breathe November 15, 2009

These hours are difficult to live in. A global society that is addicted to control and allergic to hope.

Where can I look for measure and consistency in a twisted world? There are no straight lines in a distorted map, only zig zag. There are the God stories, so solid that they retain a consistency that feeds order, and yet so fluid that they can dance by my side as age races me through life. God stories that retain their meaning but change their context.

These stories are the plumb-line. They remain straight, a standard measure. When hope allergies reach epidemic heights, when an outbreak of faith fear spreads, then the measure of God Stories will correct the in balance.

Stop. Read. Listen. Breathe. Adjust. Coronation. Run. Stop. Read. Listen. Breathe. Adjust. Coronation.

starfish November 14, 2009

Run away. Sprint from this place, to a better place. A 100 meter dash from the rubble to the Ritz. A race from distortion to gem stone. A scenario unusual in so many ways. A race that allows me to run back to the start. A race that has routes that will never take me to a finish line.

I am running away from my childish coping mechanisms, I am running away from my kiddish petulance. I am running into a maturity, one that is centred around my faith, like a jedi, like a monk, like an athlete, like a dancer. I run into a hopeless situation that is full of faith, I run into an army of peace, I run into an ocean of hatred that somehow has love flowing in its current.

run.

Thursday November 12, 2009

My relationship with those outside of my family home? Good friends and not so close friends? acquaintances and comrades? Buddies and true friends? In some ways this too like so much of the space in between humanity has been distorted. So many true aspects have been shoved in a wardrobe, forgotten in a drawer, left dormant in the attic. My relationship outside of the family home? Brothers and Sisters, Father and Mothers; family.

If a sense of family existed in the world, would I be so eager to trick my own brother? Con them into a sale? Flirt with my own sister? Lie, cheat, abuse or disempower? Seeing the world as family will not cure the distortion, no, only He can make all things new. With Him and in Him seeing the world as family can stop the decay and begin to turn back a tide.

True change can only work if it is instigated in the core of my being. My core belongs to Him. There is no grey or middle ground. I make no apologies for where I stand. In Him who was a word, then became flesh and slipped into humanity through an open stable door one night.

Make me whole. A prayer for a Thursday.

five-a-day November 11, 2009

In word. In love. By demeanour. In faith. With Integrity.

A position, taken up when I was born maybe before. A position that needs to guarded, not in a defensive manner but in an expression of humanity. I could leave. I could relinquish my position to a decaying landscape. I could retire to a warmer, dryer, sunnier, more comfortable position. But this is my position. This is where I belong. A discipline to remain true to who I am and how I have been designed.

In this position to express Hope in words, in love, by demeanour, in faith with integrity. To live in words would only cause my hope to collapse, to live by love only would create a one dimensional object. To only live by demeanour would would cripple my soul. To have faith and no love would be like a heart of stone, to have integrity and nothing else would reduce me to a good man and not a God one.

I need the five a day in my life, everyday. To speak and in speaking those words matching up to my actions, which in turn match up to the way I hold myself or behave. What I put my trust in needs to connect with how I live my life and that will facilitate living a life of transparency, clarity and boundaries.

This is my journey, I take deeper into Him, the more I lose myself the more I learn about myself through Him. The journey is not linear or regular. Some days I am on a rocket and others I walk. Some days I feel I haven’t journeyed more than a few centimeters and other days I feel I have travelled a light year.

Looking in the mirror, I tell myself to stay focused and disciplined on the five a day, on my journey, from distortion to gem stone.

who November 10, 2009

Man and woman created as an image of Him. Not separate but in unity they become a whole representation of Him. The aspects and virtues that come into focus a reflection of the aspects of a trinity that breathes and moves in 2009 as much as it does in 9Ad.

Equal, made to reflect the entire image of God. A connection. Like the connection we are brought into this world. Connected to our mothers until we are freed to seek another connection. Free to seek connections of the heart and of the soul.

Man and Woman, two parts of one. Designed to be one. Authority and leadership exist with men and women at the helm.

My wife will never be part of a small minded creche and neither will I.

periscope November 7, 2009

My destination is love, uncontaminated by self-interest or counterfeit faith.

Honestly I sit at the mirror, what part of my love is contaminated by self interest?

What part of my love is contaminated by counterfeit faith?

I pray for an uncontaminated love in my life.

every November 5, 2009

Unseen realities. A presence undetected. A truth hidden. A background love, like the backdrop of life we find ourselves in. As constant and as fluid as the seasons themselves. The mighty and the mundane, they sit together on the same sofa. The high powered and the incidental share the same pot of tea. The super courageous and the submissive constant eat from the same plate.

What is this that stretches beyond the scope of my pinhole camera vision? This? Why this is life said the voice, laughing like an angel.

I was taught at an early age that life moves fast and I need to move with it. My life always packed in boxes, always ready to go. This year, I unpacked everything. There are no boxes. Spiritual is everything. Everything is illuminated. Everything is everything.

 

thank November 4, 2009

Thank You. Thank You. I am here on earth, November 4th 2009 and am so grateful to Him for my life. Thank you for my wife; her formidable intellect and fairy tale beauty, her diamond faith and extraordinary love. Thank you for my eldest son; his capacity for goodness and honesty, his heaven kissed morality and his releasing consistency. Thank you for my youngest son; his passion and strength, his freedom of movement and his pollenhonesty. Thank you for my daughter; for her security and laughter, her prophetic voice and joy giving presence. Thank you for my life. I am so blessed to be alive today.

battlestations October 29, 2009

Wear love. The all-purpose garment. This love, handles all manner of stains, even the “hard to get rid of” ones. Wear love. This love is beyond space age, keeps you warm, protects you, it’s indestructible.  Wear love. This love is waterproof and bulletproof.

Wear love. This garment will save your life when you least expect it. Wear love.

sea saw October 28, 2009

Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that You walked up steps, displaced sand as You travelled from village to city. That those who saw You saw the God who cannot be seen. That You spoke when You were tired. How do You see the world? How do I look to You? Am I a collection of atoms that are knit together with Your tape? Do You see a spirit or energy? I try to look hard  in the mirror and often see a trying face.

Do You see things broken and then repair them or do You see things repaired and make it so on earth? The connections that don’t reach anymore, like the plug cable on my bass amp. Do You stretch plugs or move sockets or connect wirelessly? Do You see me cry or do You see me have an opportunity to hope, trust, love?

I muse, but actually it doesn’t really matter to me. I serve and am loved by He who makes all things new. Thats more than enough for me. Much more than enough.