Psalm 119: Ayin 121-128

Posted on January 7, 2017 by ehurst

This is the Way of Wrath. We work from the image of a sheik come to inspect an outpost of his domain. There is a high probability that he will find something unpleasing and will correct the deficiencies. Those of who are truly loyal will be glad to have even harsh corrections from him, while those who have been serving their own interests will resent his wrath. Our psalmist places himself among the loyal looking forward to having his Lord come and restore things to good order, because he has long endured the minority position of putting his Master’s interests first.

Thus, he trembles with delight at the thought of his Lord arriving. All this time he has sincerely obeyed the Lord with a clear conscience. As far as he is concerned, the Master’s will is the definition of good and right. He prays that this visit will not see him subjected again to the command of those who don’t have a clue about moral justice. Having bound his fate to the expressed will of God, he has every reason to expect that God will bail him out of this bad situation. He humbly waits the crushing of those who arrogantly ignore divine revelation.

How long has he gazed at the horizon, waiting the ensign that signifies his Lord’s approach? While others rightly dread His arrival, the psalmist can’t wait for a fresh expression and explanation of what the Lord desires. He has reason to expect God’s mercy because that’s the promise. He’s ready to learn what he could do better to please the Lord.

Indeed, the first words from his mouth will be a humble request to be corrected. He begs for discernment to understand the message implicit in the record of God’s decisions. Again, he celebrates in anticipation that the promised Day of Wrath will fall on those who have flouted His Law.

It is God’s faithfulness that makes the psalmist treasure the Word of God; it’s better than the best of refined gold. “Keep your money,” he tells the corrupt, for he has a treasure in his heart and will not be bribed. He struggles to find words for the fire of anticipation for having everything put right, and he wonders how he endured the deceptions of the wicked for this long.

Posted in bible | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Psalm 119: Ayin 121-128

Keeping it Real

Posted on January 7, 2017 by ehurst

I’m hoping I can draw a rather complete image for you in terms of moral implications. It’s too easy to be drawn off course by propaganda.

Let me recall to your mind The Cult. Let’s remind ourselves that it’s a matter of moral influences, not people; that’s how the Devil and his demons work. God’s moral character is all about persons, and everything is personal, but the Kingdom of Darkness is all about dehumanizing and depersonalizing everything. Thus, we understand demonic activity as impersonal moral influences. The attack on you and me should not be seen as personal in nature, lest we get caught up on a pity-party. It’s just the way things are.

The Cult works through human governments, and the various actors have widely ranging levels of awareness about what really matters here. Even the Cult is deceived, but knows far more about the truth than most of the folks used by the Cult. The damnedest lie is the one closest to the truth. None of this is a matter of absolute truth. This is not a question of orthodoxy, but a parabolic approach that will work for most of those influenced by Western culture. We raise up symbols that our minds can use to frame a response that glorifies our Creator.

You should already understand how the entire Western approach to government and social policy is founded squarely on materialism. Simply observing what officials claim is important will tell you that. For government, every citizen is merely an economic unit. While the system recognizes that we peasants are motivated by personal loyalties, the system itself ignores them internally when making decisions. For example, the whole purpose of the Child Welfare system is aimed at terrorizing parents. The business of “child welfare” as a concept is merely a matter of economic investment in a future worker. The notion that a child’s welfare is truly a matter of emotional wellbeing is confined to the most superficial considerations that deny anyone is actually human. We are mere animals with vulnerabilities to be exploited for the purpose of coercion.

When I write about “social stability” as summing up the purpose of God’s Law Covenants, it is not at all the same thing as what Western governments mean by “social stability.” We are aiming at a moral influence that creates the optimal context for human life as the goal itself — the Law is its own reward. Governments are aimed at economic stability, and simply rename it “social stability.” Government activity works to smooth the economic chart line of human activity. Their aim is reduction of anything that hinders measurable material production and consumption. Don’t forget that consumption is a part of the formula; that’s why welfare clients are so important to the system. Without them, the mechanism of profit at the top of the system wouldn’t work properly. It’s all about the velocity of money flowing through the system. Those who actually pull the levers of power know this, despite all the rhetoric of economic efficiency. Ignore the debate rhetoric. They aren’t going to actually cut welfare payments, but redefine who receives them so that the profit shifts to another part of the competing teams of plutocrat society we cannot see directly.

A biblical definition of “social stability” allows for a lot more economic disruption than Western plutocrats can tolerate. That’s because God’s Laws don’t allow for the existence of those plutocrats. Obey biblical law and the plutocrats will starve. Our approach results in a form of social stability too messy for their tastes. To be honest, there is no ideal in biblical moral law. God fully expects a reality that is messy, with a majority of folks never quite rising above their fleshly concerns and living by the heart-mind. Yes, the Law presumes that there will never be more than a slender minority walking by the heart. It presumes a preponderance of materialism in any given population. But it promises that the heart-led could rule if we obey, to include all that visionary stuff of what we might do when we are in charge. But it also assumes that such a situation will not hold long or often. So in broad general terms, we aren’t supposed to run the show, but siphon off a few here and there who begin pulling out of the worldly system. We can influence political results, but we are forbidden thinking we can own them.

With that in mind, I offer this link: The Fourth Generation War. This explains how the net result of government is keeping wars going by feeding both sides. Yes, we have government agents throughout the Middle East training and funding both ISIS and al-Qaeda, while the same governments send troops to fight ISIS and al-Qaeda. Yes, there are specific events where our own CIA planted booby traps to bomb our troops. Yes, assassins and suicide bombers are typically sent into action by the CIA and other allied clandestine agencies against our own people. And yes, they know and applaud the resulting terrorizing of Western civilian populations, wherein radicalized nuts do crazy things with bombs, guns and trucks. The guy who drove that big rig through the Christmas market in Berlin was transported by German intelligence to the place where he could hijack the truck. It wasn’t about the actual level of death and destruction, but a chance to provoke hysteria.

The West’s enemies are created and driven by western governments. That’s how the plutocrats profit; they need no other motive. When you understand this, it allows you to let go of a lot anxiety. Then you can get down to the business of staying focused on your divine calling; you can devote more energy to the moral calculus of what’s actually likely to happen.

And by the way, as a side note: We could easily develop an economic system that doesn’t depend so much on petroleum, but it’s kept in check by the petroleum plutocrats. I have been personally very close to situations when technology was literally confiscated by “men in black” and the inventor threatened or jailed to silence him. A more celebrated example is Tesla’s lab notes confiscated by agents (both government and private) of his competitor. A lot of folks die without much public notice simply because their God-given talents threaten some plutocrat prerogative.

Posted in sanity | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Keeping it Real

Down Time Today

Posted on January 6, 2017 by ehurst

Okies don’t do snow. That is, just a little bit of snow can bring everything to a halt because there is precious little infrastructure designed with snow in mind, not a lot of resources for dealing with snow once it falls, and not many drivers who take the time to develop skills and habits that match snow. We got a couple of inches overnight and schools are closed today. Besides, it’s 14°F (-10C) outside. That means frozen pipes in a lot of abodes where the residents didn’t take appropriate measures, particularly our high number of mobile homes. In other words, this is a bit much for folks around here.

Despite growing up and learning to drive in Alaska, I’m also not too eager to run outside for frivolous reasons. I am well equipped for it, and I would jump to help someone in need, but even my daily habit of picking up trash is pointless right now. Yesterday was snowless but almost as cold, so I did laundry and moved some furniture into a more pleasing configuration for our activities. Today I’ll be spending time on something I pursue periodically: the underbelly of independent information on the Net.

There is a point to this. Buried in the morass of noise and schlock is the occasional gem of information not available elsewhere. For example, you won’t find too much information about the Franklin Scandal or Dutroux Affair on mainstream websites. What you do find on such sites is too thin to really portray the depth of depravity, and they certainly won’t name names. For example, the Bush clan was neck deep in Franklin, and a lot of other big name Republicans could be pulled down if they hadn’t murdered the only folks fearless enough to dig into it. Let me assure you of this: every Republican politician with national experience knows all about this and will not talk about it. All of that information is marginalized and pushed into the Internet underbelly. It’s posted there because the folks who run those sites are willing to host just about anything that might draw eyeballs.

Had I not seen some of the crazy stuff like that with my own eyes during my time in military uniform, I would never have taken of this seriously. Let me try to establish something in your minds: A significant portion of folks involved in government secrecy are moral perverts. Either they come into that way with damaged morals ready to serve the government’s foul purposes, or they get that way because it’s a necessary element of the job.

So if you hang out with, say, military intelligence folks, you’ll find some of the most bizarre deviance you could imagine. It’s not just sex, but it’s the whole range of fleshly sin, pushing into the darkest corners of everything you’ve heard of, and much you could not imagine. Even people who volunteered in the NATO Chapel with me, supporting my teaching ministry, I later learned, were involved in some of the most bizarre stuff. There was the woman who tried to seduce me, the man who died during an unspeakable ritual sex act, along with a thousand little things that pile up to serious immorality.

So the business of “fact checking” on the Net is loaded with just that kind of people. For example, I would never recommend that you cruise the site run by Jeff Rense. He’s a big liar about his own past, and claims credentials that are utterly false. His site is plastered with advertising for some of the biggest fake garbage ever sold, and he hosts articles that I know for a fact are false. But he also hosts stuff by people who can’t get an audience anywhere else when they want to share an earnest exploration of something not widely know. Do you really want to know the true story behind the Snopes fact checking site? Not everything in that article is pertinent, but it does point out that the founder started his career with — you guessed it — military intelligence, and bears the same bizarre deviant tastes he’s trying to help others hide. Oh, and Snopes was notorious for serving up malware.

There aren’t any normal people involved in the CIA, NSA, DEA, etc. Maybe they don’t all have the same kind of perversion, but they all have something deeply broken inside. Normal people can’t bear the atmosphere. And it permeates the Net because, in the early days, intel folks were a major element in building the technology. Google was born with CIA funding; PayPal was founded by spooks. Virtually every part of the Israeli technology industry is run by Mossad. These are not regular folks. And you know for a fact that virtually every independent information site is infiltrated by government spooks, and may even be run by them. Some of my subscribers are government agents; that’s taken for granted.

There are other sites like the one Rense runs. For example, on this blog some years ago I denounced a site known as SOTT because they promote some truly wild nonsense about aliens and a blatant denial of biblical truth. At the same time, they also hosted a series of articles that reveal the birth of the modern rock music industry. It started with a handful of former intelligence agents, and children of even more government spies, with all the drugs and bizarre sex, etc. Did you know that Frank Zappa was a gun-toting authoritarian? His entire public career was a cynical cover for destroying what he believed were mainstream American values. Not that I’m any fan of those values, but it’s that his whole public persona was a cover for a fully documented effort to bring the US toward some of the insanity we face now. He wasn’t anti-government, but was against the existing ruling regime and in favor of a different group of elite tyrants. The main actors of the early rock genre were protected from prosecution for the murders they committed. Charles Manson was a part of that scene; he got into trouble for believing his own lies. The series begins here with links to successive parts; I have a copy of that series of articles in PDF format, by the way.

Sometimes you need to take a glimpse behind he curtain so you can get a better sense of what is typical, what is behind what so many people call “normal” or “real.” Without that awareness of what hides in the dark corners, too much of what we see in the light makes no sense at all. I’m not inviting you to see for yourself, and I’m not promoting myself as all-knowing about such things. Rather, I’m describing a portion of my calling from God. The full spectrum of what our parish does together exposes sin as sin and glorifies holiness. If some fool tries to steer me away from something as a questionable source, I take that as cue to see what they are trying to hide. I’ve done that since I can remember. Sometimes I did get some bumps and bruises, but it’s exceedingly rare when the mainstream tells the whole story, much less the honest facts. These days I’ve learned to let my heart guide me because it’s far better at recognizing moral significance than my brain ever could be.

How do you spend your down time?

Posted in sanity | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Down Time Today

Cut-off Warning

Posted on January 5, 2017 by ehurst

I find quite plausible this story projecting Internet disruptions. Indeed, the linked article is merely one of the easiest to read, as the warnings are all over the tech sites I read. The problem is that consumers have a bunch of junk toys connected to the Internet, and those toys have zero security. Millions of them have already been hijacked and are under the remote control of criminals, and the owners either don’t care or truculently refuse to fix their devices. When a sample of folks who own these devices are queried, they deny that it matters; they don’t want to know. As long as it does what they want it to do, you can’t convince them to take any action on devices they no longer actually control.

But the electronic smothering (DDoS) is hardly the only type of threat. What has long been called “hacktivism” is just getting started — politically motivated activist hacking of computers and such. It’s not a mere matter of criminal profit. For example, I fully expect the globalists have already started on a major hacking campaign. The only reason we haven’t seen or heard more about it is a peculiarity of globalist arrogance; up to now globalists have consistently been utterly stupid about computers. The bungled private server of Hillary Clinton is just an example. She hired “experts” who were so technically incompetent you have to wonder how they stayed in business. But Clinton’s demands for personal convenience made it only worse. Did you know that the cracking of Podesta’s email account was made possible by his use of “password” as his password? I assure you this is typical of globalists, even more so than the general public.

So the globalist elites will have to farm this campaign out and it won’t be quick to take shape, but it will get nasty soon enough. Granted, they are already behind the curve, having already provoked a great many low-level hacktivists, but globalist money can buy a lot of criminal hacking. This kind of stuff cannot avoid hitting innocent bystanders and it will escalate until some unguessable point of exhaustion. In the process, a lot of other agendas will take advantage of the electronic chaos. The globalists won’t be the only nasties out there wreaking havoc.

To the degree you find your Internet access important to your divine calling, it’s past the time you should have taken measures to secure you access. I’ve mentioned all kinds of things about that already and I worry that it will sound alarmist.

So today I want to draw attention to something that is fundamental to our parish here: Build up your Kingdom service in other ways. That is, lay the foundation we have taught from the day one on this blog and prepare to stand without this blog. I’ve never sought to make anyone dependent on me. Moral independence and self-reliance in faith is the whole point of what we do here. If you haven’t heeded my advice about networking security already, it may be too late, but it’s never too late to reassess whether you are ready to stand alone in God’s power where you are in meat space.

I’m going to keep posting as long as it’s possible; that’s part of my calling. I’m also being patient as the pulpit blog (edit: now closed) is being rebuilt so that we have two independent gathering points. And on that third, more political blog, I’ll be posting today about how to use Xubuntu as a stronger defense than is possible with running Windows. However, the whole point here is that you take what you need and develop a free-standing faith and ministry of your own.

But we all need shepherding from time to time to time, and you can reach me outside this blog. For email, pick one:

ehurst909@gmail.com
br073n@outlook.com
ehurst@soulkiln.org
jhurst18@cox.net

If you think you’ll need my phone number, ask me using one of those email addresses. You can text me using that number, as well. And don’t forget, your humble elder loves to hear from you for his own sake, so don’t hesitate to strike up a conversation. We are stronger together, but only if you are seeking to stand strong in the Lord first.

Posted in administration | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Cut-off Warning

Stop Being Nice

Posted on January 4, 2017 by ehurst

coatSome years ago I walked into the local Sam’s Club warehouse store and was confronted by rolling racks filled with heavy winter parkas. Digging through this display, I found one that fit, a big old puffy down-filled thing and the price was right. To be honest, I seldom wear it because it’s just too warm. But on rare occasions the weather outside is too bitter cold and I can slip this thing on over just a t-shirt and go out for extended periods with comfort.

Oddly enough, I’ve owned a lot of very nice coats and jackets over the years. Some I’ve simply worn out, but plenty I’ve given away for one reason or another. I’ve always kept that down-filled parka, though, and I doubt I’ll ever give it away. I don’t loan it out, either. Even for the several years I lived in Texas where it virtually never got below freezing, I kept that thing in my closet. It still looks half-way new, still fits over my bulky frame. Today it was blistering cold and windy when I went outside the pick up trash and I wore that coat. When our cold snap is gone, I’ll push it into the back of the closet until the next time.

Perhaps that symbolizes something much more important: In each of our lives, there is something, some part of us, that God says we cannot give away. It belongs to Him alone. It’s a critical part of who we are in His Kingdom. Letting that thing slip away is betrayal; it’s too much to ask. I know because I had to learn the hard way.

Like most people who grew up in a Western society I was saddled with the mythology of being “nice.” Our culture has this crazy image of selfless giving that goes astray from the biblical image. Sure, it’s okay to realize that at some point holiness will claim your life. But God is the One who decides that and He will tell you, not someone else, where to draw the line. But that false image strives to crowd out the truth, holding up the false “self-denial” that blasphemes God by stealing His authority and pretending some human authority can speak for Him. That might work with parents and their children, but even that is supposed to fade away over time.

Thus, the bogus social expectation of being “nice” becomes an anti-Christian tyranny.

God, and God alone, decides what you must keep for Him. No earthly authority can usurp His authority. God is the One who calls you into His service. He is the one who equips you to do and give certain things for His glory. There’s nothing wrong with placing the needs of others in the same basket as your own, but it’s a damned lie that your needs have to come out of that basket. Yet, that is the image raised by Western society, because it’s founded on the elitist nonsense that your entire being can be owned by some mere human. It’s blasphemy. You can delay your self-gratification; you can share, but starving yourself for others is not noble. You cannot come back to serve again if you die; no one but God can demand that. And He doesn’t appoint other humans to tell you when.

In particular, it is utterly wrong for anyone to insist that human need is the measure of your giving. In the first place, most humans have no good clue what another human needs. This is another part of that business of usurping the Creator’s authority. It’s not a question of human need; that’s a bottomless pit. It’s a question of what He has placed in your hands. Further, it is between you and God to decide what you are supposed to give and under what conditions. No other human has a claim on you in that sense.

Part of the confusion our society has over this is the blatant rejection of God’s standard for social structure in the first place. Your blood or covenant kin can make some pretty strong demands, but Westerners are mostly clueless how that works. We have no good frame of reference about that. Instead, our society demands that you bow the knee to the state (“society”) as your god, and its minions as angels. This is the ultimate lie, the worst blasphemy. So we end up having to make some pretty shocking rejections of our society’s expectations and let them pound sand.

Whatever it is our society means by being “nice,” it’s not the same as good morals. So all that huffy accusation about being selfish, or prejudiced, or greedy, or whatever — it’s just noise. Don’t give them the time of day, because it’s the shrieking of Hell. Call them clueless and refuse to deal with them until they come on God’s terms. He will protect you and carry you through the fire without even the smell of smoke on you; it’s no different from the story in Daniel 3. Don’t bow the knee to their false gods. Don’t let someone else wheedle you into vicariously fulfilling their mission dreams; God didn’t call you to their ministry.

God didn’t call us to be nice, but to be merciful and bring Him glory.

Posted in eldercraft | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Stop Being Nice

Cycling: Yesterday’s Hills

Posted on January 3, 2017 by ehurst

aubreymcclendonmemorialLast night the cold front moved into our area; this morning it was high winds from the north, mist and drizzle and it felt cold. No ride today, but yesterday I had a beautiful workout in the northern hills. It was a good idea, because the Aubrey McClendon memorial was suffering serious neglect. I cleaned it up and rearranged some fallen stuff. I pushed all the fake flowers into the ground and moved the little night-lights in closer, and hung stuff that had fallen. No, I never knew him, but I have this thing about graves and memorials, especially where no one has a clue why he died.

chitwoodgraveyardI passed the memorial on the outbound leg, riding straight up Midwest Boulevard to Memorial Road. From there I rode east to Douglas and stayed straight on the road, which took me north, curving under the east end of Arcadia Lake. At Post Road I headed back south. My aim was to enjoy a hard workout in the brutal hills up in this part of the county. About the time the hills ran out southbound on Post Road, I spotted this little private graveyard called Chitwood Cemetery. It’s well kept despite no recent graves.

windmillhillRolling down the slope into the North Canadian Valley again, I stopped near an open field because the voice of God’s Presence struck like thunder in the ears of my heart. It was one of those powerful moments without words but full of meaning, making me weep and stand in awe, seeing things hidden from mere eyes. When the roaring in my soul calmed down, I turned and took this shot facing back upslope whence I’d come.

shallowriverI zigzagged my way back to Midwest Boulevard and headed into the gentle breeze back toward the bridge. There were off-roaders in the area, and more arrive before I got away from the place. They are really pushing out new trails all around this area, including a new one that drops down onto the massive sandbar dropped by the river as it rounds against the new stonework done last year. Aside from the refreshed flows upstream on the river, some of the local tributaries are running off the occasional drizzle and light rain in our area. So the river was up a little, but between the silt dropped and the flattening effect of the work done in order for the heavy equipment to plant all those massive rocks, it runs wide and shallow on the west side of the bridge. You could see the tracks from four-wheelers in the exposed sandbar. And not just those ATVs, but full-sized Jeeps are now starting to run some of the trails here. So far as I know, it’s all legitimate under the recreational development plans for the river banks out here.

It was about a 28-mile ride. As I type this the forecast says we are in for falling temperatures, staying below freezing Thursday and Friday. But a week from today it should be back up to 60°F (16C). I’ll just have to accept a forced hiatus from riding, because we’ll have high winds and snow for a few days.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Cycling: Yesterday’s Hills

Befuddling AI

Posted on January 2, 2017 by ehurst

creekAnything that humans design by their intellect and talents cannot possibly rise above that level. It will never be more than what is theoretically possible for humans. Artificial intelligence (AI) will be quicker and more precise, certainly more consistent, but it will never be wiser. It will only seem smarter because it will not be human, vested with a fallen nature and all the vagaries of internal conflict. Even if we teach AI to emulate that, it can’t be that.

It’s the same thing over and over again: Humans are fallen and refuse to come to terms with that. The human mind cannot buy into that, so it insists that human problems all have a human solution and if we just keep trying hard enough, long enough, we’ll come up with it. Yet, whatever humans individually and collectively dream up as the ideal remains nothing more than a better version of what they already are. Only an outside influence can break that circular reasoning. Indeed, only the Creator who made us can save us from that trap.

Once you are in communion with the Spirit of God, and thus in communion with Creation itself, you will be far beyond what an AI can analyze. AI, as the product of mere fallen imagination, cannot hope to quantify the drive of genuine faith in God. It can surely grasp most organized religion. Indeed, the full gamut of theology today is well within the reach of AI. Theology is merely another effort to control and regulate on a human level; theology is a human product. Theology typically reflects human concerns and mistakes them for God’s. Faith is not a human product; faith is submission and communion with God, a Person far beyond the reach of AI, because He’s beyond the reach of fallen human capabilities.

But the fallen human mind insists that it made God in its own image, so what would you expect?

To the degree our stuff here at Kiln of the Soul has come to anyone’s attention, it has been analyzed from that same human frame of reference. As the AI industry grows, we will come under its apparently unlimited range of analysis. It will attempt to figure out how to handle us as a niche market, because the sole purpose is profit-seeking. It’s a form of control that reduces their obligations while capturing from us the one thing they want: Serve the customer and make that money. The results may impress a few, but it will never quite grasp a human motivated by something so totally outside this universe. God does not yield Himself to that sort of thing.

For example, it will ever remain utterly incomprehensible how obeying the moral Law of God is its own reward. While it answers every human need, faith eclipses those considerations. We measure the progress of faith in terms of no longer paying that much attention to our human needs, except to confirm how wonderfully faith answers them. In the process, we shed a lot of false human desire that masquerades as need. Again: The Law of God is its own reward, and the Law of God cannot be quantified.

They are going to call us “crazy.” It’s socially trendy to claim a playful level of nutiness, but AI will surely label us as intractably wacko. Be ready for that. If you don’t find your own intellect complaining about your faith decisions, then you aren’t trying hard enough. The definition of “sane” excludes a heart-led life. But because it’s trendy these days, we may well suffer little from that aspect as whatever passes for government will shift with social trends.

We are in a sort of revolutionary stage in the cycle of civilizations. What we most had to fear coming from previous tyranny is already fading away. The remnants will be bad enough, but they will fade. The concept of “normal” itself is still in flux because of the chaos that comes from the failure of the old ways. We have some time before anyone will seize the authority to declare us a threat here in the West. There is still the work of crushing some of the old; the authorities will be busy for awhile.

Meanwhile, the rising use of AI is the leading edge of the new civilization. And once again, civilization will coalesce into some new way of excluding the power of faith in Christ. The old ways were an odd mix of including just enough reality to function, but still excluding critical elements of God’s moral character. The new reality will be a different mixture of truth and falsehood. Let us consciously watch and be ready to put our message into forms that speak to the new failures.

And honestly, there’s nothing wrong with having a sense of amusement at how we befuddle AI.

Posted in eldercraft | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Befuddling AI

Not Really

Posted on January 1, 2017 by ehurst

If we were paying more attention to God’s revelation, we would know better than to choose some random spot on a calendar created by mathematicians for our “New Years’ Day.” If we imagine that winter is the time, then it should be the Winter Solstice. Of course, that was Constantine’s bright idea, seizing the birthday of Christ and superimposing it on the big day of the year for his true religion as a sun worshiper. But enough grumping…

frontdoorI decided to post a tiny sign on our doorway to see what happens. In case you can’t see it: “Kiln of the Soul Ministries.” Anyone who considers themselves a member of this virtual parish should feel free to do the same, or use the name to adorn anything else that suits you. There is no meat space HQ; it’s all here online.

me2017I’m getting old. This was taken today and I wanted an fairly honest representation. I couldn’t do the hair and beard thing. I tried but the whiskers we so kinky that it literally hurt. And while I do like the way I look with some hair on top, I’m not willing to invest all the time and effort to do it right. Back to the default.webcam2017 Here’s a webcam version to show it’s not a joke.

veloyceMy beloved is a kitchen magician. She turns toxic sludge into manna; that is, she cooks in a public school. When she took over the job, the district’s Child Nutrition office noticed that sales shot up and have remained robust. She loves the job and loves the kids, and those kids know it. Our own kitchen is a miracle place, too.

You should lay claim to your own miracles; God works in the most ordinary things to show His glory. I’m praying for more work in migrating computers to Linux, and praying for a strong meat-space community of faith. I’m praying I can provide an island of moral sanity in the coming storms. Welcome to the Year of Madness, and that’s for real.

Posted in personal | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Not Really

Psalm 119: Samek 113-120

Posted on December 31, 2016 by ehurst

Here we have a dominion worthy of service. Even today we recognize the pride that comes with belonging to the winning side, so it offers no difficulty to understand the psalmist’s frank boasting in His Master. The entire octet is cast in terms of feudal military service.

He starts with a common adjective meaning “divided,” but in this context refers to someone lacking a clarity of commitment, a fraudulent enlistment. It indicates someone whose heart lacks a decisive loyalty, making the mind too confused to act with moral consistency. Such people are the psalmist’s enemy, but the Law is his battle buddy. He then refers to the Lord’s authority as a tactical advantage, offering both, concealment from being spotted too soon, and a shield of protection in battle. It keeps him going when it seems everything is going against him.

A great many ancient armies were conscripted from prisons and social outcasts. Our psalmist wants no part of that; he would rather march alone than accept support from that sort of greedy predator. God’s army marches the high road. So he asks that the Lord keep him strong within the just power of His Word, for anything less is death. It’s better to wait until God divides the spoil and honors His loyal servants at the very end than to slip away early with a lion’s share that might see him hiding from his Master.

God’s provision for His servants is always the best within a given context, even if it seems austere by human standards. It’s better to be free from distracting cares of excess baggage and comfort. He intends to keep his focus on what God says really matters to Him. When the camp of God moves out, He leads off by treading down those who slept late from hangover. They could have known it was coming. The psalmist employs a clever pun, using a Hebrew word for arming oneself with weapons of deceit that aren’t much of a threat.

Our Lord scrapes off the wicked like the dross that floats atop molten silver or gold, implying that He tosses them aside as unworthy of attention. What’s left is a purified treasure — His true servants. He purges His army to keep an illustrious record of moral victory that is endearing to those who seek His favor. The psalmist ends with an image of one who sees no place to hide from the intense scrutiny of his Lord, the One who sees clearly every motive of his heart.

Posted in bible | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Psalm 119: Samek 113-120

Photography: Bricktown and River Trails

Posted on December 31, 2016 by ehurst

01downtown-aThe first few images were just some effort to practice lining up shooting angles in urban terrain.02downtown-b It was something to distract me as I rode through Bricktown toward the river trails. The first is from an elevated parking garage up on Deep Deuce. The second is a similar shot from a different location. This building (below left) from recycled shipping containers houses a restaurant and has room left for leasing to other tenants. I’m surprised by how much stuff they haven’t moved out of the way of “progress.”03okseabldg For example, there is this elevated rail line (image right).04oldelevrr It’s partially dismantled; it was a linking line from the heavy industries east of Bricktown, most of them now gone, and it curved upward to meet the north-south rail line currently used for passenger rail between OKC and Fort Worth — the Heartland Flyer. You can still climb on that old rail line from behind the OKSEA building but you would surely get a citation for it.

05middledamI was still shaken by what I wrote in my previous post. Taking the north bank trail first, starting from the Chesapeake Boathouse landing, I soon reached the tree choir and stopped to chat with them for a few minutes.06shadedtrail Some of the pines were exuding a delightful odor in the warmish winds. Farther down I noticed a little water spilling over the middle dam on the Oklahoma River. We haven’t had a lot of rain in the past month, but I believe it rained pretty good somewhere upstream, so it’s enough fill the recreational pools on the river and still push some downstream.

07marstonmatsAfter making the turn-around at Portland Avenue, I stopped for a snack out behind the Dell campus and spotted these old Marston mats. Way back in previous decades this was a well-used boat ramp, but it’s been seriously undercut and washed out several feet deep in places. They are still linked and I could walk on them with hardly any flexing in the plates, which shows how sturdy they can be.08interchange

Farther downriver, having taken the gravel road between the River Trail and Eagle Lake Trail, I stopped a moment at the place where I got hurt last April.09crookedoakbridge This summer the heavy weeds took over the spot; the soft sand and grass in which I landed have been totally eclipsed. This spot is in the shadow of that busy interchange between I-35 and I-40 shown above right.10crookedoakdelta Up and around the corner the trail brought me to the Crooked Oak bridge. Once again I stopped and prayed awhile.

This bridge stands over the delta of Crooked Oak Creek, the subject of one of my surveys on this blog. All of these images were taken with my wife’s little Coolpix pocket camera. I’m trying to ride as much as I can stand before the next blistering cold wave hits in the middle of next week.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Photography: Bricktown and River Trails