There will be tail-wagging in heaven!

It is certainly very interesting to see how the Bible actually differs so much across languages, the Bible is a living document which needs to be seen to be relevant to everyone who reads or hears it. Here is an example I came across which may give you a chuckle ...

Happy translation

Sir - Some linguists were translating the Bible into a local African language (Letters, March 28). They had difficulty in finding a pure word for joy. The tribal words used had connotations which were not acceptable.

As they were debating what would be a suitable word a dog came into the room belonging to one of the missionaries, wagging his tail vigorously.

"What word would you use for the joy that dog has having found his master?", the missionaries asked. They were offered a word and the final text was translated: "There will be tail-wagging in heaven over one sinner that repents!"

He's made it plain

MICAH 6:8 But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women। It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don’t take yourself too seriously—take God seriously.

Pretty much sums it all up!

There we want to be!

"When you are interiorly free you call others to freedom, whether you know it or not. Freedom attracts wherever it appears. A free man or a free woman creates a space where others feel safe and want to dwell. Our world is so full of conditions, demands, requirements, and obligations that we often wonder what is expected of us. But when we meet a truly free person, there are no expectations, only an invitation to reach into ourselves and discover there our own freedom.Where true inner freedom is, there is God. And where God is, there we want to be."

Henri Nouwen

Nouwen I believe, is speaking of the attractiveness of the free woman or man. I wonder if this doesn't lie close to the heart of the Gospel message... Jesus was apparently a shockingly attractive man, although scripture indicates it wasn't physical. People, sometimes in crowds, would leave everything, families, livelihoods, homes, just to be with him, to listen to him speak and to watch what he did. Society doesn't much like folks who live free of cultural imperatives, from the will of the crowd. "Where true inner freedom is, there is God. And where God is, there we want to be." Yes indeed!

For the love of God!

“Living in awareness of our belovedness is the axis around which the Christian life revolves. Being the beloved is our identity, the core of our existence. It is not merely a lofty thought, an inspiring idea, or one name among many. It is the name by which God knows us and the way He relates to us.”


–Brennan Manning

“Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation that you believe to be the will of God.”


–Jim Elliot

"The great spiritual task facing me is to so fully trust that I belong to God that I can be free in the world - free to speak even when my actions are criticized, ridiculed, or considered useless; free also to receive love from people and be grateful for all the signs of God's presence in the world. I am convinced that I will truly be able to love the world when I finally believe that I am loved far beyond its boundaries.

-Henri J.M. Nouwen



Just some thoughts ... The hospitality that Jesus demonstrates and further offers us, creates space for moral failures to be accepted, to be loved, to be given possibilities, opportunities, and the room for further growth and failure. What would it be like to offer this kind of hospitality to myself? To give myself the space for failure and growth, and to learn to accept and love myself as opposed to the false self that I have created? There are many of us who feel that their lives are a grave disappointment to God. Sheesh! I am beginning to see that God does love us so much more than we can know. "Morning by morning, new mercies I see." That's day after day, new sins I commit. I feel a tremendous optimism! God's is the author of all our lives. God wants to forgive, heal, restore, show us endless mercy, and see us come home!

A Horse and His Boy

The background is this: Shasta (the boy) is running away with Bree (the horse)। During their adventure they met another talking horse carrying Aravis (a girl)। Right before they meet, they are attacked by lions. Further along in the story, a lion manages to scratch Aravis' back. Turns out this whole time it was Aslan, the Great Lion (an allegorical Christ figure in the series).

Here's the quote: "I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis। I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you." "Then it was you who wounded Aravis?" [Shasta asked.] "It was I." "But what for?" "Child," said the Voice, "I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own."



~CS Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia, A Horse and His Boy (ch। 11)

Happiness

Another quote ...

"Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory।" Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)

LOL Kinda true even! lol

What Art Movement Are You?

Being somewhat artsy and all I had to check this quiz out ...

Click here: Blogthings - What Art Movement Are You?

My result:

You Are Romanticism
You are likely to see the world as it should be, not as it is.You prefer to celebrate the great things people do... not the horrors they're capable of.For you, there is nothing more inspiring than a great hero.You believe that great art reflects the artist's imagination and true ideals.