MicahJohn

This whole passage is striking. I was just particularly struck by verse 14

Who knows? He may turn and have pity
and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the LORD your God.

The blessing hoped for caught me off guard.

I’m in the midst of a quick reread of The Universe Next Door by James W. Sire. I’d read this worldviews catalog for a worldviews class a few years ago at Messiah College.

I appreciate the way Sire traces the way different worldviews flow into and out of each other both historically and philosophically. The Universe Next Door examines the ways in which deism was a bridge from theism to naturalism; the ways naturalism leads to nihilism; and the ways existentialism provides escape from nihilism.

I stopped skimming and started reading when I got to the chapter on existentialism. I think Christian existentialists’ approach to paradox is helpful. Certainly a contentment with paradox is dangerous. We must be guided by God’s word. God is infinite, we are finite, won’t our interaction at times seem paradoxical? Sire gives helpful balancing insight from Francis Schaeffer, “we can have substantial truth but not exhaustive truth.”

God certainly wants us to use the minds given us. God does not intend for us to make leaps of faith in the sense of abandoning reason. He wants us to include the deepest most permanent truth of God’s eternal presence in our reasoning. Sure, building a big boat in the desert looks unreasonable if those are all the facts, but if a wise trustworthy God shows up and says to build a boat because the whole earth is going to flood, what else is reasonable?

I also affirm the Christian existentialists claim of truth in story, in narrative. I do not support the contentment with any apparent death of objective truth. Again, God gave us our minds. It does matter if something did or did not happen. The Christian existentialist is in error if he doesn’t care if indeed Christ was raised from the dead (1 Cor 15), but the one who sees truth in the Chronicles of the mythical land of Narnia, is wise.

I just wrapped up a reading of a prepublication draft of No Turning Back. You should read it (I’ll loan you my copy or you might be able to get one from BICWM). Think “Blessed Be Your Name” with skin on. The book tells the story of the Zook children. Four of them went to serve as missionaries overseas. Three of the four died. The thing that most struck me as I read through was the Zook’s trust in the goodness of God and their repeated choice to praise him despite apparent tragedy.

I want to take from this reading the decision to trust God no matter what, to praise God no matter what. On the days when life seems miserable, at times when I feel lonely, when I feel overwhelmed by more than I can do, I want to still say “blessed be the name of the Lord.” I pray that though he “give and take away, my heart will choose to say ‘Lord blessed be your name’.”

Another thing that struck me was the call to fill their places. There are so many things that make crossing the oceans easier today. Planes allow quick travel back and forth. The internet allows face to face video communication. So where are the volunteers? Where are the harvesters? What should I do to help mobilize God’s army?

The book included a post script letting the reader know that the twin infants of one of the couples that died in India were raised by the Aunt and then moved away and distanced themselves from all reminders of their past. As a pastor’s kid, the struggles of pastors’ and missionaries’ kids have always hit me hard. My parents have done a great job of minimizing the PK struggles that are within their control and they have helped me choose to bless the Lord through the ones that are out of their control. How can I pass that on to other kids? How can I pass that on to my own kids? What precautions can I take so that if I die, my kids stick close to the Lord?

Waynesboro High School did an excellent job of putting on the show. The fun story was complemented by lively costuming and great delivery. My brothers, excuse my bias, were outstanding.

One of the stories weaving through the musical was one of Gertrude (a bird self conscious about the plainness of her tail) and her love for Horton the elephant. Because it’s a Dr. Seuss world, it all works out in the end (between the bird and the elephant). It left me wondering, however, how to let the girls I know with one-feather tails, know that they are noticed, appreciated, valuable, . . . . It would be easier if we were two single birds with a future ahead of us, but often I am an elephant, they are a bird, we don’t live in a Dr. Seuss world, and there can be no Elephant-Bird babies. It is this issue that sometimes makes me hesitant to notice the “plain” birds around me. I don’t want the poor bird flying off to make ready a nest, that I as an elephant can’t climb into.

I feel like my life is a big, unfinished cleaning project. At its start everrything was pulled out. Nothing was put back into place without careful thought. Piles were gone through; things were given their proper place. Gold was treasured. Trash was trashed, and clay pots were put to good use.

Then somewhere along the line I decided I’d rather have my life look clean than be clean. I took everything still scattered about the room and put it into boxes and put the boxes out of site. Gold went undiscovered and trash was allowed to remain and rot.

I’ve had my pretty life, but I’m not sure how much longer I can keep it. The trash in the closets is growing. I just keep adding junk to junk. Soon it is going to burst, something must be done.

But I do nothing. I’m paralyzed by the size of the project. I’m overwhelmed, I don’t know where to start. I’m scared to open the closets and sort through them. I’m not even sure I know how to.

By God’s grace, let the cleaning begin.