Behind the Times

When I mentioned this book to my sister-in-law, she did a double-take.  You know the kind of double-take.  Several people have recommended a book and you feel drawn to it and you think that Lord is nudging you to go get the book because it has been a means of grace to these others people and you think it will impart encouragement to you too.

Yeah, no.  That was not that sort of double-take.  This was a "That book was the rage a couple of years ago, are you really just getting excited about it now?  Of course I have already read it, I can't believe YOU haven't read it yet."

So apparently I am behind the times, but I guessing I am not the only one. :-) 

The book is called "A Praying Life" by Paul Miller. 

Here is quote from the near-beginning:

 "Oddly enough, many people struggle to learn how to pray because they are focusing on praying, not on God."

Well, that might be odd to him, but I can certainly relate to that thought.  I am looking forward growing more intimate with God by challenging some of my rutted ideas about God and prayer through this book.

And one more thought for the day:

I want to, I need to:

LOVE specifically

PRAY specifically

GIVE THANKS specifically

More remarkable predictions from Fahrenheit 451

Prediction... such a word... is it an educated guess at the future? Or is it understanding the times and extrapolating the consequences that will result? Or is it an absolute knowledge of what will come? The Webster 1812 Dictionary says this of the word "A foretelling; a previous declaration of a future event; prophecy". Dictionary.com gives this sort of description, "The act of telling or declaring in advance." Think of the breakdown of the word "pre" and "diction." Pre means "before" and diction refers to speech. It is a speech about something before it actually occurs.

One facet of predictions however that is not as malleable as its connotations is that predictions can always be judged rather clearly once an event has already occurred. (Mind you, there are still plenty of ways to spin a story that still makes history an imperfect standard, but we operate with the tools we are given.)

Well here is what Bradbury said about the politics of the future from where he stood...
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Woman #1
"I voted last election, same as everyone, and I laid it on the line for President Noble. I think he's one of the nicest looking men ever became president."

Women chattering among themselves:
"Oh, but the man they ran against him"..."kind of small and homely and he didn't shave too close or comb his hair very well"..."You just don't go running a little short man like that against a tall man"...."Fat, too, didn't dress to hide it. No wonder the landslide was for Winston Noble. Even their names helped. Compare Winston Noble to Hubert Hoag for ten seconds and you can almost figure the results."

Montag the protagonist:
"Damn it! What do you know about Hoag and Noble!"

One of the women:
"Well, they were right in that parlor wall (wall-sized, interactive TV), not six months ago."
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There is a commonly held belief that the greater number of people that vote, the greater the outcome will be. It is generally believed that an increased voter turn-out is positive.

The British Psychological Society Research Digest said, "The political parties don't agree on much but what they do all agree on is that the more people who exercise their right to vote, the better."

At International IDEA an article talks about a conference topic called "How do we increase voter turn-out?"

At the radical Garlic and Grass the author proposes making election day a national holiday and paying people to vote. That's right, pay people to vote... his example gave a figure of $100 per person.

Why did we start at "How" and skip over the "Why"?

Is it an appropriate assumption that increasing voter turn-out is a worthy goal? Why do we accept at face value that "more equals better"? Go ahead and do an internet search... Everything on the web will tell you that indeed it is such a good, noble and healthy proposition to increase voter turnout. Do you believe everything you read?

So, let's start at the very beginning, as Maria Von Trapp would say (at least in Hollywood), its a very good place to start.

What is the worldview behind wanting high voter turnout? I propose that it is generally a humanistic, evolutionary world view. Afterall, if you believe man, at his core, is naturally good, then the more "good" people you get together to voice an opinion, the better the result will inevitably be.

If however, you believe, as the Bible says, the man is inherently sinful and evil, then it does not follow that the more people you get together, the better the decision will be. The Founding Fathers did not leave us with a democracy, but with a representative republic... One government funtions on the foundational belief that man will choose rightly, the other creates checks and balances to account for depraved man.

Now I am not saying that high voter turnout is a bad thing, in itself, but I propose that it is a result of good citizens, an outworking of good citizenry, not a worthy goal on its own.

"Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens." -Daniel Webster

"Whatever makes men good citizens, makes them turn out to vote." -Rebekah Zeerip

This logic only runs one way... it does not work in reverse... a person may be a good citizen without being a good Christian and likewise a person may turn out to vote without being a good citizen.

I believe that a Biblical worldview requires us to make the distinction that more voters does not ensure a better turnout and therefore voter turnout for its own sake is a worthless goal.

But I digress... let me tie this little soliloquy off by relating it to Fahrenheit 451... Bradybury worked it so seamlessly into the dialogue of this "future world" when Woman # 1 (Mrs. Bowles is her name) said, "I voted last election, same as everyone..."

In Bradbury's world, high voter turnout has disasterous results.

Then Bradbury's women go on to discuss the candidates' physical appearances, ending their arguement with the lynchpin that their decisions were rational because they saw it on TV.

Maybe I am a statistics/research geek, but this awed me:

Here is a very recent new study from MIT (the MIT News Office just released this article less than two weeks ago) which says that beautiful/handsome candidates have an advantage over homely ones when it comes to uninformed voters...

But here is where Bradbury truly amazes... It isn't simply voters who are uninformed, but voters who are uninformed AND watch a high level of television.... Do you hear the echoes from Fahrenheit 451??? The women pick the candidate apart on his physical appearance and then cite their media exposure as proof to back them up. Wow.

So in one small page of seemingly easy dialogue of Farenheit 451, Bradbury NAILS this scene writing it in the 1950's and in 2011 MIT produces the research to back it up.

THAT'S WHAT I CALL PREDICTION!

Another Book Worth Blogging About...

Yes, I am still here. In fact, not only am I still here, but I have been voraciously reading. Fun books, interesting books, historical books, Christian teaching books, the Bible and more. Since I put down Ann's book, I have probably picked up another 8 or 10 bundles of words, paragraphs, thoughts, paper and glue. And the one I picked up yesterday has quickened my pulse and set my mind to processing. Another book worth bloggin about, so I thought it was high time to do just that and sort out my thoughts.

What is the book, you ask? It is call Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, partially published in 1950 and published in its current format in 1953... NOTE THE DATES... the 1950's. The days when I Love Lucy and The Ed Sullivan Show and Dragnet topped the ratings programs.

In that "American as Apple Pie" culture, Bradbury imagined a world where books were prohibited and burned when found. A world where the ultimate pursuit was "happiness", even if only achieved through deadening the senses to anything less than "pleasant."

There are several exerpts I want to ruminate on, but for tonight this one is all I have time for:

The protagonist, Guy Montag, is talking with his fire chief (incidently the job of firemen in this world is to start fires, not put them out) and his chief is trying to explain to him how they are altering society and why they are altering society. Particularly why books, specifically books that spur CRITICAL THINKING, are bad ideas:

He starts by saying, "You can't rid yourself of all the odd ducks (read critical/ logical thinkers) in just a few years. The home environment can undo a lot you try to do at school. That's why we've lowered the kindergarten age year after year until now we're almost snatching them from the cradle."

BRADBURY WROTE THAT 60+ YEARS AGO... And where are we now? The US government is funding Headstart Progams and numerous daycare programs. Where will it lead?

The chief continues less than a paragraph later:

"Luckily, queer ones [the odd ducks] don't happen often. We know how to nip most of them in the bud, early. You can't build a house without nails and wood. If you don't want a house built, hide the nails and wood. If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Peace, Montag. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs (anyone remember the show Don't Forget the Lyrics?)or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. (Hhhmm. Sounds eerily like the show Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?) CRAM THEM FULL OF NONCOMBUSTIBLE DATA, CHOCK THEM SO DAMNED FULL OF 'FACTS' THEY FEEL STUFFED, BUT ABSOLUTELY 'BRILLIANT' WITH INFORMATION. THEN THEY'LL FEEL THEY ARE THINKING, THEY'LL GET A SENSE OF MOTION WITHOUT MOVING. AND THEY'LL BE HAPPY BECAUSE FACTS OF THAT SORT DON'T CHANGE [ANYTHING]."

Ray, what reflection did you see in society three generations ago that you predicted such an awful and accurate reality?

Friends, go pick up a copy of Fahrenheit 451, take a few hours to read it, and join me in a few weeks of digesting it.

All God

Funny how quickly I become dependent on other things besides God-grace. Well, not really funny, shameful is more accurate. The past few days have been hard. I have had some physical things going on, missed church on Sunday (again) because Surprise Girl wasn't feeling well but much more that any of the physical circumstances, I have abounded in sin -revelled in it -rolled around in it and covered myself. I have yelled at my kids. I have believed the lie that I just needed more selfish down-time to be refreshed. I have been unkind and harsh. I have not served my husband well. Ugh!

Why did I not begin to preach truth to myself sooner? Why did I not repent faster? Why did I continue in Satan's methodologies instead of applying grace in my life?

One clue is in the story that Blogger went down. I know, how could that possibly derail me for days on end? Well, I process best in writing and this is my online journal... my web-log. Blog. I put my trust for me to receive nourishment from God's Word in my ability to process by my writing. Did you read all the "I's" and "me's" and "my's" in that paragraph?

The short of it is that I depended on a tool (and we know all technology... it WILL let you down) and on self (say it again... and we all know self... it WILL let you down) instead of relying on grace. I did not believe in the sufficiency of God, but pinned my hopes on my own formula for godly living. After all, will God supply grace if I have not gone through the motions?

So here I sit at the very beginning... it's a very good place to start. I am a sinner saved by grace. I must decrease so He must increase. "Where sin abounded, grace did abound more..." (Rom. 5:20) Andrew Murray called it, "the displacement of self by the enthronement of God."

Look at the beginnings of all those sentences:

A sinner

I must decrease

Sin abounded

Displacement of self

Let me remember that God did not leave me there. Think of the ends of the sentences:

Grace

He must increase

Grace did abound more

Enthronement of God

In combination, the thoughts keep before my eyes this truth: "It was not sin, but God's grace showing a man and ever reminding him what a sinner he was, that will keep him truly humble." -Murray

My humility, my walking in the way of Jesus, is dependent on me not depending on me, but on God. God's grace is the only reason I can see my need for grace. God's grace is the only reason I can remember I need grace.

Sit back, take a deep breath, and say it outloud:

IT IS ALL GOD, ALL THE TIME.

Someday we are going to get to heaven and have those crowns to cast down before Jesus' feet. And with every jewel in those crowns, we will point and say, "This one, this was all God. It was Him at work in me. This is when I decreased and He increased in me. This is proof that God was in possession of me."

God, be in possession of me today.

Yes, I am still writing and processsing by writing on this blog.

But God help me see, help me remember that it all comes back to YOU. You are the supply of all that I need. IT'S ALL YOU, ALL THE TIME.

The Last Review Online, One of Many Reviews in Life

So the end of One Thousand Gifts - Chapters 10 & 11. I must confess that I think this book was meant to be a ten chapter book. The book is wonderful but for some specific analogies in the 11th chapter to which I have an aversion and afterall 10 is such a nice round number. :-)

Here are the quotes that God used in the last two chapters to provoke and encourage me:

10

"A life contemplating the blessings of Christ becomes a life of acting the love of Christ."

"Eucharisteo is giving thanks for grace. But in the breaking and giving of bread, in the washing of feet, Jesus makes it clear that eucharisteo is, yes, more: it is giving grace away."

"The moment you think of serving people, you begin to have a notion that other people owe you something for your pains... You will begin to bargain for reward, to angle for applause." Dorothy Sayers

"Passionately serving Christ alone makes us the loving servant to all."

"It's the astonishing truth that while I serve Christ, it is He who serves me. Jesus Christ still lives with a towel around His waist, bent in service to His people . . . in service to me, as I serve, that I need never serve in my own strength....He calls us to serve, and it is Him whom we serve, but He, very God, kneels down to serve us as we serve. The servant-hearted never serve alone."

"God extravagantly pays back everything we give away and exactly in the currency that is not of this world but the one we yearn for: Joy in Him."

"[W]ith every one of the thousand, endless jobs, I become the gift to God and to others because this work is the public God serving, the daily liturgy of thanks, the completing of the Communion service with my service."

11

"With every grace, He sings, "You are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you" (Isaiah 43:4).

"[T]he most fundamental thing is not how we think of God but rather what God thinks of us:"

"How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important." C.S. Lewis

"The one thousand presents wake me to the presence of God- but more so, living eucharisteo, living in thanks, had done the far harder work of keeping me awake to Him."

"Little had I known that counting one thousand gifts would launch me on a thousand-year-old journey of transformation."

"He's calling me to graft on, become one with the True Vine, the vine the biblical symbol of joy, festivity... fullness."

"Before I ever breathed or the earth ever spun, the love within the Godhead orbited, Father loving Son 'before the creation of the world' (John 17:24 NIV) and when I am in union with Christ, I too am lavished with the love the Father has for the Son. In union, that love is mine- ours!"

"Eucharisteo-communion- that hound of heaven, He won't relent, always, everywhere, eucharisteo, opening the eyes to God."

"Is there a greater way to love the Giver than to delight wildly in His gifts?"

"Communion with God, what was broken in the Garden, this is wholly restored when I want the God-communion more than I want the world-consumption."

"O my soul, thou are capable of enjoying God, woe to thee if thou are contented with anything less than God." Francis de Sales

"He will break bread and I will take and the world is his feast! and He is love! and nothing will keep my hand from filling with His."
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Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.
-Ps. 68:19

Do I believe it? Do I live it? Oh God, I am grateful! Help thou my ingratitude!

Join me.

Echoes of Murray

Solomon said, "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." (Ecc. 1:9)

Reading the little biography of Andrew Murray, I recognize a man that God's Spirit had filled to overflowing. And journeying in that place of joy, he wrote, and wrote some more. And now we are blessed in the reading.

Thank you Ann for sharing your journey with us. May God continue to fill you and surround you with the joy of His Presence. You wrote and we read. You were blessed and became the blessing.

*The italicized quotes are from Murray's book Humility.

Chapter Nine:
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"How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it!" G.K. Chesterton

"The word humility itself comes from the Latin root humus - the kind of earth that grows good crops. God give the earth to the humus-people, the humble ones. Humility is that good humus that grows gratitude that yields abundant joy."

"Humility is not so much a grace or virtue along with others; [humility] is the root of all, because it alone takes the right attitude before God, and allows him as God to do all."

"I used to think that God's gifts were on shelves one above the other, and that the taller we grew in Christian character the easier we should reach them. I found now that God's gifts are on shelves one beneath the other, and that it is not a question of growing taller but of stooping lower, and that we have to go down, always down, to get His best gifts." F.B. Meyer

"When our own heart is set upon this (humility)...no place will be too low, and no stooping too deep, and no service too mean or too long continued, if we may but share and prove the fellowship of him who spake, 'I am among you as he that serveth.' [Luke 22:27]"

"Receiving God's gifts is a gentle, simple movement of stooping lower."

"Brethren, here is the path to the higher life. Down, lower down!"

"[I]n that place of of humble thanks, God exalts and gives more gifts and more of Himself, which humbles and lays the soul down lower. And good God responds with greater gifts of grace and even more of Himself."

"God wished to reveal himself in and through created beings by communicating to them as much of his own goodness and glory as they were capable of receiving...[and] the relation of the creature to God could only be one of unceasing, absolute, universal dependence."

"He must increase and I must decrease - not because that is burden but so that my joy might increase with more of Him!"

"[T]he first and chief mark of the relation of the creature, the secret of his blessedness, is the humility and nothingness which leaves God free to be all."

"The river of joy flows down to the lowest place."

"Just as water ever seeks and fills the lowest place, so the moment God finds the creature abased and empty, his glory and power flow in to exalt and to bless."

"God holds us in the untamed moments too."

"Lament is a cry of belief in a good God, a God who has his ear to our hearts, a God who transfigures the ugly into beautiful. Complaint is the howl of unbelief in any benevolent God in this moment, a distrust in the love-beat of the the Father's heart."

"Joy is God and God is joy and joy doesn't negate all other emotions - joy trancends all other emotions."

"His humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility."

"Pride, mine - that beast that pulls on the mask of anger - this is what snaps this hand shut, crushes joy."

"In Heaven and earth, pride, self-exaltation, is the gate and the birth, and the curse, of Hell."

"The theology is putting on skin."

"Fullness of joy is discovered only in the emptying of will."

"This is the true self-denial to which our Saviour calls us... self has nothing good in it, except as an empty vessel which God must fill..."
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Pride is a behemoth in me. I need to live in the words above, soak them in, apply, put them on, marinate in them. I need to live in this subject of humility for a lifetime.

I behold my sin, and I behold a Savior greater.

Greatest Hits

Skimming through Ann's book, looking for the succint truths that I want to have before my spiritual eyes throughout my day, here is my list of "Greatest Hits" for chapters 7 & 8. God, help these truths to hit me in a way that gives You greatest glory.

Chapter 7:


"Christ incarnated in the parent is the only hope of incarnating Christ in the child..."


"Obvious and immediate transfigurations exhilirate the faith, but the faithful can forget transfigurations, faces that once changed appearances. We betray Who we know. Didn't Peter?"


"You would be very ashamed if you knew what experiences you call setbacks, upheavals, pointless disturbances, and tedious annoyances really are. You would realize that your complaints about them are nothing more nor less than blasphemies - though that never occurs to you. Nothing happens to you except by the will of God, and yet [God's] beloved children curse it because they do not know it for what it is. -Jean-Pierre de Caussade"


"[Do I believe] that Satan's way is more powerful, more practical, more fulfilling, in my daily life than Jesus' way? Why else get angry?"


"Who's the real sinner... with the stinking pig in temple?"

"Can I be so audacious? To expect to see God in these faces when I am the blasphemer who complains, who doesn't acknowlege this moment for Who it is?"


"I look for the ugly beautiful, count it as grace, transfigure the mess into joy with thanks and eucharisteo leaves the paper, finds way to the eyes, the lips."

"I am Hagar lost with boy... I want to step back, flee. Who can witness the dying, but how can I leave him? 'Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water' (Gen. 21:19 NIV)....What insanity compels me to shrivel up when there joy's water [is] to be had here?"



"You have to want to see the well before you can drink from it. You have to want to see joy, God in the moment."


"Love is not blind; love is the holy vision."

Chapter 8:

"Worry is the facade of taking action when prayer really is." - I love the idea here, but isn't this a hanging participle, or somthing of the sort?! :-)


"Anything less than gratitude and trust is practical atheism."


"...I know I can't experience deep joy in God until I deep trust in God."


"Trust is the bridge from yesterday to tomorrow, built with planks of thanks. Remembering frames up gratitude. Gratitude lays out the planks of trust. I can walk the planks -from known to unknown- and know: He holds."


"...gratitude is not only the memories of our heart; gratitude is a memory of God's heart and to thank is to remember God."


"Jesus! [The Father] gave Him up for us all. If we have only one memory, isn't this one enough?"


"I either take the 'what is it' manna with thanks, eat the mystery of the moment with trust, and am nourished another day, -or refuse it . . . and die."


"I clutch soul bread and a Perfect Love that knows no end."