Soon shall be over past

Writing my last entry here from New York made me sentimental to find those same old Shorewood tapes I said I replayed over and over on my Walkman while walking the streets of Manhattan (as well as riding the subway rails, jogging in Central Park, standing in line at the groceries and post offices, etc., etc.).

Just tonight, I went scrounging through my huge black Lawn & Garden bag full of old tapes and CDs that clogs the entrance to my bathroom (I have no storage space in my studio and only one very small closet so this was the only big spot to put it).

It was really interesting what I found, including a cassette where I had interviewed the missionary doctor who worked closely with my dad in Ecuador (Doc Wally from the movie “End of the Spear”) and a recorded funeral service for my Norwegian grandmother in Superior, WI, that was dated 1-24-86.

Just an hour earlier I listened to this funeral and they had a friend of hers with a great voice sing an old Lutheran hymn that was said to be a favorite of my grandmother’s! Here are the lyrics:

I’m But a Stranger Here
By: Thomas R. Taylor

I’m but a stranger here,
Heaven is my home;
Earth is a desert drear,
Heaven is my home;

Danger and sorrow stand
Round me on every hand;
Heaven is my fatherland,
Heaven is my home.

What though the tempest rage,
Heaven is my home;
Short is my pilgrimage,
Heaven is my home;

And time’s wintry blast
Soon shall be over past;
I shall reach home at last,
Heaven is my home.

Therefore I murmur not,
Heaven is my home;
Whatever my earthly lot,
Heaven is my home;

And I shall surely stand
There at my Lord’s right hand.
Heaven is my fatherland,
Heaven is my home.

Just before writing this I finished listening to a really old study of Jordan’s from my New York years that caught my eye because it was entitled: “Our Sonship Walk; The Breadth, Depth and Height.”

Here are a few outtakes from it that I’ve edited down: “The issue in this age isn’t you striving to serve God. Rather, it’s recognizing who God has already made you to be. “Don’t say ‘I want this for my life’; you have it! You got to get out of the ‘wanter’ stage and realize you’re in the ‘haver’ stage! Go be who God made you!

“The motivation of the law principle puts individuals under a system of fear. Fear of losing. It winds up with a bunch of psychological guilt and you’re under a guilt syndrome all the time. It’s a performance system that uses guilt and fear as a motivation.

"Grace uses love as a motivation. It’s not just a warm, personal feeling. It’s a mental attitude of value and esteem where you begin to understand and value the things God values. It’s when you begin to look out at life the way God looks at it and you can look at the details of your life and value and esteem the things God values and esteems. That’s love. That’s what God calls love.

“Grace is not, ‘perform acceptably and get the reward.’ Grace says, ‘Man, look at what God’s done for me! Look at what I got! Whoopee! I am rich, man! I’ve got some stuff!’ And you begin to learn what it is. You begin to get your feet established on what it is God’s given you in Christ, and by the time you get to Romans 12 your heart’s just a ticking; it’s just a beatin’: ‘Hhheh! Hhheh! Hhheh! Look at all these divine operating assets that are mine! All the wisdom of God working on my behalf! Man, I’m motivated now! I’m stirred up! That’s God working in me!’ Then the love of Christ constrains you.

“There’s a new way to think. Verse 3 Paul talks about it: ‘For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.’

“He says, ‘Think straight about who you are. Think about it; don’t put up a bunch of stuff. Just think about who are you!’ Let me ask you that—who are you?

“God wants His life, His program on display. And He’s fixed you so that it can be. Look at Philippians 1:9-11. Folks, God Almighty is glorified when you and I bear fruit. It’s that simple. God gains glory when we people see our lives and they see us and they see His life, His actions, His attitudes fill our lives and they hear His praise and His word coming off of our lips, God gets the glory. Motivated by His grace to walk and demonstrate the dignity of the position that we have in Christ.

"The issue in the local assembly, the issue in the life of every Believer, is Godly edification, building up a HOUSE of doctrine in our soul out of which we can live for God’s glory and begins to bear fruit for His glory.”