Three Quotes

I've started reading another book by Philip Yancey. This one is called The Jesus I Never Knew. I found some interesting quotes in the first chapter:

"God, if I can use such language, "found out" what life was like in the confines of planet Earth....Of the many reasons for the incarnation, surely one was to answer Job's accusation: Do you have eyes of flesh? For a time, God did." This rings true for me. I've always found it comforting that God, through Jesus, actually experienced what life as a human is like. It gives me hope that I am understood. I believe that God, from the moment of the fall in Genesis, knew that he was going to have to "roll up his sleeves" and get to work. He was never going to abandon his children. Did he know then that it would require his incarnation? It seems to me that the "big picture" of the Bible is the story of a loving, involved God who is continually working to rescue his children from sin -- from the prophets of the Old Testament through Jesus. Did he realize when he saw Isaiah and Jeremiah at work that more would be required? Was part of the reason for the incarnation God's realization that he needed to see our situtation from our shoes -- that only through walking with us would he come to finally understand us?

"In Jesus, God lay down on the dissection table, as it were, stretched out in cruciform posture for the scrutiny of all skeptics who have ever lived. Including me." As a biologist, this is a stunning image for me. I know exactly what this means, visually. To do this, God made himself vulnerable -- open for inspection. It also says to me that God was strong in this vulnerability. Why else would he make himself available for this kind of inspection unless he were confident in his ability to withstand it. Strength in vulnerability -- a good lesson. It's a lesson that we need to learn, for God asks us to apply it. Don't you think that there are times that we will be called to be examined so that others can see God? When I wrote the post about the Will of God, and used J and his injury as an example, I did it with the knowledge that at some point, down the line, parents, like Steve and I, will be struggling with their own child's brachial plexus birth injury. They will stumble across this blog using Google, and I hope that somehow what I wrote will show God to them. That's a small, tiny thing, and it involves no vulnerability on my part. There are times, however, when God calls us to spread our arms wide, so that we can say, "Here is my weakness. Examine it, so that you can see God." It's hard, and it's frightening, but even in our weakness, we can be confident in God's strength.

"Other people affected Jesus deeply: obstinancy frustrated him, self-righteousness infuriated him, simple faith thrilled him. Indeed, he seemed more spontaneous than the average person, not less. More passionate, not less." Yes, exactly. I think we sometimes reduce Jesus to one dimension -- flat. He was not. He was multitonal -- multidimensional. He was a man of many emotions. Doesn't that say to us that WE can be emotional? Not only that we can -- but that we are designed to be passionate and caring, frustratable and thrillable? That we can and should experience the same kind of emotions that Jesus did?

Images: Sunrise over Route 60 and on the VA hill.
Tennis: G/M - 8 : Barboursville - 5 (W)
We spent the yesterday evening dyeing fabric with natural dyes for a middle school project due today. Oh, goody. Pokeberries, blueberries and blackberries were all mashed and used as the coloring agent for the fabric. A messy job. But picture this -- Steve and I out in the dark, at the edge of the woods with a flashlight, searching for blackberry bushes. I would think, that after the "dog incident" our neighbors would be extra wary of us being out in the dark, near the woods, with a flashlight.