Tag: worship

Plans for you

On By Charis PsalloIn Mountains, Photography, Sky, Uncategorized10 Comments

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

(Jeremiah 29:11)

I often wonder if many of the people who buy lovely posters and trinkets with this scripture verse printed on them are aware of the context. Jeremiah gives this message to a people who are in the midst of the worst possible calamity they could imagine. He writes quite clearly that they face a 70 year exile. He tells them to plant gardens, build houses and seek the welfare of the people who destroyed the Judean way of life.

God’s timetable can be so different from ours. We can be assured God is at work even we can’t see what he is up to.

One of the people who read Jeremiah’s letter was Daniel. Think of it, Daniel was in service to a man who destroyed or confiscated his family’s property, removed their rights and freedoms, probably killed many friends and relatives and to top it off turned him into a eunuch, which has got to qualify as traumatic sexual abuse.

And yet, and yet…

Daniel is a faithful and trusted civil servant. When he interprets the king’s dream, which he knows is bad news, he says that he wishes the dream was about the king’s enemies and not the king himself.  In spite of severe persecution he is faithful to his God, and God allows him to see beyond his circumstances. God lets him in on his plans, even though Daniel doesn’t have a grid for what he sees.

I stopped for lunch near the Alberta border a couple of days ago and I read my Bible as I sipped a thermos of coffee. The passage for the day was about Jesus taking his closest friends up a mountain where they were allowed to see him transfigured into a brilliant figure talking with Moses and Elijah (the law-giver and the prophet).  The guys were overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do with such an experience.

Then came the hard part, the part their Master told them about several times, the part where he was arrested, sentenced, and executed. In those dark days before his resurrection, they must have wondered what that mountaintop experience was all about. What power must have been at work beyond their valley experience! The fulfillment of God’s plans were already in motion as the promise of the ages was arising in that dark place.

As I meditated on this passage I glanced over to my left, towards Crowsnest Mountain. This is what I saw. It was a pay-attention moment.

(Click on photo for larger version)

Thank You!

On By Charis PsalloIn Art, Flowers, PhotographyLeave a comment

 

For even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these

“Go your way.

Eat the fat and drink sweet wine

and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready,

for this day is holy to our Lord.

And do not be grieved,

for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

(Nehemiah 8:10)

For my American friends, Happy Thanksgiving!

Effect and Result

On By Charis PsalloIn Photography, Trees and forests, Water2 Comments

Photo: Planted by the water

And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness,
quietness and trust
forever.
(Isaiah 32:17)

Value –added

On By Charis PsalloIn Black and white, Man made, Mountains, Photography, Sky, Trees and forests, Uncategorized12 Comments

More black and white photos:

November River
November River

Forever in our Hearts
Forever in our Hearts

Deborah, the girl with the pen, commented on the first Value blog that black and white photos have a starvation feel. I do think they are bare bones kind of images with a “just the facts, ma`am“  kind of attitude.

Christianity is full of colourful variations in worship style but I feel John gave us a bare bones definition of worship right here:

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:13-16)

Remembering the Future II

On By Charis PsalloIn Mountains, Photography, Sky, Trees and forests, WaterLeave a comment

And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight

The sky be rolled back like a scroll

(From “It is Well with My Soul”)

Rock of Ages

On By Charis PsalloIn Photography, Uncategorized6 Comments

Photo: Sinclair Canyon, Radium. B.C.

On the way to my father’s house this week I needed to pass through this cleft in the rock at Radium, B.C. The gap is barely wide enough for a two lane road and a stream. The stream pours through and falls dramatically into the valley below.

It reminds me of God’s provision in the wilderness when rocks were split and water poured out for the children of Israel. This is a symbol of Christ, the Rock, who was struck and wounded for us. As the old hymn says:

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyes shall close in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee

This cleft rock in the pass also reminds me of that time at Meribah when the people were again grumbling. God told Moses not to hit the rock again , but to speak to it. Moses, for some reason -perhaps in anger and frustration with those who questioned his leadership- decided to go for the drama and smacked it with his rod.

That moment cost Moses dearly. Later we read about him on Mount Pisgah (which coincidentally means cleft or split, in case Moses forgot). God took him up there so he could see the promised land, but he himself could not enter it. As great a hero as Moses was, God would not be upstaged.

No matter how great a ministry someone may have, whether it involves signs and wonders and miracles and fireworks or even flying mountains and chariots of fire racing around the Daytona track, if the person through whom God chooses to work steps into the spotlight him or herself they will only see the fulfillment of promises from a distance -alone.

Seriously.

 Don’t be under any illusion: you cannot make a fool of God! A man’s harvest in life will depend entirely on what he sows. If he sows for his own lower nature his harvest will be the decay and death of his own nature. But if he sows for the Spirit he will reap the harvest of everlasting life by that Spirit. Let us not grow tired of doing good, for, unless we throw in our hand, the ultimate harvest is assured. Let us then do good to all men as opportunity offers, especially to those who belong to the Christian household. (Galatians 6:7-10)

Chasing the clouds away

On By Charis PsalloIn Mountains, Sky, Trees and forests, Uncategorized7 Comments

Photo: The storm from Haha Creek road

Photo: storm clouds leaving

I just needed to quickly run an errand, but I saw the light and had to follow it. I was on the edge of the clouds as they kept moving eastward. Two hours later…

I love that the name of the road is Haha Creek Road. Laughter chasing the dark blue storm clouds away.

He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. (Psalm 2:4)

Mountain Shadow Mountain Light

On By Charis PsalloIn Mountains, Trees and forests, WaterLeave a comment

Photo: Fisher Peak autumn

Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it;
    shout, O depths of the earth;
break forth into singing, O mountains,
    O forest, and every tree in it!

                                                 –Isaiah