Night Window

A window at night is strikingly different from windows during the day. If you look in from the outside, they can be warm and inviting, spilling the gift of light onto the shadowed landscape. Or they can be curtained in secrecy, or dark and forbidding. Looking out from the inside, your eyes may be greeted by inky black shapes against a grey-violet sky sprinkled with stars, and splashed with silvery moonlight. Or, perhaps you'll see bright reflections in the face of the glass... Here you will find musings, contemplations, insights... the little epiphanies that come to my window by night...

	Everyday Goliaths He was a massive ten feet tall. His towering frame blocked out the sun that day in the valley of Elah. His armor and weaponry alone likely outweighed the slender young shepherd who faced him. His breath stank of stale wine and last night's mutton stew.(well, probably!) His rumbling voice was filled with derisive laughter, threats, curses, and belittlement. According to Scripture, David faced Goliath boldly, armed only with a sling and five smooth stones. The words he spoke were words of faith and confidence in God. They were encouraging words.(unless, of course, you happened to be a Philistine!) We don't know if David trembled as he faced his enemy. The Biblical account doesn't speak of David's mental battle. It only says that he acted bravely, that he slew his giant and won a hero's fame. What if David got up the next morning only to discover Goliath standing defiantly before him, just as big and surly as before? What if the giant brought his four big brothers with him...a whole ugly gang of Goliaths...all breathing words of hatred and mockery, hellbent on David's humiliation and defeat? It is true that people, even giants(especially headless giants), die and stay dead. It is true that, while Goliath did have brothers, they weren't with him when he faced David. It is also true that the Mighty God of Israel, Who was David's strength and his victory, is far greater than many giants. But fears and pain are like implacable Goliaths that never truly die and always come back for more, no matter how many times they are defeated. Well, okay. They DO gradually shrink over time(after many, many defeats) to more manageable sizes. But it's a lengthy process, cutting giants down to size. It is easy to become disheartened, to consider giving up. Still, there are people who fight and overcome their fears and their pain time and again, several times daily. The same God Who stood with David stands with them. He is their strength and their victory. Like David, they are giant-killers and, like David, they are heroes. 3/14/2K
	Are You Listening? Nine months ago, I set up this website. I used really cool graphics and snazzy fonts.(that, in all likelihood, you can't see) I have posted writings that were provocative, heartfelt testimony or, at the least, amusing anecdotes...or so I thought. And I put this nifty little "mailto" link in the corner. I sat back, awaiting, expecting some sort of feedback. The cybersilence has been deafening. Though I check email daily, I have yet to receive even one comment regarding this site. And I know you're out there. I see your every move on the daily "hit reports." It finally occurred to me that I might not be the victim of overwhelming disinterest, but of a (duh!) malfunctioning "mailto" link. A simple test email confirmed that disturbing hypothesis this morning. (Pardon me while I go bang my head against a wall for a moment...ahhhh, much better...thanks for your patience!) I am reminded of that common New Testament admonition about having ears to hear. During this 9-month silence, I was here, checking email everyday. I was listening. I just wasn't hearing anything, so I assumed that nothing was being said. I didn t even realize my technical deafness. Someone who has ears to hear is a rare person indeed, possessed of incredible wisdom. They not only stay within earshot (like checking the email regularly) but they also know that something is being said. They take an unexpected silence as a sign that there's something amiss. They find the problem and take corrective action.(like testing and repairing the "mailto" link) They let nothing come between them and the God Who speaks. Because you can't be a doer of the Word if you aren't a hearer of the Word. 12/13/99
	To Walk By Lamplight Remember the last time you were picking your way through the overwhelming blackness of a moonless night, with only the beam of a flashlight to guide you?... Our walk of faith is a lot like that. We tread His path through this shadowladen world armed only with that "lamp unto your feet." it is not like a light unto our living room, or a floodlight unto our driveway, or highbeams unto our highway. It only illuminates one footstep at a time...and that much only if we carry it with us. All the rest of our as-yet-untaken footsteps are in His keeping. Don't worry about them. just don't let anybody (not even you!) snuff your lamp. 11/1/99
	The devil Sucks!!! I don't often read Charlie Brown, ( I identify with his situations far too closely to see much humor in them.) but many years ago I did see a good one... Charlie Brown offers Lucy a bite of his snow cone. So she leans over and bites the bottom tip off the snowcone and sucks all the juice out, leaving the hapless Charlie with nothing but pale, flavorless ice... Isn't our adversary just like that? He undoubtedly has and is aggressively pursuing a grand and intricately crafted plan to hinder the Church and dishonor Christ in every possible way. But, above and beyond that, he's just plain petty and spiteful. God gives us rainbow-tinted, juicy snowcones to delight the child in us, let us know that we're special. Then our enemy comes along and sucks all the color and flavor out of our snowcones, sucks all the little pleasures from our lives. So, the next time your Father gives you a big, bright snowcone, please, be careful who you share it with. 9/26/99
	30 Pieces of silver Partially, it's because I tend to think too much. Partially it's a side-effect of hours spent preparing the Via Dolorosa piece for publication. I've spent some time over the last few weeks examining betrayal. Pretty ugly territory. Every betrayal, every broken promise I have ever endured came oozing like raw open wounds to the surface... I didn't really come up with any new insights, revelations, or answers. Only these observations, questions really... Why is it that the all-powerful King of Kings gives us the costly treasure of His perfect forgiveness for free, while we exact high prices from those who hurt us for our limited, flawed forgiveness? Why is it easier to forgive the major betrayals (30 1 kilo silver coins ) than the little, seemingly insignificant shortcomings ($3.00 in dimes) of those I consider to be friends? Just wondering out loud... 8/2/99
	To See With New Eyes Research is my life. I'm never happier than when I'm hot on the scent of truth,( or, at least, plausibility ) up to my neck in raw data, wrestling, like Jacob did, with a dissonant host of facts, theories, opinions, and legends. Eventually, after days, weeks, sometimes months...and with lots of prayer, I usually manage to bring harmony to the dissonance and arrive at something like a conclusion. ( or, at least, a plausibility ) Still, it is struggle, hard-won victory at best. And then there are those times when God just drops insights into my head. Dime-store revelations. Like this one: I've seen Man of La Mancha several times. By now, that movie is more like a familiar friend. Enjoyable. Comfortable. No surprises. I don't remember who it was that said that discovery is not so much a matter of finding new lands as it is seeing with new eyes. Well, this time I saw my old friend, the movie, with new eyes. Stars-in-his-eyes Don Qiuxote is raving about his " impossible dream,'" his quest for glory. Always practical, the down-to-earth Sancho Panza remarks," But, it's peculiar. To me, this great highway to Glory looks exactly like the road to El Toboso, where you can buy chickens cheap." ...And suddenly, my mind's door stood open, swinging on the breeze. We are all on the same road. (not an unusual metaphor) Where we end up depends on our focus. We can concentrate our attention on God; allow Him to use the various events in our lives to shape us, to bring about restoration. A great highway to Glory. Or we can get lost in the circumstances, stumble along the road and eventually reach El Toboso. All-you-can-eat chicken, but no glory. Same journey. Same scenery. Two radically different destinations. Please, see the same old scenery with new eyes. Travel the great highway to Glory.      7/29/99

The view from my Window: Wordsmith's Window Eben-Ezer Mirror Tomorrows Palaces Heart 5th Window