2:129, #433: Smoke

I'm thinking about smoke this morning, based on one devotional that pointed out James 4:14 that we are "a vapor" and pass away quickly. I was thinking that it would be better if Christians were to be more like the smoke that clung to the battlefields of the American Civil War "back in the day" of the 1860s. I'm listening to the soundtrack of "Gettysburg" and have been playing "Civil War Generals 2" these last several days, so warfare is on my mind.

Actually, warfare is pretty much always on my mind, given the fact that we're in Enemy Territory, are surrounded like the paratroopers of "Band of Brothers" at Bastogne, and we're supposed to be the sweet smell of Christ to those around us...a smell, by the way, that for some is like the aroma of a good cigar that identifies us to people even around the corner of a building when they can't see us, while to others it's the stench coming off Old Smelly.

Smoke always has its origin in fire. The Spirit is the fire within us we're not suppose to quench. How do we avoid putting up smoke screens with our lives instead of being a cloud of incense wafting out of the temple where the Spirit dwells? Maybe that's what Paul was thinking about when he said not to quench the Spirit in I Thessalonians 5:19. On the other hand, are we to be sending smoke signals to those around us in order to give them the Message? Will the uninitiated know what we're saying? NOPE...the Spirit's got to do His job to "clear away the smoke" the Devil has been blowing for millennia!
Got a light?

2:128, #432: I Found My Second Career...

...And that would be writing a baby-care book!! Now how did this epiphany arrive...by stork, of course! No, actually by Facebook side comments. Here's how it happened...

A third time new-Momma (hey, every bundle of joy is a new experience!!) posed the question, "How many times should you let your baby fill her pants before you do the unthinkable and wake her to change the diaper?" My response, after reading several others, was "train her to sleep half naked on a bucket and you've got both problems solved!" Momma replied that I sometimes make her speechless...an achievement in and of itself, I would say! Then, another commentator mentioned that I should write a baby-care book since Dave Barry (a humor columnist according to his site I just Googled) could. Since I originated the Balaam's Ass Theory of God's Way to Communicate...if He can speak through a donkey He can speak through any of us...I take that as a sign...sorta like "Maternity Ward," but given my gender and lack of biological children, we'll go with Grampa Ward, probably Section 8 of the local Funny Farm. (Some mixed metaphor that, Eh?!!)

Well, the FIRST baby-raising epiphany I had was when Lady Galadriel was changing her second-born's diaper back in '84 and I saw the process while I was doing some carpenter work for the family. Tending Jesus' sheepies is like tending babies...they eat, bleat, and excrete and expect all three functions to be dealt with by older sheepies who brought them into this mortal coil.

In regard to my sleep/cleanup response: I'm thinking about marketing Bob's Baby Bucket in soft, molded plastic to simulate the baby's shape, pink and blue swirly color so it works for both sexes, with inserts for smaller sized tykes so they don't slip through the opening. AND...for another small fee, we could offer Robert's Recyling Repository in which to hold the reprocessed baby formula for future use as fertilizer for the garden! Hey, when I used to work in Central Pennsylvania, some Amish folks used outhouse leftovers on their fields!! Smelled bad, but worked great.

Well, Grampa has to go tend to the mundane business of opening up Camp Cornelius buildings... kinda like Samuel opening up in the mornings...so all you sheepies keep expanding the Kingdom as you do and I'll have more to write later!!
Got formula?

2:127, #431: "Way To Go, Furrball!"

I like last lines of movies. The classic is from King Kong, "It wasn't the planes that got him...it was Beauty killed the Beast!" (Watch the movie if you don't understand.)

Today's post title is Wolverine's last line from "X-men, The Final Stand" when he sees the TV newscast that his now-buddy, Dr. Hank McCoy a.k.a. The Beast, has been made Ambassador to the United Nations for both regular and mutant Americans...part of his reward, I guess, for saving the world 'with a little help from his friends', as the Beatles used to sing. This is the male-bonding side of yet another action packed chick flick...chick flick trilogy, actually...where good old Wolverine has to run his adamantian blades through Jean Grey a.k.a. Phoenix, who was causing a really bad day to go with the power to destroy everything!! Gee, I guess he took the line, "You always hurt the one you love" a little too seriously?!!

So what's my point? (I seem to ask this rhetorically quite a lot these days.) This comic book presentation spiffed up with 21st century movie making technology is a morality play about the transformational power of love!! And you thought it was just a bunch of cool (especially Bobby, a.k.a. Iceman) freaks with super powers trying to decide whether they should wipe out the human race or fight the bad guy mutants who are convinced they should. Of course, true Love (no, not that found in "The Princess Bride") isn't even part of the equation...you know, as in the Lord?!!

Even though I enjoy these Manichaeistic superhero movies...the Light might win against the Dark side...I wonder if there are any writers/producers/directors out there who could put forth a version of Frank Peretti's Christian novels dealing with spiritual warfare that would actually grab the public and put forth a message of Truth without wimping out? It might be an interesting way to help pierce This Present Darkness.

In fact, "I think I'm quite ready for another adventure!"
Got popcorn?

2:126, #430: X-men Theology

A few minutes ago I gave a brief Facebook Status idea based on my 4am epiphany about "X-men," "X-2," and the linguistics of X-mas. I have more thoughts:

The basic premise is that, if we shorten "Christmas" to "Xmas" we can shorten "Christians" to "Xians" or "Xns" as I do in my prayer journals...the Lord hasn't struck me dead with the short-hand, so I guess I'm ok. Now, given those two givens, we can shorten Jesus' stature as the Christ/Man to X-Man, the head of the X-men, "men" being like the original Greek "anthropos" meaning "man/mankind" vs. "andros" meaning "man/male" which excludes...should that be X-cludes?...our beloved sistren in the Lord and narrows down just about whom the text speaks.

Clearly, based on Galatians 3:28, in Christ...hmmm, that would be "X" in our syllogistic shorthand... there is neither male nor female but we are one in Him, so the X-men are ALL us spiritual mutants who have been Born Again and become a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), gifted with supernatural powers listed in Romans 12: 6-8 and elsewhere that are not available to the Aints (vs. us Saints) of this world. HOWEVER...we are not at war with the Aints (even though they seem to think they're at war with us) as Ephesians 6:10-20 says, but with the unseen forces that our Enemy, the Devil, has at his disposal. Hmmmm...a disposal is where the garbage goes to get chopped up and flushed down the drain...I see a spiritual parallel in these linguistics, methinks!...and I guess ends up in the lake of fire mentioned in Revelation in the really real universe.

Well, all that being said, "X" was always the unknown factor that needed to be discovered in first year algebra in order to solve the equation. The logical...at least in MY Marvelling Universe... conclusion is that "X" is the unknown to the world (cf. John 1:5) and needs to be declared to the Aints so that they, too, can become mutants like we sheepies are!!
Oh, and the "X" of the flag of Scotland was a public domain image, whereas a great pic of St. Andrew's Cross or the X-men are not, and I'm of Scots descent, so it works for an illustration in my little world...
I guess our robes of white we be the equivalent to the X-men uniforms?

2:125, #429: Just About Perfect Day

Yep, that's what I've had. Got trees pruned outside the Grey Havens, remembered to take the picture of the azalea The Artiste wanted, he painted our "outside puppy" Butch as the second pic shows, I got an annoying hosta transplanted, 4 of the 6 young trees I transplanted on the 19th are still alive and thriving, had a good ceegah whilst doing some outside work, I watered the garden which is doing well, got "Ashokan Farewell" back on my computer, am listening to some great tunes, found out some good stuff from Facebook, AND I'm about to play some Civil War Generals on my computer to satisfy the tactician/strategist facet of my personality.

The weather's great, the campus looks good for upcoming graduation, and liverwurst was on my menu for lunch. Even had a couple of scoops of peanut butter right out of Peter Pan's jar a bit ago. Even got a couple of chapters of Acts read before I got rolling.

How's yours?

2:124, #428: Where There's A Will...

...There's A Way. OK, this age old adage was quoted in "Chicken Run" last night at the Grey Havens second show. As usual, my brain was running, not like a chicken with its head cut off, but in some of the elliptically shaped circles outside the box...

Since Rocky and Ginger fall for each other, is this the Ultimate Chick Flick?

Could the adage be altered? For instance, Where there's a will...
...there's probably a lawyer.
...there's a terrible two year old.
...there's a stubborn 50-something.

And, for you spiritually oriented types...
Where there's a will, there's two Testaments, and definitely a Way, Truth, and Life.
Have a good Memorial Day Weekend. Hmmmm...can a day be a weekend?

2:123, #427: Dragon Stuff

This morning I'm wearing a Christmas present...a black and white shirt that says, "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy & taste good with ketchup."
I've also got a poster in my office, stuck to the wall with a steak knife that says, "CAUTION: This area is protected by fire breathing dragons." This one is under Aragorn who is next to Sweeney Todd and Cap'n Jack Sparrow/Will Turner.
One of my favorite chick flicks is "Reign of Fire" where the dragons have taken over most of the world but eventually get annihilated when Christian Bale's character, Quinn, blows up the male's guts with a C-4 crossbow bolt down his fire breathing gullet...AND goes walking off into the distance with his arm around the female American helicopter pilot!!

So what's my point? Dragons were real at one time...check out the description in Job 41:1-34, as were dinosaurs...brontosaurus is aptly described in the preceding chapter at Behemoth. THE Dragon...Satan himself...is still real and is prowling about to rip your guts out and swallow you whole if you give him the chance. HOWEVER, as 1 John 4:4 says, "You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world!" God has given His angels not only charge over you to protect you, but sends them to help you fight off the demons, powers, principalities, rulers, world forces of darkness, spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places, and Satan himself as necessary.

You've got the Holy Spirit within (assuming you're saved), you're in the Father's right hand, and Jesus is seated at His right hand interceding for you, so even without angels you've got the Dragon outnumbered 4 to 1, so you can "stand firm against the schemes of the devil" in the strength of Christ's might while tramping with both feet on The Dragon's head as Ephesians 6:10-20 indicates in practical Christian-walk details. So...
got heavenly armor and sword?