Esotropiart

As I was riding over to my friend Marcus' apartment, I did a very foolish thing. I woke up to an empty apartment again, my only company being the Holy Spirit of God. Not even the stuffed animals are true company because they don't exist, except in my imagination :) So after doing little more than talk to the only Company that matters this morning I called Marquis Eden to see what's up.

Turns out I had an appointment with destiny's child, the blackened pavement of doom and destruction. Huh? I said I fell on my face but was protected once again from severe injury. I've been asked several times by well meaning people, "How do you ride while holding that huge drink?" My answer used to be a short quip, "Eh, I do it all the time." True. True.

The new answer is this: "I grab one side of the handlebars with both of my hands and crash into the pavement." What's so cool about that? I call it the one man Oktoberfest. It's so close to Halloween that I felt compelled to dress up as "Bloody Knee and Sweaty Shirt Boy." Let me tell you my friend Marcus was really impressed with my sneaky disguise when I arrived.

My episode became an instant classic as people stopped on the road to check out the scene. I did several bows as the crowd cheered. Little did they know I'm a highly skilled stuntman and am planning to do this one man parade every year around this time... gonna put Beaverton on the map for good! Forget the Rose Festival, Bloody Knee and Sweaty Shirt Boy is in town!

As those in Australia would say, "Bloody knee!" Here in this wild west country we simply say, "hocus pocus alimagocus", and the astonished audience sits in juxtaposition, superimposed with algebraic formulas and wah wah inquisitional platitudinous injestion!

Truth be told, read the above story minus the part about me being a stuntman. I have no skills, but I like Jackie Chan. He's el stuntman extraordinaire, risking life and limb for the sake of entertainment! Woo hoo! Or perhaps I should say wu shu!

It's interesting to me how God must be watching out for us. Not just me, not just the ones who call Him "God" or the ones who fall down in worship to Him. He looks "down" on all people and in grace, sustains the entire world by His hand. I might have died today or been severely injured. Let me tell you some things about the facet of the world called "bike safety". When you need to change your brakes, do it. Because if you hold a huge pop when you ride around (most people do these days because without safety hints like mine, it's unknown what you should or shouldn't do - it's simply not common knowledge!), you only have one hand to brake, and if that particular brake doesn't work very well and you approach a red light, you might be tempted in a bind to reach over and grab the other brake with your free hand, and then you will fall head over heels in love with black destiny pavement child. Or was it destiny's child, aka the blackened pavement of doom and destruction? Perhaps it's just about time to call it quits and stop writing so much in my blog. Sounds like a dumb idea to me...

Don't worry about "not the stuntman" aka Superman. I'm quite alright. I may have a bit of a bloody knee and bruised heel... but the One whose heel was bit has crushed the head of Satan... and that same One protects me as long as my life endures, which the number of days only He knows! Remember, Jesus was bruised for us! Whomever crushes Satan, it is Christ... for we are His body, of which He is the Head! May His name be forever praised!

And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.

Genesis 3:15 NKJV

And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

Romans 16:20 NKJV

Want power? Well, don't! But rather seek first His Kingdom and His will. Seek to know the One who calls you out of darkness.

The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."

He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

Luke 10:17-20

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

Matthew 28:18-20 NKJV

"Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Matthew 6:31-34 NKJV

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Ephesians 1:18-23

Do you want freedom over the darkness in your life? Do you believe Jesus is Lord of all by His death and resurrection from the dead? If you answer "Yes" to the second question, then the first question is already answered for you. It is not by might, not by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord Almighty that all things are possible. Without Him, nothing is possible at all. Do you want the authority to be free, to call Jesus "Lord" and not be rejected by Him in heaven before God? Accept the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Way to heaven, the only way to the One and Only Father and Creator of heaven and earth. There simply is no other name by which men can be saved!, no other Gate by which we can enter the safety of His rest. It is only by the power of Jesus Christ that we can be declared before the majesty of God on His throne to be dark free.

The Jesus whom I preach is the One who has authority over Scripture. Why? Because He wrote it. Do you think it was written by the hand of man? True, but these men were filled with the Holy Spirit of God, every one!

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:14-17 NIV

Do you think you can learn all there is to know about the Bible by reading it once through? In Jesus' day there were men whose entire life was summed up by reading and studying the Torah... and they entirely missed the point! They missed the fact that it is all talking about Jesus! Will we who read now regard it as mere words on a page and think we have found better truth than they did? I tell you no! It is by the Spirit of God that these things were written, and it is by the same Spirit that they can be understood!

Is the Bible just a book of stories and anecdotes that some fools wrote thousands of years ago? Why has it topped the charts for all this time? What makes it so special? Why do I and millions of other people care? Why is Jesus different from the rest of the "religious leaders" and sects of the world? Will you be the judge of such things? I pray for you that you dare not! Our best hope of knowing the Scriptures well is to rely not on our own understanding, but in the fact that if we are in Christ - by the redemptive work of His blood on the cross - we have His Spirit in us, and our minds no longer need be darkened by the deception of this world.

However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written:

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

I Corinthians 2:6-16 NKJV

Who is this "Jesus"? I'm not noble or wise, nor am I good with words. My speech is weak, and only with my computer (Google searches and Biblegateway) and bits and pieces of the Word that God has written in my heart can I even begin to tell you who this Jesus is. But I will continue to try. I will seek to learn more each day for as long as His breath continues to ebb and flow through my lungs. My mind is clear on these things, why? Because Jesus Himself has made it so. Otherwise I was in a drunken stupor, before the Lord equipped me for His works, ones I presume by faith He prepared for me before the foundation of the world. That His name be above all other names, that a name, a word, a gesture, a breath - may they all return to Him, for He is the One who made them all!

They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are - the Holy One of God!"

"Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching - and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

Mark 1:21-28 NIV

I hope you are amazed and bewildered by the words in green. For they are the very Word of God. They have crushed me, yet I rejoice, for the sword that slices to divide me is the very power of God! There's something amazing going on here. It's no joke. I'm no impostor, nor am I trying to convince anyone that I'm cool and wise. Jesus is making all things new... and He is answering the prayers of you, my friends, who are praying. Doubt the words I speak all you want, for my existence is but a breath, a fading color. However, don't doubt the power of God, who is able to do all things. I point anyone who looks at me to the Father of Lights. I would prefer to be nameless and let my name be swallowed up by the name that is above anything or anyone who even has substance or being so that we as men give it a name with the scattered letters and characters devised as languages. His name is Jesus. He has the power. He has the grand ultimate fist, and there is no power available to gather or muster that can question or challenge His. The rest are myths and shadows compared to the glorious splendor of His Light. Drop all to void once again, as it was in the beginning, for the rest is as silent before Him, the glory of this age and the one to come!

And pray for my knee that hurts a bit... for I have no money for a doctor, for I'm just a monkey's uncle :)

And then someone says, "Didn't you know that you lose credibility when you combine such silly things with really serious things?" Well good. That's the mysterious way I was made! If God can use a fool, He can use anyone, right? I hope so, otherwise I'm absolutely hopeless! Yet my hope is in Him. Besides, as I mentioned above, it's the green words that matter. The rest is gangrene in comparison.

Ha! I challenge you, Google. Try to index this one in the proper place! I bet you can't! Oh, whoops. That probably means they won't even try. Man, what was I thinking!? Yes, I'm a web designer. I know better... but do I care right now? No... I don't have time to care. I guess that means I'll have to make up for it by writing a niche post that is really specific and well structured, with well-placed keywords aplenty... or just another fun, scatter-brained, mixed-bag one.