Sunday 30th March 2008 Did you know?

Tomorrow is the last day of March for 2008. And I don't know what to put in this blog for today.
I have spent some time here The Conservative Life. It is a forum which I visit and occasionally, well frequently, post into. Just about everything gets talked about in there. The hot topic lately has been Eschatology. What's that funny word mean do I hear you say? Why, I am glad you asked. It study of the last days. Or prophecy if you please. It is one of those controversial subjects that lots of people avoid. Mainly because people get hot under the collar about it. You see, we all agree that Jesus will return one day and that this world as we know it, will cease to exist. We agree on this but get cranked up about the details. It's a bit like that other hot topic: Tongues. That's a hot topic as well. So, generally we agree to disagree, sort of. Then proceed to avoid the topic completely. We Christians are funny mob. We have signs that we hold above our head. They say "This (enter topic of your choice here) is out of bounds. I wont talk about it." We are so afraid of offending folks. So we just don't talk about it. And if they do then we mumble some meaningless dribble, which they see as being meaningless dribble and leave us alone. How's that for a lot of meaningless dribble.
So, prophecy wise, there are Amillennialist, preterorists, millennialists, pre tribulationists, post tribulationists, and mid tribulationist. And that's just for starters. Are you still with me? Not totally confused yet? Most are. In fact most so called believers wouldn't have a clue what I am talking about. Most are "feel good" Christian. But enough of that.
So, what "camp" do I fit into? None really. I will tell you shortly what I believe is the way in which I think Christ will return. Why don't I fit into a "camp"? Because I think I should wait and see what happens. I should wait and see if the people who believe the same things I believe are correct. We may be, we may not be.
These are what I see as being the main scriptures about this vexing subject.
1. Matthew 24;
2. Luke 21;
3. Mark 13;
4. Thessalonians 1 and 2;
5. Daniel 9;
6. Daniel 12;
7. Revelation the whole book.
This is a short summary of how I see events unfolding. I talk here of future events. And I also must add that Israel is the centre of it all.
1. The return of Jews to Israel. Israel was declared a nation again in 1948. So that event is past.
2. The removal of the Holy Spirit and His influence from the earth. See 2 Thessalonians 2 for that scripture reference. Of course with that goes all believers. That event is commonly known as the "rapture" of the church. Christ and Holy Spirit's main influence is through the church and of course the church is made up of believers. That event is referred to also in Daniel 12.
3. Next comes the Tribulation period, also known, incorrectly so, as the Great Tribulation. That term is not correct. The great tribulation is actually the last 3.5 years.
4. The thousand year reign of Christ.
5. The Great White Throne Judgement.
6. The creation of a New Heaven and a New Earth. I personally believe this heaven and earth will cease to exist.
7. Eternity.
That is what I believe is roughly how it will happen. Obviously there is a lot of detail that I have not put in. Why? I am lazy.
At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter what I believe. It will all happen according to the full council of God and in His timetable. What I, or you for that matter, may think doesn't matter a hill of beans.
And after we go to be with Christ what we have been having disagreements about here on earth, will not be thought of in heaven. Why? Because Christ will over shadow everything. For example, we are said to be given a crown of reward which we will give to Christ. Why will we return it to Him? Because He is all that matters. Nothing can compare with His loveliness. It's all about Jesus and we will be too busy enjoying Him to even give a passing thought to what ever caused us to disagree about at this time.

Thurday 27th March 2008 Cathy is 13

13 months old that is. Yes, my mate is 13 month old at 0749 hours tonight.
If you want to see St Luke's Bible reading for today, you will have to go Here.
I wrote this a little while ago. Stephanie seem to think others might like to read it.

The Beginning

They wanted to love and be loved. To love by choice and in return, loved by choice. Their part would be unconditional. He would provide all they could ever want, environmentally and emotionally. They would shower them with blessings beyond measure and eternal life. Man would live forever. He would have a beginning but no end. Man's part? To allow themselves, by act of their own free will, to be loved and in return to love Him. Man, created in the image of Yahweh to reflect the glory of God. Indwelt, man would be the physical vehicle of Elohim.

But it was not to be, yet. One man made the wrong choice and bought the judgement on all men. And now it had come to this.

The Three but One had planned for this precise moment. They knew it was unavoidable the moment that choice came into effect. They had known what would be the result of that choice. He also knew what would be required for righteousness and unrighteousness to meet. The two are opposites. Just covering unrighteousness would clearly not be enough. Only absolute separation would be enough. But then that would leave man forever separated from his Creator. Man's choice would be accounted to another. One Man would be accounted right for another. But that would require a perfect Man, one who had never sinned. They would intervene. That Man would be born of woman fathered by none other than the One Himself. This way sin could be removed and the cycle of sin interrupted.

The scene is set, the appointed time has arrived. That which was planned so long ago is finally to happen. Not without notice. "He shall bruise you head and you shall bruise his heel." Many times the promise was given. "In you shall all the nations be blessed" "But you laughed. Is anything impossible? "Can I, so old, be blessed with a son?" And he stood there, relying on the promise, about to do the unthinkable, knife poised above his only son. He knew, deep down inside he knew. "Unto us a Son is given and He shall be called Emanuel." The most important event in all history had arrived. Choices given to be made and wrong choices appeared to be to be made. But were they?

He cringed. He knew about this. He remembered the rebuke he received because of Joshua. Trapped in time, knowing what was planned and aware of the promises, he had hoped. Daring to think at times that the Most High had forgotten and made a mistake. But He hadn't wouldn't couldn't.

"I will place myself above." He was beautiful and he knew it. He aspired to be more, but for selfish and evil intent, wanting to be equal with the Creator. Even this was in the foreknowledge of the Most High. Even though unimaginable misery would result it was allowed and even necessary. If the true value of what would happen in time to come would truly be appreciated this was necessary and unavoidable.

And now it neared time to begin He was ready. He knew this was His calling. One Man born to die that many may live. Even so one last time He would seek His Fathers counsel and comfort. The weight of human sin weighed heavily on His soul. His was no ordinary burden. His was a load no other could carry. Four thousand years of unimaginable human sin with two or more thousand years of sin to come. Countless millions of people would thank Him. He would not merely cover human sin. No, for those who chose Him, He would utterly remove it. It would be as though they had never done wrong at any time.

He took His disciples with Him and prayed three times. He knew and accepted that there was only one way. He prayed confirming this. As a lamb led to slaughter not resisting He accepted what was to be. "Not my will but Your will. Yours is the right way, the only possible way for righteousness and justice."

The guilt. It came so suddenly, swiftly. It weighed heavy on his soul. So much had been done. It started with the tree of knowledge of good and evil. What followed was accusation. And that was only the beginning. The evil that followed who could even begin to imagine. Shame, remorse. The burden became heavier. More intense, almost too much to bare as at first He sank to His knees, then face down prostrate upon the ground, He tried to make Himself smaller. Had they actually done those things? The shame, oh, the shame. He regretted, oh, the unimaginable agony, sweat, huge big drops, more like rivers, and the tears, mingled together, and when at last it seemed there was no more, it was blood, big drops seeming to come from his entire being. As though this wasn't enough, despair, that great feeling of hopelessness. So alone, so very, very all alone. He looked, but there was no one. He was all alone.

And so Jesus took upon Himself sin. He became ...... Sin!

Even now He is in control. "I can lay down my life and I can take it up again." As part of the Three but One this was His right. But no, if man is to be as They intended then let it be. "Not my will, but Your will."

My God, Father... Why have You abounded me? I am alone. On this hill, which I created. Now I am alone. The silence. Eyes unseeing. Hands not feeling. But I am cold. I feel separated. But I must go on. Not give up. I am Yours, do with me as You will.

And now I live. I must go. And He went. Down to the sea. I will cook. Breakfast. But I need more fish. Wait, there they are. Have they been out all night?

He looked. Unbelieving. The unbelievable had happened. There He is. Standing and talking. And He shows them the nail prints. He is barely recognisable with all the scares and no beard. But it is Yeshua. But.. the cross.. He was dead, now He lives. How can it be. Then it dawns on him. They had planned this all along. They knew. Even the cost. They knew. He, stuck in time, couldn't know. But they could move outside time, into the future and here at the same time. And Lucifer was not happy.

Yes, over that side. Caste your net over that side. That's where the fish are. And, now, here comes Peter. Over the side and swimming.

With one man it started. And now, with another it would start. To all who ask, it would be possible. They would live, and so would they. Old things have passed away. All is new to all who receive. For the asking. Now they can truly live as We intend that all live.

Sunday 23rd March 2008 Sleeping beaty sleeping beatifully.

Isn't she sweet? The baby that is. That's Cathy on the floor. Mum is parked on the seat. Mind you they are both a picture of loveliness. We got the idea for Cathy on the floor from here
although we do it for different reasons. The outcome is the same. Mum keeps her sanity and baby gets to be a sleeping. The particular night this photo was taken, Cathy wouldn't settle in her own bed or our bed. Normally she will settle quite well in one or the other. The other option was for her to sleep on Stephanie until we all went to bed. Not the best idea I think you will agree. Now we had heard that Katie had her second youngest sleep on a blanket on the floor at her feet. The idea being she could keep track of him and at the same time get done what she needed to get done.
The night we did it, Cathy wouldn't settle, so Stephanie got an old sleeping bag come donna come what ever plus Cathy's favourite blanket. Dumped them all on the floor, put Cathy on top and 2 seconds later Cathy was out like a light. Mission accomplished. Daughter happy and sleeping, mummy happy and playing on her computer. Daddy happy. Why? Coz the women are happy. If the women are happy then Daddy is happy.
Today was/is resurrection Sunday. What did we do? Went to church then home and did nothing. I caught up with some reading. Apart from that all we did was to read to the children and nothing else. A rather boring but relaxing day. The type I like occasionally.
And we might just, ha ha, get some rain. These people have the dart board that is supposed to tell us when it is going to rain. If you were to look right now, you would say we had a good reason to be optimistic about getting some rain. I wont hold my breath. I have a 3000 litre tank that I need to be filled. It has around 300 litres in it now. I have another tank with about 70 litres and another with about 120 litres. After that I am back to no watering my herb garden. Yes Melbourne has severe water restrictions. Go here to read all about it. Here is more information.
I put in water tanks around 4 months ago just at the beginning of summer. Fortunately just before Christmas we had a big storm go through and filled my tanks in 2 days. Since then we have had just enough water to keep us going. It is around 5 weeks now since our last rains. We have a small lawn out the back and a herb garden in pots and a pumpkin plant. There is also an olive tree and a grape vine. We use the water from our washing machine and the kitchen sink also. The water from the washing machine goes on the lawn and the kitchen sink water goes on our grape vine. By careful use we do not use any water from the Melbourne water supply on our gardens at all. We are allowed to but don't.
I would like to increase our vegetable production. But I need more mulch and more water storage capacity. I am convinced that if I can get more humus in my soil I can grow more and better vegetables. I also need more water. In this modern day and age one simply cannot expect the government water storage to provide all our needs.
In a week or two I am going to plant broad beans. Two reason. I want to increase the nitrogen in the soil. And i want to get some mulch for my gardens. No we don't like broad beans. But they do have a use and I will use them.
Oh, there is one other reason. I want to encourage Michele to gain an interest in growing things in the garden. She already has two pots that are hers. One she is growing Alison in plus sweet peas. the other has vegetable peas in. The sweet peas are for flowers and the other is for eating. They all grow very fast and are easy to grow. When a girl is 4 years old one wants something that is easy to grow and fast to grow. These are both.

Saturday 22nd March 2008 Tomorrow is Resurrection Sunday

Tomorrow, Sunday 23rd March 2008 is the day this year we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, may His name be blessed and a blessing for all the Generations to come. I am, mindful that God made the promise to Abraham, that in him all the nations would be blessed. And we are. Without Christ we could never know the Father. There is no way we could come within a bulls roar of living up to God's standards. No matter how hard we tried we couldn't do it. And what is more I don't believe that is what He intended. I believe that He always intended for us to live in total dependence upon Him. But again, that's another story to ponder for another time.

We have just completed our family prayer time and Michele is going to sleep, Cathy is already asleep. As we were praying I prayed that we might be mindful tomorrow and rejoice in Christ's resurrection and that our focus as a family might be on that. I was also mindful and it occurred to me to wonder at how it must have been for Father and Son to be re-united after their forced separation. Can you imagine what it must have been like for Christ. He had never been separated from the Father. And like wise the Father had never been separated from the Son. Now they were. He who had never known sin became sin in my place. It was my sin that caused Him to be on the cross. It wasn't the Jews or Romans that put Him on that Cross. It was MY sin and maybe yours that put Him there and kept Him there. Jesus never knew what it was like to be ashamed. He never knew what guilt felt like. So much that He had never experienced before. And that was before He got to the cross. I never saw the Mel Gibson movie about the cross. They tell me it was pretty gruesome. You know I think that would have been a walk in the park along side the weight of Sin that Christ carried with Him when He left the Garden of Gethsemane. And that burden would have seemed like a feather in comparison to being separated from His Father. Imagine your only son. You are with him for ever. Then one day you are not. I can't fathom that. I can't get my mind around that. No matter how I try I can't even begin to imagine it.

Then 72 hours later they were re-united. Remember the story of the prodigal son? Only this isn't the prodigal son. This is the real McCoy. This is the real deal. That 72 hours would have seemed like an eternity. But oh the blessed re-union. Me thinks there would have been a party to end all party's. And I can't even begin to imagine. I can only stand in awe! And say Thank you Father for sending Your Son; Thank You Jesus that You came; Holy Spirit wont You teach me more about His Lovely Name! Amen

Friday 21st March 2008 Kids in the Kitchen

I haven't posted for a while. I didn't want to see the image on the last post disappear. I just adore the picture. I have so many pictures of our children. I try to get "life" pictures. I really think "posed for" pictures are so boring. One goes to a studio, and yes, they turn out lovely pictures. But they are not life. Living is better. Take this photo I have put up this time. I have called it "Kids in the Kitchen". I have no idea what they were up to, but they weren't doing any harm and were having a ball. They were I think tidying up the kitchen draw. I think. There was much giggling and crashing going on. It's a wonder the neighbours didn't come a calling to see if we were wrecking the house.
I might add this is a typical picture of our girls playing together. Michele can be selfish and not willing to share at times. Cathy can be a bully and boss her way around. But they are tolerant of each other. And they do have lots of laughter and noise. Which is how it should be. One should have to tell kids to quiet down at least once a day.

Today is Good Friday. This is the day that we "Christians" celebrate Christ's death on a cross on a hill that He created. This is the day that we thank Jesus for becoming all that we are so that we might become all that He is. If he had not taken our place at the Cross then we would all have to die. You see all have sinned. Or or we have all failed to live the life that God wants us to live. How it all started? No, I wont give a history lesson. It would take too long. And besides, no matter what the history, we all have to take responsibility for what we do before God. Unless. And Jesus did. And so, we can. But will we? For the largest part of humanity, no. But some of did and will.
And now I will tell you a secret. Jesus didn't die on a Friday. He was arrested on a Tuesday evening and died on a Wednesday. Why? Because according to Jewish Law, he couldn't be crucified on a Sabbath. And the Passover involves a double Sabbath.
And one more thing. It wasn't the Jews who crucified Christ. It wasn't the Romans who did it either. It was me. And you. Yes, you. It was our failure to allow God to live in us that put Christ on a tree.