The old man must die

David Porter over at boomerinthepew.com discusses the seeming harshness of God in preventing Moses from entering the Promised Land because he struck a rock to bring water from it rather than speaking to it as God had instructed him.

David writes: "I found my fingers unwilling to type as I was trying to understand this scene. The Israelites have driving this man crazy for decades, and now, because he responded out of clear disrespect to Yahweh, he is banned from the Promised Land."

In a way, Moses is like John the Baptist, playing a key role in bringing in the new order but not able to partake of it himself. Of John Jesus said,

among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

By Jesus' own account John was greater than Moses, yet even he was not fit for the kingdom as he was. What I understand Jesus saying from this is that the very best of natural men can't enter the kingdom: you must be born again.

This is a message that all of us need to take seriously. None of us can be greater than John or Moses, no matter what we do. If they couldn't make it to heaven on their own, neither can I. It is what I allow God to do in me through faith in Jesus that saves me and makes me fit for heaven.

So back to Moses - if we look at Israel's journey to the Promised Land as containing a figure of our journey to salvation, then the message of his death is clear: the old man must die.

That is the picture-lesson of Moses' death, but we don't need to spare any tears for him. The next time we see him, he is speaking with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. God gave him a far greater privilege in that than in what He withheld from him.

And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. Heb. 11:39,40

Travel Travails

Washington....and our luggage has already gone astray. I had expected this to happen, if it was going to happen, with Ethiopia Airlines somewhere between Addis Ababa and Nairobi, but apparently it's too much to expect United to carry it between two North American hubs without losing it.

We're getting conflicting stories here..... the call centre gal in Mumbai assures me that the missing bags have been located in the Dulles terminal and will be delivered to our room in the morning. She goes on to tell me to use the online tracker to get further updates - but then the website tells me that they are nowhere to be found. So which is it - is the call centre telling me what I want to hear in the Asian manner or are they just not updating the tracker website? Not reasssuring either way.

On the upside, we got upgraded from a compact car rental to a Caddy for $20 extra, and due to our late check in, a complimentary upgrade to a suite at our hotel because they've "run out of smaller units".

So, it's not an auspicious start to our trip in the old Roman augury sense of using the behaviour of winged beings to divine the future, but again it's a mixed message. Are we supposed to, like, not go on this trip but just stay in Washington? That would be a drag. With a gray sky leaking rain at 34F in DC, the weather's better in Canmore.

Update on the fly/Rachel's blog

Diane and I are sitting in the Calgary airport, having cleared US customs and with 2 hours to kill before our flight. We're on our way to East Africa for 2 1/2 weeks on a tour with my mother and my aunt Lois. We're really looking forward to it - our first time "over" seas if you discount Hawaii which doesn't really count in my book as it's not foreign enough.

We'll be spending 2 weeks in Ethiopia and 4 days on a short safari in Kenya. Returning March 20 to Washington and then touring around Virginia for a few days before flying home Mar 23. By then it should be spring (or close enough) and time to bring my motorcycle out of storage. My long deferred return to riding - I can hardly wait!

......we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

1 John 1:2-4

Rachel has finally got a blog of her own at http://www.clayinthemakershand.blogspot.com./










In her first post she discusses her evolving vision of ministry:

This last week I was translating for a medical team and had the privelage of working with doctor Kit who works in Cambodia. I was so amazed by the openness of all the people who came to see him. We were able to share the gospel with some of the patients and have some meaningful discussions and prayer times. This really opened my eyes to how much people really are searching. I honestly was expecting more rejection but instead all I saw were people who were hungry for God. What an encouragement that was!

It was also neat because one of the things that I have been praying about is doing more relational and discipleship ministries. It’s like God was telling me to feed them. They were coming with different health concerns but there was this intense spiritual hunger that I saw. God really used this time to encourage me and helped me to focus more on the reality of the spiritual struggles that people are going through. Perhaps the biggest lie is the assumption that people don’t want to hear.

I feel blessed that God is leading Rachel in this direction. I have long felt that as important as it is to minister to peoples' material and social needs, social ministry without a spiritual component is ultimately empty. By spiritual I mean a ministry that shares the gospel of salvation and spiritual wholeness through Jesus Christ with aim of bringing others into that fellowship with us which transforms them from subjects of ministry into brothers and sisters in Christ. So the proper end of mission work is to birth (or midwive?) new life in others which will allow them to minister to us and each other as we have ministered to them.

I'm not sure that adequately explains what I mean but I'm too tired to improve on it so I'll stop now. In any case I encourage anyone interested in Rachel's ministry to check it regularly. It is really worth a read!