GLENN'S PODCASTS!

TWO OF MY ALL-TIME FAVE MUSIC CDS-
For what it is or ain't worth, every so often I have to get my fix of absolute smashmouth music... mind you, it's not blues which is my mainstay, but I'm pretty eclectic as a listener (and player if you know much about my musical output over the years). Still the two that find their way into my cd player again and again contain a balance of blast & melody with thoughtful, meaningful lyrics: Leaderdogs For the Blind- "Lemonade" and our own (sadly defunct JPUSA band) Kettleblack. In fact, Leaderdogs are cranking in my headphones as I type... soon to be followed by KB. With Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Willie Johnson and the like on the one hand and these kickin' bands on the other, I've come to some sense of balance as a music listener! Like one of my Walmart T shirts says, "Grandpa Rocks". Sometimes, yep.

HELL?
Indeed, Jesus Himself speaks of this place of separation from God some eleven times... not much, but more than "much" to be concerned with it. It is mentioned twice more in the letters of the New Testament. There are other places in both testaments that speak about it where the word "hell" isn't mentioned, but where careful examination of the text in context leads one to believe that none other than hell is being discussed. Jesus' story in Luke chapter 16 is pretty clear on the issue, and Revelation 21.8 is positively frightening in it's concept and description... leaving little to the imagination about people being in a lake of fire. The Word of God is clear that hell was created "for the devil and his angels" and just as clear that humans will be there due to their rebellion against God and ultimate unwillingness to believe in and follow Jesus Christ. In the history of the Christian church there has always been some range of belief re. whether it is a place of eternal torment, one thing is clear: nobody desires to go there nor is God pleased with those who will. He also says He takes "no pleasure in the death of the wicked", so it's not about our heavenly Father enjoying the pain, punishment or eternal banishment of people from his presence. There are those who have come to the position that hell cannot be in fact "eternal", and that people who end there will be entirely incinerated into non-existence. Frankly, people who take that tack don't have a great deal of clear scriptural basis for such a view. A doctrine like this causes some believers to be somewhat embarrassed about a God whom the Bible reveals "is love" actually damning souls to such a place, but consider this: would heaven be heaven with an unrepentant Hitler present for eternity with the people of God? If God IS God, where is His sense of perfect justice in such a case? If, as the bumper sticker says, "Virginia is for lovers", what is hell for? Certainly as nice as the state of Virginia is, heaven is revealed in scripture as a place where "righteousness dwells", where there is "no sorrow" or sighing, no pain, sickness, sin or even temptation. Whatever hell is, it will be a place devoid of God's presence while heaven will be filled with Him, Father, Son, Spirit. It will be filled with His people from all ages. It will be filled with all the mercy and grace and eternal worship of God and perfect fellowship of the family of God ("the church"), those who followed Him faithfully during their earthly lives. There we will have perfect union together, forever. Whatever hell is, it certainly isn't going to be that! God's mercy is that we can by faith, ask His forgiveness of our wrongs and follow Jesus, the risen Christ, here and now. If and as we trust and in love obey Him, hell won't be an issue for us. That's grace! Hell? Hell is in part, what those who refuse to trust His grace will ultimately experience. Yet hell has one thing in common with heaven: neither will go away simply because we don't wish to believe the concept.

FOCUS-
It's not a particularly biblical word, but the term "focus" has beome for me, nearly the most important word in my daily life. Of course "love" and "truth" (incredibly scriptural terms) are at the top of the list, but for me the issue of focus directly affects how loving I am as well as how much of a participant I AM in The Truth, i.e., the Good News of Jesus, caring for the poor, widows, orphans, even my immediate family and friends. I confess that focusing on much of anything before about 2 p.m. is always, 'eh... interesting to say the least! Something about getting enough sleep, eating and exercising properly and all the rest helps greatly. But there are times when it's hard for me to focus as I know I should. The Person at hand, the persons right in front of me, the things I need to get done in a sensible time-frame, arriving at the airport on schedule- so many things in life involve focusing. On His part, God is never out of focus, and on my part He is nearly always in my thoughts, certainly right below the surface. He's that near to me- and that's HIS doing, not mine, truly grace. But to rightly focus on Him and His will is something I must take personal responsibility for each moment, each day, in every circumstance. I tangent. I worry now and then. I get caught up in some daydream, which is cool now and then, but... Worship is ALL about Him, totally a matter of my focusing on Him, His Word, His desire and work in my life/our lives. As I get older I find I need reading glasses, especially early in the morning or later at night. They help me focus. The Word of God (Bible) and being filled and attentive to the Holy Spirit is where genuine and proper focus comes from. It's not simply human effort of course. And here again we see grace! Spacing-out is easy... and a luxury of being very young and/or having little to accomplish in a period of time. We must also admit that sometimes it's just plain irresponsibility. Focus? That's a matter of maturity and perhaps a reaction to the realization of what gets lost when we don't attend to it.

SICK... WHO'S SICK?
I find myself at the end of myself when my sweet wife is ill. This week she has been very ill, and it's just the way things go sometimes. I end up being more of a "thermometer" than a "thermostat", tend to roll emotionally with her difficulties rather than set a good and encouraging tone. She's actually quite sweet and in rather good spirits considering how ill she sometimes gets, but I'm the one who ends up sick in terms of really being a gracious servant. It's a shame in my life, and after 3 decades one (me anyhow!) would think I'd have a deeper sense of peace and grace in serving her. But the fact is, I often fail in this. Heard a great sermon Sunday from a dear friend who drilled home an excellent truth: "Our devotion [to God or other person] is measured by our willingngess to sacrifice". Amen... and Lord help me love in action as You love. I fall so very short. Ahhh grace! Now to share it with my sweetheart :)

DENNY-
Yesterday I lost him. He was one of my closest friends over the past 30 years. He was a man who loved Jesus, people and life. He loved his family. He loved the woods and waters, the beauty of new life, worked for the unwed, the unloved, the unborn. He is home now and in time all of us who have known and loved him and His Savior will be together with him. I will not forget my friend, and I already miss him. He was and will remain one of my dearest friends. And in a world often very short on comitted friendships based on God's love and shared calling, such friendships are precious. Thankfully, they don't end at death for those who in God's grace have received eternal life. Jesus Christ alone makes such eternal friendships possible! Goodbye for now Denny. We will be together before the throne!

GARDENING-
So He puts us in a garden, provides all the food and water, beauty of the place, work to do and also a wonderful mult-attractive mate so we’re not lonely… and we decide to listen to another voice instead due to one small thing: God put a boundary on something. That He did so to protect us isn’t even in our thoughts. Though the options are unthinkable, we’re listening to snakes when we ought to be recalling His word. He’s never done a thing for, with or to us from which we should suspect Him having anything other than our best interest at heart… but no matter, we listen to a snake and the lies and here comes bitterness, sorrow, despair and exile. From garden to desert in one bad choice. Then we blame HIM for creating us in His image- in part, with the ability to choose and decide- without which we would be automatons, basic robots with no ability to make bad choices. In simple terms, we blame God for our decisions after He has warned and guided us clearly and precisely. Interesting isn’t it? His, people. His garden, His provision to us, and we do such things over and over again. So… you thought I was referring to Adam and Eve? I wish that were so.

CONTENTMENT?
If "godliness with contentment is great gain", then what is contentment WITHOUT godliness? Is such a state possible? The way we live at times, you'd deduce some of us think we can find contentment some other way. I don't see it that way, mostly because I've never experienced it. Contentment is a large word, and I expect it's something with real substance -i.e., "content"- that clarifies and expounds on a definition of genuine contentment. Paul said that he'd learned to experience it in both plenty and want, to live and literally be "content" in either state. Part of the reason I became a follower of Jesus is directly due to those very words of Paul. I decided this guy was either flippin' crazy or he understood something I didn't... and I sure wanted to. So in very brief, I'm convinced that getting into those virtues, character traits of Jesus and really surrendering (losing my life for His sake) in faith to God and His Word and ways all produces godliness in my life... and that indeed is GREAT gain. It's not about everything going my way, always being famously happy or financially secure or the Lord answering all my prayers and granting every wish... that's not it at all. And because of this, some are just not interested in exploring or growing in godliness for themselves. Maybe that's what constitutes truly being lost and losing, becoming a loser. A hard thing to say, I know, but winning is about loving obedience while trying to find and hang on to YOUR life makes you (according to Jesus) just that, someone who is guarenteed to LOSE their life. Cheap thrills are easy. Contentment costs everything. I think I'll take contentment... and that's impossible if you're pretending to be God- as if such play-acting equalled godliness!

JUSTICE... FOR WHOM?
What is just (from the view of one person or group) may seem or even in truth, BE unjust from the perspective of those on the "other side of the fence". One must get on with life whether or not one always gets one's way. Even IF injustice is done us (and who hasn't experienced this in our fallen, sinful world), one still must learn to forgive. One of Jesus' hardest but most essential commandments is that we forgive those who have sinned against us. In fact, He tells us we shall be forgiven AS WE FORGIVE. Whew! How conditional is that... and how such statements plant my feet on the ground and I speak of the ground of humility. I and not only those who disagree with me, have wronged as well as at times, been wronged. The problem of justice is that one must truly consider the other's point of view and as best as one can, weigh the issues with a sense of fairness and balance, not tacit agreement but with genuine care for one's opposition on the given question. Admittedly easier said than done... but if it's justice and not simply getting one's own way, such seems essential.

PRISONS VS. THE HOMELESS-
I find it interesting that prisons are -by far- sought after in American society while even in times of economic recession and mounting unemployment, the homeless are simply shuffled from place to place, unwanted and if it were possible, eliminated. As stated below in another blog, people are so often less desired than property and values ascribed to property are more desireable than are the poor. This is nothing new nor will the situation ever be entirely corrected. I do not believe all societies are 100% selfish in all their judgments on such matters, and I'm well aware of criminal elements, drug and alcohol adiction, violence and other issues such as mental illness in the homeless populations of the world, but there is something askew when towns actively lobby for prisons- therefore establishing a "safe, locked-up" subculture that in fact is a growing industry in the U.S. while at the same time often doing their level best to cast out those they consider the "unsightly dregs". These individuals and at times, whole familes, are neither nameless nor faceless, but some certainly treat them thus. There is something very wrong with this picture. It seems to me some of these same persons who fight the hardest to blot the homeless and needy from their neighborhoods must themselves come to economic ruin or other similar circumstances, or perhaps must experience facing their own family members going through some such malady, or they may never face the truth: the poor and homeless ought to receive at LEAST as much care and concern as the incarcerated. Then again, have any reading this spent any time visiting prisoners lately? This is a world often bent on exploitation, and sadly it isn't only the homeless and prisoners who fall to the tactic of landowners and merchants. When commerce is valued above community love is the victim and all of us lose no matter what we gain.

CONFESSIONAL-
I am not a strong nor constantly brave person. Paul's comments about being strong when he's weak, and the punchline of such situations causing him to trust God's power in his life more, very much appeal to me. I think of D. Bonhoeffer and his martyrdom, and have often prayed and thought that if I were in a similar situation, that I'd be solid, bold and brave as well as loving to my opponents should the time come. I suppose one never knows until and unless such a sort of putting "one's head on the block" happens. But my prayer is for the strength and grace to never deny my Lord Jesus and what I know to be Truth. Yes... God's grace is and shall always be sufficient.

THE PURSUIT OF POWER & PURSE-
A sad fact of life is that many are so focused on wealth and power that people- sometimes by the thousands- are simply backdrops to a twisted play in which the central figure is perhaps best labeled "dictator". I have been recently reminded that a cityfull of politicians which lives for power and financial gain and growth is often caught in the gunsights of various citizens who neither respect nor respond to the actual poor, disenfranchised or mentally ill. A shelter which the same city authorities send evermore homeless to is attacked for simply existing. Land value rather than the intrinsic value of human beings is a core issue. It sometimes seems clear that Jesus' words "the poor you shall always have with you" is precisely what some want to interpret as untrue- that is, if possible, some will NOT have the poor "with them", at least if they can garner the clout they wish in city hall. Christ also said "and you can do good to them whenever you wish to". Seems like "whenever" is becoming "rarely if ever". Justice isn't about money and political power... but humanly speaking it can sometimes seem as though the moneyed and the powerful in this world dictate what "just" is in certain situations. I am glad I serve a God who is powerful beyond humans, and who is impeccable in His justice regarding the poor!

CROSSROADS-
I have seen in my fifty years a great many crossroads. These are moments where people -any one of us- make huge choices, though often we don't recognize in that moment that we are in fact taking a decision that will affect us and others deeply. These milestones seem to rise up every now and again, and they certainly happen for all people -including Christians. The choices we make, and the incredible responsibility of free will we each have is something to take very seriously. I recently prayed with and for a family who had a relative after ten years of soild Christian marriage, simply chose another partner and left both her husband and young daughter. The woman in question has no apparent reason(s) but has rationalized that her personal happiness is THE central issue in her major choice and choices. She claims a certain confusion but has filed for divorce. The pain and anguish she is sowing is immense. God only knows the end of it, but here in my view was a crossroad, and on the surface of it all it indeed seems she has chosen selfishly and wrongly. Can God forgive? Of course. Is she, her husband and daughter beyond God's mercy? Certainly not! Was this choice chosen for her by God? Too many scriptures state the plain answer. But she was not satisfied to follow His Word beyond her own desires and now has brought upon herself and family pain upon pain. God is not mocked... whatever we sow, that we shall also reap. And then I think, "mercy triumphs over judgment", and I pause and reflect. God help me to choose YOUR path each time I arrive at the crossroads of life. By His grace, so far, I trust I've been graced to choose rightly... one day we shall all see if such was the case!

FREE / PRE-PAID-
So many people talk about what freedom is, and what it means to be free. There is no such thing as completely "free" freedom. Jesus died FOR us... and this means that even the free gift of eternal life isn't and wasn't "free" in the sense that God Himself PAID or I guess more accurately, pre-paid for us. Whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, etc., etc.. He paid the ultimate and yes, horrible, terrible price for us so that we could be forgiven and brought home to our heavenly Father. Free? Yes, salvation is free... only because SomeOne paid for it/us.

COPYRIGHT VIOLATION AND FREE GIFTS-
In simple English, I think too many people care too much about making a buck. I know we have to pay bills and put food on the table, etc., but what I rarely hear artists admit is the simple fact that they CAN and often DO choose to freely give away their cds, etc.. And why not?!! Too many people are literally squeezing other people for money. Methinks Jesus is more concerned with life than loot... but my personal view is that too many Christians are more biz minded than caring about their neighbors real needs. IF your art is that special- and for that matter, laced with the power and presence that people need, why not give more of it away? I'm not saying it's sinful to make money, I'm saying some are bent on profit more than the prophetic, and there are indeed even a few in the mainstream scene who have more integrity with their art than that. What HAVE we been given by God that is not a gift?

WELCOME AND EXPLANATION OF THIS SITE-
Welcome to my blogspot! Here's the warning straight-off: this is a very quick and simple site that I've created to post my thoughts... truly "thinking out loud". I take full responsibility for what I think and decide to publish here. But know that some of my thoughts as posted will probably be best understood by thinking on a larger scale... meaning that snips of thoughts here and there are best understood in a broader context. Therefore, some of my thinking may seem just a touch inflammatory to some. This is not my intent, rather to just journal in a public sense. While I care deeply about the possibility of stumbling people who might venture on to this site, I also care deeply about not always having to be tremendously thorough in explaining HOW I have come to conclude various things are true. Hopefully this makes sense. So here are snippets of my recent thoughts...