The Bee Gees hymn

                                                         The Bee Gees hymn

There is a song by the Bee Gees that was a huge hit. It asks a lot of seemingly unanswerable questions and whatever the writer may have meant to say I think I have an interpretation of his song that speaks quite powerfully of how the natural man becomes newly created.
The song speaks to me of a man who has experienced some great sorrow involving his life and is now questioning why things happen and how he will be able to recover from his broken heart. Each question posed is easily answerable from a grace perspective.
 Question #1-How can you mend a broken heart? From a grace perspective all broken hearts of stone have been swallowed up in Jesus and he has given the believer a new intact heart made of flesh.
Question #2 How can you stop the rain from falling down. The word of God says that the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike so the answer is its in Gods hands only although there is some biblical evidence that even rain can be started and stopped for a righteous reason.
Question #3 Asks how do you stop the sun from shining and when I came to this question I had a picture of the light of the world, Jesus, being snuffed out on the cross of calvary and the bible tells us that the sun was darkened at the same time.
Wow what a song so far but there`s more...
Question #4 Asks what makes the world go around and I think this could either be a literal physics query or maybe the song writer is asking what makes life unfold the way it does and in the context of this song you could go either way so first I`ll say God through Jesus put this universe into existence and is holding it all together including earth's orbit around the sun. Secondly the bible says that we live and move and have our existence in God so I believe life, as we know it, is our experiencing the grace of God sometimes even unknowingly.
Question #5 Says how can you mend a broken man which is a topic I have a lot of experience with as I endured losing everything financially in bankruptcy and then losing my health and job within a short time span.
Some people break easily all at once by one experience and others like me broke down little by little, experience after experience, until they are finally hit bottom. It is only at this point of brokenness that God can truly begin mending a man.
I`v been taking these Questions as they have come up in the song but this one is the key to understanding all the others and their answers as it is the point of conversion that a loser can ever win.
Only God could take a loser like me and turn him into a winner by including my sorry life and all its failures with Christ on the cross and by crucifying us together and put an end to all my sin and degradation.
 Jesus was buried and my old life got buried to signify that I`m dead to sin but now the fantastic part, I`m also raised to a new life with Jesus.
In the song the writer asks to please let me live again and this is exactly what happened to me because by being placed into Jesus`s resurrection I get to live again but now I`m in Jesus and all I was is gone and everything about me is brand new. The bible says that I`m a new creation totally separate from who I was.
The bible even says that I`m totally righteous now not because of what I do but because of what He has done.
This song has so many spiritual elements in it its uncanny. So now the writer turns nostalgic again speaking of misty memories of days gone by.
The memories that the writer speaks of can haunt us all as our minds are not newly created just our spirits. So our past, although totally forgiven, is still in our mind and seeks to control our every action as before but through the power of God we now have the ability to live out of his resources and therefore the great sorrow we have felt fades in the light of Gods glory and purpose for our lives. What a song to contain all the elements of basic Christianity. I`v heard other secular songs that have given me pause to wonder if God did`nt put the lyrics in those songs to cause people to say hmm. For instance have you ever wondered why a great majority of modern songs deal with the subject of love? Could it possibly be that God is influencing our strongest entertainment medium to reflect his nature( God is Love) or is there some other explanation. Hmm
how can you mend a broken hearthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZInWGC5L2T8

An Atheist

Preface :

I was sent this joke and after reading it and admittedly laughing out loud I suddenly felt something was wrong about it. To be honest I`m still not sure what. It seemed harmless enough but I had an urge to add the following ending written in red text and some thoughts. Give me your thoughts or like me write your own ending....

AN   ATHEIST  IN  THE   WOODS An atheist  was walking through the  woods. 'What  majestic  trees!' 'What  powerful  rivers!' 'What  beautiful  animals!' He  said to  himself. As  he was walking alongside the river, he heard a  rustling in the bushes behind  him. He  turned to look.  He saw a 7-foot grizzly  bear charge towards  him. He ran as  fast as he could up the path.  He looked  over his shoulder & saw that the bear was  closing in on him. He  looked over his shoulder again, & the bear  was even  closer. He  tripped & fell on the  ground. He  rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the  bear was right on top of him, reaching for him  with his left paw & raising his right paw to  strike him. At that  instant moment, the Atheist cried  out: 'Oh my  God!' Time  stopped. The  bear  froze. The  forest was  silent. As  a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came  out of the  sky. 'You  deny my existence for all these years, teach  others I don't exist and even credit creation to  cosmic  accident.' 'Do  you expect me to help you out of this  predicament?' 'Am  I to count you as a  believer?' The  atheist looked directly into the light, and  said: 'It would be hypocritical of me to  suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now,  but perhaps you could make  the BEAR a  Christian?' 'Very  well', said the  voice. The  light went out.  The sounds of the forest  resumed.  And the bear dropped his right  paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head  & spoke: 'Lord  bless this food, which I am about to receive  from Thy bounty through Christ our Lord,  Amen.' ---------------------------- Horrified the Atheist froze expecting the worst. The bear rose up and as the man closed his eyes he felt the bears hot breath on his face and then the rub of its fur on his side.  As he realized that the bear had moved past him he opened his eyes and turned. He saw a young lamb caught up in a thicket. The bear was looking at it and quickly moved in for the kill and then moved on. The Atheist shook his head in disbelief but felt the glory of God's grace fill his heart. Overcome with joy he wondered why God had chosen a lamb, why the bear had taken the lamb instead of him and for what purpose God had so graciously spared his life. He had so many questions.... Every day I face the bear too and like the Atheist feel awkward about calling on God based on my record of past and present behavior. You know... all my failings to act like I feel a "Christian" should. Even though I know that behavior is not God's criteria for son ship I find myself falling back on legalistic thinking like this Atheist. It is so much easier to expect punitive measures to follow when I fail then it is to expect grace.  Why is that so when God's grace is always bigger than the bears in our lives and we know that to be truth... 2 Corinthians 12:9a"My grace is sufficient for you" Perhaps it falls more into the arena of faith as we are told in Eph 2:8 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" Perhaps all we need to do is focus more on faith instead of the bear letting a new paradigm shift take place in our hearts and minds. Philippians 3:15 "Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you There is a power released inside of our hearts when we finally realize that God is for us and not against us regardless of our behavior... Romans 5:20 "Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, No matter how far our behavior takes us God is always waiting for us with arms out stretched like a parent watching a toddlers first steps. I always thought He was ready to scold me for failing to perform to some standard of perfection. Like the prodigal son little did I know how much my father loved and approved of me period. Luke 15: 20b" But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. He`d rather that we stay in His arms always but lets us go of our own free will and experience the bears that trying to live out of our own resources bring on us. If we would only stop and think like the prodigal son did and consider our predicament we would realize that we are out on our own up against the bears. Thats not the way God intended for us to live. Rather He intended for us to be in His arms living out of His all sufficient grace. Luke 15:22-24"But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. Imagine if you will the bears of your life not moving towards you but towards the Lamb slain before the foundation of time as you rest in your fathers embrace. Not a lamb caught in a thicket now but a glorious risen from the dead lamb called Jesus who has triumphed over all bears including yours.This is the mental picture that all Gods children can enjoy if they will cast off the yoke of legalism and put on the yoke of freedom that partners us with God and releases us to expect and receive all He has for us.   Matthew11:28-30"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest  29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light

Wendy's pie

It was the end of a long week for us. Alex our son was busy as usual up in his room at his computer. Wendy my wife had decided to take Katie our daughter out to Michael`s to use her 40% off coupon and then show her around a fabric store. I was now alone in the living room and was trying to recapture some elusive peace.
Wendy was in the midst of leaving her full time job and launching out on her own which made me stressed and earlier in the week a window in our car had been smashed out apparently by a rock whipped up by a lawn trimmer. I had negotiated a settlement with the landlord but was still out of pocket for the deductible. Speedy Auto Glass didn`t have the required parts on hand so we were using a loaner while we waited for the repairs to be completed. I don`t like to wait or deal well with surprises or change so for me it had been a long week.
Wendy had suffered through a long day cleaning homes with a boss who refuses to open the car windows or even run the air conditioner as they drove from place to place. She was hot and exhausted when she got home but after we ate supper, out she went with Katie. I had decided not to go with them as I had something nagging at me and wanted to have some alone time to deal with it. I spent the entire time they were gone in prayer and meditation trying to fix what was wrong with my heart and mind.
When Wendy and Katie arrived home Wendy decided to water the gardens and after that we were discussing what we might want to snack on. I thought for a moment and for some reason a picture of a strawberry rhubarb pie came to my mind but I realized that we would have to go to the store for it and it had been a long day for everyone so I only mentioned it for conversation sake.
Still feeling unsettled I retired upstairs to the computer and decided to distract myself with watching some Youtube and for some reason I typed in "Gods grace". I began watching clip after clip of different videos based on the grace of God. Some were songs and others were mini sermons and they spanned a lot of denominational ground. All of them were expressing various aspects and perspectives on God's grace. This is an area I have a lot of interest in and found myself amazed at the way these different denominations were interpreting this topic. It really impacted me and gave me a lot to think about. Eventually I realized that I had been a long time at this so I went downstairs to find Wendy. 
To my surprise she was in the kitchen preparing a home made strawberry rhubarb pie! She had worked all day In hot sweltering conditions, fed us supper, looked after Katie’s needs, watered the garden and then instead of sitting down and resting she chose to make me a pie. Something I wasn`t able to do for myself or was even expecting. As I watched her construct this pie I suddenly realized that this was a great example of what I had just been watching on Youtube. 
This pie was prepared and given to me completely out of selfless love. I in no way deserved it or had earned it in any way. All I could do is receive it and express my joy and thankfulness and let the occasion of it work in my heart. 
When you are a recipient of grace it does something that resonates within you. I was a lucky man. I was surrounded by grace and letting circumstances cloud my vision. We had a lot of stressful things happening in our lives and I was worried about it all. Fearful that the financial rug would be pulled out from under us somehow thinking we might lose everything. 
God used Wendy and her pie to remind me that His grace is sufficient for all our needs. Remembering all this finally brought me the peace and joy I badly needed because I realized that in Jesus I already had everything I needed and that could never be taken away. 
I asked Wendy where the rhubarb came from and she said that earlier that week much to her mom`s dismay Wendy's dad who was suffering from alzheimer's had by accident pulled out all the rhubarb at their house. Wendy`s mom who rely`s heavily on God's grace to help her through each day had given her a whole big bag of it to take home the other day.
I thought about the pie and my father in law's alzheimer's and concluded that God's grace wastes nothing and weaves it all into the tapestry of our lives, the good and the seemingly bad. Knowing this is tremendously helpful I think when certain events and circumstances seem to make no sense. 
Epilogue...It has been 5 years since I wrote that story and a lot has changed. Wendy`s mom passed away, Ed her dad is in a nursing home and my dad passed away. Wendy has her own business cleaning but one thing has not changed, God has been faithful and gracious every day.

It is finished

It is finished He cried, gave up his spirit and died... and all creation was delivered anew.

The big question is do I realize that the battle has been won so completely that I can walk away from all my old ways and patterns for living forever. Oh what a miserable person I am to be still struggling against Satan when all he has left is his lies.
Lie number one is that I still need to generate significance in and of myself. God gave me significance by the mere fact that He made me in His exact likeness and image. I have extreme significance in the fact that He loves me even though I was dead to him. He further proved how significant I am to Him by sending Jesus to give new life to me because I am His very own supremely precious treasure.
Don`t you know dear reader that the battle has been won in my life despite all the evidence to the contrary in my present circumstances. I fall down on my knees and say in Christ alone I put my trust and no longer will I lean on my own sufficiency. I will then worship the one who has delivered me over 2000 years ago.
Lie number two is that I have to press on in my own strength and need to just try harder or be busier for Jesus The truth is I can finally accept His rest from my weariness and heavy labor. God does not need or want my self labors in fact he tells me that I can do nothing of myself and that I can do all things through Jesus.
He is the significance of my life as I rest in his unlimited strength and power and give Him all the glory moment by moment. Some one said... "Oh the folly of trying to get into a room we are already in"... I am being duped by Satan if I think there is anything more that I have to do to be totally accepted by God or anything more required of me to keep my acceptance and be loved by Him.
Jesus sat down at the right hand of God because the battle was finished and settled between God, Satan and mankind. As a believer the bible says that I am also seated with him in heaven and that's because for me it`s also finished.Through Jesus I have also won. So I believe what God says and not what the enemy of my soul says and know that I have significance and am a new creature in Jesus not because of anything I have accomplished in my own strength but because of what God has accomplished for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT_EABKJG28