My wife Alex has always longed to have a printer to complement her home computer. And yes, we have two terminals here at home, a laptop which I use and a desktop which she uses. But we never say, "My computer" or "Your computer". Neither do we say in the third person "His..." or "Her computer." Instead, we tend to use them interchangeably whenever there's a need to do so. But for a long time, I have always resisted having a printer at home - those fickle, highly temperamental pieces of technology which has a raving appetite for our bank account! Purchasing and replacing those ink cartridges is so ferociously expensive. That could be the reason why the machine itself is relatively cheap to buy in the first place. The maker's prime source of profit comes from ink cartridge replacements.
However, just to imagine her joy in acquiring a printer - which may benefit her health as well as a boost towards her happiness - has eventually led to a change of mind. Or simply giving in, in much the same way Samson caved into Delilah's persistent demand to know the secret of his supernatural strength.
And so off I went, alone, into town to return with this large but not-too-heavy package in my arms. Rather excitingly I set it up. By following picture instructions, I made sure everything was in place before I turned it on, along with the desktop computer. Next, I had to download a website to install the appropriate software to make both units compactable. And that's was when I hit a brick wall - well, not literally, but equally hurtful.
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| We bought a printer identical to this. |
I recall not that long ago when buying computer peripherals. Such additional hardware came with a CD to install compatibility software into the laptop. But now they have come up with this brilliant idea of the maker's website which demands a password before installation can proceed. The snag is, I don't have the correct password, despite that the software "read" the hidden and an apparently unknown or forgotten code buried somewhere in the hard-drive memory.
As a result, the printer cannot be used. And that despite the cost of not only the unit but for the cost of the spare double ink cartridge as well, (black ink and coloured ink) which cost me nearly as much as the machine itself.
Little wonder that I sank into a deep depression. I reclined on the sofa, my face buried in the fabric seat, feeling very sorry for myself and hard done by. If ever there was a time I hated modern technology, I think that was it. A password - a stupid password - was demanded, probably so the makers can track me down for future marketing purposes. This particular piece of software does not ask the question, Forgot password? At least when clicked, this opens the opportunity to create a new password, as Google, Yahoo, or most other sites do. When I had forgotten, or never knew, what this particular password is - then I'm well and truly stuck!
If only I had followed my initial instincts! Never have a printer in the house. I knew that I would shed more tears than any amount of ink from the cartridge. However, my wife tried to encourage me.
"Why not take the matter to the Lord in prayer?" She suggested.
I thought for a moment before answering:
"I cannot pray. Considering that there are millions far worse off than we are - poverty, starvation, disease, homelessness, suffering in war-torn zones. Praying for God's guidance for a printer does not sit well."
She had to agree.
However, in the small hours of the following morning, I lay awake as my wife slept. Tormented in spirit, I managed to utter a quiet prayer, confessing my shame in praying for a rich man's toy while overseas - and here in the UK too - many languish in their suffering. Yet I prayed for God's guidance on this matter. Shortly after, I fell asleep.
I woke up after daybreak with an idea. A very good church friend, Guy by name, whom I knew personally for quite a number of years, is a computer engineer whose expertise has been beneficial to us several times in the past. Unable to reach him by 'phone on the previous evening (and thus heightening my despair), I thought about emailing him. He returned the email with an indication that this codebreaking is not too much of a problem, and agreed to come over to see for himself after the Easter break.
Which leads me to this weekend I write this blog. With the gorgeous Spring sunshine warming the air and beautifying the environment, this holiday is all about Jesus and him crucified. And about the near-destruction of Notre Dame.
This beautiful and historic Parisian cathedral I first visited back in 1985 whilst staying at a privately owned hotel in Rouen, a city where Jeanne d'Arc was burnt at the stake, a city roughly a third of the way to Paris from the two coastal ports of Dieppe and Le Havre, and both linked by an excellent S.N.C.F. express train service to the capital. A train journey from Rouen to Paris Gare de Lazare, followed by a ride on the Metro and I arrive at the Notre Dame, which was such an imposing attraction, as well as ascending to one of the twin iconic bell towers which featured a lookout platform.
This, together with standing, one evening, on the upper floor of the Eifel Tower, downstream from the Cathedral on the River Seine, and looking almost directly into the city football stadium way below, itself lit by floodlights as a team of players was training, and also with the magnificent view of the Trocadero, its fountains bathed in evening illuminations, across the River below.
After 1985, I did not visit Paris any more until 2016, well after the Eurostar was in full service and my wife was already in a wheelchair. After arriving on the international train service, we checked in a wheelchair-accessible Hotel Pullman in the Montparnasse district, south of the city. The walk we did the next day after arrival took in the Eifel Tower, on which we ascended to the first-floor viewing balcony which is suitable for wheelchairs. This was followed by a riverside walk to the Notre Dame before strolling back to our hotel at nightfall.
But it was at the following year, in 2017, on our second Eurostar trip to Paris, when we spent far more time at the Notre Dame Cathedral. This included entering its interior, only to see the commencement of evening Mass, as it turned out that it was a Sunday when we visited. We spent considerable time inside the building, both of us fully admiring the beautiful stained glass rose windows, a nostalgic reminder of 1985, but this time without the ascent to the belfry viewing platform, due to Alex's wheelchair. How could we possibly believe that less than two years after that visit, Notre Dame would hit the headlines?
Pictures of the burnt-down church - in all the newspapers, on television and on the internet - struck as indeed remarkable. For among the ashes of the roof sprawled across the floor, the golden crucifix on the altar shone as it, perhaps for the very first time ever, reflected the sunlight streaming through a burnt-out hole where the roof used to be. I have found this to be a fascinated sight. This tells me a lot.
It tells me about how everything in Creation is temporary. Like as Jesus himself said on one occasion that heaven and earth shall pass away but his words will never pass away (Matthew 24:35). Neither will the Cross. The burnt out cathedral says it all. The structure is around 850 years old. If compared to a day as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day in the Lord's perception of time (2 Peter 3:8), the church has only been there for a few hours. But now it stands virtually destroyed, yet the Cross stands at its place as if defiant, untouchable. And so it does, as no flames of false doctrine or heresy can undo its power, nor burn or annihilate it.
As we celebrate Easter, it is a reminder that the power of the Cross is eternal. Not only can it acquit and regenerate a spiritually dead sinner and turn him into a son of the living God, but it can also transform society. The 120 in the room sat under the shadow of the Cross (Acts 1:15-17). Among them, rich and poor sat together. So did men and women together, a concept totally foreign among religious Jews. Also the religious and irreligious, and all social classes. Such barriers have all melted away, uniting the crowd as one under the shadow of the Cross. Like the ashes surrounding the altar at Notre Dame, the shadow of the Cross reveals us all, throughout space and time, to be mere dust and ashes ourselves, and in full need of God's love, grace and mercy.
I'm convinced that this was a powerful message God is trying to convey to the watching world. The Cross of Christ. That was why, I believe, he allowed the church building to burn down. To attract attention to the Cross just as Easter is approaching. The destruction of the church is a massive loss to all of us and particularly to all Parisians. But I don't think it's a loss to God. He allowed it to burn down, and that despite any conspiracy theories already in the media that the fire was started by Muslims.
Fortunately, only the roof came down with minimum damage to the stonework. I believe this is relevant too. With the stonework remaining intact, this will emphasise the light reflecting from the Cross, giving it greater emphasis as sunlight from the roof cavity shines on it.
The reader may well ask: Where is a connection between my experience with the printer and the burning down of Notre Dame Cathedral? That is quite easy to work out, by the looks of things. The Cathedral itself is temporary in the light of eternity. And also the printer is certainly temporary. I'll be lucky if I could get a few years out of it (if we can solve the password problem!) Yet my heart is fixed on this utility and the Parisian's heart is centred on the burnt church. Both are temporal. Neither can save. Neither can they do anything to the Old Man (that is, the natural man before conversion). Rather, I believe God wants our hearts to be fixed onto the Cross of Christ. The Cross of Christ is eternal. It gives eternal life to all believers, it slays the old man, and gives birth to the New Man, who is a son of God. Furthermore, I believe the Cross will feature in the New Jerusalem, the Eternal City, to remind everyone there that it was the Cross of Christ which redeemed them.
God wants everyone to look at the Cross with faith. Thousands of years ago, after the children of Israel had just left Egypt and were camping in the desert, the Law was given under Moses' administration. But they were disobedient and rebellious, therefore God eventually sent snakes to bring death to everyone who was bitten. At their cry, Moses begged God to stay the plague. The Lord instructed him to make a snake out of bronze and hang it on a cross-like stake. Everyone who was bitten and looked at the snake with a believing heart remained alive and did not die (Numbers 21:4-9).
The same during the first Passover. On that day the Israelites were told to kill a lamb and splash its blood on the doorposts and to roast and eat the rest of the meat. Wherever the Angel of Death, sent by God to kill the firstborn of all Egypt, saw the blood on the lintels, he passed over the house and every firstborn within did not die but was spared instead (Exodus 12).
Of course, the cross inside the Notre Dame does not have saving power in itself, just as the blood on the lintels or the bronze snake had no power in themselves. They are inanimate objects, just as the real Cross of Christ at Calvary was just two logs of wood fastened together, and it was no different to the other two crosses the thieves were hanging upon. In all three instances, the saving power lies with the faith of the believer in the atoning power of God himself.
There is only one other proof that this Jesus crucified was the Christ, the Son of God. And that was his Resurrection, his rising from the dead, an event that had never occurred in all history before then, and had never occurred since. That is a resurrection from the dead into eternal life in an immortal body. So far, only Jesus had such an experience. But a day will come when every believer throughout all history will be resurrected (and any living at the time raptured, or translated into Heaven).
That is what Easter is all about. Compared to such a glorious promise, every temporary object becomes meaningless - just like our computers, the printer, and Notre Dame Cathedral - will become obsolete.
She had to agree.
However, in the small hours of the following morning, I lay awake as my wife slept. Tormented in spirit, I managed to utter a quiet prayer, confessing my shame in praying for a rich man's toy while overseas - and here in the UK too - many languish in their suffering. Yet I prayed for God's guidance on this matter. Shortly after, I fell asleep.
I woke up after daybreak with an idea. A very good church friend, Guy by name, whom I knew personally for quite a number of years, is a computer engineer whose expertise has been beneficial to us several times in the past. Unable to reach him by 'phone on the previous evening (and thus heightening my despair), I thought about emailing him. He returned the email with an indication that this codebreaking is not too much of a problem, and agreed to come over to see for himself after the Easter break.
Which leads me to this weekend I write this blog. With the gorgeous Spring sunshine warming the air and beautifying the environment, this holiday is all about Jesus and him crucified. And about the near-destruction of Notre Dame.
This beautiful and historic Parisian cathedral I first visited back in 1985 whilst staying at a privately owned hotel in Rouen, a city where Jeanne d'Arc was burnt at the stake, a city roughly a third of the way to Paris from the two coastal ports of Dieppe and Le Havre, and both linked by an excellent S.N.C.F. express train service to the capital. A train journey from Rouen to Paris Gare de Lazare, followed by a ride on the Metro and I arrive at the Notre Dame, which was such an imposing attraction, as well as ascending to one of the twin iconic bell towers which featured a lookout platform.
This, together with standing, one evening, on the upper floor of the Eifel Tower, downstream from the Cathedral on the River Seine, and looking almost directly into the city football stadium way below, itself lit by floodlights as a team of players was training, and also with the magnificent view of the Trocadero, its fountains bathed in evening illuminations, across the River below.
After 1985, I did not visit Paris any more until 2016, well after the Eurostar was in full service and my wife was already in a wheelchair. After arriving on the international train service, we checked in a wheelchair-accessible Hotel Pullman in the Montparnasse district, south of the city. The walk we did the next day after arrival took in the Eifel Tower, on which we ascended to the first-floor viewing balcony which is suitable for wheelchairs. This was followed by a riverside walk to the Notre Dame before strolling back to our hotel at nightfall.
But it was at the following year, in 2017, on our second Eurostar trip to Paris, when we spent far more time at the Notre Dame Cathedral. This included entering its interior, only to see the commencement of evening Mass, as it turned out that it was a Sunday when we visited. We spent considerable time inside the building, both of us fully admiring the beautiful stained glass rose windows, a nostalgic reminder of 1985, but this time without the ascent to the belfry viewing platform, due to Alex's wheelchair. How could we possibly believe that less than two years after that visit, Notre Dame would hit the headlines?
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| Notre Dame, Paris - taken October 2017. |
Pictures of the burnt-down church - in all the newspapers, on television and on the internet - struck as indeed remarkable. For among the ashes of the roof sprawled across the floor, the golden crucifix on the altar shone as it, perhaps for the very first time ever, reflected the sunlight streaming through a burnt-out hole where the roof used to be. I have found this to be a fascinated sight. This tells me a lot.
It tells me about how everything in Creation is temporary. Like as Jesus himself said on one occasion that heaven and earth shall pass away but his words will never pass away (Matthew 24:35). Neither will the Cross. The burnt out cathedral says it all. The structure is around 850 years old. If compared to a day as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day in the Lord's perception of time (2 Peter 3:8), the church has only been there for a few hours. But now it stands virtually destroyed, yet the Cross stands at its place as if defiant, untouchable. And so it does, as no flames of false doctrine or heresy can undo its power, nor burn or annihilate it.
As we celebrate Easter, it is a reminder that the power of the Cross is eternal. Not only can it acquit and regenerate a spiritually dead sinner and turn him into a son of the living God, but it can also transform society. The 120 in the room sat under the shadow of the Cross (Acts 1:15-17). Among them, rich and poor sat together. So did men and women together, a concept totally foreign among religious Jews. Also the religious and irreligious, and all social classes. Such barriers have all melted away, uniting the crowd as one under the shadow of the Cross. Like the ashes surrounding the altar at Notre Dame, the shadow of the Cross reveals us all, throughout space and time, to be mere dust and ashes ourselves, and in full need of God's love, grace and mercy.
I'm convinced that this was a powerful message God is trying to convey to the watching world. The Cross of Christ. That was why, I believe, he allowed the church building to burn down. To attract attention to the Cross just as Easter is approaching. The destruction of the church is a massive loss to all of us and particularly to all Parisians. But I don't think it's a loss to God. He allowed it to burn down, and that despite any conspiracy theories already in the media that the fire was started by Muslims.
Fortunately, only the roof came down with minimum damage to the stonework. I believe this is relevant too. With the stonework remaining intact, this will emphasise the light reflecting from the Cross, giving it greater emphasis as sunlight from the roof cavity shines on it.
The reader may well ask: Where is a connection between my experience with the printer and the burning down of Notre Dame Cathedral? That is quite easy to work out, by the looks of things. The Cathedral itself is temporary in the light of eternity. And also the printer is certainly temporary. I'll be lucky if I could get a few years out of it (if we can solve the password problem!) Yet my heart is fixed on this utility and the Parisian's heart is centred on the burnt church. Both are temporal. Neither can save. Neither can they do anything to the Old Man (that is, the natural man before conversion). Rather, I believe God wants our hearts to be fixed onto the Cross of Christ. The Cross of Christ is eternal. It gives eternal life to all believers, it slays the old man, and gives birth to the New Man, who is a son of God. Furthermore, I believe the Cross will feature in the New Jerusalem, the Eternal City, to remind everyone there that it was the Cross of Christ which redeemed them.
God wants everyone to look at the Cross with faith. Thousands of years ago, after the children of Israel had just left Egypt and were camping in the desert, the Law was given under Moses' administration. But they were disobedient and rebellious, therefore God eventually sent snakes to bring death to everyone who was bitten. At their cry, Moses begged God to stay the plague. The Lord instructed him to make a snake out of bronze and hang it on a cross-like stake. Everyone who was bitten and looked at the snake with a believing heart remained alive and did not die (Numbers 21:4-9).
The same during the first Passover. On that day the Israelites were told to kill a lamb and splash its blood on the doorposts and to roast and eat the rest of the meat. Wherever the Angel of Death, sent by God to kill the firstborn of all Egypt, saw the blood on the lintels, he passed over the house and every firstborn within did not die but was spared instead (Exodus 12).
Of course, the cross inside the Notre Dame does not have saving power in itself, just as the blood on the lintels or the bronze snake had no power in themselves. They are inanimate objects, just as the real Cross of Christ at Calvary was just two logs of wood fastened together, and it was no different to the other two crosses the thieves were hanging upon. In all three instances, the saving power lies with the faith of the believer in the atoning power of God himself.
 |
| Ashes surround the Cross of Christ. |
There is only one other proof that this Jesus crucified was the Christ, the Son of God. And that was his Resurrection, his rising from the dead, an event that had never occurred in all history before then, and had never occurred since. That is a resurrection from the dead into eternal life in an immortal body. So far, only Jesus had such an experience. But a day will come when every believer throughout all history will be resurrected (and any living at the time raptured, or translated into Heaven).
That is what Easter is all about. Compared to such a glorious promise, every temporary object becomes meaningless - just like our computers, the printer, and Notre Dame Cathedral - will become obsolete.
so sorry my beloved I did not know how hurt you felt and feelings but it would not leave me alone sorry for being such a nag I love you and appreciate you in all you say,do and think and so forth you are a brilliant man in all of that meaning.
ReplyDeleteMEN ARE FROM MARS WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS you know the frays
you know me more then I know myself I appreciate that as well sorry for my spellings as well
Hi Frank,
ReplyDeleteI thought exactly the same as you did when I saw the cross shining in the church building in Paris. I thought 'It does not matter that the building is half burned, the cross of Christ and it's meaning and achievement can never be destroyed. It shines forever'.
Nice post Frank,
God bless you and Alex.
Dear Frank,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this most encouraging and thoughtful interpretation of the Notre Dame fire. Surely God may be speaking to a lost and dying world about the power of the cross. Had Jesus Christ not died on the cross and risen again, there would be no atoning sacrifice, no reconciliation of sinful man to holy God, and no eternal life for those who trust Him.
Regarding the printer, I believe God wants us to bring all our cares to Him in prayer, no matter how large or small. He cares for every hair on our head.
May you and Alex have a blessed Easter,
Laurie