The Vanishing Stain

I had a wonderful Bible College Professor, John Stephenson who greeted every class with a cheery, "Good morning, Saints!". This served to remind us that we are no longer sinners lost in this world, rather - we are the redeemed, bought with a price and are seen by God as Justified by Christ.

what does it take to wash the stain?

There are times though when we feel more like sinners than the saints we are supposed to be. Why is it that, though sanctified by the Holy Spirit we still sin? Though set free, we go back to jail - even if we are "just visiting"? Though justified, at times we think "Just-if-I'd" do this / not do that - no one will notice, it's really no big deal. We already have been made right in God's eyes, but not yet do we always do right.

This past week I had the opportunity to lead our church's mid-week children's program. I love doing this; I enjoy the interaction with the kids, my heart melts as they worship Him, and my heart is ignited while teaching them the truths in God's Word. This week, one of the teaching tools was an object lesson intended to show the power of forgiveness. I practiced this small "experiment" prior to the lesson, but was largely unsuccessful. It involved a glass of water, red food colouring, and bleach. As I spoke about our lives (the glass of water), I mentioned the decisions we make, the things we do that are sins that change our lives, staining us and making us dirty. I let a drop of red food colouring splash into glass and it slowly distorted and stained the water. Then came the moment of truth - I poured in the bleach as I talked about Christ's work on the cross. His shed blood that takes away our sin, his forgiveness washing out our stain. Problem was, the food colouring was still there. A little muted perhaps, diminished by degrees, but definitely there. I quickly transitioned focus from the experiment to the truth of God's word and moved on to the next activity in another room. 15 minutes later, we came back to the main area where the object lesson was and one of the kids ran up and held up the glass and said, "look, it's clear!". I was reminded of the truth of what we already are, but have not yet realized. The bleach was already poured in, but it's effects were not fully realized until later.

Yes, there are times when we fail, fall, and come short of the mark. There are times when what God sees because of Jesus' work on the cross is a gross misrepresentation of what we really are. This whole "Already/Not yet" tension can be frustrating in many ways, but I am thankful. We are already justified, but not yet glorified - already purified, but not yet perfect - already sanctified, but not yet impeccable. I cannot wait for that day when the corruptible is made incorruptible, mortality will be clothed with immortality on that glorious day of His appearing! Grace is truly amazing, totally undeserved, and abundantly poured out on whosoever will believe. Thank you Lord for the vanishing stain.

Explaining My Month Long Absence

I know I've been gone awhile, and I made my return last night. However, I do feel I owe the readers an explanation so here it is:

Well, It's Like This, See...
Santa Clause kidnapped me a week before Christmas because he was behind in productivity. My jail-like cell was near his workshop where he drove me like a slave, forcing me to work almost 20 minutes every day.

When I wasn't at the workshop I could be found sample tasting macaroons, willowcrisps, rosebuds, and slowpokes, safety testing xbox 360's, watching the world Jr. Championships on the big screen HDTV's, or shopping at Walmart. But apart from that, I was in my cell at all times.

The cell was enclosed with steel-enforced candycanes and I was fed only milk and cookies for 4 weeks. I finally made my daring escape by painting a lightbulb red, securing it to a battery pack and tying the whole contraption around my head so the bulb was on my nose. After several futile attempts at using Jedi mind tricks trying to convince the guards that I was in fact Rudolph the red-nosed, wrongfully-deposed reindeer, I repeatedly banged my head against the wall. Oblivious to the pain, I smashed the bulb, causing the tiny shards of glass to make my nose look like it had been inserted into my mom's cuisinart on homemade bread day. This led to the elves transporting me to the North Pole Regional Health Centre (busy place). Following my recovery, they had pity on me and released me after reminding me to be good for goodness sake. Thanks Santa - thanks for ruining Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mr. Nobody

Who did it? Mr. Nobody of course! There have been a series of infractions at our house recently that have not yet had anyone take responsibility for. These have been relatively minor, but the more serious problem is that the perpetrator is not "owning up" to these transgressions. It does not require the deductive skills and forensic expertise of Horatio Crane or Gil Grissom to determine who in fact is the main suspect.

The first offence took place when the Christmas tree went up about a month ago. As the decorations found their way to the branches, it was shaping up quite nicely. Surprisingly however, the decorations began to find their way OFF the branches! Our youngest was trying to "help" decorate the tree. Problem is, these decorations are made out of a glass-like material that shatters when pressure is applied. Thus, when I stepped on a Christmas tree ball it shattered into 4 333 333 shards of lethal weaponry. After cleaning up the mess the conversation with my daughter went like this.

Dad: (calmly) "Karsyn, how did the decorations get on the floor"
Daughter: (innocently) "I don't know, Daddy"
Dad: (slowly, still calm) "hmmm. Well, how did these 7 balls all get hung on the same branch here by the floor"
Daughter: (a feigned innocence with a slight guilty insistence) "I don't know, Daddy"
Dad: (sternly) "Karsyn, you put these here didn't you"
Daughter: (confidently, knowing she's committed and now has to sell it) "No I didn't. It was Mr. Nobody." (as if she's solved the mystery)
Dad: (trying to hide a smile, needing to maintain paternal discipline) "Karsyn, it wasn't Mr. Nobody. A real person moved those. You and I were the only people in here and I did not move it. Did you move these decorations?" (attempting to get the confession for teaching purposes rather than admissible evidence)
Daughter: (past the point of no return, bold face lying) "No Daddy"
Dad: (Very stern, with a slight increase in enunciation, decrease in pace, and increase in volume) "Karsyn, you moved those decorations and now you are lying"
Daughter: (lip quivers, eyes cast down, nose wrinkles, and she is reduced to melting in a pool of her own tears) "whaaaaaaghhhhhh"

There have been several other situations which found the initial finger being pointed Mr. Nobody's way. How convenient that would be in real life wouldn't it? Who did that? - Mr. Nobody! Who didn't do what was supposed to be done? - Mr. Nobody!

We must be people who are willing to take responsibility for our actions - and our inactions. Matt.25:31-46 describes the final judgment. We best take heed of that scripture and these comments from Keith Green in his song, "The Sheep and the Goats": "And my friends, the only difference between the sheep and the goats, according to this scripture, is what they did, and didn't do!!"

Don't blame your mistakes and woulda/shoulda/coulda's on Mr. Nobody. Whatever you do, be a Somebody and make a positive difference with your life!

"Blogging - taste it again, for the first time"

Those who know me really well know that my favourite cereal is Kellogg's Cornflakes. In my formative years of the 80's and early 90's, the ad slogan was, "Kellogg's Corn Flakes: Taste them again, for the first time." Many a morning found me at our kitchen counter enjoying those crispy flakes of corn. I would lazily stare into the bowl, look up at the box, take a bite of my beloved flakes while waiting for the right time to sneak an extra spoonful of sugar as my mom busily worked around the kitchen preparing lunches.

Sitting here at the computer composing the first post on my blog in this new year reminded me of that slogan. It feels as though I am taking my first stab at this blogging thing after being M.I.A. for about a month! You skaters may relate if you think about those first few tentative strides you take in October/November after being off the ice since march/April. However, I'm starting to feel it again so hopefully I'm back and will be more regular. Speaking of that, and having already stolen one product slogan, I couldn't help but think that I could really use some specialized Exlax for Bloggers - "For regular bloggers who sometimes aren't." (that's my favourite tagline of all time BTW)

Seriously now, for those who have faithfully looked for a new post this past month only to find that I have been unfaithful in posting - I apologize. I do want to thank those who have asked for more or who even looked (thanks mom, thanks dad! [just kidding]) I actually know of at least 6 people who are after me for more - pretty encouraging!!! But alas, I still did not login and begin.

One of the things that finally got me going was an unsubstantiated premature report of my blogging death. (Now I know what the "Beatles" went through with that whole "Paul is Dead" thing) Check out this article on David Fisher's blog. This post I am presently composing is designed to do 3 things: 1. Prove to David that I still exist in cyberspace, thus assuring him that his mentoring efforts are not in vain; 2. Put something fresh up for my faithful readers (hoping to get into the double digits in '06!); 3. Get myself up in front of a computer and writing something... anything, to get going!

Please check out David's blog, linked above. That post is very punny. In fact, he has some great puns in several posts this week. Be sure to peruse in order to be amused! See ya again soon... promise.