Upward Calling

Matthew 20:29-34 (New International Version)

Two Blind Men Receive Sight

As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!"

The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!"

Jesus stopped and called them. "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked.

"Lord," they answered, "we want our sight."

Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

CT "It's you and me Boyd"
MB "The blind guys?"
CT "Yeah"
MB "OK"

P.S "In the midst of this conversation Mr. Boyd and I have decided Pilgrim's Progress sucks," Chris Tomlinson.

sad

Psalm 130

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;

O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.

If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared.

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope.

My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.

O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.

He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.

I hear you my psalmist brother.

I have been in quite the spiritual slump as of late. I call out to God but get no answer. It all seemed to start January this year and has been a downward slope since.

I am completely fascinated by this current Batman series. 'Batman Begins' was great and the 'Dark Knight' was even greater. The question is: Who will be the next villains for the approximately two movies in the future? I put my fan-boy hat on and did my research. Here are three characters I would love to see.

3-Zsasz

Zsasz is a serial killer who cuts tally marks into his skin after each subsequent murder. He regularly refers to his victims as zombies and he insists that he’s liberating them from pointless existence by slitting their throats. He briefly appeared in Batman Begins as an inmate in Arkham Asylum where he was identified as a hit man for the mob. During the film, his recognizable scars could momentarily be seen during his escape from Arkham. His potential is obviously very high since he has already been imagined and introduced into the film’s universe.

2-The Riddler

The cerebral nature of the character seems to lend itself well to Christopher Nolan's more mature and thoughtful approach, and the character's rich history provides abundant potential. This character can be creepy in so many ways. Of course whatever the director, Nolan, decides to do, would be better than any ideas I have, but I have come up with some. What if his clues made no sense? Maybe he is insane from getting high off of the Scarecrow gas over and over. They alluded to people selling it as a drug. I hope he is even creepier than Joker. So much potential.

1-Black Mask

Black Mask (Roman Sionis) is a deranged mob boss in Gotham city who wears a skull-like mask carved from his mother's ebony coffin. His parents were wealthy, self absorbed elitist. They befriended the Wayne family purely for status reasons. Roman always grew up hating Bruce Wayne. The beauty of this character is Roman hates Bruce while Batman is after the Black Mask. Supposedly, Black Mask has been used a number of times in comics. To the die hard fan he is pretty significant in the Batman canon. Becuase of his dark character, he would make a great addition to the Batman series. Even though I had never heard of the Black Mask before I did some research he is still my number one pick.

Justice and Mercy

Romans: 14-16 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses,
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy."

He is a just god. It wouldn’t be right to put a person in jail after someone has paid their bail. I often have heard the expression, “he’s paid his time.” What does that mean? As far as I can figure, it means if a person does a crime and he or she has paid their fair punishment and admitted their wrong then it is only right to consider this individual free of wrong.
That is the same reason it would be unjust for a loving and holy God such as Yahweh to punish us for our sins. The debt is paid. We are sinless. Jesus has paid our bail. He has done OUR time. Even thought it was our time, He paid it.

Luke 1:50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

See, mercy and justice coincide but are not the same. As far as I can explain mercy is when an individual is not given the punishment they deserve. Justice is when only those who are guilty are punished. God was merciful to send His son down to earth to be put on a tree and shoved in a cave. Jesus taught us even though we had ignored Him so many times before. He pitied us even though we deserved our earthly fate. He showed us mercy, because we didn’t deserve it, and in essence that’s what mercy is. Unjust.
But we have accepted his mercy and our now forgiven. We are guilt free. Halleluiah.
Amen? Am I right? Are you guilt free?
You should feel that way. Not because you do not wrong but He’s paid your time. Now that’s justice.

Psalms 11:7For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face.