Just read this morning, quite randomly, that Bach stamped his feet when he played.  That makes me feel happy.  I do the same thing, and take a lot of grief about it.  He also wrote at the top of every one of his compositions, “Soli Deo gloria“, “For God’s glory alone.”  Yay!!  

I’m all in a panic this morning.  Tonight Trinity will be having a book discussion of “The Shack”, (by William Young), and it looks like I’ll be doing a fair amount of the facilitating. So naturally I’m doing my homework and trying to bone-up the book’s messages and themes.  GOODNESS, there’s so much criticism out there!  So just to zero out the baggage for myself and my friends who find themselves here: I believe in the Christ of the Bible, of Isaiah, of the gospels, the epistles, the Nicean, and the Apostle’s Creed, and I believe there is salvation in no other name.  I also believe God’s word, (the Bible), is inspired and contains the revelation of God’s heart and his plan for the human race.

My conviction is that apart from the Bible, there is probably no other book on the face of the planet that is 100% pure truth.  Therefore we need to always read prayerfully and discerningly, spitting out the bones and swallowing the meat.  Growing in Truth is an incremental process, and these people on the Internet who pride themselves with having a ministry of sorting out heresy make me very nervous.  I, for one, am grateful that the love of Christ, (along with His blood), covers me while I work through all the foolish and wrongheaded things I believe.   I also like to extend to others the benefit of a doubt.  Unless a person is preaching some obviously twisted version of Christ, I think he deserves the courtesy of not being labeled a heretic.

The Shack is NOT a perfect book.  Yet I believe it contains some stunning insight into humanity, God’s love for the human race, and the Trinity itself/Himself.  (Don’t know which is proper since the Godhead doesn’t fit into the laws of grammar).

I’ll restate what I told my class on Wednesday night:  YOU are responsible to take anything I teach, write or say, (along with every book I recommend), and to hold it up to the light of Scripture and the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit.  The very last thing I ever want to do is to lead someone away from the TRUTH. 

Whew!  THANKS for letting me get that off my chest.  Now… back to The Shack.   

“… every student well-trained in God’s kingdom is like the owner of a general store who can put his hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it.”  (Matt. 13:52 Peterson).   The disciple of the kingdom commands the entire world and perceives the holiness of everything from morning solitude to, (as my friend, Tommy points out) “aisle seven at the supermarket.”  

I’ve been thinking of it like an extra dimension, as if I spent my first 45 years squished between the pages of an encyclopedia in the company of pressed flowers, photographs, circles, squares, and printed words – until the kingdom popped me right over into the third dimension.  And now it’s a world of objects and balls, boxes, bodies, and botanical gardens.  No wonder Jesus made such an issue of having “eyes to see” and “ears to hear.”  Unless a man or woman encounters the living Christ, it’s not merely difficult, but impossible to see the kingdom.”  (John 3:3)  A natural man can no more experience the Kingdom than a photograph of a man could enjoy a meal.

 So my prayer today is, “Father, give me eyes to see, and ears to perceive your Kingdom.  I was made for more than this stuffy, flat world.    

These political campaigns are dragging me down. In my lifetime I’ve never felt so discouraged about the direction of America or its leaders on the horizon. For me it’s a clear wake up call. As long as the US is hopeful and robust it’s a huge temptation to rest in her shade and let kingdom matters trail along behind. (Some of us, during the “good” times even fall into the scarier deception of thinking America is synonymous with the kingdom of God, though we’d hardly admit it.)

Anyway… it’s a good reminder for us to put our trust in the real Kingdom, which is unshakable, and which has nothing to do with silly elections, big bucks, and empty campaign promises. That kingdom will eventually fill the earth with justice, mercy, and the beauty of God as surely as the waters cover the sea. (Hab. 2:14

Just a couple bits of information and an inspiring quote today:

• This coming week I’ll be in Colorado Springs teaching in the YWAM Discipleship Training School. I’m excited also that my buddy Clay, (from Sarajevo), will be joining me there.

• The photo below is from a little informal birthday gathering last week. I don’t own much in the way of property, (mostly books), but these friends are eternal treasures. I actually plan on spending ages in heaven with these characters.

• Three people in the past week have asked me if I’ve thought about writing a book. One of them even told me he’d finance the project. I’ve never really thought I was clever enough for that sort of thing, unless maybe it was along the lines of The Kingdom of God for Dummies. Maybe it would sell a few copies to some humble souls who – because of their humility – would already know a lot about the kingdom. Still… it has me thinking.

• This from E. Stanley Jones: “Seek first the kingdom of God and all things will be added to you, including yourself. You will no longer be an echo – you will be a voice. You will no longer merely copy, you will create.”