Donut, Coffee, Bible, and a Napkin to Scribble On.
We believe IN Jesus and we tell people ABOUT Jesus until we begin to believe in and know about the things HE said. At that point we stop doing things LIKE Him and talking ABOUT Him and we start doing WHAT HE IS DOING and we start saying WHAT HE IS SAYING. 
I think I visit that place, sometimes, but I would really like to move there.
It is, after all, where my citizenship lies.
We must always be as intelligent, thorough, and clever as we can.
-Dallas Williard, Divine Conspiracy
“This was the education to form great statesmen, great orators, great warriors, great poets, great architects, great sculptors, great philosophers: because, once for all, it formed men, and not mere knowledge-boxes: and the men, being men, had minds, and could apply them to the work. whatever it might be. which circumstances had given them to perform. But this lasted not long: demolishing the comparatively weak attempts of their predecessors, two vast intellects arose, the one the greatest observer of his own or any age, the other the greatest dialectician, and both almost unrivaled in their powers of metaphysical analysis.–Aristotle and Plato. No sooner, by the exertions of these gigantic minds, and of others their disciples or rivals, was a considerable body of truth, or at least of opinion, got together–no sooner did it become possible by mere memory to seem to know something, and to be able for some purposes even to use that knowledge, as men use the rules of arithmetic who have not the slightest notion of the grounds of them, than men found out how much easier it is to remember than to think, and abandoned the pursuit of intellectual power itself for the attempt, without possessing it, to appropriate its results. Even the reverence which mankind had for these great men became a hindrance to following their example. Nature was studied not in nature, but in Plato or Aristotle. in Zeno or Epicurus. Discussion became the mere rehearsal of a lesson got by rote. The attempt to think for oneself fell into disuse; and, by ceasing to exercise the power, mankind ceased to possess it.
“It was in this spirit that, on the rise of Christianity, the doctrines and precepts of scripture began to be studied. For this there was somewhat greater excuse, as, where the authority was that of the Omniscient, the confirmation of fallible reason might appear less necessary. Yet the effect was fatal. The interpretation of the Gospel was handed over to grammarians and language-grinders. The words of him whose speech was in figures and parables were iron-bound and petrified into inanimate and inflexible formulae. Jesus was likened to a logician, framing a rule to meet all cases, and provide against all possible evasions, instead of a poet, orator, and vates, whose object was to purify and spiritualize the mind. so that. under the guidance of its purity, its own lights might suffice to find the law of which he only supplied the spirit, and suggested the general scope. Hence, out of the least dogmatical of books, have been generated so many dogmatical religions–each claiming to be found in the book, and none in the mind of man: they are above thought, and thought is to have nothing to do with them: until religion, instead of a spirit pervading the mind, becomes a crust encircling It, nowise penetrating the obdurate mass within, but only keeping out such rays of precious light or genial heat as might haply have come from elsewhere.”
Quoted in Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Williard
“Violent revolutions, in this sense, aren’t revolutionary. Noisy regime changes are utterly predictable ‚Äì bourth about by displays of power and hollow promises and indomitable wealth. In contrast, the message of Jesus may well be called the most revolutionary of all time…
“What other kind of revolution would possibly change the world? perhaps what’s crazy is what we’re doing and pursuing instead ‚Äì thinking, after all these millennia, that hate can conquer hat, ware cure war, pride overcome pride, violence end violence, revenge stop revenge, and exclusion create cohesion. Perhaps we’re the crazy ones!”
The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian D. McClaren
The role of the Church, Jesus, the Third World, and more. Go listen to it right now you Mighty (Wo)Men
scroll down to June 3rd, “Do You Realize How Far We Are – Rob Bell”
“Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?”
(1Chr 17:16 NIV)
Every time somebody gives me a car or a $600 handshake, I am blown away. So often I can’t believe that God lets me survive this stuff, and then He pours out blessings on me and lets me do more. Every time I land in an airplane I am surprised that I lived, and that God has more for me! Who is merciful like the Lord!??¬†
We were looking at our money flow and July was looking pretty scary, then somebody handed me some money, and it was like God said, ‚ÄúThis is June, July has it’s own worries, and I’m already there, waiting at McDonald’s for you.‚Äù
“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Selah”
(Psa 68:19 NIV)
“Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.”
(Psa 68:19 KJVS)
wow. ok, that’s a little different.
But, you know, when you look at the whole book, they are both true. God DOES bear our burdens for us every day and God DOES load us with benefits. From what I can get from my little hebrew deal, it looks like it just says ‚ÄúPraise be to the Lord, who heavy loads…‚Äù I don’t know enough about grammar to know if He loads us or takes our load, but I know from experience He does it all.
I thought this talk of idols and trusting in God and not man had some connection with Darth Vader here. I am so glad my kids played with him and had fun with this toy instead of me keeping it and selling it for $8 on ebay or something.
“I hate those who cling to worthless idols; I trust in the LORD.”(Psa 31:6 NIV)
I am reading through the Bible chronologically, and I just finished 1 Samuel with a smattering of Psalms throughout it. After reading through Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, and Judges, It seems a little amazing to me that SO MANY of God’s people eventually went after idols. I think Moses and Joshua are the only guys in their books that stayed after God. Rachel kept household gods, Joseph talked about his cup used for divination (which may or may not be true, he might have just said that in keeping with his play-acting with his brothers) and man, just about all of the Judges eventually made up their own idols.¬†
So here is David, after a long line of rulers that eventually crumbled and chased idols, staying with God even though he is on the run and fleeing for his life throughout the land of the Philistines. 
I ran into a guy yesterday on the street that I met about 5 years ago and hadn’t talked to him since. We chatted a little bit then we left. Then we ran into him again walking down the street and he asked if he could pray for us, so of course, we did. Then he passed by a little later (he was going to and from his house to a store and our house is in between) and he said he had a word from the Lord for me. He told me what it was and I said thanks.¬†
He said, ‚ÄúI mean it, it’s God’s word!‚Äù
“Alright, thank you” I said. 
So why am I having trouble believing that? 
I guess here comes the rub. There is SO MUCH in history of people saying what God wants. From the crusades to ‘Manifest Destiny’ to my friends shrugging their shoulders when something happens because of their poor preparations and they say ‘God wills it.’
Sometimes I think we can turn to our will like an idol, and baptize it and call it God, but at the same time I KNOW that sometimes God speaks just as clear as a bell into our lives and directs us along a course. 
I guess this is where the TRUST thing comes in. Trust in the Lord to confirm what other people say is from Him.
“my master will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself.”
(1Sam 25:31 NIV)
in this whole section of David on the run, there are continual references to vengeance and bloodshed, like they are the same. It makes me think about Jesus and the things He said about taking revenge and loving our enemies, and I see that He wasn’t coming up with some new idea. Add into that stuff from Divine Conspiracy about correcting people and man, you take away a lot of work that a lot of people like to do. Leave vengeance and correction up to God? I think some people wouldn’t even know what to do with their lives if they let go of the need to avenge and correct others!
Especially in many cultures of the world where Christ-Apprenticeship is absent, vengeance rules the day. I had a friend say to me one day, ‚ÄúThe way we do things, is if someone does something to you, you do something worse to them or they will do it again.‚Äù I asked him where it stopped. Won’t they just do something back to you again that is worse? He said that when you do something back, you do it so they won’t do anything back to you.
The final outcome was that we drove together back to his house, and he yelled at the guy in public for striking his son. I guess that public rebuke was enough because everything was over after that. I say everything was over, not settled, because peace wasn’t made between my friend and his neighbor that struck his son, and I’m not sure anyone learned what God’s best way of handling the situation was.¬†
My friend had upon himself the ‚ÄúStaggering burden of having avenged himself.‚Äù I wonder if we left his house that day wondering if his kids were safe from the abusive neighbor. I wonder if he had peace that the problems were solved. I know sometimes my wife and I talk and I can’t explain myself at all. I feel like I’m the worst communicator in the world (prospective employers, please skip that last line) but then the next day she’ll have a quiet time and come back and tell me all the stuff I was trying to say, and she has some deep and wonderful revelation about it all.¬†
Maybe that’s the best thing about God’s vengeance vs. Man’s vengeance. Man’s vengeance hurts and inflicts, God’s vengeance heals and delivers.
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