DRIFT

My new swimming career is going well.  After I poured contempt on all my pride and put on the suit, I was 75% there.  Perhaps the other 25% was going to the Senior Center.

Of course, that's not me in the picture; that lady doesn't have arm flaps.  I'm not exactly a serious swimmer, but more a treader/crawler.  The idea is to keep moving, right?

Easing into the water of the "walking lane" this morning, I looked forward to going by the next warm water jet.  Those jets feel really good as you get used to the water, but they also create a tiny current.  Later when my arms tire and it's just my feet fluttering, that current nudges me into the lane marker.  Drift is easy without a strong forward motion.

That's what I'm learning in Genesis.

It's helpful to check the rearview mirror, and so in checking out the first eleven chapters, a pattern is emerging in my Genesis study.  The GOD COLUMN might include words like planned and created, initiated and revealed, sought and comforted, taught and empowered, forgave, loved and provided. The MAN COLUMN was shorter....chose unwisely and drifted.  See if you notice the same pattern...

GENESIS ONE

Jehovah God spoke creation into being
and our minds-eye catches glorious images of His power and creativity.

GENESIS TWO

The intentional God formed man from the dust of the ground.
Then He met Adam's need for a helpmate
by taking a rib from the man to create Eve.

GENESIS THREE

We are chagrined to watch the enemy taunt and the garden-dwellers fall.
Adam and Eve took a spanking, yet the Faithful God reminds them how
they may come to Him...while speaking hope for all men
in a Genesis 3:15 promise to send a coming Rescuer!

GENESIS FOUR

The next generation comes up to bat as Cain and Abel leave us two patterns.
Their hearts are revealed as they define worship...and they show sin's sway
as the green-eyed pride monster led to murder and lying and self exaltation.
Cain chose to avoid repentance AND God's presence; he drifts far from God.

GENESIS FIVE

Adam's descendants were carefully recorded as each entry
tells when they were born, how long they lived, and when they died.
God shows that His eye is on each individual, and another of Satan's lies
("surely you will not die") was debunked.

GENESIS SIX

The Just God observes the huge drift of all mankind.
He selects one man, the godly Noah, to preach for 120 years
as he constructs a floating haven, which pictures salvation in Christ.

GENESIS SEVEN

There was no response to Noah's plea.
The first great judgment against mankind is described
as the flood waters cover the earth.  God reboots
as everything is washed away except eight people and the ark animals.

GENESIS EIGHT

The flood recedes and Noah's first act in the new world is worship.
His animal sacrifice soothes God's wrath;
God promises to preserve the earth until His people are saved.

GENESIS NINE

The God-Who-Moves-First kindly declares
an unconditional covenant with man (in spite of man's sinfulness)
and hangs a comforting rainbow in the sky as a reminder.

GENESIS TEN

Noah's post-flood descendants repopulate the earth
and we understand the ethnic origins of nations.  The earth population
includes the ungodly ones who drift far from God...as well as
the ones in Shem's line who choose to follow God.

GENESIS ELEVEN

Man's memory of judgment fades quickly as corruption ushers in
 the second worldwide judgment...the confusion of languages @Tower of Babel.
Then at the end of the Chapter 11, we are introduced to a man from Ur named Abram.

Chapter 12 will tell us "God came down" and the idolater Abram got to see God's glory.  We wonder what THAT was like.  God gave Abram spiritual sight and changed his name to Abraham.  Now the Lord will use Abraham's family group to explain Himself to the world.

Through the first 11 chapers, God consistently demonstrates His love and provision for man, and then man consistently chooses his own way.  The definition of sin is "going our own way".  

In my swimming experience, if my arms aren't moving like my feet...I stall out and get to drifting.  In my spiritual experience, if my feet are not running toward God, then I may think I'm in neutral, but really there is no such thing.  I'm drifting.

"God came down" for Abraham and then at a later time, He came down in the person of Christ.  What else could He do to show His love?

 "But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law...so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights." Galatians 4:4 

I KNOW NAHTHING!

Oh, I love this face.

Hogan's Heroes used to tickle the fool outta me.  Here I am 50 years later, still laughing at his predictible line..."I know NAHTHING!".  (link)

Guess who else knows nahthing?

BIDEN:  "We didn't know they wanted more security."

PETRAEUS:  "It was the video." (September 14th)

OBAMA:  "It was the video.  We don't have all the facts.  It was the video.  An investigation is ongoing.  It was the video."

RICE:  "It was the video."

HILLARY:  "It was the video."

Then the sworn testimony began coming in and changing the landscape.  When General Petraeus was sworn to the truth, he said he knew right away it was AlQuaeda.  State Department people said "we had a live feed and there was no crowd in front."  Intelligence said they saw/knew even some of the names of the participants.  CIA said their talking points were altered.

Well good because we thought it impossible anymore to have credible intelligence or the ability to respond.

Of course, Sgt. Schultz still doesn't know anything...except that he knows he is angry.  They jumped his U.N. Ambassador and if they had a beef, they should have taken it up with him because the buck stops with him.  Riiiight.  For days he WOULDN'T come out with any information so he sent a lady outside her field of expertise to parrot the party line.  She took one for the team.  Now he says "well, she didn't know anything about it but was just reading the talking points handed her".  Exactly.  Why send her out if she wasn't weight-bearing?

Plausible deniability.  Does anyone wonder why she wouldn't be a good candidate for Secretary of State?

The truth is oozing out ever so slowly, no thanks to mainstream journalists.  And when the dust settles, we will have lost two military heads in that field of operation (Army/Navy) and the head of our CIA.  So that makes four lives lost plus at least three costly careers.  All good men.

Shame on the media for ignoring this story.  And shame on an ideology that would cleanse "talking points" and redefine evil.

HALF-STAFF

The flag is at half-staff in my soul.  It is hard to be excited about the 2012 election.  It divided us into red and blue states, but it is "we the purple" who lost.  Some just don't know it yet.

We've all lost because the majority of Americans have reached for the right to redefine morality.  Do we imagine that God will ignore that?  Bless that?
Our patriotic prayer-song is "God Bless America", but there is no reason for Him to sing along.

We will miss His blessing.

In previous episodes of the man/God saga, we have decided He may not be acknowledged in the public square.  So He was told to step away from the military.  He's also not needed in schools...or football games...or in the workplace.

It sure is empty without the reason for being.

And now at the end of this election cycle, here's the platform we asked for:

...the unprecedented idea that ALL of us be required to pay for the taking of an innocent life made in His image (both in our country and around the world).

...the unprecedented idea that our country won't be needing the Lord's ideas for marriage anymore.

...and the unprecedented idea that government, not God...is the final arbiter for religious liberty.  That ignores the essential fact that liberty IS A GIFT FROM GOD.  If the Creator didn't give us liberty (but rather it comes from the government), then government can take it away capriciously.  And has.

Incredibly, America responded..."Yeah!  Supersize that for me!"

Last week I wrote a blog to say that I'm not God and have no idea whether Hurricane Sandy was His specific judgment.  But we CAN know that God would be hard-pressed to turn His head away from these three strikes because they are an assault on His holiness.

In the first chapter of Romans, God says His wrath "is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them." Men know the truth within themselves, but they bow up against God.    Notice the present tense of the verb.  Wrath IS revealed...because God has a fixed opposition against ungodliness (those who reject His person)...and unrighteousness (those who reject His laws).

Won't God have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah if He blinks at this?

It's impossible to know how or when His plan will address this, but the judgment clock just sped up.  The ride will get bumpy and all should get ready.

American say they are thirsty for unity again in our country.   Now we have it in "we the purple".

We purple people need a healthy fear of God.

SCHOOL MARM SANDY

What could possibly come between politics and the election?  Only Frankenstorm Sandy.

In a stroke, Sandy made clear that politics isn't everything.  A really good teacher doesn't even have to have a power point presentation, although Sandy does have some terrifying pictures.

The ones who screamed for help from their Long Island rooftops would tell you LIFE is the most important thing.  People from the blackened neighborhood of Breezy Shores sadly shake their heads to say the material stuff is all secondary.  And the dear NYC souls in a darkened high-rise with a warm fridge and lack of toilet can also see beyond elections.


Sandy made her point and God allowed it.

Am I saying God punished the East Coast with a hurricane?  No.  God is the only One who knows His purposes and I'm not God.  But I CAN make some true observations...

1.  People who cried out to God in the storm would tell you knowing HIM is paramount because calling on Him is the only practical thing to do when you're helpless.  You can't call "ghostbusters". Sometimes you can't even 9-1-1 the government.  There are times when it's only you and the Lord.

2.  God does create disaster.  I remember how surprised I was when I first heard that.  There are many verses, but here are a couple that show His sovereignty.

Isaiah 45:7

"I form the light and create darkness,

I bring prosperity and create disaster;

I, the Lord, do all these things'."

Jeremiah 35:17

"So I, the Lord, the God who rules over all, the God of Israel, says:

'I will soon bring on Judah and all the citizens of Jerusalem

all the disaster that I threatened to bring on them.
I will do this because I spoke to them but they did not listen.
I called out to them but they did not answer'."

3.  Jesus calmed the wind and waves on the Sea of Galilee to show He has control over nature.  It paid to be in the boat with Jesus.

So God has the power to send a storm...He says He brings disaster...and He used the flood to display His authority against man's rebellion.  In the case of Hurricane Sandy, it would be wrong to say it was God's specific judgment, but we can see how the thick insulation of everyday life was sliced in a nanno second.  God's redemptive intent is that all men would take notice of Him/turn to Him.  Even the worst suffering could be counted gain if it were eternity-altering.

Perhaps you think it insensitive to be speaking about gain when lives were lost.  When we consider the pictures of such complete devastation, we wonder how the death count in our country was just 110.

Again, I am not God and cannot explain everything.  I just know the souls who died were like you and I.  We have been given the blessing of life and a certain number of days.  No one is guaranteed tomorrow.  Our choice, then, is to use our days wisely.

My Genesis study has talked about Noah and the flood.  It must have been hard during that storm to hear people pleading for help/banging on the boat to get in.  It must have been hard to bounce around in choppy water for over a year...and be in a darkened/smelly space.  But you know, I'll bet they were enough in awe of what God had done for them that they didn't complain.

There is only one safe place to be in this life...and that is snuggled up under God's wing.  He has plans for our welfare and hope for the future.  Thank God this is not all there is...