A Christmas Carol Contemplation

       In the eighth grade through the month of December, I first read a classic novella that has seen numerous adaptations in movies and on TV shows. This book is of course, "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. If you've only seen movie or TV special versions (like the 1938 or 1984 movies of "A Christmas Carol", "Mickey's Christmas Carol", "The Muppets Christmas Carol", Disney's 2009 "A Christmas Carol", the 1999 TV movie "A Christmas Carol" with Patrick Stewart, etc.)- you should definitely read the book. The book is always better than the movie.
       This story has resonated with so many over the 182 years since it was first published. It is a great story that is told well, certainly. It's theme of redemption gets to a spiritual point that I think also sticks with many. We seem to have an instinct in our fallen human nature to want to repay others when we wrong them. This is in itself is not a bad thing, of course. We should definitely make amends when we have done wrong and ask others' forgiveness. However, if I insult my brother, then I should not need to do anything further to prove my sincerity when I humbly ask for his forgiveness. As Luke 17:4 says, even if I were to sin against my brother seven times a day and I were to return to him seven times saying, "I repent", he is obligated to forgive me, as Lord Jesus commanded. And I am obligated to forgive him the same as well. 
And as Christians, we know that we have been forgiven of all our sins- past, present and future- and thus, we can do no less than to forgive others as The Lord has forgiven us. (See Colossians 3:13)
        And it's interesting to consider that Scrooge was taken to his past, present and future- and he saw how where his choices led and how his sins affected both himself and others. And as Romans 2:4 tells us, God's kindness leads us to repentance, much as it happened for Scrooge. Even with the hardships that Bob Cratchit and his family endured as a result of Ebenezer Scrooge's cruelty in overworking him and paying him little, Bob had kind words for him on Christmas, with Bob calling him the "Founder of the Feast". Scrooge was also shown kindness by his nephew Fred, who invites him to Christmas dinner and wishes him a "Merry Christmas", reminding him of some of the good Christmas brings. 
        Of course, the ultimate good Christmas brought us was Christ Himself, Who is the Founder of the feast for us! And I am moved to tears to read Tiny Tim's thoughts in church, when he says to his father that he "hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, Who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.” And perhaps it was hearing this, along with Tiny Tim's famous request, "God bless us, everyone!" that drew Scrooge to feeling concern for Tiny Tim's life. He pleaded with the Ghost of Christmas Present for Tim's life to be spared.
“If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race,” returned the Ghost, “will find him here. What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.” Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief. “Man,” said the Ghost, “if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man’s child. Oh God! to hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust!” Scrooge bent before the Ghost’s rebuke, and trembling cast his eyes upon the ground." (from Stave III of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens)
          Ebenezer Scrooge is fully brought to repentance when he sees his own tombstone and hears how much joy his own passing brings so many others. Before that last scene in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Future though, he also witnesses the faith of the Cratchits as they mourn Tiny Tim. Dickens quotes Matthew 18:2 which he has Peter reading from The Bible, where Jesus takes a young child and sets him in front of the disciples, telling them they must have the faith of a child to enter the kingdom of Heaven. As Dickens later notes in relation to this reference, "Spirit of Tiny Tim, they childish essence was from God!" Scrooge later pleads with the last Ghost to have another chance, as he sees his own doom in the end. I think his plea here belies a crucial point to remember in the way we think about salvation.
“Spirit!” he cried, tight clutching at its robe, “hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all hope!” For the first time the hand appeared to shake. “Good Spirit,” he pursued, as down upon the ground he fell before it: “Your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life!” The kind hand trembled. “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!” In his agony, he caught the spectral hand. It sought to free itself, but he was strong in his entreaty, and detained it. The Spirit, stronger yet, repulsed him. Holding up his hands in a last prayer to have his fate reversed, he saw an alteration in the Phantom’s hood and dress. It shrunk, collapsed, and dwindled down into a bedpost." (from Stave IV of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens)
          Note that Scrooge wants to change the shadows of what will be by an "altered life". We know clearly from Ephesians 2:8-9 that we are not saved by good works. It's important to understand that we can do absolutely nothing to save ourselves. The standard for entry into Heaven is perfection and none of us meet that standard. We are all "old covetous sinners" like Scrooge. We are all condemned to Hell because of our rebellion against God. No matter how many good deeds we may do, we can never appease God with such acts. Rather, we must collapse all our self-efforts and acknowledge before God that we are wretched sinners who deserve His wrath and we can do nothing to earn His forgiveness. We also can do nothing to earn God's love because He's already given that to us for free! That's why Jesus died in our place and rose again- so that we could be saved from the wrath we deserve and be given the Heaven we don't deserve instead! And that's available for free by God's grace through faith!
What did Scrooge say he would do? "I will honour Christmas in my heart". That sounds a lot like what 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to do. "In your hearts, honour Christ The Lord as holy." We put faith in Him alone, acknowledging Him as Lord and honouring Him as holy. We believe Him for forgiveness of our sins. And through our faith in His grace, we are saved. 
         Where do we go from there? The picture of Scrooge's redemption is a great model of what repentance should look like in our lives. Because we have been saved by Christ, we are then motivated by love and gratitude to Him to keep His commands, just as His Spirit strives within us to help us do. We don't shut out His lessons but rather trust Him and obey Him. And when Scrooge awakes again in his own bedroom, he praises Heaven for salvation! The sheer joy and exhilaration he feels is evident in his abandon as he cheerfully greets everyone with a "Merry Christmas" and dives right away into making changes. He buys a huge turkey for the Cratchits' Christmas dinner and he gives generously to the poor. He enjoys dinner with his nephew Fred and family and he raises Bob's salary and offers to assist his struggling family. Everyone in town can see the evident change in Scrooge to the point that some laughed at the spectacle he no doubt made of himself, though he doesn't care. This kind of change is reminiscent of the total change Jesus makes in Zacchaeus' life, when he pledges to give half his possessions to the poor and repay anyone he's cheated four times the amount. Zacchaeus first welcomed Jesus into his house and heart with gladness and then he was moved to change his ways- and Jesus declared that salvation had come to his house that day. (See Luke 19:1-10)
          And this change that Christ brings lasts for eternity! We can see that Scrooge's repentance is real, as we are told at the end of the book that it continued throughout his life. "Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world." (from Stave V of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens) When we know the love of Jesus, it should overflow from our hearts to affect all those around us. We should do the good works God made for us to do all along. (Ephesians 2:10) This is the picture of true repentance. It's not a fearful striving to do enough good works to appease God. It's a joyful desire to show God's love to everyone because we have experienced the goodness of God and we can't help but show it to others! As Acts 4:20 says, "we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard." May that always truly be said of us! God loves us and Jesus has died and risen to save us from Hell and take us to Heaven instead if we will put faith in Him and follow Him. May His Name and His praise ever be seen in us. Merry Christmas! Happy Easter! Hallelujah! :-) 
 "His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him. He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!" (from Stave V of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens)
        

Joseph and Mary (Song)

 There have been lots of famous lovers throughout literature and history. Romeo and Juliet, Marc Antony and Cleopatra, Boaz and Ruth and for the '80s kids out there- Zack and Kelly, Steve and Laura, and Cory and Topanga. There's one famous couple that has the most unique love story of them all- Joseph and Mary. When we read Luke 1-2 and Matthew 1-2 each Christmas, we can see how God worked throughout the events of that first Christmas so that everything turned out as it should in the end. It's like we're sitting in the bleachers watching the game, but Mary and Joseph were in the game themselves as key players. It's quite a different matter to consider how both Mary and Joseph would have taken the news that had been given to them by angels, when they didn't know how things would turn out in the end. They just had to take it on faith and trust that God would do what He said He would do and they just needed to be faithful and obey. Mary was going to have a baby Boy while she was still a virgin by a miraculous work of The Holy Spirit. Joseph finds out she's pregnant and is left wondering what to do. He plans to just send her away quietly so as not to disgrace her, but then he has a dream where an angel tells him that this is part of God's plan and he should go ahead and take Mary as his wife. Both Mary and Joseph obey and trust God and through their faithfulness, we see the birth of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, born of the virgin Mary, who is the wife of Joseph. Joseph takes on the role of playing step-father to the Son of God Himself! And through their faithfulness, the little baby Jesus grows in stature and wisdom and when He's a man, He does just as the angel said in Matthew 1:21 and saves His people from their sins. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for the salvation You have brought through Your death and Resurrection that pays for all our sins! And because Joseph told Mary, "Let's get married!" and did his part to ensure Jesus and His mother would be cared for, God's plan moved forward through them. And now The Bridegroom says to His church the bride- "Let's get married!" Merry Christmas! God is with us!

"Joseph and Mary"
(Parody of "Let's Get Married" by The Bleachers; parody copyright by Nathan Ludwick 7/27/2025)
(Isaiah 53, Isaiah 7:14-16, Jeremiah 19:4-5, Luke 1, Matthew 1)

The dude's been engaged to be her only
Can he take this babe after her story?
Joseph (and) Mary!

Sit down, breathe and just listen
God gave me baby
He's from God, trust in God- this is Son of God in me
And I know it's bad where you look out
But bad and evil don't enter God's thoughts- no!
Come on and look up in Luke 1- read
This angel from Heaven went to call on Ms. Mary- yeah!
And I know it's hard enough to trust me
But the throne of father Dave's house given
Son of virgin Mary!
You're gonna balk, I know
How can virgins conceive?
I know and I balked also
God's Spirit's on me
God's power works, you know
Elizabeth's conceived
So we won't have to walk alone
Her son's in late age

"Get out! Leave!
I think I know what I'm gonna do- folks won't know nothing
And you know in Matthew 1- look up
His plan's hatched- read on- don't give up your spouse- no!
I'm gonna do right by you, honey
An angel by my bed dropped in- when log sawing's on me- yeah
Says, "Hey Joseph- hearten up- take Mary"
Then I woke up full of faith now thinking
Honey, let's get married!
Don't have to walk alone
Joseph and Mary!
I won't go and walk, you know
You're Virgin Mary
(I) Won't change the status quo
You're pregnant, Mary
Holy Ghost's power worked with no
Intimacy- Hey!

The angels that called us
Outright both charged us
"Name The Son Jesus"
The Lord- He frees us
Child will soon save peeps at high cost
Lord Christ on our cross
Save peeps from Death's grip
Yeah, Rose up in Isaiah 53
Honey- 7 then read
Don't have to walk alone
He's God with us, see
He's Immanuel, you know
He forgives bad deeds
The Son prophets foretold
Joseph just married
Mary- both gonna walk this road
Lord's Son will save- yay!

What Ya Gonna Then Plead- Huh? (Song)

 Throughout history, in all parts of the world, there have always been various beliefs held about the world and how it works. We might classify these views under cultures or worldviews. Ultimately, every human being has to decide what he or she will believe about the big question of life, which is death and the hereafter. What does one believe about God? There are numerous religions in the world that all offer different takes on God and what He's like and ultimately how He relates with the world and us His creation. The major world religions are similar in some respects in that most all promote ideas like showing love to others and helping the poor- essentially, doing unto others as you would have done unto you. There is a stark difference between world religions and Christianity though. It's been said this way before. Religion says, "Do" and Christ says, "Done". This song is a quick comparison of some basic tenets of major world religions to the basic message of Christianity. It's not meant to put down anyone or their beliefs, but rather to contrast the works-based push often seen in religions with the grace found in Christ alone. There is no one righteous- no, not one. We all fall short of God's glory. And perfection is the standard for entry into Heaven. In the end, we all fall short because of our many sins and we all deserve Hell. God loves us so much that He gave us grace by sending Jesus to die for our sins and rise again from the dead. We can escape the punishment we deserve by trusting Jesus' payment for our sins and putting faith in Him and following Him. Ultimately, there is a broad way that leads to destruction and a narrow way that leads to life and to get to eternal life with God, we must go through Jesus. He is the Way, Truth, and Life- no man comes to the Father but by Him.

"What Ya Gonna Then Plead- Huh?" 
(Parody of "In A Gadda Da Vida" by Iron Butterfly; parody copyright by Nathan Ludwick 9/15/2022)
(Genesis 3, Romans 5:8, John 14:6, Acts 4:12, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 8:1, Romans 5:1-2, Romans 5:9-21, Romans 3:10-25)

In the Bhagavad Gita bodies
Recycle souls- karma's up to you
In the path of the Buddha- suffering's
Gone when soul's in nirvana- greed's gone too
Torah, Talmud Jews read
Works-based faith plan
And in Islam you heed
What's taught in Qur'an
Deeds weighed- good or bad

When you go to Lord Jesus- done deal
Died and rose for sin- God loves you!
In the Garden of Eden- we fell
Lord saves souls through faith by grace- Thank You!

My hope in contrasting
Put faiths on stand
No one's enough holy
But Jesus, man!
By grace we stand

Lost People (song)

      As Solomon said under the Holy Spirit's inspiration about what's under the sun- there's nothing new, man. And just like the Pharisees ran off people from The Gospel in their day, people still do that today. Jesus said that the scribes and Pharisees didn't practice what they preached! 

      "They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger." (See Matthew 23:1-4 and verses 13-14- and really just the whole chapter.) They shut men off from Heaven, not entering themselves or letting anyone else in. The long and the short of it is that there are some people who think they are righteous before God- and more righteous than others- who look down on all those lost people and don't actually carry out the Great Commission and reach to these people in love with grace God has offered us all in Christ. 

       Look what Jesus says in comparison in Matthew 11:28-30. He calls us the weary and heavy-burdened to come to Him because He will give us rest. Remember that Jesus didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Jesus loves all people and wants all to come to repentance. We must do the same.

       (Note: Just to be very clear, please understand that this song is meant to be satirical, of course. There is definitely some sarcasm but it's there to make a spiritual point. And I acknowledge that I can far too easily become Pharasaic myself at times and need Jesus' love and grace to keep shaping my heart to be more like His.) 

 "Lost People" 

(Parody of "Short People" by Randy Newman) (copyright Nathan Ludwick 1/10/2021) 

(Romans 1, Jonah 4, Psalms 14, Matthew 23 (particularly v. 12-15), Matthew 21:28-32, Luke 18:9-14, Romans 2:1-5, Matthew 25:31-46, Luke 11:45-54, Mark 12:38-40, Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:6-8, Matthew 7:21-23, Acts 10:9-16, Luke 6:27-36, John 8:1-11, Matthew 5:17-20, Matthew 9:9-13, Matthew 11:28-30, Mark 2:13-17, Luke 5:27-32, Luke 7:31-35)

Lost people got no reason 

Lost people got no reason 

Lost people got no reason 

To live 

They got futile plans 

And little drive 

And they walk around 

Telling atheist lies 

They got risque clothes 

They got wine and nicotine 

They got tattoos too 

And some piercings through their cheeks 

Well, I don't want no lost people 

Don't want no lost people 

Don't want no lost people 

'Round here 

Lost people have not been 

saved by faith in Christ 

(They're fools who deny) 

Heaven's for others who 

look the same as I 

(Jonah's run- sinful world) 

Lost people got no Bible 

Lost people don't know God so 

Lost people got no morals- no love 

They got lots of evidence 

As Romans 1 shows 

We're gonna write them off 

Just as satanist trolls 

(That) make hearts bleed, bleed, bleed 

They're all pro-choice (and) 

Go and Tweet, Retweet 

Crackpot commie, liberal figures 

With dirty, little minds 

They won't get me- I'm a scribe! 

Well, I don't want no lost people 

Don't want no lost people

Don't want no lost people 

'Round here!

Civil War (of Words) and Peace Speech

I had a few thoughts percolating through my brain today somewhat related to freedom and Independence Day and all like that but also relating to other important issues. I really hate that it seems like it's almost impossible to have a civil discussion anymore- at least online, where you have people that don't all believe the exact same things as you. I saw a post online on a page I follow and its message seemed to be a bit ambiguous so I did what I often do on such posts- I asked a question for clarification. (I learned on Sesame Street that that's the best way to find out stuff.) Unfortunately, because social media seems to bring out the absolute worst in us people- and perhaps the feeling of relative safety of exchanges that are not in person adds to this- everyone tends to naturally assume that a sincere question is really just someone looking to upset others and pick a fight, hence earning them the title of "troll". And then it is assumed that the post in question should and must be blindingly obvious to everyone. Thus, if you must ask such questions, you are deemed to evidently be "part of the problem". (Never mind that "the problem" can never seem to be pinpointed or explained.) And such responses shut down conversation and thus disallow further understanding to occur. The nicer shutdown of conversation is the explanation that social media is generally not the best place for delicate conversations. This is essentially a reiteration of the old adage about not talking about religion or politics in mixed company. The problem with this notion is that this means serious conversations that need to happen can never happen because we can't seem to lovingly and respectfully talk about potentially controversial topics without attacking each other for daring to think differently than we do on something. That is very sad when meaningful discussion and debate can't be conducted. In contrast, I had a nice conversation with a gentleman today who was exercising his First Amendment free speech rights by holding up a sign on the sidewalk where passing motorists and pedestrians could see his campaign to boycott some companies with whom he had grievances. (I don't want to get into specifics because that is besides the point of this post much like the ending parantheses bracket is to this point.) I am not sure if I totally agreed with his cause but I could agree that he had a valid point. I wished him well in his cause and rejoiced that he was a fellow believer in Christ, even if we hold to some different denominational views. This is not to say that I am the best at having civil discussions, particularly those with whom I disagree. This is to say that it is possible and it's what the right to free speech should entail. We don't have to hold all the same views in order for me to respect and love you and respect your right to your views. I have a number of friends who hold very different views from me. Some are on different ends of political views and religious stances. Some claim no faith and some claim a different one. It is okay for them to have their views and I respect their right to hold them. And I try to be respectful to listen to them. It is a great exercise to try at times. Read something from a totally opposite point of view. See what you can learn from it. Even if you wind up discarding all of it wholesale, at least you are now better informed so as to understand the way others view things. As Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." Let's make peace instead of grief when we disagree. My personal guide is of course The Bible, which is God's Word. And He commands us to make a righteous judgment in John 7:24. In 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, we find my guiding verses for discerning truth as I assess various sources of information. "Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid all appearances of evil." In doing this, I also make a point to point out to the person I'm speaking with the points I can heartily agree with them on first. I try to compliment them on the good things I see in their speech. And then I gently but firmly point out where I differ and that is where we have to agree to disagree agreeably, as my dad would say. Another wise thing he often said when we were overseas on the mission field often comes to mind for me too. "Different is not necessarily wrong- it's just different." To bring this back to the theme of Independence Day, I will say this specifically about the United States of America. As one who was not "Born in the U.S.A." (which is why my mom says I can't sing the Bruce Springsteen song of the same name ;-)), I have a bit of a different view of America as a foreign country that I also regard as home to some degree. To some degree, I will always regard Trinidad & Tobago as home as well since I still am at least partly a Trini at heart. (Trini 2 De Bone! :-)) To a smaller degree, I feel some loyalty to Spain as the land of my birth. (This is why it's really hard for me to say where I'm from. ;-)) And having lived in different cultures, I can see things that these countries do and believe that I can hold to and agree with, while there are other things I would have to discard. (Just like 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 ;-)) And I'm glad for and proud of my Spanish, Trini and American heritage. I praise God for the Blessings of Liberty in all three homes. God shed His grace on all three- just as He did on the whole world when He sent Christ to die and rise to pay for our sins. (Titus 3:4-7) May God mend thine every flaw for the whole world. That's the process He is doing as His Spirit moves in us who are Christ followers to share The Gospel around the world and live out the kingdom of God so that His will is done here as it is in Heaven. We are God's agents of change spreading the sweet aroma of Christ that overpowers people like bees overcome with the allure of nectar or cats with catnip. We do that best when we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength- giving Him all the glory rightfully due His Name alone- and when we love our neighbour as ourselves. That is what I want to be about as I seek to speak The Truth in Love. (Matthew 22:34-40 and Ephesians 4:15) And as Ephesians 4:29-32 talks about, I want to be kind to others, tenderhearted, forgiving as Christ forgave me- giving grace to all who hear me so that others are built up with my words and never torn down. Every single human being is made in God's image and is worthy of love and respect. They are infinitely important and valuable and eternally loved! Please forgive me for any time I have ever said or done anything to make anyone feel any less. I dare not say anything to besmirch or belittle His creation! The grace and love of Jesus compels me to show His love to others in extravagance, as He has done for me and all of us. (John 3:16 and Romans 5:8) Thank You, Father God, for freedom of speech, assembly, peacefully petitioning of the government for a redress of grievances, the press and religion. I am glad to live in a country that recognizes those rights and acknowledges that all men and women are created equal and endowed by You with these rights- along with the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I am also thankful to You eternally that I have found my happiness in You because You are the source of all joy! Your love pardons and forgives all sin for all who come in faith and repentance to You. And I thank and praise You that my ultimate Home is with You in Heaven because You have saved me from the Hell I deserve for my sins and instead given me the Heaven I don't deserve. Your grace and mercy are amazing and overwhelming! May Your graciousness overflow in me to all I meet in pointing them to You. I thank You for making me a citizen of Heaven. (Philippians 3:20) Whatever gain I had, I count it all as loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and Saviour. (Philippians 3:7-14) Help me to keep pressing on beyond the past to what You have lying in wait for me in the future, doing all You have called me to do in the present. And may all I do be done in Love. In Your Holy Name, Amen.

The Law of Love

 The problem with basing public policy on public opinion is that the public changes its mind- sometimes with good reason and sometimes seemingly on a whim. This is why we need standards common to all that do not change- without that, we slide into chaos where everyone does what's right in their own eyes. (Judges 17:6 and 21:25) However, we have one Top 10 list that never changes and is not subjective but objective and is for all people- The Ten Commandments. (Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5) God has set His standards and He never changes. (Malachi 4:6) But The Law calls for absolute perfection. (Leviticus 11:45) None of us can attain that. (Proverbs 20:9, Psalms 14:3) Thankfully, Jesus did that for us. (Matthew 5:17, Hebrews 4:14-15, Hebrews 10:10-23) Because Jesus met all the requirements of God's Law and died as the ultimate righteous sacrifice for our sins, we can go free while He pays the toll. Earthly comparisons pale in explaining, but it's like Jesus paid our bail so that we could get out of prison. Better still, it's like we were on death row and Jesus volunteered to take our place in the electric chair. And ever The Good Samaritan, Jesus did for those who considered Him as an enemy and who had no way of paying Him back- but Jesus doesn't want even our useless attempts. He wants our freely offered love. He died on the cross and rose again and now The Law that was our schoolmaster and showed us our need for Christ is no longer necessary because we are now under grace. (Galatians 3) And in this new covenant with Christ by faith, we receive His Holy Spirit when we ask Him in. And He Himself guides us into all Truth and to the good that we should do. (Romans 8:5-11) And His Word in The Bible guides us too. And now we desire to do right out of love and gratitude to Jesus. And as imitators of God, we walk in Love and grow up every way into Christ. (Ephesians 4:15-16 and 5:1-2) 

As Colossians 3:1-17 tell us, we have died and our lives are now hidden with Christ in God. And we seek to do everything in the Name of The Lord Jesus. And now following Jesus is all we need to do. As Romans 12:8-14 says, Love is the fulfilling of The Law. As Jesus told us, the summary of The Law is this: Love The Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:34-40) As Ephesians 4:15 reminds us, speak The Truth in Love. As Jesus tells us in John 14:6, He is The Way, The Truth and The Life. No man comes to The Father but by Him. (Any other leads to Hell; only Jesus leads to Heaven). 1 John 4:8 says that God is love. John 10:30-33 and many others affirm that Jesus is God. Thus, we must speak Jesus in Jesus/(Love) and have the same relationship Jesus had with His Father and be as Jesus to our neighbor. That's the only policy that changes all the public- Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of The Law and the embodiment of Love. :-)

       For those who seek to establish standards of "good" and "evil" and "right" and "wrong" outside of the authority of Christ- (and who deny the existence of any god and any moral standards upheld over all that apply to all)- this is the dilemma. God has taken care of this by setting firm moral standards that don't change. And best of all- He has kept all these standards perfectly Himself. When we recognize that we can never do this and we look to Jesus for our righteousness, we get His perfection imputed to us- and therein we ride into Heaven on His coattails.

Standing on the Promises of God

In Matthew 13:24-43, Jesus tells the parable of the weeds, also known as the parable of the wheat and tares. Thankfully, The Lord also offers an explanation of the parable, explaining that the weeds sown among the wheat are sons of the evil one, whom the devil has planted in the church. So this parable indicates that there sadly will be those who may claim to be Christ followers in the church but are really not and who only bring strife and division instead. God's angels will winnow out the weeds into the eternal fires of hell in the end. In light of this passage, there is legitimate reason to be concerned about the possibility of false converts in the church. Of course, this parable also indicates that the church should minister to everyone, preaching the Gospel to all, and let God sort it out in the end. 

     In relation to this, I know there are a number of pastors and evangelists who claim that saying the "sinner's prayer" is unBiblical. Many seem to think that many who said this prayer declaring their faith in Jesus to save them from their sins were not really sincere and thus are merely false converts. They tend to have a strong emphasis on the need for repentance and sometimes makes it seem like they are really preaching a reliance on works along with God's grace. And I also at least sometimes get the feeling like they're speaking with assuredness that they can't possibly be one of those false converts.

      To be fair though, there are other times when these evangelists are speaking where they make it very clear they believe we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And I don't doubt the sincerity of their faith in Christ or their zeal to see others come to salvation. I praise God for that! I am just stating the impression I get at times.

 I think the point is to emphasize that we can't just flippantly say a prayer that we don't really mean, claim our fire insurance policy and just go on living life as we please.

Of course we have to be careful of that- Jesus warned us in Matthew 7 of the many who will call to Him "Lord, Lord" who never really knew Him.

   But if we confess with our mouths, "Jesus is Lord" and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. (See Romans 10:9) That sounds a lot like the "sinner's prayer" to me.

   If we invite Jesus metaphorically into our hearts to be Lord and Saviour, then we invite Him to metaphorically and literally in some sense as well to rule our lives. We invite Him not only to forgive us of all our sins that left us dead in our trespasses but also to make us into the people He intended us to be all along and do the good He wants us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

   We invite Him into our minds because He gives us the mind of Christ. We don't seem to often think of it in these terms but it's the antithesis of demon possession. Remember that even the demons acknowledge Jesus is Lord but clearly they aren't saved. They lead people to do evil things that hurt themselves and others. Jesus leads us to do good things that help others before ourselves. Ephesians 5:18 commands us not to be drunk with wine for this leads to dissipation but in contrast to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

   If the Holy Spirit is possessing and filling us, then we do as He leads. We become God's extensions on earth to do the righteous deeds He desires that bring Him glory. (To be clear, we don't become a god or God Himself, of course- but we do become His sons and daughters. And children imitate their mother and father, just as we imitate our Father. Thus, His children will look and act and talk more and more like Him every day.)

    Now kids are often given chores to do around the house and maybe they do them to earn an allowance. But they never to do them to earn the love of their parents (or shouldn't anyway) because their parents always love them and they are their children no matter what! Nothing they can do can ever change that! 

  Once God adopts us through our faith in Christ, we are no longer servants but sons! Anyone who sins is a slave to sin. The slave doesn't stay in the house forever but the son stays in the house forever! So if the Son sets us free, we are free indeed! (See John 8:32-36)

   We rest in the Son's completed work at Calvary and the empty tomb! The slaves in the Old Testament in Israel had the 7th. year as the Year of Jubilee when they were set free. Jesus is our Jubilee! (Thanks to Michael Card for that line. :-)) Jesus is our Sabbath rest! (See Hebrews 4)

    And out of gratitude to Him and love for Him, we obey His commands willingly. It makes such a world of difference when we are obeying because we want to out of love and not out of fear.

   As a librarian, I often describe my job as tricking kids into reading books. :-) (Really- I do every contest and promotion I can and so forth to make reading look like a fun game and pastime.) Now, I'm happy to some small degree for kids reading even begrudgingly because their teachers made them. What a HUGE joy it is instead though to see kids who genuinely want to read on their own amd who grow to love reading to the point that they are constantly hounding me about getting their book requests in so they can have more to read! :-)

    This is the same kind of response God wants to see in us with Jesus. We read The Bible because we want to hear from Him not because our pastor made us. We pray because we want to spend time with Him, not because it's like a courtesy call our parents made us make to our grandparents. 

   We go to church, tithe, love our neighbours as ourselves, sacrifice to help the least of these, speak the Truth in Love and share the Gospel with others- not because we have to do all these good deeds to earn our Cub Scout merit badges but because Akela has already made us one of the pack and the call of the Wild in our souls drives us to do these things to show we are His and to please Him. Ultimately, these actions and attitudes are all reflections of the fact that with our transformation by the renewing of our minds, we are conformed to Christ and our calling is confirmed in Christ by these good works, which are done to show that we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

   The motivation is always key. We do it because He has saved us- NOT in order to get saved. The latter brings only exhaustion and frustration; the former brings rest, peace and trust.

    I say all this as things I have learned from God's Word and Spirit as one who has struggled numerous times throughout life wrestling back and forth, worrying if I have really been saved. I say it as one who said a sinner's prayer about the age of 5 or 7 and who has sought to follow Jesus ever since. I say it as one who has fended off attacks from the devil to make me doubt at times when I felt I was doing well- and as one who has been hit with accusations when I know I'm in sin. 

    Christians, sadly, often still choose to sin and thus continue to struggle with temptations through the sanctification process. This doesn't mean that we have lost our salvation when this happens. It means we've lost our fellowship with the Father temporarily, just like kids who know they've done wrong shrink in fear from their father who has the belt at the ready for discipline. We fear the rod of correction but we need not ever fear that we have made our Daddy too angry to love us anymore. The same is true with God. We don't need to ever fear that we have pushed His patience too far and that He's lost that loving feeling. We might lose that feeling of being loved but God never loses the feeling of giving love because He is love. It's more than a feeling, whether in Boston or anywhere else in the world. It's the Love of God that unconditionally reaches out to us and holds us forever! 

    This doesn't mean that we sin so grace may abound- by no means! Grace is not a license to sin, like it seems James Bond holds. But we trust that God's Word is His bond and He who does not lie keeps us stirred and not shaken. (Titus 1:2, Haggai 1:14, 2 Thessalonians 2:2, Hebrews 12:26-29) We got salvation for free from Yeshua with love! We can find way more than just a quantum leap of solace in knowing the Superman of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow never dies (again) and because He lives forever, we will live forever with Him! And we continue to use all the Spirit's gifts like Q's Inspector Gadget-gadgets on His Majesty's secret service!

Though of course, while we do keep acts of generosity secret and our Father who knows all secrets and sees what's done in secret rewards us, we should be in the open about letting people know that the reason for the Love, faith and hope they see in us is Jesus! 

    And we have this all because we are resting in His completed work and none of our own! (Matthew 5:17 and 11:25-30) And when Christ becomes our all consuming passion, His commands are not weary or burdensome. We delight in doing them because we want to please our loving, Saviour, Lord and Friend. 

    And that's where I rest. I trust that God is true and that He really does love me. He really loves everyone with an everlasting love! He longs for us all to be reconciled to Him if we'll let Him do it. He has forgiven all my sins because I have asked Him to do so by confessing my faith in Jesus and His death and Resurrection. I have repented of my sins and seek to follow Him but I often mess up and keep repenting of my sins and keep following Him. He picks me back up and keeps me going. As I said before, I have doubted a number of times but I've doubted myself more than I've ever doubted God. I think that was part of the point of praying the sinner's prayer 50 million times over to make sure I was really sincere like Linus' pumpkin patch that time. After spending times literally kneeling naked in the bathroom reading all of 1 John aloud and weeping and praying to God and claiming His promises yet again, I somewhere along the line realized that His promises are true and I really didn't have to try so hard. I believe He heard me the first time as a kid. Those many times of recommitment revealed and reconfirmed to me again how great my sin truly is and how infinitely greater His grace is as well. His grace is far greater than all my sin.

   I ran the 400m and 110m hurdles events on the Track and Field team in high school. Thankfully I didn't knock them down and subsequently fall down myself too often. If it does happen in a race though- it's okay. You can knock every single one down and as long as you get up and keep running and get to the finish line first, you can still win the race. It doesn't count against you in any way. You don't lose your place on the team. When we sin and fall down, Jesus picks up again when we come back to Him in Godly sorrow and repentance and He puts us back on track to run the race with perseverance. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Hebrews 12:1-2) We never lose our place on His team!

    When we are assured of our faith in Him, we can move forward in faith to be all He made us to be. He is still working out His plan for us. Keep trusting Him, keep fighting the good fight in the one day ending war on sin, and enduring and sharing His love with others! As the song says, 'til He returns or calls me Home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand. I love Him because He first loved me. May all I say, think or do bring Him glory. :-)

   

  

  

   

   

Everybody Wants to Save the World (Song)

 If there was one goal for villains on '80s cartoons especially, it seems like it was to rule the world! Cobra Commander, Shredder, Lex Luthor and their ilk all had their own plans for the world to give them pleasure. Of course, thankfully superheroes like G.I. Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Superman are always there to stop them. It also seems everybody wants to save the world. In a world where our flitting emotions have us constantly trading tears for fears it seems, it's hard to find peace. This was true in the '80s where the guys might have worn a pink tux to the prom and it's true today where it seems like there's constantly a panic at the disco. Yet in this crazy life, The Lord bottles our tears (Psalms 56:8-11) and gives us a faith stronger than our fears. And He has ultimately given us the solution the whole world is desperate to have to cure all the world's ills- His Son Jesus! Christ has died and Christ is risen and Christ will come again. He is our only Hope in this world and the next. We all deal with the spiritual problem of sin and we need the spiritual solution, which is faith in Jesus. When we follow Him in repentance, we are filled with The Holy Spirit and empowered to live as He would want us to live so that we bring glory to Him and be the spiritual change we long to see in the world. Eden sank to grief- and the whole world's been crying ever since. Let The Messiah trade your tears and fears for peace and joy in Him- and endure with patience as we await His return, which will truly wipe away all tears and fears forever.

"Everybody Wants to Save the World" (Parody of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears; copyright by Nathan Ludwick 9/4/2020)

(Psalms 73, Psalms 2, Psalms 137, Hebrews 12:22-29, Romans 5, Romans 10:9-13, 2 Corinthians 5:14-21, 2 Corinthians 6:2, 1 Peter 4:18, John 16:33, John 14:27, Matthew 11:28-30, Matthew 6:25-34, Romans 8, Ephesians 6:10-24, Haggai 2:6-9, Habakkuk 3:1-6, Genesis 1-3, Revelation 20-22)

Adam, choose your life- there's a curse unpacked

Eden- our lost dream. We will find you

Acting on our best behaviour

Turn your back on baser nature

Everybody wants to heal the World

It's our groaning sigh- This we moan, "Rebirth!"

Help us look inside- Help us take out mote 

8 Romans- where we're set free

Suffering is surpassed- Glory be

Everybody wants renewed, healed world 

Share The Truth- let The Light just shine through

Shaking man's things- it all comes tumbling down

In Hebrews 12, read line 27, dude

So glad God can't be shaken

So sad for (the) mess we made then

Everybody knows it's a screwed-up world

Science can't end hate and division

Buried by a lack of vision

Ideology- man's way to soothe the world

Haystack- we'll never, never find the needle

One has died and rose- Lord Jesus

Reconciling lost to Him- saved world!

All our problems (are) spiritual in nature

Solve them with a spiritual answer

2nd. Cor. 5- God still rules the world 

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2020 Reasons to Give Thanks (Or At Least 5)

 In response to a challenge to identify 5 positive things from last year, I wrote down 5 reasons to give thanks, in 2020, 2021 and any year really. There are always good things to be thankful for at all times. Thanksgiving is such a great holiday because it focuses in on that attitude of gratitude. And that's something we should remember every day. That said, here are 5 positives for me from 2020.

#1 Above all- The Lord Jesus Christ. He is always my ultimate reason to be thankful and stay positive. By faith in His substitutionary death and Resurrection that paid for all the sins of the world, I know my many sins are forgiven and I'm delivered from the Hell I deserve and instead given the Heaven I don't. God has shown Himself faithful time and again and I am always ultimately thankful for His love and providence.

#2 Nature - I have long enjoyed exploring God's creation and I did a lot more of that last year and I am grateful for that opportunity to commune with Him there. Every so often, I love to get away to a quiet place outside by myself and spend a good length of time reading The Bible and praying, as well as writing down any insights The Spirit might show me. Those times of sweet surrender have always been good for me spiritually as well as physically in some ways too.

#3 Family - I am always thankful for my family and make an effort to keep up with them. I am thankful for the opportunities I had to spend with family throughout last year, whether just spending time at home playing games or going for walks and hikes or going to church in the park throughout the summer. (I would like that last one to be an option even when there's not a pandemic going on. :-)) I constantly pray God would bless and use me and my family for His glory and I praise God for all of them.

#4 Friends - I am blessed to have some wonderful, loving and caring friends who have stuck by me through the years and I hold them very dear, particularly those who are very close to me. As Philippians 1:7 says, I hold them in my heart. And I pray for them regularly. And I am thankful for the time I got to spend with them, whether in person outside at a distance or just on the telephone or video chat. I am also very thankful for the many options for staying in touch with my friends around the world. (It was particularly neat to be able to message friends on three different continents to ask for prayer in the middle of the night since I knew they'd be up- and they are some of my closest friends anyway, even though they are some of the furthest away. And I felt the power of those prayers and again thank God for answering as He did.)

#5 Finances - I am certainly mindful of those around the world who have had their lives so disrupted by C19 and have lost jobs and loved ones. I mourn for them and pray for them. I am very thankful to have maintained a job and had a steady income from that job and had my needs met. In fact, partially because of opportunities opened by the pandemic, I was able to save some money and earn extra money through working extra hours. I was able to accomplish some long-standing goals of paying off a number of debts! I am still not totally clear of all debt but I am in a much better place financially. I have been able to turn around and use money now freed up to increase what I normally give and be more generous in giving towards ministries and charitable causes. I am glad to be able to serve God more through investing in His kingdom more in that way.

 

There are many more things I could say as well, but those are some things I am grateful for about the last year and in every year, really. Praise God for His faithfulness! I look forward to seeing how He will work and use me for His glory in this year. And, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us- everyone! :-)

Gloria in Excelsis Deo (song)

 The wonder and mystery of the Incarnation is always so startling and overwhelming when I truly contemplate it. Romans 5:8 is a Bible verses that always blows me away when I consider its truth. "But God demonstrated His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." It's crazy to think that God Almighty Himself loves us all so much that He would deign to lower Himself in such great humility and strap on human skin and bones for 33 years! One of my favourite Christmas carols captures it well. "Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown when Thou camest to Earth for me. But in Bethlehem's home was there found no room for Thy holy nativity! O come to my heart, Lord Jesus! There is room in my heart for Thee." ("Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne" by E.S. Elliot) It's amazing to think that God would leave His throne and set aside His glory in Heaven and come to Earth for me! Thank You, Lord Jesus for coming to save me from my sins so that I could be born again! Thank You that are risen and returning as well! That kind of amazing love and grace drives me to sing with the angels, "Gloria!" All glory to Lord Jesus! Grazie, Signore! 

"Gloria in Excelsis Deo" (parody of "Gloria" as performed by Laura Branigan; written by Umberto Tozzi, Giancarlo Bigazzi and Trevor Veitch) (copyright by Nathan Ludwick 12/16/2020)
(Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5:2, Genesis 3:15, Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-56, Luke 2:1-21)

Story of what took place with God's Son now
Coming after prophecy
Isaiah 7:14 (now)
1 Matthew's got this quote now
The Lord Himself foretold it
Virgin gets pregnant- forthcomes Babe out
So the angel said to Joseph
He nearly broke it off with her
But he stuck with Mary instead
And her Boy's God Incarnate
Called Emmanuel! God with us!
Going to save us from sin!
And Mary's God's servant- cool!
Got visit by angel Gabriel in
Luke in the first chapter
Read where she then magnified
Oh-oh-oh, Holy Lord our God!
Magnificat! (Background Vocals: Magnificat!)
Decree says go be numbered
(BGV: Go read up!) 5:2 Micah- birthplace (of) Jesus
(BGV: Word of God!) But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah
(BGV: You're little!) But you shall bring forth Israel's ruler
Joseph's from line of David
Got no choice 'cause inn's full- then- swaddling cloths, manger
Ah-ah-ah! Ah-ah-ah!
Glory of Lord our God- it shone 'round
Shepherds keeping watch that same night
Oh, still Bethlehem's 'bout to be loud!
Time's due- Mary births God's Son- read
Take a look there in Luke chapter 2
"Fear not!" angel said (to) shepherds who quake
"For all people, I'm bringing Good News!
Unto you this day is born a Saviour
Well, He's born in city of David
Christ The Lord- sign you'll get- swaddling cloths, manger"
Gloria (BGV: Gloria) Angel is joined by numbers
(BGV: Gloria) They speak to God these praises thus
(BGV: Gloria) Luke 2 verse 14- (thanks, Linus)
(BGV: Gloria) "To God glory in the highest
Peace on earth, good will to men
On whom God's favour rests"- calling Gloria!
(BGV: Gloria) (x3) 
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Isaiah: Mini-Bible (song)

 As the first line in this song says, one book undertakes a gargantuan task in The Bible. Likewise, I undertook a gargantuan task in trying to sort of summarize this book in a short song. Hopefully, this at least gets across some of the highlights. Scholars have called this book a "mini Bible" because it holds a lot of parallels to The Bible, having 66 chapters, just like The Bible has 66 books. Isaiah is by far the most quoted Old Testament book in the New Testament, having been quoted 55 times! (You can read about numerous connections here- http://isaiahminibible.com/) Of course, if I was to try to give you a miniature version of The Bible, it would be the Gospel- The Bible is all about the Good News of Jesus. Our sins are like scarlet but He can make them white as snow when we put faith in the One who had all our iniquities laid on Him. It's no wonder Philip used Isaiah 53 to witness to the eunuch as he was already reading it. Even if he hadn't been, Philip probably would have pointed him there as it's one of the clearest pictures in the Old Testament of the sacrifice Christ made to save us- a prophecy made 700 years in advance! Read all about this and so much more in Isaiah- mini-Bible. 

"Isaiah: Mini-Bible"

(Parody of "I Can't Drive 55" by Sammy Hagar; copyright by Nathan Ludwick 6/12/2020)

(Book of Isaiah; particularly 1:17-18, 2:4, chapter 6, 7:14, 9:1-7, 40:1-9, chapter 53, 55:8-11; also Luke 3:1-6 and Luke 4:16-21)

One book undertakes a gargantuan task- hey!

Well, the news is tragic- judgment's passed, yo!

Eyes are blind- won't just perceive the truth

Isaiah prophesied coming judgment of Judah's sin!

Gonna write it up- 1 through 39

OT's same judgment- similar vibe

Grace next 27- NT's vibe

Isaiah- mini-Bible! Oh yeah!

Uh!

So Isaiah is made up of chapters- 66, hey!

Yeah, it's just like books in God's Word

It's gonna blow your mind- all the book's retweets

Look- chapter 40 lines up with Baptist (in) Luke 3

He said good- Good News!

Evangelize- Is. 40:9

Scroll to place Jesus read Isaiah's lines

Luke 4 writes this- there're more times

Isaiah's in The Bible!

Quoted

How many times? 55!

How many times? 55!

How many times with this guy-

Isaiah? 55!

Uh!

Well- some lines to know- you know each part's revered

In Isaiah first part- 18- sin's washed here

Swords beat to make plowshares- verse 2:4 says. Huh!

In chapter 6, read how prophet saw The Lord- hey!

God sends sign (of) Messiah- 7:14 line

Show's Christ's traits- promised Son born in 9

Pay for all sins- 53 find

Isaiah- mini Bible

Oh! Oh! Oh!

God's mind's higher

(Isaiah 55!)

Point will drive

(Isaiah 55!)

(Isaiah 55!)

(Isaiah- mini Bible)

How We Should Live Then and Now, Not Now And Then

 "The Christian and the Materialist hold different beliefs about the universe. They can't both be right. The one who is wrong will act in a way which simply doesn't fit the real universe." - C.S. Lewis 

As I have said many times, we often try to address spiritual problems with physical solutions and seem surprised when they don't work. Spiritual problems require spiritual solutions.

"C.S. Lewis explains the dilemma in my favorite of his essays, 'Men Without Chests'. For a person to be moral, 'the head', the seat of reason, must rule the 'stomach', or the passions. But it can do this only through the 'chest', which in Lewis's analogy represents the will, the moral imagination. The problem today, Lewis writes, is that modern rationalism has reduced morality to cognition; it has focused on moral reasoning while ignoring the role of the will and moral imagination; it has robbed us of our 'chests'. And then we wonder why morality is declining. In Lewis's unforgettable words, 'We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.' "

......

"What does it take to create the good life? A firm sense of right and wrong and a determination to order one's life accordingly. Not out of a grim sense of duty, but because it is what fits with our created nature and makes us happiest and most fulfilled. When men and women act in accord with their true nature, they feel a sense of harmony, contentment, and joy. This is happiness, the fruit of virtue. In fact, the ancient philosophers defined happiness as something one achieves only at the end of life, after spending a whole lifetime in character training.

     It was this definition that the American Founders had in mind when they declared that we have an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The last phrase did not mean a right to hedonistic pleasure, as many people believe today, but the pursuit of virtue, a life spent ordering our appetites and desires to the truth of who we are, which produces happy individuals and a harmonious society."

- from pages 380-382 of "How Now Shall We Live?" by Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcey (the latter of whom studied under Francis Schaeffer at L'Abri in Switzerland, which was instrumental in her conversion to Christ! :-) I'm glad I was able to visit this legendary Christian institution a few years back.)

In reading through this book, the call for Christians to share Christ through the Great Commission has been clear, along with the call for Christians to live out the Gospel and use our lives as an example of how God's kingdom operates and thus influence the culture around us as well.

     I was thinking some on this the other night, especially in view of the current pandemic the world is experiencing. While I'm trying to be cautious, I am also trying to be bold in faith. Ultimately my life is in God's hands. 

    Yet I found myself unwilling to engage with someone trying to get my attention while I was momentarily parked somewhere. (There were mitigating factors involved, including it being late at night, my body was physically tired at the end of a long day at work, and the person had no mask on and social distance would likely have been breached.) I don't know what the person wanted though I assume it was a plea for help. I say this to my shame that I didn't acknowledge the person but rather drove off and went on home. Shortly afterward, I did feel guilt and drove back to see if I could find the man, but it seemed he was gone.

    The thought struck me- if we're not helping those who are in need or at least talking with others and listening to them, what good are we? If we're not willing to meet with the lepers and help them as Jesus did, how are we helping the "lepers" of this world? Jesus did not intend for us to live Christian life in a bubble isolated from the world. He calls us to go into all the world and preach the Good News. He calls us to do unto others as we'd have done unto us. He calls us to be the Good Samaritan and help those in need. He calls us to love our neighbour as ourselves- and even to love our enemies and pray for them! He calls us to show love to all and especially "the least of these". Feed the hungry. Give water to the thirsty. Welcome the stranger and house him. Heal the sick. Visit the prisoner. (See Matthew 25) All of these are tangible ways to show we truly love The Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. 

     And these two ideas really work well in tandem because as we do these good works God made us to do all along (Ephesians 2:10), it gives us all the more opportunities to share The Gospel, which is ultimately the only thing that will truly bring change to the world. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:15-16, we are in this way like a candle on a stand that brings light to all- a city on a hill that reflects the light of God which cannot be hidden- and that causes people to glorify God our Father in Heaven. "For God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness', has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:6)

   Our lives should preach the Gospel as the evidence of what an encounter with The Lord Jesus does to a soul who puts faith in Him and follows Him- he is transformed into a new creature! (2 Corinthians 5:17) It is Jesus' death to pay for all sins and His Resurrection that gives us forgiveness and salvation when we ask Him for it in faith. He produces in us a changed life that "spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere." (2 Corinthians 2:14) We're the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and those who are perishing- the smell of life to the one and the smell of death to the other. (See 2 Corinthians 2:15-16)

    So put a hand under your mouth and check your breath. Take a whiff of those underarms. Is that B.O. your M.O.? There's going to be a smell one way or the other but let's not be a stench in both the world's nostrils and God's. (Isaiah 65:5) It's God's kindness that leads people to repentance (Romans 2:4)- and He often uses us to show it to others. So to combine those two metaphors, go out to the world full of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) like an incense burner that lights up the night and leaves a sweet savour in the air and leads people to Jesus the Saviour who burns away our sins and restores us to the design He had for us all along. God is still reconciling the world to Himself and He wants to use us to help bring in as many who will come into His kingdom of love and light. (2 Corinthians 5:18-21 and John 3:16-21)

Father & Son & Spirit (song)

 One of the most basic tenets of the Christian faith is also one of the most incomprehensible to the human mind. "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, The Lord is one." (Deuteronomy 6:4) So states the Shema and it's certainly true. Yet The Lord reveals Himself in three Persons- God The Father, God The Son Jesus Christ and God The Holy Spirit (some translations would refer to the Third Person of The Holy Trinity as God The Holy Ghost.) The basis for belief in God as a Trinity is best evident from Jesus Himself, in the relationship He describes within the Triune Godhead in the Gospel of John, chapters 13-18. His Great Commission to us His followers in Matthew 28:18-20 also instructs us to baptize believers in the Name of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. 

    While each member of the Godhead has different roles, all three are equally God, so everything is always even stevens. A leopard can't change its spots; it's always a spotted member of the cat family. You can try to change its name but it's still a leopard. Whether you call to The Father, Son or Spirit, you're always calling to God. And God is always one- and His plan of redemption has already won through Christ's death and Resurrection. As the Sandi Patti Christmas classic song "The Gift Goes On" says, "The Father gave The Son. The Son gave The Spirit. The Spirit gives us life so we can give the gift of Love. And the gift goes on!"

"Father & Son & Spirit" (parody of "Father & Son" by Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam; parody lyrics copyright by Nathan Ludwick 12/10/2019)

(Deuteronomy 6:4, Acts 1-2, Philippians 2, Luke 12:40, Romans 11:29, John 8:12, Matthew 5:14, John 3:16-17, Galatians 4:4-7, John chapters 13-18, Romans 8, Matthew 28:18-20)

In God's time, the Saviour came 

That's a fact- Galatians 4 read

He had to come- that's our fault

Check Jesus' most famous quote

God loved world- Son came down

Whoso trusts will not perish

3:16 John- it goes- live eternally!

God's own Son's likeness of man's found

-and He lowered from God's throne seat

To become Son of Man- Son's still fully God

To take our crimes to the cross

Dying for everything we've done

And He's real deal Man of Tomorrow 'cause Lord Jesus rose up!

How come Lord Christ's going away? When He just did a "There and Back Again"?

It's to our benefit that He is going

So The Holy Ghost could bring the whole world conviction

Counselor Troi cannot hold candle (to) Holy Ghost- no way!

Christ goes- sends Holy Ghost

In God's time, The Spirit came

14 down to 18- go read!

Gospel of John- (The) Master taught

We're not just orphans of God though

Tell the world Gospel now

In time you've got while Lord tarries

Luke 12:40- Christ foretold- that He's returning

Of the times, (in) Acts 1- Christ's teaching

Those aren't things for you to know

His charge: Witness! Start here- to all world then

Our Aid resides in you and me-

His gifts then- revoked? Can't be

So share our faith and we'll glow like 5 Matthew 14 says

Little Christs- that's the goal 

The Simple Gospel

 Every human being has this fact in common- we will all die one day. And when that happens, we will all stand before God and be judged by Him. And we will then spend eternity either in Heaven or Hell. God has a standard for entry into Heaven- absolute perfection. (Leviticus 11:45, Matthew 5:48) None of us meet that standard. We have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory. (Romans 3:23, Psalms 14:3, Psalms 53:3)

    That's why God met the standard for us by sending His Son Jesus to live the perfect life we could never live and die the death we should have died for our sins. And then He rose again to prove He's God and give us a living Hope. We can all avoid the Hell we are bound to by default because of our sins against God and instead be welcomed into Heaven through putting our faith in Jesus to forgive us of our sins and following Him. He offers that for free to whosoever will call upon His Name! (Romans 10:9-13)

    With the eternal weight of the choice given to all humans about what to do with the salvation Christ offers, it is imperative that the Good News of Jesus is shared with everyone! I mean- if you had the cure for Covid-19 or AIDS or cancer, would you keep it to yourself? Those diseases can only kill the body, but the soul lives on for eternity. Jesus is the cure for the disease of sin and He saves our souls for eternity- if we'll let Him.

    And that's what it comes down to- if we're willing to listen to The Father drawing and The Spirit convicting and trust Him. 

   Sadly, too many will let pride and a love for self and evil keep them from coming to God. And God won't force anyone to come to Him. In the end, we either say "Thy will be done" to God and choose to follow Him or He says "thy will be done" to us and lets us choose to reject Him and go our own way instead. There is indeed a way that seems right to a man, but its end is destruction. 

   Logically, we can either be with God or away from God in eternity. To be with Him is Heaven and to be away from Him is Hell. 

    It's appointed unto man once to die- and then comes the judgment.

    We will all die one day. And it won't really matter then what objections people make now or what ridicule is raised in regards to God and The Bible. None of it changes God or the facts about eternity.

    Of course, people will scoff and laugh regardless and raise any number of objections but even so- the facts remain. And the eternal state of every human soul is worth telling everyone about Jesus. Everyone is free to do what they want with this and with Him. That is the choice given to everyone. But everyone will die one day and everyone needs to consider what will happen then and decide what they will do with Jesus and His free offer of grace and love. Jesus loves you- no matter what you've done and no matter what you do in reaction to this information- He loves you more than anything. And I love you through Him because He loved me first. 

  Everyone has to make their own choice on eternity and I respect their right to do so but everyone needs to remember that every choice has consequences. This one has eternal consequences. May God bless and guide you as you make your decision.

Nahum's Woe (song)

      Thirty-three years ago, on May 2, 1987, Larry Bird made one of the greatest, if not the greatest, plays of his basketball career. In game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Boston Celtics were down by one point to the Detroit Pistons. With five seconds to go, the Pistons had the ball at their end of the court and it looked like things were all over for the Celtics. Yet if Pistons fans had started cheering then, they would have been extremely premature, as Larry Bird then made an outstanding play by stealing the inbounding pass from Isiah Thomas and got the ball to Dennis Johnson, who made the game-winning layup!
        Just as it is dangerous to be full of yourself and be calling the game too early in sports, it is infinitely more dangerous to do so in the spiritual realm. Nineveh is a city that had been very wicked, but God had pity on them and sent Jonah to warn them. Half-hearted though it was, Jonah's message of warning got through (eventually- after a stay in an underwater motel inside a big fish) and the people repented and God stayed His hand. Unfortunately, the people of Nineveh in later years reverted to their former wicked ways and then God sent Nahum to let them know that His judgment was coming- and it wasn't going to be stopped this time. God always carries out justice. He is certainly long-suffering and wanting to extend grace, but when people reject His kind offer, there is no recourse left. Only those who take refuge in Him are safe. Learn from Nineveh's example and repent now while there is time. (2 Corinthians 6:2)


"Nahum's Woe"
(parody of "Sussudio" by Phil Collins; copyright by Nathan Ludwick 5/7/2019)
(book of Nahum [particularly Nahum 1:7], also see book of Jonah, 2 Corinthians 6:2)

There's this book that's been on my mind
Read its lines- Na- Na- Nahum, oh! oh! oh!
Now you know me from Jonah's fame
(It's) No Disney sequel- read just the same
Na- Na- Nahum, yo! oh! oh!
Well, God- He called me to go share
Destruction's coming- Nineveh, beware!
Last century- all was right
Appealed to God- now Nineveh reverts!
Na- Na- Nahum's woes! Just read The Word!
They're do- do- doomed, you know!
God knows those (who) take refuge in Him
With (a) flood brings foes to an end
Na- Na- Nahum 1:7
God's given command- 'cause you are vile
No more will Nineveh
Pass through Judah though- oh! oh!
Ah, get dressed- battle's here from scatterer
The chariots close in as they go through town
And race Ben-Hur rush style- faces grow pale
And they'll feel who don't listen- just take The word-
2:2 Nahum- Yo! Thus saith The Lord
No game like on Yu-Gi-Oh! Whoa!
Woe (to) city bloody- all full of lies
The wheels roll on of God's justice (in) The Word!
Read 3 in Nahum- Go!
The just prey unfurls
Oh - 3:1 Nahum - Woe!
They'll just say the words, "Oh, who- who- who will grieve for her?"
All stay away
3:7 Nahum- Woe! Oh, oh, oh!
Nineveh's burned!
God's justice undeterred- uh!
Just what's deserved
For Nin- Nin- Nineveh (oh, oh, oh)
So Na- Na- Nahum- go! (Go, go, go!)
Review with Nineveh (Woe! Woe! Woe!)
Your sins have doomed you all! (Woe! Woe! Woe!)
No soothing woes! (Oh, oh, oh)
All who hear news- woe! (Woe! Woe! Woe!)
Can't ease your hurt
Wish you had boohooed and turned! (Oh, oh, oh)
Prayed to The Lord, oh
"Please save us, Lord"
But must just say the word!

Setting the Record Straight

            I’m like one of those people with initials in their names.  Not “M.E.” like Quincy or “M.D.” like Doogie Howser, but PK and MK.  And I don’t know what you’ve heard about us, but pastor’s kids and missionary’s kids are not always the miscreants they’re made out to be.  But hey, I’m certainly not perfect because I’ve done and do plenty of stupid things in my life.  And having your dad as your pastor out on the mission field gives you plenty of stories to tell.

            I suppose at this point I should give you a little bit of background so you know where I’m coming from because after all, knowing is half the battle.  (I suppose actually fighting with all those fancy blue lasers and machine guns would be the other half.)  But I really hate doing this part.  Whenever people ask me that usually-simple-to-answer question for most people, I have no easy answer.  “Where are you from?”  Aaargh! There it is!  I don’t know.  I was born in Spain, grew up in Trinidad and now live in the United States. Take your pick.  This is both the frustration and joy that comes with being a global nomad of sorts. 

            I only spent about a year in Spain so I don’t remember anything of that.  I do remember growing up in the 1980s in the Caribbean twin island nation of Trinidad & Tobago.  (I was on the larger island, Trinidad.)  My parents were Christian missionaries and my father worked as the pastor of the church we were serving with in Trinidad.  I remember hearing about Jesus most all of my life!  I first came to know Him as Lord and Savior when I invited Him to live in my heart and take me as His own as a young child.  I had this great book that taught you the alphabet by giving you a verse for each letter.  I remember the first one was Isaiah 53:6.  “All we like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”  The text of that great hymn, “At the Cross”, was printed next to the verse with a picture of a little boy laying down this big burden from his back next to the cross at Calvary.  And one night during our family devotions I heard a story about a guy who took his pet pig with him on a cruise.  Apparently the pig fell overboard and the man dived into the ocean to rescue his pig from drowning.  This wasn’t a perfect picture by any means, but it drove home to me as a child just how much God loves us so much more than pigs because He sent Jesus to die for all the wrong and stupid things we’ve done and by rising again from the dead, He proved that He is God.  After seeing the good example of my older siblings, I made the decision myself to follow Jesus at the ripe age of about seven.  And that’s something I’ve been more and more thankful for every day since!

            There’re a couple of funny stories I remember from growing up in Trinidad.  There were all the different slang words that I had to get used to hearing.  When someone asks how you’re going, they just mean to see how you’re doing.  My parents, upon first hearing that phrase, once told a bank clerk that they had come by car and were going by car!  And then there’re those trips you take when you’re “going down the road to come back.”  Sounds like a likely plan.  It just means you’re taking a quick trip somewhere. 

And I sure remember some of the sermons.  As pastor’s kids, my siblings and I got to hear some of the messages over again and when we started hearing Dad preach from John 15 about staying in the Vine again, I remember leaning over to my brother and whispering, “Rerun!”  Or there was the oft-lampooned by our family infamous “hermeneutics” sermon series.  It was also known as “How to drive your church down to nothing” series by my family.  My father preached on Sunday nights about how to read and understand your Bible, which is definitely a good thing to learn.  Unfortunately, my father had a tendency to do a “quick review” of last week’s sermon throughout this series.  By the time the review was over and we had actually gotten into the current message, the service was definitely dragging on.  Sunday nights never tend to be a big attendance for many churches, but this series really drove away people.  What got me was when even one of our deacons, who had been coming each night and taking notes, stopped coming- then we knew we had hit the last straw.  There were some services where my whole family was the service!  My dad did the preaching, my mom played the piano, my sister led the worship songs, and my brothers and I prayed and took up the offering!  At the end of each of these messages, my dad would ask if anyone had questions.  My little brother would always crack us up by raising his hand to ask, “Are we finished yet?”  Though much as we joke about it now, I can still tell you to pray and ask God to give you understanding, keep the passage in context by reading what’s before and after it, and analyze the passage by finding the “Who”, “What”, “Where”, “When”, “Why” and “How” of it, when studying the Bible.  But I have to tell you the joke my father would always use.  Here’s how to make a case for suicide in The Bible. The Bible tells us, “Judas went out and hung himself.  Go and do likewise.  What you do, do quickly.”  The message here is to not take verses out of context!  (And I laughed every time at the absurdity of those verses out of context when he would tell this!)

            And let me just clear up this misconception that seems to float around about us PKs and MKs.  We’re not the finest Christians around, and we’re not necessarily the worst of the bunch either.  I am not perfect nor am I even good.  I do stupid and bad stuff all the time and there’s more instances than I care to recall.  The times I’ve lied, cheated, stolen, entertained sinful thoughts, lashed out in anger, fallen flat on my face in pride or said something really, really dumb all slip back into my consciousness from time to time.  And there’s still junk I did as a kid that I can remember that I’m still ashamed of.  On the other hand, I’ve never shoplifted, vandalized, done drugs, drunken alcohol, smoked a cigarette or cigar, and I’ve rarely used foul language.  (There was this one time as a young kid when I repeated a word I heard on television that I quickly found out was not cool like I thought it was!  I don’t believe I’ve ever said it or most any other swear word since.)  Oh yeah, and I’m proud to say that unlike Madonna’s song, I’m not like a virgin, but I am in fact a virgin and will remain so until I marry a Christian woman.  And I will be faithful to her and God alone.  All this I can do through Christ alone who strengthens me because apart from Him I’m nothing.

            So I guess you can say that life has been a bit different for me than many Americans.  I am an official American, but I’ll always be a Trinidadian in my heart.  I have fond memories of that country.  Growing up in a British school system with uniforms and playing cricket and football (soccer) during recess and lunch was great.  It’s also cool to be able to say I went swimming on Christmas Day!  I enjoyed weather from 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit (or more) most every day!  I could go on about the many cultural differences from America, but I think one key thing I learned from living there is to respect and love everyone.  Everyone has an intrinsic value because “God don’t make no junk”, as the saying goes.  It makes no difference what color or gender you are because everyone is really the same.  And The Bible says that once you’ve committed one sin, it’s the same as doing all of them.  So I’m just as guilty as anyone else and can’t stand in judgment of them.  But Jesus calls us to love one another and be His witnesses and I try to do that as much as possible.  I think these are things I learned from The Bible that living in another country helped reinforce at an early age.  If only we could all learn to forget ourselves and think of others as better than ourselves, we would see that we’re all the same on the inside and God loves us all.  It hasn’t always been a normal and peaceful life, but I can’t think of a better one to have. Wherever He leads, I’ll go.

             

Copyright by Nathan Ludwick March 6, 2007

The Salvation That We Get (song)

It can never be overstated how much salvation is all the free gift of God. While I do believe there is a call upon humanity to respond to the offer He's made, it's important to note that even that response is something The Holy Spirit evokes as a result of The Father drawing us to The Son as He is lifted up. We contribute absolutely nothing to our salvation in the way of works. Sometimes this can become a mighty, mighty stumbling stone, boss- but it's something we must accept. And that is a very good thing indeed because none of us are good enough on our own strength to make it to Heaven. God says the requirement for entry is perfection (Matthew 5:48) and only Jesus has met that. He died and rose to pay for our sins. There's no need to scavenge about to scrape up good deeds to earn anything from God because we can't do enough. We never have to knock on wood because The Saviour got on wood for us- we just have to receive by faith the salvation that we get.

"The Salvation That We Get"
(Parody of "The Impression That I Get" by The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones; copyright by Nathan Ludwick 5/7/2019)
(John 3:16-17, Romans 10:9, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, Psalms 14, Psalms 53, Psalms 130, Matthew 5:48, Leviticus 11:45, Romans 3 (particularly verse 23), Romans 6, Romans 5:1-11, 1 Corinthians 10:12, 2 Peter 3, Isaiah 2:22, Isaiah 64:6, Isaiah 53:6, Hebrews 12)

Have you ever friend zoned a (child) prodigy?
Wanda chose that fork- Doog's sad
Have you ever felt they're vain (and) infallible?
Hey, Vinnie- how do you match? Oh!
Well, they've never actually walked on water
But I know Someone who has
Which makes Him One above the rest
It means He's the One Direction
Everyone else- not so good
And I'm glad for Romans 5 and 6
Because though we're all nothing good
Justification is God's gift
Tall you may now stand but God's stacked up so high
Your puny strength won't pass the test
Or as Leviticus 11:45
You've got to be like our God- perfect! Yo!
Well, I measure up as not so good
And I know everyone is bad
It makes me wonder how we could
Put faith in blundering I-
There's the bad news- no one's good
And I'm sad some haven't read
Psalms- 53rd.- there is none good
With one Exception- God Jesus!
If God was counting our sins, no one would be standing
I'd like to thank The Lord Jesus He holds fast
Look at the text- 2 Peter 3- grow in grace of Christ
Might think you tower
Be afraid of that- you might fall down
(I've) never had to knock on wood
'Cause I know Romans 5 says
(By) His grace I stand here 'cause He's good
Amazing wonderful grace- (I'm) ever bad so God's my good
(In) resisting bad, I haven't bled
But rest assured He has withstood
The crucifixion I should get
Never sinned but our Saviour got on wood
'Cause you know Son of God Jesus
Replaced me on the cross of wood
He took my sin there and I'm reconciled through what the Saviour accomplished good
To restore us back to good
(He) took all bad and conquered death
That's the salvation that we get!

I Trust Myself (song)

It's been said that if we're always looking down on others, we can't see what's above us. This is the original sin that continues to plague humanity- proud eyes that won't look up for help. Even before the disobedience of man in Eden, Lucifer's pride got him kicked out of Heaven. It's only when we can recognize that we're not self-sufficient that we can in humility reach out to God as He's already reaching out to us in Christ. The final solution for sin was given after years of scapegoats that covered sin; instead God sent a Lamb to take away sin through His death and Resurrection. And like the Pharisee and tax collector learned in Luke 18, it's the one humble before God who went away justified. May we all be willing to fall on our faces before Him, beating our breasts begging for His mercy because we are sinners. He is always gracious to us to grant forgiveness when we humbly ask for it. We all need His help.

"I Trust Myself"
(parody of "I Touch Myself" by Divinyls; copyright by Nathan Ludwick 3/13/2019)
(Romans 10:9-13, Luke 6:46, Matthew 7, Proverbs 16:18, Luke 18:9-14, Proverbs 14:12, Romans 3, Proverbs 6:16-19, 1 Corinthians 10:12, Deuteronomy 30:15-20)

Well, God Himself- He wants us to love Him
If I'm real now- I know He's above me
I search for help- I want Him to find me
But forget all that- Don't want you to remind me

Chorus 1:
I don't want anybody's help
All I think, say or do- I trust myself
Ooh, I don't need anybody else
Oh no, oh no, oh no

I'm the one who's made my own fortune
Favourite son- the nation's pride
Ascended how? By my bootstraps, then
I'm always self-reliant ('k)
I close my eyes- won't see Truth before me
Rather would die than choose Life that's before me
"A fool believes there's no God" - I ignore You
I'd get down on my knees if You'd send The Way to see You

(Repeat Chorus 1)

I love myself- I want folks to love me
When I look down, I can't see above me
In church with bells, all income I'm tithing
I fast as well- I thank God I'm not like thieves

Adulterers, unGodly evil
Well, I think I've got virtue- I trust myself!
Ooh- I'll tell God I'm righteous by myself
Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!

18 Luke
IRS agent by myself
Would not link eyes with You- I judge myself
To - ooh be- ee ah ah sin-ner ah!

I so want Holy God's help
When I think of bad I do- I beat my breasts!
Ooh, You're rich in mercy, God- please help!
Confessed humbly to You- I'm justified

-Exalt myself (Background vocals: I don't need)
Adjust that shelf (BGV: Anybody else)
Humbled instead (BGV: 1st. Cor. chapter 10:12)
So watch your step

Humble myself (BGV: I so want)
Adjust that shelf (BGV: Holy God's help)
Exalted instead (BGV: I'm nothing without You)
-It's honestly true!

-Exalt myself (Background vocals: I don't need)
Adjust that shelf (BGV: Anybody's help)
Humbled instead (BGV: 1st. Cor. chapter 10:12)
-It's honestly true!

Humble myself
Adjust that shelf
Exalted instead

Stayin' Outta the Fire (Plan in Motion) (song)

 (Note: I'm pulling a few more classics out of the archive. My last post referenced the lines I used in this parody so it only seemed fitting to post this next. I've included my original introduction from 2009 below. Since I had two others that seemed in a similar category of lyric-tweaking that already seemed to be such a good fit to talk about The Lord, I have posted those other two in this post and the previous one.)

    And I've got one more '80s classic for you. And this one I've definitely been thinking of after hearing the pastor's sermon today in church. Some of the passion for this one was definitely burning hot like a certain fire that the Laodicean church was called to get going- or remain cold. But lukewarm gets you spat out of God's mouth! This one was another one that was just begging for some God-centered lyrics that would really help put His plan in motion when we follow His plan in The Bible. :-)

"Stayin' Outta the Fire (Plan in Motion)" (parody of "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" by John Parr)
(parody copyright by Nathan Ludwick 10/01/09)
(Romans 10:9, 15:20, Psalms 95, Hebrews 12:29, 1 Thessalonians 5:19, 1 Corinthians 3:12-14, Jude 1:22-25, Jeremiah 20:9, Ezekiel 1-2, Acts 2:1-4, Exodus 40:34-38, Revelation 20:14-15, Matthew 3:11-12, Luke 12:49, Matthew 17:20, Philippians 4:13, John 15:5-7, Revelation 3:15-16, Hebrews 9:27, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 6:2, Isaiah 40:28-31, Hebrews 10:19-25, Luke 15, John 3:3 and 3:16, John 14:6, Daniel 5, Philippians 1:6)

Going's tough- You don't see the writing on the wall
Passing by- Knew He'd save you then- you blew it off
But baby, sometime if you call His name
You'll find you're not alone- everything has changed
Stay the same- you know He won't quit on His lost son
Soldier on- only you can do what must be done
You know in some way you're like Six to me
You're just a Prisoner and you're trying to break free

I can see a new hope rising- all I need is faith in Christ
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna heed Your plan in Romans- as I read, I repent and kneel
10:9's where my Savior's Christ- I'm staying outta the fire!

Turning out, don't know just now where that I should go (just now where to go)
Truth be told, go look just a few miles down the road
I will make it- through God I can
He broke the old in me- so He could make (a) new man

I can see a new hope rising all replete by faith in Christ
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna heed Your plan in Romans- in 15:20 there reveals
Take me where witness is lacking- send down Your fire!

I can move the highest mountain- faith of a mustard seed
I can feel the Spirit's fire burning in me, burning in me

Just once in this life a man has to die
When my time comes 'round, I'm covered by Christ!

I can hear the music playing as I read Psalms 95
Kneel before God the King- extol Him on high
Gonna be Your man in motion- as I read Jeremiah's zeal
20:9- my heart's on fire by Consuming Fire!

I can see a new hope rising- all complete by faith in Christ
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna be Your man in motion- like Ezekiel's pairs of wheels
Take me there in 2 verse 5 and send down Your fire!

I can move the highest mountain- faith of a mustard seed
I can feel The Spirit's fire burning in me!
Burning, burning in me, I can feel it burning
Ooh- burning inside of me...

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Missed Moments (poem)

This is a sometimes annual thing of reflection I do around my birthday. It's basically a bit of reminiscing and some lamenting about choices made and consequences that come with them. I have said before that sometimes I regret not being as open to some friendships at younger ages or willing to further pursue possible romantic relationships- but in the end, I have to trust that God allowed things to happen as they did for a reason and He's still worked out His good plan for me moment by moment. This is also a "what if?" musing about spiritual choices, eternity, sin and righteousness.


"Missed Moments"
(Poem copyright by Nathan Ludwick 5/4/2020)
(Philippians 2:14-16, Hebrews 3:7-14, 2 Corinthians 6:2, Philippians 3:7-20, Ecclesiastes 9:11-12, Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 25:11, Proverbs 27:1, Romans 9, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, Ecclesiastes 7:10-14, Romans 8:28, 1 Corinthians 3, James 3, Psalms 90 (Especially v. 12), Ecclesiastes 12:11-14)

A word aptly spoken makes golden moments
How quickly a word ineptly spoken turns them to dross
How many scenes of life could have been so different
If only a different door had been chosen?
The road not taken makes all the difference in the world
Memories meander through time and linger longer than we'd ever expect
Except the good ones seem far too fleeting and the bad ones far too abundant
Why did I say that stupid thing then instead of something else?
Why couldn't I just keep my mouth shut?
Words have a deadly power of permanence no matter how much
we might want to retract
The scorpion's sting still burns like fire every time the scab's reopened
Why did I do that back then? Why was I so dumb?
Apologies can be made but consequences must always be faced
What if I could slide down Alice's rabbit hole to another world?
What kind of person would I be if I had studied another subject?
What if I had taken up another career instead?
What if I had been more outgoing and taken more chances on friends?
What if I had kissed that girl and she had become my wife?
So many things replay in my mind that a time machine might fix
But lightning never strikes twice and thunder continues to roil in my soul
Sometimes the pain and sadness are so intense when sitting in quiet loneliness
Regrets haunt dreams and reveries with a parasite's tenacity
There's a desperation in lament that yearns to put right what once went wrong
The sins of commission resound like a gong in time with the sins of omission
Why didn't I take action when I knew what to do then?
Why didn't I speak up and say what needed to be said?
Time relentlessly passes and the moments are lost
Are they gone beyond all hope of recovery?
When the corner is turned and opportunities missed
They never come in exactly the same way again
And when eternal choices are made things are bound that can never be unbound.
Though tears flow like Esau's, the blessing is lost and
The time of God's favour comes to an end.
The past is gone and can't be changed but it can pass on its lessons.
The future still looms with possibilities of whatever we make it.
May The Spirit teach me His lessons in the present
so I can live in the light of each tense like Scrooge on Christmas morning.
The joy only found in Christ somehow sifts through
The wreckage of my life to find a rainbow in the silver lining.
The pangs of past pains hurt my heart but also mold it
to be shaped more like the Saviour's heart.
As He still works to work all these things together for good
according to His master plan,
may He use the missed moments to make my life
both now and in the future what He wants it to be.
His cross and empty tomb redeemed my life-
May He use all that I am in the time that is left
to share His truth and love with all around me.
With past faults behind me, the bad memories make me all the more
thankful for the good memories and they all spur me to
live every day for The One who loves me
and make choices of righteousness to redeem the time so
that His light shines- because Jesus makes the only golden moments in my life.
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