Inside the Revolution

I read Joel Rosenberg's "Inside the Revolution" today. Awesome book! He really has his heart right when it comes to the peoples of the Middle East. I'm glad I read it because too often I focus on the Jihadists and though I don't quite forget that most of the Muslims in the Middle East are not violent, yet I've kind of been blaming them for not standing up to the evil in their midst. I pray regularly for my brothers and sisters in Christ who are persecuted for believing, and have forgotten that it is their joy to stay and stand and share with their enemies.

G-d forgive me for this oversite! I do try to remember that we don't fight against flesh and blood, but sometimes I feel really angry at what the Jihadists are doing, bringing such evil into the earth--but even their evil is being turned to good. The Lord has used their evil to turn many hearts toward Himself and what a wonder that is to me!

I've been praying that my light will shine brightly in this dark world. That I will be allowed to share the Love that Messiah has shared with me. And it's not that I doubt Him, but I do find myself doubting myself quite regularly.

Well, even if I am only a little light, yet at least a little is better than none, and perhaps that little can be used by G-d to bless others.

Kick the Bucket List

Lots of people my age have been inspired by the movie "The Bucket List". Yes, my dear daughters, I'm ancient, only don't tell that to your Grandmother. I have however, been thinking a lot about what I will call my "Kick the Bucket List". Yes, because of the grace of our Messiah, Yeshua, we have the wonderful privilege of thinking about what we'll be doing in eternity.

One day I was singing the last verse of "Amazing Grace". "When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise, then when we first begun" and I realized what those words really mean.

Now replace the "ten thousand" with any number you care to name. For instance, when we've been there ten billion years, or ten trillion years, we will still have no less days to sing God's praise, or do anything for that matter, because I truly do not believe that God created us to sit on clouds holding harps for eternity. No wonder non-believers get bored with the idea of heaven.

So, in the interest of bringing a little bit of "zing" into our thoughts about where we'll spend the rest of our lives after we die. I present my "Kick the Bucket List":

• Take piano lessons from Johan Sebastian Bach
• Sit and have a long (very long) conversation with C.S. Lewis about all his writings, both the ones here on earth and the ones he has since written in heaven.
• Sit and have a very long conversation with J.R.R. Tolkien. Wouldn't it be great if he actually finished the whole entire history of middle earth?
• Learn to dance really really well.
• Learn to ice skate
• Take music lessons from George Fredrich Handel.
• Watch an entire forest grow from the first seedling to full maturity. Maybe even create an entire forest garden, complete with streams and ponds.
• Since Brown Dwarf stars are essentially compressed carbon at high heat (diamonds), I would like to be on the team that designs and implements a laser system that can facet them. Wouldn't it be cool to see something the size of a star really twinkling with the reflected light of other stars?
• Explore an entire planet on horse back and/or sailing ship.
• learn how to paint really really well--like maybe learn from Thomas Kincaide? Or one of the great impressionists?
• Spend a long time just walking and talking with Yeshua (it's kind of cool because it wouldn't take time away from anyone else). We've got so much to talk about, I want to hear what He has to say.
• Talk history with the folks who actually lived it--if I still care.
• And I still have no less days to sing God's praise than when I first begun...

This kind of puts things into perspective.

"Now to Him who is able to do infinitely beyond all that we ask or even imagine. To Him be the glory in the church and to all generations forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21