15 Plus ? = 35? The New Math

Today according to the calender it was my fifteenth year at Canada Post, we won't talk about the first twenty years, those were just for fun.

Long story short I started at Canada Post in August 1973, and that in and of itself was nothing short of a miracle, grace I think thy call it.
After fifteen months of not missing a single day of work, (which is another one of those miracles) I got the brain wave of leaving the PO, what was that all about?Funny thing about that, today in our local PO I was talking with a management person that use to be the superintendent from my old post office and city I use to live in, wow, talk about coincidence or what.

There just seems to be way too much mail under the bridge to go into a lot of detail, suffice it to say this, I left the PO I think, three times all together in search of the 'Holy Grail' aka, going into the "MINISTRY"!
One of my colleagues remarked today, 'Richard, maybe they were confused with the fifteen year pin they gave you and maybe it should have been a thirty five year one instead'?

It sure was and is a mixed bag of mail I'll tell ya, all in the name of wanting God more than anything else in my life, and now here I am after all those years of the 'tail shaking the dog', trying to find Him in what I was so sure of, pursuing the ministry.
Heck, I eventually succeeded and became a pastor in two different flavored groups, only to discover according to the folks hiring me, that God had made a mistake, and I was no longer needed.

So with all of this being stirred up (a fresh) in the whirl of emotions today and that grand gala of my 15th year and having my hand shook by our new superintendent and having my picture taken, how could I not BE a happy camper???

I guess becoming a 'pastor' is so much easier than daily experiencing His loving pulverizing in my life, wanting to make me broken bread and poured out wine for others?

For those needing a laugh after this uplifting post: what do you call two letters stuck together, give up? Mail bonding...please laugh, I can't stand the rejection :)

Rich

and then Life happened

If our flesh is capable of producing what we stand in need of, then what the hell was His death really all about?
As I have said before, 'Nothing is as it appears to BE'!

I was supposed to have a Dell on-site tech show up today to fix my notebook that went down over the weekend, and to add to the disappointment of him not showing up after I went ahead and paid the additional fees to have this service, and making a point to be here for him when he called, nothing, a NO show!!
Oh well, life happens.

Tonight my wife and I got a wonderful meal put together for our son and his two room mates and a son of one of his room mates. Everything was in place, a delicious meal, the house looking as beautiful as possible and time kept slipping by, but No son showing up!
Again, life happens.

What I am discovering with 'life happening' lately, is a wonderful surprise of seeing His life coming forth. Am I disappointed, sure, both with the tech not showing up as well as my son and his roomies not showing up as well, but, my wife and I had a nice meal together, and we had the opportunity of sharing the sweetness of His life in a somewhat bitter unfolding.

He is so good!

Rich

Who Are You?

The thought occurred to me today after viewing (seeing where you hale from) those who somehow, one way or another seem to land on my blog, either intentionally or by accident in doing a word search, "who are you"?

It would be great to hear any feedback, also I would love to hear from anyone that would like to share a bit about themselves and what is happening in their journey.

The story of His love, unfolding in a persons life is nothing short of pure joy. Experiencing this inner work of His grace freeing us to BE the person/s he purposed has everything to do with His promise of Life, and experiencing it abundantly!

Rich

It's The Good That Hates The Best

In continuing with yesterdays thoughts, once again I am seeing so much truth being most relevant with what Oz shared in todays thoughts.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/my_utmost/utm.cgi
The Offense Of The Natural

I am convinced that one size does not fit all, meaning, living within the Matrix there is a very specific expression of it just for you. What wouldn't be a temptation or pull upon your soul towards something tantalizing, or enticing, there will be so within the Matrix and its custom design for you.

The Father is not looking for cheap imitations of His son, but in fact the very opposite. Oz says it so well here: http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/my_utmost/utm.cgi?0723

Rich

Nothing Is As It Appears

The entrance into the Kingdom (or the Kingdoms entrance into you) is through the panging pains of repentance crashing into a man's respectable goodness; then the Holy Ghost, Who produces these agonies, begins the formation of the Son of God in the life.

The above quote is from Oz Chambers.

When I woke up this morning with the clear and distinctive sound of my Father's voice saying to me, 'Why do you call me good?' I believe this was Him wanting to further illuminate what I had been pondering on from Oz's quote, and how it was used to speak so deeply to me.

You can read the full account of this (in the bible) dialog between Jesus and the young rich ruler who came to Jesus and asked the quintessential question, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life"? Then Jesus says, "Why do you call me good?" Following this, it gets real dicey.
I do not see God the Father coming to lost humanity and saying to those like this young rich ruler, you've managed your life very well, and have such admirable and sought after qualities, I'm going to now simply add (grant you your one wish) Me to all of that which has been working so well for you in your life~ha!

I think what Oz says in his quote is most fitting in this unfolding drama, not just with this so called self-made, self-righteous young man but of all humanity. It is my understanding that this fallen world system, aka, the Matrix is something that far surpasses any form or flavor of religion, but in fact has become a diabolical woven scheme that has all of us firmly believing, we're doing our own thing, living our life.
It is the only reality any of us have ever known, and that reality has so tainted, so warped our perception, that apart from the normalcy of who God the Father is, and experiencing His love, no one will convince us that what we are seeing, experiencing is anything but real.

Maybe David (from the Old testament) was seeing and coming into a dimension of reality that seems to fly way beyond any radar detection? From one of the illuminating times in his journey he said, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom."

I love this saying, "Nothing is as it appears to be".

Was it as Oz said, the Holy Spirit being responsible for these crashing panging pains of agony that were hidden as it were from this noble pursuer of exemplary living that was soon to go off in his life as if stepping on a land mine?

I do not know how any of us can begin to understand this God of love when its through such devastation that He brings into our lives. Yes devastation, why, because we have only known a false reality, a lie that has defined who we think we are. As we are becoming established in the Truth of Who He is in us, and knowing who we are in Him, there is no way of escaping these very real agonies.

Again as Oz says, this most needed and necessary crashing intrusion into our lives is the preliminary steps our Father takes in "forming the life of His son in us".Those whom He foreknew, he predestined them to BE conformed into His likeness and image.

I trust this will be something from His heart that will provoke you to think outside of the bun.

Rich

The Trained Professional

With breath taking and unbelievable ease the person (right before our eyes) seemingly cuts through the most difficult of problems like a hot knife through soft butter.
You know, those images we've all seen and heard from the mystical guru, 'the trained professional', with explicit warnings, 'do not try this at home folks, we are trained professionals. All in the name of trying to sell you something, you think you need.

The following quote is from an interview (shermanlive.com) with Paul Young the author of the book, The Shack. "Control is a need for certainty and faith doesn't grow in certainty".
I would say yes, BUT! In fact it IS the certainty of His love, the most rapturous power available to man, working in the hidden, secret recesses of a persons inner most being, and there establishing upon the unmovable bed rock of His unconditional love, the miraculous!
It says the Jesus was the first born of many sons yet to come forth, and it is in the womb of the Fathers heart, a heart that knows only pure love, that we are being established in the Truth, Life and the Way!

A comment left for me by my dear and precious brother Dave from Rhode Island, 'the reason why I like these things he shares here is because I see them happening in me'. Dave was commenting on something another brother had shared that we were reflecting upon.

It is a joy being able to hear how the love of God the Father is making His heart known to everyday nobodies, but when that unfolds in our lives, it gets real personal, or as I like to say, the gospel of good news begins to own us.
I shared with Dave this morning this thought (one of many we exchanged) "The beauty of the Father's love frees us to compliment one-another, and then Dave's response to me, when we no longer have anything left to gain, lose, or prove... then it's all Him, baby."

I see this reality dawning in so many hearts, a new found depth of security in the growing knowledge of His love, whereby we freely give out of what we have freely received in Him. I guess what I am trying to say is, that the term Jim Palmer has coined to illustrate and highlight a most significant point, is using the words "Divine Nobodies" to clearly show, that there is NO need for giving into the illusion of needing a 'trained professional' in order to become intimately acquainted with this God of love, or as Jim said, he had a Master of Divinity and yet didn't really know the Divine one!

This additional quote from Jim Palmer succinctly stains things real good: "in any event, this "nobody" thing is kinda throwing people off. as it turns out, the world is filled with people who desire to be known as a spiritual guru in one form or another, and it only follows that gurus generally act in a certain way, and try not to give away their big secret, which is, there’s no big secret. there is only the plain and simple truth, which is quite capable all it’s own to get any person’s attention if they are truly interested."

I may just be dumb enough to believe the following. Whether it would be a Jim Palmer or Paul Young, or fill in the blanks with that certain someone that impresses you, I honestly believe there would be a mutual delight in hearing each others story's.
For example, here is something shared on a blog, a brother commenting on having watched a video interview with Paul Young the author of the book The Shack said, "Make's me wish I could sit in a coffee shop with him for a couple of hours."
Indeed it would be wonderful, but in my opinion the wonder would revolve not around some one, but around some-One, the same Christ in us both, and his glory uniquely being expressed through one another.
Think about it, untrained professionals being and doing the impossible, because they know they are LOVED!

Rich

The Old Man Reconditioned Or Improved

We’ve also been contacted by major movie studios about purchasing the movie rights. We’re not selling those, by the way. The dream from the beginning was to make this into a general-release feature film that would offer our culture a view of God that religion has totally obscured. It looks like now we’ll get that chance.

The above quote is from Wayne Jacobsen over at the LifeStream Blog, regarding the current news about the book, The Shack, by Paul Young.
http://lifestream.org/blog

It reminded me of something I heard Paul Walsh share. He had been teaching for a long period of time on who we are in Christ, but there was a point where having done this he sensed something was missing. He went on to say how he felt the Lord was saying, 'They seem to know who they are in Me, but maybe they don't know who I Am in them.
If I heard him correctly it was during this time Paul sensed the Lord saying to him, 'I want to change how the world wrongly perceives who I am, by addressing how Christians wrongly perceive Me'.

The following comments were most helpful in seeing that this 'mystery gospel' and its affects upon our lives is so much more than a superficial botox face lift.

We might consider some familiar names of believers whom God obviously brought to maturity and used for His glory—such as Pierson, Chapman, Tauler, Moody, Goforth, Mueller, Taylor, Watt, Trumbull, Meyer, Murray, Havergal, Guyon, Mabie, Gordon, Hyde, Mantle, McCheyne, McConkey, Deck, Paxson, Stoney, Saphir, Carmichael and Hopkins. The average for these was 15 years after they entered their life work before they began to know the Lord Jesus as their Life and ceased trying to work for Him and began allowing Him to be their All in all and do His work through them. This is not to discourage us in any way but to help us to settle down with our sights on eternity, by faith "apprehend[ing] that for which also … [we are] apprehended of Christ Jesus… Press[ing] toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:12, 14).

The following comments are by Paul Walsh, from his book 'The Bonsai Conspiracy':

I had imagined that this was a book for disappointed Christians. But, as the work unfolded, I began to see that whilst my prescription is Christian , the reality is that the problems addressed here (e.g. performance-addictions, the need for meaning and acceptance, living with guilt, the fear of failure, anxiety and the deep-seated belief that our best might not be good enough) are not peculiar to Christians. Far from it. They are universal issues which confront us all. Whilst it is true that the primary audience of The Bonsai Conspiracy is the disillusioned Christian, it turns out that this is not an exclusively in-house book. A failure to understand who we are dwarfs us all.

The challenge is to enable people to be who they really are. And herein lies the great mitigant It is hard to be who we are because it does not seem to be what anybody wants.

Real freedom is not accessible to the strong or even the weak for to claim that one is weak is to admit that one has a modicum of strength. It is for the dead ! For many, this death to self-effort comes in the form of burnout which we define as a person being in a state of fatigue or disillusionment brought about by a dedication to a way of life which failed to bring the expected reward. There will be those who wonder whether the burnout phase is inevitable. I would dearly like to believe that it is not inevitable but I am yet to have any evidence to encourage such a view. Ultimately, everybody must have their own personal moment(s) of Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? [Rom. 7:24]. Everybody must first exhaust their own resources before such moment(s) can be experienced.

Now, having undergone our period(s) of disillusionment (i.e. Dark Night(s) of the Soul), we emerge on the other side only to discover that we do not like the look of freedom. This is understandably so because freedom is a scary thing. How does one function in a paradigm where there are no alibis, rules, codes of conduct, ethics, structures or law? How does one function in a world where morality has been surpassed and outclassed by the absurdity of grace? It is up to you to interpret freedom for yourself. Nobody is going to tell you what to do. All this new paradigm will do is to reinforce who you are. So, you can neither control nor be controlled. Freedom is truly frightening as it is an alien and implausible structure to a bound guilt-stained soul.

We suggest that in most circles, what passes for Christianity is not Christianity at all. We shall prove beyond reasonable doubt that the essence of Christianity is self-replacement where the Old Man (Adam) is removed and is replaced by the New Man, Jesus (Last Adam). This is distinct from what we call Churchianity , the kernel of which is self-improvement.

In this paradigm, the old man is saved and the new man is simply the old man reconditioned or improved. We suggest that most believers are actually doubters because consciously, subconsciously and/or experientially, they acknowledge a difference between the Christian Life and the Life of Christ. We posit that there is no such distinction.

Burnout~This chapter of the same name explores and explains why burnout is an agony to be embraced. Burnout clears the path of all self-sufficiency and places the beleaguered believer on the threshold of realizing the true nature of the Christian Life. Therefore, in what may appear to be an apparent paradox, we argue that the key to success in the Christian Life is our abject and total failure to live it.

Frightened By Freedom , we examine the thorny problem of freedom. We are, for the most part, institutionalized and conditioned. Consequently, we are intuitively very much afraid of freedom, especially in circumstances where freedom comes at the high cost of change. As Daryl Conner, author of The Speed of Change , puts it

Humans are the most control-oriented animals on the planet . When we are unable to meet our needs, we become disorientated. When we meet these needs, we gain a feeling of stability and psychological comfort so powerful that attaining this state is one of the most potent motivators of human behaviour.

Anyone who has read the story of the Exodus of the Israelites from the captivity of Egypt to the Promise Land of freedom will take little convincing as to the congenital nature of this problem.
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Long story short, I'm not sure how all of the above ties in with the following quote: "It sounds like you’re moving from the disillusionment of religion, into the reality of real relationship with him. I’d like to tell you that’s all glorious, and it will be in the end, but the process can be a bit disorienting and painful. That’s why many talk of it as ‘de-toxing’, because there is a bit of withdrawal involved from our dependence on religion. And, there’s the reaction of others that won’t understand what he’s doing in you and will make harsh judgments about you."

Rich

Baskin Robbin's Flavor Of The Month

In the land of the blind, a one eyed man is a king.

Warning, this mystery gospel will be the end of you!

And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known, I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground.These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.

Last night as I was reading from Wayne Jacobsen's blog, LifeStream~Notes From The Journey, something caught my eye. http://lifestream.org/blog/ "Getting Beyond The First Hurdle"!
In the opening of Wayne's thoughts to a person asking for help regarding a major hurdle he is facing, are as follows: "Thanks for writing. I certainly hear your heart and am grateful for the journey you’re on, even if it may get painful in days ahead. It sounds like you’re moving from the disillusionment of religion, into the reality of real relationship with him. I’d like to tell you that’s all glorious, and it will be in the end, but the process can be a bit disorienting and painful. That’s why many talk of it as ‘de-toxing’, because there is a bit of withdrawal involved from our dependence on religion. And, there’s the reaction of others that won’t understand what he’s doing in you and will make harsh judgments about you."

My contention is this, if we have all been born in sin and shaped in iniquity, or derived an identity apart from what we were created for, e.g. to BE loved, (to BE His) for God is love, then how can this transformation within His total unconditional love, be experienced apart from throwing our equalibrium right out the window? When at best, ingrained within us is an identity that knows no acceptance apart from striving-performing.
I'm not sure I see it as being 'just a little bit of a withdrawal'.

Here in my opinion is a classic example of what I'm trying to say. When the children of Isreal were being lead out of the house of bondage (having been ruled by Pharoah) by Moses, they thought as we all might think, now that we're no longer there, we're 'Free'! The sad discovery was that although out (of the box) of Egypt, Egypt was still very much alive in them, defining who they thought they truly were. It only takes a little more reading to see that as they journed towards the 'Promised Land', that what, or how they reasoned within their heart, was how they still saw themselves.
This proved to be most painful, and many sparks began to ignite very explosive attitudes, which ultimately led to their demise, all but two (Joshua and Caleb) out of almost 2,000,000 people.

I am seeing that this whole idea of discovering 'freedom-liberty' by simply coming out of a box, is ludicrous, meaning, Father didn't say in Roman's, "Don't let the BOX squeeze you into its mold, but rather, don't let the World squeeze you into it's mold". The whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
The only Way of escape is Him, as it goes on to say, 'but be transformed by the renewing of your mind'. I see 'religion' no matter what Baskin Robbins flavor it might be, it's simply a piece of something that is so much larger.

If we are not experiencing His love for us, simply moving away from whatever kind of box we believe we have been shaped in and by, will sooner or later be replaced by a better looking mouse trap-box! Its inevitable, just look at 'chruch history', it seems to be undeniablely reality.
Maybe the real Jesus is still wanting to be seen in you (as you) and me?

Rich

Antagonism

I love how the Father is so good at weaving things together. Reading from two different writers this morning I saw such majesty in simply words.The first is a quote from Os Chambers, the other from George MacDonald.

Rich

The Law Of Antagonism

Life without war is impossible either in nature or in grace. The basis of physical, mental, moral, and spiritual life is antagonism. This is the open fact of life. Health is the balance between physical life and external nature, and it is maintained only by sufficient vitality on the inside against things on the outside. Everything outside my physical life is designed to put me to death. Things which keep me going when I am alive, disintegrate me when I am dead. If I have enough fighting power, I produce the balance of health. The same is true of the mental life. If I want to maintain a vigorous mental life, I have to fight, and in that way the mental balance called thought is produced.

Kiss Of The Spirit

While one is yet only in love, the real person lies covered with the rose leaves of a thousand sleepy-eyed dreams, and through them come to the dreamer but the barest hints of the real person. A thousand fancies fly out, approach and cross, but never meet. The man and the woman are pleased, not with each other, but each with the fancied other. The merest common likings are taken for signs of a wonderful sympathy, of a radical unity. But though at a hundred points their souls seem to touch, their contact points are the merest brushings, as of insect antennae. The real man, the real woman, is all the time asleep under the rose leaves. Happy is the rare fate of the true . . ..to wake and come forth and meet in the majesty of the truth, in the image of God, in their very being, in the power of that love which alone is being! They love, not this and that about each other, but each the very other. Where such love is, let the differences of taste, the unfitness of temperament, be what they may, the two must by and by be thoroughly one.The negative and positive relation we live daily causes us to emerge from beneath the rose leaves and penetrate each other so as to have really seen and be seen. It takes the negative to arouse each of us from our sleep.......But the miracle of love that comes to birth each time forgiveness appears is truly the kiss of the spirit

Perfect Love

These thought's from Oz Chambers, I loved them:
"When once you are rooted in Reality, nothing can shake you. If your faith is in experiences, any thing that happens is likely to upset that faith; but nothing can ever upset God or the almighty Reality of Redemption; base your faith on that, and you are as eternally secure as God. When once you get into personal contact with Jesus Christ, you will never be moved again. That is the meaning of sanctification. God puts His disapproval on human experience when we begin to adhere to the conception that sanctification is merely an experience, and forget that sanctification itself has to be sanctified (see John 17:19)."

"It is a snare to imagine that God wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do; God's purpose is to make us one with Himself. The emphasis of holiness movements is apt to be that God is producing specimens of holiness to put in His museum. If you go off on this idea of personal holiness, the dead-set of your life will not be for God, but for what you call the manifestation of God in your life."
"Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship to God which shows itself amid the irrelevancies of human life. When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that strikes you is the irrelevancy of the things you have to do, and the next thing that strikes you is the fact that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives. (This is a whole subject in itself) Such lives are apt to leave you with the idea that God is unnecessary, by human effort and devotion we can reach the standard God wants. In a fallen world this can never be done. I am called to live in perfect relation to God so that my life produces a longing after God in other lives, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God is not after perfecting me to be a specimen in His show-room; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He likes".

Here's a mind bender, the Christian life is us becoming what we already are?!
To my way of thinking, these thoughts from Oz fit in well here, but not apart from those nasty dynamic tensions we find ourselves in."Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship to God which shows itself amid the irrelevancies of human life. When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that strikes you is the irrelevancy of the things you have to do, and the next thing that strikes you is the fact that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives."

It's fascinating to see, living in the waste land of the real world of His love, how there are unique expressions of the Matrix determined for each person on this planet, or as I like to say, 'a carnival buffet to keep us content in our cages'.
The dialog from the Matrix fits in so well here..The agent is interrogating Morpheus..
"Have you ever stood and stared at it, marveled at its beauty, its genius? Billions of people just living out their lives, oblivious. Did you know that he first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world where none suffered where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster, no one would accept the program, entire crops were lost. Some believed that we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world, but I believe that as a species human beings define their reality through misery and suffering. So the perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from, which is why the Matrix was redesigned to this, the peak of your civilization. I say your civilization because when we started thinking for you, it became our civilization which is, of course what this is all about, evolution Morpheus, evolution. Like the dinosaur, look out that window, you had your time, the future is our world Morpheus , the future is our time".

Being established in the Truth of His love is the only way of not succumbing to these nonsensical luring entrapments. I would say right off the bat, the greatest deviation coming out of the Matrix is, it is no longer being crazy glued to the 'how to', but coming to know and see it has always been about Who, Who is our Life, or as Jesus asked, "Who do you say that I Am?

In regards to the 'perfection of relationship with God the Father and showing itself in the irrelevancies of life, this so illustrates what I to am seeing'.
"I once invested a huge amount of energy judging everything in life - bad, good, better, best. now i tend to think along the lines of "it is what it is," and desire to meet each moment, experience, person, encounter, opportunity and adversity with humility and compassion, knowing it all means something for me. even missing or forfeiting opportunities, and bouts of being judgmental and close-minded, and just overall stupidity are helpful because they all lead to suffering, and then suffering becomes my teacher. what it sometimes feels like is that there is this guiding flow of Love that is gently transforming me and seems to have adequately taken into account or factored in my present level of human stupidity and actually uses it!" (from Jim Palmer) http://www.divinenobodies.com/blog/

Rich

Prison Or Prism

As light passes, enters a prism, a spectrum results.

In my previous post, I spoke of the Matrix, in my opinion the Matrix is that which is operative in the lives of all people. It's basis of operation is because of the fall, and man acquiring the knowledge of good and evil.
A person can be born again, and yet still be very much a prisoner to this entity.

The thought occurred to me that much like a prism, light being refracted through a prism can open up a whole new previously unseen spectrum of colors. Maybe in coming to know (experience) the reality of the unconditional love of God the Father, we are released from the prison of the Matrix. In fact, is it possible that we become as a living prism, transmitting the multi faceted colors of His grace, love and acceptance to those still imprisoned within the Matrix, offering then love rather than joining a religion?

I believe it always was the love of God that would ultimately do what no external stimuli could do, fully animate, activate, and energize-release us to BE extensions of His love, aka, lovers. Remember, man was created without a nature. He had to be defined by a nature, and only His love was able to do that very thing.

I so enjoyed what I read today on Jim Palmer's Blog, 'Jim's Blog' (the thoughts and life of just another nobody) http://www.divinenobodies.com/blog/ 'There Are No Steps'.

"i received an email from someone who asked if perhaps in the next book (which i’m currently writing; yikes!) i would focus more on "how" i shed religion and began living in the "wide open spaces." i rolled it around a bit and was hard pressed to identify anything of my doing that could account for how my journey with God has been evolving these past few years. i don’t think i could write a book like "Seven Steps To Shed Religion and Be Free" because it hasn’t been that way for me. well, unless the steps went something like: Step One: Wake up, get out of bed, breathe, do whatever comes next; Step Two: Um…let’s see ahhh…see what happens next; Step Three: oh yeah, try to pay attention to what’s going on inside you; Step Four: and also, pay attention to what and who is happening around you".

So many not knowing the reality of the perfect unconditional love of this Father, will need something, someone to be that mediator between them and God other than the Man Christ Jesus. I am convinced that not knowing (experiencing this pure love of the Father, leaves us with only one other option, and remember there are NO vacuums, therefore, we will be subject to the Matrix, and life will only be defined through that lense, verses His love.
Living within the Matrix, like Jim alludes to in his article today, results in a 'how to, vs a WHO'!

I know I use many quotes and illustrations from the movie 'The Matrix', but I can't help myself, it is one of those things Father continues to give me insight into. One of the quotes that brought special meaning to me yesterday, was the one where Morpheus says to Neo, 'Welcome to the waste land of the real world'.
We are in this world but not of it Jesus says, and it is my contention that the only thing that will make living in the waste land of the real world (so to speak), is an ever increasing knowing of the Father's love, that which I was created for.

As C.S. lewis said, "God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.'' ~LOVE!

Rich

Liar, Liar

a.k.a. "Fake It Until Ya Make It"

In the movie, "Liar, Liar", Jim Carey's character was a lawyer. His little boy was so disillusioned with his father's never-ending promise-breaking that the son's birthday wish (unbenownst to the father) was that his daddy wouldn't be able to lie for a twenty-four hour period. In some hilarious scenes, the dad gets stuck in his inability to do anything but tell the truth. (see clip).




I wonder if the world would stop rotating in its axis if christchuns were only able to tell the truth for one day? Or would God use it to remove the supposed imaginary clothing we think we've been wearing, and in fact through this truthful speaking, draw others likewise hiding unto Himself?

In coming home from our weekly Saturday away, we, my wife and I were catching up on just reconnecting with one another, which is liquid joy for us both. Something came to mind (in our unpacking some thoughts) with regard to things my precious wife has been struggling with for a very long time, of course I don't struggle with anything, I'm perfect~ha!
I said to her, honey, frankly I'm sort of surprised that you haven't turned into a full blown alchoholic or blown your brains out yet, with all that you struggle with not to mention the crazy man I 've been in this ongoing journey of life. She laughed, but saw (I think) what I was getting at.

I really don't care what the percentage is, whether a major percentage or not, the bottom line is that this thing called 'Christianity' fosters so much hypocrisy and pretense, ergo the title I gave this entry, "Fake It Until Ya Make It".
What you talkin about Willis?
Why should we not although 'born again' (re-birthed) be consumed with fear, dread, hopelessness, apathy, despondency and many other sick maladies that plague the rest of the homosapiens on this dirt ball?

Here's what I mean, at best we have all in Christianity learned well how to fake it, why, to admit otherwise would be disastrous to our outward fake Christan veneer. To admit that we fail or have faults is also exceedingly guilt-producing, because as believers we think we have to have it all together, 'to have the victory', to show the world a happy face so that perhaps they might want us to "tell them of the hope that lies within", not to mention the real fear of letting the Lord down.

There is NO ability to 'let go' of anything! Here's a real kicker for anyone actually thinking they have in fact let go of their bondage. The lie, illusion, is that we have 'let go,' but in fact we never were in control, never were hanging onto whatever, 'it' was in control of us.

I know I have and I will continue to harp on this much more yet, but from where I am seeing things, all of this talk of religion is but a mere expression of the Matrix that holds us captive until we come to know the Truth.
Isn't all truth relative, yes, unless truth is defined in the person of truth, Christ Himself. The one who said, 'I am the Truth, Life and the Way'.

Because there are NO vacuums, we are either being conformed to this age by the Matrix, or we are being transformed by the God and Father of Love, there are NO other options, sorry to disappoint you.
Like Bob Dylan said in his album Slow Train A Coming, 'You Got To Serve Somebody'. Or in the language of Paul, a follower of Christ who said, 'Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!'

I need to include this so hopefully there will be no misunderstanding regarding the language used in the above quote. "But offer yourself to the ways of God", whether its the word, 'offer or yield, or trust, or abide, it inevitably is viewed/skewed through the matrix that still governs so much thinking, especially in Christan's.
We see it as a work we must do, as if Christ is asking us to perform, rather then seeing the truth of His love working in us to do what He in fact is asking.

I'm going to stop here for now, but will continue with more in the next addition.

Rich

Loved: Being The Impossible

I really enjoyed what my friend Rob Horton has shared on his blog, http://www.robhorton.us/
(robhorton_(re)formation_catalyzation Matrix: Possibilities Continued)

I have been of the persuasion that man (Adam) when created and placed in the Garden was nature-less, and it was the two trees (one, the tree of Life, the other, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) that pointed to that reality becoming realized in this nature-less creation called man.

'Nature' is a definitive word: The essential characteristics and qualities of a person or thing: "She was only strong and sweet and in her nature when she was really deep in trouble". The fundamental character or disposition of a person; temperament: The natural or real aspect of a person, place, or thing.Also the word 'attribute', A quality or characteristic inherent in or ascribed to someone or something.

Now, lets look at what Paul has to say regarding nature.
Ephesians 2:2-4, In which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us.

I am more convinced than ever that Love, (God is Love) which was seen in a shadow form or type in the Tree of Life, was to be what would truly define and crown God's highest creation-man!
In the re-birthing, it is my understanding that the essential nature of God being Love, is what we are to become, living expression at the core of our being, lovers.
I like how Peter describes his insight into this inner miracle of grace working in the new creation: Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

Years ago my wife and I took a Dale Carnegie leadership training course. Even then at that time being believers, we could see that as good as this course was, it was most evident to us, that people who did not know the Lord (God is Love) saw this training course to be a tool to change them from the outside in.
Please here me when I say we were believers at that time, yes we were, but we as most believers, lived in much the same way as those not professing any kind of religious adherence.
It is very easy to become a believer-Christian, and yet not knowing and growing in the reality of the Father's total and unconditional love, there is only one recourse, definition comes by way of performing.
We too, were sadly out of sync with what it meant to be Loved.

Paul uses the language that if any man be in Christ, he is a whole new creation (species) reborn, Free. If the ongoing renewal of the mind (mind-will-emotions) fails to engage, is it any wonder like in Rob's illustration of the Matrix, that any attempt to do what we would call the 'impossible' withers up and dies?

I love how Morpheus in the movie the Matrix says to Neo: "The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth." Neo: What truth? Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind. Morpheus: I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it.

I was pondering on this thought while delivering my mail today, why, if Adam was 'perfect' and lacking nothing, why would he (and Eve) be persuaded to look for anything else that could bring absolute definition to their lives? Maybe our identity is not, nor was it ever meant to be seen in this morphed entity called, 'human-nature'.
Maybe the impossible, was purposed to become possible defined by His (God the Father's) love: Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (whole) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love.

The knowledge of 'good and evil' (which in reality is the same thing) is the Matrix that continues to try and define who we are, (and it's influence transcends, race, creed or color) regardless of being a 'Christian' or not. Apart from the Love of God breaking through, and because there are no vacuums, there is but one recourse, to be defined by what we do, rather than being defined by love, freeing us to BE!

It is my opinion that everything outside of Christ is 'religion', in flavor, nuance, or expression. It will only be the Father's love that will bring this Matrix to a grinding halt in any persons life.
As so many are being awakened to the living reality of Love, they are in turn, learning what it means to 'live loved', the impossible is happening, and one person at a time is seeing the invisible God made visible in flesh and blood..."If you've seen me said Jesus, you've seen the Father"!

Rich

"And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

All Shook Up

Your Not Going To Get Out Alive

I love how Papa directs me in finding the pictures I want. What I try and share here on my blog usually begins with an image/picture, that captures the essence of what He has put upon my heart to share.
I was going to use another picture until I came across this one, it so sizzles.
Maybe in light of the scriptures quoted on the picture, the following ties in better than I could have even planned...Our loving Father and elder Brother Jesus, dealing with that stuff which has been exploiting us and making merchandise out of what is HIS!

A good friend of mine has shared this very funny, but painful season in his life when the Lord was making something most clear to him.
My friends name is Rick..He said it was impressed upon him this way. God speaking to Rick, "Son, I'm thrilled you are in love with me, but the good/bad news is, the me you're in love with, isn't ME"!

What the^*+~*%??

Is it any wonder that the religious landscape is what it is, when at best, we have all been following blindly nothing more than a caricature of God?
You know the one who says, "Hey come follow me, I want to make your life a picnic with no end of fun and thrills, but no spills~Ha!
I'm sure if I had heard Him say, "Come follow Me, I have a perfect planned out life of suffering just tailored made for you, oh, and by the way, I'm going to shake the ever living shit outa your life...what the hell, I must be hallucinating here..surely that couldn't be God?

As I said, if God, the one we think we're in love with is but a caricature, why would we not believe he came to simply add 'life' to an already in motion full of ' a action Jackson' mover and shaker?

In light of this caricature God that seems so popular, lets try this one on for size, I'm sure one size fits all?
Perhaps you are praying for a "breakthrough" in some area of your life. If so you have a wonderful opportunity to meet God especially if you were taught God never gives us more than we can bear - And HE HAS. Relax, God is committed to giving us more than we can bear; otherwise we will never learn to depend on him and give up trusting in SELF and abandon all confidence in the flesh. [Phil 3:9]
What the hell, I rebuke you Satan!!!!!!

Here's a real tasty hors douvre (for the ones beginning to see He isn't a fabricated lifeless caricature God at all) from over at Jim's Blog http://www.divinenobodies.com/blog/

"Taking It In The Gut (I Suck At That Too)

I loved this and my heart goes out to this precious brother who is having the ever loving shit removed from his life, most painful, but oh so necessary..gonna let you in on a little secret, this real Jesus we are coming to 'know', He hasn't lost His balls, and the good news is, He's going to lovingly shake all and any facades you and I would like to hang onto, especially as long as it makes ME look good.
Other wise how could I ever preach the gospel of 'Wining Friends and Influencing People"?

I want to throw this kicker into the mix as well. If it's Life we want, but are we remotely willing or ready to acknowledge that's what just might be unfolding in my feeling as if I'm loosing my ever loving mind?
Come on Rich, get a grip ole boy, you know that can't be life, it's way to MESSY!

Everyone knows that's why we came to Jesus in the first place, He was going to save me from messiness!
Or is He 'shaking' loose everything that has been sucking the life out of me.

Oh, one last piece of great news, none of us is going to get out alive...come on let's follow this Mad Max, it might just be worth encountering some One other than our caricature God.

Rich

Catching Glimpses

I really like what Father is revealing to my brother Kent Burgess over at Faithfully Dangerous, http://nthegarden.blogspot.com/
Especially this recent post of his, (Vertigo) although if you were to read more of how Father is gracing Kent, there are other entries where he his speaking either directly or indirectly into this whole matter of disorientation, or vertigo, or seeming to loose ones sense of equilibrium.

After the dessert storm (shit kicking) I just went through, I can so relate to such a total loss of my equilibrium, or vertigo! I want to try and flesh out some of this in what I am seeing.

I want to throw this out for myself and whomever else reads here before I continue with what Father is drawing me into.
I am beginning to see in such vibrant strokes of His brush, His grace, gracing those he has called unto Himself, the colors are almost blinding, totally breath taking, and so full of His loving heart for all of humanity.
His life is being expressed in myriads of ways, through ordinary nobodies, leaving a wondrous and indelible stain upon this world and those in it. Little is Much, when He is in it.

I'm catching but glimpses of what is already mine, ours, (here me) glimpses I said. It is so important to see that it is only in part, that the best of us see anything, but seeing and knowing we are, and we're being brought into it's wealth.
Without the illumination that is present because of the Light Himself, the revelator, it would be very easy to run with what we see, like in trying to hoard todays 'manna', (grace), until tomorrow. Oh how we need Him!

For You light my lamp; The LORD my God illumines my darknessFor with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.

Every word you give me is a miracle word— how could I help but obey? Break open your words, let the light shine out, let ordinary people see the meaning.

The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

In the gospel of John, there is a point where Jesus strips himself of his attire, and clothes himself in the garb of a servant, he takes water, a towel and begins to wash the disciples feet, until he comes to Peter.
Peter is not going to allow Jesus to was his feet. Jesus says, Unless you allow me to wash your feet, you will have NO part with me.
Bear with me here, as I try to walk this out in my thoughts. Because of the fall, (all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God) what has settled over us is a complete and total blindness.
Maybe what Jesus was saying to Peter was, Unless I can lay my life down for you, unless I can become nothing in your sight, you will not become all that I have for you?

Everything we do is driven by our identity, and if we do not know who we are, and because there are no vacuums, someone will quickly give us one.
We can only be who God says we are, but if we do not know who we are, then who, are we going to be?
I see this washing being of utmost importance for then, as well as now in this hour. Is it possible that this washing is required to wash away the lies that we have all believed regarding who we think we are?

It talks in different places within the scriptures of us having been raised up and seated in/with Christ in the heavenly places. Talk about dizzying heights, well it only gets better.
Without the Father opening the eyes of our heart (washing away the crud that keeps us so earth-bound-seeing) we are at best operating separated from not only Whose we are, but who we are in Him.

There is a battle going on, in case you are not aware of that, (and Father continues to remind me of it all the time) and that battle is spelled out in its viciousness within our soul.
Here's a kicker for you to chew on, it says, (and all of this imo ties in with the vertigo) 'We are to set our minds on things above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

What I think I am seeing, is that all who have been rebirthed, are either seeing things from His perspective, what is already ours, or from a soulish-natural perspective trying to bring to pass through human effort His church and all that, that encompasses.
Is it any wonder there is such whacked distortions of not only who He is, but what and who His church is?
I want to stop here, but I ain't going away, my Father has started this process of opening my eyes, and I am soaking in all I can...more to come.

Rich

Emaciated

The following is a email response to a precious and wonderful friend, inquiring and wanting to know what was going on with me.

Funny hearing from you, in fact, I'm not surprised, meaning, you were on my heart this morning as well as different mornings, simply lifting you up to our loving Father.

What's going on..hmmm, plenty.
I reflected on your question, and I guess I would have to say it goes back to Him recently impressing upon my heart how He was in fact birthing in me a whole new reality of who He IS, and that all of the very 'stuff' I was in and going through was all part of that new reality coming to pass.
Strange how one can so soon forget, eh?
Not to be over dramatic here, but I'm not sure that in this new reality of Him coming to pass in my life or in anyone’s life, is it ever going to happen without some kind of heavy duty flack?

Things came to a head for me yesterday, when Margi and I were coming back from London, as usual we were listening (catching up on the last two pod casts) and Father was making known in specific detail how much he wanted to Love up on me.

I am using this term, (junk yard dog) only because it is a picture of how he is making himself known to me right now. (in case you haven't caught it yet, I am a most visual person) Not Him being that dog.
Most junk-yard-dogs, are pretty scrawny, fiercely savage, and griped with fear.
It was as if Father was saying that's what humanity is at its best, filled with fear, not being able to even for a moment believe I am good, or loving.
He began showing me that I was very much like this pitiful creature, destitute of being loved, but, He was going to do what I could not do, put within me the very ability to begin to receive/respond to His love, and as that unfolds, I will discover I have in Him the ability to trust Him...does this make any sense??

I guess the real issue here, is Him making it very clear to me, that He has NO expectations upon me, He asks nothing from me, not even to trust Him, as if I even could.
I am seeing how much I have been simply working out of what I thought he required/asked of me as his child, but I think I may have had that really balled up big time~ha!

Somehow in the midst of all of this, there is being awakened a 'knowing', that if anything ever comes to pass, or comes forth from my life, it will only be because of His doings.

I had an image pop into my thoughts today while delivering the mail, of the most pathetic emaciated human being you've ever seen, like a starving person from some third world country, or of one of those pictures of some of the prisoners from the Nazi death camps. I sensed Father saying to me, 'Son, that is you, you are barely alive, I am here to fill you with the greatest gift I have, my LOVE for you'!
Even now in putting these words down, it causes me to weep; I am so broken by this, His undeserved gift.

It talks of rightly dividing the word of truth in the scriptures, but yesterday when my wife and I were able to share such wonderful life with one another, I said to her, I actually feel that the Word himself is rightly dividing me!

I realize this is all so very subjective, but its my story and I'm sticking to it.

Please know we love you dearly, and thank you so much for asking about me, and best of all, sharing your pain, sorrow and joys with me, I treasure it all!!

Rich

Let's Just Be Nice

Here is one of the things that sticks in my craw big time. What a farce hearing of how others who basically suffered a minor speed bump in their life and then, like a cat dropped from a second story window, simply landed right side up, on its feet once again. There are those who, in my opinion, had everything working for them as unbelievers, people with what I call had a predisposition toward 'niceness’, and then Jesus, as an afterthought, was just one more award ribbon Velcro-ed to an already great and exemplary life. That's what I mean when I say I have no tolerance for those who do not have to trust Him to BE their future now, let alone tomorrow. For example, if Jesus doesn’t work out for these folk, they still have all their stocks and bonds and retirement savings in the bank as a back-up. I wonder if that adage which goes something like, 'burn all of your bridges behind you', might be very much to the point here? Isn’t this akin to Jesus criticizing those who ‘gave out of their abundance’ while singling out, as an example, the widow woman who ‘gave out of her need’ – and consequently gave her all?

Also while I'm wondering here, i personally think we're drowning in a toxic stew of “niceness”. Let’s imagine for a minute that when Jesus was asked, 'Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” that we put a spin on that word 'good' and change it to 'nice'. Of course this might fly in the face of those who actually believe they are nice, but put it in the context of Jesus saying, 'Why do you call me nice, for no one is ‘nice’, not even God! To be ‘nice’ is hypocrisy! I have a friend who says that ‘nice’ is a political term. NO ONE IS NICE!!!

Without Christ, we are all worse than crap (pardon the language – substitute the biblical ‘dung’ if you prefer). We are without hope. We are utterly depraved! Yet, I see Christians walking around pretending to be nice when in actuality they are seething on the inside! They think they HAVE to act nice by virtue of the fact that they are believers…yet on the inside they are walking powder kegs. These are the type of people who ‘go postal’! They end up either imploding or exploding simply because OUT OF THEIR OWN EFFORTS they try to be ‘nice’ in adverse situations and circumstances that make them feel otherwise. Inwardly, they are full of rage. These are the folk who end up with stress-induced heart attacks, because they are trying to do the Christian thing... without Christ!

Let’s give an example: a husband makes the bed, does the laundry, makes dinner, etc. etc. because he feels an inward prompting from the Lord to be a blessing to his wife. Isn't he, like her, not tired and frustrated after a long day at work? But he does it all anyway. He does it purely for the Lord. He denies his ‘self’. He uses ‘self’ control, and by that I mean he controls self. He puts ‘self’ under his feet so that Christ can prevail in his life. Let’s add to this scenario. Let’s say the husband never gets any thanks or appreciation from his wife for all he does. Self would have him say, ‘Screw you! YOU serve ME! I’m the man of this house! Don’t you think I get tired too? I’m hungry! Feed me!’ Yet he doesn’t. Even though he may feel unappreciated and angry…he denies his own wants and needs in order to be Christ to his wife. He knows within himself he doesn’t have what it takes. He knows that often he doesn’t have a fat bank account of warm feelings toward his wife. He isn’t drawing from his abundance. He knows that the ONLY reason he can continue to bless his unappreciative wife is because of Christ in him, the hope of glory, and the more he subdues his own flesh and in the process allows his mind to be transformed, the more the life of Christ is evident to all around him. See the difference?

Shoot, let’s do a little detoxing (give it a year or so) now that we're outside of the 'box', let’s learn the whole new in-Christ lingo, and bang, we're off to the races! Nope! I don't think so, friends. Christ is not an add-on to our already nice selves. I honestly think that some folk hit a speed bump somewhere along the road, in panic turn to Christ, then continue along their very well-paved and manicured nice life-lanes.

Maybe this hidden, but ever present under-tow of nice self-reliance is a hideous entity that works seemingly wonderfully outside or inside of religion? Maybe this transformation of Christ in us, AS US, is far more than simply us hitting a speed bump and being momentarily inconvenienced? Maybe it’s a lot more like this, quoting a fellow sojourner: “Because of this man Christ Jesus I have suffered the loss of ALL THINGS”.

Rich

What's In It For Me?

The following thoughts are not mine, but do express much of where I am at and have been.

The perennial question of the "separationist" is this - "Why do the righteous suffer?" Many have supposed that the book of Job seeks to answer that question. However, that is not the question that is posed by Job's story. The question asked in that extraordinary tale is not "Why do the righteous suffer?" but "Why do the righteous serve God?"

What was Satan, the father of the independent separated self's cynical answer to that question? - "Does Job fear God for nothing?" [Job 1:10] "He fears you," argued Satan "because you bless him." In other words, he serves you because there is something in it for Job. Remove the blessing and Job will curse you and embrace the self-life. What follows is forty-two agonizing chapters in which he sees the loss of all things. Moreover, Job has to endure the maddening self-righteousness of his "comforters" which finally incites him to demand an audience with God to question His integrity in His dealing with him. The story finally culminates in his coming to union "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you and therefore I despise myself." [Job 42:5-6]

Herein lies the key to God's dealings with us. We must draw back from our tendency to see evil and the devil's purposes advancing against us. The Devil is God's devil; he can only accomplish God's purposes [Gen 50:24]. Seeing God in our circumstances requires an ability to see through our circumstances. We must become fixed in the conviction that all things work together for good for those who love God" [Roms 8:28] and see that the apparently negative "all-things" are the tools of the divine trade useful for conforming us into His image and likeness" [Roms 8:29]

These are my thoughts/questions?


It's this very issue the author above is sharing that I have, and continue to find myself in over, and over again. Meaning, has it thus far been most advantageous as far as coming to know Him beyond the lies of the lost as well as what Christians have told me regarding who my heavenly Father is~YES!
But, my life is in the moment a never touching bottom, nor do I for see any ability to touch bottom.

This ties in with what I said in a previous post, I have no desire to listen to anyone with their (my) religious don't worry, be happy platitudes, where they have Never had to trust Him alone.

I could be very wrong on this, but being set free from my self-(reliance)-righteousness as well as those around me as I continue to be put on the grist mill is much in line with what our brother Job must have experienced?

Did Job actually think (very possibly totally unknown to him) there was in fact, something in it for him or me, or any of us who are being trashed in life's unfoldings?

Being exposed, naked, is not my idea of feelings of great exile ration, but if I am to know Him, then let the sharp knife do its work, cause sometimes, ugly is right to the bone.

Rich

Not Giving Up

This song came to mind today in the midst of feeling so totally numbed, the very opposite after feeling as if I couldn't stand anymore pain.

Also these comforting words from a fellow traveller..

Rich

If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!

We're not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, "I believed it, so I said it," we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God's glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!

So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.

Upset Me, No, I’m Pissed Off!!

Better judgment says, just let it go, hang in there, hang tough, have a little talk with Jesus, what a load of crap.

I was out doing my postal (delivering the mail) thing today, at least as much as I can with my bad knees, and while out there, being consumed at times with a choking sense of, what the hells the use anyway.

I’m afraid I have no tolerance at the moment for anyone who’s played it safe all their life and yet talks about trusting the Lord.

There’s just TOO much shit to even begin to make any sense of it all with such a back log of crap, and what I’m feeling here today/tonight.

Suffice it to say, hopefully tomorrow is in fact another day, a day that will not be as tormenting as it was today!

Rich

Firm, But Loving

I wanted to share these two things that touched me this morning.I

remember years ago reading some of Chuck Swindoll's writings, and he would share some correspondence from a good friend of his, a retired Marine, Drill Sargent, he would always close his letters to his friend Chuck by saying...

Your tough and tender friend!

What I saw, heard, and read this morning is much in line with these sentiments, I see my Father being just that, oh so tender, but very firm.

Rich

First one by Oz Chambers "Shallow And Profound" http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/my_utmost/utm.cgi

Second one: Jim's Blog http://www.divinenobodies.com/blog/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4ySSg4QG8g
Kenny Chesney-Don't Blink

Whose Image Do I Bear

I ask you to please bear with me in my rambling rabbit trail thoughts here.

I woke up this morning early at 3:15; I didn’t need to be up until at least 5:15, why??

It was another flash back, (horrible memory) or maybe as I am sensing, the tremendous cleansing, and restoring (reconciling) love of my Father bringing the wine and oil into my very needy soul.

Didn’t Jesus say, he leaves the ninety and nine healthy and safe ones, to seek the lost one, and that He came to seek and save that which was lost? Yes Father, you’re speaking to me.

The King James bible is the only one I know of that uses such strong language in such often and great, but caustic and disturbing words, such as ‘bastards’!
It was this word which was spoken to me in my flashback, which jerked me up straight and wide awake.

Some quick renderings of that word:

A child born out of wedlock.
Something that is of irregular, inferior, or dubious origin.
And especially this one, Resembling a known kind or species but not truly such.

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. (But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.) Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

But doesn’t the bible say, ‘If any man be in Christ Jesus he is a brand new creation (species)?

If the best any of us has ever known is conditional (acceptance) love, ‘do good get good, do bad get bad’, is it any wonder we are such twisted and pressed out of shape (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature) creatures?
Maybe in this unfolding continuous work of grace what is being awakened in us is a newly discovered depth and awareness of how much we have been forgiven, and maybe that’s why Jesus said, “He who has been forgiven much, is empowered to love much”.

If I am becoming aware of anything, it is what I was born for, what I was created for, to BE loved with no strings attached, no ulterior motives, totally accepted as His son.

I see this being played out when Jesus said to his disciples, show me a coin used for paying your taxes, and taking the coin he asked, ‘Whose likeness and inscription (an imitative appearance; a semblance) is on this coin’?
Behind that likeness was the power of Rome, but that power had no ability to define who people were then, nor does it do any better today. Although on some coins, it tips its hat by saying, “In God we trust”!

Definitely there was a likeness of the supreme power of Rome on that coin, but it was lacking any true substance (image) or any Life.
It is God the Father’s love and it alone that will bring forth in us not just a likeness, (not just an imitative appearance or semblance) but His very image in us, as us.

It is the Father’s greatest desire to press, stamp deeply into the core of our being, who we were created to be. It is only His love that can define us and our eternal worth in this moment we live in.
Maybe in so doing we will be the currency of His economy, e.g. “Silver and gold I have not, but what I have, I freely give to you, rise up and be made whole”.

“It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, (by nature, children of wrath) all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Lord.”

“Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.”

For those interested in further thoughts that I read this morning after finishing what I wrote here from Oz…

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/my_utmost/utm.cgi

It Is Finished

Rich

Orphan’s Raising Children

As a result of sin, none of us have escaped having been being born into this world totally lame; it’s just that some of us lame ones, stick out like two left feet.

In a conversation with one of my boss’s (and a friend and brother in the Lord) before coming home this afternoon, he had brought up something about a guy he had to help out at the PO, that needed to do something, and in the process of talking; my boss started sharing for some unknown reason with this total stranger about the importance of family relationships with this man. My boss knows this only too well, having been separated from his wife and nine kids for a couple of years.

I said to my boss, that I was in the process of writing about that very thing, a ‘Fatherless generation’. I said to him, is it any wonder that there are so many men missing in action, missing dads, and why?
I said, maybe it’s because (and no excuses intended here) it has been orphaned boys who grew up that way, now trying to raise sons and daughters of their own.

Is it any wonder that there is such a rampant disintegration within our society with such a huge gaping hole in the hearts of so many children, and in the children, that are now father’s themselves with just as big a hole in them?

Well getting back to what had happened re: my son. To say that I was not a patient, loving, kind and understanding person in the past as a believer, would be very true, I wasn’t, and I’m still not, but that is another story for another time.

From the time the Lord found me on my way to hell, I always wanted to serve Him, and that was spelled out according to my warped perspective by going into the full time ministry. Long story short, my wife and children were so badly short changed through this endeavor, with many hurts and wounds in the process.

I’m trying to fill in some blanks here, with a bit of copying and pasting of other thoughts from a letter I wrote my son regarding what happened when he was over the other night. I trust it will make sense.
I said to my son, I was not aware of my behavior, but I do want to apologize for anything I did that had stirred up any painful bad memories.

It bothers me so badly knowing what a lost soul I was even though I was a Christian from before he was born. I do not want that kind of legacy left for you like the one left for me, and that’s why I wanted to jump right on this and hopefully it can be an opportunity for us to even get closer.

I said to my son, I never want to let things like this slide, as long as I have breath, of wanting to be there, available to both you and your sister, why, because your worth and value is priceless.
I wish to God that I could have had this kind of talk, connecting with my dad, but I know sadly, and too late, that he was an orphaned boy growing up himself.That’s why one day so clearly yet in my memory I said to my dad, “Dad, you owe me nothing, I owe you everything”. Meaning, as I was so very slowly learning what it meant to be a ‘man-father’ I wanted to reach out to this lost son, orphaned boy, and now an aged man, my father.

Is it any wonder that there is such a rampant disintegration within our society with such a huge hole in the hearts of so many children, and in the children, that are now father’s themselves with just as big of a hole in them?

All I know is that if it weren’t for the reality of being able to get to know my heavenly Father, it would be a living hellish nightmare for me, and living would be but a cruel sad joke.

What I am loving so much about all of what happened here and other things that have happened as a result of this, is seeing a confidence, a security, growing because of the true, total, unconditional loving acceptance of my heavenly Father, and that being loved, is freeing me to take responsibility for any and all of my actions.

I anticipate many good times with my son as this son (man) continues to discover the Father’s heart for all sons.

Rich