The Glaring Bright Light of Truth

Monday, September 19, 2022

Shine

in

Our Darkness

Psalms 103:6

The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed.

John 12:46

I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness.

Words of Grace For Today

There are so many ways that we humans take life from others.

God sees everything that is done and will bring vindication and justice based on truth for all from whom life is stolen.

What is done in darkness will be seen clearly by all and all will know the truth of what is done to others who have done nothing to deserve what is done to them.

And those who have knowingly, or intentionally not known, what dark deeds they participate in, will have a bright light shone on their evil thoughts, words and deeds.

Quite the day! Right!

As all that we, also have done that is evil, will come out into the light.

Only those for whom God has mercy will survive at all.

Thankfully God offers all mercy.

Today, another day being God’s children who offer mercy to even the most evil evil-doers.

Shine, Jesus, Shine.

Home or Homeless, As Saints …

Friday, September 16, 2022

There Are More

Wonders In The Universe

Than We Can Imagine,

And More To Be Encountered

Today!

Isaiah 32:18

My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places.

Ephesians 2:19-20

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

Words of Grace For Today

While not quite homeless, nor quite housed, I live in a wondrous place.

I cannot say that it is a secure dwelling against the heat and cold and rain and snow of normal years, yet alone the extremes of climate change, nor that it is always a quiet resting place, with all the drunken, drugged up parties that slice the peace to bits each summer, or the threats that wander in where they do not belong.

I can say that this place is holy, consecrated, set aside for life.

While a citizen for decades, I seem to be a stranger to normal people, meaning people who use vague language and deception to cover the evil of their days. They remain strangers to me anyway, no matter how many of them I encounter, for I do not ‘get it’ that people proceed everyday so inauthentically, and then scoff and condemn those few of us who actually speak truth with regular precision and intention, and hear/read exactly what others produce as words … and are amazed at what people say that is so far from truth or even possible!

Thankfully I am also a long time citizen of God’s Kingdom, one of the saints. We are at home with Jesus the Christ and all God’s wonders.

This is the way to proceed through each day: thankful for God’s wonder-filled universe in which we, sinners so great, are made to be saints, and thus are able to see, hear, and trust the truth, the foundation of the universe.

16 Tons?

Monday, September 12, 2022

Pilot or Passenger

Every Flight,

Every Life,

Has A Beginning

That many others have made possible.

Psalms 78:3-4

[Remember the glorious acts of God,]
things that we have heard and known,
that our ancestors have told us.
We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.

Matthew 10:8

Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.

Words of Grace For Today

While living a life, self-sustained and self-determined, no great mishaps interrupting one’s plans and trajectory, it is all too easy to forget so much.

How one’s ancestors worked so hard to bring us to the beginning we were given as a gift.

How God provided for their survival in wondrous ways.

And how at each turn in our own lives, God is there, walking with us, calling us, blessing us, begging us to return to God.

Then disaster strikes. Small or huge, particular or general. And our self-sustained life is no longer possible, as if it ever were that.

Then we will only survive if we remember what our ancestors have taught us about God’s great blessings, and we return to God.

What then?

Simple: Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.

One day awaits us each morning, filled with opportunities to remember, to return, to serve others with the love that cures, raises, cleanses, and casts out.

It’s not 16 tons and deeper in debt to the company store, but it is that each day we receive more than we can possible give back, and we live blessed to be deeper and deeper in debt to God for all the blessings poured over us. It is impossible to repay that debt, and it will never be called. Miracles and wonders.

Repay

Sunday, September 11, 2022

Painted Sky,

by God’s Hand.

First Samuel 24:20

Now I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.

Romans 12:17

Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.

Words of Grace For Today

While the world is going to hell in a hand basket …

While the world is filled with wonders and profound goodnesses …

While the world is filled with the results of so much hate …

While the world is permeated with the effects of unselfish love …

Whether we be made king, or remain paupers forgotten by all …

How will we respond to all that comes our way?

With all that would we consider everything good our right, our due, and justified in the presence of so much evil?

With all that would we consider ourselves noble, and kingly?

Or shall we remember the humble, corruptions buried or not in our closets, and the amazing gracious response of God’s forgiveness and renewal to our shtako and uncreating messes, and with gratitude offer that same grace back to a world so hungry for evidence that our accumulated evil will not have the upper hand, that our futures will be bleak on the slide to extinction or worse (survival in unlivable conditions)!

Let us this day choose as if God has made us ‘king’ of our little part of the universe, so unforgotten by most everyone. Let us reflect God’s amazing grace no matter what comes our way.

How about that for a day’s plan, that only God can carry out, and we get to bask in!

Remember Me?

Monday, September 5, 2022

Even When Others

See Only a Tiny Reflection

of Who

We Really Are,

God Does Not Forget Us.

Isaiah 49:15

Can a woman forget her nursing-child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.

Hebrews 13:6

So we can say with confidence,
‘The Lord is my helper;
I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?’

Words of Grace For Today

Will we be remembered, as we go through life, will anyone remember us when disaster strikes?! When we die, will anyone bother to remember us? When so many lies are repeated and spread like wildfire about us, creating a made-up monster that has our name, and otherwise has nothing to do with reality and our part in it, will anyone bother to remember who we really are?

When the worst comes at us, we can say with confidence that

‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?’

The day before us will have challenges, but we will not be forgotten for who we really are, for God does not forget anything. God knows us, gathers us in, forgives, renews, blesses, and sends us out to share God’s grace and blessings with all people.

God remembers us. Today is a good day to be remembered! (and forgiven.)

Blessed Assurance

Sunday, September 4, 2022

God Sees All, Hears All, Loves All

Psalms 22:20

Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog!

1 John 5:15

And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.

Words of Grace For Today

There is little that is more deflating than to have people create a lie about oneself, and to be silenced for years and decades, as everyone refuses to hear the truth. Instead, silenced, one is imprisoned, left bereft, scorned, and ostracized.

We need not fear that God treats us this way. Exactly the opposite, God listens, knows the truth, and allows no false accusations live before God and anyone willing to listen.

Knowing that God hears us, provides all we need for life abundant, and allows no ‘dog’ have any power over us, we enter every new day, with an unexpected and surprising assurance and courage.

We know that all there is that is required for life.

We get to offer our ears and hearts to those who others have also silenced and ostracized.

Today is another day for eyes, ears and hearts open.

Rise Light And Shine … In Us

Monday, August 29, 2022

The Light Will Find Us,

We Need Not Search For It

nor Fear It Is Gone.

Psalms 74:22

Rise up, O God, plead your cause; remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.

Ephesians 1:9-10

God has made known to us the mystery of God’s will, according to God’s good pleasure that God set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.

Words of Grace For Today

For what shall we ask from God for this day, if not that God’s will be done also among us?

The Psalmist sings to God to rise up and state God’s cause, remembering how the impious scoff at God. Is the wish behind this prayer that God will judge and condemn the scoffers, the impious. If so then it is yet another example of humans trying to beat up others using God as a weapon. Or in other words: do what I tell you is proper behaviour and observe proper religious rituals in order that God will save you.

Ephesians has our answer to that kind of ‘easy’ bending of God’s Word and Promises of old. God has revealed the mystery of God’s will to us in Jesus the Christ, and it is in a Word: Grace. Christ came to live, die and be raised from the dead in order that we might know God’s first and last wish for us all is to love us, forgive us, and send us out to be that love to others.

There is great darkness always in life, always ready to steal our hearts from us and toss us to the wolves of self-reliance, self-saving, consuming for security, zero-sum stealing life from others that we might live in comfort.

Christ light shines in every darkness.

We are that light for so many people, if we but shine with God’s Grace and Love, instead of fear-motivated judgements and cries for conforming and compliance to our remake of ‘god’s rules.’

Ah, the freedom.

Ah, the wonder.

Ah, the awfully awe-filled, awesome light that rises this day again for us to live in.

Thunder may be scary but it’s easier to compartmentalize. This Light, it exposes every bit of our being, and God’s as well.

Hang On!

Friday, August 19, 2022

We Trust

That No Matter What Storms Blow In,

God’s Light Shines

Golden for Us!

Psalm 63:8

My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

2 Timothy 1:12

… and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him.

Words of Grace For Today

Hold on, the turmoil of the ages will descend on us this day,

again, as it does each day and night.

The question is to what are we going to hold on to in order to ensure the storms do not wash us overboard into the uncreation that the ancients knew the waters to be?

Let us hold on to the only thing that is reliable,

not rope or railing,

not life jackets or security nets,

not investments or assets,

not power and status,

not even relationships and reputation.

We hold on to God’s Word which promises that God will not abandon us no matter what comes our way, neither storm nor good fortune.

We hold on to God, but that is not the grip upon which we rely day and night, for we too easily grow weary, so much sooner as old age weakens our bodies and minds.

We rely on God’s grip on us.

That grip is more powerful than any storm the universe can throw at us, or the grief other sinful beings can conjure up, or even the Devil can weasel into our lives unnoticed.

This is our rock, our refuge, and our hope, come what may.

For This … !

Thursday, August 18, 2022

The Day Almost Done,

Long Since Gratitude Flows Freely,

And Then There Is Refreshing Sleep,

One Hopes!

Psalm 37:28

For the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his faithful ones. The righteous shall be kept safe for ever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.

Luke 20:25

He said to them, ‘Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’

Words of Grace For Today

Some end the day with giving thanks. Not that I don’t, it’s just by then I’m ready to pack it in.

Morning on the other hand is a time of wonder and gratitude flowing in so many directions as I notice the little things that are wonders. When people have tried and succeeded somewhat to ruin you, kill you, and exile you, the little things are miracles: starting with that I survived and am still surviving.

So this morning as many mornings I saw these wonders and gave thanks:

the comfort of a camper (instead of living under a tarp, in a tent, or ….)

the wonders of bright morning sunshine in the window, fresh air, relative quiet, birds calling (almost always loons very early on), sometimes the distant white noise of the power generators at the oil installation north of here.

the great time of year: now when the grass does not grow so fast that it needs be cut every week, the gone-ness of wasps, flies, mosquitoes (well some remain until freeze up),

the energy at my disposal (propane, gas, solar, batteries and wood.

the supplies I have (kleenex, paper towels, or toilet paper, I have enough clothes, though I get them dirty too fast it seems, I always have enough cleaning liquids of many kinds since they’re cheap at $tree, and…)

the tools that I can borrow making maintenance and repairs possible,

the machines that I can borrow: a truck that sometimes runs, a mower, …

the building supplies I can afford.

the good food and drink I have available, thanks also to the food bank for so much that are staples and ‘treats’ that are so healthy like yams and strawberries, and then coffee and medications that keep me functioning and living longer, maybe.

technology that keeps me able to write, read, and talk; and take and process and share photos (though it’s getting old and I wonder how long it’ll keep going – isn’t that stupid that such stuff ‘wears out’ so fast! a miracle that the computer and phone have lasted seven and six years!)

and More: the lake and a canoe to traverse it in summer, skis for winter outings, Pallets to walk on to keep my shoes clean around the camp, little things I’ve crafted to make life easier, like paper towel dispensers, shelves of all kinds, a writing desk, a ‘vertical’ mouse pads, freeze-protected water lines….

And always, breakfasts that are a delight: filling cereal, topped by sweet and sour (cold/frozen) berries, drenched in creamy Silk, with bitter hot coffee mellowed by Silk.

And plenty of toothpaste and soap and water to keep me clean – or so, with bum wipes, cloths, and towels.

Everything is covered.

The place only needs the drunk and partying druggies to stay away, the thieves and drug dealers to find elsewhere to ply their trades, and the ornery ones to settle down and notice how good they have it, or not.

And I only need a few dollars to get my own place in which I can retire and from which I can travel and camp around the wonderful places and get a set of camera-lenses-etc for photography and maybe….

So there’s that gratitude and dream to start the day.

How can one start one’s day and not notice the little things and give thanks?

Bloody Messes

Monday, August 8, 2022

At Day’s End

Is It A Bloody Mess

Or

God’s Glorious Light Show?

Isaiah 9:5

For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.

1 John 4:16

So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

Words of Grace For Today

Boots of tramping warriors and clothes soaked in blood … all of it burned as fuel in fires.

And God loves us, is love, abides in us, and we in God as love.

Two stark images/concepts.

Does God’s love lead to the burning of soldiers’ tramping boots with blood soaked clothes?

The basic truth is life is a mess, a bloody mess, if not literally then figuratively. The only way for it not to be is to deny reality. Some do that by escaping through drugs, through great activities like high risk outdoor skiing, paragliding, bungy jumping (or you name it), or through addictions to work, through accumulations of power and wealth and … But that denying and escaping does not change reality. It only isolates one from reality.

God’s love embraces all that, the bloody reality and the escaping and denying reality, and all the good actions of people set on living well.

The real challenge in life is to face reality, bloody mess as it is, and still wake up each day and go to bed each day loving God, one’s own self, all others, and all creation.

That’s the miracle that God works in us, by Grace (in other words we do not deserve it at all, but God does it for us freely and free of cost), and with loving kindness.

Today is another day, a bloody mess for sure, and a day to love the ‘bloody mess’ out of every person and event, so that God’s good Grace prevails, if only for a short moment … for therefore we can hope and hoping we can overcome the ‘bloody messes’ and be as God intended us to be, overflowing with love.

Or we can do as most and as we usually do and self destruct in some small or large way as we try to make sense of the senselessness of the ‘bloody messes’ we encounter.

It’s harder to choose Grace. But then one lives well. And that no ‘bloody mess makers’ can take from us.

Another day? Which will it be for us? God promises Grace, always.

Gotta love that!