"God will make a way where there seems to be no way, He works in ways we cannot see, He will make a way for me . . ." (Don Moen).
"Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3).
Barack Obama has written a book called THE AUDACITY OF HOPE, I believe that was also the title of his speech at the 2004 Democrat convention. I have not read the book, nor did I listen to the speech, it is not high on my reading priority list, unless in the extremely unlikely case he is able to defeat Hillaryfor the nomination of president. Then I will need to know what makes him "tic." But THE AUDACITY OF HOPE is a great title because one needs to be audacious in order to truly hope.
According to Greek mythology, when Pandora opened her box she loosed all the miseries of mankind: greed, vanity, slander, envy and pining. Only ELPIS was left inside. ELPIS is the Greek word that is translated by HOPE in the New Testament. The Greek goddess, Elpis, is the personification of hope. She is portrayed as a beautiful young woman with a smile on her face and a flower in her hand. Eventually, Pandora revisited her box and released Elpis. What would the world be like without hope?
What makes hope hope? Is hope merely the belief that good tends to win in the end? That is optimism. Though hopefulness is listed as a synonym for optimism in a thesaurus, I see a shade of difference. And that difference has to do with evidence to the contrary. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary one still clings to hope of a positive outcome long after the optimist has given up. That is why hope is so audacious.
An audacious hope is delusional and sheer lunacy except for God. If God says it will be so, it will be so!!! Have you ever touched the body in a casket? You know immediately from the touch that the personality that animated the body is gone. All the evidence says the person is dead, it is over, the dead person will never be seen again. But God says otherwise. In Christ, we are assured of a great family reunion in eternity in the face of the negative evidence to the contrary. It is the power of God that makes an audacious hope reasonable rather than delusional.
Grace&Peace,
Tom
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Monday, February 12, 2007
A SPORTS METAPHOR FROM BO RYAN
"and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (Hebrews 12:1).
I was reading in "Hawk Central" the account of the Iowa-Wisconsin basketball game. It has been a matter of great concern to me how Wisconsin has dominated Iowa in sports this year. Oh well, there are some great things that result from intense competition regardless of who wins. Sports competition is life concentrated. I think this is why some of the most decent people on any university campus are in the athletic departments. Their life philosophies are always being tested in athletic competition. The success or failure of their philosophies are witnessed by thousands of people. They are not hidden away in some obscure paper, lab or classroom where intellectual freedom is denied.
Anyway, this quote from Ryan was great and I wanted to share it with you: "Hustle opportunities, they are there for anybody to get if they get the right position and keep working hard. People always say, 'Well, the ball doesn't bounce our way.' But in life what are you going to do? Wait for things to come to you? So we just treat an offensive rebound as grabbing life by the horns and riding it."
Grace&Peace,
Tom
I was reading in "Hawk Central" the account of the Iowa-Wisconsin basketball game. It has been a matter of great concern to me how Wisconsin has dominated Iowa in sports this year. Oh well, there are some great things that result from intense competition regardless of who wins. Sports competition is life concentrated. I think this is why some of the most decent people on any university campus are in the athletic departments. Their life philosophies are always being tested in athletic competition. The success or failure of their philosophies are witnessed by thousands of people. They are not hidden away in some obscure paper, lab or classroom where intellectual freedom is denied.
Anyway, this quote from Ryan was great and I wanted to share it with you: "Hustle opportunities, they are there for anybody to get if they get the right position and keep working hard. People always say, 'Well, the ball doesn't bounce our way.' But in life what are you going to do? Wait for things to come to you? So we just treat an offensive rebound as grabbing life by the horns and riding it."
Grace&Peace,
Tom
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
ABOUT BEING AUTHENTIC
"I have discovered that no marriage can be triumphant until both people are able to be fully and freely themselves" (Neil Clark Warren).
"And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (II Corinthians 3:18).
Psychologists tell us that one of the characteristics of good mental health is the ability to be authentic; to be able to live with your guard down; to be able to be a self, not the self someone else wants you to be. Now that sounds good, but there are some good reasons for a person to have his guard up--one might get punched in the nose if he doesn't. There are some good reasons for one to be the self someone else expects him to be--he might not graduate or he might be fired from his job. There are inumerable people who authentically wanted to say, "take this job and shove it" to their boss, but didn't.
One principal I want you to remember is that you cannot not be authentic. Pardon the use of a double negative. A counterfeit dollar bill is a genuine counterfeit dollar bill--it is what it is, a real counterfeit dollar bill. You are what you are doing. Jesus said that it is out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The totality of our behavior is the mouth speaking. The question we all need to ask ourselves is, "What is in my heart that makes me conform to other's expectations and keep my guard up?"
The most important principal to remember is this paradox: We are our most authentic selves when we become like Jesus. It is in putting Him on as a garment that we are freed to find and be our true selves. To be a truly authentic person, one has to have an intentional philosophy of life to live by. The most freeing philosophy is that of surrendering to the rule of Jesus Christ. It is in trusting Him that the fear factor is taken out of your life. It is in obedience to Him that our words are spoken with wisdom rather than "shoot-from-the-hip" emotion. That is what is required for true marital intimacy.
Grace&Peace,
Tom
"And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (II Corinthians 3:18).
Psychologists tell us that one of the characteristics of good mental health is the ability to be authentic; to be able to live with your guard down; to be able to be a self, not the self someone else wants you to be. Now that sounds good, but there are some good reasons for a person to have his guard up--one might get punched in the nose if he doesn't. There are some good reasons for one to be the self someone else expects him to be--he might not graduate or he might be fired from his job. There are inumerable people who authentically wanted to say, "take this job and shove it" to their boss, but didn't.
One principal I want you to remember is that you cannot not be authentic. Pardon the use of a double negative. A counterfeit dollar bill is a genuine counterfeit dollar bill--it is what it is, a real counterfeit dollar bill. You are what you are doing. Jesus said that it is out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The totality of our behavior is the mouth speaking. The question we all need to ask ourselves is, "What is in my heart that makes me conform to other's expectations and keep my guard up?"
The most important principal to remember is this paradox: We are our most authentic selves when we become like Jesus. It is in putting Him on as a garment that we are freed to find and be our true selves. To be a truly authentic person, one has to have an intentional philosophy of life to live by. The most freeing philosophy is that of surrendering to the rule of Jesus Christ. It is in trusting Him that the fear factor is taken out of your life. It is in obedience to Him that our words are spoken with wisdom rather than "shoot-from-the-hip" emotion. That is what is required for true marital intimacy.
Grace&Peace,
Tom
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