I admit it.

The “I” that lingers nearby, that soulish side of me, is quite saddened by events that transpired yesterday. But the ”no longer I” that dwells in me has a settled spirit today. I have utmost faith that the man God voted for–much as He voted for Nebuchadnezzar to czar over His own covenant people for a time–is in place. 

No hanging chad or voter fraud kept God’s choice from gaining the highest office in the land.  “It is He who changes the times and epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings…” (Dan 2:21)  Asaph declared, “God is the Judge! He puts down one and lifts up another…” (Ps 75:7)  The “no longer I” has not one shred of a doubt that God sovereignly decreed it from His Throne and His will was done in the earth.

So why Obama?

It seems clear to me: he isn’t George W. Bush. Many were swayed by rhetoric alone but many more just wanted change from the status quo.  And change they’ll get. The presently declining economy admixed with the now-former Senator’s policies will undoubtedly usher in some pretty dismal days.

The mills are rife with rumors: stronger government control. Through the roof taxation.  A more accomodating atmosphere for radical ideologies only seven years removed from 9/11. Expanding socialism. A welfare culture that rewards laziness. Just rumors? Perhaps. But take notice: nearly as many that voted for the man voted against the man and half the country is poised for the worst. I’ll go ahead and say it.  Judgment is beginning.  God is cleaning His house. He is preparing His Bride.

Would I have preferred a McPailin administration?

Depends on which “me” you’re addressing.  The ‘ego-me’ or the ‘no longer I’ me?  Right about now I’m putting duct tape over the ego-me’s mouth and renewing his/my mind. I’m putting that little guy in a prolonged time-out…crucifying him wouldn’t be such a bad idea either, come to think of it.

In summary, this ‘no longer I’ casts his vote for Jesus, knowing He has ALL authority in heaven and earth. Any ruler below heaven–even those that scare the stuffing out of the natural man and a quaking church–is a delegated authority and is subject to a Higher Authority. God’s Kingdom operates through authority.  It is everywhere. Government. Civil servants. Military. Employers. Pastors (couldn’t leave that one out). When Paul was admonishing us to submit ourselves to the authorities, it was a pretty mean dude who sat as Emperor–Nero–even though his maniacal years lie just ahead.

So, at around 11:00 last night, when Obama reached the magical number that would vault him into the White House as our 44th president, I jotted down some things that I believe came straight from the ‘no longer I’s’ frame of thinking.  I trust you’ll join me.

• pray for President-elect Obama and the awesome task he has ahead of him and submit so long as his delegated reign does not interfere with the arch-reign of Jesus Christ
• repent for a worldly, compromising, flaccid church that has stood idly by as satan’s kingdom has slowly knocked the lights out of this land
• grieve for the sins of America–especially THE transgression of self-rule that typifies the ego-me
• disentangle myself from all idols and attachments because everything that can be shaken will be shaken (Hebrews 12:25-29)
• Do not fear man but trust the Lord
• And then there’s this:

“Oh Lord, we know all is well. We trust Thee for all.
We love Thee increasingly. We bow to Thy will.”

Bow not as one who is resigned to some heavy blow about to fall or to the acceptance of some inevitable decision. Bow as a child bows, in anticipation of a glad surprise being prepared for it by one who loves it. Bow in such a way, just waiting to hear the Loving Word to raise your head, and see the Glory and Joy and wonder of your surprise.

–God Calling, October 28, p173

That’s called “no longer I” thinking…

In just a few hours, little draculas, zombies, aliens and hobgoblins will be prowling the streets at nightfall extorting candy from innocent victims who are not safe, even while ensconced in the shelter of their own homes. These menacing little beings promise cruel tricks unless their demands are met. There is no “please” from these potential vandals, simply an order to comply–or pay the consequences.

Cute holiday, huh?

According to Celtic tradition “All Hallow’s Evening” (shortened centuries ago to ‘hallowe’en’) is the end of the ‘dark half’ of the year and the one night during which the separation of the two worlds–the natural and the supernatural–is thinnest and when hostile spiritual beings like ghosts and goblins are free to roam the earth and interact with mankind in mostly violent fashion. If there was any night of the year when demonic jubilation was strongest, as the tradition holds, it was always found on Halloween.

The Welsh refer to it as “Spirit Night.” Detroit calls it “Hell Night.” Witches refer to it as THE Great Sabbath. Everything associated with it is divination, demonic, evil, death and darkness.

Go back with me twenty centuries to the Upper Room on the “eve” of the Christ’s crucifixion.  Jesus told Judas on that e’en (actually He was addressing the satan who had entered into Judas) that whatever mission he was on, he’d best do “quickly” (John 13:29) because this was the end of the ‘dark half’ when the separation of the two kingdoms was thinnest and the evil one’s final night to do his menacing work.  And the clock was ticking down. Judas bolted from the table and dashed out into the gathering gloom. Verse 30 adds this evocative phrase: “and it was night.”

That single statement paints with bleakened tones and Gothic brushstrokes what was going on in that room that Passover night: Jesus, saddened to see his friend go, the disciples perplexed by recent developments, Judas’ sealing his own doom, the mood suffocating.

“And it was night…”

I believe the night that shrouded the Upper Room was as dark as on that night as when it was actually felt in the Garden after our Original Parent’s rebellion. It was spiritual night, oppressive and hopeless. I can see Messiah staring at the doorway–after his friend–for a few solemn moments.  Then, amazingly, I see Him turn to face the addled expressions of those who remained and draw a meaningful breath. The very next words He utters transcend the somber cloud hanging in the room.

“Now is the Son of Man glorified and the Father glorified in Him!”

In almost a single breath, John’s gospel moves from “it was night” to “Praise God! His Kingdom triumphs over darkness because His Son is its King! Glory!” One can almost hear the gas leaking out of the netherworld’s coming-out party like a deflating balloon at that precise moment…and it continues to this day! There’re no parties in hell no matter what Halloween tradition says.  The satan’s kingdom operates in wrath, not jubilation, angry that the Son is now and forevermore glorified.

Remember that on this last day of October. 

Maybe Linus should come out with this speech on the Peanuts’ Halloween special.

Seems like I’ve been here before…

(Note January 17th’s post from earlier this year)

…which means we’ve been here together…

…which means: “Lucy! You’ve got some ’splaining’ to do!”

ELEVEN posts all year?  Eleven?!?  That hardly qualifies as blogging, mind you.  So, where ya been…? 

First off, let me give you a list of ten things I’ve NOT been doing:

• sitting still (sitting, yes, but not still)
• running a special ops mission in Myanmar
• filming as Stallone’s stunt double in Rocky XVII (not yet anyway)
• throwing back a few with Joe the Plumber
• solving the issue of global warming and why it’s snowing in London and cold in Florida today
• stewarding over the bailout and what monies go to who (whom?) and how much
• genetically reengineering broccoli to taste like cookie dough
• losing weight (I’m pretending cookie dough is really broccoli in disguise)
• thinking the media is NOT actually slanted in Obama’s favor
• blogging (of course you knew that already)

I’m okay.  In fact, all is quite well.  I just needed a long sabbatical from this but it has never been far from my heart.  I miss my community.  Darla, your comments are touching.  Thanks for persistently rapping on the door until your knuckles are probably bleeding by now.  We’ve never met, but I imagine you to be a friend that’s true, faithful, and who everyone wishes they had.  God bless you, dear one!

And to all my other readers out there (Jerald, Covenant Bride, Godsgal, et al) who have made this website the best read blog in the history of the universe, just know I “think” I’m ready to start posting again.  I think.  Don’t hold me to it.  ‘Cause, well, we’ve been here before. Then again, you never know.

Oh, who am I kidding? All of you have probably gotten tired of knocking, finding nobody home and gone on with your lives.

See ya next year!

Decisiveness is the fulcrum of true discipleship.  Luke says that Jesus “resolutely set his face to go to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51)  He’s about four months away from Calvary and the language that Luke employs emphatically illustrates our Lord’s decisiveness in seeing His mission through to the end.  It’s more about His state of mind and not a geographical change.  It has nothing to do with His checking MapQuest or getting a TripTik from Triple A.  He knew who He was, what He was called for, and nothing was going to get in His way.

A few verses down, He encounters three would-be disciples.  He says to each of them, “Decide!”  Me?  Or the world?  Me?  Or your will?  Me?  Or your level of comfortability?  In each case they chose what was behind Door Number Two and left satisfied with that.

He says that a true disciple is one who has set his hand to the plow, or, in Elisha’s case burned the plow (see 1 Kings 19:21).  Jesus set His face (“like flint”, Isaiah 50:7) to Jerusalem and we are to set our hand to the plow.  Plowing is about harvest, and in the succeeding verses, Jesus sent out the seventy with this pep talk: “Pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send more plowers into the field.”  Some plant, some plow, some water…but the Lord gets His beautiful harvest!

Our Lord cannot use scribes (the first guy) who are worried about looking foolish to their rich buddies when they are found sleeping in caves or under bridges “for a carpenter” instead of their large-mortgage house.  He cannot use the ‘I’ll catch up with you down the road but right now I have a lot of personal stuff to iron out’ candidates (the second guy).  The call is NOW. And there’s the plow!  And He will pass over those who waver between two worlds and the Lord knows this world will usually win out (the third guy).

The call is NOW.  And there’s the plow.

 Who are the harvesters?  Who are the ones “pressing into the Kingdom” (Luke 16:16)?  They are people who will empty their entire life savings at His feet even though the religious tell them every reason why they shouldn’t.  They are people who will walk away from a lucrative career because their life and livelihood is in His hands.  People who will drop the nets at their feet, leaving every security behind because they see the Greater Incentive, a Treasure you cannot refuse.

We need to be more decisive than ever in these changing times.  Before I finished that last sentence I was interrupted by a call from someone I know who just won over $20,000 in the lottery tonight.  Isn’t that ironic?  The world will do stuff like that for us—anything to keep us from treasuring Christ.  Anything to keep us from pressing in, pressing on or setting our hand to the plow.  Tragically, the third certainty of life—after death and taxes—is that twenty grand’ll be gone in a few days, weeks or months.

Then what?

Decisively pressing in means fighting against that twinge that says, “man, I wish that had happened to me.”  It means being unimpressed by what the world offers because you know nothing can compare to the richness of knowing about a Greater-than-all Treasure and going after it.

There’s the plow.  It may look worn, earthy, scarred and rusty, but it’s Who you set your affection on at the far end of the field that really matters.     

Darla at Overcomer has tagged me with a near-impossible meme: naming my favorite book of the Bible.  Darla, Darla, Darla…just one?  Never one to break the rules (perhaps bend them a little), I will comply but only like the little girl who was told to sit in the corner by her teacher: “I may be sitting down on the outside but I’m standing up on the inside!”

(I’m ’standing up on the inside’ with honorable mentions to all the Gospels, all of Paul’s epistles, most of the prophets, the Pentateuch, the historical books, anything John wrote, and the poets–especially David)

So, here is my favorite book of the Bible…ohhh, do I really have to?…okay, okay…sheesh…

It’s….it’s…(out with it, Scott!)…Mark’s Gospel.

Because I am a ‘bottom-line’ guy, I like for people to get to the point and not grate on me with “to make a long story loooonger” details. Just the facts, ma’am.  Don’t care what the weather was like or what she was wearing or the mind-numbing rabbit trails you feel I need to follow you on (wait a minute…back up the truck…I think that’s how I write!), but tell me what I need to know.  No more, no less.  Mark does this with his gospel.  He doesn’t waste words but doesn’t skip or scrimp on the awesome power of Christ’s Life.  I call it the “gospel on the move” because he takes the three and a half year ministry of Christ in one fell swoop and leaves you swooning!  He’s writing to Romans who like stories of power and authority and like it much better when the minutiae is edited out.

I also love the fact that the other gospels borrow from Mark, particularly Matthew and Luke.  Mark got his information from the one disciple/apostle who knew everything!  Peter was in every crucial narrative that involved the disciples and even a few the others missed out on.  Talk about a fount of knowledge!

And then there’s the fact that John Mark’s story is my story.  He started out well with the Lord but there’s that season of falling away that is sadly added to his biography.  Ah, but gloriously that’s not the end of his story!  Yes, he abandoned ship.  Yes, he ticked off one of the most anointed apostles.  Yes, Paul questioned his stones for some time to come.  But, as in baseball, it’s not how you start but how you finish that matters and John Mark finished well.  His name is one of only a handful that Paul mentions from his execution cell in the last days of his life.  He wanted him nearby.  He needed his life to encourage the old saint.

John Mark was an overcomer.  And I want that to be my story, right up to the end.

Then there’s Job…

The Steven Curtis Chapman family (from left): Will Franklin,
Maria, Steven, Shaohannah, Mary Beth, Stevey Joy, Caleb and Emily

Go to this website for news concerning the tragic death of the Chapman’s daughter, Maria. You will also find a link on the page where you can view a touching video of Steven and Maria from two months ago.

Keep them all in your prayers during this painful time.

Found this in a sidebar of a book I was reading…the list is described as “five unrealistic expectations that can contribute to servant burnout.”  Sometimes we take “all things to all men” to extremes it was never meant for.  To paraphrase Jethro (Moses’ father-in-law, not one of the hillbillies): “You can’t save everybody, Mo!” (see Exodus 18:17,18)

LIES THAT LEAD TO ‘MARTHA OVERLOAD’:

1. “There should not be any limits to what I can do”
2. “I have the capacity to help everyone”
3. “I am the only person available to help”
4. “I must never make a mistake”
5. “I have the ability to change another person”

–from Caring Without Wearing by Carol Travilla

Parachute pants…geometric haircut…1980s…Hammer Time…remember?  I’ll wager you’ve never heard it quite like this before!

(just click on “download” beneath the music player and follow along with the lyrics…hilarious!)

Thanks to Tominthebox for being a prophetic voice for the church!