A NEW BLOG SERVICE WITH COOL STUFF!

My dearest friends and readers,

I have begun to use a new BLOG SERVICE called TYPEPAD and I am very excited to report the upgrading of IllumiNations!  This service offers a number of benefits and features not available on my previous service.  It is also easier to use and has an interface that is more customizable.  Please bear with me as I make my way around this new site.

Mazatlan is growing on us and we are getting on each other's nerves!  I will find out quite soon how much of a "Real Christian" I truly am.  The crucible of human relationships is at work and I am feeling the "heat" of the fire! :)

I will maintain my other Blog at the former site for awhile so you can get used to referring back to this one.  I will include a link to this site as well.  Please put this site in your favorites and replace my former address.  At very minimum, just add this site and check both of them for awhile.  I hope you enjoy!

LESSONS FROM THE IGUANA

The other day, my family and I spotted several large iguanas outside the back of our condo. One of these prehistoric looking, dinosaur-like creatures seems to have got ahold of the concept of rest. He did not move from the same branch for two whole days! As I looked at him, I reflected on how God uses His creation to teach us about the cycles of work, rest, birth and death. Resting is as much a part of being human as work is.

When God's creation does not rest it breaks down and loses its ability to be fruitful and productive. In the Old Testament law, God commanded the Israeli people to give their land rest after 6 years of use to prevent it from being stripped of its nutrients. God alone is the one who never sleeps nor slumbers, yet even He "rested" after 6 days of creating the universe. So, take a lesson from the iguana and rest a little. Just don't take several days to digest your food on some branch in your backyard!

REST, RELAXATION AND WRESTLING

REST, RELAXATION AND WRESTLING! An adventure into the world of R&R has begun for the Sherman family as we have embarked upon a three month sabbatical. On October 10th, 2005 we officially began to pack and take care of all the final details necessary to leave our home, our city and most importantly the people we love as our extended family from the congregation I pastor in Washington State.

This has been a time I have both looked forward to and somewhat feared. Leaving a church I have invested the last 17 years of my life into for almost three months is almost like watching your kids leave home. Every leader of any kind of group or organization is faced with the prospects of how those he/she leads will do in their absence. The health of the group will be exposed and the job done by the leader will become all too apparent while the leader is gone. Have I done a good job of building a capable and strong team around me? This and many other questions lurk in the back of my mind while I try to relax and release the weight of the leadership load that has been upon me these many years.

As I write this it is already October 26, 2005 and we have spent 1 night with our dear friends the Graybills, 2 nights in Sacramento taking in a Switchfoot concert, 1 night in San Francisco enjoying one of the most beautiful cities in the world, 3 nights in Southern California with my wife’s family and 4 nights in Mazatlan, Mexico adjusting to the place we will call home for almost 8 weeks. We have slept in Hotel rooms, on floors of relatives and in the home of friends. Our family of 6 has been challenged by the tight quarters of our minivan and the major adjustments involved in being in a different culture with a different language and trying to find our way around. So far, our time has been anything but restful as I have dealt with my regular insomnia, only multiplied. Yet, in all of this, I know God has called us to this time.

Our Father in heaven is engineering something within His mind that will bring us more into the image of the pattern Son Jesus. I trust God to do this work which He alone can do. I have been tired, lacking inspiration and very discouraged at times these last few years and I am in need of a “personal revival!” So far, I have barely cracked my Bible and have done virtually no reading at all. The main goal I have before me at this time is to get oriented to my surroundings, help my family do the same and try to disconnect mentally and emotionally from the work mode. Believe me when I say, “This is much harder to do than it sounds.”

I am wrestling more than I am resting right now. This is evidenced by the number of dreams I have had about the church and ministry since my arrival in Mazatlan. Two nights ago, I dreamed I was at a church service and everything was going wrong that could go wrong! I was frustrated and felt OUT OF CONTROL! Is this dream indicative of my condition or what?! Anyway, this is one more proof to me of my need for rest and fresh inspiration.

I have found a cool coffee shop with wireless internet access and can now regularly write and blog without paying an arm and a leg. THANK YOU, ALL OF MY FRIENDS OUT THERE WHO REGULARLY PRAY FOR MY FAMILY AND I AND READ THIS BLOG. KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN, I WILL WRITE MORE OFTEN.

With much love and appreciation,
Doug

"BROKEN THINGS"

(Thanks to Michael Feldman for the image) Most days I read a classic devotional book given to me as a gift from a dear friend named Deea. This devotional is called, "STREAMS IN THE DESERT." It is a companion book to my daily Bible reading, filled with the wisdom and insight of saints long graduated to heaven. Today the reading focuses on the processes of God which produce brokenness in our lives. It is a powerful reminder of God's higher-ways which often do not make much sense to us at the time. BROKENNESS IS BEAUTIFUL! I have seen its effects worked deep into the lives of a number of people I look up to. I can say in truth, they are more beautiful because of the image of Christ stamped upon their souls through brokenness. Broken Things by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

"By reason of breakings they purify themselves" (Job 41:25).

God uses most for His glory those people and things which are most perfectly broken. The sacrifices He accepts are broken and contrite hearts. It was the breaking down of Jacob's natural strength at Peniel that got him where God could clothe him with spiritual power. It was breaking the surface of the rock at Horeb, by the stroke of Moses' rod that let out the cool waters to thirsty people. It was when the 300 elect soldiers under Gideon broke their pitchers, a type of breaking themselves, that the hidden lights shone forth to the consternation of their adversaries. It was when the poor widow broke the seal of the little pot of oil, and poured it forth, that God multiplied it to pay her debts and supply means of support. It was when Esther risked her life and broke through the rigid etiquette of a heathen court, that she obtained favor to rescue her people from death. It was when Jesus took the five loaves and broke them, that the bread was multiplied in the very act of breaking, sufficient to feed five thousand. It was when Mary broke her beautiful alabaster box, rendering it henceforth useless, that the pent-up perfume filled the house. It was when Jesus allowed His precious body to be broken to pieces by thorns and nails and spear, that His inner life was poured out, like a crystal ocean, for thirsty sinners to drink and live. It is when a beautiful grain of corn is broken up in the earth by DEATH, that its inner heart sprouts forth and bears hundreds of other grains. And thus, on and on, through all history, and all biography, and all vegetation, and all spiritual life, God must have BROKEN THINGS. Those who are broken in wealth, and broken in self-will, and broken in their ambitions, and broken in their beautiful ideals, and broken in worldly reputation, and broken in their affections, and broken ofttimes in health; those who are despised and seem utterly forlorn and helpless, the Holy Ghost is seizing upon, and using for God's glory. "The lame take the prey," Isaiah tells us. O break my heart; but break it as a field Is by the plough up-broken for the corn; O break it as the buds, by green leaf seated, Are, to unloose the golden blossom, torn; Love would I offer unto Love's great Master, Set free the odor, break the alabaster. O break my heart; break it victorious God, That life's eternal well may flash abroad; O let it break as when the captive trees, Breaking cold bonds, regain their liberties; And as thought's sacred grove to life is springing, Be joys, like birds, their hope, Thy victory singing. --Thomas Toke Bunch

"PAINTING PICTURES WITH WORDS!"

Last Thursday, October the 6th, my family and I were privileged to experience the world of REDWALL as we listened enthralled to Brian Jacques the critically acclaimed author of the REDWALL SERIES. Mr. Jacques captivated us for 90 minutes of storytelling and book signing while teaching all of the wide eyed children and children at heart by "Painting pictures with words."

About 8-9 years ago at a conference in Spokane, Washington, some friends of ours turned us on to REDWALL and the wonderful epic tales of warrior mice, otters, badgers, moles and evil rats, wildcats, foxes and weasels. Our son Stephen picked up REDWALL and we have all been converts since. Seventeen books later, we can all attest to the power of these well written adventures!

The books do a wonderful job of transporting the reader to a whole new world of gentle woodland creatures as they struggle over many generations to live peacefully in the midst of enemies full of ambition, malice and murder. Brian Jacques first began to write the books for blind children, so he uses very descriptive language. The battle scenes are graphic and capture the life and death struggles that exist especially in times of war. The lines between good and evil are clear and good character is esteemed as virtuous.

Over 60 years ago, J.R.R. Tolkien began to weave a very complex fictional history of a world called middle earth with the lines, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort." These famous opening lines drew us into a very different, yet familiar world where we could learn about courage, valor, humility, love, faith, hope and friendship. Brian Jacques, like Tolkien is an expert at painting pictures with words and making you believe in the ultimate triumph of good over evil and light over darkness. But I must forewarn you, if you read the REDWALL BOOKS, prepare yourself to be carried away by the "magic" of these written words.

Now, enough from me. How about a description from REDWALL, the first book in the entire series?

"Redwall is an epic tale that begins at Redwall Abbey where Matthias, a young male mouse, is preparing for a great feast. With the help of his friend, Brother Alf (his full name is Mordalfus), he catches a fully-grown grayling. The grayling is then prepared to be the main course of the feast, for many from far and wide, including the Churchmouse family, from Saint Ninians Church.

Unfortunately, evil is coming their way.....

"Cluny the Scourge" a giant rat, many times larger than any other, with only a left eye -- his right eye lost in a battle long past -- carries a pole topped with a ferret's skull, and uses his immense tail as a whip, with a poisoned barb fitted to its tip. This great warlord leads an army of four hundred rats, ferrets, weasels, and stoats, which is rapidly approaching Redwall Abbey un-noticed.

Cluny the Scourge was thought to be only an old wive's tale, until young Matthias saw him. As a group of Redwallers were escorting their guests home, a large wagon pulled by a terrorized black horse, burst out of nowhere, noisily passing the Redwallers. The escort returns immediately to Redwall to report what they have seen. At the mention of Cluny the Scourge, everybody takes the whole incident as a joke, and laughs heartily at Sister Clemence's remark, "Perhaps Cluny is coming to get us for staying up late."

Once the Abbey's residents do become aware of Cluny's approach, they all puzzle on what to do: The most common conclusion is to abandon the Abbey, and find a new dwelling. But Matthias has other ideas. With the help of some others, he convinces those in the Abbey to make preparations to ward off the horde.

Meanwhile, Matthias tries to decode the many ancient inscriptions on walls, behind paintings, and other places throughout the Abbey. These inscriptions are believed to be written by Martin the Warrior himself. Every inscription is written in the form of a puzzle, and when the puzzle is solved, Matthias discovers that he must climb the heights of the Abbey tower, and find the sword of Martin the Warrior there. Unfortunately, a group of violent, and very dangerous sparrows known as the "Sparra" live up there always guarding the sword of Martin. And so the battle begins....."

Enjoy these pictures of Brian Jacques, TURN OFF THE TV and take your pre-teens and older children with you into the amazing world of REDWALL!

THE HIGH GOD DWELLS WITH LOW PEOPLE!

Psalm 113:1-9 - Hallelujah! Give praise, servants of the LORD; praise the name of the LORD. Let the name of the LORD be praised both now and forever. From the rising of the sun to its setting, let the name of the LORD be praised. The LORD is exalted above all the nations, His glory above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God--the One enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the garbage pile in order to seat them with nobles--with the nobles of His people. He gives the childless woman a household, making her the joyful mother of children. Hallelujah! CSB God is transcendent! He is above and other than all of His creatures. We may be made in His image, but we are still creatures. God is God and there is no other being like Him or on the same plane as He. If we were able to lower ourselves and take on the form of a single-celled creature to act on their behalf to "save" them , the humiliation necessary would be less than Jesus went through in becoming a man. The Incarnation is truly a mystery as Creator became creature in order to lift His creatures up into heavenly places to sit with Him!

God is Imminent! He is near to the lowly, the poor, the weak and the humble! He is closer than our skin. He is closer than the air we breath. This God who must "stoop" to look at the heavens and the earth has chosen as His friends people like you and I in all of our weakness, sin and poverty! He chose us while we were His enemies, bound by sin and satanic power and called us sons and daughters. He lifts us up, gives us His favor, love and kindness and shares all He is and has with us. He did all of this through the person of Jesus Christ, the Savior of men. God the Master, became the Servant who washes our dirty feet and souls with His own blood! Wow! That is the essence of the gospel.

Last night at the conference I am attending, T.L. Osborn talked about how he has preached the good news in almost 90 countries of the world and seen millions come to faith in Jesus the Savior. At 82 years of age this wonderful man of God shared story after story of the redeeming, healing and freeing power of Jesus the Messiah of God among the peoples of the earth. He had three main points to make which are the essence of what he wanted to say to a room full of pastors from many of the countries of the earth. Those three points are as follows:

1. Be the VOICE of Good News!



2. Believe for the VALIDATION of the Good News!



3. Believe in the VALUE of people!

As I listened to T.L. make these points with illustrations of God's moving among the weak, poor and lowly of the earth, I was reminded of the beauty of the good news. God the Transcendent One, has become the Imminent One in Jesus Christ. He did this that He might take the garbage dwellers of the earth like me and seat us with His princes! This is my identity, this is your identity as a follower of Jesus the Christ! FORMER GARBAGE DWELLER MADE PRINCE/PRINCESSES AND SONS AND DAUGHTERS! Truly, this is the GOOD NEWS!

Isaiah 57:15 - For the High and Exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy says this: "I live in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the oppressed.