Made for Eternity

No, really – happy May Day to you all.

The trees are budding, so spring is here. Yes, even in Wisconsin.

Happy sigh.

You won’t find crystal

In a Styrofoam cup,

Just like you can’t swim in concrete

And you’ll never fall up.

And you can’t get to Heaven

By your good deeds

Just like you won’t grow flowers

When you’re planting weeds.

“And to him who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” Romans 4:5

No, not really . . . I do love my Eagles, but I sure got a kick out of George Carlin’s comparison of baseball and football.

“Baseball is a 19^th century pastoral game.

Football is a 20^th century technological struggle.

Baseball is played on a diamond. In a park – the baseball park.

Football is played on a gridiron in a stadium (sometimes called ‘Soldier Field’ or ‘War Memorial Stadium’).

Baseball has the 7^th inning stretch.

Football has the 2 minute warning.

Baseball has no time limit. We don’t know when it’s gonna end. We might have extra innings!

Football is rigidly timed and it will end even if we have to go to sudden death.

Finally, the objectives of the 2 games are totally different:

In football, the object is for the quarterback, otherwise known as the ‘field general’, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with a deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use the shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he moves his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack which punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy’s defensive line. . .

In baseball, the object is to go home. And to be safe – “I hope I’ll be safe at home!”

Good stuff.

I just read Dave Berg’s article at nationalreview.com on Ben Stein’s new film Expelled, which exposes “Big Science” (i.e. nearly all institutions of “higher” learning in the U.S.) and it’s stonewalling of any discussion regarding the possibility that evolution might not be true. I found this statement by Mr. Berg to be particularly revealing, as he gets to the crux of the issue.

“The film’s endeavor is to respond to one simple question: ‘Were we designed, or are we simply the end result of an ancient mud puddle struck by lightning?’

Big science doesn’t like that question because they can’t answer it. Underneath their antagonism toward explanations that suggest an intelligent cause, lies a fundamental egoism. Science wants to deny any evidence of a supreme being precisely because it wants to be a supreme being.”

The apostle Paul would agree with that idea. He wrote the following in Romans 1:21-23:

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

Big Science, you lose.

I could not do without Thee
O Savior of the lost,
Whose precious blood redeemed me
At such tremendous cost.
Thy righteousness, thy pardon
Thy precious blood, must be
My only hope and comfort,
My glory and my plea.

I could not do without Thee,
I cannot stand alone,
I have no strength or goodness,
No wisdom of my own;
But Thou, beloved Savior,
Art all in all to me,
And weakness will be power
If leaning hard on Thee.

I could not do without Thee,
O Jesus, Savior dear;
E’en when my eyes are holden,
I know that Thou art near.
How dreary and how lonely
This changeful life would be,
Without the sweet communion,
The secret rest with Thee!

I could not do without Thee;
No other friend can read
The spirit’s strange deep longings,
Interpreting its need;
No human heart could enter
Each dim recess of mine,
And soothe, and hush, and calm it,
O blessed Lord, but Thine.

I could not do without Thee,
For years are fleeting fast,
And soon in solemn oneness
The river must be passed;
But Thou wilt never leave me,
And though the waves roll high,
I know Thou wilt be near me,
And whisper, “It is I.”

– Frances Havergal

Ok, not mad in the sense of insane, and the pope doesn’t really make me feel angry. It’s more that the whole idea of this man, (yes, man)  being worshipped by people around the world, and this country in particular right now stirs me up, gets under my skin. The hullabaloo in the media has been rather magnificent – you’d think that Jesus himself had stepped on to American soil this week. Hmmm.

I’ve heard Catholics say that they don’t worship this man, that they just “venerate” him . . . strange – it looks a lot like worship to me. They bow, they kiss his hand, they are thrilled just to “breathe the air he’s breathing” as I heard someone say on the radio, they call him the “holy father”. The “holy father”? The only person we should call Holy Father is the One who is the 1st Person of the Triune Godhead. The pope is neither holy nor anyone’s father. He is not some mediator between God and man. He is a sinner in need of a Savior just like everyone else in the world.

I have a friend who recently got saved out of devout Catholicism, and his eyes have been opened to the lies and the folly associated with that system of religion. He was the one who brought up the “holy father” deal last night, and it got me thinking about how many millions and billions of people are being deceived by another wolf in sheep’s clothing; deceived right into a tormented godless eternity.

Religion is one of Satan’s favorite tools, no doubt about that.

Where am I going?

I think this is my favorite of the four major life questions because it fills my heart with sense of peace to know the answer. I’m not being proud in saying that – I have read what the Bible says on life after death and I’ve staked my eternal destiny on the One who promises everlasting life to all who trust Him alone. (John 3:16)

I’m going to Heaven. How about you? Are you going too? Or are you one of the billions who are currently on their way to the lake of fire (i.e. the very real Hell)?

You can  know the answer to this question, one that nags at the mind of every person in the world. Click on the “Good News” link to the right. It’ll tell you the whole story.

Why am I here?

To have a good time, go for it, get everything I can, die with a lot of toys.

No?

Ok, then. I’m here to leave a legacy – to be so nice and good to my fellow man that I’ll have 1000 people at my funeral who’ll give one heartfelt tribute after another to the wonderful person that was me.

Sounds good. But again, no. The true answer is quite antithetical to how most (all, actually) humans conduct themselves.

John the Baptist said it very well. In fact he summed up what a person’s whole life is to be about in one sentence.

John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

We are here for no other reason than to bring him glory. Unbelievers live very unfulfilling lives because they can’t glorify God in their separated-from-him state. They live life to bring glory to themselves. Sadly, believers all too often do too.

I know I forget why I’m here. Daily. Hourly. I rarely remember “He must increase”. It’s “Katie must increase”.

But when I come around to the right way of thinking, there’s God’s grace, his mercy, his forgiveness.

Psalm 17: 7 I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

Where did I come from?

I touched on this during my discussion on the first question, “Who am I?” in regards to the sad belief in the flukes of evolution, but there is need for expansion. The answer to this second question is simple. In fact, the answers to life’s most important questions are all straightforward when you know the One from whom all life flows.

I did not come to exist in some random way. I was tenderly and lovingly “knit together in my mother’s womb”. Before time began, the Creator had my whole life planned and organized. He arranged my specific combination of DNA to originate with Adam and Eve and be passed down through thousands of years and countless generations of parents and eventually form the person that is me. I am no accident. I am unique. To acknowledge that is not to be proud. It’s actually very humbling and worship-inspiring to recognize my origins and to realize that I am indeed “fearfully and wonderfully made” by my awesome God and Father.

Psalm 139:13-16

13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

And that’s the beautiful story of where we all came from.

Attention, please.

I am resuming posting on this blog after a two week hiatus/sabbatical during which spring came (kind of, ’cause we got a foot of snow on the first day), Easter came and went, and I had a school break. Of sorts.

I started a series on The Four Most Important Questions in Life . (I know, I know. It was a month ago.) I hope to continue with #2 tomorrow.

See ya then.

1998

2003

Drumroll, please . . . .

13 March 2008!!!

um . . .ok, everyone ready? Dad, is your hair ok?? . . . ok . . .2008!!!

Now, let’s all wave goodbye for another 5 years!

Who am I?

Ask most of your friends who they are, and you’ll often get a blank stare or a “Huh?” or an answer such as “I’m a (fill in the blank) parent, a student, an accountant, a laundromat owner”. Their identity is wrapped in what they do because they really don’t know who they are.

If you asked an evolutionist to describe who he was in his very essence, he might say, “I’m a (random) conglomeration of billions of cells that are a product of my ape-like ancestors, which in turn were a product of a string of creatures in various stages of evolution that trace their roots way back billions of years ago to a couple of (chance) proteins in some (fortuitous) primordial stew that (accidentally) smacked into each other (coincidentally) and –zing – (somehow) a spark of life was produced.”

How touching. But that’s not me.

Who am I? First and foremost, my life is in Christ and he lives in me. My identity is completely wrapped up in my Savior, and not in what I may or may not accomplish in life.

Colossians 3:3 “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

I am a child of God through the blood of his Son. I am accepted and blessed in the Beloved One, Jesus Christ. I am a citizen of heaven. I am a not-chance one – God himself knit me together in my mother’s womb.

There is such security in knowing the answer to this most basic of questions.

I don’t have much to say today, but I wanted to post on Leap Day, just ’cause I won’t get a chance to post on it for another 4 years . . .

Speaking of 4, I’ve been contemplating life’s 4 biggest questions. Important as they are, these questions are ones that majority of the people in this world have no idea how to answer. I think I might be starting a little series addressing them, so stay tuned.

It’s snowing today. Or raining. Not sure which one, really. Still, it’s thinking weather out there.  And this is what I’m thinking today.

I’m gonna start a blog . . . .

That’s how this whole thing began on 25 February 2007, so Happy Anniversary, and thanks for reading.

It’s funny, because as far as the weather goes, it’s pretty much the same as it was on this day last year. I think it might be raining tonight, then snowing. And that snowfall will most likely send us over the 80 inch mark for the winter.

Been a lovely winter here. We seem to be breaking weather records left & right. It’s either snowing furiously or the windchill is -25. But our 80+ inches of snow pales in comparison to the 109.8 inches they got in ’85-’86. Um, 1885-1886, that is.

On 21 Feb, Jim Stingl, a columnist for The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, had this humorous take on that Wisconsin winter, and the current one:

“Plentiful snow back then was known as excellent sleighing weather. ‘Mrs. George Lord’s sleigh ride party comprising about 20 couples went to the insane asylum Monday evening and, notwithstanding the intensely cold weather, report a very pleasant time,’ The Milwaukee Journal reported.

We’re all going to be sleighing over to the insane asylum if this winter doesn’t let up soon.”

Indeed. But there is light at the end of the tunnel: spring training games kick off this week.

It’s awful being one of those, isn’t it? The longer I live and the more I read God’s Word, the more I see the ugliness of my heart and my thoughts and my deeds and my words. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to turn into a gut-spilling confessional – the wide world web isn’t the appropriate place and I’ve spoken to Someone about the particulars already. If you are a believer in that Someone, you, my fellow sinner, know how it is to suddenly or gradually recognize our unholiness before the pure and holy King of the Universe. To realize that:

A. I am not a good person. (Romans 3:10)

B. I deserve to be in hell at this very moment. (Romans 6:23a)

Not a pretty picture, eh? Yet these two points are absolutely true of every single person (i.e. sinner) walking this earth. That’s why it is so unbelievably miraculously wonderful that that Someone, that pure and holy King is also something else.

He is, as I heard recently a pastor say in a message, “the Friend of sinners without condoning their sin”. He is the Lover of the unlovely, of prostitutes, crooked judges, candy bar thieves, drunks, disobedient 5 year olds, serial rapists, and Katie Morrison. He, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has provided his own righteousness and deliverance from hell to each believing sinner on the basis of his death for us and his resurrection. And that’s (you guessed it)
grace.

Psalm 23:6 “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.“

My sister sent me this little commentary on the word “follow”:

“The Hebrew word is ‘radaph,’ and can be translated as ‘to pursue, hound, or chase.’ I think it’s such a cool picture! God’s goodness and unfailing love does not meekly follow, trailing along behind us. It aggressively pursues us, hounds us, and chases us down.”

What a precious thought – he is active in his faithful pursuing of me, even when I’m so unfaithful in pursuing him.

From today’s Nation (a newspaper in Kenya):

“The government dropped its demands for a re-count and a new tally of the presidential votes, while the ODM leadership gave up pushing for the resignation of President Kibaki, a re-run of the elections, or a new election in a year’s time. It was agreed that the only option was a political settlement that would bring together the government and ODM sides in a regime whose task would be to enact far-reaching constitutional, legal and institutional reforms over a three-year period. The public breathed a sigh of relief as President Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga shook hands — for the third time in two weeks — and members from both sides exchanged pleasantries.”

Thank you, Lord.

Please keep praying!

(I wrote this post over Christmas break, then kind of forgot to post it. . . better late than never, I suppose.) 

The other night I played Scrabble with my mom. The game amazes me. I think about all the connections my brain is making as it manipulates words and letters – it’s actually an extremely complex process that I have come to appreciate all the more as I have studied language.

Of course, the way I play, I often end up putting my mind through extra and unnecessary contortions trying to figure out how to use all seven tiles on one play, only to end up playing “N-U-T” on the triple word score for a whopping 9 points. Hey, you gotta play with what you got, right?

Last night, it was time for another type of competition as our family took a trip down to see the Flyers play hockey vs. the Maple Leafs (Leaves??). They won, 4-1. It was the first time we’d gone to a major sporting event as a family in 10 years. We picked up my older brother at his apartment and headed into Philly in our Mercury minivan, which “seats seven”.

Ha.

Ten years ago when most of us were a good deal smaller, that might’ve been true. It’s not anymore. My littlest brother is as tall as my dad, my little sister is taller than both my mom and me, so there’s pretty much zero wiggle room. As one of the smaller family members, I had the privilege of sitting in the 3rd row, middle seat. Ah, there’s nothing like a little family bonding time, eh?

And there’s nothing like sitting in the backseat of the family car to makes you feel like a kid again.

Psalm 147:16 “He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes.”

We sure got given a whole lot of wooly snow today in southeast Wisconsin – over a foot right now, with more coming down. When I walked out the door on my way to work, I thought, This is about the whitest day I’ve ever seen. The unplowed, nearly impassable roads are white. The sky is white. The trees are white. The buildings, thanks to the howling winds, are white with the driven snow. Windows are frosted from top to bottom.

This morning, I lay in bed at 5:45 and listened to the nostalgic drone of school closings, remembering when I was young and I sat next to the radio on winter mornings, rooting for them to say the name of my school. Snow days, as any kid knows, are a wonderful unexpected gift.

So, thanks, Lord, for giving us this gift of snow. It’s beautiful.