Stuffy Bear in the Thinning Machine

Another of Miriam's profound novelties!

January Sun

This morning on my way to work I decided to stop for a few minutes by the river and soak up the January sun. The fog was just lifting off the river and the sun was brilliant in the clear, cool sky. From my favorite little sandbar just beyond the starch plant, I sat for a few minutes and enjoyed the warmth. It was mostly calm, with a light breeze moving banks of fog downriver. As I was leaving, a small flock of geese flew directly overhead, and as they came from the direction opposite the side of the bank I was leaning against, they didn't see me, and flew close enough that I could hear their wingbeats as they passed. It is these moments of beauty and calm that I treasure.

Tower of Siloam

Haiti Quake, photo from the Boston Globe (link)

There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.

Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.

(Luke 13:1-5 NKJV)

Several years ago, following the tsunami in Thailand, and then during Hurricane Katrina, I was trying to process these large destructive events. Obviously, the first response of the child of God is to feel pity, awe, sadness, and compassion. How many times is it recorded in the Gospels "and Yeshua, moved with compassion..." saw the people, healed the people, taught the people, and so on. The next response is to pray for everyone involved and to help in whatever material ways that one is able to.

When one steps past the immediate devastation and begins to ask why, one who believes the Bible to be true cannot escape noticing that the Almighty intervenes in the course of nature and in the history of nations, uplifting one, bringing down another. Certain Bible believers will go so far to suggest that most, if not all, natural calamities are a judgment of God against those afflicted, with any number of reasons for the judgment: prostitution, debauchery, witchcraft, sodomy. Still other Bible believers rush out to condemn and dissociate from such people, judging the judgmental. My discovery while asking these questions several years back was the above passage from Luke 13, where Yeshua teaches us so graciously, yet so directly, that there are none righteous, and none more worthy of punishment than any of the rest of us, if the truth be known.

The great question is not: why did God allow this to happen? But rather: why are any of us still around? If we had an inkling about the holiness and justice of God, the awesome and inapproachable dwelling of the Almighty, we could better understand his great love, favor, and mercy on all that he has made (Psalm 145:9). Why haven't we all been obliterated years ago?

I believe that God will judge sinners and bring a final and decisive judgment against the wicked kingdoms of the world at the Messiah's return. To believe otherwise is to diminish His majesty and rationalize every teaching of Yeshua and the prophets into a theistic system of self-improvement and socialization. He is still awesome, still holy, and He is still coming. But our ministry and message in the midst of sin, brokenness, and suffering is that of grace, healing, and reconciliation. Why? Because He first loved us, He first showed us favor, He first called us sons and heirs. Should we not likewise love all men?

Psa 145:8-21

The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. (9) The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. (10) All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your saints shall bless you! (11) They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, (12) to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. (13) Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. (The LORD is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.) (14) The LORD upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. (15) The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. (16) You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. (17) The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. (18) The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. (19) He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them. (20) The LORD preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. (21) My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

A Call for Biblical Manhood

I was greatly encouraged and challenged by a recent blog by Boaz Michael, founder of First Fruits of Zion, on the subject of biblical manhood entitled "My Wife-My Life." It presents a pointed critique of any who would stand outside of the body of Messiah and disengage from spiritual responsibilities simply because the "church" is broken. If it is broken, why, and who is responsible to fix it? How does Yeshua's example challenge us? He laid down His life for His Bride, all who belong to Him. This idea is nicely captured in the song "The Church" by Derek Webb (disclaimer at the end of this post). Without further preamble, here is the opening paragraphs of "My Wife-My Life." Follow the link at the end to read the rest of the article. I highly recommend that you do.

The church is broken, increasingly ineffective, and in some ways self-serving. As men we tend to see the broken state of the church and quietly rejoice in her brokenness because it gives us an excuse to pull back and withdraw. The cycle will continue to spiral downward until the church's complete destruction--and we, a gang of male revelers--will rejoice in its destruction ... b-e-c-a-u-s-e that means we will be free from our responsibilities as men to invest our time and our energy into something spiritual. We will be free from nurturing and building up the bride of Messiah--his church.

Our marriages are in a similar state: broken, ineffective, and self-serving. At some point our wives will disappoint us, they will not fulfill us, or may no longer be attractive to us. So, we will pull back and withdraw. Our male nature will tend to see the shortcomings of our wives and quietly rejoice that her shortfalls giving us an excuse to pull back from our love and commitment toward her. We gang of revelers are then justified in our jokes, our lusts, our sins. To continue reading, click here.

Disclaimer: When saying "church," what I am describing must be understood as the ecclesia, the enduring covenant people of God from Abraham to the present day. The "church" has not replaced Israel as the bride. Israel is still the bride and includes all those who have been grafted in by faith in the Messiah Yeshua (Romans 11).

More Lab Test Poems

Another installment from the same stash as those from yesterday.

Towelette

Lack of sleep

Lag bolt soup

The mechanical advantage

Of an inclined plane

Mint savor sweet slice

Tall towelette, can you spell towelette?

Le toilette, c'est vrai!

Eau du poulet

Pelt a poultry, put it in the pantry

Stacks of scant portions

Ninety Two

Ninety-two and far away

Deep blue eyes and hair thin and gray

We sleep our best for most of each afternoon

Velvet couch with missing threads

Heads on Dowel Rods

None of us can cook, so let's make lunch

None of us can think, so let's decide for everyone else

None of us can sing, so let's fill the radio with our songs

None of us stays home, we are heads on dowel rods

Bow down to us as though we were gods.

Captain Glandular

Captain Glandular

struck by the scenic grandeur

of nuclear age construction

among sage and tumbleweeds.

Left lymph node swollen

sinus plugged with puss painful

and toothache resulting from

inexperienced dentistry.

Dentistry is not destiny and

pain is not propulsion.

The frightened and weak

creature is a victim of his own fears.

He only seeks his basic needs,

instinct, calculation, exertion.

His world is fragile, subject to

dissolution with the slightest misfortune.

Muster, must he muster his strength?

His redeemer is mighty, the

outstretched arm can save.

Instinct, calculation, exertion

cannot overcome volitional inertia.

Lift up your hands, clap them together,

call on the Lord, one stronger will frighten

those who frighten you.

Lab Test Poems

The following short poems I wrote while tending various lab processes. There can often be 15 and 20 minutes between major actions (or reactions, as the case may be), and so if there is no data to crunch, nobody to cackle with, I sometimes write poems. I recently discovered a small collection of such poems, and now present them to you.

Dasani

Bottled water, bottled water
Water bottled for my thirst
More than likely it is nothing
More than city water
And some osmosis
It will not cure your halitosis

City water, reverse osmosis
Cannot cure your halitosis!
Ozark Trail, hail, hail!
Will rip you off with every pail!

Funny

Not to say you’re funny
Funny can cover rotten floors
Like strong perfume o’er drunken breath.
Don’t say funny, don’t say such stuff,
We’ve always been too mature to notice.
Old canard, the cannery floor is teeming
with trimmings and tidbits, all of the misses
and extras that almost made it in.
In, into the compressed and paper-labeled cylinder of tin,
We ate pickled flounder with tonic and gin.

Merchant

In every pinecone between tufted leaves
are the seeds and the pollen that everyone breathes
Borne up on a tradewind, borne down by the clouds,
these heralds of newness battle across vast
wastes of Tyvek, Hardiplank, OSB, and
cross-hatched vinyl windows.
A residential reservation of voluntary servitude
to the large retailers, volume discounts,
close-outs, sales, and specials,
the merchant peddling price pornography,
the masses reveling in the merchandisiac.


From boredom during a recent conference:

Italiano

Galvanize the narrow gap between your eyes
the spiral swirl will mesmerize
your faith trades chairs with Italian food
to sell one’s soul for tastes-so-good.
Can one imagine the height of greed
that brought about this unseemly deed?
The mesmerific elevation of need,
to exchange one’s pearls for a pasta feed.
Italiano, Italiano, curly hair today
but gone tomorrow.
Down the hatch and eliminated,
dung is uniformly fated,
outside the city, outside the wall,
the creep of maggots, the smoldering pall.
Time is come for consideration
how much does one value salvation?
An ephemeral spiral hath bewitched thee
and parmesan peddlers have deftly tricked thee.

-SST, Gatlinburg, TN Oct. 2009



Aisle displays

Aisle displays, idle forays into
Newfound hobbies, and needs unnoticed
Suggestion
Awakening oneself to
Foam rubber horizons, a
Waking world of
Wing nuts and lockwashers.
No tools required.
No skills required.
Self-installing software module
Get plugged in, the operating
system will install you, update you,
and keep you from harm.
Educate for vocation
A model of adaptation

Hanford

Flaxen grey whispers
Of a landscape echoing
Restless confusion
A weathered woman weary of festive chic
Unsure of what to wear
First this, now that, her
simple brown sweater, quiet, hiding nothing
A suit for all seasons
Under dead and damp, rustlings,
A breeze beneath the canopy of last season's excess
Next year's promise is guarded,
given, grown.

Exo

Walk away from the exoskeleton
Calcified shell
Let rainwater wash it, thin and dissolve it
Habits and notions, fashionable poses
Wash it, thin and dissolve it
Vulnerable and fluid, avail the renewal
New forms and old fears
Impulse ossifies quite by surprise

August

When a better day seems
so far, so far away
What we hold tightly, we miss,
we mourn, misery, when it is gone
If we hold only promises
If only dreams
We were always free to imagine
Free to create
The meadow blossomed beneath our feet
but withered brown in the August heat
What held such delicate, fragrant
promise hangs scentless, dry,
Tragedy

Grabbing the Dog by the Ears

Proverbs 26:17 NKJV He who passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a dog by the ears.