the star thrower

From "The Promise of Paradox - Parker J. Palmer (http://amzn.com/0787996963)

“Loren Eiseley tells a story that helps me feel the power of recognizing and embracing life’s contradictions. The great naturalist once spent time in a seaside town called Costabel. Plagued by his lifelong insomnia, Eiseley spent the early morning hours walking on the beach. And every day at sunrise, he found townspeople combing the sand for starfish that had washed ashore during the night to kill them for commercial purposes. For Eiseley, it was a sign, however small, of all the ways the world says no to life.

One morning, Eiseley went out unusually early and discovered a solitary figure on the beach. This man, too, was gathering starfish, but each time he found one alive, he would pick it up and throw it as far as he could out beyond the breaking surf, back to the ocean from which it came. Eiseley found this man on his mission of mercy every morning, day after day, no matter the weather.

Eiseley named this man “the star thrower.” In a moving meditation, he writes of how this man and his predawn work contradicted everything Eiseley had been taught about evolution and the survival of the fittest. Here on the beach in Costabel the strong reached down to save, not crush, the weak. And Eiseley wonders, is there a star thrower at work in the universe, a God who contradicts death, whose nature (to quote the words of Thomas Merton) is ‘mercy within mercy within mercy’?”

The words of eternal life

John 6:60-69

⁶⁰ On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

⁶¹ Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶² Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! ⁶³ The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. ⁶⁴ Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. ⁶⁵ He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

⁶⁶ From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

⁶⁷ “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

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The Words of Eternal Life

What do they sound like? What would they promise? These "words" of eternal life. How are they different from other words? Words of temporary life. Words of eternal life seem to elicit a sense of transcendent meaning, something outside reality giving the words extra, super-natural, eternal meaning. I have heard someone say that words are like buckets and we as humans put meaning into those buckets. What kind of meaning would Peter have perceived to have associated Jesus' words as eternal? "You have the Words of Eternal Life" Peter says. Jesus helps us to understand something beyond ourselves. He is our translator. Jesus quotes Isaiah when he says "They will be taught by God" (John 6:45). God in a man-suit, our great immanuel, steps in to our reality, opens his mouth and speaks. "The Word became Flesh and made his dwelling among us" (John 1:14). If you found them would you listen? Would you follow their instruction? Would you tell others? Would you cover your ears or look for noise to drown them out? Would you hide out in rationalization? Letting the resistance win.

Or like Peter simple say, "I have no choice - you have the words of eternal life, you are my only hope. I am all in. Whatever you say."

Lewis and Edwards on the Layers of Self-Admiration from desiringGod

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1962_lewis_and_edwards_on_the_layers_of_selfadmiration/

How Hearts Are Softened - C.H. Spurgeon - 9/18/1887

Zechariah 12:10-11 "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. "


Slightly altered to today's english

Nothing good can come out of a stony heart; it is barren as a rock. To be unfeeling is to be unfruitful. Prayer without desire, praise without emotion, preaching without earnestness – what are all these? Like the marble images of life, they are cold and dead. Insensibility is a deadly sign. Frequently it is the next stage to destruction.

I. Observe that holy tenderness arises out of divine operation. “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications.”

- It is not in fallen man to renew his own heart. Can the adamant turn itself to wax, or the granite soften itself to clay? Only He that stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth can form and reform the spirit of man within him. The power to make the rock of our nature flow with rives of repentance is not in the rock itself.
- The Spirit of God is prompt to give life and feeling. In ancient times He moved upon the face of the waters, and by His power order came out of confusion. The same Spirit at this time broods over our souls, and reduces the chaos of our natural state to light and life and obedience. There lies the hope of our ruined nature. Jehovah who made us can make us over again. Our case is not beyond His power. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? He can change the millstone into a mass of feeling, and dissolve iron and steel into a flood of tears. When He deals with the human mind by His secret and mysterious operations, He fills it with new life, perception, and emotion.
- The Holy Spirit makes us like wax, and we become impressible to His sacred seal. Remember, you that are hard of heart, that your hope lies this way; God Himself, who melts the icebergs of the arctic, must make your soul to yield up its hardness in the presence of His love. Nothing short of the work of God within you can effect this…The Spirit of God must work regeneration in you. He is able of stones to raise up children of Abraham; but until He works you are dead and insensible.
- God’s aim is that grace may reign by delivering us from our natural impenitence, and by causing us to sorrow because we have sinned… Do not think, therefore that when you feel the Holy Ghost melting you, that the Father will refuse you; it is He that sent the Holy Ghost to deal with you. Imagine not that you can feel repentance for sin and bow in sorrow at the Savior’s feet, and that Jesus will reject you; for it is He who sent the Spirit of grace to bring you to repentance, and make you mourn because of the ill which you have done.
- The Spirit is as the wind, invisible save by its effects. The Holy Ghost comes as the dew which in soft silence refreshes the tender herb. North with sound of trumpet or observation of man doth the Spirit perform his gracious deeds. His working is one of the secrets and mysteries which no man can explain to his fellow…Do not, therefore, expect to be informed when the Spirit is upon you.
- The Holy Spirit can make your heart as tender as the apple of the eye, and cause your conscience to be as sensitive as a raw wound, which feels the slightest touch. God grant us grace to deal with Him about these things, and not to be looking to ourselves. As well hope to extract juice from the stones of the sea-beach, as spiritual feeling from the carnal mind. He who can make the dray bones lice, and He alone, can make the hardened mourn over sin.

2 Thessalonians - Thoughts

2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. 16May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

While mowing the law tonight it dawned on me that God knew everything I would every do, not do, say, think, or feel. He HAD full disclosure on me, and yet despite of what he knew was coming, decided to draw me in. The implications of such an act are fantastic - and freeing. It is for freedom that Jesus has set us free. However, the realty of how God looks at me is still a daunting concept. I find it difficult to believe that God looks at me the same way I look at my baby boy. The bible is very clear that he does, that he is as jealously protective of us as we are of our children. That he wishes to give us gifts, and seeks our good, just like our parents. If I am the apple of God's eye I wish I could see what he sees - what would that change? I think my parents think of me that way, did that make any difference on how I treat them? Maybe that is why God affords us the ability to have children, in order to taste what he tastes, feel what he feels. It is impossible to understand how a parent feels about their child until you have one yourself. Additionally it is impossible to understand how a lover feels about their love without having had a similar relationship. I wonder if all human realtionships and interactions are visual aides helping us to better understand our creator and how to relate to him. He is both our lover and our Judge; our sibling and our Parent; our Priest and our Sacrfice; our King.

I am glad he chose me.

2 Thessalonians 3:5
5May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.

G.K. Chesterton Quote

"Man is most comforted by paradoxes."
by G.K. Chesterton

The Moment of Surrender - U2

The Moment of Surrender

I tied myself with wire
To let the horses run free
Playing with the fire
Until the fire played with me


The stone was semi-precious
We were barely conscious
Two souls too cool to be
In the realm of certainty
Even on our wedding day


We set ourselves on fire
Oh God, do not deny her
It's not if I believe in love

But if love believes in me

Oh, believe in me

At the moment of surrender
I folded to my knees

I did not notice the passers-by

And they did not notice me

I've been in every black hole

At the altar of the dark star

My body's now a begging bowl

That's begging to get back, begging to get back

To my heart

To the rhythm of my soul

To the rhythm of my unconsciousness

To the rhythm that yearns

To be released from control

I was punching in the numbers at the ATM machine

I could see in the reflectionA face staring back at me

At the moment of surrenderOf vision over visibility

I did not notice the passers-byAnd they did not notice me

I was speeding on the subway

Through the stations of the cross

Every eye looking every other way

Counting down 'til the pentecost

At the moment of surrender

Of vision of over visibility

I did not notice the passers-by

And they did not notice me