This car was in the public parking lot about a block from our place. We had to pass this on our way back home from watching the Memorial Day Parade at our friend Bob's apartment.

I guess one can't help but wonder who grandma is...

Carnegie Center for the Arts

This picture is of a sculpture made out of old radiator heaters from steam heated buildings. There are two of these inch worm looking sculptures outside of the Carnegie Center in Three Rivers, MI.

These are right across the street from our apartment.

God Reveals Himself

I’ve been reading “Our Reasonable Faith, A Survey of Christian Doctrine” by Herman Bavinck, and I’m astounded at the insights packed into every line of the generously proportioned book. I’m currently reading about God’s revelation of himself to man.

Bavinck points out that we learn about others by what they reveal to us whether intentionally or unintentionally. Truthfully, we reveal much more about ourselves unintentionally than we do intentionally. I can think of at least one person who I interacted with lately whose has tried to portray himself as an energetic, philanthropic and a hard working, productive man. The truth, as one can readily see in about 3 seconds, is that the guy exhibits all the signs of being a begger, a worthless worker, a chronically unemployed shifty drifter, and an opportunistic con man. He reveals himself despite his best efforts, ironically, perhaps even through his best efforts.

Bavinck points out though that God is not human, and an all powerful, all knowing God does not unintentionally reveal himself in any way or to anyone. God reveals himself to each of us exactly as he wishes and exactly the way we need him to in order for us to fit into His grand design. His choice to reveal himself through saving faith to one and not to another is not a matter of having no obedient servant or not having means to do so. It is also not a matter of being thwarted by a person’s stubborn non-belief. It is a matter of his sovereign choice as to who he reveals himself to and how.

The Heidelberg Catechism puts what I’m saying succinctly in Lord’s Day 21, Question 54.

Q. What do you believe concerning "the holy catholic church"?

A. I believe that the Son of God through his Spirit and Word, out of the entire human race, from the beginning of the world to its end, gathers, protects, and preserves for himself a community chosen for eternal life and united in true faith. And of this community I am and always will be a living member.

Benny and the Snake

There is no feeling in the world comparable to being within the grasp of a snake's fleshy, squirming tail.


The sun was hot and the humid stifling air was oppressive as the shirtless, shoeless little boy made his way down the embankment of thick switch grasses to the woods just north of the homestead to do a little exploring. Benny's red swimming trunks were stained with a half summer of exploration already; so they hardly stood out as he trudged through the waist to chest deep grassy hill. Much to his mother’s chagrin, Benny often spent entire summer days away from the house returning only at dark, and the woods down the hill were a favorite spot for him.

As he descended he thought of the stream, the pond, the two small islands and the animals that he’d seen in these woods. He’d seen mockingbirds, snapping turtles, a bobcat and a number of deer. He descended toward the little pond that he’d helped Daddy dig two years before with nothing on his mind except checking on his forts and perhaps building another. It was the feeling of a living, writhing finger encircling his right ankle that woke Benny out of his sweaty, walking trance. His greatest fear confronted him.

The blue racer, the second largest he'd ever seen, lay in the grass nearly straight and unmoving. Benny, frozen in terror, followed the sky-blue body with his eyes, and it went on and on at least twice as long as he was tall. The last time he had been frozen in fear was at his grandpa's farm when a blue racer 12 feet long reared up at him about twice his height. That time he couldn't move, couldn't yell or even breathe. He just watched as the behemoth swirled away and whipped through the downed trees from the land that has just been cleared.

As a boy of nine, Benny had no greater fear than that of being attacked by a blue racer. Fear cinched his little muscles tight nailing him to where he stood. Finally, Benny's eyes found the shifty, diamond head with the blue racers black, depthless eyes.

The spell broke, and Benny ran back up the hill to the tool shed behind the house. The Benjamin air rifle, the 22 caliber with real wooden stock and hand rest, came off the wall and Benny pumped it as he ran back. The gun was nearly as big as he was, and Benny had to hold the hand pump part against his chest while he pulled the gun, pointed straight up, toward himself with both arms. One. Two. Three... Ten, just as he came up on the baby blue demon.

He dropped the gun to his side, slid open the breach and carefully placed a single lead pellet inside. Locked and ready he stalked the snake. Alert and tense he circled looking for a clean shot. When he found a shot he liked he aimed and the air gun spurted a soft retort. A red dot appeared on the snake head and it jerked to the left. The blue racer's body jerked in a series of spiraling loops before going limp.

The mighty shirtless, barefooted hunter circled his kill slowly scanning the scene. He'd only made about a half circle around the snake when it started to move almost imperceptibly at first. But as it started to jerk back and forth, Benny started going through the routine of pumping the Benjamin again in a calm frenzy. Luckily Benny was wise beyond years, and he knew not only that he had to kill that snake which he feared or he'd never enjoy his woods again but also that a hunter should carry spare ammunition.

By the time the air rifle was loaded a brown snake was about two feet out of the dead blue racer's mouth and was writhing backwards in order to escape. It emerged and started to limp away in a slow slither. It seemed disoriented and stunned, so it took little effort for Benny to put the muzzle of the gun to the head and pull the trigger. Only after the fact did he realize the brown snake was a Michigan Rattler.

Benny never told his parents about the snake incident. He was afraid that his mother wouldn't let him play in the woods again.

Messed Up World

I was talking today with a guy who has a lot of problems… I’ll give a quick recap. Four kids with the woman who ran off with his best friend. He gets served with jail time and a personal protection order after flying off the handle with her and her new beau. That was six months ago, and since then: his former girl got Chlamydia from her new guy, he got another girl pregnant and he has been served papers for child support.

Here’s my problem with this and many situations. This guy has four kids with his former girl who was ‘stolen” by another man. So, he is going to get a child support order now that will take all the money he legitimately earns in order to pay for these kids.

I’ve seen guys in this situation that will circulate from job to job trying to stay ahead of the Friend of the Court garnishment orders. I’ve also seen these guys work out cash and payment-in-kind deals in order to stay clear of the friend of the court, and I’ve seen them start their own businesses.

I find it easy to condemn the men for getting in the situation in the first place. I guess the women or at the very least the women’s fathers are equally to blame. The idea that they would engage in sexual congress with some to the complete trash for men that I’ve seen in these situation is beyond my understanding. At least prostitutes are smart enough to ensure the guy has the money to pay to play.

I think there are two obvious solutions to this. First, fathers have a responsibility to be pillars for their daughters. They should teach their daughters what real love is, and what an irresponsible letch is. Second, the law should not allow fathers of illegitimate children to have any parental rights or have any parental responsibilities. I could actually see the logic of illegitimate children being automatically eligible for adoption by law.

I see this problem growing. This guy is about to have his fifth illegitimate child born. Most couples are have two kids or maybe three. What kind of life are these kids being taught? They will perpetuate the problem… I guarantee... Makes me think of the old song, "Jesus is the answer for the world today..."

Image is the actual, albeit blurred, picture of this individual from the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry.

Hilarious

I saw two things that were uniquely Three Rives today.

First, I drove by Rite Aid on Michigan Avenue where a middle-aged, pot-bellied guy who was wearing a sleeveless muscle shirt was coming out with the largest case of Natural Lite beer I’ve seen. He was able to get by without sleeves by virtue of his ample body hair. I watched him lumber over to his 1987 Honda Magna motorcycle and try to figure out how to get the beer to stay on as he rode away. Finally, he got it to stay on, and I saw a gorilla riding away with a huge silver and blue box of beer strapped to the back of his cycle.

Second, I was at the Tap Room and saw Jim entertaining the kids. We had an all male cook off, which I entered with my world famous macaroni and cheese. Jim didn’t enter, but he came to eat. Jim has a debilitating disease which has resulted in his using a motorized wheelchair. Anyway, he was zipping back and forth through the bar as fast as that little electric chair would go with one kid at a time on it with him. I don’t know who enjoyed themselves more…the kids or Jim. It was heartwarming to see him so happy.

Photo is of the vacant Greystone Hotel which will likely be gone very, very soon.

Word of Faith Part 2

The second major error of the WOF movement is a dualist tendency. A strict dualist would differentiate consciousness including subjective experience and the physical world. He or she would claim that consciousness is a metaphysical concept and does not belong to the merely physical.

Word of Faith dualism is the idea that there are two great forces struggling in opposition to each other and all the world hangs in the balance. On the side of good is God and the force of faith. On the side of evil is Satan and his tricks and demons. God and Satan are engaged in a universal struggle for the world, and we stand in the middle as empowered beings who can sway the balance. This is obviously the seductive part. I am powerful. I hold the key. I. I. I. Me. Me.

The WOF scenario goes something like this:

God created the world with certain rules. He gave the world to Adam. He gave Adam dominion over the earth, and Adam bowed his knee to the serpent thereby giving legal title of the earth to Satan. God connived a way to get it back though. He brought forth Jesus who never sinned. Now Satan was allowed to kill anyone who sinned because the wages of sin is death. Jesus never sinned yet Satan still killed him and violated the rules. Christ took back the deed or title (or keys) over the earth and presented it to us. So, once again, we are in control. We need to learn to use these laws of faith in order to effectively battle the works of darkness.

The first problem with this WOF doctrine is that when God gave Adam dominion over the earth he didn’t give him an irrefutable title or ownership which could supersede God’s powerfully irrevocable claim to the world.

Gen 1:26
(26) And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

I am the Operations Manager at MAISCO. In practicality Dan, the owner, allows me dominion over the daily operations of the business. However, I’m not free to give the business away or to supersede Dan as the owner. The Bible repeatedly asserts the Lord God’s absolute ownership and control over the earth.

Psa 24:1
(1) The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

This verse is after the fall of mankind through Adam, but before Christ’s redemptive work, and the WOF doctrine falls flat before it. The truth is that God knew Adam would fall.


Rev 13:8
(8) And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

God has a chosen people who He has redeemed by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Satan is not a combative force that resists the will of God. He can do only what God allows and in fact ordains. It must be so. The story of Job is evidence of this, and the fact that Satan’s very existence is completely dependant upon God’s active will.

Speaking of Christ:

Heb 1:3
(3) Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

I’ll finish by stating that the Bible never once says that Satan killed Christ. There was no deception. Isaiah states very clearly that it wasn’t Satan who killed Christ.

Isa 53:10
(10) Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

What was Christ’s work? It was to assuage God’s anger toward man for their sinfulness. It wasn’t to trick Satan into making an illegal move.

So here is the difference. WOF is about tricks and technicalities resulting in a teeter-totter effect with us swaying the balance between good and evil. The truth is that God created, owns and rules everything.

2 pictures of me at the Ornamental Metal Museum in Memphis in 2004.


































A picture of the hotel where we stayed on our honeymoon years ago. It wasn't a Motel 8 then and it wasn't nearly as nice as it is now. However, we didn't seem to notice.

Jen in front of the Pyramid in Memphis in 2004.

Jen on Beale Street in Memphis in 2004.

Jen at the Patton Museum again in 2004. I kinda like this tank.

This is a picture of my beautiful wife at the Patton museum in 2004.

She thinks that it is phallic.

This is us unloading a 5000 ft roll of span wire that was damaged from Valmont.

Word of Faith Part 1

The defining doctrine of the word of faith movement is Gnostic idea of the God’s power. It goes something like this:

God’s power in this natural realm is called electricity, and God’s power in the spiritual realm is called the force of faith. Just like there are natural laws which govern the force of electricity there are spiritual laws or principles of faith which govern God’s power in the supernatural. As we learn these principles of faith and put them into practice we can further God’s kingdom here on earth.

What are the errors here? First, there seems to be a design here to draw a wedge between God and His power; however, scripture draws no such division. God’s power is not a force to be harnessed, rather it is something intrinsic within Him. The best translations of God’s power or the power of God should be something like “God powerful”. God’s power is himself. He doesn’t use His knowledge of his power to harness it. He is it.

The idea that God would punish or reward people for slight and exacting terminology and formulas for prayer or confession is an anathema to me. The thought of an absent minded “I’m sick of this” making one ill or “Ahhh… that just kills me!” leading to one’s death isn’t a Christian or Biblical idea. It is rather a superstitious and witchcraft like idea. Get our formulas and our mantras just right and God must act on our behalf.

The subtle appeal of this is that while we credit God for our victories and our blessings we really know that it is a direct result of our ability and knowledge to do or say the right thing. The movement is not God centered it is man centered. The negative side is that when we are in a state of suffering or affliction, it is our own fault. We are either in sin or we don’t have enough faith. Rather than suffer with the afflicted among us, we point at them like Job’s friends and discuss their failings.

My God is a sovereign, loving, jealous, consuming fire who holds me in the palm of his hands and provides for my every need whether or not I say just the right thing or have just enough faith. Lord I believe. Help thou my unbelief.

I had to stop for the train on the way home. This is the train crossing on Fairchild Road near Constantine Street just south of Three Rivers, MI.

Jesus loves you.
He died for your sins.
God has a wonderful plan for your life.

I was disappointed to hear this lame and rather overused jargon again today. If good theology is the meat of the Word of God and if some are only able to drink milk because of a lack of maturity, then this is the marshmallow of the Bible. Not any marshmallow, mind you. This is the marshmallow that as a kid I shoved onto the end of a stick and held over a fire. I’d invariably hold the mallow right in the flame and I would be rewarded with a huge fireball on the end of my stick. Ten seconds later it was over and I had a huge, puffy, blackened gob that was crusty, then gooey, then raw. The mallow would then end up as a sticky mess all over my hands, shirt and especially my face… That’s the marshmallow I’m talking about here.

I guess I have a couple of questions. Does John 3:16 say that God loved everyone in the whole world equally, or does it tell how God showed his love to those whom he had chosen?

If Jesus actually died for the sins of every single person, why won’t every person go to heaven…or will they? Was Jesus death only able to bring about the possibility of the remission of sin or did it actually complete that remission?

Is God the great planner in the sky whose wishes are constantly thwarted at every turn by people who can arbitrarily decide their own destiny? Wow. We really are powerful then. It is we who stand in the balance. I have this vision of God. He’s pacing. He’s wringing his hands. He’s visibly concerned. He’s muttering as he paces. “Why did I spend all that energy making all these plans?” “Why can’t people just go along with what I’ve planned for them?” “I wish they’d just do what I want?” “It’s just so frustrating.” I guess the real question is if God is all powerful and if every molecule is upheld by the word of his power what difference would there be between God’s plan for us or God’s will and reality?

Another thing that I heard today was that the devil had conquered, or supposedly conquered, Christ for the short term, but Christ won when he was resurrected from the dead foiling Satan’s plan. Hmmm. I guess Isaiah’s writing that it pleased the Lord to smite him wasn’t really true. I guess God’s releasing his wrath toward sin on His son isn’t really how we are made righteous.

Anyway. Whatever.

Picture is of a wagon way back in a field over by Mendon, MI.

Farming

Today I was thinking about how the physical earth and my physical surroundings are the medium (and perhaps the only medium) by which person to person interaction goes on and person to God interaction takes place. I’ve said before that my Christianity is very, very physical, maybe even grimy and difficult.

I was thinking of this as I drove to work this morning, and in our area every farmer is out in the field from dawn ‘till dusk (or more) turning the soil to plant. I wondered as I passed field after field and watched them work if farming is a special or unique interaction with God in this physical space. We work hard. We prepare the soil. We plant the seed. We water and fertilize. But, it is still God that germinates and brings the crop out of the ground. It is truly something of a mystery to watch. It is awe inspiring year after year as I watch the cycle of life.

We use his soil. His water. Machines that were invented through His grace. And we use energy granted by Him. But beyond even that. In the end, it is God himself that produces the crops in the field. It is only by his grace that we ever harvest one kernel of corn, one bean, one potato, one tomato, one grain of wheat, one bale of hay, or a single pickle (or any other crops grown here). I think farming allows one to see so clearly how hard we work yet still we’re not as in control as we think we are. We are totally dependant upon a benevolent God.

Picture is Ben Russell tilling before he plants tomorrow.

A Fine Balance
Rohinton Mistry

This has got to be the darkest, bleakest, lowest book I’ve ever read. The book is moving, passionate and emotional. It is shocking.

No matter how low Dina, the tailors or Maneck sink in their life situations, Mistry finds a way to just crush them. Stories of class struggle, riots, corruption, deception, death, murder, beatings, forced sterilization, revenge castration, and maiming are par for the course, but so are stories of friendship, sacrifice, selflessness, love and solidarity. There is a lot packed in this book which ends with…no I can’t ruin it for you.

If nothing else, the book is incredibly ironic.

The story is set in India and develops with Indira Gandhi’s corrupt rule. The cast system is stifling. The corruption coupled with governmental reforms leads to crushing oppression of the lower casts. Population control becomes forced sterilization. Beautification projects become forced slavery and homelessness. Homelessness becomes criminal and is punished with slavery, death, and even forced political action. And through it all, the characters of this book are especially and ironically oppressed beyond what they deserve.

I loved the book. I think it was important for me to read. I never want to read it again.

As a note, I read it because I met a young lady of Indian descent on Southwest Airlines from Detroit to Baltimore reading it. She liked it but said it was very hard (graphic and dark).

I'm not sure which of these two I like the best. So I'll post them both. I took them from slightly different vantage points...one closer and one further.

I stopped on the way home tonight to take some pictures at the dam in Constantine. There was a guy fishing there at the dam, and he asked if I wanted him to get out of the way so I could take the pictures. I asked him if I could include him in the pictures instead. He said that was cool, but he got a call on his cell phone and took off when I was across the way and didn't get a chance to get his name or talk to him any more. Maybe I'll see him around.

This dam is really cool. It channels some of the St. Joseph River water to a canal that is about 500 yards long. At the end of the canal is a power plant and the water ejects from underneath the plant underwater. Also, there are boat races here some weekends in the summer. It was very peaceful today though.

The Banner Really Missed It

The Christian Reformed Church’s official publication, the Banner, recently devoted an issue to the problem of global warming. I had several reactions to items in the issue ranging from world view concerns to simple issues of common sense. Here are just a few:

First, amongst all the rhetoric the issue contained one fact upon which all of this seemed to be hinged. The fact was that the “past nine years were among the warmest 25 on record in the contiguous United States.” The author then goes on to state that the record began in 1895. My questions are: Has the method of measuring temperature changed in any way? Has the data source change? Are there more reporting weather stations now than there were in 1895? Is the methodology exactly the same? Has the technology changed in any way (better or worse)? If any of this is true, then what value is their data? Also, what value is knowing that within the last 25 years nine of the warmest years of the last 115 years have occurred? One can hardly project a global trend from this.

The article states that this statistic is “unprecedented in the historical record.” Of course it is. There is almost nothing of a historical record. Remember figures never lie…but liars sure can figure.

Second, much was made over the fact that lots of climatologists think there is a climate crisis. So, because lots of people think that it might be true, then it is true? Wouldn’t a climatologist tend to inflate the importance and crisis of his or her life work? We are all myopic and wish to have people listen to our crazy ideas. We all want to tell others how they should live their lives, and climatologists are no exceptions.

I should note that I absolutely love the insanity of arguing like this. “I did a web search and found lots of people are concerned.” If this kind of drivel substitutes for real meat of argument, then every position on every issue has plenty of backing.

Third, the issue stated that if we don’t accept the climatologist’s dire predictions and drastically alter our lives, we will “undermine the foundation of a sustainable world.” When I read that I had to close the magazine and read the cover again just to make sure it was Christian and Reformed. I can’t imagine any Christian let alone one with a healthy view of God’s sovereignty saying something like that. Of course, I guess that calls into question the author’s world view and his theology. Would God allow us to destroy the world? Hardly.

The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
Psa 24:1