Here's to 2nd, 3rd...7th........chances

(as posted 8/1/2007)

in life as in love as in Christ, it seems that 1-thing can, and often does, relate to something else...many somethings elses...(mys spellings errors is intentionals).

so as my story begins - let this be a lesson of standing up...or of moving forward....or of trying again...or of humility....or of don't drink & ski .

Yesterday, i went to lake lanier with Joe and Kelley Lynch and Christiaan. we went with the intention of riding around, having a beer or 2, and xtiaan and i learning how to ski. all good intentions.

riding around - check
beer or 2 - check, cheq, chek, cheque
learning to ski - uh...ch...upchuck (almost)

as it turns out, i learned AGAIN that i am not naturally good at all things (hence the lesson of humility)

something about my posture in the water was not working for my progress. after many failed attempts during my first session (lets call it 15 tries, give or take) i got out of the water, maybe twice...and they really don't count at all. Kel hops in and on try #2 she's up (she's done this before by the way) and up for good as long as she wants to be up...she only stops when she decides she's had enough. now for Xtiaan - with similar success that i experienced he decides that today is not the day for him to get it. so, i'm back in.

back in the blasted water that continues to fight against me standing on it and moving forward on top of it (i'll shy away from the obvious relation to J being able to walk on it at with ease). i blame the water, but really, it's not the water or the boat or the skis or the rope or the wind or the whatever, it is me. it's all on me. my posture. my posture in the water, toward the water, on the water.

after a few more attempts, i was up on my feet - on the water - for an infinity of five glorious seconds. then WHAM! back into the water, or maybe it was face into the water, i don't remember. i was approaching an understanding of my posture in the water and beginning to get a feel for my posture towards the water, but i am only glimpsing the possibility of my posture on the water.

i owe thanks for the encouragement and grace to joe, kel, and xtiaan

and joe is willing and wanting to go again next week - i am so in! i'll give another 'up'date if i get 'up'...if not, i may be dead in the lake.

after the beating the lake gave me, i need another beer, to chase down all the lake i swallowed.

here's to a healthy posture all things water, to standing up, to moving forward, to trying again...and again, to being humble, and to drinking after skiing, not before.

Sum1 2 Live 4

(as posted 8/15/2007)

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

john 15v13

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there is no one nor no many that i would not gladly lay down
my life for theirs. yet, there is only one for whom i continue to live.

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1

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is one enough?

BALLOONS

before i begin...

...a teaching pastor from grand rapids, MI wrote a book called Sex.God. if you are up for a few new thoughts, you should read it. i did about 4-5 mos. ago and enjoyed it. the last entry is a story about letting go...about how messy life and love can be...and about moving forward.

which brings me to BALLOONS.

a couple, at their wedding, takes a bunch of balloons , that represent their past relationships that have failed and other heart wrenching past experiences and sets them free - as a symbol of their moving forward, past their past pain. a few years later the marriage failed...the author, rob bell, says that God will never run out of more balloons.

...months ago, karien and i went to los angeles, CA...(not such a big fan of LA)...while we were there, we walked around beverly hills. near rodeo dr, we found a balloon. a block later we saw a man holding a few balloons in his hands. he looked crazy or homeless...or both. he stopped us when he saw her balloon, he claimed it was his that he had let go earlier. when karien offered it to him, he awkwardly refused. he said he let it go hoping that it would come back to him. karien said that maybe she was the way that it came back. after some convincing, he reluctantly accepted the balloon, with obvious gratitude.

during our encounter with this man, i couldn't help but think, "how foolish is it to let a balloon go and expect or hope for it to return?" ...strangely, it did come back, although not by the way he had planned.

yesterday, a friend of mine reminded me of the story from Sex.God. and invited me and everyone around to take a balloon...or a few balloons and release them in a similar act of moving forward. as i took my balloons thru the woods to a clearing at the top of a hill, i couldn't help but remember the man from beverly hills...and how much i felt like him. how foolish can a man be release a balloon to the sky and hope that it will return to him?...how foolish am i for this hope?

they rose into the sky, yellow and green against the blue sky. then slowly my balloons dropped from their flight into the limbs of nearby trees...as if to mock me, trapped, out of reach, unable to fly away...unable to return.

"in all things give thanks and praise to God"

it feels as if i can only do this out of obediance to Him, for i do not feel very thankful right now. may my Father not hear my cries as complaining, so that He may still see me as His blameless and pure child.

my prayer today: thank you God for this place i am in and this difficult part of the race you have laid before me, please give me the strength and perseverance to continue running with my eyes fixed on you...may my life be a sweet aroma for you in your chamber. in the precious name of Jesus i pray, amen.

(as posted 6/29/2007)

LiVE & diE | 3!p & 3!/\7

(as posted 5/17/2007)

LiVE & diE | 3!p & 3!/\7

Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. Luke 17v.33

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life

He made us free, liberated, and able to liberate others.

following Him leads to a full life, possible persecution, and inevitable fleshly death

choose to love

to be truly free - to be without fear - to be alive - to love - to die: these are constant, good, true, revolutionary, original, dangerous things

ask a soldier, how dangerous is a man without fear?

ask Mandela, how good is it to be free?

ask someone in love, how true is love?

ask someone with a broken heart, how dangerous is love?

ask Jesus, how revolutionary is it to be alive?

ask anyone, how constant is it to die?

ask God, how original are all these things?

you are free

you are alive

you are going to die

you have nothing to fear

you are loved.

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Phillipians 1v.20-21

I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. 2 Corinthians 12v.15

Lamb Of God

(as posted 3/27/2007)

This is the first post in a category called 'Names of Jesus'

I thought it would be interesting for some to get a little more information about the names we already know. However, i can't claim any credit here - i will, for the most part, be reiterating what has already been said by Ann Spangler, author of Praying the Names of God and Praying the Names of Jesus. When i do introduce my own ideas, you will likely not need to be notified of it, for they will probably be more of a ramble of thoughts than the rest.

i hope you enjoy reading about why our Savior was called some of the names he was/is - and maybe you'll learn something new.

Arnion - (AR-nee-on): Greek for Lamb

Amnos tou Theou - (am-NOS tou the-OU): Greek for Lamb of God

Lambs represent gentleness, purity, and innocence...as well as an animal of sacrifice. Imagine that we still offered burnt sacrifices to God to attone our sins, to bring us back to 'right standing' with God, to allow us to be 'clean and acceptable' to Him. You would have to take the best, the purest, animal of your flock (the best you have to give) and clean and bathe it...them. Them...because these offerings you make are done often; one in the morning and one in the evening (Numbers 28v.1-8). Double that on on the Sabbath. Also to make sacrifices on the first day of the new month and on such feast days as Passover, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. You would also sacrifice a lamb in a cleansing ceremony after a woman gives birth or the healing of a leper. You would understand that the animal being sacrificed was a symbolic representation of you and your desire to offer your own life to God. You would be all too familiar with sacrificing lambs. What then, would you think if you heard a man referred to as the Lamb of God?

John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God.

' John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"' John 1v.29

The Gospel of John is the only book of the Bible to make this acknowledgement (Lamb of God), but the name/title 'Lamb' is used in other books such as Isaiah and Revelations.

One Man, without sin. Holy. Clean. Pure. Becomes our sacrifice, our lamb, justifying all things to God! Halleluia!

' Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.' Romans 5v.9

To get a better understanding of the place Jesus took for us, read Romans 5.

Know that you are loved always, in all things.

Just In Case

I will be reposting previous articles from eric.13floor.org here since 13th FLOOR USA is currently closed.