Posted by: jakinnan | November 22, 2012

Healing of Our Hearts

First, where does Jesus Christ now reside, in the life of the believer? Inside us; more precisely, in our hearts: “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph. 3:14–17). So we should expect to experience Christ within us, as well as “with us,” or alongside us.

Next, is there any aspect of our personal history that is beyond the reach of Jesus Christ? Never. “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Ps. 139:16). Would the faculty of our memory be a realm beyond the understanding of Jesus Christ, or—more important—beyond his access? No. “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4:13). So, Jesus within us is also Lord of our memory.

Finally, if our relationship with Christ or our witness for him in this world is being hindered because a part of our soul is not yet fully under his loving rule, would Jesus want to address that? Of course he would. Remember his fierce intention.

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Posted by: jakinnan | November 22, 2012

11/22/2012 Scripture

 

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.  For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.  But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

-James 1:22-25 NLT

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Posted by: jakinnan | November 21, 2012

Trail Angel Cake

 

If your sweet tooth starts acting up in the woods, reach for the Trail Angel Cake in your pack. Sweet strawberries, angel food cake, and warm chocolate sauce drizzled on top will tame your cravings.

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup dried strawberry slices
  • 1 cup dried angel food cake crumbs
  • 3 Tbsp sweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ cup water + a few tsp
  • At Home:Read more about dehydrating strawberries on the dehydrating fruitpage.

    Dry angel food cake in half-inch slices and then brake into smaller pieces.
    See the making bread crumbs and drying cake page.

    Pack dried strawberries and sweetened cocoa mix in separate small plastic bags. Chocolate milk powder works well. Enclose in larger plastic bag with dried angel food cake.

    On the Trail:

    Combine strawberries with water in pot. Light stove and warm for ten minutes over low flame. The mission is to warm and rehydrate the strawberries and create some tasty strawberry juices at the same time, not to boil the red out of them.

    Combine cocoa powder with four teaspoons of water in a second pot. If using one pot, transfer strawberries and juices to a serving cup and make chocolate sauce in the same pot. Stir continuously over low flame, adding more water a teaspoonful at a time until the sauce reaches desired consistency.

    Cover strawberries with cake crumbs. Push the cake down into the strawberry juices but don’t stir. Drizzle chocolate sauce over cake. Some of the cake will absorb the strawberry juices and some will remain crunchy.

    Courtesy of http://www.backpackingchef.com

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Posted by: jakinnan | November 21, 2012

The Unfinished Relationship

“Obviously a garden is not the wilderness but an assembly of shapes, most of them living, that owes some share of its composition, it’s appearance, to human design and effort, human conventions and convenience, and the human pursuit of that elusive, indefinable harmony that we call beauty. It has a life of its own, an intricate, willful, secret life, as any gardener knows. It is only the humans in it who think of it as a garden. But a garden is a relationship, which is one of the countless reasons why it is never finished.”

-W. S. Merwin

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Posted by: jakinnan | November 21, 2012

If Only We Understood His Heart More Clearly

We feel that God is not only unconcerned with our plight, but that he is actually working against us. And sometimes, we are right… Indeed, in the seventeenth chapter of Acts, Paul gives the Athenians the stunning news that every single thing in the lives of both nations and individuals is orchestrated with this sole objective that they might seek God (vv. 26-28). This revelation requires some reflection. We are used to thinking of the great movements of history, even the movements in our immediate relationships, as being impersonal, if not arbitrary. But with God, who notes the fall of every sparrow, the events of our lives are thoughtfully and thoroughly orchestrated to bring about our redemption. The days of our lives were ordered and numbered before there was one of them, says the psalmist (139:16). And yet, the ways of his redemption often leave us trembling and fearful.

“Do you really care for me, God?” Can we trust this stranger who leaps out upon us? Could it be that his glory and our well- being really are part of the same script?

If only we understood his heart more clearly. . . .

-John Eldredge, The Sacred Romance, 58, 59

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Posted by: jakinnan | November 21, 2012

11/21/2012 Scripture

The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.  But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.  They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

-John 1:9-13

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Posted by: jakinnan | November 20, 2012

Crossing a River

After a multiday downpour, four friends and I tried to ford the waist-deep McKinley River, in Denali National Park. I was the last in a single-line chain (each hiker holding the waist of the person in front). But the chain broke, and I ended up floating down the glacier-fed river, with my pack dragging me down because I’d neglected to unbuckle it. My fingers went numb almost instantly, yet I got lucky and was able to open the buckles by batting at them repeatedly. Now, when I cross a river, in addition to unbuckling my pack, I remember these precautions:

1. Look for braids, which indicate shallower channels.
2. Avoid areas that have strainers, sweepers, or a cut bank on the far side that will be hard to climb up.
3. With multiple people, use the “pyramid” technique: Link arms, spread into a V with the point facing upstream, and move sideways across the river.
4. If you fall in, float feet forward and swim like hell for shore.

Courtesy of Backpacker magazine

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Posted by: jakinnan | November 20, 2012

Ford Wraps

  • 1 package smoked salmon (in sheets)
  • 2 single serving packages cream cheese
  • 2 large tortillas

At home: Carry the cream cheese and salmon separately.

On the trail: Spread 1 package of cream cheese on each of the tortillas. Put half of the salmon on each. Roll and eat.
Makes 1-2 serving.

Backpacking Tip:

Keep tortillas from breaking inside your bag by placing them between two plastic plates then use the plates for dinner.

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Posted by: jakinnan | November 20, 2012

Swinger of Birches

“I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree~
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

-Robert Frost

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Posted by: jakinnan | November 20, 2012

Receive Life

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:4–5)

How do we remain in vital union with him? By loving him, by obeying him, by surrendering more and more and more of ourselves to him. This is how Jesus lived, by the way. He modeled for us a totally surrendered life, a life lived in union with the Father: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing. . . . For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it” (John 5:19; 12:49). He came in part to show us how it’s done. All that dynamic life you see coursing through him, he received it as we must do—through ongoing love and dependence upon God.

Now, we must give our lives over to him in order to receive his life. Not just once, but as a regular practice. Of course there is more to this than saying a prayer. It would take another book to describe the ways we make ourselves available to his life. We find those practices that help us receive the life of God. Whether it be prayer, worship, silence, sacrament, or the gift of sunshine, sitting beside a stream, music, adventure—we seek out those things that help us to receive the life of God. You have a personal guide now; ask Jesus what to take up and what to set down, so that you might receive his life.

By the way, this is the bottom-line test of anything claiming to be of Jesus: Does it bring life? If it doesn’t, drop it like a rattlesnake. And you will find that the religious never, ever brings life. Ever. That is its greatest exposure.

-John Eldredge, Beautiful Outlaw, 236-237

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