From the stern of the ship, our friends had stunning views, so we gathered on their balcony and imbibed the creation.

We had one stop en route Seattle. It was Denver, CO. Denver invariably intrigues me. It’s not particularly appealing to my eye, the way it sits in a bowl. It’s industrial, and so the formidable presence of steel and ironworks do not spring my hunger for visual aesthetics, but in a short flight out of Denver, or even a short drive, one is amidst startling beauty.

As we approached Denver I snapped a few pictures with my old iPhone and we had to take the obligatory selfie as we awaited our next flight to Seattle, WA, and then on to Alaska.

Then Denver came into view:

We landed safely and walked the long retailed corridors and I bought CJ a Denver sweatshirt we knew would be helpful in Alaska. As we waited for our next flight, we had to take the obligatory vacation selfie:

Then it was on to Seattle, Washington (see below):

And in Seattle, we made it to the ship:

Before we went to the ship we had time to enjoy Seattle some:

And another selfie (my apologies; I was tired, but excited, contrary to my facial expression):

Once we left port, I watched CJ as she watched Seattle recede.

And we took to the sea in comfort:

Over the coming days I will write short pieces about a recent vacation my bride and I took with friends. There are many pictures, of course, so I will try to spread a few of them over several iterations, and include a bit of narrative with each for context.

When we flew out of Atlanta, I of course took a window seat on the plane, because, though now far from being a young man, I still stare out the windows like a child for reasons like this one–aurora over Atlanta. If this does not move one’s sense of aesthetic wonder, I don’t know there’s much I can do for you.

This was the genesis of the trip, the first flight of several, as we made our way from the South to the Pacific Northwest. We were in for a lot of sights, laughs, meals, and fellowship, and I see now why Jack London and others put pen to paper to try and express things that stir the soul with wonder.

Much, much more to come. Stay tuned.

Introduction of Question: What is the pattern when we prefer the gifts over the Giver?

Historical Context: Daniel 5 is the story of Nebuchadnezzar’s son (King Belshazzar), now king after his father, falling into the same pattern as his dad. He was proud; he tried to usurp God’s glory; and God brought him low.

1 King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. ² Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father^[a] had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. ³ Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. ⁴ They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. ⁵ Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. ⁶ Then the king’s color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. ⁷ The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared^[b] to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” ⁸ Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. ⁹ Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed. ¹⁰ The queen,^[c] because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, “O king, live forever! Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. ¹¹ There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods.^[d] In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him, and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, ¹² because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.” ¹³ Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king answered and said to Daniel, “You are that Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought from Judah. ¹⁴ I have heard of you that the spirit of the gods^[e] is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. ¹⁵ Now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not show the interpretation of the matter. ¹⁶ But I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” ¹⁷ Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. ¹⁸ O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. ¹⁹ And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. ²⁰ But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. ²¹ He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. ²² And you his son,^[f] Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, ²³ but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored. ²⁴ “Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. ²⁵ And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. ²⁶ This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered^[g] the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; ²⁷ Tekel, you have been weighed^[h] in the balances and found wanting; ²⁸ Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”^{[i] 29} Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. ³⁰ That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. ^31 [j] And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

Encouragement & Takeaway: So I return to where I began? And that is a question: What is the pattern when we prefer the gifts over the Giver? Details make the story, so let me illustrate. Shortly, I will be taking some leave. Going on vacation with friends. If that were not sweet enough (and it is), but we are going to a place I have longed to go. If things go as planned, we will see some of earth’s most beautiful land and seascapes. Mountains, seas, rivers, whales, dog-sledding, snow, evergreen forests, glaciers, and much more. All of it will surely take our breath away.

But here’s the rub: Since those creations are that majestic, how much greater is their Creator? The question answers itself.

The book of Daniel is many things–a story of courage, bravery, and steadfastness in a culture of cowards; a story of faithfulness amidst persecution and exile; prophecy of the most minute detail and fulfillment; providence; and much more. But is it not also unavoidably about how easily we sinners purport to enjoy the gifts but try to banish the Giver? We need to read the other 65 books of Scripture, dear reader. God will not share his glory; he’ll not give it to another. Creation is simply a foretaste of the King in all his beauty.

Currently in Texas awaiting my next flight, I am once again studying the Old Testament book of Daniel. In today’s time I focused upon chapter 4 wherein Daniel once again proves to be a truth-teller to Nebuchandnezzar. Daniel does at least three things: 1) he interprets the king’s dream and its future fulfillment via precise detail and accuracy; 2) he (Daniel) serves as a paragon of godly wisdom amidst a culture of fools; and 3) we see that wisdom and humility are inextricable.

Daniel’s words:

²⁰ “The tree you saw, which grew and became strong, so that its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth, ²¹ whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all, under which beasts of the field found shade, and in whose branches the birds of the heavens lived— ²² it is you, O king, who have grown and become strong. Your greatness has grown and reaches to heaven, and your dominion to the ends of the earth. ²³ And because the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field, and let him be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven periods of time pass over him,’ ²⁴ this is the interpretation, O king: It is a decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king, ²⁵ that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. ²⁶ And as it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be confirmed for you from the time that you know that Heaven rules. ²⁷ Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity.” (Dan 4:20-27, ESV)

Just Give It Time: No matter how many times I read Daniel, I always somehow think, “Maybe this time, Nebuchadnezzar will learn his lesson before all the suffering . . .” but of course, he doesn’t. The history is what it is, as the saying goes. One day Nebuchadnezzar is strolling his grounds and feeling quite satisfied with himself, and it is clear that he feels untouchable, as if he’s a self-made man. But then verses 30-33 change his plot:

“and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” ³¹ While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, ³² and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” ³³ Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws.” (Dan 4:30-33, ESV).

It just took some time, you see, to see that Nebuchadnezzar’s heart had not really changed yet. He discovered that God humbles the proud and delights to exalt the humble. The truly humble, not the posers. False humility is a satanic scheme and God hates it.

Encouragement/takeaway: All of Scripture is to be interpreted Christologically. So when we study Daniel, we see the Christian worldview in microcosm. We see exile due to human sin; we see persecution of the faithful remnant; we see judgment of individual sin and judgment of nations; we see the provision of God (Daniel and his friends were provided for and saved on multiple occasions–from death, persecution, lions, fire, etc.). But most of all we see the Lord of history, God the Son, who is with his people, who preserves them, who delivers them from the mouth of lions, who fulfills the prophetic word, who unites the biblical storyline by being the Word become flesh, who comes to take upon himself the sins of his people in order to redeem them as a ransomed bride fit for the king. He was/is the most humble servant and forever and always the thrice-holy King of kings.

Introduction: You will be made to care. That has become almost cliche in our day. Why? Because the increasing influence of government over people’s everyday lives is massive. And the religion of the government is overt. There is always a god of the system. Always. It is just a matter of whether it’s the one and only true God of Scripture or if it’s yet another idol. If you get nothing else from this, get this: There is only one true and living God. The fact that government has to force false gods upon people is evidence that its system of pagan idolatry is intellectually empty of the God of Scripture, and forever doomed to fail to redeem a people; it will only enslave them. For redemption to occur, the one true and living God who is the Redeemer must do it. It was the exact same thing in Daniel’s day. Follow me.

Historical context: Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that he could not understand. He ordered the so-called Chaldean wise men to interpret his dream for him. They could not, even under threats of death (Daniel 2). Enter Daniel. Remember now, Daniel was a prisoner, a Jew, a believer in the one true and living God, and Daniel is now being brought into the orbit of the pagan Babylonian ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, to do what others cannot. There will be no gray area here, no nuance. This is straight-up do or die time.

Daniel asks his friends to pray to the one true and living God for him, as Nebuchadnezzar is now looking to Daniel to see if he can interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. And God gave Daniel wisdom, yet again. Daniel’s response was praise: “To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter” (Dan 2:23, ESV).

Because Nebuchadnezzar takes Daniel’s explanation to be one of approbation, the king elevates Daniel to serve in his court and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are likewise given positions of authority (Dan 2:48-49). And one might think it ends well here, but no; it all goes to Nebuchadnezzar’s head. The oldest story in the world occurs. Pride precedes one’s fall.

Nebuchadnezzar has an idol fashioned, and he commands all to bow down and worship it. You see it? The religion of the government, enforced at the point of force. It’s the same old story. You will be made to care, in Daniel’s day and in our day and in each day. The government, when it’s living lies, will force the masses to participate in false religion. Yet God always has a faithful remnant who will not bow. And that, dear reader, is my prayer for our generation: May God raise up a faithful remnant who will not bow to the lies. The fiery furnaces of chapter 3 of this book are sure to come in our day, too, because God tests us. We shall see who stands and who bows to the idols. More to come tomorrow.

This morning as I sat in the airport and surveyed my surroundings, almost every head was bent downward to a screen. Information flow was constant. Glowing screens in people’s palms, on their laps, on the walls, above our heads on monitors. Such an ominous-sounding word: monitor. Everything seems recorded as if for future purposes. But almost no one was looking anyone else in the eye. Something, it seems to me, is being lost therein. A diminishing of personhood is occurring wherein the gadgets of convenience have become taskmasters for mindlessness.

I pulled out my copy of Scripture, as I had time still before my flight arrived. I was in Daniel again. I reread chapter one again where Nebuchadnezzar changed the names of his captives. But verse 17 of the opening chapter gave me such encouragement. Even after refusing the Babylonian diet, and after only vegetables and water for ten days, verse 17 reads “God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.”

And in verse 19, Daniel and his three friends “stood before the king.” Catch that? Prisoners were given wisdom from God, and stood before the king. But all that occurred after they were first courageous. They first were obedient. They first counted the costs.

Information is one thing. Wisdom is quite another. Courage is necessary.

Daniel and his friends stood before the king. As wise men. As those who were set apart for a special purpose. Almost as if they were to bear witness to the truth. Almost as if God was using them for his good and holy purposes. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Principle: He who controls the dictionary controls the world.

Introduction: If the principle seems abstruse, it is not. It is rather quite simple but simultaneously profound. Follow me. I am currently reading through the book of Daniel again. For those unfamiliar with the book, it is both a history book but also a book of prophecy and apocalyptic literature. Many, many commentaries have been penned about the book of Daniel, some of them solid and others quite bizarre. I am about as conservative as they come, so you’ll not get any whacko ‘insights’ from me. I wish only to focus for today on a few verses from the first chapter of Daniel. Here’s the historical context: Due to the sin and recalcitrance of Israel and Judah, they had been invaded, conquered, and exiled. Daniel and other Jews (many folks are nominally familiar with the history of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, e.g.) were taken as prisoners and exiles to Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon (present-day Iraq). And when chapter one of Daniel opens, here’s what is so significant: Nebuchadnezzar does two things to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. He indoctrinates them in the literature and language of the Chaldeans (Dan 1:4) and he changes their names to Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Dan 1:7).  

Do you see why that is so important? Because he who controls the dictionary controls the world. These boys were now exiled away from home; they were being indoctrinated with the worldview of a pagan system; and their names were changed. Nothing has changed, you see. We’re again in a world where we are being forced to deny reality and call people what they’re not. Up is now down; down is up. Men vanquish women’s sports because we can’t say what a woman is nowadays for fear of being labeled an extremist or Hitlerian. We’re told men are ‘birthing persons’ now and that we should get our wisdom from Hollywood starlets with an X account and an opinion about world economies. Does anyone else just look around some days (okay, every day) and go, “Huh? What? These people?”

Encouragement:  A lot of people know Daniel 1:8, and for good reason. Here’s the text: “But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.” That may sound like a small thing, but it’s not. It is crucial. Daniel knew the war he was in was much more than physical. He was now exiled, he was now being indoctrinated with paganism, he was even commanded to change his diet. But Daniel purposed in his heart, if you will, he resolved not to capitulate, not to defile himself. Why? Because Daniel was wise; he knew that he who controls the language of a culture controls the world. When you have a culture where words are policed and you’re forced to affirm madness as sagacity, you know you’re amidst utter folly. This is one of the many reasons and ways Daniel is so instructive for our day. May God be pleased to raise up wise warriors like Daniel in our time.

There are certain voices that, when they come to you via your speakers, or when you see the singer(s) live, or when you are riding down the road with the windows down and the wind stretches your face in sheets of speed, the songs, the lyrics, the rhythm, the memories, take you to places that both surpass language and necessitate it–like watching a poem and wanting to speak it for another to share. Just so you know that others get it.

Such is my time with ZBB when he and his team sing the combo of “Free” and Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic.”

I have seen both artists. And there is something about music that is done this well that … Well, if I have to explain it, you just don’t get it.