Dared to Move

Clearly the Switchfoot hype I experienced last week still has'nt died down. I was listening to their most successful hit "Dare You to Move" and I found a familiar passage in the Bible that has striking clear parrallels to the song. The Story is found in the Gospel of Matthew (19:16-30) about the Rich Young Man.

"Now a man came up to Jesus and asked "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
"Why do you ask me about what is good?"
"Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandents."
"Which ones?" the man inquired.
Jesus replied, "Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honour your father and mother, and love your neighbour as yourself."
"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
"If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possesions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me." When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Matt 19:16-22

Three things occured to me in this story:

1) You can only serve one Master (v21-24)
When Jesus addresed the young man in verse 21, "sell your possesions.." he challenged the young man's heart. The young man claimed, he kept the observable commandments but Jesus did not ask him what he did( whether he was obedient to his parents or if he stole) but rather where his heart lay. "If you observe the commandents as you claim and want to inherit eternal life, then give up your possesions and follow me." When the young man heard this, "he went away sad," his heart was in debt to his material possesions as opposed to his need to find eternal life (See Mark 10:17,22a).

2) The young man was "Dared to Move" (v20,21)
Jesus did not ask, he told the young man, "sell your possesions and give to the poor, and your will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me." This was the only challenge Jesus laid down for the young man. Look beyond the life what you already aquired, leave it all behind and "then follow me." According to the Gospel of Luke 18:20 we are told that the Rich ruler knew the commandments. The challenge scared the young man because it defied his logic of "what good thing he must do to get eternal life."(v16). There is "no good thing" we could ever do to get us into heaven. We cannot save ourselves. Verse 21, is the most critcal verse when looking at the passage. We have one question. We are all given the same one answer. The key is how do we respond to Jesus? Is it the mehighway or follow Jesus's way ?The Gospel of Mark adds that Jesus looked at the young man and loved him. "One thing you lack, he said.Go , sell everything you have..." (Mark 10:21)

3) There is Hope (v29)
Jesus gives us a promise of eternal life. "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life." If want to inherit eternal life, the hope I can offer you is that love Jesus exclusively as your Lord and Savior and not inclusively. You can only serve one master.

When Jon Foreman was interviewed about the album a Beautiful Letdown he said, "Alot of times, often songs are iniatially written for myself even, Dare You to Move, you know that is for my own soul.To get up in the morning and to seek out what matters. Change is a risk espically in our own soiceity. Its a risk to put yourself right on the edge. That's what it takes."

-Lloyd

Just Seems Like Yesterday...

Officially I have revamp my blog because my family celebrated our two year aniversary from leaving my beloved homeland South Africa. On Wednesday 23rd February, 2005, the Maroney family set foot in the land of the beaver, the bear and of the eskimo. I have to confess I have not seen an igloo or even met Mr Grizzly Bear but I sure do miss the African Sun. Hopefully in the near future I could enjoy going on holiday to South Africa . Below is picture of me and my family after 5 months of settling down in Canada.

Funnily Enough, It Just Seems Like Yesterday...

-Lloyd

Switchfooting to Vancouver

That was the best Monday I've ever experienced. The 12 hours spent in travelling in bus back and forth from Kelowna to Vancouver, lack of sleep and the exhaustion I'm experiencing was well worth it. All for sake of a band called Switchfoot. The day just got better and better and the experince was surreal! Had great fellowship with a great of group of christians (I did not know them before, shared pizza, chatted and braved the cold weather before the concert). Switchfoot definately rocked the house and were true witnesses for Jesus, sharing the gospel through their music.

Me, my spontaneous Brothers and Sisters in Christ and of course, Switchfoot lead singer and drummer (Jon Foreman and Chad Butler).

After the concert, meeting the lead singer Jon Foreman was even better. To witness his humbleness and dedication for the gospel as an ambassdor for Jesus was truly remarkable. In his own words in an interview with Today Magazine, "I see the gospel as the antithesis of what happens on stage. We have it all wrong in a lot of respects where we interview the people who are up on stage when I truly believe that what happens off stage is more important. How we treat each other behind closed doors matters a whole more as far as infinity's concerned than whether you hit the right note on stage and you had the strobe just perfect and your guitar was in tune. " I was truly privelleged to have met and chatted with a humble, brother in Christ.

(For those skeptics who think that I was bluffing about meeting and chatting with Jon Foreman)

-Lloyd

The Morning Has Finally Been Broken

After months of grey clouds,rain, wind chills, blizzards and snow etc; for the first time in the land of eskimos and beavers, to my suprise I witnessed a clear blue sky and of course my good old African Sun. The weather has made my day (spring is almost upon us now). It has been along long..... time since I have seen the sun shining in crystal blue skies. Sorry Mr Grizzly Bear, this South African is not going to be in hibernation for very long!

My Residency Building

Season beggining to change(UBC-O Campus)

The Science Building

Man it looks like I'm starting to miss Home................


And of course what would this post be without the gorgious African Savanna Sun?


Guess, I got a little carried away,today that was my first source of sunlight since September and was still getting cold.

-Lloyd

Enough is Enough!!

Before I got on my high horse I have some good news. I'm seeing the specialist tommorow, hopefully my medical mystery will get sorted out.

Anyway besides the distractions of my health, pain killers and prescripted drugs the liberal teaching in my classes about Evolution and the discredity of the Bible as God Word has really ruffled my feathers!

Today in English, we were discussing creation myths and and in particular Genesis 1 and 2. That class was painful, more so than pain I have been experiencing since the day of operation. Aw! What is the function of Proffesor to lecture on the material at hand or to voice personal bias?

Well, when my Proff taught Genesis 1 and 2 she had a full go at undermining the authenticity of Scripture. Suggesting the Bible is full of contradictions, making assumptions about Genesis 1 and 2 without pointing out where she came to that conclusion. Furthermore, she read the text liberally without using the confounds of English language to interpret this historical narrative text, like she did with previous works, novels before today class. She even ambitiously suggested that the Bible was not accurate and a definite fallacy. In her words the "Bible claims to be sacred but I ask you what is truth? Stating the "JEDP Documentary Hypothesis” of higher criticism is proven to be accurate( JEDP states that the early parts of the Old Testament couldn’t have been written during the times they described. They based this on the belief that writing had not evolved until about 1000 BC).

Even though it was painful to witness her liberal interpretation, God never ceases to amaze me. The evidence suggesting the authenticity of Genesis and of course Chapters 1 and 2 is so compelling, just assures my faith and deepens my trust in his word. I may have gospel opportunity to my Proffesor and my fellow class mates. I have subsequently emailed her the compelling evidence and I asked if she could kindly evaluate and discuss the issue in class (We are in very good terms with one another). God willing, the family of brother and sisters will be extended.

Enough is Enough! Taking a stand for Jesus. This hokey-pokey liberal critism of the Bible has ruffled my feathers. I will not tolerate that God's Authoritive Word is abused while other books are interpreted with much precison and dissection of the text. The article can be found be at http://www.trueorigin.org/tablet.asp.

Prasie be to our God for his Word that continually stands the test of time. Can Human Reasoning disprove his word? I think not, for it was Him who formed us in "his own image giving" us the characteristics of discourse and reseasoning "according to his likeness." Now theres something to ponder. A God who is personal and who desires a relationship and invites us to know Him personally, cause his Son paid the price for our sins, after the fall of Adam and Eve.

-Lloyd

My Medical Mystery

Rough Week! Still pretty much in pain. Doctors don't know what could be causing my pain. Getting reffered to the specialist in the coming weeks. Not all, has been bad. God willing, I'll get better for February 19th, for a Switchfoot concert in Vancouver.

Since my pain has increased ten fold, I thank God for the comfort and security of his word and his Sovereignty over my my life. "The public still trusts doctors," maybe one day it would be great to say "the public trusts Jesus,"and find their comfort in his yoke for his burdern is light.

-Lloyd