The wierd, the wacky and the spiritual norm.

Yesterday's post on tattoos produced a lot of comments.

Allow me then to follow it up with another on the same vein.

Several statements are made in the Bible concerning male and female adornments.

Concerning men, in proverbs, Solomon says:
 "Let them be adorned with wisdom"

 Peter speaks of  women:
"Being adorned with godliness."

The human face reflects the image of God and  the revelation of God's glory is in the face of Jesus Christ. ( 2 Corinthians 4:4)

While the beauty of the human face may fade with age ( as the glory of God faded upon Moses's face) the beauty of the Lord is still the inheritance of all God's people.

Nobody can improve on that!

Take another peek in the mirror today and tell yourself that you are unique.

Ian

Tattoos: easier to get on than get off.

Tattooing: derived from the sound of hollow, sharpened bamboo used by the Polynesians when pricking tribal marking on their skin centuries ago.

This week I decided to have my own tattoo removed, received 55 years ago when I was in the port of Montreal as a merchant marine.

I was a seventeen year old who sported his bluebird on his bicep until his early twenties.

About that time I decided I needed neither tattoos, ear-rings nor male jewellery of any sort to project my image. It must stand on its own for better or for worse.

Since then I have waited fifty years to get the bluebird off, and what originally cost $3:00  will cost around $250:00 to remove with a laser gun.

Well it all goes to show that there are things in life that are easier to get into than get out of.

Matt from "Wild Ink", who looks like a Polynesian chief himself, was interested to know that I am also in the business of tattooing. ( I preach across the street from his little bat cave)

When I told him that I tattoo people's hearts he asked me if I was a heart surgeon.

 "Sort of" I replied. "I'm a preacher and I tattoo the Word of God into people's lives"

His response.
"Rock on, man. We're in the same trade"

Hmmmm.

Ian

St Paul: now and then

The world supplies unending material on which to comment. But for the truly bizzare we must often turn to the church!

Yesterday the Dean of St Paul's in London resigned his office.

The reason for his departure from his august and well paid position?

Because a motley, rag-tag band of protestors refused to move from their camp in front of St Paul's cathedral after the dean's repeated calls for them to be off.

Could nobody have told the man that he could have dispersed

 the crowd within 10 minutes if he and his bishop had stood and preached the Gospel in power from the steps of the sanctuary?

Unfortunately the preaching was going on INSIDE the building and not to the congregation that really mattered on the OUTSIDE.

Contrast this miserable display of cowardice to the preaching of the original St Paul at Mars Hill in Athens.

The great man, seen here, preached to a band of Athenian sceptics who didn't hang around for another sermon.

They were soon gone leaving behind a handful of people who were the seed that helped spread the Word through the whole of Greece within the century.

Thus an opportunity was seized by St Paul and a golden one was

missed yesterday at St Pauls!

Ian

Where are we going to put everybody?

We have just reached a memorable milestone through the night.

Sometime in the early hours of October 31st the world population passed the seven billion mark.

Do you suddenly feel claustrophobic, over crowded or underfed?

You ought to: that is if you happen to be a follower of  T. R.  Malthus.

 In the 18th century he gave forth a doomsday warning that, within a hundred years, the world population would rocket to an unsustainable one billion people.

Civil strife would erupt, famine would be rampant and there would be societal breakdown. Along with other solutions, he advocated celibacy and abstinence from sex WITHIN marriage.

How wrong can an expert be.

There are now seven billion souls and counting. This number, put shoulder to shoulder, could stand within the area of greater Jacksonville, Florida and half of them from the West would be suffering from obesity from over eating!

Let's get a grip on things folks.

This is our Father's world and He knows how to run His own affairs without the help of Thomas Malthus.

Enjoy your breakfast and make it a grand slam.

Ian

Halloween.

 

The annual ghoul show has arrived.

Goblins, ghosts, wizards, witches, warlocks, fiends and zombies will be out in force tonight on the hunt for candy, chocolate and all things goo.

While the parade goes on, none will stop to ask: "What is the history of Halloween and why the name?"

That would be too much for a consumer driven, occult obsessed generation to ask.
Nor would parents be concerned enough to provide such an answer to the legion of kids on the prowl with their treat sacks.

That their candy-fest could ever be connected to the glorious resurrection of the saints would be too much of a stretch for mind or faith.

But that's what it is all about folks. Halloween (Hallowed evening) is the prelude to the victorious resurrection of the saints and the appearing of Christ. 


That's why they call it "All Saints Day."


"For lo there breaks a yet more glorious day.
The saints triumphant rise in bright array.
The King of Glory passes on His way.
Allelujah! Allelujah! "


You can count me in on that parade!

Ian