Love

about face ! - forward march !

2009-03-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

God sure does change me
in ways that are strange to me
yet sweet.

or...maybe i should say, ways that
are strange to me...yet real and true.

so much of the relationship is in opposites.
the broken yet healed, lost yet found...

one big change was my understanding
of what "church" is.
i now see it as the body of Christ,
of which i am spiritually joined with, by the Holy Spirit.

i see the actual gathering together of believers
as a "gathering",

and the place of gathering
as a "place".

i no longer want to call gatherings or places "church"...
not with what i now understand to be true.
i think that calling these things "church" is misleading.

i would like to call
the body of believers "the body" and no longer
use the term church because of its lack of true definition,
or at least use it within its true meaning.

i (as part of the body of Jesus) am living out my belief,
with the Holy Spirit doing the leading and changing.
i am thus spiritually connected to the whole body,
of which Jesus is the head.

i think i have found that the answers,
to all that i need to know, is in Jesus.
through Him all is put right...
opposite of not right.

related post "perplexed".

preacherman

2009-03-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

kinney has a prayer request...please read here

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
romans 12:12

His grace

2009-03-13T10:14:00.001-07:00

this is a good video that my brother in Christ, william,
sent to me, by email, this morning.

he said " this is beautiful, and you're going to really like it."...

and he was right-on.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid271552717?bctid=1913313052

i hope you get a chance to check it out.

Love > death

2009-03-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

i see spring
all around me

yellow daffodils
swaying in the breeze

robins in the grass
hunting for worms

i sit in the sun
feeling the warmth

knowing that i live
in early winter

my body is fading
into grey

it will not see
a return of spring

yet my soul is waiting
for that warm familiar light

my heart
can almost feel it

as warm
as the sun on my skin

2009-03-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

looking back,
i can see how God has been using a very large part of my earth time,
spanning decades, for particular renewal and change within me.

the Holy Spirit is doing a great work within the children of God.
the growth does not come easy.
it comes through different seasons and weather.
oh, but the fruit...

But the fruit of the Spirit is

love,
joy,
peace,
patience,
kindness,
goodness,
faithfulness,
gentleness
and self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

from galatians 5

related post " change takes time "

*

2009-03-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

i n - j e s u s

the curtain
has been torn

the walls
are tumbling

God wants all
hearts and souls

to come home to Him

2009-03-09T14:32:00.000-07:00

e
con
oh
me
oh
my

h o p e

2009-03-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

in Jesus
we can give

in Love
there is hope

in hope
there is a light

in light
there is truth

in truth
there is Jesus

in Jesus
there is life

from luke 11

See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.

Therefore, if your whole body is full of light,
and no part of it dark,
it will be completely lighted,
as when the light of a lamp shines on you."

smaller planes

2009-03-08T23:09:00.000-07:00

less fuel
easier to fill with passengers
more layovers

daffodils starting to bloom

spring break

waxing moon

having dinner with friends

yellow forsythia

blue sky

c h u r c h

2009-03-07T08:28:00.000-08:00

there are believers that are starting to question
the way "church" has been defined in their mind...
and are starting to see it differently.

i do not think that all of these people are being led astray,
i think they are being led by the Holy Spirit

to be used in a way we do not yet know.

to those of you that hear this call,
follow the Holy Spirit.
you are not alone.
God will show you what He wants done.
do not be afraid.

if the definition of church is starting to look like
something different to you, i would like to hear about it.
if you write a post about your latest thoughts
and experiences, i would like to read it.

i know that some experiences may be hard to put into words,
but, i think that it might help to share some of our thoughts
and experiences in this area. then we can see that there are
others around the world having many similar thoughts.

hopefully sharing will help us to move forward in the Spirit.
and through the loneliness and other feelings
that we struggle with, as well as share some of the
more joyful experiences that we have as well.
also, if we are open as to what is going on,
we can pray for one another.

Jesus is Lord.

praise the LORD

up-side-down

2009-03-05T10:31:00.000-08:00

we are being shown that all of the wealth in the world is nothing,

and that we should not place our trust in man.

the whole world will see the glory of God.

perhaps this is just the beginning of the turmoil
that will be witnessed world wide.

in others words...we ain't seen nothin yet.

i don't think that the playing field is being leveled,

i think that it's being tilled...

turned up-side-down.

maybe we should strive to be on the bottom,
for there we might be lifted up.

to be a servant for God,
was shown to us by our own Lord.
___

Jesus looked at him and loved him.
"One thing you lack," he said.
"Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me."
mark 10:21
***

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
matthew 6:21
***

I amassed silver and gold for myself,
and the treasure of kings and provinces.
I acquired men and women singers,
and a harem as well—the delights of the heart of man.
I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me.
In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor.

Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.
ecclesiastes 2
***

a random act of something that could be mistaken for poetry:

2009-03-03T18:41:00.000-08:00

i went searching for grace
with a map in hand
marked with a big x
for where it was to be found

the map came from a
very friendly and tubby bear
that i had met while i was
walking in the woods

he said he was not sure
if the treasure was something
that i was to find
or if it was to find me

i started to follow the map
but it kept changing
every time i looked at it
the x was in a different spot

then i realized
that the x
was always
ten paces ahead of me

i was following
the treasure
i was following
grace

random acts of poetry
every friday
at the high calling blogs

2009-02-28T18:53:00.000-08:00

at the end of night

my heart will dance on a whisper of light

that is telling

the stars

to go

2009-02-26T08:32:00.000-08:00

i am on the road
even in my house

i do not belong here
yet, here i am

though i sleep

there is no rest

the road side
is a gentle blur

the voices
turn to silence

grey turns to light
weight falls away

i leave the road
flying

random acts of poetry "rap"
is poetry central at high callings blogs,
where people can read and post poetry every friday.
check it out at the blog of l.l. barkat "seedlings in stone"
or on the "rap" page at high calling blogs .

just another day...

2009-02-25T09:15:00.000-08:00

or is it ?
for some, it is the beginning of lent.
for others, it is their first day, or their last day, on earth.
first and lasts,
beginnings and endings,
celebrations and remembrances.
God is with us in it all.

a post from brian, at the cheek of God

2009-02-24T12:45:00.000-08:00

Not What Was Intended

Only when the sense of the pain of others begins does man begin.
~ Yevgeny Yevtushenko

I sat down this afternoon to write a post titled “Dinner with Nietzsche”. I planned on weaving philosophy and wit into a humorous tale about my attempt to convince my daughters to finish their parmesan rice last night for dinner by reading to them from Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil. “When you’re done eating, I’ll quit reading!” I told them, and then droned on and on over their deafening squeals of protest. It would have been a great post . . .
But I decided to clear out my Reader first.

Courtesy of derfina, I learned of a fellow blogger named Lisa who is in the final hours of a long battle with cancer.

I don’t know this woman. And, unfortunately, unless something truly miraculous happens, I’ll never have the chance to interact with her, to exchange emails with her or read any new updates about her life, about motherhood, about being a survivor.

And she’ll never be a Tweaker. I’ll never see her name pop up in my comments, offering her own unique hue of wisdom and compassion.

Though told by the author of the most recent post that Lisa is heavily sedated and will probably never get to read the comments left by her readers, I left one anyway . . .

I am new here. Never read this blog before. But a fellow blogger mentioned this situation today, and I wanted to drop in and leave a note. She’ll never see it, but that’s ok; it’s not for her. It’s for all of you, the ones who have taken the time to show that you care by being here for her, our fellow blogger.
This is the soul of what we do. For some, it’s about numbers. A paycheck. A zillion hits. But for others, it’s about the friends we make and the impact we have on one another. During the times when I’ve been down, and posted about it, it never fails that someone leaves a comment and lifts me up. I cherish the thoughts, the words, the wind it all puts in my sails
.
This is why we are here. And why I keep doing it.

Peace to you, the friend I never met. Your star is shining, and we’ll keep it alive . . .

You, dear Tweaker, are cherished more than I’ll ever be able to completely articulate. In so many ways, small and large, you move me. I write for me, share it with my little corner of Blogland, and you swing by on your way to wherever for a quick chat. To say hello. To encourage me. To set me straight. To interact. And for each of you – even the ones who never say anything at all – I am grateful. You probably get sick of hearing me say it. But I mean it. Every time . . .

a post from lex, at the esther project

2009-02-24T11:21:00.000-08:00

The people droned

I rode shotgun down I-90 after dark, watched the world disappear behind me out of the side window, and wondered at the clarity that 70 miles-per-hour can afford.
No one spoke, because you can only be in a car with the same people for so long before the conversation lulls and everyone gets lost in their own quiet thoughts. And because Ben was dead in the back seat from a food overdose. The old Volkswagen engine whined about going so fast for so long, and Audra Lynn’s gentle piano melody mumbled beneath it.
We drove past a cluster of town homes, lights on in half of the rooms as people busied themselves, numbed themselves, bored themselves. The piano and the engine fought for our attention.
We drove past an upper-middle class neighborhood, each house strikingly similar to those next to it, and lights on in half of the rooms as people busied themselves, numbed themselves, bored themselves. The windows in those houses are huge and I wondered if it was so the people inside could take in the stunning scenes of traffic outside, or so those of us outside could covet our neighbors inside.
We drove past children doing homework, mothers cleaning up dinner, families watching teevee, friends talking in bedrooms, students on computers. From I-90 the houses, the windows, the people look the same. The engine droned. The people droned, and then the piano broke through and she sang,
“So whatever the cost … surely I will pay it … whatever the price … surely I will pay it … and I will gladly give up My life … gladly come … and I will become like one of you … and I will go through the struggle like one of you … I will show you My love by suffering … I will show you My love, oh the deep part of Me … I will show you My love by suffering as one of you.
“And then surely you will know My heart … oh and surely you will know the depth of Me … oh and surely you will know eternity in Me … so I will go, I will go, and I will buy you back …”
I watched as the little people in the big houses sped away into the darkness while Audra sang, “See how the King desires you,” and for the briefest moment I felt God’s heart breaking for every one of them.

a post from david, at jollyblogger

2009-02-24T10:27:00.000-08:00

The Theology of the Cross and Suffering

I won't claim with this post to resolve any of the difficulties we have with the existence of suffering, but I thought I would share a few thoughts I came across about the place of suffering in the theology of the cross, as propounded by Luther.
I think most Christians realize that the existence of evil and suffering pose difficulties for the Christian worldview and this is the subject of a good deal of our apologetics. In my experience, most of us lean toward a more passive view of God in the midst of suffering. In other words, we say that God "allows" suffering or "works through" suffering or something like that which in some way absolves God from the charge of being an active agent in the suffering of His people.
Luther, in his theology of the cross, didn't take such an approach - he saw God as active in the administration of suffering to His people. The following words are pretty tough, yet they have the ring of truth, and the ring of fidelity to the Scripture, to them. These are from Luther's Theology of the Cross by Alister McGrath, pp. 150-151. McGrath loves the Latin and I've taken a shot at translating a couple of the terms here, but I think you can follow the main point even if you don't follow the Latin well.

God is particularly known through suffering. Although this is a reference to the passiones Christi (sufferings of Christ), a far deeper spiritual truth is involved: a fundamental contention of the theologia crucis (theology of the cross) is not merely that God is known through suffering (whether that of Christ or of the individual), but that God makes himself known through suffering. For Luther, God is active in this matter, rather than passive, in that suffering and temptation are seen as a means by which man is brought to God. This brings us to the dialectic between the opus proprium Dei (appropriate to God's nature) and the opus alienum Dei, which Luther introduces in his explanation of Thesis 16. The basic paradox involved is illustrated with reference to the justification of an individual. In order that a man may be justified he must first recognize that he is a sinner, and humble himself before God. Before man can be justified, he must be utterly humiliated - and it is God who both humiliates and justifies. 'Thus an action which is alien to God's nature (opus alienum Dei) results in an action which belongs to his very nature (opus proprium Dei): God makes a person a sinner in order that he may make him righteous.' The opus alienum is a means to the end of the opus proprium. The significance of suffering, whether this is understood as passiones Christi or human Anfechtung (temptation?), is that represents the opus alienum through which God works out his opus proprium. In his important study of Anfechtung, Beintker demonstrates that God himself is the source of Anfechtung: God assaults man in order to break him down and thus to justify him. Similarly, studies on Luther's understading of the role of the Devil in the Christian life have demonstrated that he regarded the Devil as God's instrument, who performs the opus alienum Dei on his behalf in order that the opus proprium may be realised. Far from regarding suffering or evil as a nonsensical intrusion into the world (which Luther regards as the opinion of a 'theologian of glory'), the 'theologian of the cross' regards such suffering as his most precious treasure, for revealed and yet hidden in precisely such sufferings is none other than the living God, working out the salvation of those whom he loves.

to visit david's blog go here

p l a c e

2009-02-24T09:19:00.000-08:00

i was just thinking how nice it is to have this place.

one special place among many that i am given .

where i can express my thoughts, to myself, to God and to other people.

a place where people send each other words of encouragement,

words of opinion, words of doubt and need,

of Love, faith, hope, and struggle. words of the life that we live.

a place for sharing God's Love and caring for others.

a place where letters and numbers are arranged in various ways by our hearts.

a place where the Holy Spirit can work through these words and these hearts.

our gift of God, our comforter, the ulitmate community maker.

our place maker, our God.

place - noun
O.E. "open space in a city, market place, square," from O.Fr. place, from M.L. placea "place, spot," from L. platea "courtyard, open space, broad street," from Gk. plateia (hodos) "broad (way)," fem. of platys "broad," from PIE *plat- "to spread" (cf. Skt. prathati "spreads out;" Hitt. palhi "broad;" Lith. platus "broad;" Ger. Fladen "flat cake;" O.Ir. lethan "broad"); extended variant form of base *pele-

(see plane (1)).
"flat surface," 1604, from L. plantum "flat surface," properly neut. of adj. planus "flat, level, plain, clear," from PIE *pla-no- (cf. Lith. plonas "thin;" Celtic *lanon "plain;" perhaps also Gk. pelanos "sacrificial cake, a mixture offered to the gods, offering (of meal, honey, and oil) poured or spread"), suffixed form of base *pele- "to spread out, broad, flat" (cf. O.C.S. polje "flat land, field," Rus. polyi "open;" O.E., O.H.G. feld, M.Du. veld "field").

in our hearts

2009-02-23T14:12:00.000-08:00

i think that just as we "each" are being changed by the Holy Spirit, i think that "all of the body" of Christ that is living on earth at, any "given time", is being changed for God's ultimate purpose.
but, the thing is. i do not think that any of us can see, with our eyes, the true make up of the church of Christ Jesus.

it seems to me that gathering together with other believers is a good thing. but, i do not think that it is called "church".

i think that the believers are the church no matter where they are. the Holy Spirit living through us is the church.

believers getting together is a gathering, a time to share the Love of God and wash each other's feet, break bread, laugh, cry, sing, pray. i think that we are to gather for our own good in God. God knows that we need this. but, it is not all there is to the church. it is much more. more than we can see.

i think the church is something different than what we have made it out to be in our own heads, instead of realizing it lives in our own hearts, and only God truly knows our hearts.

jordan

2009-02-22T16:27:00.000-08:00

questions move over scorched brown earth

toward glistening silver on blue

doubt steps into the water

answers swirl through the dark green depths

joy rises like clear bubbles to the surface

the white dove descends and alights upon Love

check out "rap", random acts of poetry,
every friday, at high callings community blog.
where you can read good poems
and maybe even try your hand at it.

p o e m

2009-02-21T19:48:00.000-08:00

my cat is always very soft,
and holds her fluffy tail aloft,
her soothing purr is loud but sweet,
and louder still when time to eat.

written by my daughter
age 12

t i m e l i n e

2009-02-21T08:03:00.000-08:00

full circle

here is an article from npr: timeline: the life of the blog

i was trying to google how long the average blogger uses a blog,
or the average life of a blog. and i came across that article. it is pretty interesting.

i am still not finding any information on how long most blogs last.
not that i really need to know this. i can probably give it a good guess.

i figure that many web logs last for a few days to a month and the idea probably fizzles.

for the long range blogger i guess that it lasts for a year to three years.

i have been at it for just under two years. my first post was in june of 2007.
the funny thing is that i have come full circle, through some heavy questions,
and found myself back at where i started. do you know where that is?
the answer is Love, the Love of God.

Love, a fruit of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in those that believe on Jesus as the Christ.

1 Corinthians 13

Love

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

how to do more things in Love

2009-02-19T16:19:00.000-08:00

there is only one way to do more things
in the way of Love.

look to Jesus.

why do all the mundane, little things in Love?
why do things at work in Love?
why treat others with Love?

because God says to.

is that too simple of a reason?

i don't think so.

our eyes

2009-02-19T12:49:00.000-08:00

Let us fix our eyes
on Jesus,

the author and perfecter
of our
faith,

who for the joy set before him
endured
the cross,
scorning its shame,

and sat down
at the right hand
of the throne of God.

from hebrews 12