A Fairytale Part 1 - Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time...

 

Dear Reader, if ever there was a historian’s cop-out, this introduction is the epitome.

Generally, when recounting an event, both a time and a place are provided. However, this introduction provides neither. For a time, one may say “1746”, or perhaps “last week”, or (in extremely rare situations) “the same day that my aunt Ruth had her beard shaved off”; an author ought to provide some reference to when in history this recounting occurred.

Secondly, “Once Upon a Time” does not provide a location. Again, bare minimum, dear reader, would be something to the effect of “In France”, or “At my friend’s house”, or “the barbershop with a very gutsy barber”.

While it is unknown whether or not our friends, the Grimm Brothers, invented the term or simply made it popular, they are very much to blame for this current decline in information. Dear reader, certainly, when you sit down to read a fairytale, you want to obtain historical and geographical context for the story about to unfold.

Therefore, in an attempt to reverse the trend in fairytale introductions, we shall open our story thusly:

“We don’t know when or where this happened.”

 

Wait, wait – Ben, what kind of an introduction is that?

Well, Josh, it’s better than the classic version.

But you’ve totally scared them away at this point.

Josh, if this is intimidating, they will never survive the tale about the Prince in the Well.

Or for that matter, the three little pigs – it’s gruesome when you think about the huntsmen cutting out one of their hearts to bring to the queen.

Even worse – what about the prince that keeps kissing seemingly dead princesses?

Good point – Ben, have we rated this yet?...

Glory

"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,

   But the glory of kings  is to search out a matter."

How often do we sit back and simply expect life to come to us? It has, unfortunately, been a general practice of mine to sit and say, "Well, I'll just take whatever God sends me. I mean, He's perfect, so He won't send me anything that's not good for me."

However, while this is good, this is not the best thing. It is good to react well to whatever God sends our way, but Christianity is not passive. We are royalty - children of the King. A resulting characteristic of royalty is that we will search things out.

Not sure about a theological question? Don't wait for your pastor to preach on it; search it out. Not sure which university to attend? Don't wait for a lightning bolt to tell you which is better; search it out. Not sure how to deal with a friend? Don't wait for them to fall too far away without the right advice; search it out.

Waiting for great things for you to do for Christ? Don't sit and wait for them to come to you.

Search it out.

Let it Be Said of Me

Just a quick thought this morning (as if I had any other type... this one, however, shall be presented quickly).

There is a line from a song that's been resonating with me this morning:

In Christ alone, I place my trust,
 and find my glory in the power of the cross.
In every victory, let it be said of me:
 my source of strength, my source of hope - is Christ alone

Do I present myself in such a way, receive praise in such a way, and respond to life in such a way that people would say that of me? In EVERY victory - not just the ones at church or ministry - in every victory

Do all my friends know my source of strength and hope? Am I looking for ways to tell my acquaintances and the non-believers that I know what my source is?

I may be in need of an attitude adjustment...

The Last Month [or so] in Review

Well, while I have attempted to post here more regularly, I have noticed that my past few posts have had little to do with what’s actually going on in my life.

Not necessarily that you wanted to know anyways, but here it goes…

One of the highlights of this summer has been cliff jumping. No, I’m not talking about abyss jumping where one wears a squirrel suit directly after writing their last will and testament. No, I’m talking about a 30-foot jump into the Columbia River. I got to go twice – once with guys from Bible Study...

And another time with friends from church, though the latter, after a brief time jumping, turned into an almost-ice-cream-run, a Hood River Mexican Food dinner, a halfway-Multnomah-Falls-Hike, and general-fun-along-the-way-ishness.

Another highlight was the Pathways Fundraiser Dinner. My sister Sarah has been volunteering there for a few months now; and the bros and I have been going to do yard-work for them. However, the Fundraiser Dinner was a neat way to hear some testimonies and get an update on the clinic. After obtaining a table, 8 friends from Church and I all attended. It was great to hear about a mission field right in our backyards, as well as ways we were able to help.

My next adventure took me back to Hood River, where I went with Jonathon and Mr. S. to go get apples for Fall Preparation. We obtained 2700 lbs. of apples (Jonathon and I transferring 900 of those from one crate to another), before returning home. Stay tuned for what we plan to do with those…

And finally, and very encouragingly, we attended a memorial service for some friends’ grandpa. Although I never met him, the testimonies and stories shared about him painted a great picture of who he was. He was a teacher, and elder, and a strong Christian friend. One of the testimonies summed up very well who he was, and who I would like to be:

“He made me want to be a better man – he made me want to be a better Christian.”

Talk about a life-goal. Thank you, Cliff; though I never met you, you have given me a great thing to shoot for. This song, played during his life slideshow, does a great job of summing up the impact of his life story on me. May it be able to be said of all of us.