Monthly Archives: November 2008

Pure in Heart

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I recently listened to a verse being read. It was from Matthew 5, and I confess that I cannot find what translation it’s from… certainly not any that I’m familiar with, if a well-known translation at all.

It went like this…

“Happy are the clear in heart, for they shall see God.”

For some reason, the word “clear” set off a whole series of new thoughts.

What would a clear heart be like? Like crystal. Not clouded or cluttered. Some sense of transparency would be there. An old book by Kierkegaard is titled “Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing”, and that came to mind too. A clear heart wouldn’t be fragmented or divided in its affections. Its focus would be… well… clear.

I used to take this verse as a promise of heaven in “the after” sense of life. But I’m not sure that’s the point.

A clear heart, a pure heart, a heart that wills one thing…

Someone possessing such a heart WOULD see God. He would be felt and sensed and known in ways that others wouldn’t and couldn’t experience. I used to think these words were a promise; I now wonder if they’re not simply a statement of fact.

If so, then indeed the clear of heart ARE happy.

And I’m feeling a stronger desire than usual to get in on some of that happiness.

So lead us there, Lord…

Taize

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This has done good things for my soul recently.

And no, some of you won’t like it at all.  Taize is this style of worship: Song, scriptures, spoken words all woven together that feels very “Catholic” or something like that.  But it crossed my path recently and brought me significant blessing.

They’ve got a great website to check out.  Click on the “MP3 and Podcast” link to check out what this is all about.  Their podcasts can also be downloaded for free from iTunes.

So go and be blessed.

Everything’s Amazing and Nobody’s Happy

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Watch this. You’ll laugh.

And you’ll nod and sigh and know that it’s all true too.  He’s got us pegged… well, maybe not “US” but for sure someone you know… who lives in your mirror.

PS: Giving credit… this was passed on to me by Blair, who stole it from Steve, who’s the big brother to my friend Tim, who used to be classmates with my wife, who comes home to me tonight.

God and Man

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Been meaning to post several things all weekend but it never happened so this will have to suffice for now.

Blaise Pascal…

“If man is not made for God, why is he only happy in God?
If man is made for God, why is he so opposed to God?”

I have no idea, Blaise.

But I’ve felt both of those feelings recently. In fact, life as I know it is pretty much a circle of cycling through those two places.

And all I’ve got at the moment is this…

Tonight I lay me down to sleep,
With confidence the Lord can keep,
All that is placed within His hands,
One small life given to His plans,
O Master, hold me close.

Loaning Cash and Winning Rice

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I just loaned out some money to a lady in Cameroon and some more to a guy in Cambodia.

Many of you are already aware of this site (www.kiva.org), but if you’re not, you’re officially overdue to get informed.  Their little standard invitation email that you can send to friends goes like this…

I wanted to let you know about Kiva (www.kiva.org), a non-profit that allows you to lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur in the developing world.

You choose who to lend to – whether a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq – and as they repay their loan, you get your money back.  It�s a powerful and sustainable way to empower someone right now to lift themselves out of poverty.

So now you know.

A friend put me on to another site as well.

Two nights ago, with barely sleeping baby on my shoulder, I earned over 1000 grains of rice, 10 grains at a time, for people in developing nations by answering trivia questions about our world.  So go forth, be smart, and feed people… www.freerice.com.  And explore the site some too.  On it is some intriguing information.  For example, did you know that my very own Canadian government has thus far declined to follow the lead of several European nations to give at 0.7% of its annual wealth to the developing nations.  Trust the Scandinavian countries to leave us in their nordic dust.

If you care to send a “spurring” letter to our own government, they are waiting to be found and sent right from the site.

That’s it.  Over and out.