Conference yukon::christian_v7

"There comes a time when prose must give way to poetry,
  and also a time when poetry must give way to dance."  Sam K.

My eldest daughter, Miranda, has a talent for signing (not a typo - signing
for the deaf), although her talent has been honed through signing to
Christian music as her gift to the church.  She is flowingly expressive,
but does not overdo it.  In a sense, it is a time when poetry yields
to dance.  

On Christmas Sunday, I asked to have Miranda placed on the program.  She has
signed Amy Grant's "Heirlooms" before and I thought it was especially 
appropriate for the occasion.  Some of the words are as follows. (I may have
some of the words off a little, and someone may post the whole song, if they 
wish):

Up in the attic, down on my knees
Lifetimes of boxes, timeless to me
Letters and photographs yellowed with years
Some bringing laughter, some bringing tears
Time never changes the memories, the moments, it gives to me
Telling me all that I come from, and all that i live for, and all
  I am hoping to be...
  My precious family is more than an heirloom to me.
...
  My precious Savior is more than an heirloom to me.
...
  My precious Jesus is more than an heirloom to me.

I tell you that when Miranda practiced this over and over and over in 
our living room months and months ago, I began to get very tired of hearing
the tune.  Then she performed it in church and it was brand new to me.
and you know why?  Because when she stood up there and expressed herself 
through the dance of her signing, I *KNEW* that she meant every word.
not only her family, but also her Savior, her Jesus.  Each time I hear it
now, I am reminded of my unlimited wealth.  Her knowledge isn't second hand,
either.  She experiences it for herself and bears witness through her fruit.

After her performance on Christmas, Mrs. Caldwell was the first to speak 
with her.  She said her father died two weeks ago and that she was going 
through the letters and photographs, so the song had her balling.  

I remember speaking with an elderly woman some years ago who sang a solo 
in church the day before.  I commented on how much I appreciated her song,
and she thought she sounded like "an old crow."  "Oh, no!" I protested,
"it isn't how you sounded anyway, but the spirit that came through.  I've
heard many a technically perfect performance fall flat as a pancake, and
many 'crows' who pierce our hearts because the spirit is in their song."

We've discovered that the spirit can be felt without personally singing
a word.  (An aside was that some people thought Miranda was singing with
her signing - wow, she sounded just like Amy Grant - because you mouth
the words for the deaf when you sign.  We had a good laugh with that.)

Oh, yes, the topic.  Again, I knew that my daughter wasn't merely performing,
was not merely knowing about the things she expressed; she experiences it
for herself, and I am fiercely proud of her.

Mark Metcalfe

    .0
    
    Knowledge and experience...oh that knowledge and experience was only
    that which was good...to have the memories in .1 and not the memories
    of a nightmare....
    
    All these still shape us, no matter if the experience was a good
    experience or a negative one... and in Christ who is the Master
    Sculptor we can only wait and be patient for the etching away of our
    blemishes.
    
    I was moved to tears reading about Miranda, Mark.... as a parent, as a
    Christian and as your friend.  Thank you *so* very much for giving us a
    glimpse of this beautiful light of Christ.
    
    Your Sis,
    Nancy
    

I've said before that there comes a time in everyone's life where the
knowledge of mom and dad's religion won't do; that it must become owned
personally.  We've talked a lot about the "best" way to rear our kids
and this talk is useful, but none of it is a prescription for all people
and neither is it a tossing of care to the wind.  We should not deal with
either/or, and sometimes there is less of a linear "good, better, best"
and more of a matrix of "best" to be had; like baking a cake at a high
altitude.  That same cake is "best" baked longer and at a different
temperatures because of the climate and environment.

Some have followed the prescription for best with their children and are
mystified by the outcome.  Some have thrown care to the wind and their
childen have found their way.  Certainly, it is better to have guidance
than to not have it, but we must recognise that God created each one of 
us uniquely and treating people "equally" may not be treating people
"fairly."  You wouldn't give the same amount of water to different plants,
or the same amount of food to different-sized dogs.  Equality in fairness
is something far more than measuring what each one gets, whether materially,
or with "rights" and "privileges" (often confused concepts).  I know some
parents who were very equal but not very fair.  They did the best they knew
how.  If they gave $1 to child number 1, they gave $1 to child number 3,
and it didn't matter that $1 to child number 1 seven years ago isn't the
same as giving child number 3 1$ now.

"You do the best you can."  How often have you heard it?  How often have you
said it?  Indeed you do your best, but real parenting comes when you recognise
that you CANNOT do it, regardless of your best effort; you need Supernatural
guidance and wisdom; wisdom to handle the dilemmas, the unfairness of equality
(at times).  The best we can do is to yield our parenting to the Ultimate
Parent, our Father in heaven.  Learn, as children, what He says the way to 
train up a child is by training ourselves in His way.  Only then can we
assume the role as trainer for our own offspring.

I told my wife on Sunday that we cause pain for people who ache for what we 
have.  And we grieve for those who were robbed of what God has for you;
what God has for your children.  It pains us to be so blessed, in a strange
way, because we know personally what it was like for some of my own extended
family to hear "my precious family is more than an heirloom to me" knowing
that divorce and marital problems have injured and deeply scarred my extended 
family.  And yet, we marvel and are overjoyed that God has been the center
of our marriage from the beginning and that even our conflicts had to be
wrestled under the Lordship of the King.  Praise God, those conflicts have
been few and by most people's standards, miniscule.  Why?  Not because
Mark and Joy are unusually lucky people.  Luck, nothing!  It is because
everything - everything is submitted under His Lordship.  I am very grateful
for Mark Lovik's testimony where the message comes through loud and clear:
"Glorify Thy name."  When we come to the point that my end of the 
relationship is no longer the issue, but what can I do for the One I love,
we will understand selflessness and giving all glory to God, for what He
does for us, and for being God, despite the trials that surround us from 
time to time.  And all other things really do fall into place.

Mark

While I'm rambling...

Recently, I got some firsthand experience on a verse that previously had
only been knowledge to me.  I've had some rough goings-on and feeling like
I was being intimidated.  One day on my way to work, even though the
uncertainty remained real and present, I felt the Lord assure me of His
love.  It was kind of odd until I sat down to type in my morning prayer.
Then a very familiar verse came to mind from Psalm 23.  "Thou preparest
a table for me in the presence of mine enemies."  I realized that I had
experienced, (was experiencing), that very bit of heretofore knowledge.
And I realize also that no one can know the experience unless and until
the experience happens.  God's Word was REAL to me in a very specific
way that day.  It encouraged me, whatever the outcome, which, praise His
name, turned out well for me.  I think, had it gone the other way, that
His Word would have delighted me anyway.  (I certainly would have felt 
unjustly harmed, but even that would have to be given over.)

1.  God is Good.  (No one is Good except God.)
2.  God is personally interested in my situation.
3.  Jesus NEVER fails.

Mark

Ecclesiastes 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every
    purpose under the heaven:

You people know that I haven't favored the fatalism of Calvinism that says
that there is no true free will, and I know many of you people who do
favor Calvinism acknowledge something about free will.  My real sense of
what it correct is a paradoxical coexistence of both and this verse has
been turning over in my mind recently.  Perhaps because of the changes 
going on, it accentuates the meaning.

Nancy struggles with a 34-year old man who wanted to live but died.
I have struggled with a 22-year old man who wanted to live but died.
The Bensons suffered the loss of their two-year old.  And it is natural
for us to ask why.  

As I shared with Nancy, perhaps there is no reason or purpose from where
we sit and view the procession of events.  Perhaps the reason and purpose
is solely from God's perspective.  Someone once said that God loved so-and-so
so much that He called him home early.  And I like that thought.

Yes, we don't want to go.  We want to squeeze every moment out of life 
while we can, and shame on those of us who squander it on temporal vapors.
We know that heaven is spectacular and that once there, we'll forget the
troubles and the joys will pale by comparison.  Yet, time is so short here,
we want all we can get.

But sometimes, like children, we are engrossed in playing and Father calls.
We don't want to interrupt the fun and play.  Our loving Father understands
that.  (Didn't he give Hezekiah and extra 15 years to play?  Too bad, in my
opinion. - 2 Kings 20)  But Father knows best; always has; always will.

It was a rough and tumble December for me.  But Ecclesiates tells me that
there is a time for this, too.  So, while I believe that we at least act as
if we have free will to do or to not do, I also believe that there *is* a
time for everything and that no one escapes these things, albeit with
different circumstances and situations.  Certainly, no one escapes death
(except Elijah and Enoch), and no one escapes dealing with death.  Death
is not the great equalizer; it is the great separator.  It separates people
from loved ones; it separates body from soul; and if one is not prepared,
it separates one from God eternally.  Our great hope as Christians is that
death becomes the great reconcilliator, putting on the incorruptible,
and enjoying God's fellowship forever.

Every parting is a death of some sort.  Saying goodbye at church is the
death of a moment of relationship.  Saying goodbye to move on to other jobs
is the same way.  The level of interaction decreases "until we meet again."
Moving on also means birth into new things.  A time for everything.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every
    purpose under the heaven:
  2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to
    pluck up that which is planted;
  3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to
    build up;
  4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to
    dance;
  5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time
    to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
  6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast
    away;
  7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to
    speak;
  8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Isn't God's Word beautiful?

Mark

    >Isn't God's Word beautiful?
    
    That's been my experience! :-)

    >Isn't God's Word beautiful?
    


     It is magnificent...



 Jim

Words, words, words.

I was thinking on the way to work about something I've said a number times
about needing a common basis to communicate.  And by communicate I mean
an exchange of meaningful dialog and not an exchange of understood words.

My children have come to work with me from time to time and at a young
age, I let them type at a (local emulated) terminal.  They string together
letters, "just like daddy"  (and perhaps they are right!) ;-).  

None of you has read any of these words by sounding out each letter.
You read the whole word, sometimes whole phrases.  Bigger words, like
obfuscatory (ob-FUSS-ka-tor-ee) and obfuscation (ob-foo-SKA-shen) will
slow a person down if they are unfamiliar terms.  Because of this ease
at which we string letters, words, and phrases together, we think that
by typing or talking to one another that we are communicating with one
another.  Certainly, there has been many a time where the contextually
challenged have demonstrated a lack of communication through copious
verbosity and voluminous inanities, even and especially in this conference.
And I'll admit my own guilt to some extent.

Let me demonstrate what I mean by a lack of communication using a common
"nonsense" language.  "Worb est du nerft."

To person A, "worb est du nerft" makes perfect sense.  The letters string
together into words, which are strung into a phrase that is interpreted into
Person A's understanding as "I like chocolate cake."

To person B, "worb est du nerft" also makes perfect sense.  The letters string
together into words, which are strung into a phrase that is interpreted into
Person B's understanding as "I do not like green socks."  Clearly, if someone
were to say, "worb est du nerft" in the presence of both A and B, they would
make perfect sense, but an agreed-upon definition of the symbols (words)
would be non-existent.

Now, "I like chocolate cake" and "I do not like green socks" are concepts that
are relatively easy to discover as being incompatible concepts for the *same*
phrase.  In the english language, our communication interpreters are a whole
lot more subtly different.  In fact, "worb est du nerft" may mean, "I do not
like green socks" and "green socks are bad."  While these two concepts may
have interplay, they are still different interpretations of what has been
said through the words.

It is fruitful, and perhaps imperative, that people first understand the
context and basis of definition as their first attempt to communicate with
one another.  For example, if you were in Luxumburg and walked up to a
denizen of the area perhaps you would say, "parles vous Francais?" (sp)
or, "Sprechen zie Deutche?" (sp), or "do you speak English?"  You need a basis
from which to communicate.

In this conference, the basis for truth has come from the Bible, God's Word.
It is a point of origin for communication.  There is plenty of room for
engaging in meaningful dialog over the definition of the words in the Book,
but it is meaningless when person A and person B cannot agree on the origin
of definition.  ("Worb" = "chocoalte cake" = "green socks")  When "worb"
equals "green socks" to both people, then they can hash out whether the
phrase was intented to mean that green socks are bad, or that green socks
are distasteful.

I forget as Person A when I first realized that although Person B was using
the same language (and sometimes the same churchy jargon that many of us have), 
that we really were not communicating the same thing.  However, when I did 
realize it, I was able to cut a lot of "static" out of my attempts at
communicating.

I have an even deeper affinity for words these days, and that includes the
richness of God's Word because I have discovered it is the archetype of
true communication; the origin of definition; creative and life-giving.
Part of realizing how far I have come is realizing how far I have to go,
but I look forward with delight and anticipation of what the Word will
allow me to discover.

Mark

    
    In considering communication I am drawn toward the awarness that it is
    the ultimate in creative application by a Spiritual God.  That is, God
    is a Spirit, perhaps defined as pure thought energy, having no physical
    substance as we understand it. To bring to us the absolute essential
    connection with Himself this Spiritual God, He must communicate.  Words
    are spiritual as well as the thoughts that bring them forth.  Words as
    well as thought is not subject to time or space.  They are not held
    within the confines of dimensional factors or any linear measurement.
    
    In fact Words and Thought are so closely related that it may be
    possible that the full manifestation of pure thought is the Word.
    
    So God, to fully express Himself for the purpose of communicating
    birthed the Word, in human flesh, in the person of Jesus Christ.  
    
    The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  From infinite to expressed
    to infinite again.  
    
    Heaven and earth shall pass away but my Word shall never pass away.
    
    Free from all time barriers and constraints, eternal.
    
    God would sacrifice His own Word to Communicate with us.
    
    Is this not Love.

Piggybacking on .9:

"And God said... and it was so."

We may not create worlds, and part the land from the sea with our words, 
but we are creative and destructive with our words, as the Bible clearly
states.  We build up and tear down.

C.S. Lewis' creation allegory has song being the creative word, and I
like the idea of melody and harmony, resonant with the word to create.
Communication is harmonizing to a definition, and put into other terms:
aligning our personal moralities to the morality of the Absolute Authority
to define all things.  Lack of communication is discord.

...a lot to chew on.

MM

On death and life.

    In Christ, we see his example and His Cross, and it is important
    that we remember these things.  But we also need to follow it
    through and linger only for a time at the cross.  Because the
    cross is the event by which our sins against God are forgiven, but
    even this event would have been for nothing if God did not conquer
    death and rise from the dead.  In this resurrection we have our
    whole hope!  Sin is removed, but new life follows!

    Being born again, the quickening of the Spirit, puts in us new
    life.  So we MUST see the whole picture of what transpired with
    Christ as it applies to us.  "Take up your cross and follow Me"
    doesn't mean only crucifixion of our self for the sake of God's
    love, but following Jesus means also to be resurrected to LIFE!!!
    (Whoa! Is that a concept!)  We must follow Christ THROUGH the
    suffering but also THROUGH the resurrection!

    So our outlook on "taking up the cross" must follow through by
    following Christ *all* the way through.

Mark

In an exchange with a friend in Email (as was .11):

    The notion of trusting in God is not to see only Him, because so
    many good things eminate from Him.  God is to be FIRST in priority
    and the good things that eminate from Him are to His credit and
    glory for which we can be thankful to Him.

    So we see that a God-centered focus is not shutting out
    "distractions" but seeing these things in their *proper
    perspective.*  The "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His
    righteousness" is not a "seek ye only," and the verse spells
    it out for us by saying "AND ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO
    YOU!"

    It is a matter of prioritizing with God first, always.  And with
    God first in mind, we can determine what is important, what is
    nagging, what is urgent, and what is unimportant.

Mark