Ok, so you asked.

Ok, so you asked. Why does the elder smile while serving the Lords Super? For certain it is because he knows the blessing that the Eucharist brings as a seal and a sign. By name it is a time of great thanksgiving. He would love to tell you that what the pastor is telling you is the concrete and utter truth of reality. God the Son, Jesus by name indeed did pay your debt of sin now and forever, this morning, the past, and the future. This is a time of magnificent and momentous joy. As a Methodist friend of mine who has gotten it right says, " joy is a theological term" that signifies fearful and wonderful expectation. As your elder looks you in the eye and silently smiles, know that it is for joy.
Ardick

do I want to...

Do I want to go to church this morning? I have much to do and think about and my work which is considered "acts of mercy or necessity" must be done even on a Sabbath. The morning is cool, moist, and cloudy in a way that promisses the same all the rest of a dark day. I can always give the excuse that my rounds went long. I could even intentionally go slow so that a late arrival would be considered no arrival. No one is going to look over my shoulder. It would be sensually pleasant to curl up with a book or audio sermon on tape and descend into a day long nap. Getting up for warmed soup and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is all that would be called for.
But I took a vow. After all, I am and have been called to be an Elder. People more than the physically ill are depending on me to set the example. I do find the company pleasant. The food is good.
But who is the "million pound gorrilla" in the room? He is God almighty. The maker of heaven and earth. He is the Holy one, pure in all his being and ways. He is the savior of my heart who paid my sin debt with his own blood and pain. He is the Spirit who sees all and records all. He is the one to whom in all the universe I have a debt of gratitude and praise. He is the only one I should seek out this day. His word is the only word worth listening to this morning. His glory is the only glory that counts today. His mercy is the flood that will fill my heart now. Any ministry that I may have, any pleasure that I might feel, any presence I need to seek today is his alone. All the rest follows as they say.
So, do I want to go to church today.... yes, to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.
Ardick.

catch up

What follow is the rest and the end of the line for the old site....

Friday, September 01, 2006

The story about the grease pit and the man is all in every detail true... and yes it did amazing things to his hand. The boss fired him on the spot and drove him to the ER. On his way out he handed me the tongs and said,"you have a new job."
What you do with grease after your are done with it is let it cool and carry it out to the grease dump where some one who has a worse job than you comes by and gathers it all together with all the other grease in town and then "recycles" it. Lovely thought there.
Don't you love run on sentences!

2 Comments:

At 2/9/06 6:03 AM, Shadow said...

I do love run-on sentences.

Greetings. It took me a few minutes to realize who you were ;)

At 2/9/06 10:07 AM, Alothë Ilissë said...

Wow, that grease story sounds gross.

catch up

what follow etc.....

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Though with a scornful wonder
men see her sore oppressed,
by schisms rent asunder,
by heresies distressed,
yet saints their watch are keeping,
their cry goes up, "How long?"
And soon the night of weeping
shall be the morn of song.

The church shall never perish!
Her dear Lord to defend,
to guide, sustain, and cherish,
is with her to the end;
though there be those that hate her,
and false sons in her pale,
against or foe or traitor
she ever shall prevail,

Samuel J. Stone, 1866

How long? To paraphrase Bunyons pilgrim, "longer than you want, and shorter than you expect."

catch up

what follows is the text from some older site blasted from reality by blogger in all its wisdom.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

It does not seem amazing to me that your friends from other countries would have different attitudes about water. Taste, texture, color, odor, consistency, and other forms of data as well as experience and education are all God given tools to use when asking the question, "Should I drink this?" As witnessed by the majority of the population of the planet, many of the most interesting diseases known are carried by water and there is not obvious clew to their presence. Ask you friends about their attitudes towards drinking water and it will tell you much about who they are and where they are going.
ardick

2 Comments:

At 10/9/06 6:18 PM, Cada said...

Hey Doc! I think it awesome that you got a blog and you will soon be linked. Hahah! I can tell by your opinion of water that you must be a doctor.

Caleb

At 12/9/06 5:48 AM, Alothë Ilissë said...

I'd never thought of it that way before (well, not until that conversation with my friend last week), but you're right. Since water is one of the most important substances for life, it makes sense that people's attitudes toward it would tell you something about who they are.

catch up

What follows is the text of several blogs from the past that did not get "moved foreward" when blogger in all its glory went to its new form. I will hence close out that other site never to return.

Friday, August 25, 2006

The shadows where the Mewlips dwell
Are dark and wet as ink,
And slow and softly rings their bell,
As in the slime you sink.

You sink into the slime, who dare
To knock upon their door,
While down the grinning gargoyles stare
And noisome waters pour.

Beside the rotting river strand
The drooping willows weep,
And gloomily the Gorcrows stand
Croaking in their sleep.

Over the Merlock mountains a long and weary way,
In a mouldy valley where the trees are grey,
By a dark pool's borders without wind or tide,
Moonless and sunless, the Mewlips hide.

The cellars where the Mewlips sit
Are deep and dank and cold
With single sickly candle lit;
And there they count their gold.

Their walls are wet, their ceilings drip;
Their feet upon the floor
Go softly with a squish flap flip
As they sidle to the door.

They peep out slyly; through a crack
Their feeling fingers creep,
And when they've finished, in a sack
Your bones they take to keep.

Beyond the Merlock mountains, a long and lonely road,
Through the spiders shadows and the marsh of Tode,
And through the wood of hanging trees and the gallows weed,
You find the Mewlips - and the Mewlips feed.

.... Old Tom B. had it right, the inner journey is no picnic.

ethics of daily living

As it turns out, I have to put up with not telling many more stories than I could ever share. The little box I work in is supposed to be sacred in several ways. One of which is that it is very wrong to divulge details of my work in a way that could be identifiable with another person. Good old Hippocrates got it right. The stories I hear are treasures of the human heart. They really do run the gambit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, as well as immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, and carousing. (I wonder if I am the only one to which this sound familiar.) There really are times of victory and humor. Even when I have to deliver the worst of news or when things appear bleak and all the world seems grey, I am reminded of the privilege of watching and participating in the lives of the people I see. The folks I meet are tremendously resilient. Humans even in despair are very flexible. The reflections of miracles in peoples eyes are a joy to my heart.

ardick

Camel diving

You really need to ask the bug, ala red baron, at the red days blog about "camel diving." She really is an expert.

Fall

Well, it has happened again. As the suburban garage door pulls open at 0600 this morning, it is clear that something has changed. The just off full moon greets me today with a cool breeze and moist touch of what can only be the first day of Fall. My calender does not wait for the solstice or some astronomical declaration. In Texas, the seasons are based upon the temperature. I can tell the summers when I walk bare foot in the morning by the thermal radiation that is still coming from the ground from the day before. The cats can tell also. They are frisky this morning and more insistent for their bowl to be filled. So, regardless of what the calender says, today is the first day of fall here in East Texas. I expect it will be a long Fall this year. It may last a long week before the ravages of winter come through.

The wet desert

The desert of New Mexico this year has exploded. Plants that would normally run and hide in a crevice or others that would attack without mercy with thorn and poison are now blooming in bright reds and yellows and blues and whites. (They still will attack without mercy) One multi branched cactus we saw that grows in groves and stands 4-6 feet tall was covered with red petaled flowers with yellow centers. Short legumes along the edges of disturbed ground with no defenses make ground hugging clouds of bright blue. The most dramatic sight we saw was along a bone dry creek bed. This lies as the low point on a plain of yellow dust that slowly slopes on both sides for three miles from the mountains with neither a rock or a rise. The only vegetation to be seen for 7-10 miles is a low grass that grows in clumps or a lonely stunted juniper. Along the stream bed at intervals of 15 feet, are growing single stalks of green that reach up about 5 feet. On each stalk is a brilliant set of five white petals each the size of your hand. These gently blow in the wind like some alien radio antenna. They only appear on the edges of the stream bed and faithfully follow the course as it winds gently towards the horizon.
The persistence and audacity of life in the creation is a wonder to behold and a sign post to us that God exists.

okf

ardicks adventures

ardicks adventures

ardicks adventures

Do you believe that God loves you? Do you really, in the depths of your soul, in your heart of hearts, in the quiet of the night, in your dying moment, in pain as in pleasure, beyond doubt, beyond despair, beyond all loss or gain… do you really know that God loves you? Can you cling to the root of Gods love when you have fallen over the cliff of hopelessness? When all the natural supports and allusions of self sufficiency are gone and all you have left are Gods promises and the memory of his nature, can you hold bare knuckled to the love of God?

Now read Hebrews 12:7-12 and look for the certainty that nothing at all matters in this world but your relationship with the creator. Remember Faithfull in the Pilgrims Progress and ask who was more blessed, Christian who survived to walk the narrow way to the river and cross in glory after many more episodes of struggle and glory or faithfull Faithfull who was taken to his father in persecution and torture. Nothing else matters: not life, not death, not comfort or security, not family, not beauty, not riches, not symetry, not ballance. You cannot Pretend that the rock hard and razor sharp divide between life and death is nonexistant. People were giving and being given in marriage the day before Noah was closed into the ark. Making long term plans and acting as if tommorrow will be just like today is effemeral.

ardicks adventures

ardicks adventures

Do you believe that God loves you? Do you really, in the depths of your soul, in your heart of hearts, in the quiet of the night, in your dying moment, in pain as in pleasure, beyond doubt, beyond despair, beyond all loss or gain… do you really know that God loves you? Can you cling to the root of Gods love when you have fallen over the cliff of hopelessness? When all the natural supports and allusions of self sufficiency are gone and all you have left are Gods promises and the memory of his nature, can you hold bare knuckled to the love of God?

Now read Hebrews 12:7-12 and look for the certainty that nothing at all matters in this world but your relationship with the creator. Remember Faithfull in the Pilgrims Progress and ask who was more blessed, Christian who survived to walk the narrow way to the river and cross in glory after many more episodes of struggle and glory or faithfull Faithfull who was taken to his father in persecution and torture. Nothing else matters: not life, not death, not comfort or security, not family, not beauty, not riches, not symetry, not ballance. You cannot Pretend that the rock hard and razor sharp divide between life and death is nonexistant. People were giving and being given in marriage the day before Noah was closed into the ark. Making long term plans and acting as if tommorrow will be just like today is effemeral.

Ardicks Adventures Continues

So what do you think?
"We cry down th elaw in respect of justification, but we set it up as a rule of sanctification. The law sends us to the gospel that we may be justified; and the gospel sends us to the law again to inquire what is our duty as those who are justified." "Yet we know that, for the substance of it (the law), it is the image of God, a beam of His holiness. The things therin commanded and forbidden are things morally, and therefore eternally, good and evil; nothing can alter the nature of them." The law is subservient to the Gospel. Its purpose is to convince and humble us, and the Gospel is to enable us to fulfill the obedience of the law." Theis was the great end of our redemption; He redeemed us from bondage and brought us into freedom, from slavery to service." Reference Luke 1:74 and Samuel Bolton.
ardick