Latest design ...

It's for a calling card company. My favourite part is what I call my "angel icon" in the lower right hand corner. God (glory be) in everything I do. 
-- m1230

Malarky Rose.

I've had this idea for a while for a film about a guy who is chosen by God to help prepare the world for the second coming of Jesus.

He is faithful, but ordinary-- Life is good -- until his fateful mugging by thugs (agents of the enemy) who beat him and leave him for dead. The film follows the man's exploits as events conspire to reveal who he really is and what his real purpose is, which involves stopping an anti-Christ character who is hard at work destroying souls. The film would work on a couple of levels, the surface one and the supernatural one.

Here's the idea for the opening scene:

California. Surfside. Behind a greasy taco shack. A couple of New York film brats eat tacos and talk shop. They throw the rest of their lunch in a waste bin behnd the taco shop and exit.

Inside the waste-bin, a man slowly rises from the filth. Surrounded by flies and grunge, the guy climbs out of the bin and falls on his back, squinting against the white, stabbing sun. Dressed in a suit and tie, he looks like he has the worst hangover in history. He doesn't.

The man makes his way to the ocean, staring out at the vast, endless horizon. A jogger runs by and blurts, "Take a bath, loser." The man watches the runner and then turns and walks slowly into the ocean.

We next see the man, dripping wet, walking along the side of a highway. A cop pulls up and talks to the man. He asks the man all sorts of typical cop questions. The man replies simply, "I dunno." The cop returns to his car, reaches thru the open window for his mike, and calls headquarters. He only gets a couple of words out of his mouth when an 18-wheeler veers our of control slamming into the side of the cruiser, obliterating the cop instantly. Crushed metal, screeching tires, cars slam into one another. Vehicular maelstrom. It goes on until it ends. When it finally stops we turn the camera back to where the man was standing, next to the crusier, and find to our amazement that he's still there. Untouched. Dazed but unfazed.

He turns and steps over a guard-rail and disappears down a steep hill into long grass ...

You Can't but God Can

I want to touch on the "First Miracle" noted earlier.

The amazing thing about faith, faith in Jesus Christ to be sure, is that once in, once inside the gate or sheepfold, there are a few things you can take to the bank. The first is, that accepting Christ as Lord means that you are now on God's VIP list, albeit by grace & adoption, and mediated by Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. There are probably a lot of different ways to say it, but there you go.

Which means nothing from the time before is permanent. Which means the stuff you used to believe that couldn't change, can change. Now just stop for a moment and think about that. What are the implications of this type of thinking, or rather-- fact? Well the first and most important implication is that God can undo your dos. He can reach into the impossible to reach places, re-solder wires, stitch back together the frayed & broken strands of your identity, re-make hurts into wholes. How? He does this by dealing directly with your sin, by inviting, enabling & empowering you to deal directly with your sin— in Him. His is the greatest power at work in the universe and once this power (God's love), gets a hold of you, it simply has to bear fruit: It must effect miracles. And the biggest miracle (after the Crucifixion from which all other miracles flow) is the miracle of faith itself; an open gate of surging supernatural dialogue between you and God that, depending your availability (eagerness & willingness to believe), goes straight to work setting right all of the wrongs you were a willing part or unwitting victim of before you decided to stop lying and start living the Truth.

Which means, Because God is in the saving business, He is also (firstly) in the repair business. And everyone of us, broken as we are on the sharp rocks of original sin, regardless of who we are or where we come from, need our hulls repaired. We need them fixed to follow the current of God's calling and our destiny. A destiny that brings us back to Him, nearer to Him, next to Him. Which is where all the gold is.

What kind of gold?

Well, for starters, we learn that the word "sanity" means nearness to God. Therefore, the closer you get to God the saner you are, the more balanced you are, the more content you are, the less afraid you are.

Sin wrecks you; God repairs the wreckage. That kind of gold.

Uprooted ...

Hi guys,

I've missed a few posts because … we moved. Well, Marilyn and the kids did. Yep, it sucks and it's really hard to feel inspired about saving grace when you're sinking in quick-sand (while holding furniture over your head).

So I'm staying alone in this empty house taking stock of things, trying to discern the best way forward.

I remain committed to building MTS as a road-map to greater freedom and would appreciate extra prayers for all of us during this time.

Below is a powerful passage from the Book of Romans. Something to lean on. 

-- m1230

Romans 8:15-28 (NIV)

15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.[a] And by him we cry, "Abba,[b] Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Future Glory

18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that[c] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

More Than Conquerors

28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

(contd)

Up from Down (contd)

Blissful Beginnings 2B

The lint that sticks is sin.

So what’s happening?

Sin is.

Sin, the result of a dissenting free-will, is ...

Sin, the result of reckless and rebellious abandon, is ...

Sin, the result of eschewing God’s Way for the world’s way, is …

Sin, the punishment incurred by Adam & Eve for their disobedience in the Garden of Eden and the subsequent imprinting of that "original" sin on all of us, is ...

Sin, the result of believing lies, is.

Sin, the capital sentence, is.

Sin, the mosaic curse, is.

Sin, the ubiquitous stain, is.

And because sin, so the net result of sin— judgment is.

And that judgment is played out mercifully—yes!, mercifully—in our lives in such a way as to draw unavoidable attention to itself (usually in the form of unhappiness mixed with fear or anxiety). And the truly astounding thing is that if we have or acquire the proper capacity to understand what the trouble is telling us then we have found not only the cause and affect of our malaise, but also it’s cure.

Welcome to the first miracle. 

(contd) ...

Up from Down

Blissful Beginnings 2

We are magnets for spiritual lint.

It's how we're made. Original sin, an inseparable part of our human DOS, starts flapping from the get-go to teach, goad, prompt and persuade us to make decisions that further our ambitions and appetites. Mercenary as it sounds, it is an inherent process. And one that’s recognizable to all of us.

Our conscience keeps us in check for a while, later we learn how to out-muscle it. It isn’t easy to beat or quiet down our conscience (though we pretend it is.)— it’s hard actually and we know it is by the way we feel after we’ve done things we shouldn’t have: We feel bad. 

What a pain, right? 

As long as we continue to let God pull at our heart-strings, we just can’t fully commit to ourselves. The “pleasure” of living independently (that’s what we think it is because that’s what we’re told it is), is just plain ol' compromised and not nearly as much fun as it should be.

Finally we reach the point where we decide to turn our God-spot off altogether. It's your life after all [you rationalize], and you're old & mature enough now to decide for yourself what’s right and best for you. So off you go, ready to seize life on life's terms, no obstacles save for opportunity, nothing to get in the way.

And so it goes. Faster, headier times, new & exciting events, passionate encounters, painful hurts, memories piled atop memories (things to remember, things to forget ). And somewhere in there all this freedom begins to weigh heavily on you. You don’t feel happy. You don’t even feel as happy as you did before you discovered your freedom. In fact you feel worse. Much of the time. And it doesn’t make any sense, and it isn’t fair. But there it is.

And because no else seems to be going through what you're going through (so you think), you feel even more isolated in what you feel. Sure, it's still easy enough to act okay when you’re out with people, but it gets harder and harder to find a spiritual place of rest when you’re all alone.

(cont'd ...)