Who is God?

Our time here is swift. Maybe twenty years we are students, then forty years we are rock stars on a stage, then we are old, but still going, because we are also young. Sixty, maybe? Seventy? Eighty? Ninety? How many years is that in the light of eternity? 

Even if we get one hundred years, forever is long. It goes on and on and on. There is no end. And so it is with man. We change, but we don't cease to be.

What is God? Something else. Who is God? Someone else. He is knowable. Like you know me or I know you, we can know Him too.

Isaiah 9:6 says he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Counselor: He hears you. Really hears you. Hears you and cares what you say. Do you hear Him? He is calling your name.

Mighty: Our world looks for strength. It is full of heroes, some with capes, others in suits. They are not really mighty, even those who seem to be.

Father: Protector. Leader. Do you know God does this?

Peace: Prince is a small word. It is tiny. A man. Royal. Royalty is usually a scam. I mean, who is more special than another? What is royal blood? It is just like yours or mine, really, but one of their ancestors did something big and now, well, now what? But peace. That's something. God is peace. 

Can you take a deep breath and know peace? Can you rest in it? It is real, this peace that He can give you. It is fulfillment and honor. It is a bright light on a dark day. It is refreshing and regenerating. It is a song to deaf ears, the sight of a mountain in the distance to the blind. It is my heart beating again, then again, and it is the path changing right before my eyes and leading me another way instead. It is life, abundantly. Do you know this? Do you know God? He longs for you to know Him.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Another Star Trek Quote

"Risk. Risk is our business!"

Captain Kirk

Fools

But God has chosen 

the foolish things 

of the world to 

confound the wise; 

and God has chosen 

the weak things 

of the world 

to confound 

the things 

which are mighty...

1 Corinthians 1:27

Baptism

The Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face to shine upon you 

and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his 

countenance upon you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

It's too Late

He stood in the open field for a long time, an eternity and forever and then one more day. It was too late for him. He was spent, used up, a shell of a man, not even a man. He was indignity wrapped desperately in the world around him, fearfully and wonderfully made, but he did not know it. 

The tiger stood with him, telling him the truth. It was the color of a Tiger Lily. Black spots, vibrant fire-orange, not like a tiger should be, just as the man was not like a man 

should be. 

They watched the sun set and rise. They saw the dawn, but neither moved toward it or accepted its warmth. The tiger, because he was standing guard; the man because he didn't know how. 

"I am broken," he said, repeating over and over that he, 

"Got it." He was ingrained with a lie. It held him, whispered to him, froze him. He thought he was one thing, but he was another. The tiger growled and spoke and recited the truth, but the man would not hear him. He would not believe even a talking tiger.

No longer will you be called Forsaken...

Isaiah 62:4

So they stood, facing the sun, staring at it. One saw nothing. One saw hope. Then the sun moved. It reached into the man, deeply, to the spot in his heart he had hidden away, the protected place. The sun leaned in and whispered. The whisper was like a shout. A proclamation. "You," the sun said, "Are mine."

And suddenly the lie would no longer do. The man wanted to know what that meant.

Song

Jesus,

Jesus,

You make the darkness tremble.

Beautiful

Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

They shall build up the ancient ruins;

they shall raise up the former devastations;

they shall repair the ruined cities,

the devastations of many generations.

Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks;

foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;

but you shall be called the priests of the Lord;

they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;

you shall eat the wealth of the nations,

and in their glory you shall boast.

Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; 

instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;

therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;

they shall have everlasting joy.

For I the Lord love justice;

I hate robbery and wrong;

I will faithfully give them their recompense,

and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

Their offspring shall be known among the nations,

and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;

all who see them shall acknowledge them,

that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;

my soul shall exult in my God,

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;

he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,

and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,

so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise

to sprout up before all the nations.

"What comes into our minds 

when we think about God is 

the most important thing about us."

A.W. Tozer

The Knowledge of the Holy