Tag: honor

More Voltage, Please!

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“Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord was speaking about when he said,
    ‘I must be respected as holy
       by those who come near me;
    before all the people
       I must be given honor.’ “
So Aaron did not say anything about the death of his sons.”

Leviticus 10:3, NCV

We dare not become casual by our contact we have with the Lord.  Intimacy is obvious, but it must be done with certain precautions.  He asks for us to respond with a sense of holiness.  It is vitally important to Him, and it is vital for us.  We must honor Him as the One who is holy.

The closer we come, the more significant our response.  We are carefully monitored, to see what we will do after we confront the reality of Him.  He insists that we should honor Him as ‘holy’.  He passionately desires and requests that we do what is appropriate and honorable as we meet Him.

Giving Him honor is critical.  It should be the first thought of every man or woman who presses in to know Him.  Honoring Him as holy is not regarded as an option to be debated or brought out for consideration.  It is essential to follow Him faithfully.

We live with ‘lightning’, and a flamethrower, it seems.  He is a tiger who we have grabbed by the tail, we have but a few options.  One is too release our hold and let Him go.  The second is too hold on to Him with all our strength.  He loves those who make the second choice.  Grab hold of the Lord Jesus, and hang on for dear life!

“Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?
Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?”

Isaiah 33:14, NKJV

He is dangerous, but in a good way.

We should anticipate Him coming and disrupting our Sunday services.  We need our ushers to hand-out ropes and life-jackets before the service starts.  We should expect Him to explode in our congregations, in a whirlwind of holy love.  He wants us to expect Him. We must be changed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

There is a sense here in Leviticus 10 of something that is needful and mandatory on our parts.  Often we will discover that entering and abiding in His presence requires us to honor His holiness.  When we do so, we find we will trigger a response from the Lord, which will it turn be a true blessing to our own souls.

The moment you come to realize that only a holy God can make a man godly, you are left with no option but to find God, and to know God, and to let God be God in and through you.   

Major Ian Thomas

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We Are Only Amazing, Together [Plea for Unity]

“That’s how it is with us. There are many of us, but we each are part of the body of Christ, as well as part of one another.”

Romans 12:5, CEV

When we follow Jesus, we will not make any real progress unless we commit to following him together.  We must grow to the wonderful, purposeful point when we start to understand that our essential unity is the work of God in our hearts.  He purposefully blends us–our spirits, personality and thoughts.

We learn we can’t make it alone.  I am an American Christian, and independence is a characteristic of my culture.  We inherently become people who ride hard and ride alone.  There seems like there is not room for two where I am going.  If you get there, I guess we’ll be brothers. But this is not the Scriptures.

Having tried to live my faith in another culture, I discovered I needed a different mentality completely.  I had to learn to reach out to another way of thinking.  I discovered that my new understanding had to include others.  If we win, it is because we are a team.   Soccer was the national sport of my new country–I don’t think it has been successful in the U.S. because it’s fundamentally a true team sport. We don’t think like a team. We don’t like it.

 “Above all else, you must live in a way that brings honor to the good news about Christ. Then, whether I visit you or not, I will hear that all of you think alike. I will know that you are working together and that you are struggling side by side to get others to believe the good news.”

Philippians 1:27, CEV

Unity will leave its mark.  If we choose this particular approach we need to “think alike”.  That takes a bit of a miracle sometimes.  But this intrinsic unity has become the norm.  We are very used to the idea of Jesus saving individual men and women.  But it is a long leap for us to believe that we are sanctified through groups–called Churches.

“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.”

1 Corinthians 1:10, ESV

No.  Absolutely zero. Divisions.  There is to be agreement in every person.  There is to be a unity, in the very specific area of our thinking and our discernment.  And this is sent to us in Jesus’ name.  Paul understands that the name of Jesus (the Lord and Christ) is to have a definite preeminence, and his wonderful authority was to lead us to this unity.

The implications are this–not agreeing to Jesus’ authority, divides the Church.  Simple.  And that is exactly how we are to understand these issues.  We don’t need to be “rocket-science theologians” here, after all Paul was directing his remarks to simple believers.  He believed that they would understand.

The Holy Spirit is like a magnet. The power that pulls us to Jesus works in us all. We find that iron filings of all shapes and sizes are also ‘connected’ to Him, and we’re connected with each other. It is His magnetism that draws us to  each other.

How committed are you to unity in your town?  The Church gathers on Saturday or Sunday (almost always).  The believers that attend are your brothers and sisters.  They come to worship and pray, and hear the Word.

It is an interesting point that when Paul refers to the Church, and John in the Book of Revelation–it is connected to geography.  It is the “Church of Rome” or the “Church of the Colossians.” Thinking this way, will change how you perceive the Church of Jesus.

“In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity.”

Richard Baxter

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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