Fairytale Part 4 - Orders

(See here for part 3)

The Queen had just put down "The Prince's Deeply" as Yakovarol proudly marched in. 

"Huntsman," she began, for she never could get the new employee's name right. "I've just finished reading a very interesting fact." She stood and began to pace. "It concerns my stepdaughter, Snow White. According to the Prince in the Well, my dearly lost froggy-prince hero, she has surpassed me in beauty. This cannot be. The Human Resources manager, who appears to be very knowledgeable in all matters, assures me that since I am her stepmother, I must be more beautiful. As this is apparently not the case, he informs me that I must have Snow White driven from the castle." Here she paused, and turned to Yakovarol, who stood quietly confused at attention. "Huntsman, what are your thoughts right now?"

Yakovarol was about to answer "I've something stuck in my tooth" when a question plopped itself in his head. "Your majesty, if Snow White goes, Rose Red, her sister, is sure to follow. One cannot be separated from the other. What of this?"

"Very good point, my huntsman." The queen for a moment thought, then rang a bell. In came Napoleon D.,  the Human Resources manager. "Napoleon, Rose Red will not abide here if Snow White departs. What does the book say?"

Napoleon reached into his carpet bag-like pocket, and drew forth a book, whose title Yakovarol knew to be "How to Run an Evil Castle for Dummies." He thumbed around for a moment before responding. "My queen, it appears that she shall then also be driven from the place."

The queen was obviously very touched by this, for she loved her stepdaughters rather dearly. However, she knew that her position, as described by Napoleon, dictated her to behave in certain ways. She could not be benevolent and run an evil castle, could she? And she still had three years left on her employment contract. "Very well. Huntsman, may you please escort the princesses out of the castle. Don't forget to give them enough food and resources to get as far as the magical woods."


Yakovarol bowed deeply, and departed. He was unsure of how to proceed, so he sought the assistance of the second eldest brother, Leper Khan (You see, many years before, Khan had gotten leprosy, but this version of the disease primarily affected his follicles, and resulted in his hair turning completely red. Thereafter, he was known as Leper Khan). After a brief consultation, the two brothers tramped to the princesses' room, and hesitatingly knocked on the door. Rose Red answered the door.

Agape

I've recently completed a Bible study on the Fruits of the Spirit. We went through each characteristic, and spent an entire study on each word. Then we tried to piece together what characteristics "build" on others, and how this is related to that. It was seen rather early on that Love is indeed the fundamental characteristic of the Christian faith. Passages such as 1 Corinthians 13 and Matthew 22.37-40 confirm this. All the fruits of the Spirit are linked to love, and without love they crumble. So what is this love?

The specific Greek word is "ἀγάπη" (or "agapē" for those of you who don't read Greek). The beauty of the Greek language is that there are four words with different aspects of the meaning of the word love. In the New Testament, two, agape and philos/phileo, are predominantly used. Agape means "sacrificial love" (as determined by the said Bible study), and phileo emphasizes emotional fondness. Essentially, agape is the giving of yourself even if it means harm to yourself. You will put yourself in "dangerous situations" for the other person, regardless of what it costs you, or whether they'll thank you for it. Agape-love is a choice.

Consider Philippians 2.5-11 (as translated by J B Phillips) - "Let Christ Himself be your example as to what your attitude should be. For He, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to His prerogatives as God's equal, but stripped Himself of all privilege by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born as mortal man. And, having become man, He humbled Himself by living a life of utter obedience, even to the extent of dying, and the death He died was the death of a common criminal. That is why God has now lifted Him so high, and has given Him the name beyond all names, so that at the name of Jesus "every knee shall bow", whether in Heaven or earth or under the earth. And that is why, in the end, "every tongue shall confess" that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

This is agape-love "at its best." God became man, so humbling considering our state, and lowered Himself to the humblest of mankind, dying the death of a common thief. And why? For a stubborn race. But God so loved us...me, you, all...that He considered it worthwhile for His Son to die, pay our penalty, so that we could live eternally with Him. "What wondrous love is this, oh my soul!"

As you celebrate Christmas, please do consider that God humbled Himself for YOU! (Not only that, but He also humbled Himself for all your siblings, cousins, parents, friends, etc. If God humbled Himself for them, how should you, a mortal man, treat them?)

Immanuel - God With Us

The song that ended last week's post spoke of a great God who came to earth to save created man. No where else do you see that. If you look at the fantastical gods of the Greeks and Romans and other early civilisations, never do the gods show unbound love toward mortal man. Never do you see the gods sacrifice themselves for an erroneous man. You do see the gods passing (often times skewed) judgement on man. In essence, all gods of past civilisations had very man-like characteristics, and never would man show unbounded, sacrificial love. Hence, the beautiful history of the Creator-God weaving His redemption plan for fallen man stands out. 

"Light of the world/ You stepped out into darkness/ opened my eyes, let me see/ beauty that made this heart adore You/ hope of a life spent with You...King of all days/ oh so highly exalted/ glorious in heaven above/ humbly You came to the earth You created/ all for love's sake became poor...I'll never know how much it cost/ to see my sin upon that cross..."*

Have you tried to fathom the enormity of God's sacrifice? How about the fact that the shepherds, the dirtiest, grimiest workers, were with in a short, measurable distance of the God of glory? As the lyrics of the previous post's last song goes "...His infant eyes have seen the dawn of time...His ears have heard an angel's symphony, but still Mary had to rock her Savior to sleep."

Here are two more Christmas songs, both sung by Michael Card. "Immanuel," and "Joseph's Song." I highly recommend them.

*Here I am to Worship

It's Christmas!

This is usually the day when I say "see here for the continuation of the story." However, that is not to be this week. My cohort, Ben, has been rather busy as of late, and has not gotten a new part of the story out. I shall therefore proceed to a regular post, in hopes that he gets his pen together...figuratively speaking, of course.

Here's to Christmas traditions! We (try) to set aside a night wherein all members of the Coder Clan may participate in a family-wide evening of decorating (specifically) the tree and (non-specifically) the house for Christmas. With Christmas CDs that we've grown up on playing in the background, and handling decade old decorations, this evening is a perfect way to reminisce of "the old days" (when we were younger - quite a paradoxical statement). Nonetheless, all enjoy it, and sometimes it can get crazy - it all depends on the song currently playing and how much chocolate had been consumed by that point.

The decorated Christmas tree

The inset picture is of these two many years ago

I tried a new version of photobombing - a selfie-bombed photo

The twins being twin-like

A similar photobombing stunt. 

However, let's not forget why the season is celebrated. Indeed, it would be very poor of us to get so caught up in fun activities and traditions to forget what Christmas is really all about. Over two millennium ago, the God of the universe was wrapped in a piece of cloth, a midst the cows and sheep of His creation.

The following two Christmas songs are very good, hence why I'm showing them. Take the time to not only listen to them, but consider their words and meaning.

Please don't lose size of God's love.

Merry Christmas!!!

But God...

There are currently two words in the New Testament that have absolutely captured my fascination, as they both reference and imply quite profound ideas. For example, I was dead in my trespasses, disobedient, and a child of wrath. I did not care for anything that did not benefit me, and was thus very worldly. From a worldly perspective, I was rather unpleasant. From a spiritual perspective, I was dead. Nothing in me would attract the attention of a Creator-King, at least in the positive sense. I was condemned to eternal punishment. My methods of escape were limited (meaning none) and faulty. I was a hopeless wreck.

But God.

And with these two words, my entire life, future, and eternal state were quite literally reversed. 

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2.4-9 (emphasis mine)

That says it all. What could I add to that? To think that God loves me for no reason at all, save that He does, is completely beyond my comprehension. 

I cannot recommend the following artists, Casting Crowns, but these lyrics hit it absolutely bang on (the entire song is not repeated here).

"Who Am I"

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt?
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart?
...
Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again?
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me?

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done.
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are.

...

"Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!" II Corinthians 9.15

A Fairy Tale Continued

(to read part one)

Once upon a time…long ago…in times past…

         
  Thanks, Ben.

There was a prince...

  Wait a second, there's always one prince. What could we do to change it up (without it being overly weird)?
  I don't know, Josh. How 'bout make the prince have brothers? That way, the princess has a couple options to choose from.
  Great idea, Ben! Thanks!

There were four princely brothers. They were, as stated, brothers, who shared the occupation of princes (their resumes were quite impressive). However, the four brothers were rather eccentric, each in his own way. Of course, if they weren't eccentric, this tale would be nigh-on boring. Therefore, they are eccentric.

The first and eldest of the brothers was Charles Charming (of course the last name is Charming...what else could it be?). Of the four brothers, Charles was the first to accept the full-time position of prince, and was therefore the most experienced

The second and second eldest of the brothers was Maximilian Augustus Charming.

  Josh, you better not make Maximilian's bio as boring as Charles's...
  ...okay Ben.

 Max was in a strange quandary at the time of our story, but his quandary requires a short story. Several years previous, he had had the misfortune to be turned into a frog. Of course, the only way to turn him back was for a princess to kiss him. He was most fortunate in an unfortunate way. He was fortunate to find a princess in distress, who had dropped her magic mirror down a well (it had been dried out many a year - do not ask what the princess was doing that caused her mirror to drop down such a hole, as that's another story). Being nimble in frog limb, he immediately made it known that he would fetch her magic mirror. In one bound, he was down. He began to tug on the mirror. However, it took him some time to figure out a way to carry it. That's the unfortunate part of the story. The princess was so taken by the little frog's endeavor, that she blew him a kiss; since everything's wireless nowadays, it had very much the same effect as a physical kiss: it changed the frog prince into a prince prince (a human one, that is). Dear Reader, a frog may easily escape the warming pot, but a prince has no chance. He was therefore, and still is, stuck at the bottom of the well, his only consolation being the magic mirror, by which he began to know everything, and write books and periodicals on the same. His weekly, the Prince's Deeply, is a well read newspaper, and very informative.

The next brother was Philosophically Charming, or Phil for short. In the nature of his name, he sought humanitarian relief for all underprivileged classes. He even went as far as to subsidize poor, forgotten animals. His housing plans for such creatures were his greatest failure, as his pilot program involved determining the structural analysis of various building materials for the razorback breed, being of straw, sticks and bricks. His initial plan called for three of the breed to be housed in each of the buildings. This failed because of the carnivorous and enchanted nature of his younger brother Fred.

The last and final brother, as well as the youngest, was Frederick Charming. Like Max, Fred had the inconvenience of being shape-shifted, but he into a carnivorous canine. You see, Fred, a vegetarian, liked dogs so much that he had 127 different breeds, hosted 3 dog shows a week, and provided the famous Canine 9k Scholarships for veterinarian students. However, when a representative from the Safeguarding Animals Against the Tyranny of Living in Cramped Quarters with Others of Different Breeds Legal Association (SAATLCQODBLA) arrived and determined that 127 dog breeds living on 381 acres was too cramped, he complained to the Princes Behavior Correction Agency (PBCA), which determined Fred's sentence: he was to be turned into a generic dog and be carnivorous, unto the point that he had been kissed by a princess (which they were sure was never going to happen).

And so...

...At a date undetermined, in a land not found on modern maps, there once was four princely brothers...

  That's great Josh! Much better than "There once was a prince..."
  I'd quite agree. It'll keep our readers guessing...

  Stay tuned on Ben's blog.

A post about Not-Much

I've finally done it. Since I'm lacking inspiration for things to write, I went ahead and videoed myself playing the bagpipes...rather vain, in my opinion. But oh well. Since this is the first video that I've uploaded, I'm not quite sure I have all the strings tied on how to do it, so forgive the mishaps. 

And on that note...

I do know that the drones are not in unison. This does not help with the effect of the bagpipes. I need to learn how to tune them accurately. It's quite a chore, believe me!

In regards to the challenge issued, the first part has been published! I will be posting a second part on Monday the 10th. Just a hint - Ben and I will be trying to get every single fairy tale possible mentioned throughout this story. Be alert.

Until Monday!