Reflections

From a thousand heights,
The streams of life
Are ever rushing down:
The jutting rock,
The broken bough,
The crooked bank,
Even the rounded pebble;
Each, and all,
In their personal murmurs,
Are enough to trouble
These shallow waters,
And obstruct
Their narrow course.

Eternal Springtime

Eternal springtime
Canopies the soul
At peace with God;
Walking free,
Enwrapped in the
Living consciousness
Of His love.

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Godly sorrow,
Like weeping Mary,
Seeks after Christ;
Saving faith,
Like wrestling Jacob,
Finds, and holds fast
To Yeshua.

To His Glory

As the inlet waters,
Run back again
To the sea;
So too, the
Rushing love of
The Living God:
What we receive,
In His mercy;
We must return,
To His glory.

The Living Flame

The Living Flame
Within the lamp,
Is a transformation
In Light:
Christ beheld,
Is Christ incarnate
Within us;
Gazing upon Him,
Are we changed
From glory to glory,
Even as by
The Spirit of the Lord.

Follow On

We follow on,
That we may know;
Yet we only know,
That we may follow on:
Light prepares
The way for love;
Love girds the loins
Of the heart:
As light refreshes
In the morning,
After a dark and stormy night;
So is knowing,
After the travail;
God's mercies, after affliction,
Are very sweet:
And so, we follow on.

Major Suits

President Obama was nearing the end of a reception line at a fund raiser last month,
when he saw a face approaching that he didn't quite recognize.

He leaned to his chief of staff and asked, Who is that guy?'

"Oh he's ok sir," he replied. It's the guy who made your suits for tonight."

Thus reassured, and with a new confidence, the president flashed a warm smile, put out a firm hand shake, and said, "Major Suits, it's so good to see you again tonight."

Yet Shall We Live

How often we sink into those dark and dismal places where we are, in our feelings, as dead men. Has sin never slain you? Has the iron never pierced you soul? Has the accuser never knocked the wind of God out of your soul, so to speak? Has Satan never come with his darts of fire, and all the
firebrands of hell, and sought to scorch away the leadings and feelings of grace and even blot out the very desires within for life? And those times when you seemed to sink in your soul into such a
miserable emptiness of spirit, that it felt as though you
were devoid of all grace, as if it were an impossibility for grace ever again
to renew and revive your soul? Here, my friends, you were in the pallor of death. I have been here myself, more than once,
that's why I can describe it to you. Because I've been there; we all have.

Yet even with all this, there is, within the lamb, that longing
look, a heartfelt groan, a heaving sigh, and a resisting unto the blood, not an utter giving up, nor sinking down into miserable despair. God the Spirit keeps alive his work upon the soul, and Christ, Himself as the resurrection of life comes into our bosom, raising us up and drawing us to Himself, renewing and reinvigorating our lagging, lifeless spirits with fresh
movements of that Life which is in Him alone. Here, we see within us, each of us, and all of us, a personal, individual consequence of his resurrection, "Whosoever believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."

DNC Scientists Disprove Existence of Roberts' Taxon

DNC Scientists Disprove Existence of Roberts' Taxon

WASHINGTON DC - Jubilant scientists at the DNC's High Speed Word Collider (HSWC) announced today they have conclusively disproven the existence of Roberts' Taxon, the theoretical radioactive Facton particle that some had worried would lead to the implosion of the entire Universal Health Care System.
"I think it's time to pop the champagne corks," said HSWC Director David Plouffe. "Then blaze some choom."
The landmark experiment in Quantum Rhetoric began early this week after legal particle cosmologist John Roberts published a paper in the Quarterly Journal of Tortured Logic that solved the long-debated Pelosi's Paradox in Universal Health Care Theory.
"Pelosi's Paradox states that in order to find out what is in a health care bill, it would have to be passed," explained physicist Steven Hawking. "But in order to be a law it would have to be constitutional, which means someone would have to know what was in it, which would mean it couldn't have been a bill in the first place. Think of Schroedinger's Cat, except with a lobotomy."
To solve the paradox, Roberts proposed the existence of the Taxon - an ephemeral, mysterious facton particle that in theory would allow the Universal Health System to be constitutional, without directly observing what was in it. DNC scientists at first cheered Roberts' findings, but it soon came apparent that it opened an even deadlier dilemma.
"If Roberts' Taxon were really to exist, and was woven throughout the Health-Government-Time continuum, the merest realization of it would create a giant black hole in Gallup Space and cause free healthcare reality to collapse upon itself," said Plouffe.
In order to disprove the Taxon, scientists at the HSWC devised a test experiment in their enormous CarneyLab bullshit accelerator. This test involved speeding a small mass of Facton - theoretically containing Roberts' Taxon - and smashing it at near-light speed against a flaming super-dense ionized clod of purified bullshit.
 
Schematic of experiment (graphic courtesy HSWC)
"It was a complete success," said Plouffe. "The collision produced only inert crap particles like Feesons and Penaltyons, obliterating any traces of a single highly radioactive Taxon. What's more, we were thrilled that it also resulted in over 300 milliaxlerods of of positive Fernstroms."
While super high-density bullshit was critical to the experiment, Plouffe said other key variables were necessary to keep potential Taxons from escaping to Gallup Reality Space.
"We were careful to shroud the collision within the Beltosphere, which is protected with a thick sheath of inert, pliable media," he noted. "As additional protection, we surrounded it with a negatively-charged gaseous squirrel field."
Base on the success of the test, Plouffe said the HSWC would soon begin work on destroying traces of a new deadly Facton particle, the Unemployon.

Communion

What is communion;
But the embrace
Of two hearts;
The melting into one
Of two wills;
The flowing exchange
Of two loves;
Each distinct,
Yet close woven;
As the soul,
Of only One.

Light and Truth

Psa 43:3  O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.

"O send out thy light." The Psalmist desired that light might be sent out, that
is, that there might be an appearing, an arising of it in some tangible, soul-felt way. The soul, lost in darkness,
and crying out after light, is not satisfied
with a simple conviction, however deep, that with God is light. The thirsty man, parched for water, is
not allayed by knowing that there is water in the well; nor is the miner who
has been trapped in a cave-in, content with knowing that there is light above. One
faint ray of light gleaming through a small crack in the rocks will be worth more to him than a thousand suns,
unseen by him, blazing away, high in the sky.

And thus the struggling lamb will not rest, can not rest,
in the bare knowledge that "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all,"
but his sigh and cry is that this light may be sent out of the fullness of
God into his soul, so as to shed abroad His glorious inward light in his heart,
whereby he may see the truth of God; whereby he may see the glory of God, whereby he can see the full love of God
in the sacrifice of His Holy Lamb; and know that his name is written in the book
of life. That he may see  his own eternal union with Jesus, and in seeing his own eternal union with the risen Lord,
he might enjoy communion with Him, and know presence of Almighty God in his soul,
to have His glory revealed, and made manifest in his heart.

This was the cry of David's heart that night, as he sought the face of God. He wasn't
looking for help or sympathy from men or their traditions. He needed, as we all do,
that which only God could provide: Light and Truth.

It is a picture of a tempest-tossed soul. Sun and stars beclouded, compass
lost, chart useless, pilot absent, and breakers ahead. Lost in a storm of guilt,
despondency, gloomy forebodings or dismal, dreary apprehensions.

How many of us can see ourselves here? Driven from our course;  sun and stars all obscured; no clear
evidences, no bright manifestations; darkness above, and a raging sea
beneath; no harbor in sight, and hope of reaching home, fading fast. I think this describes
everyone that I know of, at one time or another.

Yet David knew in His heart where to find the light, as do all lambs.
You find the Light in the Truth.

He says, "O send out thy light and
thy truth." What was "the truth" which he sought to know? The truth of Messiah; the truth of His
sacrifice; the truth of His justifying blood, the truth of His righteousness;
the truth of deliverance from the curse and condemnation of men, that
truth whereby the soul is set free, according to the words, "Ye shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free;" the truth whereby the
affections of the soul are separated, and set free from the things of time and sense, and fixed on the
realities of eternity; in a word, to know the Truth, Himself, and to discover the Light, in Him
who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

It is clear from his words, that David could not be
comforted by any other than God. This is the witness, my friends,
of the work of God's grace upon his soul. When a man
is so distressed in his feelings, so cast down in his mind, and so troubled in his
conscience, that none but God can comfort him, he is at once on the
footsteps of the Spirit. We do not find hypocrites on this ground.  Zion's special mark is that she,
His beloved, can not be comforted by any other than her Lord, her wounds are too deep for human balms, her
sickness too sore for the medicines of men. Almighty God has reserved her comfort for His
hands alone; from His lips only, can consolation be spoken into her soul.

Through the grace of the Spirit of God, David saw the Truth, and received the Light; much
the same as Job, Abraham, Jacob, or Moses. How can this be? You ask. How could David have seen the Truth and received the Light a thousand years before Messiah would come? Because in the Eternal Realms of God, where time has no presence or meaning, Messiah is the Paschal Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the world.
The power of His sacrifice flowed backward, as well as forward across time. How else could Job sing out that
He knew his Redeemer lived and would resurrect him at the last day; how else could Abraham see His
day and be glad therein? You can see from the second part of our verse, that David, as Job and Abraham
before him, knew the Truth, and had seen the Light, in the power of the Spirit of the Living God.

Let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. He asks that Truth and Light bring him to the
holy hill of God. In the days before the building of the Temple in Jerusalem, there was no permanent sacred
or holy hill, or place in Israel; he could only be talking about the holy hill of Golgatha, the place of sacrifice,
the holy hill of God, where the Light and the Truth was made manifest in the flesh; slain; and in His resurrection, made available
to all who would seek It. And he asks to be brought into God to celebrate the feast of tabernacles with the rest of God's
redeemed lambs through all eternity.

This was the cry of David's heart, and the longing of his soul as he penned these words. This too is the cry
of our heart, and the longing in our soul as we sail these stormy waters of life, often alone and in distress.
If this is where you are, if you have lost your bearings, or the sight of shore; the same God that came to comfort David
will also bring His refreshment and His renewal to you. Simply follow the path David has laid out for you;
seek the Truth with all that is within you, and you will find the Light; and once we have seen the Light, the journey home is all laid out
for us. We simply need to follow the Light.

Softer Moods

There are softer seasons,
Sprinkled among the years:
Times when the springs
Of life are unsealed,
And heavenly purposes
Come into birth.
We speak of being refreshed,
As though the rain had fallen;
As indeed it has:
Turning the hard ground,
Into forcing beds,
Of luxurient growth.
"I will come down as the rain"
Says the Lord of Hosts;
And like the mist He comes.
Creating softer moods
In the old stony ground;
Causing it to be fragrant,
With the budding fruit
Of His Kingdom of Righteousness.

New Homeland Security Laser Scanner Reads People At Molecular Level

The Department of Homeland Security will soon be using a laser at airports that can detect everything about you from over 160-feet away. Gizmodo reports a scanner that could read people at the molecular level has been invented. This laser-based scanner – which can be used 164-feet away — could read everything from a person’s adrenaline levels, to traces of gun powder on a person’s clothes, to illegal substances — and it can all be done without a physical search. It also could be used on multiple people at a time, eliminating random searches at airports.
The laser-based scanner is expected to be used in airports as soon as 2013, Gizmodo reports.
The scanner is called the Picosecond Programmable Laser. The device works by blasting its target with lasers which vibrate molecules that are then read by the machine that determine what substances a person has been exposed to. This could be Semtex explosives to the bacon and egg sandwich they had for breakfast that morning.

The inventor of this invasive technology is Genia Photonics. Active since 2009, they hold 30 patents on laser technology designed for scanning. In 2011, they formed a partnership with In-Q-Tel, a company chartered by the CIA and Congress to build “a bridge between the Agency and a new set of technology innovators.”
Genia Photonics wouldn’t be the only ones with similar technology as George Washington University developed something similar in 2008, according to Gizmodo. The Russians also developed something akin to the Picosecond Programmable laser. The creators of that scanner claim that “it is even able to detect traces of explosives left by fingerprints.”
But what makes Genia Photonics’ version so special is that the machine is more compact compared to the other devices and can still maintain its incredible range.
Although the technology could be used by “Big Brother,” Genia Photonics states that the device could be far more beneficial being used for medical purposes to check for cancer in real time, lipids detection, and patient monitoring.

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Have you ever groaned
In bleeding lamentations?
Has the iron never
Entered your soul?
The lamb comes to Truth,
Only through a bitter draft;
He arrives at the banquet,
Weathered by the pangs of hunger;
He lays hold of the
Robe of Righteousness,
While yet chilled
In his own nakedness.

from Consumed

It is said of life in the flesh that you are what you eat. So it is with life in the spirit:

To eat His flesh, and to drink His blood,
Is to become broken bread and poured out wine;
To eat His flesh, and to drink His blood,
Is to consume His righteousness,
And thereby become the sons of God;
To eat His flesh, and to drink His blood,
Is to partake of His holiness,
And thereby become the priests of God;
To eat His flesh, and drink His blood,
Is to be filled with His glory,
And thereby become the call of God;
To eat His flesh, and drink His blood,
Is to be consumed by His love,
And thereby become the hand of God.

A Distinctive Loveliness

Light is sown steadily,
Within the righteous:
A seemless, sequential,
Laying of seed;
That the garden
He has prepared,
Is never without flora
In radiant bloom;
They build, and amplify,
One, upon another,
In invitive succession;
Adorning each new dawn,
With its own
Distinctive loveliness.

Cry

Prayer, is in
The intimate breathing
Of the heart
After God;
There is more
Depth, power,
And fertility,
In the inward sigh
And groan
Of a broken heart;
Than in any
Expression
Of the lips.

After All

The Light,
So magical
In its morning beauty,
Has lost none
Of its Luster:

The River,
Which flows
Through past ages,
Has not dried-up
In the sands of time:

The Fire,
That blazed so clear,
As life itself,
Has not died
Down to ashes:

The Living God,
In all His majesty,
Is still our refuge;
As He has spoken it;
So it will be.

Air Force Document: Drones Can Be Used To Spy On Americans

A newly discovered Air Force intelligence brief states that should fleets of unmanned drones accidentally capture surveillance footage of Americans, the data can be stored and analyzed by the Pentagon for up to 90 days.

The instruction, dated April 23, admits that the Air Force cannot legally conduct “nonconsensual surveillance” on Americans, but also states that should the drones”incidentally” capture data while conducting other missions, military intelligence has the right to study it to determine whether the subjects are legitimate targets of domestic surveillance.

“Collected imagery may incidentally include US persons or private property without consent,” the instruction states.

The Air Force can take advantage of “a period not to exceed 90 days” to use the data to assess “whether that information may be collected under the provisions of Procedure 2, DoD 5240.1-R and permanently retained under the provisions of Procedure 3, DoD 5240.1-R.” it continues.

The Pentagon directives cited authorize limited domestic spying in certain scenarios such as natural disasters, environmental cases, and monitoring activity around military bases.

Should the drones capture data on Americans, the Air Force says that it should determine whether they are, among other things, “persons or organizations reasonably believed to be engaged or about to engage, in international terrorist or international narcotics activities.”

The instruction also states that the Pentagon can disseminate the data to other intelligence and government agencies, should it see fit.

“Even though information may not be collectible, it may be retained for the length of time necessary to transfer it to another DoD entity or government agency to whose function it pertains.” the document reads.

The document was discovered by Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists.

Worlder

A restless craving,
Churns in his heart;
For a light he cannot see,
A warmth unknown;
There are aching voids:
Yawning chasms
Within his soul,
That tinsel pleasures
Can never fill.
His hope is ever
Gilding a future,
That the present denies;
Lured and bedazzled,
He pursues the phantom;
Never coming to know,
The object of his search,
Is as far from him
As ever!

The Joy

The joy
Of the morning
Dries
Life's bitterest tears
The heart
Of the child
Leaps
At the sight,

Of his Father's house.