Faith.
I have been searching this out in my heart lately.
"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come", Jesus said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" (Matthew 14:28-31)
I have to admit, I am more of a "wind and the waves" person than a powerful man of faith.
Peter said "Lord if it's you," seems in times of wind and waves I have a hard time seeing Jesus.
Peter did. If we are all honest we all do at some time.
Caught in the eye of the storm everything looks a little more scary.
But still Jesus says "Come", get out of that boat and get out on the water. I want your faith.
Notice that Peter asks to come out of the boat first. He knows he wants to be with Jesus, he knows that Jesus is his only hope in the storm. He wants to be where Jesus is. But when he sees the wind he sinks.
How often do we ask Jesus that we want to be closer to Him, that we want to experience more of God and the Holy Spirit in our lives and then when He calls us out of our boats of safety we cry out in fear and start to sink.
I do. I cry out to God to know Him more, to experience Him deeper, and then when He starts trimming off the dead branches of my faith, and starts to test me I cry out "why is this happening to me?"
Yup, I am sheep.
I may be intellectually smart. I have even been to Bible College, I know about God. But when it comes to faith I am dumb like a sheep. Seems it is like faith short term memory loss.
I have it. And so did the Israelites.
No sooner did they get released from captivity for some bonehead sin as a nation, then they would get back into the same mess and away they went back into captivity again. Only football has more turnarounds than Israel did.
They were sheep too. I am in good company.
Moses was a sheep. At the burning bush he argued with God that He had the wrong guy. I st-st-stutter Moses said. God said thats ok. Still going to use you.
David was a sheep. Killed a man, took his wife. Yikes. Big screw up. In the running for head sheep. But a man after God's own heart.
Noah was a sheep. Build an ark in the middle of a desert. Man he must of thought he was nuts some days. But he built it anyways and mankind was saved.
Elijah was a sheep. He had just seen God send fire from Heaven and he had just killed all of Jezebel's false prophets. And there he was hiding in a cave. But God used that man to turn a nation around.
Yup all sheep. But God used them.
They didnt have the Bible on tape, the Torah on their Palm Pilot, or even a Messiah that had shown up yet.
But they had faith.
When everything was flying around them, when they were in the midst of the wind and the waves, they knew exactly who to cry out to.
They knew who to go to fix the mess they were in.
Like Jesus, God must of shook his head and asked where their faith was. Silly Sheep.
We know who to go to, we know where God is, we know where He wants us to be. There is a Reason Jesus is called the Good Shepherd.
Why do we struggle with staying there? Why can't we stay focused on Jesus? What is it with the wind and the waves that distracts us from our faith?
Mabey that is the point. "In our weakness is His strength."
God is teaching us day by day, knocking out from underneath of us any and all things that we lean on instead of Him, leading, guiding and correcting us. Shepherding us.
Every time He knocks another crutch out from underneath us, we protest "Hey! I was using that!"
But He quietly and gently, and lovingly whispers in our ears "Yes, now lean on me"
What are my crutches? Do I lean on money? A job? My intellect? My friends? My church? My family?
Or do I lean on the one who flung the stars into place, who calls me by name, who knit me in my mother's womb, who knows every hair on my head and who holds me in the palm of His hand?
The same God who holds the keys to death and hades, who is forever without end, who never fails and who loved me enough to die for me is the same still small voice who called Peter that night to come onto the waves and who calls me to believe and not doubt, who when I do immediately reaches out with His nail scarred hands to catch me.
This is the same God who calls Himself Yahweh-Jireh(Our Provider), Jehovah Raffi(Our Healer), Yahweh-Rohi (Our Shepherd), Yahweh-Shalom(Our Peace), Yahweh-Shammah(God is There) and El-Roi "God who Sees me" or "God of Vision" (Gen. 16:13). The God sees needs of His people and responds.
Now that is a God I can have faith in.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
I am not much of a writer
I am not much of a writer.
In fact, I don't write much at all. I find it difficult to express myself in the physical written word.
I am still in fact, trying to figure out how to approach this whole blogging thing.
Do I use humourous euphemisms to present my life to the world? Should I be straight laced and serious only pausing to punctuate my verbage with antecedent colloquialisms? Am I to be real and transparent or peer under the cover of anonimity and toss out verbal grenades?
I really do want to be real in my heart of hearts, but fear of knowing oneself, or even more terrifying letting others know me permeates my writing.
Share my testimony? Yes. I can do that. Share my feelings? I am not as certain. That leaves me to be vulnerable. Vulnerability now that is a subject isn't it?
Vulnerability. Lowering our shields just enough to let others in. Giving others access to ourselves, our heart of hearts, letting ourselves exchange love and compassion in order to recieve love and compassion and any with that the ability to be hurt by those we open ourselves to.
Choices. Well we can become a hardened bunker and not let anything in. Sitting in our bunkers we can peer out at the world but not interact with it. A lonely pointless existance to say the least.
No passion, no love, no interaction with life. No interaction with God probably. No interaction with people most likely.
"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing." --From Macbeth (V, v, 19)
Choices. We can let ourselves be vulnerable and let others (and God) in. Trusting. owch. But isn't that how Love works? We trust others not to hurt us when we give them our most valuable possessions. Our heart. Our trust. Our faith.
Can we trust God. Well sure. Can we trust another person. Ah there's the rub.
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Matthew 22 37-39
Be Real. That is the challenge. Anyone can be plastic. Anyone can be pretentious and superficial. Most people are experts at this craft. "How are you doing today?" "Fine" Keep on walking. We seem amazed and even sometimes a little "put out" when someone ACTUALLY tells us how they are really doing. "Hey you can't do that" you are responding outside of my superficiality. I am just ASKING how you are doing. I don't REALLY want an answer you know.
I am guilty of this. I am also guilty of not telling people how I am really doing. I have a friend who asks me how I am doing every time we get together. He keeps hoping I will honestly say "Excellent" "Awesome" "If I were doing any better I would be twins" (ok mabey not the last one) but ANYTHING but "fine" "good" "hanging in there" though more realistic and honest answers than saying I am doing good when I am not really, they keep the shields up don't they?
How does this relate to blogging? Being real. Larry Norman says that his most heartfelt desire is that his "performances" playing music from his heart would be real. Not performed, but shared. Performance at its heart is plastic-y if there is indeed a word like that. The desire to be real. That is my heartcry. I am tired of "fake" people. I am tired of being "fake" I want realness. In realness is truth.
Mabey that is what this whole blogging thing is right? People in search of realness and truth reading about people sharing realness and truth. Seems there is such a shortage of this in the world that mabey blogging is an avenue for that. To see that our lives are mabey not as bad or better than others. To get inspiration and motivation from other people's experience.
My journey continues...
In fact, I don't write much at all. I find it difficult to express myself in the physical written word.
I am still in fact, trying to figure out how to approach this whole blogging thing.
Do I use humourous euphemisms to present my life to the world? Should I be straight laced and serious only pausing to punctuate my verbage with antecedent colloquialisms? Am I to be real and transparent or peer under the cover of anonimity and toss out verbal grenades?
I really do want to be real in my heart of hearts, but fear of knowing oneself, or even more terrifying letting others know me permeates my writing.
Share my testimony? Yes. I can do that. Share my feelings? I am not as certain. That leaves me to be vulnerable. Vulnerability now that is a subject isn't it?
Vulnerability. Lowering our shields just enough to let others in. Giving others access to ourselves, our heart of hearts, letting ourselves exchange love and compassion in order to recieve love and compassion and any with that the ability to be hurt by those we open ourselves to.
Choices. Well we can become a hardened bunker and not let anything in. Sitting in our bunkers we can peer out at the world but not interact with it. A lonely pointless existance to say the least.
No passion, no love, no interaction with life. No interaction with God probably. No interaction with people most likely.
"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing." --From Macbeth (V, v, 19)
Choices. We can let ourselves be vulnerable and let others (and God) in. Trusting. owch. But isn't that how Love works? We trust others not to hurt us when we give them our most valuable possessions. Our heart. Our trust. Our faith.
Can we trust God. Well sure. Can we trust another person. Ah there's the rub.
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Matthew 22 37-39
Be Real. That is the challenge. Anyone can be plastic. Anyone can be pretentious and superficial. Most people are experts at this craft. "How are you doing today?" "Fine" Keep on walking. We seem amazed and even sometimes a little "put out" when someone ACTUALLY tells us how they are really doing. "Hey you can't do that" you are responding outside of my superficiality. I am just ASKING how you are doing. I don't REALLY want an answer you know.
I am guilty of this. I am also guilty of not telling people how I am really doing. I have a friend who asks me how I am doing every time we get together. He keeps hoping I will honestly say "Excellent" "Awesome" "If I were doing any better I would be twins" (ok mabey not the last one) but ANYTHING but "fine" "good" "hanging in there" though more realistic and honest answers than saying I am doing good when I am not really, they keep the shields up don't they?
How does this relate to blogging? Being real. Larry Norman says that his most heartfelt desire is that his "performances" playing music from his heart would be real. Not performed, but shared. Performance at its heart is plastic-y if there is indeed a word like that. The desire to be real. That is my heartcry. I am tired of "fake" people. I am tired of being "fake" I want realness. In realness is truth.
Mabey that is what this whole blogging thing is right? People in search of realness and truth reading about people sharing realness and truth. Seems there is such a shortage of this in the world that mabey blogging is an avenue for that. To see that our lives are mabey not as bad or better than others. To get inspiration and motivation from other people's experience.
My journey continues...
Perceptual Reality - Roy Williams
Earth's population reached 1 billion persons in 1804, 2 billion in 1927, 3 billion in ‘59, 4 billion in ‘74 and 5 billion in late ‘86. And on October 12th, 1999, Earth's population surpassed 6 billion.The number of passengers on Spaceship Earth has doubled (from 3 billion – 1959, to 6 billion – 1999,) in 40 short years.
At the beginning of a philosophy class a professor stated "Each of you will sit in this room for 3 days and hear the same information presented in precisely the same way. But you'll leave here having had an entirely different experience from the persons on your left and your right. You will connect different dots, have different epiphanies, make different associations. Objective reality will be the same for each of you. But your perceptual realities will be yours alone."
There are 525,948.766 minutes in a year. This means that each minute, the 6 billion of us experience a collective 11,408 years of perceptual reality. And each day we live a collective 16,427,455 years. *Check math below...
Given that we lived nearly sixteen and a half million years yesterday, it seems like one of us would've figured out how to end poverty, crime and war, doesn't it? (Personally, I was really busy, so I was counting on you.)
Perceptual reality is yours alone.
Every door of opportunity begins as a window in your mind.
Look through that window of imagination and glimpse a world that could be, someday. Keep looking… Be patient… And watch it grow into a door of Opportunity through which you might pass into an entirely different future.
Opportunity never knocks. But it hangs thick in the air all around you. You breathe it unthinking, and dissipate it with your sighs.
Opportunity never knocks. It appears, flickering, like faulty neon at a nondescript fork in the road.Opportunity never knocks. It whispers, a tickle in your distracted mind.
So what are you going to do? Will you sleep, unaware of the miracles that need your assistance, or will you open your eyes, look through that window, and begin doing what only you can do?
Roy H. Williams
*6,000,000,000 (persons in the world) divided by 525,948.766 (minutes in a year) = 11,407.9553 years of perceptual reality experienced each minute, x 1,440 (minutes in a day) = 16,427,455.6 (years of perceptual reality in a day.)
At the beginning of a philosophy class a professor stated "Each of you will sit in this room for 3 days and hear the same information presented in precisely the same way. But you'll leave here having had an entirely different experience from the persons on your left and your right. You will connect different dots, have different epiphanies, make different associations. Objective reality will be the same for each of you. But your perceptual realities will be yours alone."
There are 525,948.766 minutes in a year. This means that each minute, the 6 billion of us experience a collective 11,408 years of perceptual reality. And each day we live a collective 16,427,455 years. *Check math below...
Given that we lived nearly sixteen and a half million years yesterday, it seems like one of us would've figured out how to end poverty, crime and war, doesn't it? (Personally, I was really busy, so I was counting on you.)
Perceptual reality is yours alone.
Every door of opportunity begins as a window in your mind.
Look through that window of imagination and glimpse a world that could be, someday. Keep looking… Be patient… And watch it grow into a door of Opportunity through which you might pass into an entirely different future.
Opportunity never knocks. But it hangs thick in the air all around you. You breathe it unthinking, and dissipate it with your sighs.
Opportunity never knocks. It appears, flickering, like faulty neon at a nondescript fork in the road.Opportunity never knocks. It whispers, a tickle in your distracted mind.
So what are you going to do? Will you sleep, unaware of the miracles that need your assistance, or will you open your eyes, look through that window, and begin doing what only you can do?
Roy H. Williams
*6,000,000,000 (persons in the world) divided by 525,948.766 (minutes in a year) = 11,407.9553 years of perceptual reality experienced each minute, x 1,440 (minutes in a day) = 16,427,455.6 (years of perceptual reality in a day.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)