We've had some unseasonably warm weather lately, I mean like 60 degrees and bright sun. It's been a great break from the rain, snow, gray, and dreary Northwest winter. A couple of weekends ago we decided to take advantage of one such lovely day and go visit the Multnomah Falls. The falls are the second-tallest year-round waterfall in the nation dropping some 620 feet! We made the hour drive along the beautiful Columbia Gorge and arrived at a truly amazing sight.
We started our climb to the top, with many other brave souls. It was a one-mile hike to the top, and another mile down. It was a windy dirt path to the top, but after a few breaks we made it, and the view from the top was spectacular. 
The water picked up speed in the winding widening stream leading up to the edge, rushed over the top and flowed down from Larch Mountain just as it has since God carved it out with His very hands. It was beautiful. 
On our drive home, I was reminded of our first drive past the Columbia Gorge, on our way into Portland, August 18, 2007. We'd been driving for three long days and were ready to finally be settled for a while. We got "officially" engaged a couple days later, married about 2 months after that, and here we are four months into our great adventure... I like life, it keeps you hoppin'. 
Feb 29, 2008
The Falls
Feb 24, 2008
Ask Whatever You Will
Interesting how so many things come in groups of threes. One is too lonely. Two is better, but can create a rivalry. Three seems to be the optimum. There's the Trinity of course, the durable three-stranded cord that cannot easily be broken, and the Church's duty to Christ, Community, and Culture. There are also three strikes, three-pointers, and field goals. Notice that these lists come in threes too.
Well, here's another triple-connection that I recently came across as we've been studying the book of Mark. It involves the request to, "Ask Whatever You Will." In other words, I'll give you whatever you want, if...
Here's the first situation described in the New Testament, from the book of Matthew, when Jesus was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness:
"Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’”"
Matthew 4:8-10
Here we see that Jesus is offered a great deal of worldly riches, if only...He would bow down and worship Satan. Of course, Jesus rejects the offer, knowing full well that the riches in serving God alone far outweigh any riches that any other kingdom has to offer. Jesus was offered the greatest wealth imaginable on earth, and He refused it, for the sake of something much more enjoyable.
The second observation I made is found in the recount of Mark in his gospel:
"But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. For when Herodias's daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”"
Mark 6:21-25
Here's another story involving the forerunner of Jesus, John the Baptist. But he's only the subordinate object of the story, not the subject. The subject of the story is the infamous daughter of Herodias, Herod Antipas' unrightful wife. In payment for her seductive dancing at the banquet, Herod makes the young girl an offer, "Ask whatever you will..." Her response is a tragic one, costing the head of John the Baptist.
First observation: When given the opportunity to take anything from the great kingdom of Herod, the young woman is unable to even make her own decision to answer the king. She apparently has an inability to make a thoughtful, conscious decision, so she consults her mother.
Second observation: In obedience to her mother's instructions, the young woman settles for a very small part of Herod's kingdom -- one that has absolutely no consequence to her whatsoever.
Bottom line: The twisted proposition of King Herod puts the power in the hands of a thoughtless young woman and her wicked mother, so John the Baptist loses his head. But more importantly for the young woman -- what a waste! She could have had anything, but she chose something so small for herself. For her, given a question such as the one proposed by Herod, with the young woman's abdication of limitless potential and the resulting lack of choice, her most extravagant dreams and desires reveal themselves to truly be deep, dark pieces of despair and hopelessness. Her dreams are not dreams at all, she's too hopeless to even think of such grandeur. A pity, indeed.
Finally, the third piece, found in the gospel of John:
"“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it."
John 14:12-14
Because Jesus decided originally to reject Satan's attempts in the wildnerness (see part one), the Kingdom that He gained is one of infinite, unending splendor. For us who believe, we join Him in this indescribable kingdom. As fellow heirs with Him, He gives us a certain degree of authority to "Ask Whatever You Will." For the sake of His name, our desires can be limitless and we can trust that He will answer our requests perfectly according to His will.
We get to dream big and our dreams can count for something. And Jesus will accomplish His intended will in us and through us and for us, for His pleasure and our joy. Amen!
Feb 16, 2008
The Chisel (and putting out fires)
The commercialization makes me nauseous. I wonder, who came up with this idea?
Hypothetical Scenario:
"Hey Jim..."
"Yeah, Bill?"
"So after rollin' off of my wicked high the other day, I woke up from my 42-hour slumber, and check out the dream I had..."
"This oughtta be good, Bill."
"I dreamed that there were naked babies flying all around like fairies, shooting people with arrows. And then they were in love!"
The 'Reality':
"Valentine's Day wouldn't be the same without a visit from Cupid, the winged cherub with a bow and arrow which he uses to place people into love. The origins of Cupid can be traced back to the days of the Roman Empire. Cupid is a Roman god, the symbol of passionate love. (He is the son of Venus, who remember is the Goddess of Love.) Cupid fell madly and completely in love with Psyche, whom it happened was a mortal. This did not please Venus at all and she gave Psyche a particularly hard time, consistently tempting her and driving her off. Eventually, through a small series of human faults, Psyche was tempted to look into the ‘box of beauty’ and when she did, she unleashed a deep slumber onto herself. Cupid then came to Earth and searched the world for her. He found her in her deep sleep. His love for her was so strong though that he was able to take the sleep from her and place it back into the box. Then he used an arrow to pierce her heart and awaken her." (from www.essortment.com)
So, I'm not sure who would be considered more insane, Bill or the delusional mastermind of the Roman gods...
It's funny what constitutes a holiday. Especially this one: it's about love. These days, it is rare to find anyone able to rightly define or describe love. Our society will tell us that the only way to know if you're in love is if you have sex. So one idea is sex=love. I thought that, outside of marriage, sex=fornication=lust. And even inside marriage, sex is only an expression of love, not love itself.
Love is a chisel. Prior to knowing it and enjoying the benefits of truly loving and being loved, every person is a rock-solid piece of unformed hardness. It takes tools to change that. Have you ever seen Mount Rushmore?
By definition, love must be a sharp tool. The hardness of our hearts makes us to judge. It makes us to ridicule. It makes us angry and hateful and condescending. It makes us full of lust for all sorts of things. It makes us unwilling to listen or to care or to compromise. But most of all, it makes us at odds with our Creator, the God of the Universe. Our unchiseled mass of hardness creates within us a deep desire to oppose God, thereby making us enemies against Him. Only a sharp tool, pounded by a strong blunt force, is able to break off all that mess.
Today, Kattie and I attended a couples workshop all day. It had some decent insights and a few quality things to take away, but for the most part, it was a very interesting experience. To us, it seemed as though the overwhelming theme of the seminar was "How to not get divorced." That seemed very strange. There were statistics detailing divorce rates and declines in marital enjoyment, followed by ways to avoid these tragic threats of "not making it." We would have thought that instead of trying to help people to not get divorced by focusing on the factors that threaten a good and lasting marriage, one might try to show the glorious riches of such an amazing journey, thereby exciting people to pursue one that would last forever. Of course, it is good to be aware of the pitfalls, but focusing on them seems pessimistic. It's a bit discouraging and negative. Like damage control. Like putting out fires. We prefer to swim in the everlasting fountain of promise - knowing that our marriage is entrusted to Jesus who makes all things new and chisels us with the refining power of His unending love.
The other night, we were in bed waiting to fall asleep and the Lord showered us with His grace. The love that He continually shows us is a love that never fails. I could tell something had been bothering my wife all day, and it often takes her a little while to process her thoughts before she shares them with me. So as we laid there, she began to share, and Jesus began to chisel. Unbeknownst to me, I had been acting very selfishly, neglecting a very important aspect of our marriage. I simply didn't see it. But she did. As she shared it, the Lord began to soften my heart. He chiseled away part of me that was unfruitful. Proverbs 27:17 has always been a mindful verse with me, even since the early days of my journey with Jesus: "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." Ever since then, our marriage has been even more enjoyable, and my wife has been all the more beautiful to me. Love is a chisel.
The beauty of all this is that it chiseled Jesus all the way down until there was no more to chisel. The indescribably marvelous picture above, called la Pieta, was sculpted by Michelangelo, and now resides in the Vatican. A striking reminder of the power of this chisel called love, Jesus personifies it. He was chiseled so much, worn down all the way, that He became the most renowned and refined piece of art that God has ever shown to man. "No greater love has a man than this: that he would lay down his life for his friends." Jesus did just that. And He likewise imparts that same empowering love to us by refining us by it. Marriage is not like putting out fires. It's like becoming an intricately detailed sculpture for all to see the truly amazing handiwork of God.
Arrows kill. Love is a chisel.
Feb 2, 2008
Chocolate: The Indulgence of Many
I'm not gonna lie, I love chocolate. This morning, I ate more chocolate than I'd like to admit, and that's saying something for this choco-holic. Today and tomorrow mark Chocolate Fest 2008 held at the World Forestry Center here in Portland.
We decided to make a family event of it and go enjoy some of the sweetest delicacies around. And we were certainly amazed. First of all, we drove through the rain to get to the MAX (Portland's light rail public transportation system) station so that we wouldn't have to deal with the horrors of parking when we arrived at the renowned Chocolate Fest. But when we got there, it was snowing like crazy!
Now snow is not typically a characteristic of Portland - rain is. But since the Chocolate Fest was held at the World Forestry Center which is at a higher elevation, we got some snow! And lots of it. Of course, we threw snowballs and I enjoyed some of what I like to call "Extreme Walking."
We marveled at all of the festivities and varieties of chocolate that they had. There were chocolate-covered strawberries,
the world-renowned Fountain of Chocolate,
and even a new world record for a piece of chocolate: a 243-pound truffle made by this creative chef. Are you kidding me? A piece of chocolate that is almost twice my weight??? Now that's ridiculous. But cool. They had white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, chocolate-covered cherries, chocolate-covered beef jerky and chocolate beef rub for grilling (what?!?!), chocolate-covered blueberries, lots of assorted chocolate fudge, a spray paint-covered woman who was supposed to be a ladybug (what?!?!? again), chocolate milk, cocoa popcorn, exfoliating chocolate mud body wrap from a local day spa, chocolate spreads, African chocolate, South American chocolate, North American chocolate, and even a flute player for ambience. Of course, there were also wine samples and other assorted chocolate accessories, including a balloon artist wearing a balloon hat. Now that's a chocolate party! It was fun, but now my belly aches. I guess this is the prequel to the Super Bowl party, eh? Maybe. Maybe not.
Go Giants!
