A little insight into her name…

Shiloh:
It is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is “His gift”. Also possibly “he who was sent”.
Biblical: a prophetic name for the Messiah.

Genesis 49:10-12
The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes;
And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
Binding his donkey to the vine,
And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
He washed his garments in wine,
And his clothes in the blood of grapes.
His eyes are darker than wine,
And his teeth whiter than milk.

Shiloh is also the site of an ancient city in the Ephraim hill-country and the religious capital of Israel in the time of the Judges. It is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as an assembly place for the people of Israel where there was a sanctuary containing the Ark of the Covenant.

Shiloh was the center of Israelite worship. The people assembled here for the mandatory feasts and sacrifices, and here lots were cast for the various tribal areas and for the Levitical cities.

Hesed:
I think the following is a good, working definition of hesed: the consistent, ever-faithful, relentless, constantly-pursuing, lavish, extravagant, unrestrained, furious love of our Father God!

Also…
“In the Hebrew Scriptures, hesed refers to a sort of love that has been promised and is owed—covenant love, that is—as in Hosea 1:1: ‘When Israel was a child, I loved him and out of Egypt I called my son.’ Covenant love is the love God promised to give to his covenant people, and which they in turn were to respond with in kind, loving the God of the Bible with all their hearts, minds and strength. Hesed does not suggest some kind of generic love of everyone. Like marital love, covenantal love is given within the context of a relationship where it is already promised and where the recipient is commanded to respond in kind. Covenant love, like marital love, is neither optional nor unconditional; it is obligatory. This is not to say hesed is compelled—just as in a marriage, love cannot be forced—but it is commanded. This love may be freely and graciously given, but, from the biblical point of view, there is no such thing as free love.

It is sometimes difficult for a modern person, who associates love with uncontrollable feelings, to understand how the Bible can command love of God, neighbors, even enemies. But in the Bible the many terms translated as ‘love’ do not refer primarily to feelings. They refer to decisions of the will. This voluntaristic notion of love is recalled in modern wedding services, where the bride and groom say ‘I do’ and ‘I will’ when they are asked to make their vows, not ‘I feel like it.’ In the Bible, when God’s people are called upon to ‘love,’ they are being asked to do something loving and responsive to the love of God, whether they feel like it or not. Consider Matthew 5:44: ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.’”
An Excerpt From This Article

Want to know more about the word Hesed? CLICK HERE

One last definition: our beautiful daughter!

I’ve never done anything like this before and to be honest I was quite scared! There were in fact several aspects of the weekend that worried me but I think the one that stood out the most was what if God didn’t show up? What if I went through all this trouble and I just sit there for two days bored out of my head? But then again, I guess another fear was what if He did???

I arrived just before supper time Friday night to be met by a small, very bearded man. We sat in a tiny, well decorated room as he outlined the five common aspects of a hermitage retreat.

The first was sleep. All right, now you’re talking my language! He said that many people shy away from just resting while they’re there. People often feel they need to be earnestly and actively seeking the Lord at all times. He suggested I nap whenever I wanted to…I assured him it wouldn’t be a problem.

The second aspect of my time there was eating!

Again, not something he needed to worry about. I hadn’t brought much food but they provided a wonderful basket full of basic yet delicious food. I considered fasting while I was there but then I decided to take it one step at a time. This is already going to be hard enough, I don’t need to be starving as well.

The third principle he laid out was moving. They encourage their hermits to get out on the walking trails and just get their blood pumping. They felt so strongly about this that they provided a workout room in the basement of the main building.

All right, we’ve had three out of five and not one has been “spiritual”…interesting.

The fourth suggestion was journaling. OK, that’s a little more like it. He was a strong proponent of journaling. “Write everything down” he said. After all, it may not be intended for now and you’d hate to forget it.

The fifth and final point was listening. Wait, how come prayer wasn’t one of the five principles? Ahhh…maybe that’s a box I am still trying to get out of. In other words, I am slowly realizing that prayer is much more than the “our father who art in heaven” part.

At the end of our conversation, my small, bearded friend brought me out to my hermitage. They have 16 little huts out in the forest and each of them has a name. Mine was named after St. Anthony the Hermit…how appropriate.

It would be too hard to chronicle my entire weekend here but I can say that it was well worth it. The skies were not torn asunder as the Lord descended in robes of white and yet at the same time God was there. Sure, sometimes I was bored and very lonely but that’s just the reality of distractions being stripped away as we enter in to the realization that’s it’s just you and Jesus.

And when everything is said and done isn’t that all that’s left…you and Jesus?

One thing I did come to understand through my time as a hermit is the importance of silence and isolation. Embracing the innate need that we all have to sit quietly at the feet of our Savior whether we feel His presence or not. To take a deep breath, close our eyes, and just be.

If you’d like a pictorial glimpse of my stay at the hermitage visit the album Jason the Hermit on our Photos page. Be sure to click through each individual picture so you can read the little tidbits I wrote beneath them.

To learn more about the hermitage I stayed at feel free to
browse their website: Pacem in Terris

But, I decided to take this opportunity to show how much I’ve grown as an individual and a pursuer of God.

The old me would have felt it necessary to do two entries quickly in order to catch up. After all, someone is keeping score somewhere aren’t they?

And anything worth doing is worth doing well…isn’t that the way the saying goes?

Wrong!

I have come to realize that anything worth doing is…worth doing! My ability to do it doesn’t change its worth – right?

It may seem like silly semantics but it can really affect the way that some of us live. For instance, I have missed a week so now my blog isn’t perfect. I can’t look back with pride and say, “Wow, I didn’t miss a single one. I really kept on top of it!�

I can see now that I was seeking satisfaction in the wrong place. Instead of feeling good about not missing a week the Lord is showing me that I should take comfort in my ability to “get back up and keep going�.

This is a good lesson to learn seeing as I am sure to fail much more often than reach perfection in any given area.

What a weird and different perspective the Lord gives. Instead of my taking pleasure in perfection He shows me that I should take pleasure in my failures…as long as I “get back up and keep going�.

After all, scripture says:

“For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.�

~Proverbs 24:16

The only major difference I can see in this verse is that the wicked don’t get back up!

The truth of this verse is clearly witnessed through the lives of Peter and Judas. The more I read about their accounts, the more I realize there is very little difference in what they did: both publicly rejected Jesus. In fact, Peter did it three times to one in comparison to Judas. The big distinction that we can see between the two is that Peter repented and came back to the Lord whereas Judas stayed down and eventually hung himself.

It really is funny how different worldly and godly perspectives are from each other. The world thinks that the righteous never fall; they are the picture of perfection in all they do.

God, however; says the righteous fall many times more than the wicked.

Do you want to know why?

Because they’re trying!

They’re out there attempting to live and do what the Lord says. Of course they’re going to fail at some things…but if they keep getting up and continuing on they will eventually succeed! They will press forward and attain that which they are striving for. After all, the very fact that they got back up is success in itself.

A really interesting thing about that Proverbs’ verse is the word “seven�.

“It’s just a number�, you may say, “how interesting can it be?�

And that is one way to interpret it: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 times

There are other possibilities though.

Often when the word seven is used in scripture it can mean one week. Is the author of the Proverbs trying to tell us that a righteous man may fall for one week?

Another option is indefinitely. Since the week is cyclical and continuous sometimes the number seven is used to show an indefinite number (as can be seen in Jesus’ exchange with Peter in regards to the forgiveness of sins found in Matthew 18:21).

But perhaps the one that rings most true in my spirit is reading the number seven as “the sacred full one�. Pretty much any Bible scholar can tell you that the number seven is often a prophetic image of fullness or perfection.

Using this interpretation, one could say that the righteous man fails to perfection.

In other words; he falls down, learns his lesson and gets up; falls down, learns his lesson and gets up; falls down, learns his lesson and gets up…and eventually he finds perfection through his many failures.

So, the next time you don’t meet someone’s expectations you can just let them know that you aren’t perfect…but at least now you’re one step closer.

I believe he stated that it all starts with precept – this handy little guy pops up before conscience thought actually happens: It is the prelude to a concept. In other words, when you actually think of something it is the result of one of your precepts birthing a concept.

Okay, now we’ve got our concept but that’s all it is at this point: a concept. So, we have to bring more structure to it in our mind, really think about it…now our concept becomes a thought/idea.

Alright, now we’re thinking (literally) and we want to communicate it to others, after all what’s the point of coming up with an idea if it can’t be shared with others? Unless technology makes some major advancements the only way one can share his or her ideas is through words.

We’re almost at the end of this process (at least for now), which is when you open up your mouth and speak. You carve through your vocabulary and try your best to clothe your ideas with the few words you have available. Encapsulate enough of these ideas in words and you’ve got yourself an ideal.

Why is it ideal you may ask? Because it’s perfect! At least to you…after all, if you came across something better then you’d replace your present thoughts with those.

Of course, the man preaching this explained it much better and didn’t try to sum it up in a few sentences as I just tried to do.

At the end of this little presentation he made two points that I thought were fascinating:

1) Scripture tells us that Jesus is the Word (John 1:1). So keeping the previously mentioned information in mind we can say that Jesus was God communicating His ideas to us. God wrapped Himself in flesh (just as ideas are wrapped in words) in order to communicate His ideal with us. Hence, Jesus is God’s ideal…His perfect way.

And…

2) The primary definition of repentance in New Testament scripture is “to think differently” or “reconsider”.

Wait a minute; that can’t be right. I was always told that repentance meant to do a one-eighty or turn around and go in the opposite direction. In other words, it had to do with actions not thoughts. Yet this man was saying, Jesus came to warn us to change the way we think! Of course, I can’t blindly follow the ways of Mr. Television Preacher Man so I will look into it myself.

“In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’.”

~Matthew 3:2

I looked up the original definition for the word they’ve translated as “repent” and the definition given was, “to think differently or afterwards, that is, reconsider” (Strong’s 3340). So, what was the message that John, the forerunner of Christ, was preaching?

Change the way you think for the kingdom of heaven is near.

Well that’s fine and dandy for John the Baptist but what about Jesus? What was His message?

“From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’.”

~Matthew 4:17

In fact, as I searched through the New Testament I found this word 23 times (10 of those instances in the book of Revelation)! It’s as though the Gospel and Epistles are yelling at us, “change the way you think before it’s too late!”

One only has to read the Beatitudes or the Sermon on the Mount to realize just how different our thinking is compared to God.

Am I suggesting as long as we think about things “correctly” we can do as we please? Are our actions inconsequential before God? Of course not! Taking in the entire counsel of scripture we can see that our actions are very important. A perfect example is seen in the parable of the sheep and the goats…as Keith Green sang, “the only difference between the sheep and the goats is what they did and did not do” (Matthew 25:31-46).

The overarching point in all of this is that our thoughts determine our actions! If I truly think that the least in this world will be considered the greatest in the kingdom of heaven then I will seek to be the least. If I think that prayer can move mountains and save souls then I will pray! If my actions do not line up with this then you can be sure that my thinking doesn’t, and if that’s the case, then God calls me to repent: change the way I think.

God knew that the only way to change a man is from the inside out.

After all, the Law was an expression of God’s ideal just as Jesus was. We weren’t meant to make a checklist and say, “as long as I don’t do any of this stuff I am okay.” God was giving us insight into what He valued and His desire for us to value the same thing.

I value life so do not murder.

I value order and respect so honor your parents.

I value love…well that one pretty much encompasses all the commandments.

His intent was that we also value life, order, respect and love and when we didn’t get it through the Law He sent Jesus to reiterate the point.

Of course God knew that we couldn’t be as He is on our own so that’s why we have the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah…but that would lead us into a whole new study so I better stop here.

I guess the comfort that I find in this revelation is realizing that I have repented of the way I thought.

There was a day that I realized the way I thought about life and the world is wrong and it was causing me to make bad decisions that were leading me towards death. This fact is amazing but it doesn’t mean that I immediately stop doing wrong things…mainly because my mind is not reprogrammed overnight: I must continue to repent. But now I can understand that when my actions are wrong there is wrong thinking behind it, which makes me all the more prepared to do battle.

Instead of waging war against the flesh and taking a stand against that action, I can instead try to understand what thought lead me to this action and repent of it by replacing it with what God thinks on the matter.

It sounds simple enough but it’s not what most of us are told to do. We focus on the action and try to put barriers up to prevent ourselves from sinning.

“Well, sometimes when I go on the internet I look at pornography so I am never going to use the internet again!” or “Sometimes I overeat so I think I am going to stop eating all together”.

To some it may sound silly and to others they may say, “well yes, if you sometimes look at internet pornography then stop using the internet…after all it is better to ‘gouge out your eye’ then, yadda, yadda, yadda…” But we can’t take this approach with all things as we see with the overeating example.

Besides, do you really think it’s the internet that is the problem in this situation? It is simply a symptom of a deeper issue that will merely pop up some where else in that person’s life.

Instead of this endless cycle of sinning and then repenting of our actions over and over again perhaps we should try the method God suggested?

After all, the only way we can truly be transformed is by the renewing of our mind…sound familiar? (Romans 12:2).

First of all, I enjoy writing and need a way to practice. Most of the time I can’t sit down and write just anything; I need inspiration.

A second reason why I am posting my thoughts online is because I need a motivation to really study scripture. I’m not talking about just reading a verse everyday and crossing it off my “read the Bible in a year� list. I want to actually dig into scripture because there are many hidden truths to be found. Some have been known throughout the ages but have been lost or forgotten…and others I believe have been locked up until the proper time of revelation. That’s right; there are secrets in scripture that the Spirit of God could reveal to you or me at any given moment: ancient truths He’s longing to entrust to someone. So who knows, maybe I’ll come across some of them…maybe not, but I’ll never know unless I put myself to the Word and really dig in.

There is a third reason that I am starting this blog and I believe this initial entry will provide it.

I must admit that I struggle with reading scripture. I’ve often commented that I suffer from scriptural bulimia: always binging and purging on the Word of God. I’ll go weeks and weeks without even opening my Bible until my spirit is wasting away to nothing…then I gorge. I have come to realize that this practice is just as dangerous for your spiritual life as it is for your physical one.

When we attempt to consume massive amounts of scripture we tend to get indigestion. Okay, maybe the metaphor can only go so far but I did realize that when I binged on scripture I wasn’t really digesting it. It was just information – dead words instead of the life-giving substance it was intended to be.

So I’ve begun to slow down and take smaller bites. Everyday I try to find something in scripture to think about; something that will change the way I think and therefore act. I look for God’s truth and try to understand it a little bit more. I may not always be successful but at least now I’m trying.

It’s quite fitting that the first thing God showed me was so directly related to both my study of scripture and the development of this new blog.

Searching through the book of Luke the other day I came across the following verse:

I guess I never really thought about how this interpretation doesn’t really fit with the testimony of who Jesus is found throughout the rest of scripture. He doesn’t shame us. In fact, love covers a multitude of sins…it doesn’t expose them.

As I was thinking about all these things another line jumped out at me:

“Take care then how you hear…�

How you hear? What on earth does that mean? Is there more than one way to hear and what does all this have to do with secrets being revealed and things being taken away from me?

I noticed there was a cross-reference and figured it was probably a good place to start my search for understanding. It brought me to:

Jesus states once more concerning those who oppose us:

For some reason He hid His message in parables that only His disciples would understand, but it was never meant to end there. For surely, “nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known�. He meant for us to reveal the light of His truth for all to see.

Instead of this verse being used to insight fear and shame in us we should be rejoicing! His Message, His ultimate Truth will be proclaimed for all to hear. It will be shouted from the very rooftops. No secret of God will remain hidden to man…if we are willing to hear, it will be spoken clearly.

Now, with a clearer interpretation of this verse I can understand what Jesus meant when He warned us to “take care how we hear�. Taking all these verses into consideration He must have been talking about what He speaks to us: those secrets He reveals to us in the dark and whispers in our ears.

We are responsible to share with others that which the Lord has shared with us and if we don’t He has told us what our fate will be:

“…for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

Based on the context of this verse Jesus is not talking about material goods, gifts or talents. He’s talking about truth.

In a nutshell He’s telling us, “if you listen to the secrets I whisper in your ear and fearlessly proclaim them from the rooftops then I will tell you more. But if you don’t, then the little truth you do have will be taken away from you�.

This can’t be reduced to proclaiming the simple statement that salvation is through Jesus Christ, although that may be part of it. At the time Jesus spoke these words it was spoken to two sets of Jews: His disciples and the Pharisees/Sadducees/etc – both of which followed and served the one true God. His intention was that the children of God proclaim the truth that Jesus teaches to other (albeit misguided) children of God.

So, perhaps now you can understand why I have started this new blog. It isn’t to say that I have got it right where others have got it wrong or that I am trying to enlighten misguided children of God; I am merely sharing the truth He has given me because I want more!

Even if no one reads these words and it basically becomes an online journal I will still do my best to “proclaim from the rooftops� the truth that Jesus continues to whisper in my ear.

Of course the bliss was not limited to just Saturday mornings but that is where it was most concentrated. I can remember on occasion my mother wanting to shampoo the living room carpet and saying, “you have to leave because you won’t be able to walk on the carpet for a couple of hours.” In the naivety that only a child could muster I would reply, “that’s okay, as long as I have the remote I’ll be fine”…and then suddenly, the carpet was molten lava and my only means of transportation was to hop from one piece of furniture to the next!

So, I find myself sitting in our living room in Kiev, Ukraine but my mind is in a 20 year time warp and I’m mumbling to myself, “Gummi Bears…bouncing here and there and everywhere….” Oh – to relive those glimpses of childhood innocence….but wait! Maybe I can!!! After all, I have something now that I didn’t as a child: The World Wide Web.

It didn’t take me long to find my way to YouTube and on that website I found a door into the past. So the rest of this post is dedicated to anyone around my age who had a television and was breathing during the late 80s and early 90s. For those of you who don’t fall into this category, perhaps this will give you insight into the mindset of a generation.

Don’t worry, each clip is only about a minute long so sit back, pour yourself a bowl of Cocoa Puffs or Count Chocula and enjoy!

I thought it only appropriate the first clip I present to you be from those little bears that started me down this path of reflection: The Gummi Bears.

One of the craziest responsibilities I’ve ever undertaken was the naming of my son. Think about it, this is the one thing that will be spoken over him throughout his entire life. Sure, he might pick up a nickname here or there and I suppose he could even change his name completely someday if he desired but chances are this will be how he is identified forever.

There are many factors one must consider when choosing a name; some are more superficial than others but they all will affect our decision. How does it look? How does it sound? What are some possible nicknames? What associations do we have with it? What does it mean?

I think this last variable is probably the most emphasized, at least that’s the conclusion I came to after speaking with many friends who have recently gone through this process. We long to bestow a name on our child that possesses strength, denotes beauty and intrinsically breeds…….coolness. So we flip through book after book, skimming thousands of pages to find the perfect name that embodies everything we long for in our child – everything we long for in ourselves.

The unfortunate thing is that we place the most emphasis on an area that is going to be completely lost on the vast majority – the child included! Who really knows what the meaning of Jason or Rebekah is? Some perhaps, but most haven’t a clue.

I think the reason why names were so powerful throughout history was because the average person knew that with which it was associated. In other words, it was a word still relevant within their culture. This is witnessed to over and over again throughout Old Testament scripture. Almost every time a child was born the narrative would go something like, “I will name him Benjamin for he is the son of my right hand” and then if you look way down at the bottom of the page you’ll find a footnote stating, “the Hebrew word for ‘right hand’ sounds very similar to the name Benjamin”.

Every time that boy heard his name it confirmed the identity his father longed for him to have. Over and over again he would be told, “You are the child of your father’s right hand”. If he wasn’t born “the child of his father’s right hand” he would soon become it because it was spoken over him again and again and again. This is what we’ve lost. The name George has no meaning to the one who bears it. It is simply a word…something in place of “hey you”.

However, there is a new trend coming forth that is reviving this practice. The ‘it’ thing to do now is to give your child a verb/noun as a middle name. Something like: Honor, Courage, Truth, or Armchair. However odd this may be to our palate this is a step in the right direction. Let us recapture the importance of the name and drag it kicking and screaming into a culturally relevant setting.

Yet for those of you who really are annoyed at the influx of names such as Charity, Singer and Lamp I’m afraid that it may get worse before it gets better. We’re still in the middle name stage. It could be quite some time before the average parent bumps these up to first name status. After all, it would take a strong child to live up to the name Apple and maybe we’re not quite ready for that – I guess time will tell.

Many people have asked me why we chose the name Jakob and I am sure they are quite genuinely curious. After all, why would anyone choose a name that is most often defined as: “deceiver or supplanter”?

When deciding the name of our child we took all the above listed factors into consideration: we liked the way it looked (once we changed the ‘c’ to a ‘k’), we loved the sound of it, and we didn’t know anyone who had used this name (oddly enough because it has become hugely popular over the last few years). Even with the negative definition we decided to go ahead and use it because one factor outweighed all of these seemingly trivial issues and that was its association.

‘Jacob’ was the second born son of Isaac and Rebekah…by mere seconds. From the womb itself he strived to be what he wasn’t – first. All throughout his life he wanted to be noticed and loved. So much so, that he was willing to lie, cheat and steal. But the beauty of this story, this man’s life even, is that no matter how far he went or how much he screwed up God was still there. And I don’t mean in that fluffy “Christian-ese” God is with you junk…I mean he physically wrestled with him face-to-face. God took this man labeled a deceiver from birth and blessed him beyond all logical reason. He became the father of the house of Israel and the line of the Messiah. One of God’s actual names in scripture is “the God of Jacob”. God so closely associates Himself with Jacob that He names Himself after him and wrote it in scripture to remember for all time!

Why would God do this? Is it because Jacob was a holy man? A righteous man? Or because he prayed, never sinned and always tithed? NO – It was because God is a faithful God! He promised and He delivered. There was nothing Jacob could have done to turn God away because He loved Jacob unconditionally and was determined to fulfill his promise to Abraham (Jacob’s grandfather).

So one might say,  “Oh, you named him after a biblical character then”, but it’s so much more! We didn’t name him after a person. We named him after what that person represented. A concept more beautiful than one could conceive: we named him after the union of God and man. We wanted his name to encapsulate the desperate ends God will go to in order to bless and love His children. That He uses the least expected to start a revolution and change the world.

But even in the midst of all this meaning and beauty doubt can creep in. I was thinking a few weeks ago about the story of Jacob and it crossed my mind that perhaps we should have named him Israel. After all, that is the mantle given to Jacob the overcomer, not Jacob the deceiver. Maybe we should have focused on the positive aspects of the story and fast-forwarded to the end of his life: Israel the patriarch. It was at that moment God struck me down with one simple statement, “man can create a Jacob but only God can create an Israel”. And with that came peace. It is ours to prepare him, ours to raise him up, to direct him, to expose him but it is only by God that he may be changed.

So I’ll do my best to lead you son but only so far. There is a day coming when you must wrestle with God alone – and I pray that you do wrestle. Don’t just lie down or run away but you hold on tight and refuse to let go until He blesses you. It is then and only then, that a Jakob can become an Israel.

So what’s in a name…everything!

I absolutely love it here in Ukraine but I have experienced some culture shock. For those of you who have studied (or experienced) it you’d probably recognize some of the stages.

It usually starts with…well, shock. Initial exposure to a very different culture tends to shock the system quite a bit (alright, had that one). The next stage is often referred to as the “honeymoon� stage. Everything is beautiful and perfect; an overly-romanticized perspective seen through rose-colored glasses (checkmark number two). Eventually, the honeymoon must end…and it has. Of course, this is not a bad thing and must happen for me to really settle here. It’s not that I’m unhappy; I just am beginning to really miss certain aspects of my former life.

So, as a therapeutic exercise I thought I’d share some of those things with you!

1) Subway, Dairy Queen, Denny’s, Half-price appetizers at Applebee’s, Cub Foods, Papa Murphy’s, and a dozen other food related enterprises!

2) Driving…quick transportation to anywhere I want.

3) Costco: shopping on Saturday afternoons, picking at the samples and then topping it off with any combination of their Pizza, Hot Dogs, Chicken Bake, Smoothie, Churro, etc.

4) Netflix, oh such a good deal!

5) TELEVISION – TELEVISION – TELEVISION (Simpsons, American Idol, Survivor and any number of random sitcoms…and the news, I have no idea what’s going on in the world!).

6) English…enough said.

7) Dairy products that smell and taste “normal�!

Bethany Church: services in English, worship that I can understand and of course most of all – our Minnesota family.

9) Hopkins Theater: $2 movies…can’t beat it.

10) Playing games at the Winger’s house every Thursday night (Carcassonne, Puerto Rico, Kuduuk, etc, etc, etc.).

11) Hanging with the Hills, chats with Tara and cuppa after cuppa after cuppa.

12) Visiting with the Krauses (when we weren’t actually living there).

13) Jess-minda Swopé

14) AFC: I miss my talks with Furry, gabbing at the front desk with Amy, discussing “my shows� with Alesch and Gena, Ellen’s daily 3:00pm visits, chatting with Peggy, grossing out Sproull, and oh who could forget the leftovers (wow – productivity must have skyrocketed after I left!).

15) Going to Thunder Bay to visit Jew-Lee!

16) Ottawa with my family: swimming at my sister’s with the kids, L-Dawg (it’s weird seeing you in the Ottawa section), Chinese food from Maple Court, Swiss Chalet, Ketchup chips, Tim Horton’s (Coffee, Iced-Caps, Boston Creams, Everything Bagels, etc.), popping popcorn and watching movies with my family.

17) Eureka CA: going to Hometown with the Scotts, hanging at Liz’s, playing Shanghai, spending hours online at the coffee shop in old town with my bottomless cup of coffee, Jalisco’s, Obentos…(Brenda – there are even times when I think I miss the quilt store!).

Okay, I might as well wrap that list up now that you’ve seen I have a severe eating disorder and am “overly-social�…and before it becomes anymore of a yearbook entry.

BUT…if I weren’t here I would be missing so much:

1) Learning Russian (could come in handy some day).

2) Teaching Hebrew (a wonderful opportunity to develop my gifts).

3) Sitting in on these amazing lectures that are helping me understand my passion and future in Jewish ministry.

4) I’m finally doing the last requirement for my BA and the end is in sight!

5) I’ve met several wonderful people who really do bless me daily.

6) Shopping in the bazaars

7) The babushkas…you haven’t lived until you’ve bought walnuts from a babushka!

Taking the metro (subway) wherever I want.

9) Going downtown on the weekends when they close down the main street to traffic and all the vendors come out to play.

10) The opportunity to grow by willingly giving up so many of my comforts and desires.

11) And of course the biggest one of all, if I weren’t here I wouldn’t be exactly where God wants me to be.

Truly the Lord gives and He takes away…amd it is a beautiful balance only He can hold. So, the “honeymoon� may be over but just as in marriage that doesn’t mean the fun is gone. No, as the fuzzy feelings and misplaced ideals fade into the background a beautiful reality is left in its wake: one founded on strength, perseverance, sacrifice and humility. Whether we are discussing marriage to my wife or my life in this nation – it is a place I can call home.

So yes dear friends, the honeymoon may be over…but the journey has just begun!

*(This blog is actually a sequel to the previous entry so I suggest you read that one first. I mean, you could go ahead and read this one but it would make a lot more sense if you started from the beginning. If you’d like to go back then just click HERE…if not then just read on.)

As I’ve read and reread my last journal entry I have realized that I’ve barely scratched the surface of such a complex topic as the goodness of God. This is a topic that I’ve wrestled with for quite some time; in some ways I think I’ve struggled with it all my life.

Through some review of my last entry (and after receiving some feedback) I realized that in my attempt to come to terms with evil and the volatile statement, “God is good� I actually ended up with even more questions. But not to fear, I’ve always enjoyed questions more than answers.

The two biggest questions that I felt were birthed from the text were as follows:

First, if we cannot base God being good on our experiences then by what basis can we make this claim? How do we know that God truly is good in the midst of seemingly bad circumstances? If this truth is meant to anchor us, if it is the only thing we can hold to in the midst of pain and disappointment, then we must be sure of its origin and its validity.

The second burning question is probably more “philosophical� and the only conclusion I can probably reach is one based on opinion. Of course, I will try my best to support my opinion with fact but I suppose you will be the ultimate judge of whether or not I am successful. So here it goes: Is God good because of what He does, or is what He does considered good because it was God who did it? I know, I’m confused and I’m the one who wrote it! But it is the ultimate “chicken or the egg� scenario and I hope you will humor me as we go in circles for the next little while.

Who said God is good?

Well, first of all Jesus…and He is God so He should know! “No one is good — except God alone.â€? (Mark 10:18). So our first supporter of the “God is goodâ€? concept is Jesus. He not only believed strongly in the goodness of God but He went so far as to say that only God is good (an important fact to remember as I am sure it will help us as we discuss the second question). Now one might wonder by what authority Jesus makes such statements. But my friend, this is not a question I can answer for you, it is merely one that I can pose. In fact, Jesus Himself did not answer such questions regarding His authority. Instead He asked more questions, such as, “who do you say I am?â€? Each of us must answer this in our own time and in our own way. Once you have found your answer you’ll then be able to decide whether or not Jesus had the authority to make such a statement as, “God is goodâ€?.

Speaking of authority, the second basis for the goodness of God is found in scripture. Now I have the opportunity to use my Bible software to search for endless scripture references that will expound on the goodness of God (of course that is something that you can do as well and I’ll leave you to it…it’s a worthwhile endeavor). Yet all of this would be an exercise in futility if one does not accept (or believe in) the authority of scripture. So this is another decision that you must make my friend. The resources are there and given some time and a little effort any individual can come out on the other end confident that scripture is accurate and authoritative.

The third such evidence of the goodness of God can be found in His creation. If God truly did create all we know and see then one could come to no other conclusion than the fact that God is indeed good! The order, the structure, the beauty, the purpose…God’s goodness is witnessed in every raindrop, every butterfly, every sunset. Each star shines as a testimony of the goodness of God. The laughter of a child, the warmth of an embrace; even the sorrow of missing a loved one speaks of a good God that has given us good things. Now of course, one can find death and destruction in the midst of creation as well but was that part of its intended purpose? In its original form God called this creation good. At each step in the creative process God said, “it was good� and then He crowned creation with man, “and it was very good.� The origin and end result of death and destruction are topics for another time and another place, but at least for now one must concede that for the most part creation is good. That being the case, the Creator that brought it about must also be good.

The final piece in this puzzle of goodness is us. I truly believe that all of us desire or need God to be good. There is a part within us that longs for something bigger, something more powerful, something “gooder� than all of us. We want God to be good, we may not really believe it, but we want it. Do you want to know how I know that this is present within us all? Simply put: we see or experience it everyday. Whenever someone says, “that’s not fair� they are really saying that they believe in a good God and what they’ve just experienced doesn’t line up with that belief. Whenever you question the death of a loved one, whenever you shake your head in disbelief as you watch the evening news, whenever you feel cheated or ripped off you are confirming the fact that somewhere deep inside you believe that there is a good God and what you’re experiencing doesn’t line up with that belief. So reject Jesus, disbelieve scripture and close your eyes to creation, but will you not listen to the witness that is found within? Think about it…but later, let’s move on.

To save myself from rewriting the awkwardly worded second question stated above I decided that it could probably be summed up as follows:

Can goodness exist outside of God?

When we say that something or someone is good what are we really saying? I guess we’re saying the things they do are good; therefore, they are good.

How do we know that their actions are good? Obviously, each of us has different experiences and opinions so our perception of what is good must differ also. This begs the question “is there such a thing as ultimate good?� Some standard that exists outside of opinion or conjecture: objective goodness. I propose in our search we will not find something but someone.

Although opinions on goodness may differ I don’t believe it is to that great of a degree. Most cultures prefer women and children, most people are against murder and most people enjoy generosity. As we dissect the way that goodness is expressed we’ll find that these are all concepts found within the very nature of God. So when we say, “hey Tom, you’re good� or, “that was a good thing you did�, what we’re really saying is that we believe that person or action is in line with (or similar to) our perception of God’s nature. We are holding them up to this inner standard, this revelation of the nature of God. So we differentiate between good and bad by using God as a ruler or point of reference. If it’s something we think God would do we call it “good�, if it goes against our concept of God, we call it “bad�. The term “concept of God� here is very important because this is what basically allows people to do bad things “in good conscience�. Their concept of God has been warped or damaged and they truly believe that their actions line up with God’s nature. Whether it is murder, theft or lying, they have deceived themselves in order to satisfy their own selfish desires.

So this being the case, when we say that God is good what we’re really saying is that God’s actions are lining up with His nature…a somewhat redundant statement. Since there is no standard outside of Himself by which we can compare Him what we really should be saying is, “God is goodness.� In a sense, God doesn’t really have characteristics because He embodies them. We can not really “describe� who He is because He is who He is (or perhaps I should phrase that “I am who I am�). God isn’t merciful, He is mercy. God isn’t just, He is justice. God isn’t faithful, He is faithfulness. And of course, as scripture tells us, God isn’t loving, He is love (as clearly stated in 1 John 4:16).

The nice part about this whole situation is that God cannot go against His nature; no easier than you can go against yours. You can’t fly of your own volition or breathe underwater because you are human; He can’t lie because He is truth.

All this being said I think we can conclude that if He is goodness then all He does is good (or some may wish to say “good is all He does�). So we can rest assured that in the midst of any circumstance, if we know it is from God, then it must be good. And beloved, what is permitted to happen that is not ultimately from God? Yet perhaps this is a topic for future discussion (if you want to get a jump start on that one read the book of Job).

I wish to leave you with a verse that I feel is even more powerful in light of this revelation:

“If we are faithless,
He will remain faithful,
for He cannot disown Himself�
(2 Timothy 2:13)

]]> http://www.thehachehomepage.com/archives/god-is-good/feed/ 2 http://www.thehachehomepage.com/archives/world-trade-center/ http://www.thehachehomepage.com/archives/world-trade-center/#comments Sun, 10 Sep 2006 21:54:14 +0000 Jason http://www.thehachehomepage.com/archives/world-trade-center/

I saw the movie “World Trade Center� the other day. My mother-in-law was going to see it and invited my wife and me. I don’t know if I would have initiated seeing this movie; not because it was too painful or of no interest to me, I guess it just never really crossed my mind. Perhaps I am too dependant on being entertained and I knew this was not going to be the feel good comedy of the year.

To be honest, I was greatly affected…much more than I expected. It accurately relived the misery of the day but it was on a far more personal level, which I suppose was its purpose. How easy it is to let the overwhelming nature of such an event numb us. This movie however, focused on two lives, two families. Two survivors of twenty pulled from the carnage of the collapsed Twin Towers. I was thoroughly devastated during the movie and at times had to suppress sobbing; for the most part I was successful.

Why did it affect me so? Of course it was horrific but I knew there was something more: something raw, something that resonated into the deepest, darkest corners – the place where questions lay unanswered and more often lay unasked. One screams through my mind as I sit in the theatre. It’s not a complicated one; in fact it comes up often and can be summed up with one word, “Why?� Why do some live and others die? Why are some blessed and others cursed? Why are some cured and others not? Why are some saved and others damned?

Now like any other well-read and educated Christian I have some “theological answers� laced with sound “orthodox doctrine� to tackle such issues but that will only silent the questions for so long. No “logical� answer can ever really silence our pain, only love is fit for such a task. And yet love never really answers the questions, it can merely hold us as the reality sets in…the desolation of living in a fallen world.

As the story of these two characters develops I am desperate for them to survive. After all, they have children, wives, mothers and families. The more I am brought into the intimacies of their worlds, the more my heart cries out for them. But what about the other 2700 people or so that died amongst the ruble of the Towers that day? Did they not have families, lives, loved ones, dreams and hopes? Had I sat through a movie documenting their experiences would I not equally feel that they deserved to live? Deserved to live…

I guess this begs the question, “Does anyone deserve to live?� Do I deserve to live? Deserve to be blessed? Deserve to be happy? If so, who owes it to us? Our family? This world? God??? Where do we get the notion that we deserve anything? Is not each day a gift, each laugh a treasure unearthed, each life an expression of grace? Why do I reflect upon the pain of an absent father and feel that God owes me a son to fill that void? Why do I look to my abusive past and feel that God owes me a wife as an expression of healthy love? Why do I look at my sickness and pain and feel that God owes me happiness and joy? In actuality He owes me nothing and the sooner I can release Him from this imaginary debt the sooner I can begin the process of becoming a healthy and whole individual…obviously easier said than done.

Where did this conceptual debt come from? How did this ill-conceived thought get planted in our psyche? It began with a lie; a lie that attacks the fundamental truth of ultimate reality. And what is that truth exactly? It is the foundation of all things, good and evil. It has the power to give life and the power to destroy, and it is wrapped up in three simple words, “God is good�. Pretty basic, perhaps you were expecting something more profound? Maybe we better try it again, “God is good�.

I truly believe that all of our pain, all of our suffering, all of our joy, all of our happiness is tied to these three words and how we deal with them. It is the struggle of all humanity, originating in the Garden of Eden through a serpent’s hiss and yet it is just as prevalent and potent today. Does God really have our best interest at heart? Is He really good?

I think if you are too quick to answer you are either very ignorant or very wise…most of us usually fall somewhere in between. Do the families of the victims of 9/11 think He is good? Do those who are raped? How about cancer patients or the parents of stillborn babies? It is far too easy for us to regurgitate answers without really thinking about all the ramifications of the question. Yet, how often do we think about the other side? Does the winner of the lottery think God is good? How about the person cured of AIDS or families reunited with lost loved ones?

So, assuming you answered the questions above appropriately, does that mean God’s goodness vacillates? Is He good to one and not another? Is He good sometimes? The only way we can rectify these examples with the constant and eternal goodness of God is by realizing that our experiences do not reflect or affect His goodness. If our basis for the goodness of God is dependant on our daily experiences then we will never find true peace and happiness; not in our life or in our relationship with God.

How often we get things backwards. We think that if we’re happy and life is great then God is good, but the goodness of God must be the axiom of our thinking not a conclusion from our experiences. His goodness must be our foundation. Only then can we say in the midst of heartache, “God is good�; when death is all around, “God is good�; when destruction threatens us, when our health fails, when loved ones abandon us, “God is good.� If you don’t believe it before calamity comes then you certainly won’t believe it afterwards. Unless we really believe that His plan is best, regardless of what it brings, we’ll never find peace. The early Apostles ability to find contentment in good times and bad comes out of their belief (or knowledge) that God is good.

Many are waiting for more answers before deciding on the goodness of God but we may never know the reason for such horrendous acts as 9/11, tsunamis that sweep 10,000 people out to sea, genocide or the death of innocent children. We must have faith in the goodness of God first, or the pressures of this world will collapse all around us. I use the word ‘faith’ intentionally here because in the end it’s all we have: faith in the goodness of God. There are times when we will not see His goodness. Experiences will occur in which logic cannot accept His goodness, it is then that only faith will hold on.

Without faith in His goodness there can be no hope: hope for salvation, hope for redemption, and a hope for love to conquer and that light will overcome the darkness. After all, a God who is not good has no need of salvation or redemption. I think we would find that a God who is not good is no God at all.

So when everything is said and done and the lights are out and we lay in bed, when the voices begin to whisper, “is God good?� don’t tritely respond, “all the time�. Honestly think about your answer and where it comes from, because I think it is more important than we realize. This is the question birthed at creation; that which attacks the foundation of our faith, and seeks to destroy our lives.

Is God good?