A Book By Any Other Name

Last week I posted an entry saying that I was involved in an extended writing project and I may have to forego further blog entries for the time being. Well, after a marathon writing effort, I was able to complete the project earlier this week. It just goes to prove the old adage: Ask a simple question, get a thirty-nine page response. At any rate, I am finished, and wanted to make a new entry for this week. Hopefully it will make sense (the length may be short and the words not quite right, but I’m still recovering from writing overload!).

I love to read (I have a combined library of well over 2,000 titles), but usually the only time I have to engage in reading is between the hours of 12:00 to 3:00 AM. I have had, on occasion, up to nine books going simultaneously, my bedside table a strange mix of stacked and precariously balanced literature. However, I’ve finally cleared some space and am now reading only two books, one is a new book I borrowed from a church member, the other one that I’ve read at least three times before.

I am an avid fan of the historical fiction works of Jeff Shaara, whom I’ve actually had the honor of meeting, and hope to meet again in November. Each time I read (or in my case, reread) one of his books, I make the same joke, “I’m wondering if it will end the same way this time?” It’s a worn-out joke, but as I thought about it, there is a great lesson to see.

I have all of Jeff Shaara’s novels, and one by his father. They have to deal with American military conflicts, and there are currently seven works ranging from the American Revolution to World War One. Soon there will be the first volume of a WWII series. I’ve read them all several times, and I will no doubt read the new ones several times as well. But no matter how often I read them, they always begin, proceed and end the same way they always do.

But the Bible is different. Each time I pick up the Word of God, even if I read the same book, chapter and verse, I get something new every time. It’s more than a simple, “I don’t remember that,” or even, “Hmm, I’ve never noticed that before.” It is the realization of deep spiritual truth that comes only from the Holy Spirit.

It doesn’t matter how intelligent you are, how many times you read the Bible, or anything of that nature. Understanding of this nature comes only from the guidance of the Spirit, revealing to your mind and heart the deep mysteries of God and His Word. I have never ceased to be amazed that the Bible is the only book that has that ability.

For those who don’t know the Lord, the Bible is just another book, but for me, it is much more. It inspires, guides and teaches me every day. I believe it is capable of doing this because the Bible is more, much more than an ordinary book. It is truly the inspired Word of God, alive in Spirit, and this earnest desire to learn more of God is met by the Lord opening up my limited understanding to greater awareness of Him.

I am glad that each time I open my Bible and read the words penned so many centuries ago, it remains relevant, fresh, and continues to make an impact on my life. And I thank God for counting me worthy to receive His Word. My only prayer is that not only would I understand it, but that I would have the knowledge, desire and ability to use it correctly.

© 2006, Chris Keeton and Soulscape Press. All rights reserved. All material printed on this site is protected by the copyright law of the United States. It may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Chris Keeton and Soulscape Press, obtainable by writing to soulscape@alltel.net. Altering or removing any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content is not permitted. Any and all portions of material copied from the Soulscape Blog must be properly attributed to Chris Keeton and Soulscape, and cited with original blog web address.

Only One Year Later, and Already With the Excuses

So, for those of you who regularly check out this blog, I thank you. I try to update at least once a week. However, due to great constraints on my time, I am not always able to keep to that schedule. I try to write what I can, when I can, and pray that it’s regular. Unfortunately, there is no Milk of Blognesia to help make it regular.

I have promised someone that I would prepare an explanation on a particular Biblical topic, and this project has grown significantly. At present, I am trying to prepare this project for her by writing at every opportunity, but it is not a simple subject. In fact, I’m hoping to keep it to the 30 page range, but even now I’m not sure.

Since she has already been waiting for nearly a month, and I am nowhere near finished, I have decided to take as brief a sabbatical as necessary. It has always been my hope that this blog reach people, and help them to look at life, the Bible, whatever, in a more personal and practical way. And while I would love to give this blog more time, there are other commitments which must take precedence.

So for the present, I will just ask that you check back in a week or two and see if there are any new updates. Please don’t stop visiting the blog, or give up on a new entry. I promise that, Lord willing, I will return soon to the blogosphere. Also, be in prayer that I can finish this current project quickly and as concisely as possible, that it is understandable for the reader, and gives glory to God.

I appreciate your understanding, and I look forward to rejoining you here at Soulscape. Until next time, God be with you.

© 2006, Chris Keeton and Soulscape Press. All rights reserved. All material printed on this site is protected by the copyright law of the United States. It may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Chris Keeton and Soulscape Press, obtainable by writing to soulscape@alltel.net. Altering or removing any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content is not permitted. Any and all portions of material copied from the Soulscape Blog must be properly attributed to Chris Keeton and Soulscape, and cited with original blog web address.

Shameless Promotion???

As you read this brief little entry, it might appear that I am shamelessly promoting my church and its website. So before I continue, I want to make one thing perfectly clear:

You’re absolutely right.

We may be a congregation currently small in number (compared to some churches), but we have big heart, and we are growing, in attendance and most importantly, in Spirit. I am very proud of my church, and many of our members show remarkable spiritual maturity and insight.

I recently asked a few of them if they would consider contributing blog-style articles for posting on the church’s website, and they have agreed. My hope is to ask a few more, and encourage people (who write the articles and who read them) to stop and think about what’s important to them, and how they really see the world around them.

I am extremely proud of these fine people who have contributed, and look forward to the others who will share with us their own thoughts about their soul and about life. I encourage you to visit the following link to see what these good folks have to say:

Congregation Commentary

And, if you will pardon one more indiscreet plug, I also write the occasional article for the church’s website. Every once in a while, I will take something written here on Soulscape and include it on the church’s site, and vice versa. Here’s the link to that page:

An Inspirational Message from Pastor Chris

I will probably post my latest church entry here on Soulscape in coming days, for those who miss this entry or who don’t wish to click on the link above. But I do encourage you to check out the Congregation Commentary and read some wonderful thoughts from some of the best people I know.

So, yes, I am proud of my church, and I’m not afraid to say it. If you’re in the area, stop by and see for yourself what I’m talking about!

© 2006, Chris Keeton and Soulscape Press. All rights reserved. All material printed on this site is protected by the copyright law of the United States. It may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Chris Keeton and Soulscape Press, obtainable by writing to soulscape@alltel.net. Altering or removing any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content is not permitted. Any and all portions of material copied from the Soulscape Blog must be properly attributed to Chris Keeton and Soulscape, and cited with original blog web address.

Happy Anniversary to Soulscape!

So, exactly one year ago today, August 16th, I entered the blogging world with my first entry here at Soulscape. This is entry number 52, surprising since there were times that I didn’t write for a couple of weeks, or wrote more than one entry per week. So one year, 52 weeks and 52 entries later, what has happened in my little corner of the Web?

Well, a lot has happened in the family: there have been surgeries and illnesses, deaths and births and weddings, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 sermons delivered at church. These, of course, do not include Sunday School lessons, funerals, newsletter articles or blog entries. So, things have been busy.

But this is about the one year blog anniversary of Soulscape, so what can I say? There have been a few topics or entries that have special meaning. I’d like to mention some of them:

September 27, 2005: When Answers Aren’t Enough – how sometimes the care of the Lord can only be seen when there are no human answers to be found.

November 24, 2005: The Gobbler Files, Parts 1 & 2 – a light-hearted look at a family holiday; a particular favorite of mine (and some of the family as well!).

December 20, 2005: All I Want For Christmas Is A Mutually Acceptable Expression Of A Non-Specific and Non-Offensive Holiday Observance – enjoyed by me because of the sarcasm which oozes from my words (I love sarcasm, on occasion!), and the fact that it’s the longest title of any entry.

January 14 and 26, 2006: The Pain of an Unknown Tomorrow, and More To It Than Meets the Eye – these deal with the passing of my mother-in-law, and include the testimony of my wife concerning her own experience with this loss.

March 15 through June 2, 2006: The Armor of God, Parts 1 through 10 – This was an examination of Ephesians 6:10-20, and while it did take a while, several of my readers personally conveyed to me that they enjoyed the series.

July 27, 2006: Who’s That Handsome Guy In The Mirror? – This was one of those attempts at humor to lead into something poignant, but it was the national and international exposure of the piece (thanks to a friend’s link in a technology newsletter) which makes it special to me.

August 16, 2006: Happy Anniversary to Soulscape! – the fact that an entire year has gone by and that it’s still going strong makes me happy that I’ve stuck with it.

So, what’s the plan for Soulscape: Year Two? Well, I hope to continue making personal observations about my life and about life in general, as this is the point of most blogs anyway. But I would also like to try my hand at some more Bible studies. The problem is time; spending so much time in prayer, study, and preparation, along with the daily routines common to most of us, there are precious few minutes left. I am currently working on a paper for a member of my congregation, which I hope to keep around 30 pages or so, but I hope to squeeze in blog writings as often as possible. Remember, I’ve told you that one gift the Lord chose not to bless me with is the gift of being brief.

I will still try to update at least once a week, but as time permits, my hope is to update more than that. But it’s all according to what the future brings, and whatever the Lord wills. So for now, I would like to thank each one of you who have stopped by and spent a few minutes reading this blog. My hope was, and continues to be, that your time spent here would leave you with a smile, a hope, and maybe a friend. I look forward to where the Lord leads us all on this blogging journey together. I still value your input, your suggestions, and your prayers that we might be able to reach those who need it most.

So, after 1,381 page loads, 52 blog entries, 15 comments, and one year later, I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us. Rain or shine, we’ll meet it together, with each other, and with the Lord. God bless!

**If you would like to check out any of the stories listed above, just click on the Archive Links on the left of the screen and check them out. And if you have a suggestion for a topic or Bible study Scripture, don’t hesitate to drop me a line at soulscape@alltel.net .

© 2006, Chris Keeton and Soulscape Press. All rights reserved. All material printed on this site is protected by the copyright law of the United States. It may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Chris Keeton and Soulscape Press, obtainable by writing to soulscape@alltel.net. Altering or removing any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content is not permitted. Any and all portions of material copied from the Soulscape Blog must be properly attributed to Chris Keeton and Soulscape, and cited with original blog web address.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

It’s amazing how many things can happen at once. Over the course of one week, there have been countless things occur to occupy my attention and to drain me of my energy and health. We’ll call it the “Law of Simultaneous Consideration.” This law says that if anything requires your consideration, chances are favorable that an unbelievable number of them will occur simultaneously.

For instance, let’s review what has happened in my life this week, since last Thursday’s entry:
1. Lawn work in 95 degree heat and high humidity.
2. Bronchitis, exacerbated by the cutting of the grass and its seeds/clippings being inhaled.
3. Two sermons and one Sunday School lesson prepared and delivered.
4. One church member having emergency appendix surgery.
5. Another church member having scheduled neck surgery … the same day as the other member’s appendix surgery, at a different hospital.
6. Grandmother in the hospital, ultimately with a heart catheterization at one hospital, then transport to another to have two stints put into her heart.
7. Doctor’s appointment to set up further tests next week.
8. Limited sleep due to schedules, joined with the bronchitis, and the ever-present neck and shoulder pain.
9. Several letters, essays and other writings, and counseling sessions requiring my attention.
10. Care of my three-year-old son (enough said).

I could go on, but I believe the point is made. Most of these things I listed happened not one at a time, but simultaneously. It has been difficult to accomplish what I needed to do, especially when they overlapped. But God is faithful throughout it all to give me just enough strength and grace to see me through, and has never let me down.

Sometimes in life, it seems as though you’re being pulled in several directions at once. Maybe it seems like you didn’t even know there were that many directions in which to be pulled. During these times, the only hope of making it through with you sanity is to trust in God. It is humanly impossible to sort through the chaos of life and make it to the other side. The reason we so often fail is because we do try to make it on our own power, resiliency and ability.

So perhaps in the final analysis, having our attention required in so many different places at once is a lesson on trusting in the Lord. As you learn how to lean on Him more, you gain insight on what it truly means, and it helps you down the road during other trials. And most importantly, you are able to help others cope when their own lives seem to get out of control. And when you’re dealing with feelings you neither expected nor know how best to handle, you know that in some way, you’ll be able to figure it out.

So, staring at the blurry images of these words upon my computer screen, I realize that God has never let me down, and being there for others is a great way to spend one’s time. The Law of Simultaneous Consideration might take a lot out of you, but it puts back in much, much more.

Next week, there will be a very special entry, so check it out. Well, it might not be special for you, but it will be for me, so humor me. God bless.

© 2006, Chris Keeton and Soulscape Press. All rights reserved. All material printed on this site is protected by the copyright law of the United States. It may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Chris Keeton and Soulscape Press, obtainable by writing to soulscape@alltel.net. Altering or removing any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content is not permitted. Any and all portions of material copied from the Soulscape Blog must be properly attributed to Chris Keeton and Soulscape, and cited with original blog web address.

Care For Some Weeds, Anyone?

My, oh my, this summer is HOT! I don’t think I’ve seen as many “hottest days of the year” in one year as I have this 2006. And with my particular brand of luck, the days I have opportunity to cut my lawn are those classified as the hottest. Earlier this week, I actually waited until 8:00 PM to begin cutting grass, and at that time, it was still nearly 90 degrees.

What was my answer? Do what I could, drink Gatorade like it was going out of style, rest more often, and mow until dark. Following this pattern, I was able to trim about 1/3 of my entire lawn, something that truly irritates me (if I’m going to start a job, I like to finish). Still, I determined that I would follow such a pattern the next day, and finish up the yard.

But here’s the thing. Remember that hottest day of the year on Monday (at least for here)? Well, Tuesday became the new hottest day of the year. What is a man to do? I found the solution: Round-Up.

That’s right, if I couldn’t trim, I’d go on a vegetation killing spree. Filling my new two-gallon pressure sprayer with an appropriate mixture of herbicide concentrate and water, I decided to take the offensive. I sprayed around my foundation, in the sidewalk seams, around steps and the mailbox, anywhere I no longer wished to push that blasted mower. (Keep in mind that on a normally heated day, it takes about 2 ½ hours to cut the entire yard; on an earlier hottest day of the year, it took nearly 4 hours, and I still didn’t get finished.)

Of particular concern was a graveled parking area next to the road in front of my property. Due to some drainage issues over the last year or so, the once bare patch has become a regular plant paradise, with vegetation just small enough to miss the spinning blade of the mower, and just tall enough to look hideous.

The bottle of Round-Up said that for greatest effectiveness, the mixture should be applied in sunshine on a warm day. Well, no problem there. After no more than ten minutes walking and spraying, I was soaked. Spraying that troublesome gravel patch was the worst, because it was difficult to find out how much to spray, where I sprayed, and whether a second coating would be needed. You see, it goes to work immediately, but you don’t see the effects for a few days.

Today, two days later, once green grass and weeds are a crispy brown. The weeds are starting to die, and with good fortune, it will be a while before they return. Thank you, Round-Up.

What is of true interest is the voracity with which the weeds took over. A sprout here, a leaf there, and then, takeover. That is the way it is with our lives. If we don’t pay attention to our mind and heart, an innocent-looking thought or act can take over. As I glance out my front window I see the beautiful areas of brown that I no longer have to worry about cutting (at least in the short term), I look toward the road and don’t see as much brown as I do green. Chances are, I will need to make a second application.

Within our heart and mind, some things are a little harder to get rid of. The Holy Spirit and the Word of God are truly “weed killers,” but sometimes we need to pay special attention and apply more than one “coat” in order to get the weeds out. I am thankful that the Lord doesn’t just leave us alone to once again be taken over by the weeds of sin. But we have to be diligent to keep the weeds from taking root in the first place. If not, we suffer the consequences, including the good plants being choked out, and way too much work trying to get rid of them later.

While I’m not wishing my life away, I can’t wait for cooler weather, for the green of summer to be replaced by the colors of fall, then the (hopefully) white horizons of winter. Not only is there beauty, but I don’t have to worry about cutting that grass.

© 2006, Chris Keeton and Soulscape Press. All rights reserved. All material printed on this site is protected by the copyright law of the United States. It may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Chris Keeton and Soulscape Press, obtainable by writing to soulscape@alltel.net. Altering or removing any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content is not permitted. Any and all portions of material copied from the Soulscape Blog must be properly attributed to Chris Keeton and Soulscape, and cited with original blog web address.