Wednesday's Today in History

Constitution of Japan


The Constitution of the Empire of Japan（大日本帝國憲法), more commonly known as the Imperial or Meiji Constitution, was the fundamental law of the Empire of Japan from 1889 until 1947. Enacted as part of the Meiji Renewal, it provided for a form of constitutional monarchy based on the Prussian model, in which the Emperor of Japan was an active ruler and wielded considerable political power, but shared this with an elected diet. In 1947, following Japan's defeat and occupation at the end of the Second World War, the Meiji Constitution was replaced by a new document, called simply the 'Constitution of Japan', which attempted to replace the imperial system with a form of Western-style liberal democracy.

Friday's Yearning for the Infinite

Walk the Walk

walk in Him - Colossians 2:6

If we have received Christ Himself in our inmost hearts, our new life will manifest its intimate acquaintance with Him by a walk of faith in Him. Walking implies action. Our religion is not to be confined to our closet; we must carry out into practical effect that which we believe. If a man walks in Christ, then he so acts as Christ would act; for Christ being in him, his hope, his love, his joy, his life, he is the reflex of the image of Jesus; and men say of that man, "He is like his Master; he lives like Jesus Christ." Walking signifies progress. "So walk in Him"; proceed from grace to grace, run forward until you reach the uttermost degree of knowledge that a man can attain concerning our Beloved. Walking implies continuance. There must be a perpetual abiding in Christ. How many Christians think that in the morning and evening they ought to come into the company of Jesus, and may then give their hearts to the world all the day: but this is poor living; we should always be with Him, treading in His steps and doing His will. Walking also implies habit. When we speak of a man's walk and conversation, we mean his habits, the constant tenour of his life. Now, if we sometimes enjoy Christ, and then forget Him; sometimes call Him ours, and anon lose our hold, that is not a habit; we do not walk in Him. We must keep to Him, cling to Him, never let Him go, but live and have our being in Him. "As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him"; persevere in the same way in which you have begun, and, as at the first Christ Jesus was the trust of your faith, the source of your life, the principle of your action, and the joy of your spirit, so let Him be the same till life's end; the same when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and enter into the joy and the rest which remain for the people of God. O Holy Spirit, enable us to obey this heavenly precept.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just want to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who are reading this!

Wednesday's Today in History

John F. Kennedy Assassination

The assassination of John F. Kennedy, the thirty-first President of the United States, took place on a Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, USA at 12:30 P.M. Central Standard time.
Kennedy was fatally wounded by gunshots while riding with his wife in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. He was the fourth U.S. President to be assassinated and the eighth to die while in office.

An official investigation by the Warren Commission was conducted over a 10-month period, and its report was published in September 1964. The Commission concluded that the assassination was carried out solely by Lee Harvey Oswald, and employee of the Texas School Book Depository in Dealey Plaza. This conclusion initially met with widespread support among the American public, but polling in recent years shows a majority of that public now hold beliefs contrary to the Commission's findings.* A later official investigation by the House select Committee on assassinations (HSCA) was conducted from 1976 to 1979, and it concluded that Kennedy was assassinated by Oswald "probably....as a result of a conspiracy." The assassination is still the subject of widespread speculation, and has spawned several number of Kennedy assassination theories.
*www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/20/national/main584668.shtml

The Family

Let me introduce you to my family. We are a family of seven and continue to grow yearly it seems. To start off mom (Annette) and Dale (Dad) have been married for 32 years and have raised 5 kids in that period of time. The currently reside in Onalaska Wisconsin where they have lived the last 30 years of their lives.

The oldest kid of the family is Sarah. She is 29 years old and is married to a great guy named Sam. They have been married now for three years and live in the community of the Twin Cities, Minnesota. They are the first ones to bring into the family a grandchild/ nephew. The little man's name is Oliver. He is just about 7 months old and just started to crawl.

The next in line is myself (Jared). I am 27 years of age and currently residing in Dallas Texas where I am earning my masters at Dallas Theological Seminary. I was born in Stillwater Minnesota and then moved to Onalaska Wisconsin where I lived the majority of my life. I attended the University of Wisconsin Stout, where I graduated with a B.S. in Engineering. After leaving Stout, I moved over to New Zealand for 6 months to hang out and learn more about myself and who I was in God. From New Zealand I moved back to Wisconsin where I started a career with a company named Mac Donald and Owen Lumber. After a year of working there, I decided that I would like to go to seminary to pursue further knowledge and a deeper relationship with the Yahweh. I am still here today and will be graduating here in December of 2006.

Next in line is my brother Andrew. He is 26 years of age and currently living in Milwaukee Wisconsin with his wife Elissa. They are expecting their first child within the next month, which would now be the second grandchild/ nephew and his name is Ethan. Andrew is currently studying to be a doctor. He is in his second year of the long 8 year haul. He and his wife Elissa have been married a year and a half.

Then comes Nathan. He would be 20 years old, but do to very unfortunate circumstances he was a miscarriage. We still love him, and I myself look forward to the day that I get to meet my brother in Heaven.

Lydia is the next in line. She is 19 years old and attending school in Lacrosse to become a nurse. She is in her first year and doing well. Lydia also works at Caribou coffee to make the ends meet for rent, a car, and school.

The last in line is Caleb who is 16. He currently is a junior at Onalaska High School, and played on the 2006 MVC champian Onalaska football team as their starting nose guard. He is the typical teenage boy who lives in front of the TV playing some kind of game system. He works at a harware store called Menards, as a cart boy at this time with hopes to move up to sales in the hardware dept.

This is my family in a nut shell. Thank you for taking the time to get to know us!

Sublime Intimacy

Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"John 11:40

Every time you venture out in the life of faith, you will find something in your common-sense circumstances that flatly contradicts your faith. Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense; they stand in the relation of the natural and the spiritual. Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust Him? Can you venture heroically on Jesus Christ's statements when the facts of your common-sense life shout - "It's a lie?" On the mount it is easy to say - 'Oh, yes, I believe God can do it'; but you have to come down into the demon-possessed valley and meet with facts that laugh ironically at the whole of your mount-of-transfiguration belief. Every time my programme of belief is clear to my own mind, I come across something that contradicts it. Let me say I believe God will supply all my need, and then let me run dry, with no outlook, and see whether I will go through the trial of faith, or whether I will sink back to something lower. Faith must be tested, because it can be turned into a personal possession only through conflict. What is your faith up against just now? The test will either prove that your faith is right, or it will kill it. "Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me." The final thing is confidence in Jesus. Believe steadfastly on Him and all you come up against will develop your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith, and the last great test is death. May God keep us in fighting trim! Faith is unutterable trust in God, trust which never dreams that He will not stand by us.

Yearning for the Infinite

Starting on the 24th of November, I will post a weekly blog that will appear on Friday's that will be presenting a mindful challenge for the weekend. The title of this weekly blog will be "Yearning for the Infinite."

What Are You Filling Your Soul With?

“The Lord is my portion, say my soul” Lamentations 3:24

We see that in this verse it states that the Lord is my portion, not that the Lord is in my portion; but it is He himself that makes up the sum total of my soul’s inheritance. The Lord is my portion. Not just merely His grace, not His love, not His covenant, but Yahweh Himself. God Himself has graciously chosen us for His portion, and we have chosen Him for ours. It is true that the Lord must choose us first, or else we would never choose Him for ourselves.

The Lord is our all-sufficient portion. God fills Himself; and if God is all-sufficient in Himself, He must be all-sufficient for us. It is not easy to satisfy man's desires. When he dreams that he is satisfied, anon he wakes to the perception that there is somewhat yet beyond, and straightway the horse-leech in his heart cries, "Give, give." But all that we can wish for is to be found in our divine portion, so that we ask, "Who do I have in heaven but God? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside You." Well may we "delight ourselves in the Lord" who makes us to drink of the river of His pleasures. Our faith stretches her wings and mounts like an eagle into the heaven of divine love as to her proper dwelling-place. "The lines have fallen to us in pleasant places; yea, we have a goodly heritage." Let us rejoice in the Lord always; let us show to the world that we are a happy and a blessed people, and thus induce them to exclaim, "We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."

Its Offical

Well being that I seem to be the only one in the world without a blog, today, the 15th of November, I Jared Lehman am going to start one. I know that these blogs take time and effort to maintain, but I do promise that I will attempt to do my best to get addicted to it.