that the Word begins to gradually transform into a twisted, manipulated understanding to fit whatever is “good in our own eyes”. With increasing frequency the Word tends to support whatever we wish instead of being what it was truly intended to be towards sin – “a stumbling block and a rock of offense.” Instead it begins to reconcile sin with itself which is impossible for Truth to do. We have lost the Word. It’s about time we start looking for Him again with a fresh and renewed vigor and passion. Now THAT would truly change our world.

The last thing I will mention as an important point was the statement of the author that the Ancient Mysteries are synonymous with the Word. While perhaps he may not have grasped what he wrote, since his understanding of the Word was confined to written sacred texts, that is the absolute truth right there. The Word is Christ. And as Paul so adequately penned in Ephesians chapter 3, the mystery is Christ. So the Ancient Mysteries are indeed the Word, who is Christ… not Buddha, or Mohammed, or Shiva… but Jesus Christ.

So all in all, I would definitely recommend The Lost Symbol due to its level of interest and captivating plot but knowing your Scripture is essential to avoid any deception that may lead you into error. If the author quotes a Scripture, make sure you research it and know its true intended meaning. Far too often these days I see teachers play on the ignorance of the masses. News Flash: We no longer live in the dark ages… work it out yourself. If you have a personal relationship with God then you have the capacity. I hope you can enjoy the book as much as I did. But if I catch wind of you taking on Masonic vows I will be sorely disappointed.

Mother Nature

“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; replenish the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” Genesis 1:28

Over the past decade I have watched with increasing interest the debate over the state of the earth and whether or not man is or is not to blame. I have finally decided to attempt to put into writing my thoughts on the earth and what mankind’s relationship with her entails.

First off there is the title, “Mother Nature” which I will address. I find the term in theory to be accurate biblically based on the following verse: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7 Technically, while not giving the earth credit for creating us, we do issue from her substance and as such we hold a somewhat mystical tie to her. But this is the extent of what should have been her rule over us. In Genesis 1:28 we are told what is to be the order of relationship between mankind and earth. She is our domain and we are to replenish her. In close observance, the relationship between man and earth which God instituted is extremely sacred and intimate.

Let me put it into a different perspective. Think of the earth as our wife. We are to care for her, replenish her, love her, and bring her happiness. Any gardener can tell you that the more you attempt to beat your land into submission the less return you will get from it. There is much delicacy and tenderness in the art of gardening and harvesting from the earth. We cannot run around punching holes in her and stealing her resources without replacing what we have taken. It’s rather like a love bank. You cannot empty someone’s bank without attempting to refill it and expect to maintain the relationship. Such actions are selfish abuse. There is a saying, “Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned”. I am afraid the earth fits very well into this stereotype. When we misuse her, she reacts. She is angry and she is hurt. Now I do not attribute personality to the earth to in some way deify her but merely to emphasize the point that she is alive.

Over the last century science has served us well in discovering and proving some of the previously disregarded truths surrounding nature. We discovered that animals have emotions, feelings; that they experience pain. When we discovered and grasped this concept we fell into accountability to no longer mistreat the animal kingdom but to care for and nurture it. Today we are coming into an even starker realization that the earth too experiences pain and suffering. The question then comes into play of who is causing this pain. Now it would seem that some within the scientific community have, as of late, abused the trust of the public and propagated the issue of global warming. It is my opinion that there is no such thing as global warming but that there is such thing as the earth reacting to her mistreatment. I think (until science proves otherwise) that the extremes of “climate change” will continue with greater intensity until we cease to misuse the earth and her resources. But I do not think this is merely a matter confined to climate but is inclusive of all nature’s unleashed wrath: earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, hurricanes, etc. The more selfish our ambitions become, the greater our sin, the greater her anger.

God did not create the earth to die. When man fell in the Garden of Eden and died spiritually, he forever sealed the fate of the earth in his destiny to die. So at its source, man is indeed responsible for the death of the earth. But what does that mean for us? Do we continue to let the earth die? Did God continue on His course and simply allow man to die? No. He developed a plan to restore to us that which was lost. God’s entire pattern throughout Scripture appears to be one of bringing wholeness and restoration to that which is broken and lost; to mend broken relationships with Him and with others. If we are attempting to follow in His footsteps then should we also be finding ways to provide healing and restoration to the earth; to mend the relationship between man and earth? Based on the charge in Genesis to care for and replenish the earth it would seem that such actions would fall under our responsibility.

Another question I asked myself was whether or not the earth could feel. After studying a passage from Hosea I came to the conclusion that, at least based on Scripture, yes the earth can feel and express in some manner and that God hears and validates those expressions. “’It shall come to pass in that day, That I will answer,’ says the Lord; ‘I will answer the heavens, And they shall answer the earth. The earth shall answer with grain, with new wine, and with oil; They shall answer Jezreel (God sows).’” Hosea 2:21-22 Logically, one cannot answer or respond to something inanimate therefore the earth and the heavens are animate and God hears them and answers and responds to them. This is a very profound relationship we see here and we have scientific evidence that such a relationship exists between heaven and earth. The more we pollute our air the greater impact we see on the earth. And to make matters even scarier… God sees it all and cares enough to respond about it! If you still doubt God’s degree of concern over the earth then examine the purpose behind the Sabbath. Jesus is pretty emphatic about the idea that the Sabbath was created for man. Well guess what… God gave the earth a Sabbath too. So He must care about the earth and her use/abuse. If you care to see the repercussions of using the earth without sabbatical provisions then all you have to do is look at the dustbowl phenomenon of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

I must say, I am slightly embarrassed that the Church has not been on the forefront of the environmental movement. But I think I am beginning to understand how that happened and where we erred in judgment. The Church wasn’t always so indifferent to matters of nature. We took seriously our task to cultivate the land and be fruitful and multiply. But something began to happen in the world that closely accompanied a complimentary movement in the Church. It was the industrial age. The industrial age was one of the fastest growing surges in history but brought along with it severe damage to the earth and her resources. What accompanied this age was the inception of an internal Church movement known as fundamentalism. Now when I speak of fundamentalism I am not talking about the basis of our faith but of the fundamentals we began to embrace in matters of eschatology. Fundamentalism in this sense dictated that the earth would eventually see its end but that we, Christians, would not be here to see it; that we would escape all of that. Whether or not the outlook is correct is not the issue, it is the mindset the view plants in the believer. When environmental issues arise we think to ourselves, “Who cares… we’re outta here anyway when the end arrives. Why waste my time on saving the earth? God doesn’t care about the earth, He only cares about souls.” Well, according to Hosea that’s not true. God cares about the earth and He hears her plight. Taking that view into account I have another proposal which also comes from Scripture.

“There fore He said: ‘A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. So he called ten of his servants delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come’… And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’…” Luke 19:12-27

The story continues on. I am sure most of us have read it. My point in citing this parable in particular is this: I see the earth as being a “talent” God gave to mankind. Whether or not we leave it before whatever destruction occurs is not the issue. The issue is, if you believe that God will in some manner provide, create, restore… whatever, a new earth, then will the measure of that new earth be determined by how faithful we were with the first “talent” God gave to us to care for? I’m not convinced He’s simply going to create a new world, look at what we did to the old one and say, “Here you go, guys. Have at this one”. But if we are intent on loving God and obeying His commands, we will take the very first command He gave to us much more sincerely, and attempt to do just that instead of adopting this attitude of escapism. I challenge you today to think about what part you can play in making this earth a better and safer place. Imagine the witness we could have to world if they saw how much we cared for others and their future by caring for the environment.

Dying to Self

“But He said, ‘You cannot see My face: for no man shall see Me, and live.’” Exodus 33:20

In my previous blog I wrote about coming face to face with Christ and eliminating those things which prohibit us from seeing Him. I stumbled upon some interesting thoughts following that blog as I thought more deeply about what it means to be face to face with Christ.

Some of the misconceptions about God that I have come to embrace have to do with what it means to come face to face with God and what would happen to me if I did. I based my understanding of God’s face on the occurrence in Exodus where God tells Moses that he may not see the face of God or he will die. But then another passage came to mind from the New Testament that challenged my traditional understanding of this.

“If you had known Me; you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord show us the Father and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” John 14:7-9

So let me get this right: to come in contact with the face of Christ is to come in contact with the face of the Father. And yet I am not dead… or am I? And if I am not dead… then have I truly come into contact with the face of Christ? Will this death be physical or spiritual? What difference was there between the time of Moses and the time of Christ? Aha! There is the key. The difference is Christ. At the time of Moses there was no incarnate Christ yet and as such there could be no true life and no true redemption from sin. So to come into contact with God who can behold no sin would in essence snuff us out of existence. There was nothing to keep us alive. But after Christ there was life and something that could indeed survive coming face to face with God. Following this train of thought I am now able to come face to face with God through Christ. But does something still die? You bet! Again we turn to scripture.

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue to sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:1-4

In light of that passage, everything has changed… but nothing has changed. When we come face to face with God, we die. We must! We must die to self and live in Christ. Prior to the New Testament there was no life in Christ so to see God would demand the dying to self but offer no life in Christ. You would die if you came face to face with God.

Today, when there is sin in our lives we are faced with a choice. We may bring it before God, coming face to face with him, in which case we must then die to that sin and to ourselves and allow God to replace what has died with the life offered through the resurrection of Christ. If we attempt to come before God without Christ then we will truly die with no hope of life to follow.

The astounding and wonderful realization of this for me was that I may see the face of God. The terrifying, frightening aspect of this is that in order to do so, I must die to myself. Are you seeing God face to face? What have you died to today?

Saint Peter and This Life We Live

For some reason I can’t explain
I know Saint Peter won’t call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world - Coldplay


A few weeks ago as I drove along, heading to Sam’s Club, the Coldplay song, Viva la Vida came on the radio. I have heard this song many times and knew most the lyrics so I sang along. When the stanza citing Saint Peter came along I belted it out and suddenly it gave me great pause. Thoughts rushed in and I found myself quite perturbed over this idea of Saint Peter calling my name at heaven’s gate. Now don’t get me wrong. I love Peter to death; he has always been my favorite apostle but when I get to heaven he is not the first person I want to see. How on earth did Peter end up in Christian tradition as heaven’s bouncer anyway? Well, in all fairness, Peter did not receive that role through legitimate tradition but assumed that role more for the sake of making good jokes. But needless to say throughout Church History there was indeed a strange affinity for Peter and his supreme pontific role, and so I must analyze why this was.

Let me begin by working backwards… I could work forwards but I always prefer to take you along the thought process I used and in this particular instance I traveled backwards.

When I arrive in heaven at the end of this life the first person I want to see is my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I want to see his face at the gate. I want him to speak my name in love and say to me, “I know you.” I want him to take my hand, lead me inside those pearly gates, and show me all the wonderful things he has prepared for me. I don’t want to see Peter (sorry Peter, no offense). But what would it take for Jesus to truly “know” me?

Jesus’ character is quite complex. That’s the greatest understatement of all time. We’re talking about the character of God here. Jesus embodies the characteristics we love to dote on – the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. When we think of those characteristics then of course it is easy to love Christ. But what happens when we do not have those characteristics in our own lives and the nature of Christ comes into conflict with our very own flesh nature? What then? I believe that when Christ comes into contact with our flesh there is a battle waged. He is all of the sudden transformed into the Christ of Matthew 21:12 and God forces us to witness the “Cleansing of the Temple”. We literally see the very essence of Christ enter in and overturn the selfish ambitions we cling to, the idols we have erected, and the thrones we have set up. Have you met this Christ? I dare say you cannot meet one without meeting first the other. The fruits of the Spirit cannot be cultivated if the temple is not first cleansed. It is a conflict of interest.

Early Gnostics fell into the trap of thinking that somehow the God of the New Testament differed from that of the Old Testament. They never made the connection between the God who hates sin and the God who loves humanity. Well, they are one and the same but come to fullness within the person who is Christ. As you study Christ throughout the New Testament you will realize that his tolerance of sin remains the same as that of the God of the Old Testament. The only difference is that his presence here on earth finally made it possible for God to confront and remove the sin that plagues us. Christ does not ever ignore or tolerate sin but instead cleanses us and removes it.

In the final judgment when the entire world comes face to face with the reality of sin, the image of Christ that appears is one that sparks a great amount of fear. Regardless of what your “end-times” views are, if there is sin in your life, that sin will experience God’s wrath.

All of this to say, there are many facets to the character of Christ and if we are to follow him we must truly know him and all that is him and not just take the parts that are pleasing to us. If we take only those parts of his character that make us feel good but fail to recognize the part of Christ that confronts our selfish sin nature then he can never truly transform us.

So what does that all have to do with Saint Peter? It’s not just Peter but all forms of intermediaries and buffers we attempt to place between us and Christ. We act like the Israelites of old. “God, don’t speak directly to us! Speak to someone else and he’ll pass it along to me. Coming face to face with you is too terrifying!”

If you follow Church History closely you can see that in the presence of saints and earthly intermediaries we begin to look very much like that unclean temple; full of all sorts of practices and purchases guaranteed to grant us access to heaven. Once we remove these obstacles we gain a much clearer view of Christ. But beware of the opposite extreme that accepts only the pleasurable, intimate characteristics of Christ and ignores his Lordship and confrontational aspects making him instead a God who tolerates all manner of sin. The result is that when we take on the command to become “Christ-like” we also become tolerant of all manner of sin in our own lives and in the lives of others and we never truly encourage each other to grow and change. Loving God and loving others should never translate to loving sin.

The true nature of Christ in addition to loving humanity is also confrontational, terrifying, angry, and saddened in the presence of sin. The mentality of having an intermediary other than Christ is this: if we can place enough space between the hard to accept characteristics of Christ then perhaps we can rub shoulders with him without having to look him in the face or ever truly giving up those selfish ambitions that rule our lives. If I muddle through life in this mindset then when I finally arrive at that gate I may very well run into Saint Peter. Christ sure isn’t going to know who I am or come out to greet me. As difficult as the experience will be, I want to look my savior in the face, allow him to root out sin and cultivate his fruit in my life. Peter, my brother, out of the way… I want to see Christ. Who or what stands between you and Christ?

Happy New Year!

And so a new year begins. Welcome to 2010! It has been five months since I last updated my blog. I wrote on the "Fullness of Time" and then, quite literally the fullness of time arrived the following month and I have been slammed ever since. Here is a brief update of the last five months.


Labor and delivery went surprisingly smooth. I felt contractions begin early afternoon on September 28th. They were very mild so at first I wasn't sure whether or not we were really in labor. They continued, narrowing down to ten minutes apart until about 8pm and then stopped for an hour. I fell asleep for that hour and then woke up again at 9pm with slightly stronger contractions. I called the midwife to inform her and she also said it sounded like false labor. She told me to take a Tylenol and hop in the bath to see if the contractions either increased or decreased. So I followed the instructions and almost immediately we were down to 5 minute contractions. I called her back when they began to feel noticeably painful and she, somewhat skeptically, said I could come in and they'd measure to see where we were but that I would probably end up back home. I agreed and off we went to the hospital at 4am on September 29th. Upon arriving they took my measurement and found out I was at 8 cm! We rushed into the delivery room and they hooked me up to vitals and then allowed me to walk around (thank God!) until it was time to push. Declan Rhys Basehore was born at 6:38 am September 29th and weighed in at 7lbs. 4oz.


Declan took off very well in the eating department, which I suppose is typical for boys and has been growing ever since. I put him on the Babywise eating schedule, which worked very well for his sister when she was born. He fell easily into the schedule and was pulling all nighters by week 10. He has his trouble periods as does any infant. If he gets a cold or congested then of course he doesn't sleep well at all but I take it all in stride. For the most part he sleeps from 8-10 hours straight each night.


My favorite time of day with him is early morning. He wakes up and eats and then is as cheerful as ever and we just sit and chat and giggle together until he falls asleep again.


Naomi will go back to school on Monday, January 4th. At that time I foresee having much more time to get back to blogging and am looking forward to being able to express all the thoughts I have been accumulating over the last several months. I miss writing!


In book news, my manuscript still remains at that stage. I have many new readers who are evaluating and providing input on the subject matter. If you would like to be one of those readers please let me know and I can get a copy of it out to you. The book is currently titled "Made In Their Image" and is a work I put together on my interpretation of the Trinity and more specifically the feminine roles of the Holy Spirit and how those dynamics function within the Trinity and are in turn a beautiful example to model ones own femininity after. I am sure at first glance that may seem like a reach but trust me when I say I have put much effort into presenting a solid case.


Well that is all the updates for now. God Bless!

The Fullness of Time

“But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” Galatians 4:4-5

One day, a couple of months ago I was out walking, trying to squeeze in my daily exercise necessary to keep me well balanced in body, mind, and spirit. I was approximately 26 weeks pregnant at the time and acutely aware of anything that might be amiss with the young life I was forming. About half way through my walk I began to experience extreme discomfort and cramping. Naturally the first thing that raced to mind was that something was wrong with the baby. Everything in me screamed out, “NO! IT’S NOT TIME!” Shortly thereafter I ruled that idea out as I realized the source of pain came from elsewhere and eventually subsided. But in that brief moment of panic a phrase jumped to the forefront of my mind, “the fullness of time.” I was not sure why that phrase in particular came to mind and so I pondered it in my heart for several weeks, allowing the phrase to form into a fully developed thought.

Several years ago my precious niece was born at 25 weeks gestation and I recall the extreme measures and challenges my sister faced as they struggled to bring this young life into viability and maturity. The thoughts of that experience ran through my mind as I faced the reality of giving birth prematurely. Numerous months in the NICU, accompanied by various surgeries, and the unforgiving element of time finally led to a healthy and flourishing young girl. I thought of all the grief that could have been avoided had she only been able to wait a few additional weeks in utero to reach full development.

As I mulled over this following my small 26 week scare, I gradually realized the similarities between God’s desire to birth within us and man’s frequent attempts to prioritize his own timing before God’s timing. All too often we fail to realize that God knows exactly when “the fullness of time” is to be reached and we surge ahead unawares of the dangers presented by our impatience and recklessness to birth before it is time. (I am not speaking here of “birthing” in a salvation sense but of all projects, ministries, and works God attempts to bring to fruition within us.) We think to ourselves, “I am ready. I am viable. I can do this on my own.” We know that God has a plan in mind but we lack the patience to allow Him to bring it to “full term”. In our inability to be sensitive to His Spirit’s timing we birth prematurely and immaturely into existence a work that God must then mend into a state of survivability. We then question God and His plans when all along He is saying to us, “But you did not wait for MY timing.” You see, it is possible to be in tune with WHAT God has in store for us but far too often we lose sight of the WHEN of God’s plan.

We must remember that within God’s plan “the fullness of time” is always His desire and we must wait for that most perfect time. It is easy to mistake the signs of labor as they will often phase in and out as a warning of the approaching event, but I exhort you to wait through those times. There will arrive an unmistakable moment when the Spirit of God will overwhelm you with the undeniable urge to “push” forward with all your might. It is at that moment that you will know: THIS is the fullness of HIS time. May we be people who birth maturely for God; trusting in His omniscience, and waiting on His timing.

The Virtuous Woman

(For all those women who have read the description of the Proverbs 31 woman and been incredibly frustrated... this is for you.)
Last year as I was working on my book about the feminine side of God I encountered the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 in an all new light. As I delved into this woman’s character I realized she was not who I had traditionally understood her to be, but was so much more. Since I was writing a book about femininity using the entirety of Scripture I did not have as much time as I would have liked to expound on the virtuous woman directly. The last several months the women of my church have been going through a study on the women of the Bible and one of the chapters is dedicated entirely to the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31. This week we finally arrived at her chapter and I must admit the emptiness of her presentation greatly annoyed me. And so I am compelled to write more about her since I believe we have sorely misunderstood who this woman is and who her image impacts.

My first question, which was not adequately answered was, “Why include this description at all?” The study explained it as a means for women to understand what is desirable to God in a woman and secondly what a man should look for in finding a wife. Both those reasons I happen to agree with but they do not go deep enough and do not answer the most important question – Why? Why does God desire for woman to carry these characteristics? The answer was simple for me in light of the writings I felt inspired to write last year but I have never heard anyone else say them. I will start answering the question by asking a question. In all the history of mankind have you ever seen or known God to exalt or honor characteristics that are not first and foremost His own? The answer is – no! So we must conclude firstly that these are characteristics of God and secondly that they were the motivation behind His design of Eve when He created her in His image in the beginning. With this understanding we must now define these characteristics and search Scripture for their direct application to God. Fortunately we do not have very far to go since King Solomon wrote extensively about the feminine side of God and we find most of it in Proverbs. What I have put together in the following chart is a list of the verses concerning the virtuous woman and then compared them to the correlating verses that speak of the same characteristics in God.





The most clarifying component of this chart is the understanding of why this woman is so difficult to attain or become. If God took all of His feminine goodness and invested it into a physical form, this is what she would look like. I believe this was God’s intent when creating Eve but because of our now fallen nature we look a lot more like Folly than we do this woman Wisdom. And that’s the down and dirty truth of it. We sinned and personified Folly. When God scolded Adam for listening to Eve it was not because men should never listen to women. Adam was scolded because he listened to Folly and not Wisdom. Eve spoke out of a fallen nature and therefore spoke Folly. This carries support throughout Proverbs as Wisdom says over and over, “Listen to my words.” Naturally if you listen to the words of Wisdom it is not wrong, and if a woman is properly personifying Wisdom then she is worthy to be listened to. Where the wrong enters the picture is when you lack the discernment to recognize Wisdom from Folly. If you are not aware of whom Folly is you may find her also in Proverbs. Her name in Hebrew is Ivveleth; I call her “Poison Ivy” for short… how appropriate. She mocks and mimics Chokmah, or Wisdom, twisting and corrupting her character.

The question remains: why include these virtues if they are unattainable? Well… at the time this was written, that was the simple truth; these characteristics, although they were God’s standard, were unattainable. But now we have Christ who is born within us and cultivates godly characteristics and virtues in our lives every day. This woman is no longer beyond our reach but she still takes a lot of time and effort to arrive at and one may only find her through Christ. How many times do you read through the various fruits of the Spirit and not stop and think, “Hey, I could definitely use some more ___________”? The virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 is the same concept. We will always be lacking but through Christ we can attain more and more of her character.

Now we come to the question of who her image impacts. The virtuous woman, being a physical reflection of the femininity God possesses, impacts all things feminine. That means she defines me as a physical woman. She defines the emotions (feminine in relation to the masculine mind) of all mankind. She defines the souls (feminine in relation to the masculine heart) of mankind. She defines even the bride – the Church. And so we must look upon this virtuous woman of Proverbs in a slightly different light now. We must analyze how we as a Church are reflecting upon our groom, Jesus Christ. Can we as a Church say we embody all of these characteristics? Do we clothe our family? Do we open our arms to the needy and poor? Are we good stewards and diligent with our resources? Do our actions cause Christ to be well known and respected at the city gates? If we do not, should we not then be focusing with great intent on being a virtuous bride? Is our goal not for the Spirit to look on us and proclaim, “She is ready. It is time for the groom to approach.” and then take our hand and in one voice make that most precious request, “Come, Lord Jesus.”? It bears some thought. The parting question I ask of anyone who would read this is how can you better incorporate these characteristics into not only the femininity you possess whether it is woman, emotion, or soul but also into the femininity of the bride of Christ – His Church?

The Affirmer and The Accuser

Dedicated to my father on this Father's Day 2009.

Disclaimer: If you have any delusions regarding my perfection, read no further... this could shatter that pedestal, otherwise keep reading.

As most people can relate to in their own lives, my past consists of many adventures both good and bad, feats great and small, and tales murky and clear. All these elements add up to one main pursuit in life - my search for identity.

I recall vividly the year when my life assumed purpose in Christ and oddly enough it was well after conversion and many years into adulthood. The initial struggle I fought with narrowed down to this question, "How much of my past must dictate my present identity and overshadow my future?" Obviously one cannot discount the importance of the past in being a schoolteacher to us. After all, the past is the ONLY element of time that carries in it perfect clarity (ie: hindsight is 20/20). And so the purpose of the past must be to teach, so that with the knowledge accumulated from the past we may consummate that knowledge with the wisdom of the present and give birth to understanding in the future.

Taking into account the significance of the past, I was unsure of what to do with the negative elements. Obviously i can learn from them, but must they identify who I am? The answer is, apart from God, yes the past becomes who I am. But a miraculous transformation takes place when one adds God to the equation of life. As the divine nature is born within us and begins to mature and grow in us, God gives to us a most precious gift - His identity and His past. While my physical past continues to teach me, my identity is no longer defined by it but is defined by the Heavenly Father Himself, as He cultivates Christ within me.

And now we enter into the struggle all mankind faces in realizing identity - the age old battle between the Affirmer and the Accuser. This battle recently played itself out in a very real way for me, much to both my joy and dismay.

During a recent trip to visit my family, my father assumed a blessed and divine role bestowed on all fathers - the affirmer. When this role is exercised in the image of God it affirms those around it. Apart from the image of God it takes on a corrupt nature and turns into the role of the accuser - both roles struggle to identify us.

My father offered me words of affirmation; words that praised my role as a wife and how he had seen me change into a woman who honors and respects her husband even in difficult times and circumstances. He praised my role as a mother and my diligence in simultaneously caring for my children and my own health. He praised my maturity as a daughter of God and exhorted me in continuing to offer to others out of that growth. As he spoke these words I heard the words of the Heavenly Father echoing out of them, "This is my daughter, whom I love. In her I am well pleased." (Matt 3:17). At the time, an element of that relationship escaped me. I forgot the nature of the accuser and his habitual appearance following moments of affirmation, to attempt to incapacitate us through whatever means he can grasp onto to attack our divine identity. (Matt 4:1-11).

But come, he did. The accuser (not my father just for clarification) appeared and began his assault in every aspect recently affirmed. He attacked my role as wife, wielding my past at me, pummeling me again and again with it. He attacked my role as a mother and in the final blows attempted to strip even my identity in Christ from me. And then he was gone. As I lay broken, striped, and ashamed on the proverbial floor, I cried out to God, not understanding what I was to do in light of this clear assault on every fiber of my being. Did the accuser have the right to hurl my past at me in an attempt to undo what good work God was doing in me?

A most miraculous encounter ensued at this point. The Ancient of Days reached down through the ages, weaving His way through my past and came to stand over me. His voice echoed from His Word unfolding an all too familiar conversation to me.

"Daughter, where are your accusers?"

I know this conversation...

"They have gone."

"Then neither do I condemn you."

He called me daughter... relief washed over me as I realized my identity in Him was still intact; that the Great Affirmer's words continued to define who I was. My own father's words again rang clearly in my ears, "You are a good wife, a good mother, and a good daughter." The words of the accuser fell dead to the ground, impotent and puny next to the Giver of all that is good.

I do not resent or hate the vessel of the accuser's choosing. My heart feels compassion and sorrow for the hatred harbored that allows the accuser to manipulate him to his purposes. But discernment allows me to separate the two - to hate the accuser but to love the man. If I cannot forgive the man, then do I not perpetuate a cycle of hatred and sin? And so I forgive.

My words are formed to speak to fathers during this week that commemorates the magnificence of fatherhood; to bring awareness to the divine nature within you that reflects the image of God - the role you carry as fathers to offer identity and affirmation. But my words also carry warning to those who would corrupt this precious gift of God in an attempt to identify through accusation. Choose wisely. Whose nature will you reflect? The Affirmer or the Accuser?

The Spirit and Power of Elijah

“And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:17) “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” (Malachi 4:6)

What does Elijah have to do with it all? This is the question that started it all off. How may Elijah have performed this function of father to son in his own life? Elijah did not have a son… or did he? This is where I began my embargo on this journey to understand “the spirit and power of Elijah” and how it affects us today and more specifically how it affects my generation and our fathers and someday our sons.

My sensitivity to this issue was piqued in February as I studied the increased focus in our present day on the emerging and next generations. Much emphasis is being placed on the need to release young new leaders (a much needed function within the Church) but little to no emphasis (probably due to its over emphasis in previous generations) on the role of the young and new in relationship to their leaders. My view of God is that He is the absolute figure of balance and so when we flush to either extreme we emphasize characteristics that have the potential to destroy in their imbalance. My preparation of this teaching is therefore to formulate a balanced view of the mentor/mentoree relationship and the beauty of its fullness in prosperity when conducted properly in love.

In this journey we must travel back to the days of King Ahab and the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 19). The point in time we travel to in particular is after Elijah’s tremendous feat in the face of the nation in opposing the prophets of Baal. Following this particular event, Elijah is overcome by fear and runs for his life. Herein lays Elijah’s greatest failure: in the course of giving into a spirit of fear he also succumbs to a spirit of despair and resolves that his life is over. Elijah is under the impression that he is the only living prophet left and that all the others serving God have been killed and yet he desires to give up. What would have happened if Elijah had been allowed to give up at this point in time? Who would carry on the work of the Lord through prophetic ministry? As is typical of despair it often prompts us to entertain selfish thoughts in the extremes of self preservation or total abandon. Elijah’s situation was no different. First he gave in to the extreme of self preservation and ran and then he gave in to total abandon and lay down to die. It is in this moment of weakness that God confronts Elijah with a “simple, silent, and yet strikingly thundering in its implications” phrase: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” What was Elijah doing? The answer is—nothing! Elijah had given up on a hope and a future and was not investing himself into anything. God’s reply—not acceptable! Go anoint a successor, Elisha (and two others while you’re at it) and start planning for a future. Life does not end with you! That is the essence of what God tells Elijah to do.

Anointing a successor has always been a difficult task for mankind to accomplish. To name a successor is a morbid thought. Naming a successor is admitting one’s own mortality and the fact that you will not always be around. But it removes focus from self and begins a process of investing hope in a future. Kings and leaders all throughout history have taken issue with naming a successor. There are of course fears and dangers associated with this function. It puts into motion a particular relational dynamic that is dependent on the compliance of two parties and involvement thereof. One may choose to invest in the future through the anointing of a successor but the appointee having the gift of free will may also choose not to honor in this sense his “father”. History is chalked full of stories involving sons and military coups, overthrowing of powers and all out abuse from those desiring power. Selecting a successor is a step of faith but one that is necessary for the continuation of life—even spiritual life.

Elijah follows God’s advice and arises to anoint his successor. Elijah seeks out Elisha son of Shaphat and casts his mantle onto Elisha. And thus is fulfilled the first portion of the spirit of Elijah, “to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children”. With the simple act of casting his mantle onto his successor Elijah states his faith in a hope and a future and the furthering of life in the spiritual realm as his “father” heart is turned towards a child—his spiritual son--Elisha. But this is only one half of a beautiful and living relationship God created within man. Elisha plays out the second half of this relationship.

The second half of this dynamic within the mentoring relationship has to do with commitment to ones mentor. This is also a task mankind has struggled with throughout history-the development of patience in attaining maturity. Let us leap forward in time to the moment of Elisha’s release (2 Kings 2). All throughout Elijah and Elisha’s time together, Elisha remains devoted to Elijah and his ministry. Towards the end of Elijah’s life he requests that Elisha leave him but Elisha will not and clings lovingly to his “father” to the very end. In the last moments Elijah asks Elisha what he desires out of their relationship before he is taken and Elisha responds, “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.” (This was not a request of greed but is a request appropriate with the concept of increasing fruitfulness and multiplication of any relationship. If one is not intent on increasing and multiplying then are they really carrying out God’s continual command, from the moment of creation to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, to bear fruit?) Elijah responds with this, “Yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise not.” The implications of this statement are great. You see, if Elisha had followed Elijah’s first request to leave him then Elisha would never even have had the opportunity to see Elijah depart let alone receive a double portion of his spirit. The complete release of Elisha into the fullness of his ministry with a double portion of the spirit of Elijah would not happen unless Elisha saw his mentor through to the very moment designated for his “taking up of the mantle”. This is not to say one must wait until a mentor physically dies to see his own ministry start but there is a living and active dynamic in this relationship that is dependent on two parts—one that releases and one that honors and clings into full maturity. As Elisha fulfilled his commitment to Elijah the second portion of the spirit of Elijah was fulfilled, “the hearts of the children (will turn) to their fathers.” As Elijah is taken in a whirlwind we hear a phrase uttered only twice in all of scripture, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” (2 Kings 2:12) This phrase finds its second mention at Elisha’s deathbed as the king of Israel looks upon him with complete honor and respect, mourning the loss of so great a man of God and cries out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” (2 Kings 13:14).

In today’s Church we once again find ourselves faced with a silent, still whisper, “What are you doing here?” To hear this question requires great sensitivity to the voice of God. He does not announce it in a great and powerful wind. He does not ask it in a trembling earthquake. He does not inquire of us in a raging inferno but comes to us calmly and quietly—“What are you doing here?” How will you answer such an inquiry? As a father in the faith will you move with purpose into a hope and future through the naming and throwing of your mantle onto a successor? Will your father heart turn towards the preservation of a spiritual future in your children?

If you are a young and upcoming leader will your heart turn in honor and respect towards the fathers, clinging to them until you have reached full maturity and release? Will all of your being cry out in love at the moment of your release, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” The success of the spirit and the power of Elijah is dependent on the compliance and fulfillment of both parties in this relationship.

We are faced also with a tragic factor perpetuated by society but not always recognized as so heavily impacting the Church and it is this: In the next several years 90 million “fathers” within our nation are moving into a phase of retirement. This is the baby boomer generation. The magnitude of their presence would not seem so impending if we could in some manner offer them children in increasing measure, but alas that is not possible. You see, 50 million of their children were never born. Over half of the fruitfulness of that generation is missing and so the dynamic of the mentoring relationship is widely offset and imbalanced. This is not to say that the anointing and release of new leaders cannot happen, it is merely to make us aware of the challenges we face. The younger generations have fallen into a category that qualifies as a minority and so we often find it difficult to make our voices heard in our appeal to be released into ministerial fullness. But I strongly believe a solution is available. I move that we pray for a fresh outpouring of the spirit and power of Elijah onto our generation. That in spite of the dysfunction we may have ignorantly perpetuated on our world we be allowed to emerge victorious with a renewed passion between the fathers and the children; that we may once again turn our hearts towards a hope and a future.

Since I do not want to end on a negative note I will give first the consequence of not instituting this dynamic relationship but follow it up with a tremendous word of hope. The consequence states itself in Malachi’s prophesy, “…or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” (Malachi 4:6) We are in the process of experiencing this curse right now because we did not develop a love for our children or a love for our fathers; we succumbed to a spirit of self preservation instead. Both parties jerked in a relentless game of tug-o-war to see who would prevail and now we suffer the curse on not just physical prosperity but spiritual prosperity. The hope I offer is in this suggestion: the spirit and power of Elijah precedes the coming of the Word of God. If it is truly our desire to see the return of the Word of God both spiritually through renewed understanding and physically in the flesh, then we will take seriously this spirit that perfectly prepares us for the Lord and ushers in that wonderful and blessed presence to our midst.

“Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” (2 Kings 2) Fathers cast your mantles!

“As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you…My father! My father!” (2 Kings 2) Sons cling to your fathers in honor and respect!

Off to Anaheim

Naomi and I are off to Anaheim this next week to spend some time with family and friends. The highlight of my week will be to see so many familiar and long missed faces at the Foursquare National Convention/Connection. The highlight of Naomi's week will be to see so many familiar Disney faces. I suppose Disney would be a highlight for me except that they may not let me on many rides (due to being pregnant... maybe I can suck in my belly and trick em'... doubt it) and I'll have to satisfy myself with walking, taking in shows, and guilting everyone else into buying me all you can eat churros and ice cream, mmmmmm. :-) All and all it should be a great time. We'll be returning to Denver Saturday, May 30th. Pray for safe travel!

My Lord's Prayer

The last few weeks at church we have been focusing on Luke chapter 11 and more specifically the Lord's prayer. The first week we studied the prayer itself and then the subsequent weeks we really broke it out into application. Today at church we actually wrote out a heartfelt personal rendition of the prayer. I would like to encourage anyone and everyone to try this exercise. With that said, here is my heart in the Lord's prayer:

"Our Heavenly Father, my head, my source, my creator, my authority, my stability, You who have begotten Christ in me; holy, righteous, unblemished, just and worthy of all praise is Your awe-inspiring and all powerful Name.

"May Your governing, comforting, and life-giving kingdom gain influence and power in our fallen earth so that we may come to know more intimately the perfect will You exercise in heaven. Bring Your purposes into our lives so that we may be instruments in ushering in the vast dimensions of Your reign more fully.

"Within this framework may I define my priorities and needs for today. May You infuse with passion those needs that contribute to my living and serving Your kingdom and may I have the strength to overcome and differentiate between what I truly need and what I merely desire. Provide for my needs today in the same manner a father would provide for, clothe, feed, and comfort those that belong to him; not desiring that any of his offspring go without or suffer unnecessarily.

"Search my heart, O God. Reveal to me through the conviction of Your Holy Spirit any sin that is within me. I confess this corruption in the divine nature You are attempting to form in me and I pray that You would cleanse and purge this unsightly blemish from my life. Through the power of the blood of Jesus Christ I ask for forgiveness for these sins. Refine me, O God, for Your intents and purposes.

"May I not then be hypocritical in my actions. May I display to others the character of Jesus Christ in forgiving them any wrong done to me just as You have forgiven me even though I was undeserving. May the effect You have on me emanate onto others.

"Help me to discern Your paths for my life, not stumbling in the wrong directions. Help me by the power of Your Word to overcome and pass by all temptations that may beset me along the way. Lead me past those temptations, O Father, and do not let me fall into them."

Go ahead and give it a try! I hope you end up being as blessed as I was by this endeavor in personalizing my relationship and communication with my Father.

Random Events... Sleep Walking, Sprained Feet, and Arrests!

Tuesday night of this week I was busy making dinner and watching the news when a tidbit of information irked me out of my wits. Drew Peterson was signing on for a reality TV show! What?! I wasn't sure whether to laugh or throw up. What man in his right mind would use his notoriety as most famous suspected wife killer to increase his social status and wealth? It made my stomach turn with disgust. The feeling didn't go away and so I just began to pray about the situation. I didn't pray for some misfortune to come to him; I just prayed that I would find peace of mind in the midst of this and that God would begin to reveal the truth of the situation. I prayed for truth above all else to prevail so that I could be at ease (not that I intended to watch his reality TV debut but just knowing he was innocent might make it easier to come to grips with). When the news announced yesterday that an arrest and indictment had been made I cannot adequately put into words the relief I felt. The relief wasn't so much for his demise but for resolution on an issue that had long been plaguing the wives of our nation. I will continue to pray for truth on this matter. I wouldn't want someone to be falsely convicted if they didn't do anything wrong but if these women were wronged then everything inside of me cries out for justice to be served.



In other news, Naomi went for a stroll the other night... in her sleep. She went all the way downstairs to the living room, turned on the TV, laid down on the couch and just kept right on snoozing. About 1:30 am she woke up and hollered up to me... 'Mom, I'm downstairs... how'd I get down here?' Of course I panicked since I had no idea what she was doing in the living room in the middle of the night and went racing to the rescue. Half asleep and stumbling I hit the first step a little over zealous and slipped right past landing on my rump... and foot. Ouch! Well we got everything settled and back in bed, foot throbbing and all and I tried to sleep off the pain. The next day I took one look at my foot and thought for sure it was done for. It looked like a puffy purple marshmallow. After 3 xrays and more lead aprons than any one person could possibly walk under, they informed me it was not broken but badly sprained and to give it a rest for a few days. Whew... I'll take sprained over broken any day.


What to expect in an upcoming blog... an assessment of "A Theology for the Social Gospel" by Walter Rauschenbushch. I started reading this book along with another commentary on the social gospel and am learning quite a bit about that entire movement. There are many good points made but also much a disagree with. I'm sure everyone who knows me saw that coming... it's not that I want to be disagreeable but I am a very holistic thinker and if I step back and look at a picture and there are pieces that do not fit together then I must assume that I have inaccurately placed some pieces. Fortunately I don't throw the puzzle away when that happens; I simply attempt to find the errors and fix the puzzle.

Well that's about it as far as new events go this week. More updating to come soon!

The Busy Little Bee is Busy Indeed...

I realized today that I have not updated my blog in over a month. Good grief, time flies when you're having fun! And while some may not think what I have been doing is fun, I assure you... it is fun to me!

Over the past month I have engrossed myself in a different outlook on the book of Revelation. I have studied the futurist view, that we are yet awaiting all of this to happen and am familiar with what to expect should Revelation take on this interpretation of prophecy. So if the futurists are correct - I am ready! I have studied the preterist view, that the majority of this has already occurred and we await the final step of a resurrection. If preterists are correct - I am ready! But then I began to think - oh boy, here it comes - what if they are both right?! What if, the events of Revelation are a heavenly perspective on the history of the earth from its origins to its end? Since the earth is still ticking then one may assume that the film rolling through Revelation of course is not over but what if events were so gradual to progress that we cannot see its development unless we step back and gaze at the world from a holistic point of view? And so this is what I have been busy doing the past month and it has been amazing.

Why am I doing this, one may ask? First of all... because I can and I have all the time in the world to do it. Secondly, because even if I am way off base I am still becoming intimately involved in the story of Revelation and familiar with its contents. Did you know there is a blessing for just reading the book? How many of us could use more blessing in our lives? Can I hear an AMEN?! And the last reason is this: the more I investigated the possibility of this outlook the more I realized its feasibility.

So the point behind the development of this idea is not to proclaim that this is the absolute truth but to prepare individuals if perchance Revelation takes on yet another form. I want to be ready and able to identify what is going on in the world, and if I am locked into a preconceived notion of what will be then I may miss it all together. And for those who do not think that possible just look at what happened at Jesus' first coming. Everyone around Jesus had a preconceived notion of what the Messiah was going to accomplish when he came into the world. This preconceived notion blinded them to who he was until he had fulfilled and completed his purpose. And THEN Jesus opened their eyes to what and who he truly was. I do not want preconceived notions of prophecy to cloud my ability to see what is really going on either!

I do not want to prematurely spill the beans on all the details but the rough overview of what I am doing is this:

7 Seals = the development and enactment of God's plan for redemption that was necessary for man following the Fall. This plan is accompanied by the consequences of sin and death that must beset a world ruled by sin.

7 Trumpets = the announcement and strategic/tactical/psychological implementation of bringing the Word into Flesh beginning with the covenant of the Law. While the Law provided a level of redemption and sealed God's people it was not the fulfillment. This step is accompanied by not only the consequences of sin (opened in the seals) but the consequences of breaking God's Law.

7 Bowls = the execution of God's final judgment on the earth due to the combination of the consequences of sin (opened in the seals), the consequences of breaking God's Law (announced in the trumpets) and ending in the consequences of rejecting God's only begotten Son - the only true chance we have at life.

And that sums up what I am doing - combining past, present, and future ("what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later" - Rev 1:19) for a bigger look at Revelation. Fun fun!

Call me crazy... I might just be by the time I get done with this whole study.

The Letter, the Spirit, and the Life of the Law

The mystery of the Trinity is a thing of beauty to me. I could spend hours thinking on only that. That may seem odd to some but I believe that God places certain sensitivities on the heart of each person – this just happens to be the area of my sensitivity. This sensitivity alters my perspective in the Word in that throughout all of Scripture the Trinity radiates with their oneness and perfection in practically every passage. Recently as I meditated on the concept of the Law the Trinity too emerged from this age old institution.

Psalm 119:18-20 “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me. My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times.”

What initially peaked my interest in this topic of the Law were Paul’s words to the Corinthians. “He has made us competent ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). This verse confounded me because I never viewed anything that emitted from the mouth of God as bringing death. But here, this verse clearly stated that the letter killed. But was not the letter part of the Law? And did not King David and King Solomon so eloquently speak in the Spirit concerning the life giving aspects of the Law?

Proverbs 7:2 “Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.”

Proverbs 6:23 “For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life.”

Psalm 1:2 “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

And then it occurred to me, as it always does when meditating on the oneness of the Trinity, how empty they become when one attempts to remove any aspect of God’s existence in His three persons. I thought of what God would look like to me were He only the Father, with no Spirit and no Son and the thought frightened me to my very core. How cold, alone, and dispassionate He would become. But this is not my God. Since my view of the Trinity entails the view of the Father as the source and head then any attempt to see God without this person would simply become ethereal and unsubstantial. Therefore I cannot analyze the Spirit and Son alone because without the Father they disappear. As I looked at and thought on the Law it began to shift apart into three aspects of ‘letter’, ‘spirit’, and ‘life’. If the letter is the Father without the Spirit and the Son then the Law would become cold, lonely and ineffective, devoid of life. But I do believe the letter reflects the Father in its precision, detail, and authority. The spirit of the Law reflects the person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives birth and breathes power into the detail and authority of the Father to produce the absolute miracle of life – the Son – the fullness of Christ. The Son therefore reflects the life of the Law; the life that revives our very souls.

Psalm 19:7-9 “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous.”

To view the law without the magnificence of the letter and to attempt only to view the spirit of the law leaves the law without foundation and support. The law becomes fluid and ethereal, without substance and man leaves himself with no choice but to resort to lawlessness. And so without the letter, the law disappears. But this is not how my God operates either. He is three in one; therefore He is absolutely full of life.

To focus on any one aspect of the Law without its counterparts is to strip it of its very essence and life. This is what the Pharisees and teachers of Jesus day had succeeded in doing to the Law. They had stripped the Spirit from the image of God and focused only on the letter, and it was killing them; they had killed the life of the Law. Today we tend to flush to the farther extreme in that we do not recognize the authority and commanding representation of God’s law and we loosely and liberally apply all His statutes, focusing only on the Spirit. We operate without substance and support, basing all our decisions and passions on the fluidity of emotion and it has turned us lawless.

Psalm 119:136 “Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed.”

And so what do we do? We must focus on the life of the Law – the Son – the fullness of Christ. For in focusing our efforts and attentions on Him we are forced to take into account both the letter and the spirit of the law. You see, without both the letter and the spirit intimately entwined in a dance of life, the Son does not exist. When our focus turns to the Son, the image of God radiates a fullness and cohesion not possible by any other means. The Law becomes alive; leaping off the pages of text and imprinting itself on our minds, infusing the very life of God into our beings. The covenant of the Old Testament transforms into the covenantal relationship of the New Testament.

What is the Law? It is letter (Father). It is spirit (Holy Spirit). It is LIFE (the Son of God)!

A Time of Rest

There have been many changes for me this year. Naomi is finishing up Kindergarten and getting ready for her first full days of school in 1st grade. And we are expecting a new addition to the family come October. The pressures of the many upcoming events and the lack of my partner physically by my side has led to my reevaluation of my duties and responsibilities this year. I have decided to lay off several of my obligations in order to reassess priorities and figure out what is the best direction for my family.

Other changes have also taken place this year. As some of you know I spent the majority of last year invested in a book writing project on a subject near and dear to my heart - femininity. After submitting my work for a theological evaluation I received my first feedback in that category. The verdict was... the work is "biblically sound". This truly made my heart soar. I do not know what God has planned next but I have a feeling that all too soon I may be busier than I expected. This has also contributed to my decision to take a period of rest and to store up "provisions" for what is to come. So I hope everyone can understand my decision to "take it easy". I am not isolating myself or depressed; in fact it is quite to the contrary. I am excited about whatever it is God has in store. I am enjoying my sojourn through the wilderness because I know that at the end of the long journey is the promised land.

The Evolution of A Snowman

I had a personal epiphany today... and perhaps you may think this elementary but it made me giggle with glee and so I will share it.

It snowed here recently and it has not yet melted, so I am staring at the snow. And I think to myself. Self: If I gather a bucket of snow and set it aside for observation, how long do you think it will take for that bucket of snow to turn into a snowman? (Yes these are the random thoughts of silliness that occur to me on a daily basis.) Self says back to me: That's just silly... that wouldn't happen. And if it did just happen to happen then there's no telling how long that would take. It could very well take billions of years to accomplish by itself. So I say to self, self: What if I take that bucket of snow and make myself a snowman? Pfft... I have that knowledge! It would take me about an hour maybe two. (Two hours if I'm having a nit picky OCD day). Soooo... by itself, the snowman will naturally take a massive amount of time if ever to form, but if I apply even one element of outside force with the required knowledge to accomplish the task it could take an hour? Hah! So I began to think of the beginnings of man. It's not that man could not have evolved... it's simply that he didn't need to. There was an outside force with the required knowledge to form man on His own and so what, to our minds, looks like it would naturally take billions of years, in fact might have only taken a few hours. So both sides, in essence are correct. The difference is in what players are in your equation of life. I choose to maintain a view that a God outside of myself, who has the knowledge to make me, did in fact form me. And so my tiny epiphany of a snowman has taught me a little bit about God today.

The Snow is Here!

Hurray! The snow is finally here! I thought it would never come. I can't believe it held out until December. I was starting to get a little nervous. It just doesn't feel much like Christmas in Colorado without loads of snow and the possibility of getting snowed in, missed flights, etc. I was definitely feeling the Christmas spirit as far back as October but carols can only carry you so far without the snow. Anyway... I know I should blog about something more substantial but this is the highlight of my week/month/season and so.. that's it for now. Merry Christmas to all!

Jonah's Heart or God's Heart?

"And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God revoked His sentence of evil that He had said that He would do to them and He did not do it for He was comforted and eased concerning them. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, I pray You, O Lord, is not this just what I said when I was still in my country? That is why I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and when sinners turn to meet You and meet Your conditions You revoke the sentence of evil against them." (Jonah 3:10-4:2)

I suppose one of the hardest tasks in the body of Christ is to have the gift of a prophet. One becomes privy to the heart of God and relays pleasure or displeasure accordingly so that the body may align itself with God. But the difficulty is this: a prophet is proven true by the accuracy of the outcome in comparison to his words. So what is one to do? On one hand you do not wish to fall in the category of a false prophet and so there is a part of you that wishes to see destruction come to pass. But another part of you pulls the other direction and you almost wish that somehow for some reason you got the message wrong. I believe the gift of a prophet is very real and very active in the present day Church but it serves a very vital function. The gift of prophecy relays to the body the heart of God and how we should pray in order that we may be repentant and see the mercy and compassion of God.

The important thing to remember if you are a prophet is that your words are meant to change people and to bring them into alignment with God. The main goal should always be to bring people to God. This last week I have been moved to read the book of Isaiah. Amidst all the destruction and devastation in Isaiah there is constant mention of a highway that leads the way out of the calamity. A highway that leads to peace and redemption. A prophet is the pavement of this highway. A prophet prepares the way for others to come to the peace which Christ offers.

I would say that a prophet has the best and the worst job of all gifts. They are allowed to see the heart of God, but that vision can bring great sorrow with it. I call on the prophets of our nation to speak the heart of God so that we may know how to pray; that we may repent and see the mercy and compassion of God. But I also hold prophets accountable in that you cannot sit back and wait for your words to come true. You must keep hold of the heart of God and pray that what you see is not what will be.

Now you may be thinking... Debbie... what on earth are you talking about? I am talking about the increasing spirit of defeatism that is attacking the Church right now; the idea that we will suffer some great calamity because we cannot see God's plans. I earnestly believe that prophets who speak doom are called to do so for one reason - so that they will not come to pass. Jonah predicted doom for Ninevah but it did not come to pass because the people heard his words and changed their hearts. That should always be our hope - that the severity of our words would resonate loud enough that the people of God would rise up and say, "Mercy, Heavenly Father!" So do not be afraid to voice the heart of God but always hold hope that forecasts of catastrophe will not come to pass. Do not sit back and await the surmounting storm. Have hope in the fact that God can and has revoked His sentences of evil when He is comforted by our works.