...you can't tell who is who
the make or model of the car
tiny houses line the tiny street
with tiny pools and tiny yards
they take a lot of time & energy
for the amount of joy they bring
it seems a shame to go and waste a life
on such tiny tiny things...
new point of view...
riding shotgun with daddy
why is 'there' more important
than traveling along the way
destinations are static
lose their alure
comfortable and grey
sitting to travel
moving while being still
a passenger...
riding shotgun with daddy
.
time passes
i really don't care
when we get there
five more minutes
that's ok
five more hours
five more days
oh years you say
or decades perhaps
millenium I hear
i really don't care
i'd journey forever
sitting right here
right by your side
listening to your stories
such interesting asides
peeking at worlds through
such insight and light
even when I sleep
blissfully so, unaware
inwardly quiet
and peaceful you know
the rumble of your engine
the whine of your soul
the fuel of your love
moving us, propelling us
on this kingdom of journeys
this way of traveling
awake in the morning
still by my side
time unimportant
no night in your light
just this moment
that's all I care
just this moment
the Kingdom of Heaven
riding shotgun beside you
time standing still
riding shotgun with daddy
no better way of living
of seeing your world.
Mediums of communication
What is exactly meant by 'that still small voice'?
What does the song writer mean when he wrote "He walks with me and He
talks with me and He
tells me I am His own?
Just how does Jesus (God) communicate with you?
Ever 'heard' His audible voice?
He's communicated to me through the following:
- the smoking of a cigar
- looking through & at the side glass on the drivers side of my truck
- seasonal attributes of a tree
- the hillside around center hill lake
- the sun's rays shining through the clouds
- a friend eating peanuts at a bar
- a thought offered by a close friend
- books, including scripture
- conversations
- observing life
- driving home on a rainy sunday evening
I know that's not an exhaustive list...and that makes me wonder....just how has God 'talked' with you?
I'm listening :)
Out with the priest in with the book
Ask a christian about their relationship with Jesus and most start talking about their knowledge of God accumulated through bible studies, books and sermons. Ask someone about their relationship with their spouse, sweetheart, family member or friend and you get first hand stories of their doing life together.
What's the difference?
Should scripture, books & sermons be the basis for our relationship (interaction) with God? Doesn't the Spirit, Jesus, God speak to us directly, personally, outside of scripture morso than through scripture? Is the source - origination of our relationship a book or a person (i.e. Jesus)? Has the bible, through mass distribution via the printing press, become "the new mediator" (i.e. out with the priest in with the book)?
God spoke the world into existence, has He stopped speaking? Does He only speak through the medium of scripture? Is the medium of scripture His "primary" method of speaking?
What did Jesus mean when he said, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life."? (John 5:39,40) If 'eternal life' is "knowing the one and only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent" (John 17:3), then Jesus seems to be pointing out that it is through
Him,
not scripture, that we have 'eternal life' (i.e. relationship with Him).
Yeah God's word is timeless...but isn't His presence priceless? Isn't Jesus the living word? Have we directed folks wrongly toward 'dead wood' when a 'living vine' awaits? Why aren't peoples daily accounts of their conversation with Jesus more readily accepted as nuggets of truth & inspiration than someone's interpretation of scripture?
Is our relationship with Jesus supposed to be so wrapped up in our knowledge of the bible?
- sunday school
- small group bible studies
- sermons
- scripture memorization
- read the bible through
- commentary on the bible
- seminary
- discipleship training
- daily devotional reading
Or...the pre-sermon chant that is so popular today...
This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I can do what it says I can do. Today I will be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess my mind is alert, my heart is receptive. I will never be the same. I am about to receive the incorruptible, indestructible, ever-living seed of the Word of God. I will never be the same. Never, never, never. I will never be the same. In Jesus name.
shouldn't it be...
This is Jesus. I am what He says I am. I can do what He says I can do. Today He will teach me. I boldly depend on the Spirit to lead me into all truth. I will never be the same. I have received the life of Jesus, the living word. I will never be the same. Never, never, never. I will never be the same...because of Jesus.
What is our mantra to the world..."our book is better than your book"?
Shouldn't believers be known for their curious intimate personal relationship with Jesus (God) in the present?
your thoughts...
a common denominator
Discussing your most intimate beliefs with others requires a common denominator, a bench mark, a starting point on which all parties can agree. Start a conversation about God with an agnostic, well, your pretty much damned from the get go. Begin a dialogue about Jesus with a Mormon and you've got some splain'n to do Lucy ;) Talk about grace with a Jew and all you've got is an argument. We need a foundation...a beginning upon which ALL (every single solitary one) can whole heartedly agree.
The God shaped hole inside every individual is our need for unconditional acceptance and love; on this every single solitary individual who ever was, is and will be can agree.
We "need" to be accepted and loved dispite ourselves. You could look Ben Laden, Jennifer Anniston, Brad Pitt, George W. Bush, Bill Gates, a homeless guy, a CEO, a factory worker, a single mom, a school teacher, state worker, pope, tire salesman and artist in the eye and know each one needs unconditional acceptance & love; it is our commonality, similarity and unifier.
So...start with that...cause unconditional acceptance & love can't be found in the created; only the creator offers such a thing.
your thoughts
the Chinese church exploded when all their leaders.. indigenous and imported.. where killed or left the country. What is the implication for change for the church in North America?
the everday of life
A few days ago a friend reminded me of an analogy George Bush Sr. used in an inagural address back in 91'; a thousand points of light. The president used it to inspire Americans toward "doing good works" and "being moral people".
It seemed in our conversation among friends, the Spirit was teaching us about the Kingdom of God. Jesus said "you will do greater things than these"...why?...because I (Jesus) will indwell each believer and thus be humanly manifested in more than one body through intimate personal relationships with people; a thousand points of light.
God has many mediums through which His glory (character) is made known to men. All the created order declares His glory, but He indwells only one medium; believers - you & me. The lost see, understand and are drawn to God through the created order. They interact with Him (Jesus) through us; individual believers, until the day they receive Jesus' Life themselves which enables an intimate personal relationship of their own.
God doesn't indwell organizations, meetings, scripture, buildings, prayer closets, homeless shelters or songs just as He doesn't indwell trees, birds & clouds. So much energy in 'christiandom' is used to call attention to the glory of God when nothing man puts together even comes close to what He's already done through the created order. Look at the sun & sky, the stars & moon and compare that with the greatest concert light show or fireworks event ever; the scale and magnificence of His creation is beyond comparison. Our role isn't to call attention to the glory of God, but to "be" the glory of God...to our neighbors, co-workers, friends, acquaintances, strangers and enemies.
Jesus indwells you. People interact with Jesus through their interaction with you.
"Being" the glory of God to folks in the everyday of life; A thousand points of light in the middle of the forest gives light to those nearby...but what of those wondering out in the darkness of your everyday travels & living?
on the front porch...
Sitting out on the front porch early this morning when all of a sudden (or so it seemed) I was aware of the variety and volume of a neighborhood waking up. I first dialed in on the several types of chirps and songs the birds were singing, then a dog, a garage door, airplane, highway, door, car and the wind. I found myself listening for another sound, a different melody.
Sometimes it's like that when I listen to/for Jesus. I'm oblivious until, whamo!, the Spirit tunes my consciousness toward Jesus and I sit amazed at how easily I missed His thoughts for me.
You'll have to excuse the "whamo!", I just saw Batman ;)
Before He went to the cross, Jesus told his disciples, "I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am you may be also." He has prepared a place, a real place, inside each of us, a place where we can experience him in his resurrection, new life reality. Each of us given a place, and the place we are given is within the resurrected body of Jesus Christ Himself! We are given and assigned a real place in him as he lives in his place in us! He is living in our mortal, corruptible bodies now! It is his presence keeping our bodies alive now, not mere food and drink. He is constantly feeding us with his words, words we often do not recognize as coming from him because they come within our own thoughts. And the place is inside us. Not a far off, maybe-someday-place, but a holy realm for here and now. Our place is in Him as He lives in us---now!
- Joan Wilson
A few days ago a friend reminded me of an analogy George Bush Sr. used in an inagural address back in 91'; a thousand points of light. The president used it to inspire Americans toward "doing good works" and "being moral people".
