Only a Fool Fails to Plan

What with the country's leadership and their doctrine, I'm preparing my family for anything in the next eight (probably) years - even nuclear fallout.

Stuff from one of my favorite books

Here's a few lines from "we would see Jesus" by Roy and Revel Hession, one of my favorites and a book that God influenced my life with.

"...on the Cross of Christ. There in [Jesus] we see the whole naked truth about sin, man, and the God with whom each of us has to do. The very scene that reveals the richest and sweetest grace of God towards man also reveals the starkest truth as to what man is. If grace flows from Calvary, so does truth, for both "grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).
Let us try to illustrate these things at this point. It is by seeing the concern of the doctor, and the extreme measures prescribed, that the patient learns for the first time the gravity of the trouble from which he is suffering. It is by the reading of the severe sentence imposed on another man that the undiscovered lawbreaker, who has been doing the same things himself but thinking lightly of them, discovers how seriously the law regards his offences.
...
So, in like manner, Jesus says from the cross, "See here your own condition by the shame I had to undergo for you."

Food for thought.

Deep Thoughts by N. R. Sickels

Nori wrote this poem* the other day. I'm not sure what the assignment was, but I think she did great. I'm always envious of people that have such a knack for lyrics and poems. In this case, though, I'm just proud.

Once I saw a little bird.
At first I thought it quite absurd
That all the birds have wings to flap
Until the bird flew on my lap.

It's amazing how true those words are and how applicable their cultural and spiritual sub-surface meaning is. The most common simplification of it is that "we fear that which we don't understand." There are many, many ways that fear is played out. Here the author uses one of the most common reactions - laugh it off. It's easy to avoid impact on our lives by something that doesn't fit into our "world" by simply dismissing it. In doing so, we often miss an opportunity to grow. A chance for a bigger viewpoint is quickly lost.

C.S. Lewis expounded on this concept in The Screwtape Letters. If Satan can get us to treat anyone or anything that falls outside our approved "world" as silly, absurd, quirky, or peculiar, then we can keep that thing/person in the silly box, quirky box, etc. Soon we will several boxes available for us to place people. The end result will be to prevent the unity that God desires for all His children to experience.

It's only when we encounter something different and we allow it to impact our life, "to land on our lap" so to speak, that understanding (followed by acceptance of the person) can occur.

*used by the express permission of Norianna R. Sickels. All rights reserved.

Now he's 3!

This post is a little outdated, but I wanted to put up some pics of Wyatt's three year bday. We were all very excited for his day of being older. As expected, he got some great Lightning McQueen stuff! Anyone who spends 15 minutes with him will know that there's little more in this world that tops "Yite nin' Mic Teen."

My What is Tingling

We watched Over The Hedge a couple of nights ago. We first saw it at the Deanza drive-in and really enjoyed it. The second time was better!

The protagonist is a turtle named Verne played by Gary Shandling (stand-up comedian). Verne leads a "family" of animals. The antagonist is RJ played by Bruce Willis who due to shady acts needs to take advantage of Verne's family to pay his debts. while Verne's family accepts RJ, Verne is suspicious of RJ the whole time. Verne knows something is wrong because there's always something fishy going on when his tail tingles.

The idea that something was telling something was wrong was interesting enough. But the struggle for Verne was whether or not he would listen to it. Verne's struggle rang completely true with me.

I think the Christian life is one of obedience. Throughout the OT and NT, God calls us to obedience. Jesus says that if we love Him we will obey Him. God calls us to turn from wickedness repeatedly. Sometimes God tells us we need to do something; sometimes He says to stop doing something. The struggle for us is whether or not to listen.

In the end, Verne learns that he really needs to trust his "tail tingles." We're lucky to have a tingle, too. I pray that we all are able to heed it.