Well I'm sitting here on a Saturday evening watching The Martian
on DVD....a little late I guess as most have probably seen it
already.....and guess what is going through my mind? The main
protagonist is stranded on Mars. A violent sandstorm came out of
nowhere. The mission was aborted and all but one astronaut escaped the
planetary storm, and headed home certain that their colleague died
before their departure......and I'm thinking about the pulpits all
across America!
Now those of you who have read these posts for a while are probably not all that surprised as to where my mind is. To those first-timers....welcome to my world.... of which I will try to convince you that it is your world also.
Matt Damon.....I'll use his real name....survived....and is calculating how much freeze dried food he has left. He's thinking about a lot of other things also that are directly related to his survival. He gets to work immediately. Being a botanist, he uses his numerous skills in trying to turn the Martian soil into a farm. With music in the background He checks his emergency food, makes mistakes, talks to himself, calls himself stupid, and then presses on with his mission. That sounds a lot like me....except for the numerous skills of course.
Let me tie some things together. A mega-storm is headed not only to us in America but the entire world. How do I know this? My brain had deleted the Steeler app over two decades ago. That football app....Pittsburgh model.....takes up the most space in the human mind in America. I thus can meditate upon and study the world news without that sports window constantly coming up.
Let me give you an example.....just one out of dozens if not hundreds.....China needs at least an 8% growth in its GDP in order to keep its experiment with state-controlled capitalism functioning thereby staving off a revolution which could lead to a military (Communist) takeover....and very possibly a war with the West. Oops there's that pop-up....the Steelers are on the Raven's 10 yard line with 30 seconds left and down by four points.....Rothlisberger drops back....is forced out of the pocket...scrambles to his right....finds a receiver in the end zone.....touchdown.....yes....yes....yes...! Now where was I....China....I forgot what I was thinking about!
Friends, maybe I reduced this problem to a ridiculously low denominator but I did so for effect, and I have numerous idols of my own that hinder my discernment.....but the reality is that the problems we face are insurmountable.....this isn't defeatism......it is rather acknowledging that when God..."(gives) them up to their own desires...." disaster is the only possibly ending. This is not a long process. We're not taking about a thousand years...or a hundred years....or even decades. The unravelling is quick.
Tomorrow is the Lord's Day. May God speak to us through his shepherds once again as He has in times past....as when Luther stared the establishment down at the Diet at Worms....as when William Tyndale and John Hooper and Rowland Taylor and Hugh Latimer and John Bradford and Nickolas Ridley gave their lives so that the common man could read what we often grudgingly give a half an hour a week to read. May He, through His Holy Spirit, spit in the dust of this earth and rub the mud on our eyes so that we might see....and open our ears that we might hear....and most importantly.....free the tongues of these preachers that will ascend their pulpits tomorrow that they might warn their sheep of the day and age that we live in. May we pray as in the Apostle Paul's words from the book of Romans.....that..."Somehow, by God's will".... He will awaken us all!
Coincidentally The Martian just ended! Spoiler Alert! Do not read any further if you have not seen the film.......Matt Damon survives and the film ends with him teaching astronauts in training how to survive. He warns them that there will be problems.....and when they happen....get to work in solving them! His character and I differ just a little bit here....yes.....get to work right now. Grow your food with this in mind from the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John 4:34-35...."My food is to do the will of God, who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, 'there are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest...."
Now those of you who have read these posts for a while are probably not all that surprised as to where my mind is. To those first-timers....welcome to my world.... of which I will try to convince you that it is your world also.
Matt Damon.....I'll use his real name....survived....and is calculating how much freeze dried food he has left. He's thinking about a lot of other things also that are directly related to his survival. He gets to work immediately. Being a botanist, he uses his numerous skills in trying to turn the Martian soil into a farm. With music in the background He checks his emergency food, makes mistakes, talks to himself, calls himself stupid, and then presses on with his mission. That sounds a lot like me....except for the numerous skills of course.
Let me tie some things together. A mega-storm is headed not only to us in America but the entire world. How do I know this? My brain had deleted the Steeler app over two decades ago. That football app....Pittsburgh model.....takes up the most space in the human mind in America. I thus can meditate upon and study the world news without that sports window constantly coming up.
Let me give you an example.....just one out of dozens if not hundreds.....China needs at least an 8% growth in its GDP in order to keep its experiment with state-controlled capitalism functioning thereby staving off a revolution which could lead to a military (Communist) takeover....and very possibly a war with the West. Oops there's that pop-up....the Steelers are on the Raven's 10 yard line with 30 seconds left and down by four points.....Rothlisberger drops back....is forced out of the pocket...scrambles to his right....finds a receiver in the end zone.....touchdown.....yes....yes....yes...! Now where was I....China....I forgot what I was thinking about!
Friends, maybe I reduced this problem to a ridiculously low denominator but I did so for effect, and I have numerous idols of my own that hinder my discernment.....but the reality is that the problems we face are insurmountable.....this isn't defeatism......it is rather acknowledging that when God..."(gives) them up to their own desires...." disaster is the only possibly ending. This is not a long process. We're not taking about a thousand years...or a hundred years....or even decades. The unravelling is quick.
Tomorrow is the Lord's Day. May God speak to us through his shepherds once again as He has in times past....as when Luther stared the establishment down at the Diet at Worms....as when William Tyndale and John Hooper and Rowland Taylor and Hugh Latimer and John Bradford and Nickolas Ridley gave their lives so that the common man could read what we often grudgingly give a half an hour a week to read. May He, through His Holy Spirit, spit in the dust of this earth and rub the mud on our eyes so that we might see....and open our ears that we might hear....and most importantly.....free the tongues of these preachers that will ascend their pulpits tomorrow that they might warn their sheep of the day and age that we live in. May we pray as in the Apostle Paul's words from the book of Romans.....that..."Somehow, by God's will".... He will awaken us all!
Coincidentally The Martian just ended! Spoiler Alert! Do not read any further if you have not seen the film.......Matt Damon survives and the film ends with him teaching astronauts in training how to survive. He warns them that there will be problems.....and when they happen....get to work in solving them! His character and I differ just a little bit here....yes.....get to work right now. Grow your food with this in mind from the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John 4:34-35...."My food is to do the will of God, who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, 'there are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest...."
