There’s a dragon-fly hovering over the water a few yards from me. I wonder what he is aware of. Does he know anything of joy? Or, is his best moment just a vague and low-grade contentment when he eats and mates?

I’m at Cedarly in Oconomowoc in a newly-renovated boat house that is now a house of prayer and reflection. Though I’m a regular at Cedarly, this is my first time in the “Pump House.” Already it feels like home.

I’ve just finished reading Isaiah again. This exquisite prophecy from almost three thousand years ago is so big and so diverse in its scope that I have never really gotten below its surface. But in the last few months I’ve begun a journey into the richness of God’s self-revelation in this book that I hope will never end.

Perhaps that is the payback for having different faculties to the dragon-fly, the advantage of being a human rather than insect. Sure, there’s the dark side to human reflection which always lurks beneath the surface; we can ponder, and, in doing so, despair. Such is the end of hope, a black hole from which there is no returning.

Or, we can ponder and delight. This is a pondering that morphs into wonder: wonder that God is, even in the worst of times, firmly on his throne and not in the least perplexed. And wonder that he is, at the same time, fully engaged and passionately involved in the direction and details of history.

There is a settled contentedness like no other in knowing that the King of the Universe walks intimately with those who honor and love him as King:

For this is what the high and lofty One says—

he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
“I live in a high and holy place,
But also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit” (Isaiah 57:15)

Now that’s something you’ll want to think about long and hard. Unless, that is, you’re a dragonfly.

Turning Fifty

I just got a text from a friend. (At least, I thought he was a friend):
Wherever you find yourself today...don't get too far from the bathroom...bladder control goes out the door when you get to your age! Have a great day!

Good advice, I guess. See, today I'm turning fifty. Or 50. Or the Big five-oh. Or half a century. Or a twentieth of a millennium. Given that my dad died at 51 and my body is meant to be on the downward slide, I guess I should be overly, even morbidly, introspective. But I'm not. There are a few reasons.

First, I was actually born yesterday. So I've had a day to get used to it. New Zealand is a day ahead of the US; the 17th, in terms of my chronology, was yesterday.

Second, my wonderful church family has been helping me celebrate my 50 years over the last 50 days in a multitude of amusing and cool and very generous ways. I'll save that for another post.

Third, I've been spending a lot of time lately in Isaiah. One of his constant themes is the sovereignty of God through all the vicissitudes of life (a word used in honor of my graduated daughter).

Fourth, I am in the Smokeys of Tennessee with my family, looking out on an unspoiled vista that speaks of God's eternality. Though mortal, my immortality has been gifted by Him. Life is a blink of an eye. The meaning of that relative "instant" is only found by an eternal reference point. In this case, the person of God, Himself.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place 

throughout all generations.

Before the mountains were born

or you brought forth the whole world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

You turn people back to dust

saying, 'Return to dust, you mortals.'

A thousand years in your sight

are like a day that has just gone by,

or like a watch in the night.

Teach us to number our days,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

                               - Psalm 90:1-4,12.

He's Back

I knew it had been a long time. But that long? Six weeks without blogging. Guess cold turkey really does lead to a cure.

I've got a bit of a thing for the spy genre in both books and movies. So I like the phrase, "he's gone dark" since it kind of romaticizes my absence. I'm not saying I've been busy "fighting the baddies" -- ok, maybe one or two. Bottom line is, I think I wore out my phone and finger blogging in Israel. I haven't even straightened some of the photos that still lie sideways, like the stones after Titus' destruction of the temple in 70 A.D.

So many thoughts and experiences, even in six weeks. That's the beauty of a sabbatical from blogging. In this me-saturated world where people convince themselves that humanity wants a status update about them getting a root canal, it's great to be silent now and again and realize that the world didn't stop, and doesn't really care, that I haven't written anything. And I don't really care, even though I enjoy blathering on from time to time.

There are so many other important thing in life to occupy us.

Family is one. How blessed I am on this mother's day to have a wife who is so devoted to her kids (which are mine too, I believe).

Yesterday, we had our first Blaikie child graduate. We are proud that our little girl graduated magna cum laude (with high honors) in English Writing with an Art minor.

But our greatest joy is that she loves her Lord and desires to be conformed to His image.

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth"  - 3 John 4.