Monday Video–Up Close and Personal

Here’s a neat video of a man who wanted to get close to some lion cubs.  In order to do that he made friends with the mother lioness.  It looks like fun to me.
Enjoy.

Sunday Reflection–Guilt vs. Shame

We often hear about guilt in legal terms in newspapers, magazines, and newscasts when someone is found guilty by a jury of their peers.  However, when was the last time you heard the word shame in any newspaper, magazine or newscast?

In private conversations it’s usually reversed.  We may hear someone confess they are ashamed of something, but rarely do we hear someone confess they are guilty of something.

Guilt seems to be a public term whereas shame is most often a private term.

In the Old Testament there are two terms usually translated guilt --

Avon – the literal root means to make crooked – is used for personal guilt.  And asham that means a fault and is used for the sin offering made by an individual or more often a group or nation.

In the New Testament there are only two references to guilt, both in the Gospel of John and the Greek word hamartia, the root literally means to miss the mark and is often translated as sin.

For shame the Old Testament Hebrew is buwsh which literally means to pale by comparison.  The New Testament Greek is kataischuno which literally means disfigurement, to blush.

The simplest way I think about the difference between guilt and shame is between behavior and feeling.

If we break a law of the land we are guilty of that infraction whether we are caught or not.  Being caught and declared guilty in a court of law formally establishes the guilt and attaches some form of punishment.  This is equally true of God’s laws.  When we break God’s law we are instantly guilty because of our behavior, our choice, whether there is any immediate consequence or not.

In earthly law the only way we can remove our guilt is to serve the punishment decreed for our act.  In heavenly law guilt can only be removed through accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior by acknowledging his sacrifice on the cross that paid the price for our guilt/sin.

We may say we feel guilty, but in reality guilt is a state of being.  If we’re willing to admit it, guilt is fairly easy to acknowledge and categorize – we are or are not guilty of something.  It’s fairly straight forward.

Shame, however is a feeling and, being a feeling, is more difficult to categorize.  If someone breaks an earthly law, is caught and brought before a judge he should feel shame before his friends and family for his actions.  If someone fails to live up to his obligations and duty and runs away from same (think Wisconsin, Indiana, Texas Democrat state senators) he should also feel shame for his actions.

The problem today is many people may feel guilty because it’s clearer when they break the laws of the land, but many often don’t feel any shame because of their world view, value systems (or lack thereof), etc.

In many circumstances we’ve lost a sense of shame that at one time was a powerful agent for change in our society.  Like all of our feelings, shame is a gift from God that is meant to encourage us to change our ways.  Without a sense of shame we don’t have that encouragement to change.

Where shame is a work of the Devil and not a gift from God is when shame is not felt as a result of our bad choices, but is forced upon us by others.  An example is when a child is constantly berated by a parent as bad or evil for their normal or childish behavior.  Or a young child/teenager is sexually abused.  In these cases the feeling of shame is not a feeling from a bad choice that may lead to a changed life.  It’s a feeling imposed on the child by another’s bad choices and a feeling they often carry into adulthood.  This imposed feeling of shame may, in the future, lead the person to make bad choices of their own.

Appropriate shame is an inner feeling derived from our bad choices.  It says to us, “I did something wrong. I made a mistake. I need to change my behavior.”  Inappropriate shame is forced upon us by another.  It says to us, “I am something wrong.  I am a mistake. I can’t change.  I’ll always be this way.”

I think it’s a shame (pun intended) that we have lost an appropriate sense of shame in our world today.  However, I stand firmly against that shame that is not a result of our actions, but imposed by the sins of others.

“Shame and guilt are noble emotions essential in the maintenance of civilized society, and vital for the development of some of the most refined and elegant qualities of human potential.”  (Willard Gaylen, Psychiatrist)

My two cents for what it’s worth.

Friday Funny–Daily Quotient of Cute

If you haven’t had enough cute today, this should just about fill your cute cup to over flowing.

Enjoy.

Another Courtyard Drama

We had another drama in our courtyard this past Sunday.  In fact, it occurred right outside our windows while we watched.  My camera wasn’t set for action so some of the pictures in the video below are blurred, but you will get the idea.

Monday Video–Nana and Papa Showing Off

We just got a couple of videos of our granddaughters so, naturally, as Nana and Papa we want to show them off.

First, here’s Leah showing off a new skill.

Here’s Juliet singing to entertain her younger sister, Leah.

Now is that great or what?

Sunday Reflection–Heavenly Thoughts

Back in the summer of last year our oldest son, Wade Daniel, told us about a book he had just read – “Heaven” – by Randy Alcorn.  He highly recommended it to us.

We trust our son’s judgment because he’s a good Christian man, husband and father and knows more about Scripture than I ever will.

Betty read the book first and then it set in my ‘to read’ stack for several months.

I have to admit, I first decided to read “Heaven” after I was diagnosed with prostate cancer.  Knowing you have cancer brings home the reality that I have a limited time on this earth.  And that reality opens the mind to wonder if this is all there is or is there more after this life is over? Blessedly, it appears my cancer was contained to the prostate and the surgery to remove it will perhaps give me more years.

Once I started to read “Heaven” it gave me a new perspective not only on the life to come, but also on the life I’m living on this earth now.

Alcorn’s thesis is the church has often promoted an incorrect vision of heaven, or promoted no vision of heaven at all, and completely ignores what God has to say about the new earth.  His premise is the incorrect vision is that heaven is purely an eternal, spiritual existence.  And, once we gain this ‘eternal’ existence, we will leave behind every thing from this earthly existence.

He lays out a pretty good case that this is totally wrong – according to what God says about heaven and the new earth.

I will be the first to admit that I have thought little about heaven until recently for the reason stated above.  Reading this book has completely changed what little vision of heaven that I might have had before.

If you forced me to describe heaven I would probably have said something along the line of “we will all be one with Christ and worship of God will be all we do.”  Sounds good and spiritual, but my eyes have been opened that scripture says something more.

I need to study more, but, based on Alcorn’s scriptural basis, heaven and the new earth sound a whole lot more exciting than anything I have read or heard before – and certainly what little I have thought about heaven before.  There has been an awakening within me of a longing for a home beyond this one, and perhaps one that resurrects, contains and expands all the good things of this present earth.

What is heaven like?  What will we be like?  What we will do?  What will our relationships be?  What will we see, smell, taste?  Will there be food, drink, fun, excitement, challenges, hobbies, work, days, nights, sun, moon, oceans, weather, animals (especially horses), arts, crafts, technology, and travel in heaven and the new earth?  Will there be different cultures, different races, different nations, and different languages?  If these exist in heaven and the new earth, how will they relate to our worship of God?

Alcorn’s book, “Heaven” tackles these questions and more.

John wrote these words near the end of the Bible:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth… And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying out in pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”  Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”  (Revelation 21:1, 3-5)

C. S. Lewis often refers to our time on this earth as a Shadowland.  Our life and this earth are but shadows of the reality we will find in heaven and the new earth.  Our desire to explore, our love for beauty and creation (both God’s and man’s), our love for each other, our joy in our children and our animals – these and more are all part of God’s design in us and create a longing for something just beyond what we can know and experience now.

We often mistake other things for this longing – power, sex, money, drugs, approval, and on and on – but our real, God-created longing is to be in our real home with him.

Lewis writes about the longing for this home, this new earth in the Narnia series as Aslan’s country.  In the “Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” the valiant mouse Reepicheep has a longing for his greatest adventure – to someday go to Aslan’s country.  He talks of a poem he learned as a child:

Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt not, Reebicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter East.

Reebicheep acknowledges that he does not know what the poem means, but “the spell of it has been on me all my life.”

Then he speaks of his utter abandonment of his life to his cause of seeking Aslan’s country:  “While I can, I sail east in the Dawn Treader.  When she fails me, I paddle east in my coracle (small boat).  When she sinks, I shall swim east with my four paws.  And when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan’s country, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise…”

“I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise…”  What a great expression of faith that even if he dies before finishing his quest, he will keep his eyes pointed towards that country which has filled his heart and mind to the very end.

Reading “Heaven” has expanded my mind and my horizons and awakened something within me.  If, like me, you have been fuzzy or unsure about this life and the life to come, I recommend “Heaven.”

First Ride

Our neighbor kids, Evan and Maritsa, are still helping us with cleaning up the manure each day.  On Saturdays, we have slowly exposed them to working with horses.  We started with teaching them how to groom the horses, how to lead, how to move their feet by backing up and moving hindquarters, slowly lunging in small circles, etc.  We wanted to take plenty of time getting them comfortable with the horses and for the horses to get comfortable with them.

They were out of school for half a day yesterday, Friday, so they came up for their weekly work with the horses as the weather forecast for today isn’t that good – breezy and possible showers.

We put them up on the horses for the first time.  We got them to ride Sugar and Morgunn bareback without a bridle while we led the horses around the back.  This gave them a chance to work on their balance and begin to feel the horse move under them and relate that to how their bodies move with the horse.

It seemed like a pretty good time for them.

Maritsa on Sugar.

Evan on Morgunn.

Maritsa on Sugar.

Friday Funny–Ginger Rogers at 92

This is not funny – it’s remarkable.  For those younger folks, Ginger Rogers is an actress/dancer who did most of her work in the 1940’s and 1950’s.  Some of her most famous movies were with Fred Astaire.  She always said, “I did everything Fred did, but I did it backward and in high heels.”

This is a video clip of her dancing with her 29 year old grandson.  It starts out kind of slow, but stay with it.  It gets pretty good.  Remember, Ginger is 92 years old.

Enjoy.

Life (and Death) in the Courtyard

Yesterday our little courtyard was a celebration of Valentine’s Day – love in the courtyard.  Today is a continuation of life in the courtyard.

I was watching TV in our living area and Betty was in the bedroom reading.  All of a sudden I hear a bang against one of our windows.  Oh, oh, another big bird has run into one of our windows.

I got up to look to see if he/she survived and I see our resident Coopers Hawk sitting on the ground with what looks like a House or Purple Finch in his claws.  From the sound of the crash on the window I think he caught the bird at the window and they both ran into the glass.

He sat there for a long time before starting to pluck his prey.  After awhile he flew off.

And the cycle of life in our little courtyard moves on.

Valentine’s Day in Our Courtyard

Our little courtyard is a microcosm of life in general.  Today it’s love in the courtyard.  If these two rabbits are any indication, we may have some little bunnies before Spring is over.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Sunday Reflection–Sanctification

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. (John 17:17-19)

Shortly after becoming a Christian in 1984 I first became aware of the concept of sanctification.  Ever since then I have circled back to the concept regularly to learn a little more about it and about myself.

To sanctify something means to make it holy, to consecrate it, to set it aside for a specific reason or purpose.

In the words above Jesus asks that his Father sanctify, to set apart, his disciples by ‘the truth’ – and he amplifies that by stating that God’s word is truth.  The purpose for this setting aside, being consecrated, is so they could be sent into the world.

Jesus goes further and sanctifies himself for his disciples sake.   That sanctification cost Jesus his life on the cross.

Then Jesus says some of the most amazing words in Scripture:

 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message…” (John 17:20-21)

Jesus is saying that he is praying for all who have chosen to follow him as we heard the message of the disciples as it has been relayed through Scripture down through the years.  He is praying that we too may be sanctified by God’s truth, by God’s word, for God’s purposes.  He is also saying that his sanctification through his death on the cross is clearly for us as much as it was for those early disciples.

Just as there was a cost to Jesus for his sanctification, there is a cost to us when we accept sanctification that comes through faith in him.  Oswald Chambers expresses that cost better than I can:

Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the nature that controlled Him will control us. Are we really prepared for what that will cost? It will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God.

I’m still learning that following Jesus means giving up anything and everything that is not of God – and sometimes that hurts.  But it is worth it both now and in the eternity to come.

Friday Funny–Kitten in Flight

Had a tough week?  Enjoy this slow motion kitty as he flies through the air and plays.

Good News and Horse at Play

Betty and I went to my urologist/surgeon yesterday and my PSA blood test was good – 0.1.  He wants to do another blood test in 3 months, but things are looking good so far.

To change the subject here’s a mini horse named Pippin who loves the snow.

Enjoy.

High Flight

Here is one of my favorite poems…

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee; No 412 squadron, RCAF; Killed 11 December 1941

Year of the Rabbit

The Chinese New Year started on February 3rd and this is the Year of the Rabbit.  If you were born in 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999 or 2011 then this is your year.

According to Chinese tradition, people born in the Year of the Rabbit are articulate, talented, and ambitious. They are virtuous, reserved, and have excellent taste. Rabbit people are admired, trusted, and are often financially lucky. They are fond of gossip but are tactful and generally kind. Rabbit people seldom lose their temper. They are clever at business and being conscientious, never back out of a contract. They would make good gamblers for they have the uncanny gift of choosing the right thing. However, they seldom gamble, as they are conservative and wise. They are most compatible with those born in the years of the Sheep, Pig, and Dog.

So if this is your year and you’re a bunny person, Happy New Year!

Monday Video–Human Dummy

If any of you have ever aspired to be a human ventriloquist dummy, here is what your experience would be.

Enjoy.

Sunday Reflection–Trust

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

The psalmist used the word ‘batach’ for trust and it literally means to search for a refuge.  In the New Testament Jesus said,

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.“ (John 14:1-2)

The Greek here for trust is ‘pisteuo’ which literally means to have faith in, to entrust.  On a more worldly note, Walter Anderson, a painter from the first part of the 20th century said,

“We’re never so vulnerable than when we trust someone – but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love nor joy.”

Search for refuge, have faith in, entrust, being vulnerable – it seems to me that all three are saying very similar things.  When we trust, truly trust, we open ourselves to something or that someone – we become vulnerable which means we may be hurt if the thing or person lets us down.

When I board an airplane, I’m putting my trust in the skills and experiences of the pilot and co-pilot.  Needless to say I’m pretty vulnerable if they let me down (literally).

For 49 years, 6 years of dating and 43 years of marriage, I have put my trust in Betty.  Not being perfect, there have been times she has let me down – very rarely – just as I have let her down in those times when I came up short – usually more often.  Yet, the goal of our lifetime commitment to each other has helped us both get past those few times.  As a result our trust continues to grow along with our corresponding love for and joy in each other.

On a larger scale, putting our trust in God makes us the most vulnerable.  We turn away from the things of the world to trust in Jesus to turn toward eternal things.  This kind of trust often has a cost as family and friends often don’t understand what we have done.  Yet, this ultimate trust brings the greatest love and the greatest joy we can ever know.

Over the years I have learned that my relationship with Sugar, my Rocky Mountain Horse mare, is a lot like my relationship with Betty and with God.  We have learned and are still learning to trust each other.  It has taken time and patience on both our sides as we have both made mistakes – but it has been worth it.  When we are in sync, truly trusting each other, we find great joy in each other.

Here’s an example of extreme trust between a rider and her horse.  The young girl’s name is Beka and her horse’s name is Stormy.  They are riding in the qualifying round of the Extreme Cowboy Race at the Equine Affaire in Columbus, Ohio in April, 2010.

Watch as they go through the various challenges and pay special attention to the announcer just past the three minute mark to understand how trust plays such a big part in their relationship and how that trust brings love and joy to both of them.

(Scroll down)

 

 

 

In case you didn’t catch it Stormy is completely blind – talk about trust.  I have much to learn.

(PS: Go Steelers – but I won’t be disappointed if Green Bay wins.)

A Few More Snow Pictures

Here are a few more snow pictures of some of our animals during our snowy cold days.

Our hawk came back on Thursday and sat on the ground for the first time.  Usually he sits on the seed holder or on the wall or on the bush.  He sat there for a long time.

Then he flew off.


The last picture is Morgunn catching some ZZZZs as he warms in the morning sun after a cold night.

Friday Funny–Do You Believe in UFOs?

This is not funny, but a little weird. Normally, I’m pretty skeptical about UFO reports.  However, on January 28 three different people – one of them a woman from Mississippi who was visiting Jerusalem - shot videos of the same thing.

The video starts with just one of the videos and adds the other two.  Watch as a ‘light’ hovers over the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, then it drops down to just above it and then rises extremely fast.

Maybe Maulder was right – the truth is out there.

Sunshine and Blue Sky

Finally, the snow has moved out and we have our New Mexico sunshine and blue sky back.  It’s still cold as a well digger’s belt buckle, but the sun and blue skies help.

Bunnies, Birds and Brrrrrrrr!

Another cold, snowy day.

If the snow and cold are getting to you here’s one way to stay warm – go head-banging heavy metal.

Hungry Visitor on a Snowy Day

We had our resident hawk check out our courtyard this snowy morning.  I suspect he/she is pretty hungry.