Embrace, embryo, emotion, Eminem….all of these cute-cuddly things start with “em”. Okay, forget the cute and cuddly on that last one, but you get the point. The prefix “-em” begins a lot of words in our English language, but none may be more important than “empathy”. This is the idea communicated by the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 13:3.
Look it up. Right now. (interactive blogging, remember?). Got it? Good.
Paul is saying here that we must feel other people’s pain – that we must treat their suffering as if it was our own. This flies in the face of the ever prevailing “well he needs to man-up”, or “that’s their problem, not mine” attitude. According to God, it is your problem. So what are we supposed to do? Paul doesn’t give us a specific action to take, though he does imply it. But Christ does. In Matthew 25:36 (you know the drill), our Lord gives specific actions that we should take as a result of our empathetic awareness. If you follow His command, you will ensure that you put the all important “-em” in front of pathetic today.
ur 2-d0 4 2-day: Help someone who has a problem as if it were your own.
I was studying the first chapter in Ezekiel – the famous “wheel within a wheel” account of Ezekiel’s vision. The passage is highly figurative yet very visual. One of the things Ezekiel describes is what most scholars understand to be God’s chariot. In verse 28, we read a description of the “likeness” of the glory of God (an interesting difference between just the glory of God) – and it appears as a rainbow.
source: sxc.hu/photo/1431870
This idea of a rainbow encompassing God’s throne or presence is mentioned several other times in Scripture (Rev 4:3 for instance). So, as I read that whole chapter, I just got a sense of the glory of the Lord.
But what do we usually think of when we think of a rainbow? Even when we are attempting to be spiritual…. “God’s promise to never send a worldwide flood ever again”. Very good kids. It does represent that. But, according to Scripture, a rainbow is also how God’s glory appears to man. So, when we see a rainbow we are really seeing a small glimpse of what it would be like to see God’s glory. When I picture a rainbow, I always picture it on a bright day, with the sun behind it – almost a blinding light around it. Even a small child, when they draw a rainbow, draws it with a sun beside it. This is God’s picture to us of His glory!
What is the other thing we usually think about when we think rainbows? In today’s context…. if we are being honest….gay pride. Is there any small coincidence that the very representation of the glory of God has been perverted and now represents the “alternate lifestyle” that is “available”? Satan does everything he can to undermine and diminish the glory of God, including turning a powerful biblical truth on its head, causing even the most spiritual of us to miss God’s real intention for a created symbol.
So the next time you see a rainbow, don’t just think “Noah”. Think about what an awesome, majestic God we serve. He is the God of the universe, who rides on a chariot, goes where He wills, sits on a sapphire throne, and is surrounded by fire and blinding light.
Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness; And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein. And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. Ezekiel 12:17-20
This passage is part of Ezekiel’s vision relating to the coming Babylonian captivity in 586 BC (the third and final movement of the children of Israel out of the land). Ezekiel is role playing this scene out to exemplify to the Jewish people what that coming attack by Babylon will be like. They will eat and drink with “carefulness” and “astonishment”, alluding to the ideas that they will be frightened and unsure about the future (and where their next meal may come from). God was letting them know that He was going to get their attention, and made it clear that in the end they would “know that I am the LORD”.
This jealous God that we see in this passage is the same God that we serve today. He is the same God who is watching America turn away from Him after following after Him for so many years. How long will it be before God decides to get our attention the way He chose to get Israel’s? As I was reading this passage, and drinking my coffee, I couldn’t help but think that maybe I should be drinking it with carefulness….
Alot of exciting things going on that I will try to sum up briefly for you…..
1) I am now engaged! If you have’t seen the video that is making the world cry yet, check it out at our wedding website: Buxton-Lyons.com. And post a comment on the guestbook!
2) I will be opening a magic shop in Magnolia Mall this weekend (March 20 – 22). Come and check it out!
3) I am now raising support to return to Manila as a full time missionary (hopefully by 2010!). Check THAT out here: www.honestdeceiver.org
4) If you would like to be added to my mailing list and receive my newsletter(s), send me an e-mail saying so!
Where have I been? That may be the question you are asking yourself lately if you’ve tried to contact me through my website or by phone. Answer: Japan, The Philippines, and Thailand! For the past 2 months or so I have been traveling internationally, taking my magic on the road in a serious way. I performed in front of a total of 10,000 people while in Manila, Phillipines! But these were no ordinary performances – they were the launch of a brand new venture: Honest Deceiver Ministries. To get a hint at what HDM is all about, please visit the website here. More information on HDM coming soon….
To learn more about the work that I was doing in Manila, please visit my flickr page and check out some of the cool shots. (Alot of them were taken by my girlfriend who as it turns out is a pretty good photographer, videographer, driver, P.A., and companion! more on that later… :p )
As of right now, I am back in the States for a good while, and I am excited to begin performing once again. Check out the schedule page for updates on where I will be next! (I know, I know…it was severely out dated for about 2 months!) Call me or send me an e-mail for any questions you have about…..anything!
Until then,
-Marc
p.s. – I’m a poet, and if you didn’t know it, you can see my poems on my other blog.
I just returned from one of the most amazing experiences of my life personally, spiritually, and magically. Needless to say, my trip to Manila as part of a missions team was fantastic! A team of college students from FBT headed off to Manila on June 30th, and we spent the good part of a week working with Greg Lyons in his amazing ministry there. I can’t even begin to do the ministry justice on this tiny blog, but I will give you some stats to give you an idea. The ministry is called “MegaCity Ministries, Inc” and they operate several churches in and around metro Manila. These churches each have outreach programs to the communities including feeding centers, workshops and activities, “Youth Jams” (rallys for school children), “Fun Trucks” that go out into the city on Saturdays to entertain the kids and spread the Good News of Jesus Christ, and a whole lot more. MMI also operates a Bible College with over 400 students now enrolled. One of the largest facets of the ministry is their youth camps, which this past summer hosted over 57,000 children! Read that again – 57,000. There is also a camp for public school teachers, with over 6,000 attending this year. And that is really just the tip of the iceberg.
I was blessed by the opportunity to use my magic to minister to the people of Manila, and I was given the chance everyday to “perform” in front of audiences ranging from children to adults, and in venues from churches, to schools, to the streets of Manila. But this “performing” was different than I sometimes have the opportunity to do, because the focus of everything that we were doing was to share the Gospel with the people who were at these events. We saw many results, and many lives changed as multitudes of students and adults came to know Christ as their Saviour. A part of my heart remains in Manila and with the people there, and I will probably be forced to go back and check on it very soon.
If you are looking for a ministry to donate your time or money to, I would like to suggest that you contribute in some way to MegaCity Ministries and the work of Greg Lyons. I will personally attest to the impact that you can have, due to their commitment to stewardship and perseverance. Their contact information can be found in the links above.
You can visit my Flickr page for more pictures from the trip….
Alot of exciting things going on that I will try to sum up briefly for you…..
