How insignificant...

we humans can be when compared with so much of God's creation. Take, for instance, the Redwood tree...

Can you see the gentleman in the middle? How small he is compared even to the trunks of the fallen trees? This made me think of the Joyce Kilmer poem:

Trees

 I think that I shall never see

a Poem as lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is 'prest

against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

and lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

a nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain,

who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

but only God can make a tree.

If you'd like to see more pictures like the one above, visit here.

What can touch us?

"No man or company of men, no power on earth or heaven can touch that soul which
is abiding in Christ with first passing through His encircling presence and receiving the 
seal of His permission. If God be for us, it matters not who may be against us; nothing
can disturb or harm us, except He shall see it best for us."
                                                             Hannah Whitall Smith

Noblesse Oblige

...is the obligation of the nobility to the poor much like Luke 12:48 "...From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." When this first appeared in print the early 1800's, the concept was there, but not the terminology.


Translated from the French, noblesse oblige means "nobility obligates." Originally, the term was used to suggest that certain requirements of behavior could be legitimately imposed upon persons of noble birth. Noblesse oblige in modern English is a broad concept which implies that anyone who possesses special talents or gifts is required by society to make the best use of those gifts; that he or she is duty-bound to do his or her best. It is required by society, but even more so by God.

What if we took this principle to heart and believed that we are held personally accountable for our stewardship. What if we knew there is a direct correlation between what we are given and what we give. God looks not only at how well we open our heads, our hearts and  our hands, but also at the attitude with which we do these things.


In 1994, Forbes magazine profiled a man who lived in the USA but was the son of a Czechoslovakian aristocrat who fled the Republic at the age of 10. When the Czech government was democratized he was able to reclaim his family's wealth and estates. His holdings are vast and include castles, artwork by the masters, a phenomenal library, original musical manuscripts by Mozart and Beethoven, thousands of acres, a vineyard and a brewery (dating from 1466) and well, you get the picture. The surprising fact is, rather than sell off the bulk of these holdings and make himself obscenely wealthy, he has taken a different approach:   "We are merely custodians of the cultural treasures that must be preserved for future generations" (Berman, 1994).
He feels it is his obligation to maintain these irreplaceable objects for the people of the Czech Republic. Societal pressures here compels him to act selflessly and honorably—the very essence of noblesse oblige.

The strength and power of this concept can be rightfully applied to Christians. If we know the depths of God's love and mercy and if we know that His grace is available to all who will call upon His name, then we are obligated by His word and this concept to show the world "a life lived in Christ". Who among us can deny that to call ourselves Christians is the very definition of noble? ..."possessing outstanding qualities"...Not through any work we may have done but by the grace of God. Who can hold to such a gift and not share it with a hurting and troubled world?


We are blessed to hold the key to locking up the evil that prevails in our world. We are called upon by God to share this key with anyone and everyone. We are obligated to share so that the world may know what manner of God we serve. Noblesse Oblige...

Noblesse Oblige

...is the obligation of the nobility to the poor much like Luke 12:48 "...From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." When this first appeared in print the early 1800's, the concept was there, but not the terminology.

Translated from the French, noblesse oblige means "nobility obligates." Originally, the term was used to suggest that certain requirements of behavior could be legitimately imposed upon persons of noble birth. Noblesse oblige in modern English is a broad concept which implies that anyone who possesses special talents or gifts is required by society to make the best use of those gifts; that he or she is duty-bound to do his or her best. It is required by society, but even more so by God.

What if we took this principle to heart and believed that we are held personally accountable for our stewardship. What if we knew there is a direct correlation between what we are given and what we give. God looks not only at how well we open our heads, our hearts and  our hands, but also at the attitude with which we do these things.

In 1994, Forbes magazine profiled a man who lived in the USA but was the son of a Czechoslovakian aristocrat who fled the Republic at the age of 10. When the Czech government was democratized he was able to reclaim his family's wealth and estates. His holdings are vast and include castles, artwork by the masters, a phenomenal library, original musical manuscripts by Mozart and Beethoven, thousands of acres, a vineyard and a brewery (dating from 1466) and well, you get the picture. The surprising fact is, rather than sell off the bulk of these holdings and making himself obscenely wealthy, he has taken a different approach:   "We are merely custodians of the cultural treasures that must be preserved for future generations" (Berman, 1994).

He feels it is his obligation to maintain all these irreplaceable objects for the people of the Czech Republic. Societal pressures here compels him to act selflessly and honorably—the very essence of noblesse oblige.

The strength and power of this concept can be rightfully applied to Christians. If we know the depths of God's love and mercy and if we know that His grace is available to all who will call upon His name, then we are obligated by His word and this concept to show the world "a life lived in Christ". Who among us can deny that to call ourselves Christians is the very definition of noble? ..."possessing outstanding qualities"...Not through any work we may have done but by the grace of God. Who can hold to such a gift and not share it with a hurting and troubled world?

We are blessed to hold the key to locking up the evil that prevails in our world. We are called upon by God to share this key with anyone and everyone. We are obligated to share so that the world may know what manner of God we serve. Noblesse Oblige...

The face of evil

There are days when there are just no words, when the specter of evil overshadows us all, and we feel feeble and dwarfed by its presence. Witnessing an unprovoked attack on innocent people—be it a bombing, a shooting rampage, or some other atrocity—often renders us speechless. Yet speak we must. There must be words not only denouncing such evil, but also prayers unto heaven that cry out for justice and succor in the aftermath.

It may seem that evil has the upper hand.

But Pat Gohn reminds us of Divine Providence...read her words here...

Come ye Sinners...

The Wesley Singers from Tennessee Tech University visited our church recently...they sang beautifully...



Although this is not their version, I felt the need to share the song...what an appropriate choice for the Lenten season!

Pillar of Fire

Exodus 13:21-22
21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. 22 He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.

Although this image was taken during a fire and according to the article is called a "Fire Tornado", I couldn't help but wonder if the pillar of fire God used to help the Israelites may have looked like this.

As a child I would conjure images in my head as my Grandmother read me stories from the Bible. It was awe inspiring (even before I knew the meaning of the word) to think of what the Pillar of Fire would look like to the people. What more did they want to know with certainty that the God of Abraham was rescuing them from bondage?

Although there have not been any reported pillars in recent history, it's enough to know that God did it once, and could do so again...if the need arose.

The Source

Although this is a novel, as in many such writings, there are nuggets of truth and explanation. In the following passage, Michener does an excellent job of describing God, our God, in the early days of history when man struggled to understand. Much like many do today. Zadok is a man who knows his god and yet marvels at him. He is reverent but also fearful. Who can begin to grasp the omnipotence of God and not stand in awe? A God who can create and control the universe and yet be mindful of such a minute part of his creation. What a glorious God we serve...

From “The Source” by James A. Michener:

“ ...he was also a spiritual man whose tired eyes could see beyond the desert to those invisible summits of the imagination where cool air existed and where the one god, El-Shaddi lived. In later generations people who spoke other languages would translate this old Semitic name, which actually meant he of the mountain, as God Almighty, for through devious changes El-Shaddi was destined to mature into that god whom much of the world would worship. But in these fateful days, when the little group of Hebrews camped waiting for the signal to march westward, El-Shaddi was the god of no one but themselves; they were not even certain that he had continued as the god of those other Hebrews who had moved on to distant areas like Egypt. But of one thing Zadok was sure. El-Shaddi personally determined the destiny of this group, for of all the peoples available to him in the teeming area between the Euphrates and the Nile, he had chosen these Hebrews as his predilected people, and they lived within his embrace, enjoying security that others did not know.

He was a most difficult god to understand. He was incorporeal, yet he spoke. He was invisible, yet he could move as a pillar of fire. He was all-powerful, yet he tolerated the lesser gods of the Canaanites. He controlled the lives of men, yet he encouraged them to exercise their own judgment. He was benevolent, yet he could command the extinction of an entire town—as he had done with the town of Timri when Zadok had been a child of seven. He lived in all places, yet he was peculiarly the god of this one group of Hebrews. He was a jealous god, yet he allowed non-Hebrews to worship whatever lesser gods they pleased.

As Zadok chipped away at his flint, he knew that the mountain in which El-Shaddi was supposed to live did not exist in any ordinary sense of the word, for it would be offensive to imagine so powerful a god as limited to one specific place, with a tent, a couch and a concubine; no sensible man would commit himself to a god so restricted. El-Shaddi was a deity of such all pervasive power that he must not be tied down to one mountain, unless the mountain were like the god himself---distant and everywhere, above and below, not seen, not touched, never dying and never living, a one god towering over all others, who existed in a mountain of the imagination so vast that it encompassed the entire earth and the starry heavens beyond.”