Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Ever Wondered What Goes On At The National Cathedral in Washington DC?

My most recent memory of the National Cathedral in Washington, DC is when Billy Graham and others spoke soon after 9/11/2001 at a time of great mourning and concern within our country.

Have you ever wondered what else takes place in that cathedral?

Take a look at this article at Slice of Laodicea and weep.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Wait and Watch

And, what I say, I say unto you all, Watch. (Mark 13:37)

Here is an illustration by Donald Grey Barnhouse that aptly describes the difference between waiting (which we must and have to do) and watching for our Lord's return. Are we only waiting or are we waiting and watching?

In a city near Edinburgh, a large fishing fleet goes forth each year on a long expedition to the Newfoundland banks. When the fleet returns, the whole town is notified, and as the boats come over the horizon, everyone is at the dock waiting for loved ones who have been away for two, or three long months. On one such return, as the fleet approached the shore, the captain stood on the deck of one of the ships with his field glasses, reporting to the sailors. Naturally, they were all wondering about their loved ones. The captain said, "Jock, I see your Mamie and the two bairns there; Bill, there is your Freda; John, I see...". As he told each man of his family and wife, each was relieved to know that all was well - there had been no sickness no death. One man came to the captain and asked, "Do you see my wife there?" The captain turned and said, "I'm sorry Angus, I don't see her; she's not there." Angus began to worry because his wife was not in the crowd on the wharf. When the ship docked, the men greeted their loved ones, but Angus moved through the crowd looking everywhere for his wife; he could not find her. He passed quickly through the village to his house on a hill. With hurried step he opened the door - there was his wife. She said, "Oh, Angus, I've been waiting for you." He replied, "The wives of the other men were watching for them."

Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ should not be only waiting but also watching for the Lord to come.


Jim Elliot Journal Entry

Jim Elliot was a missionary for a short time in Ecuador as his life was taken in 1955 by some of the very people to whom he was there to minister.

The following is a journal entry from the book "The Journals of Jim Elliott" edited by his wife Elisabeth Elliot. The entry is dated January 31, 1948 and is based on his thoughts from reading Genesis 37 that day. Jim was 20 years old when he wrote this. Consider the depth of understanding and the practical application evidenced in the writing of this very young man. Surely the Lord's hand was upon him for good.

Joseph was hated for three causes. First because it was evident that his father loved him (v.4). Then, because of his dreams and his word (v.8). So with the Savior. Because the power of God clothed Him with grace ("glory as of an only begotten son"[John 1:14]), they were moved to envy. His aspirations of a Kingdom built in the Spirit, wherein all things in heaven (stars) and earth (sheaves) would be subject to Him, called forth hatred. His reasoning and words maddened them, so that when He came seeking them, they plotted to destroy Him. "They could not speak peaceably to Him" (v.4). Jesus, like Joseph, was the Son of his Father's old age. In the realm of the supra temporal life before time began to flow, before matter could be known as either old or young, The Son Eternal was the object of His Father's affection, and He alone is cognizant of the experiences of His Father's "old age". At His revelation the Father clothed Him with the varitinted character of the God-man, so that we see in Christ's life such amazing paradoxes - the uniting of power and perfect love; the fusion of compassionate mercy and consuming truth; meekness and might; zeal and reticence so that He was taken for both fire-demanding Elijah and weeping Jeremiah - the pattern being so much more vivid for the contrasts. It was this many-colored coat that betrayed Him from afar so that His brethren could say, "Behold, the heir, let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours" (Matt. 21:38; Mark 12:7; Luke 20:14).