Category: understanding

Touching Isn’t the Same as Plunging

” A man is only as holy as he wants to be.” —A.W. Tozer

Our will is always a significant issue.  Our heavenly Father never diminishes it, but it seems our will is inviolable and considered untouchable.  The Lord brings us, but He will never make us, or drive us.  There is a deep kindness in His mercy.  (And I think I love Him more because of this.)

There is a personal burden on us; it isn’t too popular or widely accepted.  But it deals with free choice choosing a life of remarkable awareness.  He shares His holiness with us.  It is one of those deep and certain principles– You can have as much of God as you want.  It seems there are no limits here.

One of our personal issues is how we see life.  Often we have gone with a “pie chart” mentality.  We cut our life into sections, some are bigger and others are just a sliver.  As Christians we feel noble when we give God a cut.  But this mentality only accentuates the reality that His presence isn’t as significant as it should be.  Really, if we are honest, the whole pie is His.

Moses is a profound example for us.  He decides that he can’t live out an illusion anymore.  He starts separating himself from Egypt.  He escapes and becomes a shepherd.  Many years pass, and the presence of God deeply overshadows him.  He is led into an encounter with God.  He embraces this, and we see God taking up this humble man as a confidante and a close friend.

Every person is as holy as they want to be.  Will you set your heart under the stream that flows continually?  Will you see yourself to be “set apart” for His purposes?  He intends that you will be different.  Set apart (holiness) for Him.  Like Moses, we need to act on this idea, that we are quite different.  We must understand this– we will never, ever mesh with the world around us.  And you need to make this decision yourself.

 
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Making It All Real

 

“[The LORD Is My Fortress] I live under the protection of God Most High and stay in the shadow of God All-Powerful.”

 Psalm 91:1 CEV

We must grasp this down deep.  He shelters us in a place that no one can reach.  He is a rock of a fortress, and evil will never penetrate him.  Our position is wonderful, and we rejoice in it, and yet a shield has been put into place that will never waver.  We are the “apple of his eye” and we stand very much protected.

The entirety of Psalm 91 is a confidence builder.  But it does so without us grasping truths that are vague or confusing.  It is a Psalm that states reality, without any anesthesia.  When we truly read it, the natural tendency is to be overwhelmed or confused by it.  But that isn’t its real purpose. It is there to communicate “security” in every perspective of life.  I am “safe” and nothing will ever change that.

As we shelter ourselves into his presence, we will end up drawing his “life” directly into our life.  Our blood now flows with his.  Our life, has been transfused or mixed with his.  He has gone the extra mile to make us one with him.  We are “blood brothers.”

Try as you may, you will not ever shake yourself free of this.  If you truly believe in Him, he goes ahead and puts his mark or seal on you.  At this point, you might as well surrender.  You have become his, and he will most definitely take control.

Psalm 91 points out so many issues.  Reading it, we find it takes us to a place where we trust him far beyond anything else.  He begins to comfort us, He soothes us into the very place, that we start bringing a grace that is quite exceptional.

A List of Alaskans Who Died in the Vietnam War

I would like to post this list of the KIA during the Vietnam War.  This is a complete list of everyone who died from Alaska in combat during this difficult time.  We can question this war, but we cannot challenge or impugn their honor and sacrifice.  I intend to do this, on Memorial Day, 2011.

I simply don’t want their names to be forgotten.

Name– Rank– Branch– Hometown– DoD

  1. ANDERSON THOMAS EDWARD CPL MARINES SPENARD 6-Oct-62
  2. BANTA MICHAEL DEAN PFC ARMY CORDOVA 2-Oct-70
  3. BARR EDWARD NASUESAK SN NAVY BREVIG MISSION 3-May-69
  4. BARR THOMAS M SP5 ARMY ANCHORAGE 12-May-69
  5. BAUER RICHARD GENE SP5 ARMY ANCHORAGE 4-Nov-69
  6. BETTS LARRY LE ROY 2LT ARMY EAGLE RIVER 21-Nov-69
  7. BROWN CHARLES EDWARD PFC ARMY THORNE BAY 6-Dec-67
  8. BROWN DAVID DEE JR PFC MARINES WRANGELL 16-Apr-68
  9. BULLOCK GARY EDWIN SP4 ARMY ANCHORAGE 31-Jan-67
  10. CHILDERS WILLIAM STEVEN WO ARMY FAIRBANKS 3-Jan-69
  11. CHMIEL DONALD GEORGE SSGT ARMY CHUGIAK 25-Aug-70
  12. COOK CLINTON ARTHUR SGT ARMY HYDABURG 28-Apr-70
  13. COX DANIEL FRANKLIN SP5 ARMY ELMENDORF A F B 15-Jan-71
  14. DUNCAN WILLIAM BRADLEY WO ARMY ANCHORAGE 31-Jan-68
  15. EATON WILLIAM ALBERT PFC ARMY SOLDOTNA 18-Apr-70
  16. ELISOVSKY DAVID HENRY SGT ARMY CORDOVA 23-Jan-66
  17. ELLIOTT ROBERT THOMAS III 1LT ARMY ANCHORAGE 9-Sep-68
  18. FERRY DAVID LYNN SP5 ARMY FAIRBANKS 22-Aug-68
  19. FLEENER NICK ULYSSES SP5 ARMY SPENARD 29-Jul-70
  20. GAMBLE CHARLES F JR SP4 ARMY JUNEAU 28-Oct-69
  21. GRIFFIN DALE ANTHONY LCPL MARINES ANCHORAGE 14-Mar-68
  22. GULLIKSEN HOWARD WAYNE SSGT ARMY SEWARD 30-Jan-68
  23. HARMON DANIEL LEE SP4 ARMY KODIAK 2-Jun-67
  24. HIBPSHMAN WILLIAM EARL SP5 ARMY ANCHORAGE 25-Jun-69
  25. HOKE MICHAEL THOMAS PFC MARINES ELMENDORF AFB 21-Dec-67
  26. HORN JERRY VERNE SP4 ARMY SOLDOTNA 16-Sep-67
  27. INT-HOUT KURT SP4 ARMY KODIAC 29-Jan-72
  28. IVEY SAM PFC ARMY MC GRATH 16-Sep-65
  29. JONES WAYNE ELMER CWO ARMY FAIRBANKS 17-Aug-67
  30. KETZLER GILBERT JR PFC ARMY FAIRBANKS 10-Oct-69
  31. KILBUCK GEORGE GREGORY PFC ARMY BETHEL 27-Aug-65
  32. KITO DONALD HARRY LCPL MARINES PETERSBURG 8-Jul-67
  33. KOSLOSKY HOWARD MARK AN NAVY ANCHORAGE 2-Oct-69
  34. LA BELLE KERMIT HAROLD JR PFC MARINES FAIRBANKS 28-Jul-67
  35. LANG MICKEY DANIEL PFC ARMY ANCHORAGE 19-May-71
  36. LAPE DAVID ALEN WO ARMY CORDOVA 27-Nov-67
  37. LEE ROBERT EDWARD SP4 ARMY FAIRBANKS 17-Feb-66
  38. LINGLEY NORMAN LEWIS PFC ARMY DOUGLAS 6-Nov-66
  39. MC INERNEY PATRICK M PFC ARMY FAIRBANKS 12-Mar-69
  40. MILLHOUSE KENNETH BRUCE SP4 ARMY SPENARD 18-Dec-68
  41. PAULSEN WARREN BM3 NAVY VALDES 23-Jun-69
  42. PIASKOWSKI WILLIAM FRANCI SP4 ARMY ANCHORAGE 14-Mar-68
  43. PLETT LARRY JOE PFC ARMY ANCHORAGE 20-Jul-70
  44. PRENTICE DAVID SHELTON GSGT MARINES ANCHORAGE 29-Jul-67
  45. RAINEY LLOYD STEVEN CWO ARMY ANCHORAGE 12-Dec-71
  46. RICE ANDREW WILLIAM JR GMG3 NAVY FT RICHARDSON 23-May-69
  47. RICHARDSON FLOYD WHITLEY COL AIR FORCE ANCHORAGE 4-Oct-79
  48. RIDLEY NORMAN FRANKLIN AA NAVY METLAKATLA 8-Jan-69
  49. ROBISON DONALD ROBERT CAPT ARMY COLLEGE 12-Mar-68
  50. SANDERS DONALD RAY PFC ARMY ELMENDORF AFB 25-Mar-67
  51. SIMEONOFF FREDERICK M WO ARMY SPENARD 17-Apr-70
  52. SPERL DONALD WALTER CPL ARMY JUNEAU 8-May-68
  53. THOMPSON WILLIAM ARTHUR CPL ARMY KETCHIKAN 12-Jul-68
  54. VANDERPOOL JOE WAYNE PFC MARINES ANCHORAGE 1-Mar-68
  55. WALTERS WILLIAM FRANCIS CWO ARMY ANCHORAGE 12-Jun-70
  56. WHITNEY ARTHUR JOSEPH JR PFC ARMY KETCHIKAN 5-May-6
  57. YOUNG DAVID REESE JR 2LT ARMY FAIRBANKS 15-Mar-68

I served in the U.S. Army as a Combat Medic, from 1979 to 1982.  I understood my heritage, and I honor those who served and all those who went before me.

Date: 1966
Title: A Medic and fellow soldier of the First Cavalry Division.
Source: Photo by Henri Huet, REQUIEM By The Photographers Who Died in Vietnam and Indochina, Random House 1997

Source, and more right here on: http://www.ngl.org/Home/tabid/40/Default.aspx

BB Book Review: “Imaginary Jesus”

“Imaginary Jesus,” by Matt Mikalatos

This was a book saturated with holy surprises.  For sure, the title seemed eccentric and I couldn’t be certain that it be worth reading.  After I read several pages I was able to use my own “spiritual” GPS and locate, and understand the “lay-of-the-land.”  There was a sense of reading something very fresh, and striding to keep up with Mikalotos.  I discovered that I couldn’t wait for the next page, which is a great indicator.

Imaginative and engaging.  If this book transformed into a person, I would immediately invite him to my living room for coffee and a conversation.  I would not hesitate.  Plot and content wise–this is a narrative of a man’s journey to what is real.  Especially in the spiritual realm of the truth, where it is best to possess what you confess.

The book unfolds with adventure after adventure.  It has a plot that seems like sci-fi.  It is both exotic and friendly, all at the same time.  If I could think out loud my impressions of “Imaginary Jesus” in a single word it would be “winsome.”  Mikalatos presses into our imaginations a journey that is both amusing as it is cutting.  It is a fun read, that is explosive and sure, it puts together for us an understanding of our own hearts in this generation.

Outside Review: “Take the theological forcefulness of Bonhoeffer, combine it with the imaginative whimsy of C. S. Lewis and the wit of Charles Spurgeon, and you get Matt Mikalatos. Imaginary Jesus marks the debut of one of today’s most prominent young Christian writers. “(Gary Thomas, Author of Sacred Marriage and Pure Pleasure )

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I purchased my book direct from Amazon.com for $10.19 USD.

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: BarnaBooks (March 18, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10:9781414335636
  • ISBN-13:978-1414335636
  • ASIN:1414335636
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars.  (134 customer reviews)
  •  Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #75,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)