Advent: Kingdom Come

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies  and cause the nations to quake before you! –Isaiah 64:1,2, NIV 2010

(OOC, this is the second time I write about a parousia.)

We’re used to seeing the broken, sinful, disobedient Israel, longing for someone to relieve them from their Calvary.  We’re already accustomed to take an example of a nation of complainers, idolaters, and imbecilic events –and still, they were the Chosen People of God.

Right now, it is the Israel that longs for the Annointed One-a Messiah that will rescue them from shame and torture.  They wanted Someone who could take them out of their lukewarm step, back to the ancient paths, and onwards to the Heavenly Canaan.  How much did they want a Redeemer to save their nation from destruction!  And what a surprise did they receive-a few centuries later!

But for now, life is like the labeled “Party of the Year!”  Give or take a few, you really want to go to that party –but you know your parents wouldn’t allow it.  Either you reclaim your position as a teenager or you sneak out through the window to hitch a ride with friends.  And there you are, fifteen minutes later, frolicking through the party like a happy man (or woman!)

An hour later, though, something’s wrong: it’s too out of control for you!  When things grow tackier and the booze is piling up, THEN you decide to call papi and say he was right (and surely get your punishment!)  And yet, something else happens: you decide to FINALLY obey your parents and not do it again.  This melts your father’s heart so dearly, he decides not to punish you.

A detail is left, though: your father will pick you up, but you have to wait a bit outside in the snow…and then some.

What the Jews expected was Someone who would give them back what was rightfully theirs.  (He did-spiritually.)  What the Jews didn’t expect was that the Savior would come –not as the hot-shot tenant that would drive everyone away, but like the Humble Lamb that would rescue the nations.

One of the Lepers

I failed.  Miserably.

Truth is, I’m not in the mood for a special “I-thank-Thee-for-Thy-harvest” Thanksgiving post.  Honest: I just arrived from church, and the pang of guilt is driving me crazy.  On Thanksgiving, you say!?!?  One of the worst days to have any bad feelings!?!? *Sighs*, allow me to explain…

I feel like one of the lepers.  Those ten men afflicted with a damning skin disease; the affront of God’s holiness, shunned and trialed for the sorrows.  They would be separated from the rest of the world, waiting up and living off what it was brought to them.  They were ostracized, broken out, and they became the “untouchables”.

That is, until Jesus came.  And what did He do?  They called, He answered, simple as that!  And they left with their skin softer than a baby bottom.  However, something happened…

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. –Luke 17:15 & 16, NIV 2010

If all of them were healed, how can ONE man run back to Jesus and fall at His feet?  What was the rest thinking, missing the chance of a lifetime!?!?  Also, that same man was a Samaritan –a half-Jew (and Jews and Samaritans hated each other).  Since that event happened near the border of Samaria and Galilee, that would be the logical place for him.  It was no coincidence: it had to happen.

And yet, what surprised me is that I can’t conceive the man running a half-a-mile dash in the rain in order to worship Jesus.  While the rest of them were walking home, he decided to ditch it and thank Him for what He dutifully owes.

Again, my amados, I failed…Miserably.  (The pang of guilt appears as a response to a hard-to-swallow message God gave through a preaching, a call of distinct holiness.)  I let my old-man carry my body, and the more I prayed, the more I fell.  (You know what I mean…And I don’t want to talk about it.)  I made myself a leper…and I need to call and be cleansed…And run back and give my life again.

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!Que pases un Felíz Día de Acción de Gracias!
¡Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

He didn't care: he came back...

Closer to God: Mighty Hands

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. -1 Peter 5:6,7, NIV

God, I have a problem.  A FEW problems.

Sometimes I act cocky.  Other times I think I know it all.  Even other times I fail to uphold Your presence with the reverence  –yet the freedom it so righteously deserves.   Still, I feel that I’m not the same person as I used to be: something seems to draw me instant…  Ech, it’s like a balancing act –I hope I get to do the right thing at the end!

Many people say I worry too much.  But there are things of greater importance I must carry.  The world doesn’t need to understand the things I feel…And yet, here am I, opening up about it.

For whoever cares to read these musings, bless them, Lord.  At least, please let them know that You care for ‘em, and that I do my hardest to be the best writer I could possibly be-but the fire’s diminishing.  I can’t do nothing more if You withdraw whatever You have from me.  I can’t live this way…

Make me willing to fall under Your hand, so You cover me with grace.

Please, Lord, take my cares, ‘cause I don’t want to see You cry no more.

Because that is the only thing that will make me closer to You.

Closer to God: Real'n'Bake

…And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.-Hebrews 10:22, NIV

As you know, I haven’t been the BEST Christian at this time, (nor do I expect that to happen for a while).  I’ve been failing on many things, including some “moments of weakness” I’ve suffered and my rock-star dilemmas.  Aye, who on this sphere is going to understand my complicated heart!?!?

Well, I know Someone who does!  But I can’t see Him! –Well, maybe I don’t have to, yet.  These are the moments He wants me to draw nearer and take my loads off...Honestly, this hurts.  Well, telling God what hurts me HURTS!?!?  Where did I heard THAT FROM!?!?  Ack, this is a bit more complicated than I expected it to be.  Telling Him my wants and desires is one thing, but to tell Him what wounds me (or I think wounds me)… That’s another story.

Coupled with the fact that I don’t want to be a two-faced jerk (which only hurts me even more), there is no other choice but to let go of my barriers and let God work it out from there.  (Boy, this is making me feel a *grr* in my stomach as I’m writing this.)  Being true to Him is the first start of being true to the world, trying to reach closer to God not on our strength, but on His.

I don’t know if I’m making any sense to you at this moment.  I’m not expecting you to, not by a long shot.  I don’t even know what’s ailing you –if it is something you want to hide, or a pain that’s eating you up, or a pseudo-stupid fear of letting church people know you love rock music-,but I guess it’s time to ‘fess up and be real to God, the world, and ourselves.

Blessings from Puerto Rico, and your cristino preferido,
José E.

Closer to God: In Purity

How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. –Psalm 119:9, NIV

(FYI, I’m technically a few days late for this post.  But better late than never…)

Well, purity.  One of the requisitos that show to God and the world that you are, in fact, a new creature from a new nation.  Hand-on-hand with holiness, it is the reason why we grow deeper in this love –and why many choose not to go for Him.

Err, I wish it were more simple.

Purity is not necessarily a promise made manifest on a fantasy silver ring.  (I don’t need one, thank you –not for now.)  Nor is it to take it all away AND make-up, AND pantallas, AND jeans AND have a Bible under your soba…axilas to show the world you’ve changed.  And of course, how can’t we talk about purity without going through the “little black book” of prohibitions: No movies, malls, baseball parks, basketball courts, beaches, TV shows, as such.  And in NO WAY, NO WAY, purity is only about sex.

(Please, my people, let’s get our minds out of the gutter.)

Purity means taking away our sin, and drawing nearer to God, the Source of all purity and the source of all freedom.  For what He gives, He takes, and He makes it new again.  Sins confessed, and beings edified, hearts full of promise are exalted by God’s Spirit.  He and only He can have the chance of renewing and purifying with hyssop and making someone anew.

…And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.-Hebrews 10:22, NIV

Blessings from Puerto Rico, and your cristino preferido,
José E.

Above That

The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. –Romans 5:20 & 21, NIV 2010-11

It’s not so hard to learn that our way to Heaven is paved with Hell.

I have spoken about the inefficacy of the five-o’-clock news in Puerto Rico, which is always highlighting the terrors of life and the glorified tears of aching mothers. You would see someone on a corner or a TV screen debating about something they haven’t even experienced of in the first place, and they would showcase their anger should they be in that position.  And please, don’t get me started with the long faces of external bitterness!

If we did this, if we did that… Ack, it can be so underrated.  Because, it is.

Law came in as a reminder of how horrible we were before God (conscience, anyone?).  We now see the dirty plates in our kitchen, and we recognize that they’re dirty.  And we now see that we’re as dirty as we are, and the world above us has become nasty!  (Need I say it anymore?)

There’s something above that, though.  Just a faint glimmer? Eh, nope.  It’s even more than what we thought.  Above all that pain and suffering, and guilt and heartache…There’s a little gift called grace. 

And I am not condoning those actions.  Above the heads of the world lays a judgment that will lay down on the Day the Lord breaks the seals.  Even above that is an aura of grace, the only thing that gives us breath of spirit.  It’s not much, you say?  Have you heard that a little goes a long way?

Even above the groans of His creation, longing for something more, his grace is over and under and into our souls.  If we could see it…

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.-Matthew 16:18 & 19, NIV 2010