Joy in My Heart

"Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained" (2 Timothy 2: 8-9).


I am up, awake, and ready for this night of work again; though it may be a small stage in life, the prospect that I am always on God's side (rather than the popular understanding that He is on another's side), for Him to mold my work at all times, is an abundant blessing. Paul wrote many letters and words which many Christians would encounter as well. The truth we believers must ground ourselves in is the truth that all the turbulence of the day is not something random; the troubles of this day have been ultimately caused by man's sins, and more obvious, man's pride--soon he will want to be called God.

Non-believers, if you so happen to be reading any of these words, I advise you to reconsider your own happiness, comforts, and affluence, by wondering what these things are based upon. You might say that they are based upon you, or possibly someone or something vaulable to you. You might base your life on love, but what kind of love? The love which reaches only so far as to the end of this life, easily trampled and quite finiky? Think about this: the Word of God is not chained. The limitlessness in that foundation produces love for all time here and in eternity, where time is of no consequence. May you come to the base where the moth will not destroy,
where rust will not ruin, and where there will be no thief to steal your treasure.

Scripture Passage of The Day: 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will
rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with
the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians
4:16-18).

On the road under Heaven 

Some Words on Death and Most Emphatically on Life

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,
Before the difficult days come,
And when the years draw near when you say,
"I have no pleaure in them";
While the sun and the light,
The moon and the stars,
Are not darkened,
And the clouds do not return after the rain.
(Ecclesiastes 12:1,2)
Finished a phone call with my folks and grandparents in California, and talked with Grandma as she is still overcoming the natural time of sadness of having lost her mother, almost 86. I quoted Psalm 39:7 to her at the end of the call, and she gave a short sigh which sounded like a release of stress or a commission of power by hearing that verse. "My hope is in you," said the psalmist. Indeed, without that hope all that a man can wait for is death; it comes so stealthily, and yet so predictable and regular, precise and neat. That doesn't mean it came naturally, only that now it is natural. People like my great-grandmother who passed on, died in the flesh, are not forsaken to the grave. Despite the cynicism of this age, the various thoughts of man's so-called rebirths (e.g., the Renaissance and the Enlightenment) have no power over a child of God, who was at first from birth condemned to darkness and a death hole of Hell, but since saved by supernatural actions of Christ now is eternally bonded to his (as Bunyan illustrated in Pilgrim's Progress) summons of salvation, to his God.

Great-grandma is not lost, we didn't lose her; as with all person's transformed in this life, alive once in the flesh, who were able to kneel without pressure and confess Christ as God and Savior, they merely moved away from this old shack to a glorious mansion in Heaven. As Bob Dylan said in Sweetheart Like You, "Your Father has many, many mansions, all with a fireproof floor." Jesus to Martha, whose brother Lazarus died of a sickness, said in John 11: 25, 26, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe in Me?"

No caption can possibly do this picture justice. It's simply a classic. That's my brother for you, an '88 Buick. 

INSOMNIA at 3 AM: Words for God

"And now, Lord, what do I wait for?

My hope is in You" (Psalm 39: 7).

Some thoughts on the last three days are lingering around, behind my eyes, behind the dark lines under their sockets, lifting a silent voice of words of relentless wonder and expressions of enjoyment toward the mighty works of God. I feel less dependent on people, and more interested in what God will show me next. I have no interest in my readership, whether anyone reads this or not, I do not mind writing this, for I write not out of the pleasure for it only but for the Lord who hears and knows all. All the secret things are revealed in time. One day we'll all appear before the King, president's and kings alike will stand naked before Him, He who knows the answers to the questions before we will answer back. I write for Him.

I have worked three nights in a row (36 hours of work total), though that may be somewhat easy for others, I know that if I am yawning at 7 PM on the 3rd night the shift has took it toll. And I am persuaded that my sleeping habits are pretty much screwed up by now, but the motivation that I am preparing a living for myself, becoming more wise in the reality of what God said the Adam after he had eaten of that tree of knowledge of good and evil, that man now must toil labor to eat, to survive, and that "in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground" (Genesis 3: 17, 19). Also, the satisfaction of going home while others must slave through traffic and the early morn to begin their day of toil is undeniably wonderful. At some point I know that, out of pure unadulterated spite, I'll open my sliding door on my Jeep at a red light and taunt some commuter in his Mercedez-Benz with fresh cappuccino froth still on his upper lip and sleep still in his eyes, which in turn he would most likely burn rubber, 0-60 mph in 4 seconds, which is when I would begin to pump the gas peddle so as to keep my engine from dying (I don't have fuel injection action, and still content). But that last motive is merely a perk--not the entire point, you see.

This is very unnerving to be up past 3 o'clock in the morning like an insomniac. Without work, in parts of the long duration when I yearn to be stretched out comfortably under layers of blankets and comforters, and after I've slept a good chunk of my day away when the shift is over and I've driven home, I'm at a loss for the desire to close my eyes. Work has yielded good material time and time again. For instance, on one of my breaks two nights ago, I went to the men's room with my safety glasses resting in my front shirt pocket and the next thing I know is that I witness for the first time in my entire life a pair of glasses falling (almost in slow motion it seemed) into the urinal. My face displayed a look of utter shock. Naturally, I reached in and grabbed the un-kosher spectacles and did as the Hebrews most certainly would had to do by Law if anyone had invented glasses at that time, I scrubbed those puppies with hot water and orange-scented hand soap until I heard them whimper.

I am consistently reminded of the accident last week when I sliced my hand, and when reaching for the First Aid box, fainted to the floor like a sack of cement, hitting my head on the cement floor. I'm called names like Lefty (since it was my left hand that was cut) and playfully and sarcastically asked by my supervisor, "So what was 'Nam like?" I think the bonding has increased proportionately better after all the machine operators and packers in the department had witnessed me knocked out cold on the cool ground. At least now I will spare myself of being puffed up, for it's hard to be proud when you have done what I have done. Vida es bueno.

Esta es la dia que El Dio creo,

Estoy celebro y contento en esta.

(Pardon any grammatical errors in my 1st year-ranking Spanish.)

Proverbs 24: 10

"If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small."

Going Home 

Ongoing Thoughts On Mark 14:32-50

"...The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Mark 14:38).

I haven't made regular time for Bible study in the last week or so, becoming distracted by recreation, work, sleep, meals, television, and my own negligence. Thankfully, I've kept up in the Word, by the power of He who strengthens the weak and makes them strong, who was Gideon's confidance and is mine as well. While working for the past couple nights I have thought about the scene in Gethsemane whence Christ's body felt burdened, stressed, weary, where His disciples too became tired, but from sleepiness instead. The showdown between Creator and creation, the taming of Nature came into play here; the Lord dwealt in a flesh suit, as a man, and like the rest of of mankind, the body becomes tired, sleepy, stressed as Jesus felt before the time came for Him to be delivered unto the officials for His trial and execution. He told His disciples, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch" (v. 34). The three disciples who He brought with Him into the garden, Peter, James, and John are the parallel to the point of I have read.

Jesus, giving all of His life up to the Father, gave up His rights; the other three set on watch did not have an awareness of the importance in this situation, for all they could feel and know at the time was that the Master brought them out to this garden to pray past bedtime. But the hour was close for the Son of Man to be betrayed. The foreshadowing of the cross and all of man's sins must have been a very great sight in our Savior's mind, so great that He, God of creation, became very sad! But the beautiful thing about this situation in Gethsemane is that Christ conquered and man failed, demonstrating that man is not invinsible, but mortal and in need of the salvation which Christ established the next day.

With a few index cards of Scripture written on them, while on break I take one out of my pocket or lunch box and take a moment to think about that particular passage. Mark 14:38 is another verse which sticks to my ribs, sticks to my mind; it is another reminder from God that I am weak and He is strong.