no government?

on the google home page today ... the quote i got was:

If men were angels, no government would be necessary.
- James Madison

sadly, this is not completely true. if by angels ... he means the coloquial use of the term, "angels" as meaning "good doers" then he'd be right. but, strictly speaking - even angels (as in the real ones) includes the classification, "fallen angels." i do not pretend to know what transpired so fully as to complete their choice - or to make the choice of those angels which remained faithful unto their Maker a choice that is beyond doubt or need of worry.

i mean, it seems to me that once chosen - those faithful angels and those fallen angels have cast their lot and by God's power remain (and shall remain) as they have chosen. i simply see that this is the case ... and my speculation is that the agreement was based upon God's decree, God's ability to keep these angels in the state of their choosing for eternity.

if my thesis is correct ... then i suppose the above quote actually stands firm - if we are to imply by the term "angels" that the US 4th President meant - those messengers of God which have remained faithful, through God's power, and shall ever be ... faithful.

i suppose a christian, who struggles as we all do ... with the weight of temptations, tests, and trials, might be tempted unto envy towards the state of the angels in their choice - for we wrestle against such powers - daily.

we should first not be fooled by the struggle of our sojourn to the resurrection into thinking that God's holding power does not extend to the christian much more than it does to angels ... for i am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you, will perfect it until the Day of Christ Jesus..."

secondly, christians have been made partakers of the Divine Nature ... we are in Christ and Christ in us - we are in God and God in us shall we restate - for in us dwells the earnest of the Holy Spirit and the hope of glory. these, and many other things of the christian life are things into which the angels desire to peek - but can only know, lovingly, from afar - be they close to us as can be.

praise God for his faithful angels - we must remember that the apostle paul made much of the importance of our witness before the angels and powers. by showing humbleness and honor towards God and God's order ... we somehow give witness of God's glory unto the angels. the real idea here is ... even angels - filled with the face of God - long for more of God.



rabit51
i get my internet from amos dettonville's mostbloggers

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i got word last night of the loss of a friend... like a daughter to me really ... spent the day sick to my gut. i am such a spiritual man ... no. just a man, just me.

on days like this all i can recall is that indeed we are all just people in need of a Savior, Jesus Christ.

this is for crystal ... may i hold your chin in my hand and see your smile on that crystal shore ... because of the choice Jesus made ... because of Good Friday, Sad Saturday, and Resurrection Sunday (aka Easter).

MARGARET, are you grieving

Over Goldengrove unleaving?

Leaves, like the things of man, you

With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?

Ah! as the heart grows older

It will come to such sights colder

By and by, nor spare a sigh

Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie.

And yet you will weep and know why.

Now no matter, child, the name:

Sorrow's springs are the same.

Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed

What heart heard of, ghost guessed:

It is the blight man was born for,

It is Margaret you mourn for.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

peac4d.
pops

resentment camp

so, today i sit in the 'ville - quite a few miles from my home and many miles from sweet philly, pa too. last night, i dreamed about philly - i could still smell the air of philadelphia as i awakened (a fond remembrance).

next monday, i take a job inside, in an office, for the money. it's gotta be ... we certainly need it and my little family unit is worth the world to me. still, i am saddened by the whole enterprise - i did not spend myself to be spent like this... but such is life, such is love.

in philly, as we labored against the wall of impossibility (with smiles on our faces) i can still feel the pain of family from home. family members just don't make good dream team members - they love you too much.

resentment wells up from time to time in me towards them ... i let it out, say hello, and cut it's little head off with reason and prayer. resentment, (feelings, stuff like that), - well, you know it's asking some form of a legit question. so, it's not enough to lop it's head off - it'll just come back stronger next time. you have to talk to these little thoughts and expose them to the light of reason. the hard part is when people you love are involved. my family telling me how foolish a mission i am on and how stupid this and that is. my inlaws seeding us with enticements to move to their city - a house, a car, food, childcare, etc., all stuff that wasn't true - but like a little fox it ate away at the guts of our resolve.

resentment gets born in places and spaces like that. for me, there's the mental illness issue. having panic anxiety dissorder isn't exactly what i had planned. though it makes a great deal of sense out of my past journey - and why every task was so difficult for me. if i had only known? i might not have come so far :-). really, i didn't know, i just thought it was hard and pushed ahead. example: for me to walk from the car to church was always difficult - i didn't know any different - so i just mustered through. i really didn't think about it too much at all.

my answer to resentment over moving to the 'ville and leaving the mission? we moved here for real reasons. some i cannot write in a public space - except to say, "love had a voice that was calling our name in a time of need ... and we answered willfully and willingly with joy and tears." another reason - i need to re-tool and become aware of what i can do. no need to focus on what cannot be done. so, that is why i am here - and if i have any recollection of the stories in this blog - then i am certain that i am on the right path.

there's a dream i'll have to write about later - this one bugs me tons.

rabit51


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proudly among the none taggers of america
tagia: none

down with the pukes

i spent all day down with the pukes. several homes that i visit during my work had epidemics of stomach virus last week. i suppose, tag i'm it! what a joy!

i think we fool ourselves from time to time ... thinking we're more if we can accomplish and thinking ourselves less if we cannot. i am not disputing that we're made by our Maker for good works, destined for each to fulfill in the Father's hands and times. still, on a day like today - there's no utitlitarian purpose in which i could have been employed. i don't even think i would have made a suitable paper weight.

but, i knew the Lord's pleasure all day - even in this down and out mode. i knew it and know it just as freely as i do when i am "in the zone" scaling great heights of being spent on mission.

i suppose, when we think more of ourselves and ending up (ironically) thinking less of ourselves.

without faith, it is impossible to please God (i can be pleasing to God!)
for the one who comes to God must believe that He is (knee one bent - God is!)
and that God will reward those who diligently seek Him (knee two bent - i can know God and know the reward of finding God).

so, i can please our Maker and i can know the pleasure (reward) of knowing my Maker.

all life, every human being, is of great worth. even on days with da' pukes.

here's some of the music from my bro chris carder:

» Browse This Collection

rabit51

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mostbloggers network : mostbloggers to the rescue since 2005

tagia: none

reopening a blog long closed

i've tried over the past to redirect this blog - but - it's really just my personal weblog - not more, not less. i've come to see that. so, from this point forward this blog will be mostly about my own walk of faith, my own spiritual journey.

this sunday, our pastor continued his messages from james with the following text:

James 4
4:1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions [1] are at war within you? [2]

2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

4 You adulterous people! [3] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

through the process of hearing the Word, i simply came down to my own desires and the events of the recent past which have landed me where i am. it's a long story, one i'll not go into yet - but over time ... i intend to tell it and come to terms with the path i am walking.

let it suffice to say, i chased my dreams - and i came to the point of capturing them - only to loose and to end up here (where i am today).

and in this space, i "humble myself" and lay my dreams down to die ... or to rise ... i know not which? but, i refocus myself this day to being whatever the Lord wishes and to say, "it is well."

rabit51


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tagia: none

since there's world wide war, the pacific rim is hot with swirling signs of earthquake like activity, israel has pulled the trigger, wars and rumors of wars - not to mention an asteroid coming dang close to earth, i thought this song by my bro chris carder might be apropos.

the week will probably go fine for most of us :-) - but the future, it cometh to us all. so, i find this beautiful song to always be timely.

peac3e.
rabit51

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talebearing, tail baring, more experiences, TIOC...

this week's reading from TIOC "The Imitation of Christ" said much about prudence in action and focused (as per my understanding) upon gossip and talebearing. this, quite possibly, is an old lesson for me. i am not prone to tell tales concerning others quickly or to believe all that i hear readily.

but, the reminder is good: "...not to believe everything people say or to spread abroad the gossip one has heard, is great wisdom."

a thought that crossed my mind many times as i pondered this reading was the great lack of prudence and discretion people use on the internet. there is the literal "tail bearing" and the figurative.

i shuddered when i thought of how many people are loosing the ability to blush, to be modest - and that the same supposed impersonality of the internet which allows people to behave rudely or speak to one another and act towards and about one another in ways they'd never do in public - is the same supposed impersonal realm where a great many people bare their literal "tails" (ie. butts, bodies, acts, etc.) on webcams and in images, pictures, pics, etc. it is a literal world of the wannabe amatuer porn star. once, our culture considered exhibitionism to be, not only a crime, but a sign of mental issues and certainly an evidence of one being disturbed in one way or another. now? it seems the disease is spreading.

figuratively, people expose much more of themselves by way of blog, chat, myspace, bebo, hot vs not, facebook, friendster, newsgroups, and a host of other services where indiscretion has riddled the consciences of both the actors and the lurkers.

my personal theory - that a distorted version of our natural desire for self disclosure - from the physical desire to the emotional (and all inbetween) is taking a greater hold of many via the net and getting greater "exposure" (at the very least) thru the internet. it's a quest for intimacy and comfort IMHO which lies unfulfilled at the core of this.

kempis wrote: "A good life makes a man wise according to God and gives him experience in many things."

to me this stands in a grand contrast as an answer to our natural desires for intimacy, for experiences (plain and simple - because not all exhibitionism is the rooted in some iffy-niffy quest for love, disclosure, etc., but simply in our hunger for experiences too). his advice is that "a good life ... gives ... experience in many things."

now, i know he was saying that a good life makes one experienced and therefore wise to face the world of gossip, talebearing, tailbearing, etc. it brings the person to maturity and to a life of wisdom where not every inclination is heeded unwisely.

but, it also means that for those who seek experience and a great many of them - a good life offers more and better experiences tempered with prudence, discretion, wisdom and above all - connection with God.

no baring of self between one another can equal the depth of self disclosure and intimacy one can have and experience with our Maker. in our Maker we also discover what schaeffer called, "the beauty of human relationships."

let us be wise when inclinations come knocking upon our door.


rabit51
i get my internet from amos dettonville's mostbloggers

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mostbloggers network : mostbloggers to the rescue since 2005

tagia: kempis mondays talebearing tail baring experiences relationships