I’m reading a commentary on Habakkuk. This prophet’s 3 chapters go like this:
LORD, why aren’t you doing anything about this? I am, Habakkuk, see? No, LORD, not THAT! Habakkuk, but then, this. Oh. You are Great! And I am not- but my faith is increased!
Our Lord is kind to be patient and merciful with us. We complain, we challenge, we ask, and when He answers as He did Habakkuk, Job, Daniel, Jonah, etc, it’s a glorious thing to ponder that He engages with His people – with the old Prophets directly and us today, through His word. Omniscient, all-powerful, His thoughts so far above our thoughts, yet He loves, cherishes, and involves His own people. He will hear your questions, too, in prayer if you ask. Beseech Him today, for everything, or nothing, just to tell Him you love Him.
I’m on the autism spectrum. They tested me when I was 8, but in 1968 there was no autism diagnoses for people, it wasn’t in the DSM yet. So the actual word never came up and nothing was ever really done to help me adjust to society. I just went along, feeling weird and not understanding, well, anything. When I was 50 years old I became aware of the word, read the encyclopedia and DSM about it, and went “Ah! That explains a few things!” But I didn’t seek a medical or psychological diagnosis. Obtaining one for an adult is difficult and expensive. But the main reason I shelved getting one was that I know that I am weak and if I had a diagnosis, I’d rest in it, rely on it, and take advantage of it. I decided being in Christ was enough. For some families, getting a diagnosis for certain things brings some much needed help, information, or funds. For sur! So, what to do? The Cripplegate answers this question: What Should You Do With Your Diagnosis? Responding Biblically to Mental Disorder Labels.
“There was a time when even the unconverted would refer to a Christian as a “God fearing man.” With this theme so prominently and frequently mentioned throughout the Scripture—both Old and New Testaments—it is regrettable that in our day it can be rare for a sermon to be preached on this most important topic, let alone an entire series. These messages therefore are much welcomed and a “must hear” for sheep who desire a masterful, “meat-of-the-word” treatment of this weighty subject.” This is an introduction to an ntir, loaded page of sermons and writings about the Fear of God: you can find here.
Awww, the classic movie Roman Holiday turns 70 this year. World has a retrospective on the Gregory Peck- Audrey Hepburn film.
Feeling like a shopping spree? The Biblical Creative has some new products; Gospel tracts, Tee shirts, hoodies: here. Want some quality handmade leather products like bookmarks, journals, key rings, here at Robrasim. Need some Just Thinking merch? Letting your haters be your motivators? Bubble stickers? Mugs? They got ’em and more.
Let’s end with Dr. Lisle at the Biblical Science Institute and an essay on “Interpreting the Bible’s teaching on the Eternal State“. W are eternal beings with an eternal destination of only on of two places: heaven or hell. We Christians should feel gratitude, relief, and fervency for knowing in His grace He saved us from ‘the other place’ and destined us for his bosom in heaven. Think eternally, look up, and praise!
After salvation, I related to God from the beginning in an unusual way. Many people recommend reading John’s Gospel first because the Apostle of Love would ignite the seeker or the new believer’s heart with love for such a God as we have in return. God is love, is the approach.
As a person on the autism spectrum I don’t relate to the emotion of love in the same way as other people. I don’t have a relationship with my emotions that other people have. In fact, I’m unskilled at identifying the emotions I do have. This is called alexithymia. It isn’t a medical diagnosis and it’s not a disorder, according to health professionals. It’s just a condition some people have. So the emotional approach to a relationship with God wasn’t the path He laid out for me. I was like, ‘God is love, so what?’
I do have a strong sense of justice, as many high functioning autistic folks do. I thrive where there are very clear rules (the Bible is a relief!), strong logic, and a robust sense of fairness and justice.
Therefore God’s wrath for sin is very attractive to me. I often speak and write of it, and I look forward to the Day when He rights all wrongs. Injustice is an agony to me. Broken rules, unfairness, and chaos are upsetting. I was like, ‘God is justice?! HALLELUJAH!’
That God will enact His justice through a potent wrath that will strike the souls in heaven silent and will be infinite enough to torment sinners in hell forever does not bother me. It never did. It does bother me if a person won’t repent, or when they reject Christ. But the fact of the existence of holy wrath seems a logical counterpoint to His holiness and love. It’s a natural extension of His justice. Sin needs punishment. I am fully aware that apart from His grace, I’d be one of the people dwelling in hell forever, enduring the torment the Lamb pours out, and justifiably so. I was a terrible sinner. His wrath and justice for sin must be executed.
And far from the lovey-dovey hippie Jesus who hung out with sinners and would never torment these poor victims of satan, Jesus is the one doing the tormenting! Jesus is fully involved with His justice.
Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. (Revelation 14:9-10, cf Revelation 20:10)
But today people hardly speak of wrath at all. To do so invites scorn, ridicule, a peppering of questions and accusations, and rejection. I agree with the writer below. When I read Dustin Benge’s Twitter thread on wrath I was pleased to see this important topic addressed. Here is his thread-
Even to mention God’s wrath is to evoke rejection by our hearers: “God would never be that harsh… I thought God was love, not wrath… Surely God wouldn’t send anyone to hell… Doesn’t God say that he loves sinners?” 1/7
Our problem with God’s wrath springs from the fact that we consider wrath in human categories rather than divine. That is, we conclude that God must be like us when he expresses his wrath, a morally monstrous and vindictive person who threatens, “You just watch out!” 2/7
But this is not the God of Scripture, for God’s wrath is in perfect accord with his perfect righteousness, holiness, and justice. God can’t be divided into various parts, as if he had multiple personalities. 3/7
Since God is both infinite mercy and infinite justice, this requires that every single one of our sins committed against his infinite holiness be punished. “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). 4/7
While some divide God into a wrathful Old Testament “tyrant” and a benevolent New Testament “daddy,” a consistent reading of both Testaments discerns that the presentation of God’s wrath is wholly consistent throughout Scripture. 5/7
There is no greater portrait of divine love than when God poured his wrath out upon his beloved Son at Calvary. On the cross, God unleashed his holy fury upon our sin-bearer and substitute, Jesus Christ, who became for us “a propitiation by his blood” (Rom. 3:25). 6/7
God so loved the objects of his wrath that he gave his only Son that through his perfect blood he would make provision for the removal of his wrath. Christ so wholly satisfies God’s wrath that those who were once objects of his wrath are now beloved children. 7/7
To ignore the wrath because it makes a believer uncomfortable to talk of, or because he cannot ‘defend’ it, is doing the unbeliever an injustice. Unbelievers will suffer the wrath forever and ever. They are at risk at every moment of being cast into the fires of hell at their death, which may always come at any time. Jonathan Edwards preached,
O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.
This is a fact. Wrath is real. Many millions and billions are enduring it now. Please, dear reader, inquire of the Spirit to expand your mind to learn more about God’s wrath as the executing vehicle for His justice. We don’t want to focus excessively on love to the exclusion of the conclusion of the reality in front of the unbeliever. The unrepentant will live an infinitely long life in hellish eternity. And such were some of you- sinners dangling over the fires of hell before the grace of God took pity on you (and me) and rescued us through Jesus’ blood. Remember that, and talk of it.
Hello friends, I pray you are doing well today. I am sliding into the summer break from school and I am overjoyed it’s the end of the year. It was a good year, I love my job, but I enjoy the time off so much. I always have these grandiose plans for the 8 weeks I’m off. Usually I give myself a week to decompress then plan to read and craft and clean and hike and do all sorts…but then I don’t. LOL, I do accomplish stuff, but my plans are always more grandiose than either my energy level or the time frame permit. But I still have fun!
Our church’s summer series of TableTalks will begin in 2 weeks. These are super fun. We meet, eat, then have a lesson, then stay around and discuss it at our tables. It’s friendly, edifying, low key, and edifying.
Do you have summer plans?
I’ve rounded up some content I thought might be worthwhile to read or view. I hope you enjoy!
In this first one, my friend DebbieLynne offers some thoughts on the perks of disability. Thoroughly wonderful and totally convicting. “An unexpected perk of disability“
Here, G3 Ministry has a wonderfully concise article about spiritual gifts!
Dr. Abner Chou is a linguistic genius and an all around genius…He has been a professor at TMS for a while, and interim President for a year. My friend attends there and he has lauded Dr Chou’s talents for two years since he has taken classes from him. Now, we read that he has been affirmed as The Master’s Seminary President. Yay!
I am autistic, I know people who are autistic, I know people who have been close with non-verbal autistic people. This is a powerful reminder not only to underestimate autistic people (and the principal’s comment hurt my heart) but also that no matter who we are, we are all made in the image of God and to treat each other with dignity. “Nonverbal autistic valedictorian delivers speech“
I ran a community newspaper. Something that was important was to feature the community in the newspaper. I went around endlessly taking pictures of everything happening. My graphics designer, who had a lot of newspaper experience, said: ‘When you take pictures, get close enough to see their faces. Mamas want to see their babies’ face in the newspaper.’
Maybe because I worked so long and so hard to get lots of faces in the paper, whenever I see a photo of a group and the photographer is standing on the other side of the planet and the people in the pic are the size of a molecule, it drives me crazy. If the people are too far away, you can’t see their face.
Now, here is the next topic about faces. Being on the Autism spectrum, I struggle with faces for a lot of different reasons. One is difficulty in recognizing people. This is a newly released study looking (once again) at how people with ASD struggle to recognize people by face. This work appears in Psychological Bulletin. A conclusion was that:
The researchers identified 112 studies representing over 5,000 participants and compared them using meta-analysis, a process that combines and weighs all evidence so it is objective. They found, on average, over 80% of ASD individuals perform worse than typical individuals on tests of face identity processing. “This impairment likely contributes to ASD-specific difficulties with social interaction, which require the ability to identify social partners as unique individuals,” said Scherf.
Yah, it’s a problem. You know who has no problem with recognizing faces, no matter how far away they are or how unrecognizable? God.
Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees me”; for she said, “Have I even seen Him here and lived after He saw me?”
Hagar had run away from Sarah and Abraham. She was alone with her son Ishmael in the wilderness desert, crying, bereft, and about to die. The verse says,
God heard the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” (Genesis 21:17-18) .
No place on earth is too distant for our God in heaven to be able to recognize us. We are not hidden, we are not lost (in the sense of unobserved). We are not unrecognizable to God! He knew Hagar’s name!
We see another instance of God recognizing another person’s face, and his name. Genesis 4:9,15
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” … So the Lord said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him seven times as much.”
But even before that, God, all the way from heaven, speaking to Cain by name, saw His face.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why is your face gloomy? (Genesis 4:6)
Matthew Henry says in his Commentary, "God is here reasoning with Cain, to convince him of the sin and folly of his anger and discontent, and to bring him into a good temper again, that further mischief might be prevented. It is an instance of God’s patience and condescending goodness that he would deal thus tenderly with so bad a man, in so bad an affair. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Thus the father of the prodigal argued the with the elder son (Luke 15:28, etc.), and God with those Israelites who said, The way of the Lord is not equal, Ezekiel 18:25."
Henry continues, "I. God puts Cain himself upon enquiring into the cause of his discontent, and considering whether it were indeed a just cause: Why is thy countenance fallen? Observe, 1. That God takes notice of all our sinful passions and discontents. There is not an angry look, an envious look, nor a fretful look, that escapes his observing eye. 2. That most of our sinful heats and disquietudes would soon vanish before a strict and impartial enquiry into the cause of them."
Source, Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 17). Peabody: Hendrickson.
It is a comfort that God recognizes our face and knows our name. By the same token, it should induce heart trembling, knee knocking fear that no emotion on our face goes unobserved by God. Hagar’s distress in the desert was noted and she was comforted. Cain’s countenance fell into anger and above as M. Henry wrote, God reasons with Cain, i.e. talks him down. He also sees our petulance at our boss, rolled eyes at a parent or friend, jealous eyes coveting a relative’s shiny new X, all noticed by God. He has no trouble recognizing our face, and the emotions on it.
He created us for His glory and for us to enjoy Him, says #1 in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. The most supreme moment in all of time, space, and the universe, will be when we see HIM face-to-face!
There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; 4they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3-4).
What will the Lamb look like? Bright in glory and Light, we already know that. Will He be smiling? Solemn? Joyful? How will He look? I am not worried about being able to recognize Him when the time comes, that is for sure. No distance will separate me from His face, no shame will cause me to cover my face. No autism will prevent me from seeing Him for who He is, nor to recognize all the other saints and know them by face. (1 Corinthians 3:12). What a day that will be!
Rejoice in our Savior, praise Him for His creation, His ways, and His tender care of us, despite being on the throne in heaven. He is not too far, He is near.
The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:9)
I was asked in real life my views on the television series The Chosen, and now an online reader asks. Here is my reply.
The Chosen. End of season 1. The Messiah and disciples walk away from the well, after meeting the woman.
Personally, I have seen all of season 1. I adore The Chosen! Here are reasons why I like it, some cautions, and the 2nd Commandment issue.
The production itself is very close to depicting the real culture of Jesus’ day. The production values are terrific, the series is lush to look at. I’m so happy to have a Christian production that is not embarrassing in its acting, scenery, costumes, or settings! From what I understand, a lot of research and thought went into it.
Where it depicts biblical events, it again for a lot of the screen time, is very close or exactly biblical. They use verses and phrases from the Bible quite often. I have not seen them depict any of the disciples in any way that is contrary to the way they are presented in the Bible (except they made Matthew be on the autism spectrum…why? I dunno). Simon/Peter is impetuous. Andrew is measured. And so on.
Where the Bible doesn’t speak, the narrative is plausible. For example, Nicodemus is portrayed in almost all of season 1. He is shown as compassionate, knowledgeable, but not proud. He is shown to be seeking and open to the miracles of the man he comes to know as Jesus. He is questioning what he knows and doesn’t know. This is plausible because he is seen in John 3 as seeking…he actually was seeking, and it is plausible that he was seeking and questioning before that one night he came to see Jesus.
What I liked about Nicodemus is the show writers vividly depict the tremendous pressure from students and colleagues for Nicodemus to overlook the likelihood of Jesus being the Messiah, the difficulty in shaking off his entire lifestyle and standing in the community for the unknown in following Jesus, and the pleas of his wife to dismiss what he is increasingly coming to believe, so that they can keep their ‘position’. These are all plausible.
No, all this is not in the Bible explicitly but it is generally, and it’s likely it went down that way, given what we do know about Annas and Caiphas and the scribes etc.. Yes, it’s true in one scene that as Nicodemus realized who Jesus was and kneeled before Him, Jesus said ‘You don’t have to do that.’ Jesus accepted worship, He didn’t reject it. That part of the scene was error. What I did like was that Nicodemus took Jesus’ hand, and kissed it, and replied with Psalm 2:2, Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, which was right. I liked that it indicated one place for sure the other Pharisees should have known who Jesus was, or at least should not have ignored scripture in the Old Testament indicating it.
Another character, Mary who was delivered from 7 demons…I loved how they showed her physical and spiritual agony, and the effect of her possession had on the people in her community. It was starkly shown the effect such possession had on the people that loved her as they tried to help her or at least stay out of her way when the demons made her have a fit. The reality of life being demon possessed is startling and different from when you just read it.
It’s emotional. I cry every episode. It’s one thing to read in the Bible about these events, it’s another to see “Jesus” announce to the woman at the well that “I am He”. It’s emotional to see Jesus in Cana standing over the vat of water about to turn it into wine, and realize in his bowed head that he knows this is the beginning of his public ministry, and thus the beginning of the end. This is something that had not occurred to me, but was brought to life by being able to see it depicted. The Chosen doesn’t detract from the Bible nor in my opinion competes with it, but allows us a different accessibility that’s not usually present when reading or hearing, other ways we normally engage with the word of God every day.
So, it’s fairly accurate biblically, as much as a man-made production can be, well-written and produced, and emotional. The latter two are not reasons alone to enjoy something as important as a Bible story, but I have not found anything huge in doctrine to turn me off, knowing and understanding that this is a man-made production interpreting the life of Jesus from the Bible, not a reproduction of the Biblical texts. The emotionality and good production make for pleasant viewing, while I still have my discernment hat on.
Even The Jesus Film, which was solely words from the Bible, nothing filled in, only the Bible as a script, had its detractors due to the 2nd Commandment issue, poor production values, and overall directorial lifelessness. Some people are not happy no matter what the writers do with Biblical material. Ask a KJV-Onlyist.
Concerns:
Mary who was delivered from 7 demons is increasingly shown throughout season 1 in the inner circle. She travels with the men and is shown being very active as almost one of twelve. In fact, she is depicted as initiating the entry of the paralytic through the crowds and up onto the roof. She didn’t. This is not accurate and is an unnecessary change. I hope that the writers don’t bow to pressure to have a woman in a man’s place as this series continues. I’ve only watched season 1. But I do not like Mary’s involvement, which IS a departure from the texts. It’s one thing that may make me abandon the series.
‘Jesus’ talking with the Woman at the Well. This scene/event concludes season 1. Jesus had openly announced Himself as Messiah, saying to her ‘I am He’, (John 4:26).
A few times, a very few, Jesus says things that are not realistic. Simon-Peter is shown to be impulsive, as he actually was, and Jesus and Peter’s wife have a conversation, that “You saw something in Peter before anyone. So did I. That’s what links us.” That is nonsense and something Jesus would never say.
Some critics dislike that Jesus is shown joking or laughing. I have no quarrel with Jesus joking or laughing. He was “fully man”. He was shown in the Bible to be tired, frustrated, hungry, sorrowful … if He is fully man, is it not reasonable to expect he felt the entire gamut of emotions as a man? This would include joy, laughter, happiness. God rejoices in heaven. (Zephaniah 3:17). I have no quarrel with a show depicting Jesus as laughing. He was a man of sorrows, but he was also made like his brothers in ‘every way’ (Hebrews 2:17).
As for the one line that everyone is hollering about, when ‘Jesus’ was joking about Andrew’s inability to dance, the disciples jokingly appealed to Jesus to help him, and Jesus said, ‘There are some things even I cannot do’. It was a joke. Nothing in the remaining context of the entire bulk of all the episodes suggests anything less than Jesus is fully Man-God deity. And remember, Jesus also said He didn’t know the day nor hour of the Second Coming, (Matthew 24:36), and that ‘He GREW in wisdom and stature’.
I am aware of the issues with Dallas Jenkins’ ‘spiritual advisers’- Mormons and Catholics. It says a lot about his discernment to have them on board, or maybe it was a pragmatic or financial decision. I don’t see people decrying Billy Graham who also had Catholics and Jewish rabbis at his Crusades as counselors. Hmmm, crickets on that one! Jenkins’ associations are something to be aware of, putting that nugget in the discernment bucket. I don’t know how much his advisers influenced him but I have not seen anything tremendously disturbing yet. But as with ANY material that isn’t the actual Bible, be discerning and watch and compare.
As far as the critics’ charges that this movie is dangerous in that it causes people to reignite love for scripture or return to church etc, perhaps supplanting actual word of God or using the movie as a substitute, well, devices are used all the time to draw people. VBS, Trunk or Treat, Youth Night pizza parties, Christmas Chorales, movie clips, popular songs, Revival week… churches use various methods all the time to punctuate worship or to draw the drifting. Not all of these methods are good and some are too pragmatic, but just add The Chosen to the pile of ways Christians use material to get the Good News out there. We understand we aren’t to directly worship the Jesus in the movie. We know we aren’t supposed to swap the written word of God for a cinematic experience.
Second Commandment
Yes an actor depicts Jesus but no, I don’t think anyone will bow down to him or worship him. For some, it sears their conscience to view someone portraying Jesus and that is OK, I would not want someone to violate their conscience. For me, it is not an issue. I would not want someone to make me feel seared for having watched a depiction of Jesus. Is it unwise to listen to an audio recording of the Gospel of John, for a human to audibly speak the words that Jesus spoke and us to listen to it? To listen to a voice actor like Max McLean to read Jesus’ words aloud in a podcast devotional? We all have differing levels of quarrel with how far depictions of Jesus go.
Conclusion
I think people and especially parents just need to weigh if they want to watch a show that plausibly fills in gaps where the Bible is silent, and whether they or their kids will absorb it as truth. That could be a danger.
Fads. A lot of times reviews go in fads because people pile on. The outrage against Harry Potter was started by Focus on the Family and since James Dobson had a lot of influence it went far. People piled on, going ‘yeah! yeah, Harry Potter bad!’ without thinking it thru for themselves. Eventually such negativity settles into the culture like cement and it’s hard to shake it. I think the same thing is happening with The Chosen. It is one of the best depictions of Jesus I’ve seen, the material is pretty biblical, there are some quibbles and a few off things as there usually are! but nothing that would warrant people saying ‘it’s heresy!’ like I’ve seen.
Indeed, this is one of the more biblically faithful series I’ve seen, and yet the awful series “The Bible” by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett was actually taught in churches! I’ve heard nothing but crickets from people about that, nor about Noah with Russell Crowe, Exodus: God and Kings by Ridley Scott, and series like The Bible and AD: The Bible Continues etc. They say ‘Ack, it’s just movie/TV! Get over it!” Why the outrage against The Chosen? I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s warranted.
I put on my discernment hat and go from there. It’s up to any individual person to determine at what point their conscience would be bothered by what they are viewing. Niggles turn into issues that turn into problems that turn into heresy, and at some point discernment tips over from caution to ‘no-go.’ For most of the movies and television shows about biblical material, I tune out early due to a mounting pile of issues with doctrine. In one or two cases I quit because the production was so poor. With The Chosen, I’m still hanging in and I look forward to season 2, hoping I don’t have to abandon it. As with any material based on the word of God, be discerning and realize in grace and patience and love that for each person their tipping point will vary and some will bail earlier than others.
As with any biblical production, use discernment, pay attention to your conscience, and watch out for the kids if you have any that plan to watch, carefully explaining what is interpretive filler and which part is biblical. But parents should do that anyway!
Enjoy The Chosen for what it is and go on with your summer.
I’m not a huge fan of podcasts myself. I prefer to read than listen. That’s the autism speaking. I’m extremely sensitive to sounds or anything auditory. But I recognize that many people are too busy to sit down and read edifying material, but they do have time when they exercise, drive, fold laundry, etc. My goal with my social media is to get as much biblical content in front of women as possible, and if listening is the way to get it there, then I’ll do what it takes. Including broadcasting a podcast.
WordPress hosts my blog. WordPress has recently joined with Anchor FM. Anchor powers 80% of new material on Spotify. Anchor has made it incredibly easy to record a podcast right from my written WordPress blog. So I jumped.
We finally went back to work on Monday! Yay! I work in a public elementary school, so that means I’m looking forward to seeing the kids. They will be arriving in a few days.
We are taking this time to learn new procedures and guidelines for keeping the kids and staff safe during this COVID epidemic. The guidelines are in alignment with CDC and are just tremendous for the best safety.
‘Eve! You shouldn’t have focused on what you can’t have! You should have focused on what bounty was available to you!’
Sure, that one is easy to spot.
I have food allergies. A lot of them. As I’ve gotten older they have crept in and gotten worse. A near family member is a celiac, and I have had to face a growing intolerance for gluten myself. I have an intolerance with dairy. I have to go on a low FODMAP diet, where certain foods from all food groups, varied and disparate, affect me terribly. It makes sense to go low carb at this stage of my life for heart health reasons. I dislike the texture of most meat.
It’s normal for people on the autism spectrum to have food issues, and I’m no exception. I was disappointed this past summer when I learned the FODMAP issue. These are foods that my body can’t absorb. It’s not just the usual suspects, sugar or carbs, but anything from onions to apples, blackberries to split peas, cauliflower or honey. Blueberries are OK but not more than 10, grapes are OK but not more than 17. And so on.
I sighed to myself and said often, “I can never have a bagel with lox again. No pizza. Muffins, bread, rolls, spaghetti. No rice, no peaches (I live in the Peach State!). No blackberries – which are my favorite.
Then our church watched American Gospel: Christ Alone. In it, a family is given extended interview time. The wife has serious medical issues. As her issues devolved, she was diagnosed with a condition that forced her to bypass her stomach and inject liquid foods straight into her intestine. She can ever eat again.
Never. Eat. Anything. No food passes her mouth. Ever.
Welp.
I will not complain or sigh or mourn my limited diet. I HAVE a diet. I have, by God’s grace, many items I still enjoy. I love fruits and veggies and there are many of them I still can eat. As for the gluten, there are ever more choices on the shelves for substitutes, which others in my family did not have when they were diagnosed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. So I have that grace as well.
I must look at what I CAN eat, not the forbidden fruit hanging on the tree. Why focus on the forbidden fruit and not the allowable fruit. Duh. I have seen Eve and she is me.
By comparison, the garden of God’s delights is large, and it contains not only food, but many joys and comforts. I need to look at those and not at what I can’t have.
I love to read. But as much as I love it, my fleshly sinful nature will rear up to divert me from any wholesome activity, even one I love. My eyes tire more quickly too as I’ve gotten older so I struggle against the pull to just watch TV. I motivate myself to maintain this important habit in a number of ways. One of them is doing Tim Challies’ Christian Reading Challenge for 2020. He sets out a four-tiered list of themes to match with books you choose. You also choose the pace at which you want to read them. I chose Avid Level, reading 1 book every two weeks. His list is below. You can see the themes. Continue reading “2020 Christian Reading Challenge: My Big, Fat Book List!”→
Since it’s year-end and I’m concluding the Challies Christian Reading Challenge, the next couple of days will be about books and bookish things. I already wrote about a Bible Reading Plan.
I like a challenge. I like to have goals. I need them in order to stay on track and be productive. I like Reagan Rose’s Redeeming Productivity blog and podcasts, “A Christian Approach to Getting Stuff Done”. Otherwise I’d melt into a puddle of TV-watching couch potato with a melting brain to match! I recommend Rose’s blog and podcast, they’re great.
the-end-time.org 