Tree of Life

A quick thought from a Bible study tonight on Genesis 3: it is interesting how, when Adam and Eve eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they eat with rebellion in their hearts and bring curses upon themselves, the ground, etc. This curse though is amazingly undone with Christ and it is undone in the same way as it was originally done, by eating. Before Christ hung on a tree, he told us that we were to eat of his body and drink of his blood. Then he proceeded to be hung, naked, on the cross (the tree). Essentially, when we eat at the Lord's Table, we are eating of the fruit of the tree of life, or we are eating of the Body of Christ which was hung on the tree, only now instead of rebellion, we are eating in faith. Every Sunday we go to heaven, and if we have the priviledge of having communion during our stay there, we get to eat from the tree of life. Glory of Glories!

William Cowper

One of my new favorites is by William Cowper. Read these words a tell them they don't give you comfort. A little background on Mr. Cowper. He was a man acquainted with the big shoots in the church in the 18th century. Susceptible to deep fits of depression all his life, he would come out of them to write these amazing hymns. God truly does work in mysterious ways!

"God Moves in a Mysterious Way"

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works his sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

Amen! and Amen!

(From Cantus Christi pg. 353)

A Couple of Quotes

Here are a couple of great quotes or principles from the day:

1) You have to do the things you don't want to do, in order to do the things you do want to do.
(Applies to the church, work, home, play, books, etc. etc.)
2) A Christian definition of Freedom: "the length of rope between your neck and any given stake"
(Picture a guy tied to a stake with a choker collar around his neck and imagine what happens to him when he tries to out run the rope.)
3) "Something you can accomplish in your lifetime is too small, something that can only be accomplished over time after you are gone is something more like a goal God would have for you."
(This fits perfectly with classical, Christian education and fits other situations well also. Thinking of the education scenario, you can also think of it as building a cathedral, the kind that take generations to build. Imagine how important the foundation is, imagine how important each brick is, imagine being the fifth generation to spend your life working on this church only to realize your great, great, great, grandfather poured the foundation slightly crooked, or imagine your family has worked for 7 generations and you are the one who finally gets to put the finishing touches on the building. Building real church buildings is like building christian culture.)
4) Keep short accounts of your sins.

I think I can, I think I can

Colchuck Lake. Probably the prettiest lake I have ever seen.




What an amazing little bird.



Prussac Peak in all its beauty and granduer. Makes a guy feel kind of small.

All Cross, No Resurrection?

Having spent sometime reading a couple of Flannery O'Connor stories, I am confused about what is called "Dark Grace." The most recent Credenda magazine chose Miss O'Connor as its theme and made significant mention of what they termed "Dark Grace."

"Dark Grace" as I understand it is basically grace that comes in a form that we would consider dark (pretty deep huh?). The greatest example of dark grace being the cross. Grace came in the atrocity of the cross.

So now the crux of the issue, how does grace come through in Flannery's stories? I have read two stories that I have had particular trouble seeing how the grace is coming through, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and "The River." These stories abruptly end with death and I am left wondering why that death is grace if death is the end of the story. It seems like both stories end with darkness and never have any resolve like the effects of Christ's death on the cross. Both stories seem to end with the burial and miss the resurrection.

What am I missing in these stories?

At the End of a Death March

From a recent day hike in the Enchantment wilderness area. The hike's formal name was The Death March. It lived up to its name.