June 26^th  (336 words)

Are you beautiful inside – beautiful like a sunset… beautiful like a misty lake at 5 in the morning… beautiful like a butterfly?  Do you know the one who makes things beautiful?  Jesus makes things beautiful because he gives us his beauty – he shines his light in us and through us.

I start this blog with very little idea of where it is going. 

I start it with a song in my head.  Katie Herzig: Beautiful Inside

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDsU_-_kuSo

It is a romantic song sung about love – directed toward another who is beautiful inside.

but!

Reading between the lines – and singing the song as if it is sung from God to us gives a new spin for my fatigued soul.  Reading the lyrics… actually shows me that the song doesn’t fit perfectly for my context and for this post… but I do need to hear this one little phrase.  Because of what Jesus has done: I’m beautiful inside.

Hearing the phrase sung to the moving tune of Miss Herzig adds a delight that can only come from God for this weary soul.  When you have been saved by Jesus – he makes you beautiful inside. 

It’s the last week of work before vacation.  The only reason this is relevant is that it gives you a little more context to my post – writing before a much-needed rest!

Here is a great-big-theology-word for you: Justification.  This means being clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ.  This means that the stain of sin is wiped clean.  This means that the heart-home where the Holy Spirit lives – my life which is the indwelling place of God – has been made beautiful by a God-made-miracle. 

Here I am connecting two things: righteousness and holiness equal beauty.  This is the song God is singing to me – and you get to listen in.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Let God make you beautiful inside!

Here is another you-tube song that applies! 

Jesus makes beautiful things (A Gungor Lyric Video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1spkhp41ig4

be beautiful!

June 19^{th    (words297)}

You decide if there is an erosion of the right to be Christian in Canada:  The Supreme Court of Canada has decided that the law societies of the different provinces can bar law students graduating from Trinity Western University’s law program. They are saying that because the Christian university has a code of conduct – that requires students to act by Christian values – their law program discriminates against the LGBTQ community. 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trinity-western-supreme-court-decision-1.4707240

What does this mean?

A Christian University doesn’t have the right to train the lawyers of our country – or to say this another way: Canada doesn’t allow lawyers to get a Christian-based training.

Christianity loses another legal battle in Canada as our rights are slowly and systematically eroded. 

Erosion happens when water constantly flows over crumbling ground. 

So what?

Positive directions: In a few years Canada will be like the vast majority of nations around the world!  Wow – Canada will be like everyone else in its approach to the Gospel – and followers of the Gospel

The exceptional circumstances that created Canada – as a nation based on Christian values are crumbling and we will soon find ourselves in a situation that Christians have faced throughout the hundreds and thousands of years.

Let’s not be surprised by the turn of events happening in Canada.  We should have expected a non-Christian nation to go against Christ!

Let’s shock our nation by still loving – being unmoved in our commitment to love our neighbor as ourselves – to stick to a life of holiness – to stay within a Christian ethic that stays connected to God’s design for his creation.  I still say God is the builder of humanity – he should have a say in how his building is used.

Loving the LGBTQ community can be one of our greatest privileges!  

Freedom for/from Star Wars

June 5^th (415 words)

I am waiting… I have no desire to watch any future Star Wars movies in the theatre… It feels like the empire has taken over the free-world and forever ruined childhood heroes.  Story writing (even for Disney) is a dangerous thing.  This post is not just about venting my frustrations – It is that and more…

Let me first express my frustration at the way Disney is not only killing off characters – it is assassinating them.  The hero I had growing up, fighting evil – seeing good in their evil father – and acting in faith – becomes (in Disney’s version) a depressed goof who drinks the milk of ugly monsters. 

I see them first buying out the enemy – then making fun of almost each and every Star Wars hero. 

Disney… that happy-go-lucky creator of childhood dreams… has a dark side. 

A main story-theme (not just in Disney) is freedom.  You do anything for freedom – even die for it.  But in my mind, this begs the question: freedom to do what?  What are you free to do?

We are not actually free to do anything we want…

We are not actually free to govern ourselves – we pick the government that is presented in the best light (something the media outlets have already decided in advance)

We are not actually free to determine our future.  Our futures are constantly limited by our upbringing, our place in society, and our own characters.

Breaking free from one tyrant opens up space for another one to step in.

The fight for freedom is old and over-used and really has been reduced to a rebellious heart that just doesn’t want to submit to anyone, anything – especially a higher power or a righteous authority.

This theme is very different from the belief in faith and submitting oneself to the good – even at the risk of your life.

The key Star Wars climax involves Luke Skywalker refusing to fight and accepting to be killed by the Emperor while his father watches helplessly… but Vader is not so helpless.  He comes to the rescue of his son – whose faith is rewarded.

My little boycotts and reactions to injustice (not going to the theatre for Disney… trying to shop at Canadian Tire instead of Walmart, drinking Cranberry juice instead of Coke-a-cola) are small drops in a sea of corporate monsters.

Better is the life that learns submission to God, and in his good – walks by faith.

“Please God, tame this rebellious, lazy heart of mine!”