April 17 In anticipation of the weekend...

The River Jesus Where the river runs It runs eternally It must run through the lowlands On the way to the sea Flowing from the mountains Descending with the breeze This is the River Jesus And He¹ll run where e're He's pleased He is a river not a lake He gives all that I can take And it¹s beautiful It¹s beautiful So I will glorify And enjoy him forever. He is flowing through His own He is flowing through His own In a dry and thirsty land He is flowing through His own The River Jesus Flowing He frees us Drenches us to our soul Running onto the goal... Anthony Foster

April 17, 2003 Premature Friday Five since tomo is Good Friday

1. What was your most memorable moment from the last week?
Attending a new church for the second time and beginning a dialogue with the leadership.

2. What one person touched your life this week?
Being reminded that finding my identity in Christ sets me free by Pastor Steve Rogier. Some things you know so well need to be reiterated time and again. Also a dear friend took time out from his workweek to share guidance in an extended e-mail conversation with me. I'm humbled by that.

3. How have you helped someone this week?
I hope so. I listened carefully two about half a dozen people in crisis and have been praying and following uop with them.

4. What one thing do you need to get done by this time next week?
Prep for Earnie's trip to be with her Mom and for Precept Conference.

5. What one thing will you do over the next seven days to make your world a better place?
I will reckon my circumstances to be a test and a trust and that right now counts forever to God's glory. That changes everything.

April 16, 2003 Gnosticism and the Matrix

The Matrix website has incorporated a philosophy section with some pretty impressive contributors. Check out this article on Gnosticism and Buddhism in the flick by Rachel Wagner and Frances Flannery-Dailey. Hollywood Jesus already had a lot to say on this.Has it been 4 years? Also read Don Clossen from Probe on the Gnostic Matrix.( I want a t-shirt saying "I survived the Probe mailing list meltdown".)

Leapblogging: I always knew humans present special problems.

Humans 'nearly impossible' to clone: study. This from National Post.

April 16, 2003 Blog Ethics

From John Adams site. Actually not too bad an ethical approach to life in general? Read the April 13 blog.After promoting netiquette for years it is a good observation that as we move into true community in the blogosphere it is important to read the thread to understand the heart of the matter. Wading in on conversations you have no history with is taboo in analog society and the same goes in the digital commons. We are our own gatekeepers and that means responsibility is key.

Lunchtime blog continued

This is excerpted from a thoughtful and passionate post from Bene Diction on War Blogging (and blogging in general) and communication online.

"Blogs are a fantastic way to learn what other individuals are wrestling with. They can shock us. They can move us. They can help us understand that pretty basic language has nuanced meaning in another culture. They teach us about group think and individuality. They can help us wrestle with our thoughts and emotions and place. They can move us into asking new questions. They can prod us to prayer and growth."

I started blogging as a spiritual discipline but it has surprisingly led to insights about the evolving online possibilities of human interaction that intrigues me as an instructional designer and teacher and human being. Blogging is different than bulletin boards or usenet groups in that most of them contain posts that are much more conscientiously communicated than the precursors were. Community was possible in the old days- I was helped tremendously by a community related to Parkinson's support over ten years ago and the rule seems to be- passionately care about what you are communicating and if you are Christian always keep in mind this is a test and a trust that is God given. Write for an audience of One with a view towards opening the windows for others to partake if they wish.

Collective delusion and Spiritual Blindness

On the madness of crowds. How do we monitor such possibilities in our culture? Precipitating from my studies of cognitive theory, I see this applying to the church AND the lost world. If most deluded people think they are being perfectly reasonable, how can they ever examine their own hearts? Only supernaturally, by the Holy Spirit, for the heart is deceitful above all things- who can know it? conversely, I think this is a case with sin- at its root, sinning against an all powerful, holy, righteous loving God is sheer madness- but how will you know if you are spiritually blind?

April 16 speaking of madness, recent Finds

A ten on the pedagogical delights scale

The Mad Professor. For every budding mad professor, this super-secret lab manual contains recipes for icky slimes, zippy robots, edible geology, and other gizmos and experiments. These countertop science projects are educational, safe, and fun!

April 15, 2003 Happy Ashoura Day?

I thought about adding some links to this grisly Muslim festival but declined. The Satanic gets enough press already...News of the Weird would likely go offline if not for strange religious practices. I need humor.

Have you seen the Treasury of Deathless Quotes?

Or Words Not Yet in Dictionary? or Computer Error Messages from the same site?

April 15, 2003 Hard thoughts for Soft Minds?

"God's restraint has a purpose,...Only in the agony of His absence, both in the absence of blessings and in the felt absence of His Presence, will we relax our determined grasp of our empty selves enough to appreciate His purposes." Larry Crabb quoted in a review of "Shattered Dreams".

What do you think? Is brokenness better than being fixed?

I have contended that I have had real difficulty mouthing the words "Brokenness is what I long for...brokenness is what I need". I choke on them. I contend that I would rather seek to be(and that it is possible to be) a submissive, pliable lump of clay on the potter's wheel than dry greenware that has to be broken and ground to dust before it can be transformed. Could it be that keeping that pliable heart might mean we can appropriate the blessing of God without being burned in the fire? Someone said "you'll never know God is all you need till God is all you've GOT"... May it never be so! We can know the fire is hot, and it will surely sear our life as we are refined, but I wonder if we should dare pray for suffering and brokenness? Let's talk about it...

April 15, 2003 From the "You're so cheap you probably think this blog is about ya" dept

April 15, 2003 My Adonai

Lord, you alone rule The Earth¹s your footstool
And you alone are worthy of my praise
Your kingdom of priests are prisoners released
In our freedom we yearn to be your slaves.

Serve you I will Serve you until
In you I am laid to rest
I will bow down Casting my crown
Before the one I have confessed.

My Adonai- Lord of All, Lord of my life and Lord of the wherefore and the why
My Adonai- Lord of the future and Lord of the past Draw us at last to your side.

Pierce my ear against the jamb of your door
Oh my master, master me!
Master I adore the service you have made me for
A servant of the Most High for eternityŠ

I bend my knee And so I am free To finally do what is right
On you I wait I stand by the gate Where the lost enter into the light

My Adonai- Lord of All, Lord of my life and Lord of the wherefore and the why
My Adonai- Lord of the future and Lord of the past Draw us at last to your side.

Anthony Foster from October 2, 2002

April 15, 2003 Inspiration versus Consistency

I love this quote from Spurgeon: "My love of consistency with my own doctrinal views is not great enough to allow me knowingly to alter a single text of Scripture. I have great respect for orthodoxy, but my reverence for inspiration is far greater. I would sooner a hundred times over appear to be inconsistent with myself than be inconsistent with the word of God. I never thought it to be any very great crime to seem to be inconsistent with myself, for who am I that I should everlastingly be consistent? But I do think it a great crime to be so inconsistent with the word of God that I should want to lop away a bough or even a twig from so much as a single tree of the forest of Scripture. God forbid that I should cut or shape, even in the least degree, any divine expression." Spurgeon quoted in Spurgeon v. HyperCalvinism by Iain H. Murray

April 15, 2003 One Song

With one voice we¹ll sing one song
By God's choice we sing along
The only way to harmony
Is to build upon His melody
So we become a symphony
Of voices raised in praise!

With one heart will lift one voice
With thankfulness and praise rejoice
And sing the hymn of the redeemed
Of grace and peace flawlessly seamed
Into a garment deemed
A token of our praise!

With one mind we shall unite
The mind of Christ shall make us right
A power found in helplessness
A glory found in humbleness
A oneness whereby God is blessed
Speaks louder than our praise!

Anthony Foster lyrics October 1, 2002 music done today

April 14, 2003 Rats... another investment opp missed.

The Iraqi 'Most-Wanted' Deck of Playing Cards is now being mass marketed. Imagine playing go fish with these.

April 14, 2003 Playing on Campus

Lunch break and a short blog- The Student Center dragged out the BBQ pit and the radio station (KCFV) is blaring Gospel Hip Hop which is so cool- my new window is open and it makes being inside on such a glorious day barely bearable...

April 13, 2003 Suffering

This is from Let the Nations be Glad by Piper

Suffering deepens faith and holiness
Suffering makes your cup increase
Suffering is the price of making others bold
Suffering fills up what is lacking in Christ¹s afflictions- not in atoning sufficiency- but in that they are unknown to people not at the cross.
Suffering enforces the missionary command to go.
The supremacy of Christ is manifest is suffering.

April 13, 2003

This is helpful when pondering war.

April 13, 2003 PDL study

For those who missed, here is the summary for next week.It includes the assignment guide to help you formulate a purpose statement. Rmrmber- these are not static- they will change as you change and grow in direct proportion to your growth.

I diverted the teaching of the book to what I see as a profound weakness in it- the absence of any mention of the promises Jesus made to believers who encounter the world on mission- suffering and persecution. Made for a Mission includes excerpts from Let the Nations be Glad and a couple of reviews of it as well.

"In the Incarnation, God the Son takes the body and human soul of Jesus, and, through that, the whole environment of nature, all the creaturely predicament, into His own being. So that "He came down from Heaven" can almost be transposed into "Heaven drew earth up into it," and locality, limitation, sleep, sweat, footsore weariness, frustration, pain, doubt, and death, are, from before all worlds, known by God from within. " Lewis, Screwtape Letters ch 6 Favorite word picture from Screwtape:- "Brimfull living chalice of despair and horror and astonishment" This is an awful word picture that shows graphically hell's purposes for us. ch. 5

The culture I am in is a culture of suffering. As I am more responsive to the leading of the spirit I see this ever more clearly. I think I have identified a mark of callousness in my attitude toward the struggles of humans in my world, and am comitted to ongoing purging and renewing of my mind in this sphere. The evangelical church has historically benn regarded as purveyors of pat answers to those who are suffering and distinguished itself as uncompassionate and irrelevant. The catholic church has done much better on this front, I would propose. So how can we construct a compassionate answer to the problem of pain and the problem of evil that will resonate with emerging generations?

Ultimately I find it a terrifying proposition that God is not in control of my suffering and pain. That would mean there is a sphjere beyond his control and I am at the mercy of a merciless world. I find it most comforting that nothing will touch me that He has not permitted.

Check out this alternate view "Blessings out of Tragedy" Written by John O'Keefe on theooze and we'll discuss it.

April 11, , 2003 Belated Friday Five

Answer the following five questions in your weblog or journal. Make sure you leave a comment here with a link to your post or just leave your answers in the comments section.

1. What was the first band you saw in concert?

Elton John or Eagles, can't remember timing.. Would have been ZZ Topp but somebody offered me 200 bucks for the ticket on the way in.

2. Who is your favorite artist/band now?

Bruce Cockburn and JMT even after all these years, Chieftains, Secret Garden, Michael Card, Mary Fahl, Sara Groves, Paul Baloche.

3. What's your favorite song?

Lately "The Road That Will Take Us Home" by Mary Fahl.
All time- probably A Mighty Fortress.

4. If you could play any instrument, what would it be?

Piano or Fiddle.

5. If you could meet any musical icon (past or present), who would it be and why?

Handel of course. Bach if he would speak English to me.