Christianity stands or falls on Jesus

But here's the thing--Christianity all comes down to Jesus. It stands or falls on him alone. Not on the church, no on whether some people claiming to be Christians are hypocrites. There are lots of hypocrites. there are lots of counterfeit bills too, but that doesn't mean there's no such thing as real money. The point is, Christianity isn't about the stupid things some Christians say and do. It's about Jesus ...

Human history

All of human history as seen by the Bible is the history of God in search of man. In spite of man's failure, over and over, God does not abandon His hope to find righteous men. Adam, Cain, the generation of the flood, the generation of the Tower of Babel--it is the story of failure and defiance ... but the Lord did not abandon man, and in His search determined to choose Abraham, so that in him might "all the families of the earth be blessed."
Israel's faith is not the fruit of a quest for God. Israel did not discover God. Israel was discovered by God. the Bible is a record of God's approach to man.
--Abraham J. Heschel

From Sol Davidson

Without wood a fire goes out;
Without gossip a quarrel dies down.

hurricane haiku

From my publisher, Greg Sampson:

A hurricane sighs
Thoughts on gray clouds cross the skies
Downward the rain flies.

Out the power goes
Impounded electron flows
Mighty the wind blows.

Gray sky, ugly doom
Sitting in darkness, warm coke
Dogs huddled 'neath feet.

Charley, Frances, Jeanne
Five storms, one state, 2004
Bonnie, Ivan too.

Four storms strike one state
Texas 1886
Last time it happened.

Comes the aftermath
Sweltering humidity
Clouds of mosquitoes.

It's not fun till it's over and we can embellish our hurricane stories for our friends and audience! Nick.

two thoughts on hurricanes

1. The experts said Florida was due for a number of storms. I feel like a deadbeat whose creditors caught up with him all at once.

2. We're waiting for our FIFTH uninvited guest, Jeanne, in the last six weeks! This is Florida, unwanted guests who hang around far too long are supposed to come in the WINTER, not the SUMMER.

--keep smiling, Nick.

Lonely without God

"That's another good reason to stay here [among the Indians of Brazil]. This is home. Money means nothing to me. That should be obvious."
"You don't even know how much [your inheritance] is. It's eleven billion dollars."
"Is that supposed to impress me?"
"It got my attention."
"But you worship money, Nate. You're part of a culture where money is a religion. People live in a frenzy. They work all the time to make money to buy things to impress other people."
"Am I included?"
"Are you?"
"I suppose."
"Then you're living without God. You're a very lonely person, Nate. I can sense it. You don't know God."
--John Grisham, The Testament

What I Wish They'd Say

You're threatening to cut off my loved one's head, Mr. Terrorist?
Let me tell you something. We will hunt you down, your fellow terrorists, the leaders of your movement, and we will kill you like the vermin you are.
If you do not immediately release all captives, we will find you and there will be no mercy.
Every death is a martyr for freedom and peace, and every death makes us twice as determined that we will not give in and we will not run. We will win. And you know it. We will destroy you. Your only hope is to release all captives and disappear and stop your violent attacks.
Each time you risk making the mistake that will expose you and everyone with you. We are coming. Your days are numbered. We are closing in, and there will be no mercy. You are a dead man.

--what i wish someone would say when TV puts a camera on them because their husband, father, son, brother, cousin, &c. has been taken captive. Nick.

Predictions

1. Bush wins by 55-58% of the vote.
2. Dan Rather gone from CBS news by the end of the year. They'll pasture him in 60 minutes or some such like all their other past-their-prime horses.
3. Courts will continue their drive to usurp all power from the executive and legislative branches of government.
4. Iraq will hold elections on schedule; Iran will become the new crisis point.
5. A nuclear accident will take place in Iran showing what the terrorists have planned for us.
6. Osama bin Laden is dead.

divine forgiveness

One must not mistake divine forgiveness for indulgence or complacency. There is a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a blessing. Forgiveness is neither absolute nor unconditional. We may forgive the criminal; is it right to forgive the crime? I may forgive a wrong done to me, but do I have the right to forgive a wrong done to others? Unconditional forgiveness may be found in Pandora's box, a fine incentive to vice. Divine anger is a reminder that man is in need of forgiveness, and that forgiveness must not be taken for granted. The Lord is long-suffering, compassionate, loving, and faithful, but He is also demanding, insistent, terrible, and dangerous.
--Abraham Heschel, The Prophets

Grace is not cheap. N.T.

Partisans in enemy-held territory

How often do you stay in touch with the King who is your real commander-in-chief? Do you get his direction every morning, or are you out there in dangerous territory on your own, ignoring his urgent signals?

How do you react when you're busy with your daily life and come across someone's urgent, now-or-never need? Do you tell the oppressed prisoner of the dark world that you're busy now but you'll come back to your underground espionage job at two o'clock next Tuesday? Or do you prayerfully rearrange your daily life to fit the calling of your true job? I have news for you, dear saints. Ministry is always inconvenient.

--From The Veritas Conflict, Shaunti Feldhahn

Word choice

Gustave Flaubert, as quoted by Josip Novakovich in his book, Fiction Writer's Workshop:

Whatever you want to say, there is only one word that will express it, one verb to make it move, one adjective to qualify it. You must seek that word, that verb, and that adjective, and never be satisfied with approximations, never resort to tricks, even clever ones, or to verbal pirouettes to escape the difficulty.

NT: hmmmm, someone needs to tell MoveOn.org.

On Writing

Josip Navakovich on writing:

Remember that a reader cooperates with you; the reader will daydream, free-associate and imagine ... words ... open the internal movie houses, concert halls, restaurants and botanical gardens in your reader's head.

Imagination: why do our government schools bore it out of our children's minds?

Humor

From a new friend, I received the following quote:

I have been going quietly insane; lately, I've become more noisy.

How The Mighty Have Fallen Department: CBS news

Name Change

I changed the name because blogs are thoughts spilled onto the virtual diary page of the web. But Ponderables still indicates the purpose of what I will post to this log: something to ponder.

Today's Ponderable:
To err is human, it takes a government computer to really louse things up.
--Ronald Reagan

Political Question:
Is John Kerry pulling a Bob Graham--embarrassing his home state's voters so badly by his presidential campaign that they won't keep him in the Senate?

Ponderables

Ponderables are items quoted designed to make us think about the world we live in. Short, quirky, serious, and whatever. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post.