Writer's Digest Story Contest #83 -- Writing Prompt w/ max of 700 words

Short story writing prompt:

"A man is surprised to find himself feeling both pleased and liberated by the news that he will soon die."

700 Words Maximum:

Rick felt a gut-churning fear he’d fought all his life, ever since he got called to the principal’s office, or when his girlfriend told him she was pregnant. Riding a tumultuous, entrepreneurial roller-coaster put him in frequent high-pressure meetings in the clouds of downtown, called to dark-paneled conference rooms, where fate, future, and fortune hung in the balance. But coming to this specialist panicked him, and the fact that the doctor was so young (and female) twisted the knife in his stomach.

She’d spent half her life studying cancer, but the look on her face reminded him of bankers staring him down at a lender conference. Methodically reviewing testing procedures conducted at the world’s finest cancer facility in Houston, the sincerity with which she explained Stage 4 kidney cancer touched him deeply. It must be hard for any doctor, even one daily waging war against cancer to tell a man there isn’t much hope for a “successful outcome,” she said, as stiff as her starched lab coat.

“Are you talking years or months, Doctor,” urging more than asking.

“I’m afraid my best guess is months, Rick, I’m sorry to say.”

After swallowing the personal premise of pending death, he gulped again and sheepishly, in a childish way asked, “So, this treatment regimen is unbelievably hard, without any real hope of recovery? Am I just going to make an exit looking like a zombie?”

She responded earnestly, with piercing eyes, “We can prolong your life a significant amount of time if the tactics work well.” “But it will be extremely painful toward the end, depending how long your body can take what we drag it through.”

Raw, and emotionally spent, he left the Texas Medical Center disoriented. By the time he sat by his pool at home with his Labrador licking the sweat off of his calf and his hand wet from the chilled highball he held tightly, Rick considered mortality and the feelings of fear and hopelessness crowding his mind.

In business, he consumed numbers ravenously, and it seemed that a guy with only 1.5% left on his battery—maybe 8,000 hours of existence remaining, would be tossing around a dozen emotions; grabbing each one, tasting whether bitter or sweet? He’d lived a long time and lost many of life’s pillars: his wife through divorce, parents, a brother, jobs, houses, even a Cadillac repossessed in the eighties.

However, a strange calm came from the two emotions dominating his thinking: he was both pleased and liberated by the thought of leaving this world. His situation wasn’t preferable but these two tracks didn’t intersect or conflict as he pondered imminent death.

Whether enlightened or unshackled, contentment surprised Rick, heated by the sizzling sun and the hot concrete surrounding the pool. As odd and unusual as he felt, the reaction positioned him unexpectedly to be open to death and consider his life against what he thought he believed of the other side.

He studied the Bible growing up, and took his kids to an Episcopal Church in River Oaks because it was close to his home, but it was probably the hatred for Baylor athletics that skewed his religion to the left. He satisfied his liberal arts love for adventure by reading Revelation like sci-fi literature.

Rick dimly pictured the Lord, white-headed with flowing hair and robes, seated at the head table of a gargantuan banquet, where Rick’s anticipated mourning, crying, and pain passed away. He longed to see the amazing city called the New Jerusalem. Released from gravity, he gazed heavenward and contemplated the brilliance of his future home, as well as he could. Liberation and contentment came from a believer’s travel plans.

Three gates side-by-side, welcomed each named entrant to a wall of the square city, roughly the size of all of North America; each gate made out of a single pearl 2,200 kilometers high. Gold paved streets, translucent and clean, wove throughout a destination where nightfall never came. God illuminated every hour of eternal, joyous days; and in the middle of the biggest boulevard in the city flowed a crystal clear river. Rick planned on walking peacefully near its banks. ##

©Mark H. Pillsbury

Contest entered July 10, 2017

Merry Christmas, my thoughts in poetry... (2015)

Christmas Poetry 2015

Lord, save us from the dark of our striving,

Faithless, and troubled hearts.

With each day we live, we’re dying,

It’s with this poem my repentance starts:

From closing the year, socializing, and shopping,

December’s pressures are many.

Focus on the schedule isn’t helped by stopping,

Even though this month has as many days as any.

The culture of marketing and sales,

Begets a frenzy of doing and seeing.

But what is truly the wind in our sails,

Came down to earth as a human being.

School’s out and the decorations are sublime,

Lights are twinkling and glowing.

Some survive one day at a time,

They feel depressed without even showing.

Are we surprised by joy,

Can we live outside ourselves?

What’s the latest toy,

Flying off the shelves?

Seasons greeting, happy holidays,

Just don’t say Merry Christmas!

Cheer is passed along in many ways,

I love the name Immanuel (which means "God with us").

So many years ago on that Silent Night,

Jesus condescended.

By this he made all things right,

It's hard to be comprehended.

Now all the sleigh-bells ringing,

Don’t mean as much.

As to Jesus we’re clinging,

Changed by his touch.

Let all the earth fear the Lord.

Let all who dwell in the world stand in awe of him.

We read the Christmas story in God’s holy word,

And all together we sing a hymn.

Maybe it’s, “On Dasher, on Rudolf,”

And the rest of the crew.

You know their names,

You probably do.

Blitzen rhymes with Nixon,

What else can you say?

It’s Christmas ya’ll, and Santa’s fixin’

To ride up on a sleigh

He arrives in a couple of days.

The stockings are stuffed.

We’ve come up with so many ways,

To fill this month with fluff.

Is it different this year?

Or do we just get through it.

Hold your loved ones near,

And try to intuit:

“Peace is possible,

In our hearts we know it’s true.

But the story is improbable,

And it comes down to you?”

Away in a manger,

A baby was born.

To King Herod there was danger,

On that ancient Christmas morn.

They brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh,

A star guided Kings near.

I'm too busy wondering what to buy her,

Probably another kitchen utensil this year?

The baby grew and traveled,

He preached and he served.

Jesus teachings unraveled,

And the leaders were unnerved.

Christmas starts the story,

That morning ends at Calvary.

When Jesus in His glory,

Sets us all free. (Happy Easter)

So celebrate, feast, and gather;

The year is at its end!

But know what is the matter:

Jesus was born to save, Amen.

©Mark H. Pillsbury (2015)

The Sons of Sceva #Fiction based on Acts 19 [Part 2]

Part Two: fan #fiction based in part on Acts 19: 13-17 (the Sons of Sceva)

Though shocking, a stark reality hit the Sons of Sceva: for once, their fakery brought out the evil spirit! (it worked?)

The room suddenly turned a purplish hue, and the swirling wind normally felt in the arid lands outside Ephesus blew their robes and threw sand in their eyes.

Regaining their vision, confused and fearful, they heard a voice; high-pitched but sonorant, with a demonic richness not quite ear-splitting yet resoundingly clear. It was the evil spirit speaking directly to them, breathing fire like a dragon.

As the air of life sucked out of the room, all seven brothers froze in attention looking at the man they were trying to heal. Restored and vigorous, but trance-like, the man’s lips didn’t move; although he was definitely the source of the sound. In their lives together on the road as a merry band of grifters, never had they focused so realistically, so fearfully, on a single voice such as that which roared from this demon.

Unfortunately, their father the Jewish high priest did not convince them of the prohibition in the Torah about using false gods for evil purposes, as they had done often around the major coastal city of Ephesus [see Part 1—posted 09/23/2012]. During these alarming few moments, to their dread, an evil spirit addressed them with a mysterious and omnipotent capacity that made these experienced hustlers rapt like little bare-bottomed toddlers.

“Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” (Acts 19:15)

There were no “eyes” fixed upon them but it seemed as if the evil spirit was looking right through the Sons of Sceva. After dancing around a serious spiritual war for which they were not prepared, now they found themselves in the middle of the battle. One of the ghostly warriors took notice of them in a very condescending way: “And, who the hell are you?” Don’t send a boy to do a man’s job, goes the saying; even more, don’t claim heavenly authority against evil forces as a scheme to take innocent, desperate people’s money. Bad choices make bad outcomes.

Many in Ephesus marveled at Paul’s ministry, even tried to replicate the miracles he (and Jesus) worked in their midst, but the power and sovereignty of God will not be mocked or counterfeited. Indeed, without the blessing of God’s grace on our work, we are impostors. Without God’s divine intervention in our lives, we are rudderless boats adrift on a hostile ocean.

Eyes like saucers, confounded and silent, the pitiful brothers made no reaction or even a whimper; yet they reaped the whirlwind of the evil justice they were due. Breaking through into the realm of spiritual warfare is difficult. Ignorance suggests they would not have started down this road knowing what they had joined.

In an instant the man inhabited by the evil spirit leaped upon them, seemingly with enough arms to wrangle all seven brothers. This “being” was an entity not quite human, with an ephemeral quality, translucent and sparkling as it whirled around like a tornado. The storm overcame the room, as it was powerful enough to carry the whole house away from its foundation. The fight lasted but a couple of minutes, although it inflicted significant damage on the Sons of Sceva.

The men fled out of the house without skill or strength, escaping with their lives alone, by grace alone. Cut, bruised and beaten, they ran blindly through the streets as fast as their legs would carry them. The ignoble defeat included the fact that they fled naked, the height of embarrassment in this culture. Far from being an incident of humor or derision, the whole city heard about what happened with the evil spirit and these "honorable" criminals, and Jews and Greeks alike were aghast. It says in Acts 19: 17 that because of this provocative incident in Ephesus, the name of Jesus Christ was celebrated, or “extolled.”

Common in biblical literature, especially in Luke's book of Acts, God tells His story in an unconventional way. Ironically, the typical exorcism reversed here; turned upside down in the surreal context of spiritual warfare. In what appears to be an interlude in the constant spiritual battle about which we know so little; the evil spirit purged the exorcists, and not the other way around.

©Mark H. Pillsbury

The Scots' Confession of 1560 A.D. -- What They Believed

The Scots Confession -- 500 years old -- What is it that you believe?

John Knox and 5 other church leaders that happened to have also the name John, wrote these words, about what they believed (what they "confessed") of God in 1560 A.D. (Chapter 1):

We confess and acknowledge one God alone, to whom alone we must cleave, whom alone we must serve, whom alone we must worship, and in whom alone we put our trust.

He is eternal, infinite, immeasurable  incomprehensible, omnipotent, invisible, one substance, yet distinct in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (holy spirit).

By him we confess and believe all things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, to have been created, to be retained in their being, and to be ruled and guided by his inscrutable providence for such end as his eternal wisdom, goodness, and justice have appointed and to the manifestation of his own glory. 

This rich language is immensely illustrative even today, of what it is Christians (especially Calvinist leaning Christians) say they believe. It speaks of a divine sovereignty (control) that is out of step with modernism 500 years later; however, it is recited with the same vigor today as in 1567 A.D. when is was officially codified.

John Knox died in 1572.

photo of painting, by Getty Images

##

Justice: why don't we talk about justice in church?

Why don’t we talk about justice in church?

Gary A. Haugen, Attorney, and president/founder of International Justice Mission, suggests (3) three reasons why the church is reluctant to preach justice:

  

1.   Pastors are reluctant to preach justice because it’s perceived to bring politics into the pulpit. Partisan politics has no place in the pulpit.

The central focus of preaching should be the gospel not the voting booth. There are many churches that get involved with electoral politics, pursuing candidates from their neighborhood to make changes in oppressive, unjust political systems. However, the purpose of a sermon is to exposit the biblical truth of Jesus and his resurrection, not that Justice and Jesus are exclusive of each other. It takes a pastor who can weave into biblical exegesis Jesus’ desire that humans would be free from the guilt, sadness, anger, confusion, and harm resulting from their sin; instead turning from things like injustice and following him to the cross. 

Jesus had to take for form of a sacrificial lamb in order for true justice to be wrought on humanity through him. Jesus embodies justice and mercy together; his blood paid the ransom for our sin, and makes peace with everyone possible, including God. This amazing mercy was the antithesis to justice although it does not lessen the severity of the justice required to conquer sin. Pastors who talk about social justice in the present day sometimes miss this point about biblical justice in the person of Jesus Christ. The trouble with bringing politics into a sermon is that Christians of both political parties are trying to do the right thing. Maybe the first thing we should do with any candidate is ask them to define their vision of “justice,” and to see that they act wisely in practical matters.

2.   Justice is not always connected to the felt needs of those in the pew. For largely middle-class congregations of North America, injustice is a subject read about in the news, not lived daily.

Big churches like one I can think of in Houston, deal with self-improvement from the pulpit as much as they do anything like “justice.” The pastor I’m thinking of acts as encourager-in-chief not the head of missions. Focusing on the outside world takes commitment, organization, passionate volunteers, and a network of global organizations. Thinking about justice, and acting upon it even in the smallest neighborhood way is more gritty and granular than discussing self-worth, and positive mental attitude. Supporting just causes requires a level of interaction that some churches abhor. They would rather do things within their own congregation than actually have to fellowship with Christians or non-Christians that don’t believe how they do. It gets messy!

Comfortable, middle-class Americans don’t spend much time thinking about justice until it affects them! The idolatry of “comfort” is pervasive in the modern church, so this disconnect is not surprising. For the conversation to turn to justice, our hearts must change. Christians must be so struck with the injustice in their own hearts and what Jesus did to change them that they want to help those who are the victims of injustice, or to right those maladies in the world that are unjust. Progress will come from the inside out, beginning with an awareness of severe problems in the world on more than a conceptual level.

"Here is one choice that our Father wants us to understand as Christians – and I believe it is the choice of our age:  Do we want to be brave or safe? Gently, lovingly – our heavenly Father wants us to know that we simply can’t be both."  — Gary A. Haugen

  

3.   Talking about justice opens the door to despair in our world. The overwhelming quantity and depth of world problems leaves us feeling fatigue and/or paralyzed.

I tend to bounce off that perspective, not because it is incorrect but the larger view is that there is injustice because of the nature of the fall (Genesis). Even though I think Mr. Haugen is accurate, I would argue from a larger idea that injustice is rooted at the foundation of brokenness between each human and God. It is spiritual poverty that causes the relationships in our lives not to work. This is something the North American church is not comfortable admitting! One of the biggest problems in the promotion of justice is that the people who don’t think about justice are actually working through a God-complex. These poor souls are perfectly fine with the concept of justice as long as they are not mistreated themselves; and further that any contribution to injustice begins with looking outside their own hearts for the culprit.

Many Christians tend to think that justice is a problem for someone else, that alleviating injustice (or poverty for that matter) is not an exclusive task of the church. That begs the question, however; who will take up the cause? The government?

If God’s two greatest commandments are to love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds; in other words, our whole being. And secondly, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves (see, Matthew 23 for this restatement of Old Testament commandments). Surely the great commission flows out of this kind of revolutionary love: demonstrated through acts of kindness, compassion, and justice. The mission of God to love his people through us certainly requires that we seek justice in all facets of our life.

The spread of the kingdom of God is to be carried out on earth by His Church, as they have been commanded in the Bible. Through the power of the Holy Spirit within us, having sincere hearts dedicated to justice; Jesus’ followers are to take up the task. Even though it takes work, we are not to sit by idly and give up. The people of God are to reclaim and redeem the world for Christ. “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (Jesus’ command in John 20:21)

©Mark H. Pillsbury

Tebow top ten list

Sunday 12.11.2011:

I saw another Tebow miracle tonight, and at our house we can’t stop talking about this remarkable young man. But what makes him different than any other professional athlete interviewed at the end of the game?

What about his "persona" seems to lift the Broncos to a higher level of performance, if not at least in the fourth quarter?

What he lacks in pure skills he more than makes up with team leadership, confidence under pressure, humility in success, fierce competitiveness, and an other-worldly ability to rally the troops to not quit.

Watching Tebow interviewed after the victory (7th in a row, 5th coming from behind) over Chicago made me think that his interviews in postgame are very different than one normally sees. (My top ten list how, below)

10.  He seems shocked that he won again. Tebow claims the other guys on the offensive side of the ball make him look better than he really is. Really?!

9.  His smile starts the interview off with a disarming glow.

8.  He acknowledges the Lord Jesus Christ first, before he answers the initial question.

7.  Tebow’s overall attitude is one of sincere thankfulness, not "expectation."  He is evidence that God can make even weak men successful if that is God's will. (other examples: David, Joseph, Moses, Peter). But does God have anything at all to do with the NFL?

6.  After the first question, about 80% of viewers are uncomfortable, but is it because this sort of attitude is so unusual?!

5.  The other players are given credit, not his performance, even though the other players are not asked the questions.

4.  Tebow assumes that teamwork is the higher calling resulting in the success of the last 8 weeks, not his own role as the most important position on the field.

3.  He uses jargon like “belief” “faith” “special” “god bless you” “encouragement” “team” (these are words that most professional athletes do not use!)

2. “Christianity is like smoking," said Larry Taunton, "You can do it, but only in the designated areas. Don't bring it into the public arena.” (see #6 above)

But the number one reason the Tebow effect is so interesting:

1. People are praying for this young man. The power of prayer is subversive, anti-worldly, and mysteriously engaging. Thinking prayer is worthwhile takes faith, and watching the secular world blanch at Tebow is almost as much fun as watching his comebacks!

©Mark H. Pillsbury

Timothy Anderson | Man Knocked to Ground at CTA Station After Giving Panhandler Money

Timothy Anderson | Man Knocked to Ground at CTA Station After Giving Panhandler Money:

'via Blog this'

Acts 3: 1-10

Translated into the modern version of the Message (©NavPress Publishing Group):

Scene: Just a regular day as if we were at a traffic light waiting for it to change:

Vv. 1-5 three o'clock one afternoon, Peter and John were on their way into the Temple for a prayer meeting. At the same time there was a man crippled from birth being carried up to the gate, for this was his regular place to beg (panhandler).

Every day he was set down at the Temple gate, the one named Beautiful, to beg from those going into the Temple. When he saw Peter and John about to enter the Temple, he asked for a handout. Peter, with John at his side, looked him straight in the eye and said, "Look here." He looked up, expecting to get something from them.”

Vv. 6-8 Peter said, "I don't have a nickel to my name, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!" He grabbed him by the right hand and pulled him up. In an instant his feet and ankles became firm. He jumped to his feet and walked. Wow.

Vv. 8-10 The man went into the Temple with them, walking back and forth, dancing and praising God.

(Everybody there saw him walking around and praising God). They recognized him as the one who sat begging at the Temple's Gate called Beautiful, and rubbed their eyes, astonished, scarcely believing what they were seeing! This was a miracle, and it was done in the name of Jesus. This miracle occurred naturally as an expression of unmerited love in the name of Jesus, and Jesus received the glory.

Motivation—There is nothing wrong with asking for something from God, because his plan is sovereign; if God wants to bless you with a miracle, he fully has the power make it happen. We are weak vessels, and often the motivation for change is nothing more than “pain.” If we understand the mystical, meta-physical world of God around us, nothing is as it appears to be. Spiritual warfare exists all-around but we are unaware. We are the consistent, cynical, hardened beggar illustrated in Acts 3: 1-5. But we must look to God expectantly, as did the beggar.

Miracles are strictly a blessing from God, totally outside human power. The part we play is to ask in faith and believe in Jesus, allowing him to work through us. We must know as an article of faith that miracles are possible, and this requires that we rationally become a student of history.

Optimism—why should anyone be astonished by what God can do? Is he not powerful enough? Is there any order of difficulty for the God of the universe to ordain a miracle? Is it that we just don’t typically see miracles enough to be comfortable with them? Or is God just too stingy to give us any miracles? Faith is inextricably tied to optimism, because it is the assurance of things hoped for, and sometimes it includes asking in faith for miracles. If you have never experienced or refuse to believe in miracles, it is hard to escape the pessimism or cynicism which creeps in like smoke.

Attitude—Gandhi said that the force of spiritual truth is greater than any army, weapons of destruction, or political authority; and Butterfield wrote that prayer is a “subversive activity.” It involves “more or less an open act of defiance against any claim of ultimacy by the current regime. Concealed egotism is perhaps a greater cause of conflict, a greater source of political problems, than anything else on this globe.” He wrote. Prayer drags egotism out into the open, and begins to do something about it. Our holiness is both the opposite of and the antidote to the ego, according to Marianne Williamson. God rules, not the government. The attitude we have toward power structures and evildoers can be weak, compliant, and submissive; conversely, we can have the attitude that we will not be overcome and resistance is paramount. Prayer is a means by which this attitude of faith can work itself out in practice. Prayer is a force of spiritual truth.

Aptitude—Some organizations with which I have worked either for short or long times over the past 20 years. Living examples, as organizations, of assemblies blessed by God to be “miracle” groups whose growth and impact on the world are significant and unlikely in a short period of time (in no order):

Park Cities Presbyterian Church –large church in Dallas that set a goal to plant 100 churches and over a twenty year history surpassed their goals beyond their biggest plans. Also planted RUF college ministries, overseas missions, and a seminary. www.pcpc.org

Liberty Institute—legal defender for religious liberty fighting in courts all over the US, this small institute has been a part of dozens of landmark first amendment and religious liberty cases since 1997 when its director Kelly Shackelford started filing cases and drawing in volunteer lawyers for the cause of Christ, as Christians came under attack. Often outnumbered and outgunned, Kelly and his volunteers battle to protect freedoms and strengthen families all over the US. They win cases that no legal experts predict them to win!
www.freemarket.org

Houston Christian High School—in just 14 years it has become a preeminent college preparatory high school, a pacesetter in Christian education, and a growing destination for parents in Houston who want rigorous academics, leadership training, and a Christian environment. Growing from 200 students in 2000, to approximately 500 students today, HC was recently accredited by ISAS and invited to join the SPC for athletics. www.houstonchristian.org

HOPE International—HOPE was founded in 1997 with its President Peter Greer taking leadership in 2004 concentrating on its own distinctive poverty alleviation: microfinance provides small loans to poor people, it provides an intentional witness for Christ, a commitment to stewardship, helping alleviate poverty, and has shown a dedication to the hard places around the world. HOPE International believes that church-based programs are most effective when they simultaneously meet both spiritual and physical needs in a culturally appropriate manner. www.hopeinternational.org

©Mark H. Pillsbury

Galatians 5 AMP - IN this freedom Christ has made us free - Bible Gateway

Galatians 5 AMP - IN this freedom Christ has made us free - Bible Gateway

Using Eugene H. Peterson's The Message (NavPress), I am working through another way to look at Galatians 5: 22-26 in order to answer the question in my own way (see above link, to read what Paul says about this?):

Q: What happens when we live God's way?

A: God brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—in this case, fruit is shown in things like: affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. At the same time He also uses trials to refine us with a refiner’s fire, to bring us up as a father trains up a child so when he is older and tested, he will not depart from it.

We develop a willingness and an ability to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. I believe we learn to love justice for all human beings, because every person we deal with was created by our God in his image. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way into life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. This is a gift.

Note: Legalism (and living by works) is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities, living for ourselves, is killed off for good—crucified with Jesus on the cross. Therefore, because of Christ’s work on the cross, we are no longer struggling to be free, fighting to survive. Indeed, we are free to struggle against sin, sometimes falling victim to the devil but ultimately preserved in victory.

This life we have chosen, the new life of the Spirit or living God's way, has to be lived out on Monday through Saturday, with a practical effect on our daily lives. Our authentic walk is more than a veneer put on for Sunday at church. More than a dedication to be a “good person,” made once but not lived out.

We must be sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads, or a sentiment in our hearts; but instead work out its implications in every detail of our lives. We cannot hide anything from a sovereign God. And we must give the same grace and mercy in the context of our mistakes, as we have been given by God in the forgiveness of our sins.

As we mature as Christians, no longer can we compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original, and significant in a unique way to live the destiny that God ordained for us to live, which should give ultimate glory to the creator.
©Mark H. Pillsbury

Listen to this sermon at www.christtheking.com (Aug. 7, 2011)

Christ The King Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas
Click on the hyperlink above to the front page of CTK website: you can listen to the most recent sermon:

Rev. Eric Priest's sermon on Psalm 10 this Sunday August 7, 2011 talks about the idea that we tend to judge life by success: the point of life is to get ahead and then stay ahead! Eric discusses Psalm 10 in light of 3 types of atheism, which was a fascinating way to see modern worldviews. It made me think of a couple of things I read recently:

“In a world where success is the measure and justification of all things, the figure of Him who was sentenced and crucified remains a stranger and is at best the object of pity. The world will allow itself to be subdued only by success. It is not the ideas or opinions which decide, but deeds. Success alone justifies wrongs done… with a frankness and offhandedness which no other earthly power could permit itself, history appeals in its own cause to the dictum that the end justifies the means… The figure of the Crucified invalidates all thought which takes success as a standard.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ethics (published 1955)

“In direct contradiction to the American Dream, God actually delights in exalting our inability. He intentionally puts his people in situations where they come face-to-face with their need for Him. In the process he powerfully demonstrates his ability to provide everything his people need in ways they could never have mustered up or imagined. And in the end, He makes much of his own name.” David Platt's Radical (Random House 2010). (thoughts on 2 Cor. 12: 9-10)

How do you feel about your weakness, and what is your Achilles heel? On his blog, Rick Warren recently talked about what Adam and Eve did to hide from God and said additionally, "what is your fig leaf?"

Mirrored Majesty (from Psalm 8)

http://tiny.cc/1nsr2

This sermon was preached in Houston on July 24, 2011:
It was a profound moment. We all search for significance, and we have it in the fact that we were created by God, for a special purpose.

That purpose might be elusive to those who actually seek it, however, it is no less true.

And we can be at peace with all men, even the ones we do not like or with whom we disagree, b/c they too were created with the care and love of their creator, giving them immense dignity.

This 20 min. can change your life... Best always,

MHP