Why Malchus's Ear?

When Peter went hacking away with his sword in the Garden of Gethsemane, he cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest.  Pastor pointed out that this was not just a humongous injury.  This was his EAR. 

Apostles are to preach.  They are to save people through their words.  Hack off the ear and the fellow cannot hear the word of mercy.  What Peter did was violent and hurtful, to be sure.  But even more, Peter interfered with the man's hearing.  When Jesus healed Malchus, it wasn't just fixing an owie.  The miraculous healing gave back to Malchus the organ through which he could hear the preaching which saves. 

Trusting in Which God?

Remember that part at the end of Narnia, where the Calormene fellow ends up in heaven confused, saying he worshiped Tash and not Aslan? 

Yeah, that's bothered me, like, forever.

Today I bumped into an article about a Lutheran gal who converted first to Roman Catholicism, which then [she said] made it easy to convert to Islam.  She went on her pilgrimage to Mecca.  It's sad to hear the bondage of the rules which must be done to get your brownie-points for making the pilgrimage, and what you can do to get yourself an exemption to some of the particulars while still racking up your brownie-points.

The woman rightly desires a conviction that "God is all I need or will ever need."  She says that those who have that trust will never be worried or discouraged.  That's quite a lot of pressure to measure up to, emotionally and mentally.  But I suppose it's true.  IF I had perfect faith in Jesus, I would never be worried or discouraged.  But that ain't gonna happen.  That's why He loves and forgives sinners  -- we can't be confident and perfectly full of trustingness.

What comes after "God is all I need"?  Statements like these:
"I realize that this is something I have to work on every day."
And talk about feeling God's presence.
And, "Now that I have experienced this pure connection to God, I want to maintain and grow it. The onus is on me to make the changes necessary to help this happen."

I want to grow this connection with God.
The onus is on me.

What happened to "God is all I need"?



I've heard Christians say, "God is all I need," but then focus on their following, their works, their praying, their feelings, their efforts to grow?  Which God are they worshiping?  How is it different from the Muslim god?

Update

Gary worked on the garage floor, cleaning it, filling in the rotting cement so that it just begins to smooth out a bit, and painting the floor.  A few more years of diligent upkeep and we might remedy the pitiful state the floor was in when we bought the house.  It looks SO much better already.


Can't seem to get the house cleaned.  Garden isn't put to bed either.

Maggie and I keep plugging away at some schoolwork.  I haven't gotten her to a second volunteer-job yet, though, which was high on the priority-list for this school year.

I was ill last week.  Now that I'm off the antibiotics, I suspect the problem may be returning.  I'm trying to do everything I can to fight it.  But I suspect my immune system is more compromised than I thought.  It may be a long, vitamin-C-filled, achy, garlicky, lazy winter.  It's so hard to know when you should plow stolidly ahead and when you should cry "uncle" and just stop and rest. 

Everybody thinks I've recovered better than I have.  I hate saying "no," especially when I want to assist with the projects that need to be done.   I guess I'm faking Adequacy well enough that people expect me to be back to normal.

Three new babies this week for friends.  And an engagement.  And a friend released from the hospital.  So much happy news out there!

Now that sunset is earlier, the huge glass windows at work have become mirror-like at the end of the day.  I didn't realize until yesterday how much I'd been avoiding looking in mirrors.  So many people have complimented my short haircut.  I've been told that it's chic, trendy, cute, becoming, and a bevy of other nice adjectives.  Nevertheless, I still don't like it.  But that's been okay because I seldom see myself.  Now at work, I can't avoid facing up to my super-short haircut. 

I started watching the series "Doc Martin."  LUVving it!   Thanks to Lora for recommending it!

Right now I'm reading a biography of a guy who suffered a brain injury and became a synesthete.  For some reason, the book is beginning to creep me out.  I can't figure out why, but it really bothers me that he insists there is no such thing as a circle; he sees everything as angles, squares, triangles.  He pretty much sees everything as pixelated.  And I believe there are circles.  It seems theological to me, and I can't pin down why.  I'm glad Maggie and I are still enjoying the joy of Anne books, and that I'm still not done with the Mitford books.  Katie suggested that I'm spoiled by the lovely books and don't have patience with most of what's available these days.  She's right.

One of those serendipitous homeschooling things:  Maggie and I have a few different things going for school right now that hit on worldviews and how macro-evolution has affected so much in academia.  We keep bumping into the same thing from different perspectives.  That probably adds to my impatience with waste-o-time books and movies.  There's so much in the world that is good and beautiful -- let's enjoy them instead of [ahem] facing reality. 

Signed,
the ostrich

Being Glorified

Such a tight link between justification and glorification!

Romans 8:  Whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Notice that "glorified" is a past tense verb?  It's not just a "some-day" thing; it's a done deal.  It's happened.  And it happened because we were declared righteousness (aka, "justified").

And what does Simeon sing?  "My eyes have seen Thy salvation ... the glory of Thy people Israel."  Our glorification is that we have been saved from our sin.