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May. 16th, 2008

Dark IronMan

Tragedies inBurma and China

PHOTOS: 7.8 Earthquake Rocks China, Kills Thousands

This is a message from my friend Luke Chen, pastor of CBC, regarding the recent tragedies in Burma and China.  There are never any easy answers for how a good God could allow these things to happen, but  Luke provides some excellent and challenging insights.


Thoughts and prayers for those suffering are needed.  But so is practical help.  Please consider making donations and/or volunteering whenever disaster strikes

Feb. 12th, 2008

Kobaltdrache

I Believe I Can Fly


I had a dream last night that I could fly.I know this isn't Nathan, but Peter... but oh well.
It was an odd dream which started off with me driving a car with my wife next to me. We were on a three lane highway and the traffic began to slow. Over to the right, I noticed that the shoulder and the concrete sidewalk were torn up, as if there was major construction.
Gradually, the traffic came to a halt and over in the slow lane, a car accident caugh my eye. The vehicle was badly mangled and a tow truck was trying to get it hitched. We continued driving and then came to a place where I haven't been to in 9 years. East New York, a rough part of Brooklyn. A green street sign read Remsen Avenue (not sure if that is actually in East New York, but it's in Brooklyn for certain.)
A Korean store owner greeted an African American neighbor. Now I was standing on the street corner by myself, somehow waiting for my wife to catch up, on foot. The Korean man's 10 year old son zipped across the sidewalk and while hot-dogging, slipped and fell. He wasn't hurt, but the father scolded him for showing off and not being careful.
Next, I was riding the skateboard. And my wife was standing on it with me. We couldn't move until we synchronized our motions. She would lean the back in one direction, while I leaned the front in the opposite, then we'd both swing the other way. Reminiscent of the way a fish swings its tail to propel itself.
Before I realized, we were floating in the air. With an inevitable sense of belonging, we turned left around the corner and found ourselves in an alley, floating with some people I don't remember, but somehow knew they were close friends. There was such joy in our hearts, a feeling of knowing that we could all fly.

 

And I said, "I knew it, we can fly." And out of nowhere, Nathan Petrelli of Heroes shows up, next to me. "Just not as fast as him."
"Of course you can," he said. And rocketed into the sky.
I, however only hovered, not quite as high as "Flying Man," but joyful nonetheless.
 
I believe this dream signifies the huge life struggles my wife and I are encountering now, with our the growing pains of our business, our general burned-outedness, and most recently, her mother's diagnosis of Stage 4 Lung Cancer. And I wonder if perhaps I am dreaming of our overcoming all these difficulties with a power from above and within.
If nothing else, I have been inspired. This dream gave me the perfect ending for the first act of my YA Fantasy book, the idea of which caught while I sat waiting for my brakes to be repaired in the shop. The scene is about faith and flying. Look for future mention of Kobaltdrache [The Kobalt Dragon.]



  
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31

Dec. 5th, 2007

Blind Justice

Retrograde Inversion

 

I've spent all my years trying to mature and outgrow childish ways, and despite my best efforts, like a good friend of mine says, "the more things change, the more they remain the same."

Since I was a child, I had a strong sense of right/wrong, fair/unfair.  When it came to righteousness and justice for myself.  I was keenly aware of how it afftected others, but I never cared as much for them as I do for myself.

Right and fair are troubling concepts though.  Because when filtered through what's right and fair for me, I find myself going as far as sqeezing square pegs into round holes.

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Dec. 3rd, 2007

surprise!

Holiday Cheer - not.

 How many times has this happened to you?

You're waiting patiently in a crowded parking lot for someone to vacate a spot you've scoped out, after a long time.  Then some sniveling little driver comes up the way and starts to wait.  You try to make eye contact with this new driver who is clearly after your hard-earned parking spot, but he won't look at you.  He must have seen your signal lights blinking in the direction of this parking spot.  Then, as soon as the occupant pulls out of your spot, this new driver pulls right into your spot!

How do you feel at that point?  The answer is pretty universal, I daresay.
But what do you do?  Many times, I have just gritted my teeth, shook my head and drove off looking for another spot.  Maybe, I'll honk my horn irately, for a parting shot.  But yesterday, while in the parking lot of Costco, my wife at the wheel because of some serious lower back pain, this very thing happened.  I was fumed because we had been waiting for a long time and I really wanted to get this shopping excursion over with (well, started first).

Nov. 2nd, 2007

surprise!

Something I learned at the Chris Tomlin concert

I was inspired by an awesome presentation by Louie Giglio at a Chris Tomlin Concert.

I believe that all of creation, the universe, everything, was created by a supreme being.  Just try to imagine the great complexity of the galaxies, how things hold together, and their beauty and function.  I find it difficult to believe it all came to be by chance.  There must be an intelligent design.  But more than that, I believe there is an aesthetic design.  A design of an infinitely wise and artistic God, in whose image we as human beings have been created.  For those who disagree, I respectfuly ask that you indulge me and hear me out.



Image:Messier51.jpg

 A wonderful admiration surprises me, amazement seizes me on these thoughts. And men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty waves of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, yet pass over the mystery of themselves without a thought.  --Augustine.

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Nov. 1st, 2007

Palms

Going to a Chris Tomlin concert!



Can't remember the last time I went to a concert.  But I'm excited to be going to see Chris Tomlin in concert tonight.  I and my band lead my congregation with many of his songs.  (Yes, I play a guitar and sing).

We did this song last month.  





 

Jul. 19th, 2007

surprise!

Mission statement

In light of some of the  David Feige articles I have found interesting, I was reminded of something that happened soon after Jesus returned from 40 days of fasting and warding off the temptations of the devil.

(John Chapter 4) 14Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

 16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
 18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
      because he has anointed me
      to preach good news to the poor.
   He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
      and recovery of sight for the blind,
   to release the oppressed,
    19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."[e]

 20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." 


Jesus is quoting Isaiah 61:1,2 here and states clearly his mission on Earth.  Clearly not a mission of condemnation and judgment, but of grace and freedom.  Unfortunately, this didn't go over well with the people in the temple, for this is what happened next:

 28All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Cool that he could just walk undected through an angry mob bent on killing him.  What did he do next?  Shake an angry fist at them?  At God, for sending him on this thankless mission?  Go off to another crowd and thump his Torah and preach condemnation?

No, he put his money where his mouth was and went to heal a demon possessed boy (a very cool and spooky scene).  He then went to heal droves of sick people.

To me, true religion is not just the talk, it's the walk.  And I don't care what anyone says, Jesus was not just talk (and he was really good at that, check out his parables), he walked the walk.

Would that I could have such intergrity and conviction, such that my hands and feet demonstrate what my mind conceives and my tongue confesses.

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