timeforINRI

 The first thing that strikes me about 2 Corinthians 3 is the confident air  of freedom in it. Change is possible. We don't have to remain as we are. But change isn't automatic. And it isn't something inherent in us. It has a cause. Change is rooted in a relationship with Jesus Christ. In him, God becomes open, personal, and accessible to us. The person of Jesus shows us who God is. When we're with Christ, we're in touch with all who can apprehend God. In that environment, we're  all changed by what we see, changed into the likeness of Christ.  If we're exposed to the sun, our skin is changed. But if we are exposed to Christ our lives are changed. The change is a result of our relationship with him. By opening ourselves to him, we come under his influence and are changed into his likeness, "our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful", from one level of maturity to another, from one stage of development to another. Eugene H. Peterson I

  Isaiah 53

 Whither, midst falling dew, While glow the heavens with the last steps of day Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue Thy solitary way? Vainly the fowler's eye Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong As, darkly seen against the crimson sky, Thy figure floats along. Seek'st thou the plashy brink Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide, Or where the rocking billows rise and sing On the chafed ocean side? There is a Power whose care Teaches thy way along that pathless coast-- The desert and illimitable air-- Lone wandering, but not lost. All day thy wings have fanned, At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere, Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land, Though the dark night is near. And soon that toil shall end; Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest, And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend, Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest. Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart Deeply has sunk the lesson thou hast given

 Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this? The servant grew up before God- a scrawny seedling  a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains he carried - our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he bought it on himself, that God was punishing him  for his failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him - our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises, we get healed. We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him, on him. He was

 T he moon on the one hand, the dawn on the other: The moon is my sister, the dawn is my brother. The moon on my left and the dawn on my right. My brother, good morning: my sister, good night. Hilaire Belloc Hopeful Waiting

 Suppose I decide to build a house. To begin with, I am quiet ignorant on what has to be done, and so first of all I take a course on carpentry to learn the fundamentals of house building. I follow up with some specialised reading. I get a set of blueprints and buy all the necessary tools. Then I am ready to build the house. I struggle by myself day after day. As the house grows, I find there are things  I have forgotten or never knew. I seem to be all thumbs. The saw doesn't cut straight. The wood splinters. I'm lucky enough to have neighbours who invariable have suggestions: "Hey, that wall seems a little out of plumb. Are you sure that's the way to set a windowsill?" The more suggestions they make the more nervous I get. Every time my neighbours show up, I feel like giving up. They're a constant reminder of my failour. One day I explode, " I can do without your advice!" But there's a variant in this story. Someone comes by and sees that I am i