Monthly Archives: August 2012

And So the GC’s Continue….

31 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by in Be Not Afraid, Be Obedient, Be Trusting, Just another GC, Shower Revelations, Middle-of-the-Night Moments & Other Eye-Opening Stuff, The Bible

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Sounds like a soap opera title, doesn’t it? There ARE some commonalities actually – conflict and tension, among them.

God is trying to batter down my walls and door about my need to control…about surrendering to Him. And I’m feeling battered. I woke up this a.m. with so many thoughts running through my head about this – God was trying to show me how so many things – my lack of trust (not only of Him but others), my fear of the unknown, my worry and anxiety, my fear of being betrayed so I keep thoughts to myself (that was kinda hidden in the corners of my mind because good grief, I certainly pour it out in my writing), my dislike of chaos, my attempt to keep a tight rein on everything, etc. – are all tied together with sin – the original sin and my own. This particular sin laid out in lots of my previous posts – especially the last couple of weeks – about the above issues.

This morning God also reminded me of what I read recently in my Bible in Genesis. I had noticed something that I had never seen before.  In Genesis 3:16 after Adam & Eve listened to satan and disobeyed God, He said to Eve: “Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you.”  THEN in Genesis 4:7, God says to Cain when He banishes him for the murder of Abel, “…..and if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you but you should rule over it.” 

Near identical wording. Interesting, is it not? I knew I had to investigate this further.

John Piper makes the parallel connection:

The key comes from recognizing the connection between the last words of this verse (3:16b) and the last words of Genesis 4:7. Here God is warning Cain about his resentment and anger against Abel. God tells him that sin is about to get the upper hand in his life. Notice at the end of the verse 7: “Sin is crouching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it (literally: you shall rule over it).”

The parallel here between 3:16 and 4:7 is amazingly close. The words are virtually the same in Hebrew, but you can see this in the English as well. In 3:16 God says to the woman, “Your desire is for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” In 4:7 God says to Cain, “Sin’s desire is for you, and you shall rule over it.”

Now the reason this is important to see is that it shows us more clearly what is meant by “desire.” When 4:7 says that sin is crouching at the door of Cain’s heart (like a lion, Genesis 49:9) and that it’s desire is for him, it means that sin wants to overpower him. It wants to defeat him and subdue him and make him the slave of sin.

Now when we go back to 3:16 we should probably see the same meaning in the sinful desire of woman. When it says, “Your desire shall be for your husband,” it means that when sin has the upper hand in woman she will desire to overpower or subdue or exploit man. And when sin has the upper hand in man he will respond in like manner and with his strength subdue her, or rule over her.

It’s a CONTROL ISSUE!!!! Eve’s sin was that she didn’t submit to God’s command  but took control. And it seems to indicate that there would be struggles for control from then on.  Self-exaltation, self-sufficiency, and pride always result in the desire to dominate and rule and control. The opposite of submission.

That’s right…..I blame it all on Eve. Well, Adam did, didn’t he? And she blamed it on the serpent….

THEN later I read what D.A. Carson said in his book The God Who Is There – Finding Your Place in God’s Story comparing the two verses: “The tentacles of rebellion against God corrodes all relationships.” Definitely our relationship with God.

My devotional this morning is ANOTHER GC!

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5

God “appoints” people before they are born in the sense that He has a plan and purpose for each person. Some believe this divine plan cannot be resisted. Others assume that, although God has a specific purpose for each of us, He also gives each of us the freedom to either accept or reject His purposes. As for Jeremiah, though he tried to back of out of his calling at least once, he found he couldn’t, and finally surrendered his will to God’s. (emphasis mine)

Maybe God battered down Jeremiah’s walls, too.

Waving a White Flag

30 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by in Be Obedient, Be Trusting, Just another GC

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When it rains, it pours. GC’s that is. I always wonder why God doesn’t just give up on me. But He doesn’t..He just keeps pursuing me. Knocking on the door. Patiently waiting for me to get it…..My former pastor always called Him the “Hound Of Heaven.” Well, I’m TRYING to raise my white flag….

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By Kelly McFadden (from an email devotional)

Then He said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” 

Luke 9:23-24

Traditionally, the white flag has been a symbol of peace or ceasefire. In a battle, usually the weaker party raises the white flag as a means of requesting negotiation or surrender. In the rules of war, the person approaching with the white flag is not to be fired upon nor is he to fire on anyone else. It is a symbol of surrender. To surrender is to give up or yield to the power of another. To wave your flag means you have left all your armor and protection behind. In essence, you lose and the other person wins. It is that simple.

Jesus tells the crowd that to be His follower they will need to pick up their crosses daily. It is a symbol of surrender. In those days, many Galileans died at the hands of the Romans by carrying their cross up to where they were to be crucified. They lost; the Romans won. Jesus told the crowd that to follow Him, they must surrender. Jesus asks us to do the same today. We need to daily lift our cross. In doing so, we cannot hold tightly to our lives, jobs, money, identity, control, or our hearts. Why? In the words of Jesus, in surrendering to Him, we lose them.

In the world’s view this is backwards. The world says, “Fight to the end, come out on top!” Jesus says give up, surrender to me, leave your armor behind. Trust me with your life, your worries, your money, your family, your heart, your job, and your identity.  For believers, He wants us to understand that we are His. He wants us to know that we have purpose, His purpose. The Christian life does not promise comfort, but it does promise fulfillment.

When you put up your white flag for Jesus, you must walk to Him with open arms. No hidden weapons or plans and agendas. When you wave your white flag, you relinquish your control. You lose, and Jesus wins. And when Jesus wins in your life, this is where you actually find true victory.

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Breaking News….God’s Way vs. My Way Redux

29 Wednesday Aug 2012

Posted by in Be Obedient, Just another GC, The Bible

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Bible Study 2

Bible Study 2 (Photo credit: DrGBB)

In connection with my previous post – God’s Way or My Own Way.

Along with reading the Chronological Bible, I am reading a book called The God Who Is There – Finding Your Place in God’s Story by D.A. Carson. It basically walks you through the Bible and expounds or “unpacks” the story.  The foundation of the Bible. I found this book by accident (oh, really, Chrystal? By “accident?”) and it is proving to be a great companion to my Bible reading.

Anyway, right after I published God’s Way or My Own Way, I was reading this book. Right before this section, it had been discussing how Genesis 1 and 2 fit into the whole Bible and into our lives.  Hang on to your hats.

What the Bible says about creation is what grounds the notion of human accountability and responsibility.

Why should I obey God? If he wants to take me in directions that I do not like, who is he to tell me what to do? Surely I am free to choose the other gods or invent my own. I can belt out the popular song “I did it my way.” (ha! Isn’t that ironic?) Who is he to boss me around? I defy him.

Unless he made me; unless he designed me. In that case, I owe him everything – life and breath and everything else, such that if I do not see it that way, then I am out of line with my Maker. I am out of line with the one who designed me and with what I am designed by God himself to be. I am fighting against myself as well as against the God who made me. (ahhh, remember my Wrestling post?!?) All of human accountability and responsibility before god is ground in the first instance in creation. He made us, and we owe him. If we do not recognize this simple truth, then, according to the Bible, that blindness is itself a mark of how alienated from him we are. It is for our good that we recognize it, not because he is the supreme bully but because without him, we would not even be here, and we will certainly have to give an account to him.

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God’s Way or My Own Way

28 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by in Be at Peace, Be Not Afraid, Be Obedient, Be Trusting, Just another GC

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“We can either do this the hard way or the easy way. So which one will it be?”

That’s what I believe God tells us….and what He’s certainly been telling me for years. That He is going to accomplish His Will one way or the other. So why on earth would we…would I….want to choose the hard way? YOUR OWN WAY may be pride, anger, etc.. But whatever OUR OWN WAY is, the root of it is SELF-SUFFICIENCY and lack of trust. Of course for me, the hard way – MY WAY – is….drum roll please……….

Yeah, you know it if you’ve read any of my posts…….Here comes the C-word and the T-word and even the F-WORD! Control and Trust and Fear.

I’m sure you’ve heard the claim that 85 percent of what we worry about will never happen to us? According to this, there is absolutely nothing we can do about 10 percent of our worries, and that only the other 5 percent of our worries are legitimate. When we look at our worries in the light of these statistics, seems like most of our worrying is useless….

…..so again, I ask, WHY? Why would I choose the hard way, my way? Why would I worry so much about things unlikely to even happen?!?!

Obviously, Jesus knew a little something about those statistics. Matt 6:25-34

25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Yesterday, I heard a sermon (thank you Alex!) based on Matt 18:1-5.  I’m not really sure if the intent of his message was truly this…I was actually concentrating on certain aspects of it…..but this is what God was saying to my heart.  Alex said that little children are not self-sufficient. They depend wholly on the adults in their lives – their parents – for their existence. They trust.  I like how one version put it: “I assure you that if you don’t turn your lives around and become like this little child, you will definitely not enter the kingdom of heaven” or “unless you change your whole outlook…”

I need to stop trying to be self-sufficient and depend wholly on my Father.  I need to be vulnerable, humble and open like a child. I need to relax in His Arms, in His provision, in Love, and in His Goodness. I need to cry out Abba, Daddy, and let Him take over. To let go of my need to control. I need an Inside-Out change.

These words are from an email devotional this week – just another GC:

The decision to trust God or to carry the worries of the world yourself is up to you. Either road you decide to take requires an action decision on your part. One road leads to fulfillment and peace, the other road leads to frustration and anxiety. By all means choose the road called trust! God’s Word has never been proven wrong.

Either road you decide to take requires an action decision on your part.  We CHOOSE! We can either take God’s Way or our own way – the easy way or the hard way….

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Pouring My Heart Out….

24 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by in Be Obedient, Be Passionate, Music Videos, Etc.

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I can’t get this song (below) out of my head lately. I’ve been trying to figure out exactly why…It’s like the exact concept is in there somewhere. It’s hovering in my consciousness, but I can’t quite grasp the complete idea that God wants me to hear……but almost.  There are so many phrases in this song that just capture my heart, among them:

  • YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS WHO I REALLY AM
  • YOUR THOUGHTS BURN THROUGH ME LIKE A FIRE
  • WE JUST NEED A TASTE OF WHO WE ARE
  • WE’RE WILLING TO GO BUT NOT THAT FAR
  • WHEN I COULD ONLY SEE THE FLOOR, YOU MADE MY WINDOW A DOOR

Although I cry every time I hear this song, that last phrase listed makes me cry especially. And trust me….I do not miss the GC of the word door. It just keeps popping up. See my posts here and here among other things. On a friend’s Facebook status this morning (Oswald wisdom: Unless you learn to open the door of your life completely and let God in from your first waking moment of each new day, you will be working on the wrong level throughout the day.) and then in an article I read this morning…

How was I feeling this morning? Feeling the walls closing in around me, that’s what. I’m feeling pulled in many directions – the pull of others and of upcoming responsibilities. Feeling the fear and anxiety of my son leaving to study in Istanbul, Turkey in 2 weeks. Yep, been struggling with that ALL SUMMER but trying NOT to. I’m truly having a hard time surrendering his safety to God, surrendering my control of the situation (Yes, I know…I don’t have any control of my son’s life – it’s a false sense of control but one I’ve been clinging to). Turning him and his life over to the One who Created him. My desire to hear from God. The desire to BE what God wants. I have a couple of devotionals that I really want to read and learn from that I try to fit in every day and am really feeling the NEED to read through the Bible as I talked about here. REALLY a big NEED. I’m reading and loving the Chronological Bible by the way. And I’m really feeling..at cross purposes…what’s the word I’m looking for…CONFLICTED! between WHO I AM right now/have been and WHO/WHAT God wants me to be….I think….I see glimpses of WHO God wants me to be, but I’m nowhere near it. I keep thinking, why am I not changing? Why am I still selfish? Why do I still feel like the old me? Why am I still dealing with the Same. Old. Stuff?!?!?

There are things that I KNOW are holding me back.  That I just can’t seem to surrender. Why is it so hard? And then perhaps part of it is the working of the enemy. I know he doesn’t want me to move ahead…he wants me to feel conflicted.

Back to the article I read this morning – referencing the door – by John Eldredge:

“….in Revelation 3 (Yes, this is what I posted about in The Door), He says ‘I stand at the door knocking.’ Somebody locked that door, and it wasn’t Jesus. He’s speaking to Christians – that’s a letter written to the church – and He’s saying, ‘You’ve locked Me out. Please let ME in.’ We tend to interpret Jesus through our brokenness and create ways to lock Him out. For example, there’s the Christian who says, ‘Well, God doesn’t speak directly to me.’ It’s going to be very difficult for that person to discern God speaking to him because he’s already created a limit that says, ‘No, He doesn’t act this way.’

Now, what’s so beautiful about the heart of God is that He will live within these limits for a while because He wants relationship with you. He’ll try to come in through some other door, (kinda sounds like a window, don’t you think?) trying to keep the relationship open – as a loving parent would do with a teenager. You don’t just slam the door on the teenager.  You say, ‘Okay, if these are the ground rules you’re creating, then in order to keep communication open, I’ll relate to you like this for while.’ FOR A WHILE. But Jesus says, ‘I’m still knocking. Please stop shutting the door.’

I am not the Christian referenced above who doesn’t think God speaks directly to me. I KNOW He does. And I’ve written about it and will write more about it. So what limits have I created to keep Him from transforming me? Maybe He already is doing that, and I just can’t see it. Can’t feel it.  Am I just being too impatient?  Is there some spiritual warfare involved? Are these just “growing pains?” Or am I just not responding to what He wants? Am I wrestling with Him like this post? I just re-read that post and am sobbing. Is God wrestling with me instead?  It’s like a tug-of-war going on with my thoughts. I HATE this…being fearful, anxious, unsettled.

Well, now that I’ve totally poured my heart out…..I hope I don’t regret it. I feel completely vulnerable with this post. Kinda makes me wish I were anonymous now.

A lot of bloggers in this community write uplifting, encouraging, teaching words. I’m grateful for that and get much out of them. But sometimes that makes me feel like I’m the only one who struggles. But I really don’t think I am. From the beginning of this blog, I felt that I was supposed be open and vulnerable to allow others to take comfort in the fact that they didn’t have to be “perfect” Christians. We do not have to wear a mask, pretending to have it all together.  I take comfort from the characters in the Bible.  They certainly had their issues.

The Choking Burden of Worry

20 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by in Be Not Afraid, Be Trusting

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 If you have read ANY of my posts, you probably know that worry, fear, anxiety top the list of things I write about. The things I struggle with the most. The thorn in my flesh. The chains that need to be broken. 

This is a little gem from Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the emailed 40 Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer that I’ve subscribed to from Bible Gateway.  Every day has potent words in it.

Do not worry! Earthly goods deceive the human heart into believing that they give it security and freedom from worry. But in truth, they are what cause anxiety. The heart which clings to goods receives with them the choking burden of worry. Worry collects treasures, and treasures produce more worries. We desire to secure our lives with earthly goods; we want our worrying to make us worry-free, but the truth is the opposite. The chains which bind us to earthly goods, the clutches which hold the goods tight, are themselves worries.Abuse of earthly goods consists of using them as a security for the next day. Worry is always directed toward tomorrow. But the goods are intended only for today in the strictest sense. It is our securing things for tomorrow which makes us so insecure today. It is enough that each day should have its own troubles. Only those who put tomorrow completely into God’s hand and receive fully today what they need for their lives are really secure. Receiving daily liberates me from tomorrow.

Biblical Wisdom

“But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew 6:33-34

Questions to Ponder

  • If “worry collects treasures, and treasures produce more worries,” how might one stop worrying?
  • How can we tell the difference between what we really “need” for our lives and what we think we need but really only want? Can we be content with what we really need?
  • Practically speaking, what would it mean to stop our “abuse of earthly goods” and “put tomorrow completely into God’s hand”?

Psalm Fragment

How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. Psalm 36:7-9

Journal Reflections

  • Write down your worries of today.
  • Reflect on why you have these worries.
  • How many of them have to do with things you have or want to have?
  • Explore ways in which trusting God for today and tomorrow might relieve your worry and fear.

Intercessions

Pray for the people you know who are worried or afraid. Ask God to deliver them from their worries by increasing their trust in God’s providential care.

Prayer for Today

Lord, I place my worries in your gracious hand and live this day trusting that you are with me and that what I have is more than I need.
40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Copyright © 2007 Augsburg Books, imprint of Augsburg Fortress.
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The Door Part 2

17 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by in Be Grateful, Be Joyful, Be Passionate, Just another GC, Shower Revelations, Middle-of-the-Night Moments & Other Eye-Opening Stuff

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A few weeks ago, I wrote about Jesus being the Door – that we can either prop the door open to let Jesus in or wedge it shut to keep Him out.  I also told this story: A few years ago, I painted a canvas with all the accusations of satan on one side with the Words of Truth on the other. It was a time when I was struggling with believing those accusations. One night, I heard the words “Just shut the door” and when I woke up, I painted the open door in between the words and named the painting “The Door Between Truth and Lies.”

You know that maddening experience when you walk into a room to do/get something and have totally forgotten why you were there?  The good news is that you’re not having a “senior moment” or worse. There’s a scientific explanation! And you can place the blame on the DOORWAY!

I just heard about this study on the radio this morning that suggests that it’s the very act of walking through a doorway that causes these strange memory lapses. It’s called an “event boundary” experience

This site says “Why on Earth do we have a memory system that forgets stuff as soon as we change our environment? Maybe it actually has a survival advantage. A new environment is unknown, and might be dangerous. So it makes sense to forget the old environment and put all your attention on the new (emphasis mine). Forget about the killer gorillas in the forest you just left and start looking for the killer lions on the open plains you have just entered.”

If you’re a total geek, you can read the study here.

All this made me think of the Doorway we pass through when we accept Jesus as our Savior. That Doorway leads to eternal life, to righteousness through His blood, to a life free from condemnation. Hebrews 8:12:

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

So if God “remembers our sins no more,” then we need to do the same. Not only for others, but also for ourselves!

We need to “forget the old environment and put all your attention on the new.”

Last night during the wee hours of non-sleeping that I occasionally often experience, I found Joyce Meyer on TV talking about Pressing Past Guilt and Shame. I found a Part 1 (Learn to live with a “righteous consciousness” rather than a “sin consciousness” so you can get rid of the past and move toward your future) and Part 2 (Move beyond negative emotions and begin enjoying who God created: YOU!) online. Oh yeah…just another GC.

She speaks of satan telling us -and our agreement with him – of all the things we are NOT.  Jesus wants us to forget all that…and remember WHO WE ARE IN HIM!

Pressing on Toward the Goal – Philippians 3:12-14:

12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Let’s walk through that Doorway and have an “event boundary” experience.

What Can We Learn from the Book of Eli?

16 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by in Shower Revelations, Middle-of-the-Night Moments & Other Eye-Opening Stuff, The Bible

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The Book of Eli

The Book of Eli (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

No, the Book of Eli is NOT a newly discovered “lost” or apocryphal book of the Bible but a dark, rather violent, post-apocalyptic movie starring Denzel Washington that is actually very intriguing. It certainly is not a Christian movie…it was not intended to be a Christian move….but it still had a few messages in it for us. It is about Eli, who has been traveling west on a mission for 30 years, and the Book he reads every night and does whatever is necessary to guard and protect it. WHATEVER is necessary.

If you can take the violence, and the language, etc. in this movie, it really has some compelling moments and messages.

Warning: Spoiler Alert! If you’d like to watch the movie and do NOT want the plot/action to be revealed, then don’t read any further.

After the “last great war” that devastated the world, all Bibles and other religious books were destroyed because some people believed that religion was a catalyst for this war. A Voice led Eli to discover a book hidden among the rubble from the war. This same Voice told Eli to take the Book west. No other instructions but that he would know it when he got where he was supposed to go and that he would be protected during his mission. He tells a young woman who ends up traveling with him:

“Eli: The war tore a hole in the sky, the sun came down, burnt everything, everyone, I wandered, I didn’t really know what I should do or where I was going. I was just moving from place to place,trying to stay alive. And then one day I heard this voice. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like it was coming from inside me. But I could hear it clear as day. Clear as I can hear you talking to me now. It told me to carry the book west, it told me that a path would be laid out before me, that I’d be led to a place where the book would be safe. It told me I’d be protected, against anyone or anything that tried to stand in my way. If only I would have faith. That was thirty years ago, and I’ve been walking ever since
Solara: And you did all this because a voice told you to?
Eli: I know what I hear, I know what I heard, I know I’m not crazy, I didn’t imagine it.”

When she questions him about his mission:

Solara: You know, you say you’ve been walking for thirty years, right?
Eli: Right.
Solara: Have you ever thought that maybe you were lost?
Eli: Nope.
Solara: Well, how do you know that you’re walking in the right direction?
Eli: I walk by faith, not by sight.
Solara: [sighs] What does that mean?
Eli: It means that you know something even if you don’t know something.
Solara: That doesn’t make any sense.
Eli: It doesn’t have to make sense. It’s faith, it’s faith. It’s the flower of light in the field of darkness that’s giving me the strength to carry on. You understand?
Solara: Is that from your book?
Eli: No, it’s, uh, Johnny Cash, Live at Folsom Prison.  (Chrystal here: Yes, Eli has a sense of humor…this is only one of Eli’s little quips.)

Solara: Do you really read the same book everyday?
Eli: Without fail.

During his travels, he comes across the villain of the story, Carnegie, a man who has an agenda of his own – to rule others. Carnegie is looking for a Book. A certain Book that he believes is very powerful.  He says, “I grew up with that book, I know its power.” And “This is not just a book, it’s a weapon aimed at the hearts and minds of the weak and desperate. It will give us control.” Too bad Carnegie didn’t understand the REAL POWER of the Book. Too bad that a lot of people do not understand its power.

Of course, Carnegie finds out that Eli has a Bible and thus begins the fight for possession of it.  This, of course, involves more violence…and involves Solara.
Earlier in the movie, Eli protected the Book with some really “impossible” almost super-human feats. A whirlwind with his sword, his gun and his body, he is ruthless against those who wished to harm him, thus preventing him from his journey…..even to the exclusion of helping others who were being attacked by Carnegie’s flunkies. He said to himself as he weighed whether he should jump into the fray:

Eli: Stay on the path. It’s not your concern. Stay on the path. It’s not your concern.

However, when the bad guys have captured him and Solara, he finally turns the Bible over to Carnegie to protect her.

Solara: I didn’t think you’d ever give up the book. I thought it was too important to you.
Eli: It was. I was carrying and reading it everyday. Got so caught up in protecting it, I forgot to live by what I’d learned from it.
Solara: And what’s that?
Eli: To do more for others than you do for yourself.

Who said a dark, post-apocalyptic, violent, very secular movie couldn’t teach us anything?

Then, although Eli was shot in the stomach, he continues west to complete his mission. And arrives at the island of Alcatraz to find a library of precious books and documents, etc. gathered since the war and its keeper Lombardi:

Lombardi: There’s a whole series of beautiful Mozart and Wagner records, in still very pristine condition. But, never a Bible. Until now. May I ask what condition it’s in?
Eli: It’s beat up. But it will do the job.

And as they sit down at a table:

Eli: Write everything exactly as I say it. The first book of Moses, called Genesis. Chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Eli: Verse 2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Eli: Verse 3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Lombardi: [to his assistant] Could you get us some writing paper, please.
Eli: A lot of it. A whole lot of it.

I feel so motivated to not only read this Book EVERY DAY but Psalm 119:11 comes to mind: Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee

Oh, and one last thing. When Carnegie opened the Bible he took from Eli…..it was in Braille. There was several foreshadowing moments about this.

Now you tell me….What can we learn from the Book of Eli?

Commenter Award

13 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by in Shower Revelations, Middle-of-the-Night Moments & Other Eye-Opening Stuff

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Terry at http://terry1954.wordpress.com/ nominated me as her 7th nomination “Because this blog is so inspirational to me.” Those words mean so much to me!! Coming from someone whose heart is so open, kind and inspirational! Thank you so much, Terry!

Here are the rules for the award: (this is an easy one…and fun!)

  1. You will find your Top Recent Commentor’s on your site stats page on the bottom, right corner. If you do not see this, click on the Screen Options in the top, right corner and be sure that “Comments” is checked.
    1. If you are good about responding to every comment, then you will be the first one in the list.
    2. It is the next six commenter’s on the list that you will nominate and pass this award to.
    3. But wait! You may nominate one more person. This person can either be a brand new commenter on your blog, the very last comment you have received (most recent), or the one who has posted your most favourite comments. This seventh nomination is your choice, but please do tell us why you have chosen them as your seventh.
    4. These are the 6 people who comment the most on my posts.
  1. Guess who is number 1?!?!?! Terry! http://terry1954.wordpress.com/
  2. http://anutsnotes.wordpress.com/
  3. http://beingfae.wordpress.com/
  4. Naphtali/Cathy http://craigmotor.wordpress.com/
  5. Pastor Chris Jordan http://pastorchrisjordan.wordpress.com/
  6. Patricia http://lifeofministermom.wordpress.com/
  7. And my choice for number 7 is Juliana http://simplyjuliana.wordpress.com/ because we seem to be on the same track a lot. She always has something to say that is floating around in my mind.

An Epic Story

13 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by in Just another GC, The Bible

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A few weeks ago I wrote about the Word. THE WORD. I was trying to explain what was simmering in my mind about the Word of God actually being THE WORD HIMSELF – the living Christ. And why the Bible speaks to us so intimately, timely and appropriately for our immediate situation…because it is a conversation with THE WORD HIMSELF. Of course, in order to have this timely conversation with God, that means we actually have to allow Him to talk to us….actually PICK UP the Word of God and open it and read it.  

Charles Stanley’s In Touch magazine this month is all about the Bible, titled “Transformed by the Word.”  As usual, God gives me His GC’s so I will pay attention. He is talking to me and His timing is always perfect…. I read a story this morning from one of the articles that I want to share. It touched my heart. It excited me, just as God intended it to. It ignited my desire to have an even deeper conversation with Him. I’m ready to read through the entire Bible again with a fresh heart like the people below who heard the epic story.  I’m supposed to at this time. Just like my grandmother had started reading through the Bible AGAIN with her Sunday School the year she passed away. She’d like that. And so would He.

Here’s the story:

A few decades ago, a group of linguists were welcomed by a community in Indonesia. The purpose was to live with the tribe, learn their language and create a written alphabet so the Bible could be translated. Considering the scope of the project (66 different books with 1189 chapters), the translators initially figured that following standard procedure would be the most logical: start with a gospel book from the New Testament and get straight to the story of Jesus as soon as possible. But as they gradually learned the new language’s nuances and the culture behind it, they came to realize how important elaborate oral storytelling was to the tribe’s identity. The plan changed. If ever there was an epic story to tell, it was this one. And the story of Christ didn’t just start with His birth.

That year, the translators labored over their spoken language skills while one of them, an artist, drew hundreds of large, symbolic illustrations that followed the Bible’s narrative arc. Finally, they announced that they were ready. All the surrounding villages were notified, and on the day the storytelling was to commence, the entire tribe gathered to listen. And the translators started at the very beginning.

The process took days as they moved from character to character; the first people on earth who hid from God’ their son who killed his brother, Abraham, who climbed up a mountain to sacrifice Isaac; Moses, who led his people out of slavery; David the teenage shepherd who became a warrior king and legendary poet…The storytellers told of sin and loss and exile and God’s continual acts of redemption. And then they finally came to the end of Part 1 – 400 years of silence and waiting. The tribe hung on every word.

All this, and they still had yet to explain “the plan of salvation,” who Jesus was, and for that matter, what any of these stories had to do with one another. Yet, the day Part 2 began, the translators started to tell of a baby born in the darkness of night in the town of David, and something astonishing happened. The audience erupted in excitement. “This is the One!” they said, cries of recognition rippling through the crowd. “This is the One everyone’s been waiting for! He is the sacrifice, the Lamb of God who will take away the people’s sin!”

The Word of God goes beyond its written message, and even beyond history or prophecy or song. It goes beyond the ancient commandments and even the parables Jesus told. When taken in as a whole story that points to the Word Himself, the written letters are illuminated by God’s Spirit, revealing His grace and truth to us.

Want to read the whole story with me? I’ll be reading the Chronological Bible.

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