Friday, November 13, 2015
Best Version of Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring by Bach (With Lyrics)
The CHRIST follower marinates in joy on two levels simultaneously: The visible material realm and the Unseen Realm. Both the immanent and transcendent dance their interplay in the mind of the Christian. I hear the beauty of Bach, all the while I marvel at the Source of all the music.
With every glass of wine comes the memory of Jesus' water to wedding wine miracle. The close-at-hand senses are alive with sight, smell, texture and taste. The background wedding music all the while washes over the whole experience with joyous revelry. The transcendent Presence of the Winemaker conducts the whole glad orchestra.
Feasting on the five fish, we raise our glass. To the Invisible Father, Son and Holy Ghost whose fingerprints are everywhere. Taste and see. The LORD, He is good.
And one more added delight: Johanne Sebastian Bach is still creating His masterful music. I wonder if he also conducts the glorious chords for all to savor. For all eternity.
Virginia visit with Danielle and Aaron
 
Washington and Old Dominion Bike Trail
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| Martin Luther King memorial |
Dinner with childhood friend,
California Rep Janice Hahn
Stacy smitten over Aaron's pumpkin stew
Bach Concert,
Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring
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| Stone Tower Vineyard |
6-5 Big Bash Birthday Surprise
It ends with: IT IS GOOD.
Then REST from all labors.
This was, of course, the pattern of GOD's creative act In The Beginning. And the Creator's children display the same creative will.
It started in the mind of Elissa: Gabe, your mother will not have an anniversary celebration with Robert like my grandparents' 60th. We should do something special for her milestone 65th birthday.
And together they said to the family, LET THERE BE a surprise party for Gramma Care.
S.U.R.P.R.I.S.E! Happy Birthday, Gramma Care!
Is that Isaiah Robert on my front porch?
After their surprise arrival, the kitchen dialogue between Elissa and I was priceless:
Me: It will be good to have just the family and a few close friends for a party. I'm not much for surprise parties.
Elissa: We're doing that.
Me: Perfect! I'll jump out of a cake.
Later in the kitchen.
Me: I suppose we'll just all meet at Charley's for a nice surprise birthday dinner together. Easy Schmezee.
Elissa: It's here.
Me: Oh mercy. I better get the place ready.
Never mind, Saturday Gabriel, Nathaniel, the kiddos and I spent a fun-filled day at the zoo while Elissa and JoyFul transformed my home into a Big Bash Birthday Surprise venue ready for 100 of our closest friends.
Thank you also for preparing pulled pork, cheesy potatoes and cookies, hauling knick-knacks, tables and everything but the kitchen sink to decorate. Thank you for the 65 picture collage which told the tale of 65 years. Every detail was covered.
Gabriel, thank you for graciously implementing your wife's splendid creative ideas.
Thank you for pulling your bedroom across the state.
Thank you for blessing our time together in prayer.
Thank you for pulling your bedroom across the state.
Thank you for blessing our time together in prayer.
MacMurchy family, thank you for the Porch Surprise.
Morgan, Isaiah, Amelia and Samuel ~ Thank you for rendering Gramma Care speechless!
Elissa and Joy, thank you for transforming my home from ordinary to extraordinary.
Nathaniel, thank you for snapping 1000 zoo photos.
Danielle and Aaron, thank you for contributing to food and fanfare.
Thank you also for my flight to Virginia.
Scottish Friends one and all, thank you for celebrating 65 years of joy and delight. That I am greatly blessed is no surprise.
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| It is good |
40 days in the Wild: Lessons learned
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| Aslan flag on our Lake Superior sailboat |
Except for the night of the storm. Rest was no where to be found in my swirling thoughts. Why did my bunkmate, Hannah, sleep like JESUS on the swirling Sea of Galilee? Why was she oblivious to the crashing waves and fearsome wind? What did Hannah know that I did not?
JESUS knew that in His Father's full world, All Is Well.
Hannah knew that too. It allowed her to rest in the Everlasting Arms.
DEAR LORD, please save me. May I fear not and rest.
There have been times when I think that we do not desire heaven; but more often I have found myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else. CS Lewis
Lewis is right: I have never desired anything else. My father's early passage from here to There was the first whisper that there was more. Much more. But how do I prepare? For this life and the next? How do I become the kind of person that can stand the pure goodness of God in Heaven? Someone who does not hide from Truth? How does one prepare? What to pack?
To know and enjoy GOD forever, character transformation is required. Love of GOD and neighbor must be honed. The 40 days at Wilderness North required planning, focus and goodwill. It turned out that Northern Minnesota is closer to the Other Shore than I imagined. Thanks for the honing, dear brothers and
sisters.
sisters.
Friday, September 11, 2015
Wednesday, September 09, 2015
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Lord of the Rings - Lighting of the Beacons
The beacon shines in the night. And prayer goes forth.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
Monday, July 13, 2015
II Chronicles 7:14
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If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
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MacMurchy Independence celebration, 2015
Unfortunately, I was not in Belle for the parade, rodeo, carnival and BBQ.
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| The next generation patriot. |
Monday, July 06, 2015
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Dallas's definitions
THE BIBLE: The unique written Word of God. It is inerrant in its original form and infallible in all of its forms for the purpose of guiding you into a life-saving relationship with God in His kingdom. The Bible contains a body of knowledge without which human beings cannot survive. It reliably fixes the boundaries of everything God will ever say to humankind.
Monday, June 29, 2015
5 empty robes with a gavel
Back in the Biblical day, startling news was met with lament. The dawning of sack cloth and strewing of ashes were outward signs of grief. June 26, 2015, was a pendulum day. It was a see-saw day of great glee or grieving lament. My response to the supreme court's decision to legalize homosexual marriage across the fruited plain led me searching for the sackcloth. I will attempt to communicate three compelling reasons for lament: The holiness of the Sacred, the Supreme Judge's justice and the children.
THE HOLINESS OF THE SACRED
There are edicts in life that cannot be changed. They are immutable because their source is eternal and sovereign. The importance of the sacred - that which is holy - cannot be overstated. The Theistic Story or worldview is that everything derives from a personal God who is ultimate. "In the beginning God…"
In the beginning God created heaven and earth. His crowning creative act was the human. One of the first declarations spoken over the first man was that God created him in His image. "Male and female created He them." The Lord's first declaration after giving Adam and Eve to one another was that they would leave their father and mother and become one flesh. These two pronouncements, the male/female gender edict and the marriage command must have been important because they were on the Father's lips immediately. These Eternal Edicts set the perimeters for God's beloved children. This is hallow ground. No man trespasses.
These guardrails for human practice are meant to protect us. The constant search for reassuring boundaries is consistent with being created like Him; in His image. God's commands always have a condition of either blessing or curse. "If you keep my commands, you will flourish." If you forget my ways and depart from my commands, I will leave you to your own devices. Paul taught in Romans 1 that the end result of ungrateful rebellion to God and His blessed ways was depravity of mind. The inability to reason. "The reasonable person is the one who is devoted to truth, and to finding it and living in it by all available means," according to Dallas Willard.
Some things in life are not to be trifled with. The grimy fingerprints of humans are not to intrude upon marriage, God-given gender or the womb. Only a fool runs rough shod over God's bedrock injunctions. For He is, now and for all eternity, The Supreme Judge.
WHO IS SUPREME?
That is a question that will be answered by every person who draws breath. There are only two choices: God or me? Will I bow my knee to my will or the Sovereign Lord's? Where will my allegiance lie; with God or myself?
The answer to Who is Supreme is easily ascertained. The With God life can be squarely compared to the Without God life. Practical thought and experience will tell the tale of who is living the Good Life? And if - after doing the research - the living Lord has the best information about living life, then one must conclude that His wisdom is supreme. He sets the definitions. Not five gavel wielding empty robes.
The judges who deemed to distort God the Creator's age-old marriage decrees are now under judgement. The Supreme Judge had the first word. And blessed be His name, He will have the last.
THE CHILDREN
Often I have mused over the fate of folks who willfully or unwittingly cause a child to fall headlong. Scripture speaks of it in dire terms: It is better to never be born than to cause a child to stumble. A tumble into the deep blue sea with a millstone necklace is the lot of the unrepentant person who places a stumbling block in front of a child. These verses do not reflect Father God in a snit throwing a holy temper tantrum. A child's innocence is sacred. The Father loves the little ones dearly, and He never takes His eyes off of them. Even the most jaded, cringe at the thought of a child being used for nefarious purposes. Imagining a child used for sexual gratification, for instance, brings immediate sorrow and outrage. Why is this? Because we are fashioned like God; cherishing what He cherishes and hating what He despises.
THE HOLINESS OF THE SACRED
There are edicts in life that cannot be changed. They are immutable because their source is eternal and sovereign. The importance of the sacred - that which is holy - cannot be overstated. The Theistic Story or worldview is that everything derives from a personal God who is ultimate. "In the beginning God…"
In the beginning God created heaven and earth. His crowning creative act was the human. One of the first declarations spoken over the first man was that God created him in His image. "Male and female created He them." The Lord's first declaration after giving Adam and Eve to one another was that they would leave their father and mother and become one flesh. These two pronouncements, the male/female gender edict and the marriage command must have been important because they were on the Father's lips immediately. These Eternal Edicts set the perimeters for God's beloved children. This is hallow ground. No man trespasses.
These guardrails for human practice are meant to protect us. The constant search for reassuring boundaries is consistent with being created like Him; in His image. God's commands always have a condition of either blessing or curse. "If you keep my commands, you will flourish." If you forget my ways and depart from my commands, I will leave you to your own devices. Paul taught in Romans 1 that the end result of ungrateful rebellion to God and His blessed ways was depravity of mind. The inability to reason. "The reasonable person is the one who is devoted to truth, and to finding it and living in it by all available means," according to Dallas Willard.
Some things in life are not to be trifled with. The grimy fingerprints of humans are not to intrude upon marriage, God-given gender or the womb. Only a fool runs rough shod over God's bedrock injunctions. For He is, now and for all eternity, The Supreme Judge.
WHO IS SUPREME?
That is a question that will be answered by every person who draws breath. There are only two choices: God or me? Will I bow my knee to my will or the Sovereign Lord's? Where will my allegiance lie; with God or myself?
God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? Numbers 3:19
This truth is important because some believe that if God was writing His commands during modern times, He would see that mankind has 'progressed' to embrace and celebrate homosexuality as a rite of equality and love. The thought is that God would surely accept His creation's enlightened insight and applaud gender fluidity and marriage restructuring. This view, of course, is grounded in man's desire to fashion a manageable Sovereign in their own image. A harrowing example of the pot telling the Potter how things really are down here on the Great Green Globe. Ridiculous, of course, with no taproot of reality or knowledge of the immutably charitable ways of the Sovereign Creator.
The comfort I have knowing that the Lord of Love establishes the Good Life perimeters is beyond my ability to communicate. Thank God I am not in charge! The gift of God's Ten Commandments were given as guardrails of blessing: "(The Ten Commandments are) God's gift of specific information on how best to conduct human existence." (DW) Who doesn't want to know how to live God's Good Life?This truth is important because some believe that if God was writing His commands during modern times, He would see that mankind has 'progressed' to embrace and celebrate homosexuality as a rite of equality and love. The thought is that God would surely accept His creation's enlightened insight and applaud gender fluidity and marriage restructuring. This view, of course, is grounded in man's desire to fashion a manageable Sovereign in their own image. A harrowing example of the pot telling the Potter how things really are down here on the Great Green Globe. Ridiculous, of course, with no taproot of reality or knowledge of the immutably charitable ways of the Sovereign Creator.
The answer to Who is Supreme is easily ascertained. The With God life can be squarely compared to the Without God life. Practical thought and experience will tell the tale of who is living the Good Life? And if - after doing the research - the living Lord has the best information about living life, then one must conclude that His wisdom is supreme. He sets the definitions. Not five gavel wielding empty robes.
The judges who deemed to distort God the Creator's age-old marriage decrees are now under judgement. The Supreme Judge had the first word. And blessed be His name, He will have the last.
THE CHILDREN
Often I have mused over the fate of folks who willfully or unwittingly cause a child to fall headlong. Scripture speaks of it in dire terms: It is better to never be born than to cause a child to stumble. A tumble into the deep blue sea with a millstone necklace is the lot of the unrepentant person who places a stumbling block in front of a child. These verses do not reflect Father God in a snit throwing a holy temper tantrum. A child's innocence is sacred. The Father loves the little ones dearly, and He never takes His eyes off of them. Even the most jaded, cringe at the thought of a child being used for nefarious purposes. Imagining a child used for sexual gratification, for instance, brings immediate sorrow and outrage. Why is this? Because we are fashioned like God; cherishing what He cherishes and hating what He despises.
See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. Matthew 18:10
So what about adult behavior that cause confusion in children? Living as husband and wife when there has been no marriage. Children who hear denigrating language day in and day out. When the birth of an eternal soul precedes marriage, the wise parent will instruct. Children are taught so that their steps lead them along righteous paths. (There is always room for the Father's redemption in every failure. Thank goodness or I wouldn't be here to teach! I mean, preach.) What about two women in a passionate display of public affection or just holding hands in the manner of lovers? A child readily registers 'something is wrong.' Is it loving to shape a child in the ways of immorality and ungodliness? Is it really freedom for a child to have sexual options forbidden by the living Lord? Isn't the loving person the one who teaches children about the peaceable Kingdom ways of God the Father?
Leading vulnerable children in destructive paths will not go unpunished. They are watching patterns of behavior. They listen to righteous speech or unholy chatter. Both watch and listen. The children and God.
Leading vulnerable children in destructive paths will not go unpunished. They are watching patterns of behavior. They listen to righteous speech or unholy chatter. Both watch and listen. The children and God.
Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:23
The immutable meaning of words and sacred symbols
There is a direct correlation between the meaning of words and veracity. A person of good will who insists on accurate definitions in daily discourse is a truth lover. A person who trifles with word meaning is no lover of truth.
Here are a few examples of the highjacking of words with the intention of deceiving: Abortion morphed into choice. Sodomy/homosexuality is now gay. Pride - one of the seven deadly sins - is now marched through the streets in defiance of the Father's purposes.
God's covenant after the earth-destroying flood was symbolized with the rainbow of promise. The rainbow has been highjacked by those who know better than the living Lord.
God's covenant after the earth-destroying flood was symbolized with the rainbow of promise. The rainbow has been highjacked by those who know better than the living Lord.
It starts with perverting words. It ends with perverting sacred symbols. Foolish. Only a fool encrypts the Lord's righteous inscription: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Genesis 9:13
"The LORD regretted that He had made human beings on the earth, and His heart was deeply troubled." Genesis 6:5-7
Everyone did what seemed right in their own eyes prior to the flood. It was hatred of God and His peaceable ways that opened the floodgates. After the flood, God debuted His rainbow. It represented the promise that God's judgement upon humankind would never come again through water.
Two thousand years later, the same defiant spirit pervades: Those who do what seems right in their own eyes defy the living Lord by pimping His rainbow. The gay rainbow symbolizes pride in sexually deviant behavior.
Two thousand years later, the same defiant spirit pervades: Those who do what seems right in their own eyes defy the living Lord by pimping His rainbow. The gay rainbow symbolizes pride in sexually deviant behavior.
It is a dangerous thing to make God in one's own image. We are, after all, the clay. Not the potter.
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| Only a fool has no fear of God |
In the name of love
Many who celebrate the supreme court decision to defy God's order in the building block of human civilization - Marriage - believe that they are fighting for love. Equality. The argument for same-sex marriage is cloaked in love images. Now everyone can marry who they want. Love wins!
Even children are brought into the fold. In God's design, two males or two females are not anatomically able to reproduce, but the scotus decision stamps approval on same sex couples adopting. In the picture frame of one big happy family, the feel-good vibes wash over the unwashed like a splashy slip 'n slide heading for the abyss.
Reality, unaffected by cultural trends and liquid mores, is set to reveal itself. The agenda to tip marriage on its head is nothing about love. Emboldened by the redefining of marriage, activist homosexuals will show their colors. It will not be a rainbow display of unicorns and wishful thinking. After all, the perimeters have been exploded. The guardrails are off. We've won the store. Let's ask for the city. And if we don't get it, we'll cry discrimination! Make no mistake, the powers-that-be are never satisfied with waves of destruction. They want tsunamis. And in their wake, will be the feel-good disciples who thought this was only about equal love for all.
Drunk on the spoils of victory, activists from sea to shining sea will ramp up their ultimate goal: Shutting up any and all who stand with God's definitions. Refusing to bake for a same-sex union will be a cake walk compared to the fearsome bullying of the homosexual hegemony. Censorship is already happening in the 'free press.' "The editorial board of PennLive/The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa. is taking a hardcore stance against those who disagree with the Supreme Court ruling to legalize gay marriage." The newspaper temporarily refused editorial rebuffs of the same sex ruling. The blowback, however, caused the editors to temporarily resend the censorship.
In 1963, there was a tipping point in the Civil Rights Movement. The picture of young people being hosed and attacked by dogs aroused Americans to the vile injustice of segregation. The intent of the protest organizers - Southern Christian Leadership Conference - was to draw attention to the evils of racial hatred. As the dog's obeyed the sic 'em command and the fire hose spewed, the click of a camera reshaped the trajectory of the Civil Rights movement. Attention was drawn. Evil was exposed. The battle lines, invariably, are drawn over good and evil. And only God decides what is good and what is evil.
Ironically, it was Christians who spearheaded the repentance of a nation during the troubling Jim Crow years. It will be Christians, however, who take the brunt of criticism as they peacefully protest the unraveling of the Creator's design in gender and marriage. Will there be a defining image that shocks the world into reality?
Reality is, after all, what we bump into when we are wrong. Will the true motivation behind the decade's effort to stick a stake in the heart of God's intention for a man and a woman in marriage be revealed in a picture? Will a picture of a Christian baker closing his shop because he follows God rather than 5 people with a gavel upset the applecart? Or will it be the unthinkable? Christian pastors in shackles and orange shuffling to prison? The images in Rome brought reality up close and personal. Especially for cross-bearers impaled on a smoldering pole. The ugliness. Intolerance of all dissenting voices. The denigrating destruction of free thought. Diversity impaled on a stick. Will these images cauterize America's cultural blood letting? Make no mistake, this tsunami shift in Biblical mores is nothing about love. Shut Up! Or we will destroy you.
Sovereign Lord ~ You say that a little child shall lead. May we as your children, lead in childlike humility. Not wanting to be right for ourselves, but righteous for the sake of your goodness, truth and beauty. May your immutable name be praised. We thank you for your decrees and commands. For only You, dear Lord, know what will harm us when we depart from your ways. Restore again, to hungry hearts, the love of God. May it be so.
Even children are brought into the fold. In God's design, two males or two females are not anatomically able to reproduce, but the scotus decision stamps approval on same sex couples adopting. In the picture frame of one big happy family, the feel-good vibes wash over the unwashed like a splashy slip 'n slide heading for the abyss.
Reality, unaffected by cultural trends and liquid mores, is set to reveal itself. The agenda to tip marriage on its head is nothing about love. Emboldened by the redefining of marriage, activist homosexuals will show their colors. It will not be a rainbow display of unicorns and wishful thinking. After all, the perimeters have been exploded. The guardrails are off. We've won the store. Let's ask for the city. And if we don't get it, we'll cry discrimination! Make no mistake, the powers-that-be are never satisfied with waves of destruction. They want tsunamis. And in their wake, will be the feel-good disciples who thought this was only about equal love for all.
Drunk on the spoils of victory, activists from sea to shining sea will ramp up their ultimate goal: Shutting up any and all who stand with God's definitions. Refusing to bake for a same-sex union will be a cake walk compared to the fearsome bullying of the homosexual hegemony. Censorship is already happening in the 'free press.' "The editorial board of PennLive/The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa. is taking a hardcore stance against those who disagree with the Supreme Court ruling to legalize gay marriage." The newspaper temporarily refused editorial rebuffs of the same sex ruling. The blowback, however, caused the editors to temporarily resend the censorship.
In 1963, there was a tipping point in the Civil Rights Movement. The picture of young people being hosed and attacked by dogs aroused Americans to the vile injustice of segregation. The intent of the protest organizers - Southern Christian Leadership Conference - was to draw attention to the evils of racial hatred. As the dog's obeyed the sic 'em command and the fire hose spewed, the click of a camera reshaped the trajectory of the Civil Rights movement. Attention was drawn. Evil was exposed. The battle lines, invariably, are drawn over good and evil. And only God decides what is good and what is evil.
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| Godly young people persecuted for their righteous stand. |
Ironically, it was Christians who spearheaded the repentance of a nation during the troubling Jim Crow years. It will be Christians, however, who take the brunt of criticism as they peacefully protest the unraveling of the Creator's design in gender and marriage. Will there be a defining image that shocks the world into reality?
Reality is, after all, what we bump into when we are wrong. Will the true motivation behind the decade's effort to stick a stake in the heart of God's intention for a man and a woman in marriage be revealed in a picture? Will a picture of a Christian baker closing his shop because he follows God rather than 5 people with a gavel upset the applecart? Or will it be the unthinkable? Christian pastors in shackles and orange shuffling to prison? The images in Rome brought reality up close and personal. Especially for cross-bearers impaled on a smoldering pole. The ugliness. Intolerance of all dissenting voices. The denigrating destruction of free thought. Diversity impaled on a stick. Will these images cauterize America's cultural blood letting? Make no mistake, this tsunami shift in Biblical mores is nothing about love. Shut Up! Or we will destroy you.
Thankfully, charity and goodwill triumph. Godly character will be required in the face of sorrow, injustice, persecution and outrage. But then, the Church is long overdue for a good dose of purifying persecution. As in 1963, goodness will stand in stark contrast to evil.
The call to Christians is to become like their Master Teacher so that His goodness shines like the noonday sun. When vile sin is met with courageous grace, people pay attention. They did in 1963, and they will in 2015.
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| Goodwill - love - always triumphs |
Sovereign Lord ~ You say that a little child shall lead. May we as your children, lead in childlike humility. Not wanting to be right for ourselves, but righteous for the sake of your goodness, truth and beauty. May your immutable name be praised. We thank you for your decrees and commands. For only You, dear Lord, know what will harm us when we depart from your ways. Restore again, to hungry hearts, the love of God. May it be so.Sunday, June 28, 2015
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Friday, June 19, 2015
Saturday, June 06, 2015
Happy birthday baby girl
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| Amelia's birthday celebration christens the new pop-up camper. |
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| Amelia Margaret MacMurchy. Age 3, June 3rd. |
Tuesday, June 02, 2015
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