SelahV Today by hariette petersen

THE REST OF THE STORY...

I reprinted and published a post at SBC VOICES today.  And this is the "rest of the story" that I didn't include in that post regarding a confession of sorts as a pastor's wife.

As I wrote there, it made no sense.  I'd been born-again all of 8 months.  I sat in an auditorium in Ridgecrest, North Carolina listening to Bertha Smith challenge us all to pray for the Lord to bring forth laborers for His harvest.  That tiny gray-haired lady charged us to pray that people hear and heed the call to missions, to ministry, to evangelism.  She exhorted us with Isaiah's words: "Here am I, send me".

I prayed for others.  I asked God to call men to ministry.  Then I heard a voice say, "You."  I'm hearing things.  Bertha Smith must have said that. 

But it wasn't her.  Everyone was praying.  I peeked.  I resumed praying for God to call men to missions and ministry and evangelism.  Again, I heard, "You."   I questioned, "Is that You, God?"  In my heart I heard what made no sense to my mind:  the Lord is speaking to me.  And it wasn't just about the everyday service I was already doing as a Christian.  It wasn't about going to Sunday School, taking parts in WMU programs or Training Union.  It wasn't serving in VBS recreation.  No.  And it wasn't simply visiting the sick with my preacher's wife and taking meals to homebound members.  It wasn't attending this Ridgecrest conference on missions, either.   God was calling me into full-time ministry.  And it was ludicrous!  I'm having an emotional high.  I can't be in ministry without my husband!

I decided I had to be hearing what I wished were possible if I were good enough, smart enough, wise enough.  If my husband was educated enough, experienced enough and bold enough.  Otherwise, it made not one iota of sense to me.  My husband was a precision gagemaker.  He honed and polished metal gages the size of a human hair which measured spaces and sizes for hightech aircraft parts.  He hadn't even been to college--much less seminary.  Furthermore, our lifestyles prior to our recent faith in Jesus as Savior were so far the opposite of Christianity, it bordered on insanity to think we'd be fit to serve God in such a way.  It was simply impossible.

Months and months lapsed before I shared my experience with anyone.  Even though my minister's wife had become my best friend.  When I finally shared it, she smiled, "Oh, but with God all things are possible.  I've known for a long time that God has set Bob apart for something special."  It still didn't make a lot of sense to me.  When Bob first went to Sunday School, he was told to open to the book of John.  He was totally disheartened.  He had only purchased a Bible.  He didn't know he needed another book.  That is how little understanding my dear hubby had of all things Christian.  He had no traditions nor theology from which to draw upon.  He'd been baptized Catholic because his paternal grandmother was Catholic.  He'd never gone to church at all.

I, on the other hand, had gone to church all during my childhood.  Even though I stopped when I became a teenager, I did know that the Bible had multiple books inside it---John being one of them.  My knowledge of what they all instructed was another story entirely.

However, from the moment I heard the Voice say, "You", I buried myself in Bible studies, and books by Oswald Chambers, Watchman Nee, Manley Beasley, and Clyde Francisco.  I devoured books by missionaries.  And I waited.  I waited on God to change me and work in both our lives.   I became restless and impatient.  I wanted to see God move faster.  I questioned the validity of that Voice.   God kept working on me, sanding down the edges, humbling me.  Cleansing me, establishing my walk.  He put unlovely people in my path who I learned to love without condition.  He placed burdens upon our family which added strength to my faith.  He placed mountains and walls and seas beyond my control to bring me to Him for His sufficiency.  He repeatedly showed me everyday mini-miracles and manifested Himself in ways I found difficult to explain.  But my husband was still a gage-maker.  He did not have any desire to go to college.  We had children and he was the sole supporter of our family.

I finally concluded that the call had not been real at all.  We were extremely happy serving Christ, teaching, leading and following wherever He led us in our lives in East Hartford, Connecticut.   My husband was an ordained deacon working a Deacon's Family Ministry plan.  We were co-directors of Children's Worship.  I was speaking throughout New England with WMU.  We were part of lay-led revivals in various churches.   I actually gave up the thought of full-time ministry.  Then unbelievable things began happening to us.  Too many to share in one post.

Three years after I'd heard Bertha Smith's challenge, my husband surrendered to the call of God to go to Boyce Bible School in Louisville, Kentucky.  He was scared to death.  The intimidation and fear of studying books, writing papers, and passing tests were only surpassed by the terror he held at the thought of standing in front of people to speak any words worthy of a pure and Holy God.  Suffice it to say, my quiet husband's entire month's worth of conversational communication could be written double-spaced on two sheets of paper.  He just didn't talk that much.  He still doesn't.  Yet, when he does, it's worth listening to.

Our lives are pretty much a miracle when we look back on them.  I know that I saw a miracle every time I listened to my husband preach.  And in my estimation, there'll never be a better pastor to the children of God.  But then again, I'm prejudiced. 

And that, my friends it the rest of the story minus a gazillion blessings and great experiences as a pastor's wife.   selahV

DELETE OR NOT DELETE?

Have you ever deleted a blogpost?  Ever deleted an entire blog?  Ever altered a post you've written?  Ever deleted a comment--your own or another's?  Ever wonder why folks do? 

I've deleted posts.  I even deleted an entire blog one time--because I didn't like the website service I was using at the time.  I've deleted comments, and I've banned four IP's from posting at my site; some because they were offensive to others, others because they broke my "Rules of Engagement".  There's only 3 rules:

1...BE NICE.

2...BE NICER THAN ANYONE ELSE.

3...BE NICER THAN ME IN CASE YOU THINK I AM NOT NICE.

To be fair, I have left up a few comments that weren't very nice.  But some go beyond the pale.  I once asked a bloghost to delete a comment I posted.  To the best of my memory, that's the only time I've done that in my two-and-a-half years of blogging.  I've seen where other bloggers use the feature as if scrambling to get the toothpaste back into the tube.  Not very easy to do in the millisecond publishing of internet recording.

"Blogger" has this little feature that allows a commenter to delete their own comments when they don't like them after they've hit the "publish" button.  I guess lots of us have second-thoughts about what we say in the midst of heated debate at times.  But that isn't the only reason folks delete their words.  For whatever reason a person chooses to delete their own comments, posts or blogs, I suppose it is no one's business but their own.  What do you think?

Ever notice that some of the most hateful, venomous, vitriolic statements made on the internet are usually made anonymously?  They don't mind dishing out dirt, but they do not want the world to know where the dirt is coming from, either. 

Most bloghosts hate to use the moderation feature.  Why?  Well, it keeps many folks from commenting.  It can wipe out the interaction of the comment stream because it can take hours, if not days, to see your comment come up.  The cadence in the stream can get clogged and loses the flow.  But such is the difficulties we face when we seek to have a blog in a world of diverse opinions.  The majority of folks just want to engage in conversation, address a particular post, or sometimes chase rabbits alongside the streams of the fishermen's tangled lines and hooks.  I've only experienced a few folks who seek to toss grenades in my streams.  I consider myself rather blessed.

So what do you think?  Should bloggers delete comments?  Should they delete their posts?  Should they delete their blogs?  Or should everything be preserved for posterity?  How offensive must a post or comment be to become a liability to blogland?  selahV

[copyrighted, 2009, selahvtoday, hariette petersen]

FAITH AND WORKS--WHERE CONFLICT RESTS

Ever feel a bit useless?  Ever wonder if your activity is worthless in the Kingdom of God?  Ever wonder if your inactivity is just as worthless?

I've sometimes wondered.  I am so limited due to physical ailments, so I question.  Am I resting in Him and believing I am fully in Him when I do nothing?  I think about not participating in all the "duties" of Christian activities, and all church events. Sometimes I feel guilty about that.  I sit here and I pray for others and I feel really happy about that.  I write (not always about spiritual things, but about challenges we face, and about a more positive way of looking at things).  I feel called to do so; it's part of using the gifts the Spirit has given me.  I have a few folks in my life whom I encourage through emails, through my writing and they say they find courage to face things they might not have otherwise faced in quite the same way.  It humbles me and amazes me when they tell me that.  I never feel like I've done anything or said anything profound.  I never quite understand what they gain.  I'm simply compelled to write what I write.  Sometimes when I look back, I think I could have said it better, worded it differently, communicated clearer.  But ultimately, I leave my words in the hands of the Father and let Him do with them as He would.

I also undergird my daughter's ability to minister in our church and community by caring for her little ones when she needs to do something.  She is a busy lady as a deacon's wife, youth teacher, Couples Sunday School director.  I support her calling as a mother and wife and Christian leader.  I feel so complete in somehow being a part of easing her life. 

Yet, the "enemy" is always close, whispering doubts, accusing, smearing my mind with guilt.  Fortunately, I am always brought back to the fact that God loves me as I am.  His grace covers any and all insufficiencies I have or think I have.  I can "do" nothing apart from Christ.  I must rest in Him; and I find that rest when I simply stop and give Him total control.  Each time I do this, I find myself living--truly living--in His peace.  An unshakeable guilt-free peace.

A friend of mine puts it this way:

When we finally abandon the notion that God is only pleased with us when we work hard for Him, a stronghold is broken - and release comes. It's about time, wouldn't you say? Grace means relying on Him to enable us for our secondary callings, but our primary calling is always to Himself. In the overflow of His life in us, we're enabled for service. "Having made peace through the blood of His cross" (Col.1:20), we're given everything we need to live - no need for all the self-imposed guilt. ~~Victoria Gaines

How about you?  Do you think activity and busyness can take priority in one's life over Christ Himself?  Do you feel one's performance record is what Christ is most interested in?

"But the Lord replied to her by saying, 'Martha, Martha, you are troubled about many things.  There is need of (but a few things, or) only one.  Mary has chosen the good portion--that which is to advantage--which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42, Amplified.

Some Christians wonder how we reconcile that verse with James 2:20: "Are you willing to be shown [proof], you foolish, unproductive, spiritually-deficient fellow, that faith apart from [good] works is inactive and ineffective and worthless?"  Some folks think if they aren't working in an active way, they are faithless.  But Martha wasn't faithless.  She was just choosing to busy herself at that particular moment with something less important than the most important.  Time with Jesus.  When we spend time with Jesus, our service to Jesus is completed through Him.  And all He is floods our being.  We stop fretting about our things-to-do lists.  He becomes our priority and all else flows from His life in us.  He cannot be taken away from us.

How many Christians do you know who struggle with works as a measuring stick for their faithfulness to Christ?  How many Christians do you know who feel guilty for not living up to the faithfulness they see acted out in others?  Can we offer them hope?  Can we give them the encouragement they need to simply rest in their Savior's all-encompassing presence and allow Him to live in them individually? 

I think we must understand that believers are IN Christ and with our position in Him, all the good works we do are a result of Him dwelling within us.  Any good we do exemplifies His life being lived out in us.  Our faith naturally brings forth an obedience to our Savior.  His grace meets us and greets the world with His presence through us.  As we fix our heart, mind, soul and strength on Him, He makes things happen through us, our obedience, our brokenness, our kindnesses, our goodness, our extensions of mercy, and our acts of forgiveness.  It's a natural bearing of fruit.  The gifts we've been given by the Holy Spirit are made evident.  As we abandon ourselves--our right to ourselves--He receives us unto Himself and all conflict between faith and works becomes another act of grace.

When faith and works is cooperating, they celebrate a Sabbath together.  selahV

[copyrighted, 2009, SelahVToday, hariette petersen] 

FULL OF MYSELF

 Last night I made Mexican Chili.  I made up the recipe.  It was sooooo good that I ate two bowls--one bowl too many.  I feel like I'm going to pop.  I really didn't need two bowls of soup.  In fact, with all the physical problems I've been having with my stomach, I never should have eaten more than the first bowl.  If I get sick, I have no one to blame but myself.

As Christians, we sometimes live our lives with the same self-indulgence as I did with my chili.  We crave things we don't really need.  Because they make us feel good, we do them; we buy them; we read them; we watch them; we revel in them.  We feed on someone's complaint or flaw.  Then we engorge ourselves with all the gossip and criticism that surrounds the situation.  We dig into the midst of the gruel with gigantic spoonfuls of our own opinions, our own critiques, our own self-righteous accusations.  After we've feasted on the weakness of another, we wonder why we feel so stuffed and miserable afterwards.  We discover we are wrong to have indulged in the carcus-stripping and bone-gnawing.  There's is nothing satisfying in that.

Why do folks do this?  What is so appetizing about picking another person or group of people apart?  Is it to reconcile someone to another?  Is it to bring healing?  Is it to enlighten, to edify, to warn?  Is it to motivate and guide?  Does the indulgence fill us with Christ's Spirit of love, kindness, mercy, gentleness and goodness?

 "The only way to live a life filled with Christ is to crucify selfish ambition and conceit by worrying more about what's best for others and far less about what we think is best for ourselves.  When serving others is our goal, there is rarely a conflict of interest.  When serving others is our goal, dying to self is our practice.  And, when dying to self is our practice, life is filled with Christ   We participate, we voice our opinions, and we stand for what is right, but we don't have to be right, first, or even heard.  The goal of our lives is not our way, but His way.  It doesn't mean that we don't matter.  It means we choose not to assert the fact that we matter, just as Christ did not assert the fact that He mattered.  Instead, we lay down our rights for the good of others, just as He laid down His life for the salvation of man and the glory of God."  Cyle Clayton, "AN UNNATURAL LIFE".

Too often our desire to right wrongs, to fight for the rights of others, to protest an injustice, leads us into a second bowl of soup that just wasn't needed.  Nor does it serve anyone else a measure of goodness for us to have given into our desire.  It seems like all it does is make me full of myself.  selahV

[copyrighted, 2009, SelahVToday, hariette petersen]

ARE YOU A SYSTEMIC RISK?

Secretary Tim Geithner and President Obama are considering taking over companies that are a "systemic risk".  In other words, they'll come in and take control of companies when they think they are a threat to hurting the financial system in America.  This is all about capitalism (or socialism), and economics and money issues.  Uh, I've got a dumb question:

Who's going to come in and take over our government when its pathetic mishandling of taxpayers' money, budgets, defense, foreign relations, moral issues, and the constitution slides into the red zone of disaster?  Who's gonna say, "NO MORE!  Enough is enough"?

When I consider the healthcare reform and what they already seem to think is a risk to the system--namely elderly folks and the drain they are on society--I wonder.  I wonder when someone is going to come into my life and say, "Sorry, no more tests.  No more surgeries.  No more assistance.  No healthcare benefits for you; you're over the age limit.  And make no mistake, that's in the works.  They already say that Medicare needs a complete overhaul.  And any person over 65, even if they continue working at their little job because it's simply not possible for them to retire on Social Security, they no longer qualify for earned-income credits.  I truly believe I'm one of those "systemic risks". 

Don't you laugh, now.  Think about all the babyboomers and what folks are saying about us reaching the age where we begin drawing on the Social Security system we've paid into for probably, at least, 45 years.  They keep pushing the age up for full benefits.  They're talking about reforming Social Security so we don't collect as much.

And when will the government decide that children with castastrophic diseases are a "systemic risk" to the healthcare system?  And when will the government decide that religious organizations are a "systemic risk" to solidify their immoral socialistic policies?  And when will the government decide that Christian education and private schooling is a "sytemic risk" to the Public School systems?  And when will the government decide that bloggers like you and I are a "systemic risk" to the success of their agendas?

I don't like "systemic risk".  I don't like the idea of it starting with government intervening (uh, or interfering) in private companies and corporations.  I think it's one of those precedent-setting slippery slopes that inevitably will change life as we know it forever.  What do you think?  Are you a "systemic risk"?   selahV

[copyrighted, 2009, SelahVToday, hariette petersen] 

MY RIGHTS, CONFESSION TIME, SNEAKY WITNESS

WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS?  Just what are we entitled to anyway?

TIME FOR A CONFESSION  When I fell short.

SNEAKY EVANGELISM  When all else fails.

JUST CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR MORE.

TEN THINGS TO DO WHEN YOU'RE READY TO EXPLODE

1...Go buy a couple of dozen eggs and crush them with your bare hands.  Such power you'll feel. 

2...Purchase some of those little grape-size tomatoes.  Stand in the middle of the kitchen floor and STOMP THEM.

3...Get out that old phone book and tear it to shreds.  Stuff it inside a pair of old sneakers and light it on fire.  (Only do this when the no-burn notice is lifted.)

4...Dig a hole.  A big hole.  Fill it full of water and jump in it till every bit of energy in your body is spent. (Don't do this in the front yard.  Your neighbors will think you're nuts.)

5...Gather up all the odds and ends of mismatched cups, glasses, saucers and other breakables and toss them upside a brick wall or on your concrete drive.  (Make sure you wear protective goggles and body gear. You wouldn't want to hurt yourself.)

6...Now that you're wearing down and most of the pent-up hostility is spent, go pour yourself a big ol' glass of sweet tea and go hang out in your hammock for a while.  You deserve it.

7...Be sure and put some praise music on and pipe it into the backyard.  You're gonna feel much, much better in about 10 minutes.

8...Listen to the birds sing, watch the bees buzz and the butterflies flit.  Breathe in deeply and praise God from Whom all blessings flow.

9...Be grateful that your explosion didn't touch anyone else in your life.  Think of all the folks you're glad you didn't hurt with your frustration.  Look at the mess around you and be glad that the broken dishes, the squashed tomatoes and crushed eggs are all you have to clean up.  There are no broken hearts, squashed self-esteem or crushed spirits.  Take heart that the fire you lit is one that can be controlled.  Revel in the fact that you can put all that dirt back in your big ol' hole and forget it ever existed.  THEN...

10...Count your blessings one by one.  And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.  selahV

[copyrighted, 2009, SelahVToday, hariette petersen]     

JUST A FEW THINGS I NEED TO GET OFF MY CHEST

Sometimes ya just gotta let it go.  Ya just gotta release the oppressive bunk and forget about it.  You gotta tell someone--even if they don't give you a fig's worth of compassion or empathy.  You just have to let it all hang out.  It's not good to keep stuff all stuffed up inside yourself, ya know?  Doctors prescribe all kinds of medicine for that kind of behavior.  So it's best to pop the cork on it.  It's kinda like having a big burp after drinking a supersize rootbeer.  It may not sound good to other folks, but you feel so much better afterwards.

Soooooooo....

~~I'm sorry folks.  I've got Obama Overload.  Enough already with the press conferences, the speeches, the trips to Jay Leno, the yada yada explanations that only serve to send the stock market plunging.  He pre-empted American Idol for crying out loud!  We should have known, though.  When a campaign "chat" pushes the World Series pre-game show off the air, and his weird desire for public adoration in Germany...yeah.  We should have known he'd play the presidency like it was his debut to stardom.  Three and a half more years.  I think I'm giving up television!

~~Doctors with all their degrees are no smarter than I am.  On January 29th I went to the doctor with complaints of burning in my throat and extreme pain in my chest.  I self-diagnosed I had an ulcer in my esophagus.  Since then, doctors have racked up over 15,000 dollars in bills trying to solve the mystery.  Chemically induced stress test.  Echocardiogram.  Heart Catherization.  Two Cat Scans.  Blood tests.  Office visits.  And we're back to square one.  An upper GI series is next.  Uh, I might have ulcers.  Will wonders never cease?

~~I had the hospital tell me they needed me to make "arrangements" for paying the bill for the heart cath before I came in for the procedure, and so they said they could accept my 50.00 a month payment.  Then they made me an appointment with someone in their human services office.  So I go down there and tell them I've agreed to make payments of about 50.00 a month.  I told them my husband had taken another part-time job so he could pay for the various tests I was going through and all the other doctors I am seeing.  We'd already forked out 350 in January, and 500 in February and 650 this month (so far).  She tells me to apply for Medicaid, then hands me the form.  So I fill it out and then she says my husband can only make 1,100 dollars a month and his social security check is too much.  She tells me that I should tell him to quit his jobs.  That way I can get more from the government.  Food stamps.  A medicaid card.  Help with our heating bills.  PULEEEEze.  They don't want to help me.  They want us to be without a dime so the government will pay them.  Help us, Lord.  This world is wacko.  Suffice it to say, my husband still has his jobs and he's working 50 hours a week part time.  We will do everything we can to pay the bill.  But isn't that funny?

~~So someone comes up with the bright idea to switch all television sets to digital.  And a lady in our area, here in Oklahoma, lives out in the country and doesn't have satellite or that little box that makes all things comply with the world. (Some folks can't afford that bill.  They're paying 50.00 a month to pay off their heart caths, ya know?)  And last night we have a rip-roaring Oklahoma storm ravage her home and she almost got killed because she had no way to get the news that a storm was coming.  So much of her possessions were destroyed.  Something is very wrong with this kind of progress.

Life is weird.  I can't deduct my medical bills on my taxes because my husband doesn't make enough to pay taxes.  Is that not a hoot?  We're part of those deadbeats that all the rich folk are paying higher taxes for.  Only I have no clue why they are paying higher taxes for us.  We aren't getting anything.  We won't be getting any tax breaks for poor folk; we don't make enough to itemize.  Nope.  And my husband is 65 years old.  That's the cut-off age for those percs that Obama is saying everyone is going to get with his stimulus plan.  Ya wanna know what I think of Obama's stimulus plan and his outrageous budget plan?  No.  You don't wanna know.  But I'll tell you one thing.  Obama's dumping the tax credit for charitable giving isn't going to change how I tithe and give to folks in need.  Ya see, I never did that for a deduction anyway--no more than I get sick for a deduction.  selahV

  

WHEN JUDGED BY A SCORNER

Ever wonder what in the world a person is thinking when they unload insults and accusations without provocation as rapidly as kernels popping in a microwave popcorn bag?

Ever have someone's rude unsolicited input so floor you that you wonder if it really matters at all if you answer them?

Ever wonder how in the world to reply to that person who directs you to forgive them if they have been rude for calling you "arrogant", in presuming they know what you are thinking inside your brain?

Ever answer that person, only to have that person continue to imply that your answer doesn't meet their belief of what you profess (in other words, you're lying)?  Ever realize that no matter what you reply, communication is futile?

Proverbs has a lot to say about that kind of situation:

1...Don't feel that an accusation deserves an immediate response, if any.  You see, "The lips of the wise disperse knowledge [sifting it from the grain]; not so the minds and hearts of the self-confident and foolish." Proverbs 15:7.  When a person disperses accusations, they are not wise and are not dispersing knowledge.  They are dispersing presumption, assumptions, and imagination.  They have the mind and heart of the "self-confident and foolish".  A person who admonishes you with a scornful attitude is not looking for answers.  They only seek to belittle to make a self-serving point.  "He who answers a matter before he hears the facts--it is folly and shame to him." Proverbs 18:13.  "A [self-confident] fool's mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to himself." {vs.6)  To answer him catches you in his snare.  Avoid the snare.

2..."Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you." Proverbs 9:8.  Scorners look to themselves for wisdom.  Their thoughts and deductions are the only opinion that matters--how they perceive something, how they analyze something, how they determine it to be.  They do not need to inquire of another if they have made a wrongful judgment before jumping to conclusions; they believe they are omnipotent in a situation.  If you are confronted by someone like this, it is best to not answer them.  "The mind of him who has understanding seeks knowledge and inquires after and craves it, but the mouth of the [self-confident] fool feeds on folly." Proverbs 15:13.

3..."Go from the presence of a foolish and self-confident man, for you will not find knowledge on his lips." Proverbs 14:7.  You're better off to walk away from this encounter, than to try and communicate.  For the self-confident man already has his answers; his mind has already been made up, conclusions formed.  Nothing you say will change that fact. 

4...So, "Answer not a [self-confident] fool according to his folly, lest you be like him." Proverbs 26:4.  When you try to communicate with someone who already thinks they have all the answers, and has no desire to inquire into your motives or thoughts before accusing you, then it is best not to answer him according to his words.  It's futile.  You'll become just like him.  He didn't accuse you to resolve a situation, but to inflame it and bring about contention where there is none.

5..."Answer a [self-confident] fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes and conceit." Proverbs 26:5.  When we try to answer someone who already presupposes he knows our hearts and minds, then we answer him according to his own snares of intimidations and then he becomes even more conceited, and thinks he is even more wise in his own eyes.  Therefore, it is best to follow the way of Jesus...do not answer such bunk.  [see Matthew 21:24-27].

Recently I answered a person according to his folly.  It resolved nothing.  It proved nothing.  It reconciled nothing.  It edified no one.  It benefited no one.  It brought no glory to God.  It satisfied only the self-confident fool.  But I am wiser for it...and may God gain glory in knowing I have sought His counsel for future encounters.  And may God be gratified that I join His Son in saying, "Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do."  selahV

[copyrighted, 2009, selahVToday, hariette petersen]

 

PLAYING SOFTBALL IN A HARDBALL WORLD

When I was a young girl, my brothers would gather a group of neighborhood boys together to play a game of ball.  I always followed my brothers around, and occasionally (when they couldn't round up enough boys to make a team), they would have me play with them.  In the field.  Way out in the field.  With no glove.  It was rather boring.  The real game always seemed to be played in the infield, between the bases.  I watched it from afar.  I really didn't mind too much because I was scared to death that the ball would be hit to me and I'd be expected to catch it.  I always imagined that if it ever came to me, that I would catch that thing and show my brothers that I could play ball too.  However, I never really wanted to face that hard-hit fly-ball up close and personal. 

On one particular day, it seemed odd to me that, instead of the game staying in the infield, the balls kept coming to the outfield.  I was running all over the place trying to get those hits and throw them back to my brothers before the batters could run all the bases.

As fate would have it, one ball was hit high into the air and its estimated arrival targeted my spot in the tall green grass.  I took a deep breath, and watched that ball all the way.  I held up my hands and it hit my palm with stinging, burning force.  But I didn't let it go.  Nope.  I held on and my brothers were jumping up and down at the toughness of their baby sister.  I wanted to revel in the moment as tears stung my eyes from the pain in my palms.  But there wasn't time.  I had to throw the ball back into the game.  The guy on first base was running for home.

For days after my big catch with my brothers, I felt residule effects of that catch.  It hurt.  I was bruised.  I had huge blood blisters that throbbed each time I used my hands to do anything.  My step-mother said I shouldn't have been playing softball with those boys anyway.  I should have been home playing with dolls or coloring.  She told me next time I had a hankering to follow them out in the field, that I should pick wildflowers.  She explained that the boys looked for the weakest player in the field and aimed their hits right toward them.  And in my case, I was the weakest player.

I learned something from that day.

There are times in our lives that our comfort zone is challenged by the hard fast-balls of confrontation.  Personally, I don't go looking for them.  Yet, I must be ready to face them when they come my way.  I may get caught off guard by their interruption into what was otherwise a quiet day of watching the boys play in the infield.  I may get hit and knocked down by the sheer force.  But, I'm beginning to realize, you just can't play softball in a hardball world.  There's always someone out to prove he's bigger and better than the rest of the guys...and he really doesn't care who he takes out to hear the crowds roar or make a home run, even if it is a girl.   

Very often in life, we find the powerful overpowering the weak.  We see the knowledgable misusing their knowledge to try and confound the less learned.  We see the master of language, twist and manipulate to demean and accuse.  We see the prominent misuse their status to exploit the less fortunate.  We even see the popular misuse their popularity to insult others in the guise of righteous indignation.  When this occurs, we must cry out to God.  We must pray for His divine intervention to face the giants without trembling.  We must seek His face and rely on Him to give us the resolve to stand and catch the hardballs in life.  selahV

[copyrighted, 2009, SelahVToday, hariette petersen] 

SECOND CHANCES, APOLOGIES AND LINGERING QUESTIONS

My lights went out yesterday.  Not for long.  Just long enough to cut the power to all the clocks in the house, shut down the television and reboot the computers.  A squirrel could have lost his life in a transformer.  Or a lever may have been pushed accidently in the main station.  It doesn't matter.  It happens.  We reset the clocks and push all the breakers, and start all over again. 

Many of life's intrusions are mistakes, mishaps, or misunderstandings.

Sometimes we make mistakes.  We see something someone does and we presuppose we know why they do it.  We hear something someone says, or read something someone has written, and we presume to believe the motive behind their words, the intent of their words and rationale for their words.  We, being the analytical creatures we are, then make a judgment of that person based upon our own assumptions and suspicions.  Some times we know the person intimately and because we do, we feel we have license to confront them and take issue with them regarding their actions.  Sometimes we don't know the person, and rather than approach the offending person with an inquiry to determine if we are correct in our assumptions, we simply conclude we are right and go right for the jugular and tell the offending person where they are wrong, and even why they are wrong, and what they should have done or said differently.

So.  It happens.  People accuse.  People are accused.  People issue apologies.  People accept apologies.  But then there are the lingering questions.  There are inflamed bystanders...people who carry their own sack of justice, presumptions, and ill-will.  Some do not need answers.  They just want to throw stones from glass houses and opine their own demons and transfer them to others.  Some do want answers.  They want to know why it happened.  And the communication begins in earnest.  It's then, many find purpose for life's unfair intrusion upon life in motion.

What can be learned?  What could have been said or done differently?  What can be said or done if it happens again?  Instead of wallowing in self-pity or crying foul, one simply pushes delete, accepts what is from what was and moves on into a brighter day.  Life is a series of circumstances, choices and decisions.  We don't always pick the best course of action.  Sometimes we are treated unfairly.  Sometimes we treat others unfairly.  But we grow, we change, we get better--not bitter.  And the light that goes out for a moment in time, is really nothing more than a flickering loss of power.  And once the power is restored...the light shines brighter than before in a world of darkness and gloom.  selahV

[copyrighted, 2009, SelahVToday, hariette petersen]

SPILLED MILK AND SOUR RAGS

Situations happen every day in every man, woman and child's life.

A mom knocks the milk jug out of her daughter's hand as she's rushing to get breakfast for everyone.  The child grabs the jug, it turns upside-down and before it can be righted, all the milk is spilled on the floor.  Mom has to get the kids to school.  She has no time for this right now.  She has a busy day running errands.   Amidst making bank deposits, and chauffering children between soccer, school and ballet, she forgets to stop and buy a new jug of milk.  She starts to prepare dinner and realizes she needs milk to make her fluffy biscuits to top off a really great meal she's made for her family of four.  So she calls her husband and asks him to get some milk on his way home.

The husband fails to get the milk on the way home and the wife immediately assumes he doesn't listen, or doesn't care, or simply wants to be obstinate.  Maybe it's all of these combined.  The wife hadn't stopped to think that the grocery may have been out of milk, that he'd went to three stores and they had no milk either.  Hubby knows she just wanted to make those fluffy biscuits he loves so well, and he figures he'll just tell her that she can make them another time.  When hubby comes through the back door with no milk in hand, she doesn't even stop to think that they really don't have to have her fluffy biscuits to top off the meal.  She doesn't even consider the stores were out of milk.  Or that hubby had good reason to be empty-handed.  Nope.  She just plunges right in accusing, attacking and destroying any hopes for communication--all over a jug of milk.

Was it ever about the milk?  Or was it about spilled milk from a previous time?  A mess that couldn't be placed back into the jug and was never really cleaned up.  Papertowels weren't enough to mop up that mess.  So a dishtowel was used.  And it was never laundered.  So a lingering smell hangs in the air with feelings of discontent and bitterness.  So when a child forgets to pick up her socks or bring her clothes to the laundry room, or take out the garbage, that child becomes the spawn of her father and has all his traits, and therefore, mom begins to list each and every one of them.  You would think the child forgot the milk on the way home from work.

That's what sour rags can do to the heart of someone who never quite cleans up their own messes.  They look at what others do or don't do, say or don't say and assume the worst of them.  They look at all the situations, the events, the relationships they have and carry their soured cloth into every one of them.  And when things don't go quite as they had planned, or quite the way they'd like them to go, they use the same old sour rag from before to try and sop up the mess they create for themselves.

If only we'd get to the point in life, that we clean up our own messes before trying to clean up someone else's.  If only we'd take the time to wash our own laundry before trying to launder another's.  The world would be much better off, don't ya think?  selahV

[copyrighted, 2009, SelahVToday, hariette petersen] 

"...OH, THAT WE MIGHT SEE SOME GOOD!"

Wouldn't you like to see some good things?  Wouldn't you like to hear some good news?  Wouldn't you like to know that you are free to be who God has made you to be and all you have to do is be you?  Do you have a friend who encourages you that way?  One who trusts you and believes in you?  Do you have a friend who loves you and accepts you as you are?  A friend who thinks the best of you when others question who you are and judge your every motive?  I've heard it said that a person is very fortunate to have even 5 close friends in their lifetime.  Most are blessed to have one.  I have a few.  So I have seen "some good".  I saw it in the past few days.  I've seen it throughout my life with all the folks God has brought my way to give me strength to meet the challenges of life, comfort to cope in the heartaches, and joy to share in the blessings.

"Many say, Oh, that we might see some good!  Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, Lord.  You have put more joy and rejoicing in my heart than [they know] when their wheat and new wine have yielded abundantly.  In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You, Lord, alone make me dwell in safety and confident trust."  Psalm 4:6-8.

That's what God does.  He is our all.  But He also places folks in our lives to undergird us and help us grow.  He gives His children one another with special gifts as He sees fit: some who teach, some who counsel, some who encourage and exhort, some who have the gift of hospitality and some who show mercy, some who give generously.  Each of God's children brings the blessings of God into our lives and shares them with us.  And we do not know who will come, or if we will be sent to meet the needs of another.  It's just as a holocaust survivor, said long ago:

"Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives, is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see."  Corrie ten Boom

According to Corrie, whatever you face today, whoever you meet along the way, that person and experience has been given you that you might be prepared for the future.  Perhaps it's so you "might see some good".  Or perhaps it is so you might be some good to another.  In Jesus we have a friend; with Him we dwell in safety and trust.  What greater good can we have than Him, for ourselves, and to share with others?  selahV

[copyrighted, 2009, SelahVToday, hariette petersen]

[SPECIAL NOTE:  DUE TO RECENT FALSE IDENTIFICATION, MISREPRESENTATION AND UNBECOMING COMMENTS POSTED BY A FEW TO THIS BLOG, I HAVE NOW PLACED ALL COMMENTS UNDER MODERATION AND SUBJECT TO APPROVAL BEFORE PUBLISHING.  I'M TRULY SORRY FOR THIS INCONVENIENT BUT NECESSARY ACTION.  selahV]

THE DAY AFTER A STORM

We can probably all give testimony of times we've faced emotional storms.  We can share the heartache we've felt when falsely accused, wrongfully used, or verbally abused.  No one is exempt from trials the world delivers as we walk through this space in time called life.  Some of these storms hit us in the midst of an ordinary day, in an ordinary way, and then move on as quickly as they strike.  Sometimes we're left alone to pick up the pieces from things others have caused.  Sometimes we find ourselves wondering where to begin.  It's in these times, as Believers, we can stop and rest in our Savior's presence.  Where flesh fails, the Spirit prevails.  We can give Him the pain, the sadness, the brokenness--our weakness.  And He will take it from us and cast it far beyond our memory.  Then He will transform that which is destroyed into a new day.  And we will walk on, in an extraordinary way.

"In a sense, believers can be happier after their trials because the greatest joy is realized when you contrast that joy with the greatest sorrow.  No calm is any more evident than that which follows a storm.  The sunshine that follows a dreary rainy day is all the brighter.  Even so, the peace that follows crisis and tragedy is sweet, deep, and wonderful beyond description.  You become rich through losses; you will be lifted up after your falls; you will fill your cup only after you have emptied it; you will find life abundantly only after dying yourself."  Dr. Dorothy Patterson, A HANDBOOK FOR MINISTERS' WIVES

Perhaps today you will find that calm in an extraordinary way...after the storm has passed you by.  selahV

[copyrighted, 2009, selahVToday, hariette petersen]

WHAT GOD LAID ON MY HEART

Ever wake up in the middle of the night and know you must read your Bible?  That happened to me a few nights ago.  I'd been rather troubled with a multitude of things.  Most especially my health.  But moreso, my husband's as he now has to work two part-time jobs to help pay for our medical bills.  But I also had to cancel a cat-scan because I'd developed a horrible cold that I'd caught from my little granddaughters.  I was coughing too hard to do a cat-scan, for when ya have one, you have to lie perfectly still for a minimum of 30 minutes.  That's hard enough for me to do when I'm not coughing because of my back problems, so the whole miserable mess was preying on my mind.  As is custom in the wee hours of the morning when I awaken and am troubled, I turn to the Psalms.  And my eyes fell on these words:

"Hear this, all you peoples; give ear, all you inhabitants of the world; both low and high, rich and poor together:  My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.  I will submit and consent to a parable or a proverb; to the music of a lyre I will unfold my riddle (my problem).  Why should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of those who would supplant me surrounds me on every side."  Psalms 49:1-5.

I didn't have any idea what that particular passage meant for me at the time, but one part stuck out in my mind:

"My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be understanding."  That became a prayer for me.  That is what I desire most in life--more than health or wealth.  I closed my Bible and lay it on my chest and said, "Lord, just one night's rest.  Let Your Word be the hands of your elders."  And I went to sleep.

God is a really good God, you know.  No matter what befalls us, He really does love us beyond anything we can possibly understand.  And when satan beats us down, and the world lets us down, He's always with us.  Always.  May His name be praised.  selahV

[copyrighted, 2009, selahVToday, hariette petersen]     

EMAILERS, BLOGGERS, AND...ETHICAL FOOLS

I waded into a comment stream yesterday.  I simply couldn't help myself.  I wasn't much into the topic of the post, it being about Landmarkism (which is beyond my intellectual grasp and desire to debate).  The pebble in the middle of the stream (that attracted me) was an ongoing discussion about one commenter pasting into the bloghost's stream (for all intents and purposes of the reading audience) a private email he'd received from one of those debating Landmarkism.

Now, let's put the subject of the post, and the subject of the email aside.  Like I said, I'm not into that debate.

What captured my attention was that Christian folks were defending the use, implantation, reproduction and publishing, of someone's email messages as acceptable because they are the recipient's "private property".  Can you believe it?  I felt like I was watching a debate between Fox News pundits.  This flurry in the comment waters occurred because the bloghost had deleted the email portion of the commenter's comment.  And the bloghost took a step further and instructed that commenter, and any other commenter, to never ever paste a private email into his stream again to make a point.  To him it was a matter of ethical confidentiality and the act was "despicable".  But others didn't agree.

So, let's look at this from another angle: 

Suppose we focus on this blog for instance.  Let's say my post is about forgiveness.  And someone has written me an apology for being quite nasty to me.  And they are seeking reconciliation.  And later on, say a year later, I choose to take that person's vehemenent emails and the one with an apology (since it's my property) and post them for all the world to see to make a point in my blog-post on forgiveness.  Is that right of me?  Is that ethical?  Is that okay since it's my property?  Was the person who wrote it "a fool" for having written it with a reasonable expectation it would be kept confidential?  And even if that person is "a fool" to believe the email would be regarded as private and unpublishable, what does it say about the person (me, for instance), who receives it and chooses to use it to make a point?  Is there no moral obligation on another Christian's integrity to keep it private?

According to one blogger, "anyone who sends an email that could not be posted somewhere/anywhere is a fool."

"A fool".

One Christian sends another Christian an email.  Perhaps to share a prayer request.  Perhaps to ask an innocent question.  Perhaps to confess an attitude.  Perhaps to simply toss an idea off another.  And because of the age of computers and hi-tech advancements, he/she is a "fool" to write it and send it without accepting [in a state of approval] the fact that it will become public some day, "somewhere" on someone's blog, vlog, newspaper article, or book.

Dear friends, brothers and sisters, readers and lurkers, 

I truly believe that we have entered a very dangerous age in our faith when the rules, laws, regulations, values and actions of the secular world are to be used as the counter weights for Biblical principles, Christian values and moral integrity.  Our consciences have become hardened and our spirits calloused.  Our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees, not be patterned after them.  At least, that is what the Savior said.  Have mercy, Lord; have mercy.  selahV 

A BETTER LIFE FOR TODAY BUT TOMORROW? THAT'S DEBATABLE

America launched a new satellite this week.  Ho hum, right?  Well, at one time in our history that would have been a very big deal.

I remember well the day I sat staring out the window of my seventh-grade class in Dumfries Elementary School.  May 5th, 1961.  Alan Shephard, the first American astronaut was launched into space.  Would he return?  Or would he be lost forever?  What did it really mean?  Why did he go there?  I had no answers, only silent questions.  I remember my teacher explaining how extremely significant this day was in our lifetime.  I believed her.

At thirteen I couldn't possibly know what America's first trip into the dark unknown meant to my future.  I couldn't know that the technology discovered through subsequent trips would make it possible for me to microwave a frozen hotdog in one minute, or bake a potato in six.  From computer-game joysticks to cancer-destroying photodynamic therapy, from disposable diapers to high-pressure waterjets, the dark unknown returned to earth and made its impact of explosive promise for life as we know it.

Since that day, we've traveled to the moon, flew multiple space missions, and circled other planets in our solar system.  We've constructed a space station where people actually live, research and experiment.  Countries all over the world have implanted numerable satellites which make possible this very post to be read in Australia, Brazil and Europe.  Television.  Weather warnings.  Radio.  Cellphones.  Thousands of benefits to mankind as a result of space technology.  Benefits for better life on earth.

So yeah, the Kepler, launched this week.  It's in search of new earths.  Scientists hope to find planets like our own that have life or could produce life as we know it here.  I find that a strange irony in light of our President's announcement to open the door to destroy life to accomodate science with expanded stem-cell research. To override morality, faith and God to dissect human embryos in hopes of finding treatments for illnesses and cures for diseases to "prolong" life.  Such is vital according to our American president, and we'd be irresponsible not to give science more weight than mere moral objections.  So despite strong opposition from Pro-life advocates, Barak Obama invited a large group of like-minded people to witness his signature on the bill to allow researchers to destroy human embryos as if they were fertilized, incubating chicken eggs.

Make no mistake.  I am not surprised.  No.  I believed Obama's campaign promises to advance abortion throughout the world with Americans' tax dollars.  I believed Obama when he said the beginning of life was beyond his paygrade.  I believed Obama when he said he'd change America's course.  That's why I didn't vote for him.  And if I can count on Obama to fulfill his goals of changing the world, then I wonder what good it will be to find new planets with prospective new life.  If his record holds up and people continue to buy into his philosophy and ideology, any life beyond our galaxy can expect to be as limited as the remains of a human embryo in a garbage can.  selahV 

BENEFICIAL BLOGGERS...who are they?

Where do we find them?  What do they say that sticks in our minds and benefits us in sharing the Gospel?  In growing in Christ?  In showing compassion?  What do they write that stirs our souls to be a better human being?  To see God in His glory?

Bloggers take all forms.  Some instigate, others motivate.  Some antagonize, others empathize.  Some validate, others denigrate.  If you were to consider which bloggers you frequent the most and why, what would you say?

If we are what we think, what are we feeding our minds?

If we are to dwell on that which is pure and of good report, what could that eliminate from our reading links?

What is beneficial?  Do we overuse the "iron sharpens iron" proverb to rationalize how we engage others in the blogsophere?

If we are about "bringing every thought into the captivity of Christ", what thoughts are beneficial to express to the world?  Do they meet the "examination" of the psalmist's clean heart?

Just wondering what you think as I contemplate how beneficial I am to Blogtown.  selahV 

FIVE WAYS TO INCREASE BLOG READERSHIP

1.  Title your post with an outrageous hook (like "Why Obama Will Fail"). Or pick a universal appeal topic--i.e. grief, disaster, something that appeals to the senses, gossip, a profound disagreement, a miraculous agreement.  Be sure to deliver the goods with your post's content.  Folks who cry wolf can only get by with it a few times and then readers stop coming.

2.  Write something controversial.  Salt and pepper your post with subtle sarcasm and faux tolerance.  Link to others to add fuel to the fire.  OR...

3.  Be informative.  (Provide a ministry: to reinforce, teach, comfort, encourage, guide, inspire.)

4.  Be argumentative.  (In a nice way.)  Give your commenters license to have dog-fights with one another to keep spectators standing around the edges.  Read the most popular blogs and write opposing viewpoints.

5.  Quote, Link and Comment.  (Quote other bloggers to make your point.  Link to other bloggers to give others another perspective.  Comment to draw others to your blog.)

DO YOU HAVE A HINT TO ADD?

Susan Estrich [ columnist, lawyer, professor, author, political operative, feminist advocate, and political commentator for Fox News ] says:

"The purpose of being a columnist is not to win friends.  It is not to provoke silent nods of agreement.  The goal is to strike a chord, hit a nerve--which is to say, at least sometimes, make people mad.  Controversy is good, not bad.

So you write what you think, and if people don't like it, they send in comments to the editor, which is generally considered a good thing for a column and a columnist.  Provocative is a positive adjective in my business.  Then you move along to the next topic, whatever it is."

So here's what I think.  I think there are bloggers and columnists like Susan Estrich who spend their entire lives looking for some provocative, antagonizing, aggravating and annoying thing to write about so they can provoke negative responses from readers like yourself (and me).  Estrich and others, find pleasure in rattling our cages, ticking us off, busting our chops.  They want us to get all fired up and vexed and furiously commenting.  But why?  To make the world a better place or to create controversy where there is none?

The reason Ms. Estrich penned the above quote was to segway into an apology for a column she wrote about the recent death of Jeremy Lusk, a champion motorcycle trick rider.  Seems hundreds of readers took her to task for her insensitivity and what they deemed total disregard for Jeremy's grieving family and fans.  So she wrote her apology to explain she didn't mean to incite war on their emotions.  Her purpose was not to offend or hurt people--"especially if those people are already suffering".

So what's a writer like myself to do?   My idea of blogging and my weekly newspaper column is not at all in keeping with Ms. Estrich's ideas.  Unlike Ms. Estrich, I do like "to win friends".   I do like "to provoke silent nods of agreement".  However, like Ms. Estrich, I do seek "to strike a chord--hit a nerve".  But not for the purpose of making folks mad.  I write to add an optimism in a world of pessimism.  I write to punctuate the positive in a negative situation.  I write to share hope with those feeling hopeless.  I write to stir folks on to act upon that which will benefit and affirm another.   

Through blogging, I am blessed with many friends I'll never meet in my lifetime, but who are quick to offer prayer for me and those I care about with each post I publish in request.  I may never receive a readership increase to equal the more controversial and inflaming.  But that's okay.  I'm just called to be faithful.  The rest is up to you and God.  selahV 

IS IT GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSIBILITY OR OURS?

In my 53-plus years of church involvement, I've experienced first-hand the outreach of Christians helping Christians.  I've witnessed many programs within churches that reached beyond their doors to aid hungry and needy unbelievers.  The ultimate goal of outreach to unbelievers, above and beyond provision, should be sharing Jesus.  This is what sets evangelicals apart from social programs provided by government.

Now, while I advocate programs that help people who are not members of our particular churches, I strongly advocate benevolence programs that aid brothers and sisters in Christ who are desparate for assistance.  I believe scripture supports this as the early church exemplified in Acts 4:34,35 below:     

"Nor was there a destitute or needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses proceeded to sell them, and one by one they brought (gave back) the amount received from the sales and laid it at the feet of the apostles.  Then distribution was made according as anyone had need. " Amplified, emphasis mine.

I wonder how many churches follow that guideline.  We could probably safely say, "nearly none."  If they did, many of our church members wouldn't need government intervention.  They wouldn't need to apply for foodstamps, Medicaid, prescription assistance, Hospital charity, WIC, and more.   We'd be taking care of our own.  And the world would want to know why we are doing so.

The world would want to know why a church group was replacing their neighbor's roof, painting their siding.  They'd want to know why a family member's car is being serviced, why their dental work is being done, why their rent is being paid when illness strikes.  They'd want to know why their sister stopped drinking alcohol and received counseling for her alcoholism.  They'd want to know why needs were met.  They'd want to know why a job was available from a local contractor for a recently released prisoner.  They'd want to know why after-school programs are available for children whose parents' work.  They'd want to know why mentors are available for students who need tutoring.  They'd want to know why we open our homes to the homeless.  They'd want to know why we have support groups for the grieving, the abused, the burdened.

And then we might be able to say we have been true to the commandment Jesus gave us in John 13:34-35:

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

After all, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do whatever I command you."  John 15:13-14.

In today's society, so many critics distort what Christianity is all about.  They myopically focus on all that we stand against, rather than what we stand for.  They propagandize, ridicule and criticize.  And to be sure, if we help one another and provide for one another's needs, we will be judged, condemned and mocked for caring for our own.  But should that stop us from doing so?  What exactly does stop us from doing so?  Is it the government's responsibility or ours to care for our brothers and sisters?  selahV

PROBLEMS WITH COMMENTS ON PREVIOUS POST on SOVEREIGNTY

For some unknown reason, I am unable to post comments on my own site.  And since I'm having a problem, I'm wondering if others are having a similar problem.  I assure you I have not banned your IP, nor have I banned my own IP.  I've contacted Typepad and haven't heard back from them.  So if you are experiencing difficulty, know that I am working on it from this end.

That said, I'll simply write it here my response to Luke and to Byroniac.  If you want to know what they said that generated my response, you'll just have to go read the previous post.  :)

LUKE:   Now, that all depends upon how you define "determinism" in any given situation, doesn't it? I will definitely allow you the fact that God allows stuff.  After all, He allowed Jesus to be beaten, scorned, mocked, spat upon, humiliated, and betrayed, all with His pre-determined will to pay the price for our (as in all of the "ours") sin.  He allowed that horrendous display of human rebuke of sinlessness and illustration of sinfulness of man "to carry out all that Your hand and Your will and purpose had predestined (predetermined) should occur." Acts 4:28.  THAT, to me, is one amazing Sovereign God.  He did that to Himself if we are to believe that Jesus and He are One.

What an illustration of God's love for man!  The horrid unholiness of man was hanging on that cross--not in Jesus, but upon Him.  And it exemplifies the power of God, the forgiveness of God, the conclusions of God, the holiness of God, the attonement of God, the sovereignty of God and the love of God. And much much more.

 

I so agree that "it is really difficult to determine,humanly speaking, exactly what God is decreeing versus what God is allowing all the while considering that God is working His will in the midst of both." That's where we, as humans, must trust His Sovereignty as we live out His Word even when things seem very very wrong to us.  Christianity seems to grow in leaps and bounds when under persectution and attack.  Satan doesn't care whether sinners sin, he wants to see Christians sin and give in to their fleshly desires. That way he can use our faithlessness and our unrighteous behavior to condemn Christianity--not us.

 

Sometimes I think some well-meaning Christians are afraid to teach the whole Word of God because they think it's all ultimately upon God what we do or don't do.  I don't see that kind of relaxation of His teachings as rational. selahV

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BYRON:..I gave some thought to those verses last night and this a.m.  In fact, I went so far as to read the entire 4th and 5th chapters of Acts.  And as I've answered Luke above, I find no problem with how God's sovereign will is carried out.  I find it more of a problem that folks blame Him for whatever ill befalls us when He has given us direct laws to follow and then we blame Him for His pre-determined consequences of disobedience and self-seeking desires.  selahV

 

[NOW....LET'S SEE IF we can post comments in this post's stream.  selahV]

 

 

 

SOME QUESTIONS WORTH REHASHING...I THINK.

Way back in 2007, I posed some questions on Sovereignty on "SelahV's Questions".  I got some great feedback on them.  One of those questions came directly from a reader who emailed me with: 

SelahV: "I've been keeping up with your Sovereignty question...not sure if this has been covered....but, if God ordains everything...can we ever be out of God's will?"

If I understand this reader's question, I suppose, she wants to know if our will can ever really be on collision with God's if God is the One decreeing what we ultimately do anyway?  Thought provoking, don't you think?  I've toyed with some things lately that may be more easily understood if we knew the answer to my previous reader's question.  For instance:

1~ If Sovereignty determines all that we do, can the folks who voted for Obama be held accountable for the horrific decisions he is making regarding abortion?  We may deserve what we get, remember Israel's captivity?

2~ If Sovereignty determines every outcome, does it really matter if the Southern Baptist Convention is called Southern and Baptist in states above the Mason-Dixon line and on the western side of the country?  Everything is relative, anyway, isn't it?

3~ If Sovereignty determines what we ultimately achieve in life and undergirds every failure, what difference does it make that we manipulate, climb ladders and push folks out of the way to get ahead?   We're gonna get there anyway, aren't we?   

4~ If Sovereignty can be trusted as perfect, why do we get frustrated with the direction of the SBC, the stock market, the government, and everyday stuff?  Wouldn't this be a place to "consider the lilies of the fields and the birds in the air"? 

GOT ANY THOUGHTS?  selahV

HOMESCHOOLERS BEWARE: If it starts in one state, it can move to yours.

With the growing popularity of Homeschooling comes the myopic eye and strong arms of Big Brother.  According to a Baptist Press article published in the Baptist Messenger here in Oklahoma, homeschooling numbers are up 36 percent since 2003.  It relates:

"A report by the U.S. Department of Education finds that the number of homeschooled children in America has risen steadily over the past five years and stood at about 1.5 million in 2007.  Homeschool experts, though, place the number closer to 2 million and say the discrepancy can be attributed to homeschooling parents being less inclined to respond to government surveys.

The report from the National Center for Education Statistics, a division of the federal government's education department, said in December the number of home-schooled children was up 74 percent from 1999 to 2007 and 36 percent since 2003." Baptist Messenger, January 22, 2009

ONE NEWS NOW reports today that the latest legislation being introduced in New Hampshire created an outpouring of protest from over 1,000 to visit Concord's capital building.  More and more the government wants to interfere with the parents authority to raise their children as they see most beneficial.  In my usual biased opinion, this is but another example of stamping out liberty and limiting a parent's control.  Let the stones cry out!  selahV  

LAUNCHING NEW SBC SITE

Ever since I began reading SBC blogs in 2006, I've felt something missing amongst the barrage of sites that offered critiques, apologetics, and projections of everything some folks think is wrong in the SBC.  I've longed to read the things which could truly impact the character of the SBC in her entirety and stir us on to good works.  I've enjoyed the personal accounts of some who sprinkled them throughout their blogs.  I even joined one collaborative blog for several months, launching a daily devotional subsite.

As I read the essays and online journalism attempts of some, my heart bled with sorrow on many occasions.  I found it a real blessing when Tony Kummer launched SBC VOICES and have often enjoyed some of the writers I've found there.  SelahV Today is not about SBC in specifics.  Yet, being a Southern Baptist, I've sprinkled a few posts which focused on some of what other blogs introduced into the network.  SelahV Today is whatever is on my mind and heart on any given day.  I've written about everything from sour pickles to dandelions.  Most often I've posted about lessons learned, thoughts provoked, and emotions stirred.

In a new site that I've been working on for months, I want to go in an entirely different direction with things than any I've seen with most blogs.  SBC Enc (Encounters), will focus on positive things encountered in SBC life.  It's my desire to bring bits and pieces and slices of life that exemplifies the best of the SBC.  It may be as simple as someone's encouraging word in a busy hallway on Sunday morning, to the depth of a seed implanted from a pastor's sermon.  It could be an event such as VBS, Disciple Now, or Angel Food ministry.  I want to offer a refuge from controversy and a respite from debate.  Hopefully we can have conversations with one another that build one another up and give hope.

Also, I am inviting folks to submit on speculation their ideas, drafts or outlines, or complete stories for this blog.  Have something good happening in your church, school, seminary, mission field that you think should be shared?  Email me.  selahV

PEACE IS A STATE OF MIND...

...AND SPIRIT.

"You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You." Isaiah 26:3

The disciples found themselves in turbulent storm, with rolling waves and a rocking boat.  They were frightened and believed death may be eminent.  All the while, their Master slept in complete peace.  When they called out to Jesus, He stood and spoke to the winds.  "Peace be still".  At the sound of His voice, the winds ceased to blow; the waters calmed down.  Jesus admonished his faithless disciples.  How could they have come from a day of miracles to an evening of fear and trembling?

Aren't we similar at times?  One day we have our Lord show Himself steadfast and certain.  Then one day a storm comes our way and we fear and doubt; we tremble at our circumstances.  Typically we take out our proverbial buckets and begin to bail water with tumultous furor.  We dig in our heels.  We plunge our oars into water and row against the waves of chaos.  We wonder why our God is not visibly coming to our aid.  We see Him resting in perfect peace and we faithlessly continue to fight the battles on our own.  All the while our mind and heart is focused upon the trial--the roaring waves, the threatening winds.

What are your winds today?  Financial burdens?  A deteriorating health problem?  The loss of a loved one?  An attack on your character, integrity and motives?  Focus on Jesus.  He's sitting next to our Father in Heaven.  And you, if you're a believer, are in His arms of love.  He will keep you in perfect peace when you rest in His care and trust Him.  selahV