This is my first attempt at something akin to poetry... at least it is not prose...
Life
I am a sojourner –
Watching, pondering, wandering
Not knowing where the journey began,
Not caring where it ends
I create a map –
Passions, talents, dreams
God has implanted these,
It is His fingerprints all over my life
I am being transformed –
Shaped, formed, molded
Transformed by forces,
Both from within and without
I am called –
To love, to obey, to respond
Action is expected,
Courage and strength are required
I am and I am becoming –
Transformed heart, transformed mind, transformed soul
I am, but I have not yet become,
The creation that God has intended me to be and become
30 March 2009
28 March 2009
God, are you speaking?
I have been restless of late. I am pondering the journey I am on and where it is leading. I get this way every now and then. Erwin McManus in his book The Barbarian Way tells us to dream the dreams that God is laying out for us. Sometimes this can be scary, sometimes it can seem unrealistic, sometimes it may be that your desire and God's dream converge but you just don't know what to do or how to achieve it. Or maybe you ask the question, Is this my dream alone and am I imposing it upon God?
As my sojourn continues I wonder what's next. I was at Elizabeth Hunnitcutt's CD release party last night and not only did Elizabeth talk about what it is like being on a journey, but so did one of her warm-up singers. He spoke about french fries, salt, his daughter and his wife. The essence of the story boiled down to the notion that we should do things because Jesus did it. We don't always have to know why or what the result will be, but if Jesus did it so should we. Elizabeth sang a new song called Finally Feel Like Living. This is one of those songs for me that instantly makes me stop and ponder for a while. My deeper reaction to this song will be another post in the not to distant future after I have pondered it for awhile.
How do we respond when God has given us a dream to fulfill? What if it seems to big, to impossible, or simply to weird? How should we respond? How will I respond? How will you respond? Another question to ask (and another posting to write) is are you even listening?
As my sojourn continues I wonder what's next. I was at Elizabeth Hunnitcutt's CD release party last night and not only did Elizabeth talk about what it is like being on a journey, but so did one of her warm-up singers. He spoke about french fries, salt, his daughter and his wife. The essence of the story boiled down to the notion that we should do things because Jesus did it. We don't always have to know why or what the result will be, but if Jesus did it so should we. Elizabeth sang a new song called Finally Feel Like Living. This is one of those songs for me that instantly makes me stop and ponder for a while. My deeper reaction to this song will be another post in the not to distant future after I have pondered it for awhile.
How do we respond when God has given us a dream to fulfill? What if it seems to big, to impossible, or simply to weird? How should we respond? How will I respond? How will you respond? Another question to ask (and another posting to write) is are you even listening?
20 March 2009
Help Wanted - Haggai Type Needed
It has been awhile since I have really interacted with this blog. I look at it as a reflection on my life. I have been tired - physically, mentally, and spiritually. I have lost my focus.
If you were to read the book of Haggai, you would find that the Israelites were going about their business taking care of their own needs and ignoring God. A little context for this story. Israel had returned to Jerusalem and had begun to rebuild the temple and the walls around the city (see Ezra 1-4). While they were doing this the people living in the area where causing them some problems. At the end of chapter 4 we read that the "work on the house of the Lord had come to a standstill." Now they had received word from the king to stop work, and I think they had become weary of the problems of the world around them and may have even been relieved to stop work. This is the picture we get in Haggai. The people weren't moping around, they were living their lives in paneled houses, planting, harvesting, going on with life. They justified their lack of work on the temple by saying that "the time has not yet come to build the house of the Lord" (Haggai 1).However, this life seems to have been one of futility.
For me there has been opposition, business of life, lost focus on the building of my walk with the Lord. This temple of God has been left uncompleted. I am looking for a Haggai to come along and stir up my heart (I don't know if this is a figurative or literal Haggai). I need to regain clarity and focus in my walk. I think that acknowledgment of this is the first step in the restoration process. I been here before, we have all been here before. It is part of our maturing process.
Here is an interesting side note to this story. As you may or may not know, on Wednesdays I meet with a group of men in Lino Lakes prison as we work through some Heart of a Warrior material. I always begin the night with a random question to get the men engaged and then I share a little bit of what I have been thinking, reading, or blogging. Last Wednesday I was going to share my Haggai thoughts, but didn't have a question. One of the offenders offered up the question, "Where is your faith today?" It fit with where I was going with my thoughts, so I opened it up to the men. The first interactions were the "fluff" answers. You know, those that you don't really put a lot of thought into. I then shared about my lost focus and spiritual drifting which then in turn led a couple of the other (one was the one that ask the question) to express their own lost focus. I was interesting that they all thought that they were alone in this "lost state." We were then able to have some great follow-up conversations.
My question to you is, "How is your focus?" Are you in need of a Haggai or can you play the role of Haggai in someone's life? Read Haggai and Ezra for the job description and see if you qualify.
If you were to read the book of Haggai, you would find that the Israelites were going about their business taking care of their own needs and ignoring God. A little context for this story. Israel had returned to Jerusalem and had begun to rebuild the temple and the walls around the city (see Ezra 1-4). While they were doing this the people living in the area where causing them some problems. At the end of chapter 4 we read that the "work on the house of the Lord had come to a standstill." Now they had received word from the king to stop work, and I think they had become weary of the problems of the world around them and may have even been relieved to stop work. This is the picture we get in Haggai. The people weren't moping around, they were living their lives in paneled houses, planting, harvesting, going on with life. They justified their lack of work on the temple by saying that "the time has not yet come to build the house of the Lord" (Haggai 1).However, this life seems to have been one of futility.
For me there has been opposition, business of life, lost focus on the building of my walk with the Lord. This temple of God has been left uncompleted. I am looking for a Haggai to come along and stir up my heart (I don't know if this is a figurative or literal Haggai). I need to regain clarity and focus in my walk. I think that acknowledgment of this is the first step in the restoration process. I been here before, we have all been here before. It is part of our maturing process.
Here is an interesting side note to this story. As you may or may not know, on Wednesdays I meet with a group of men in Lino Lakes prison as we work through some Heart of a Warrior material. I always begin the night with a random question to get the men engaged and then I share a little bit of what I have been thinking, reading, or blogging. Last Wednesday I was going to share my Haggai thoughts, but didn't have a question. One of the offenders offered up the question, "Where is your faith today?" It fit with where I was going with my thoughts, so I opened it up to the men. The first interactions were the "fluff" answers. You know, those that you don't really put a lot of thought into. I then shared about my lost focus and spiritual drifting which then in turn led a couple of the other (one was the one that ask the question) to express their own lost focus. I was interesting that they all thought that they were alone in this "lost state." We were then able to have some great follow-up conversations.
My question to you is, "How is your focus?" Are you in need of a Haggai or can you play the role of Haggai in someone's life? Read Haggai and Ezra for the job description and see if you qualify.
12 March 2009
The joy of different
My family and I have spent the last four days in the Florida Keys. It's nice to get away from the ruts we sometimes find ourselves in. That is where I am in my spiritual sojourn right now. I have had no ponderings to post because I have been ponderless. I have been lost in the academics of my faith, not in the relationality of it. If one is going to err in this balancing act between knowing God and knowing God (about, relational) I want to err on the relational side. We need both, but for me at this time relationship trumps knowing.
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