As I work toward the first full, bona-fide production release of Bloo (no more beta!), I’ve felt the need for a new and far better logo. Check this out:
Many thanks to farooquebiplit of GetACoder.com for graciously doing this logo for almost nothing. It’s like he read my mind, because this is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. He got it on the first try. Suhweet!
And many thanks to Thunder Geek for hipping me to GetACoder.
Watch me for the changes . . .
What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
Matthew 18:12-14
I’ve been thinking of the ninety-nine and the one recently. I think I’m surrounded by “ones”.
“One” in this passage refers to a metaphoric lost sheep, but I realize that when we talk about what that refers to — namely people who have left the fellowship of God — it doesn’t necessarily mean they are physically alone. They are often surrounded by others. They’re around people all the time, flanked by thousands of other college students on their campuses, driving on highways filled with hundreds and thousands of cars, displayed on facebooks and myspaces and whatnot, with links to hundreds of “friends”. Jacked-in, hooked-up, on-line, instant-messaged, blogging, chatting, texting . . . yet still alone, still floundering, still lost. I know a lot of college students who I suspect are here, and have talked to a couple of them recently. They are, for whatever reason, “away”. And though they may not be able to put their finger on it, they are waiting; waiting for someone to cut through the noise and alienation of modern life and to reach out to them with the love, the firmness, the solidity, the reality of the Lord. They are waiting to be convinced of his love again, to be convicted of their sin again, to not just feel, but to know his presence that transcends feelings and emotions; to possess a knowledge that, in fact, can thrive quite well in the absence of such sensations, free and clear.
They are waiting for a new heartbeat and life in the blood and a cleansing wash and forgiveness and purpose and truth and solid rock underneath their feet.
We need to go get them. I don’t know any way to do that other than one at a time.
. . . but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
– Matthew 18:6
As I read the gospels, I continue finding new reminders of why Jesus is so deserving of our love and devotion.
Words are failing me at the moment . . . but reading the passage above reminds me of two things. First, Jesus loves us. He loves the “little ones” that the world despises.
Second, God’s wrath is a good thing. May we understand it, and fear it in love. It is in this that we gain wisdom.
Tonight we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas. I love that show and I still get chills when I hear Linus reading the Christmas story.
Though I think only Blake and I made it to the end of the little half-hour special — Jill being fatigued and my daughters unimpressed with mid 20th century production values and the slower-paced demand on new-millenium attention spans — I still consider this little show the jewel among all Christmas specials.
Lord Jesus, thank You so much for coming to our rescue. We were so lost . . .
Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown.
I’ve been so thankful for Isaiah 35 lately.
Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who have an anxious heart,
“Be strong; fear not!
Behold, your God
will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
For waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
And a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.
No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Hey, today, why not pray that God will overfill your cup with grace. So when Uncle So-and-so is picking on you, when Grandma is comparing you with your more successful cousin, when Mom or Dad is doing that passive aggressive thing about why you don’t come home more often (when you happen to be home right now! gosh! :-), endure. Endure and respond with love.
Make it your little secret. Inside you will feel like you’re winning a secret battle.Vomit grace all over the table, horn-o’-plenty centerpiece and all. Be Jesus at that table and overturn it with kindness.
From Jared’s Thanksgiving encouragement post. Go read the whole thing.
“Fear not! That is the first and last commandment of faith.”
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Psalm 106:1
Photography from Positive Photography
“Can someone tell me what a post-modern hermeneutic is?”
I silently thanked the commenter who wrote this, because I was wondering the same thing; someone upthread had talked about a “post-modern hermeneutic coming to the rescue”.
Putting the descriptor “post-modern” in front of anything generally means that I’ll be confused by what follows.
“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,
“‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’– Matthew 11:16-17
“Those who have a heart to criticize, will find something to criticize.” – David Guzik