naivety

"...when a person really understands it..," she said.
then a moment with no words, two of us in silent agreement
that nothing has been the same since the scales were removed
from our eyes.
yet
we have still only shadows of the things to come.
n describes it from the beginning like practice swings that prepare us
and give us the tiniest glimpse of what it is supposed to be
and we, on the edge of our seats,
we sit back...?

satisfied? with this?

because, perhaps,
we can't see beyond it
and we redefine faith,
as something around which we can wrap both our minds and our hands
with crossed arms
and with closed eyes,
like a sweet but naive toddler who plays such a simple game of hide-and-seek...
sure of what we hope for?
certain of what we do not see?
we label these questions rhetorical
and we move on
rooting ourselves deeper into the sand.
the testimonies that have gone before us
describe suffering...
then joy
and hope
and rest.
however, this suffering, joy, hope, rest is rooted in what is lasting,
rooted in He who alone is able to save completely
those who come to God through Him...
because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever
those who are being made holy.
a story defined by naivety goes left at the fork in the road
the one that goes right,
hope.
naivety is cute. for a short time.
ask for understanding.
the One who called you is faithful to give you what you ask
when you ask according to His will.

birthday

if you know me well, you know that it has forever bothered me that i share a birthday with...no one.
no one that i actually know at least. anne frank and george h. w. bush are special, sure. but a real friend who shares june 12 with me...
well, i now have a birthday twin.
heck.
yes.

plate

love the new and improved food pyramid...

voting?

the following is a challenge written by former Circuit Court Judge, Randy Hekman, husband, father of 12, follower of Jesus, friend. read and discern for yourself what your responsibility will be on tuesday november 6, 2012. 

                          ___________________________________________________

Is it acceptable for a follower of Christ vote for President in this election when the choice is between two men, one of whom supports policies that are contrary to Scripture and the other is an active member of the Mormon church?

I have heard that a number of Christians feel it would be sinful for them to engage at all in the election process in light of the “lesser of two evils” choice that con

fronts us. Is the best answer for us to not vote at all? Is this the way for a Christian to avoid responsibility for an election that will inevitably usher in a President who, from all we can tell, is not a Christ follower?

Let me suggest we are derelict in our responsibility as Christians if we do NOT cast a vote this November. My reasons for saying this:
• We are electing a President, not appointing a pastor of our church. Good government requires men and women of competence, diligence, honesty and accountability. While these qualities will ideally be found in all Christians, they can also be found in many non-Christians because of God’s common grace to mankind.
• Scripture is clear that our sovereign God frequently works through even godless governmental leaders for our good. Godless Caesar Augustus, through the census he ordered, was responsible, humanly speaking, for Christ to be born in Bethlehem. Persian dictator Cyrus was used by God to cause the Jews to leave captivity and return to Jerusalem. Jesus reminded Pontius Pilate that the governor’s authority came from God.
• Even the Jewish people in captivity in Babylon were commanded by God to promote the good of that godless nation. “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: . . . ‘[S]eek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.’” (Jer. 29:4,7)
• The ultimate leaders of our nation are “We the People.” This is a government “of the people, by the people and for the people.” God holds us accountable as stewards of that for which we are responsible. I as a husband and father will someday answer to God for my stewardship of those roles. And, as a citizen of the United States, I believe I will also answer for my role as a voter and participant in this Constitutional republic.
Bottom line, Christian, vote for the person that best shares your Biblical values and will do the best to provide an environment that allows us to live “peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” (I Timothy 2:1-2)

wheat

wheat

i remember the days when words used to flow out from my fingertips
and now it seems that i have so much to say when i can't possibly write
(like when i'm driving, for instance)
but when i get a moment with a keyboard in front of me it is all i can do to squeeze out a few drops that testify to what God is doing
but more often than not i'll start writing
and soon i recognize my preoccupation with trying to make things look or sound a certain way
and it distracts me enough that the little bit that i originally had to say trickles away
and i'm left with a stupid blank screen
and disappointment.
but there's so much to say
like how He's taught me to love people and to put myself aside
granted, not comparable to the way that Jesus loves, but being sanctified to become more like Him
like how He's begun to show me what i love and why
like how He's saved me from decisions that i've made so selfishly
like how He's placed me within a safety net of people who will ask and challenge and listen and forgive and teach and wait and pray and
model for me what it looks like to live a life worthy of Jesus Christ
like how He's planted me in a community of people who can own their sin
and who have learned submission to the painful process of God's discipline
because they have tested and trusted His outcome of the process,
glorifying, exalting the name of Jesus
and at the same time finding such rest under the promise of His faithful acceptance
that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it
even though it comes with pain
even He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, [made] the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
i'm grateful for the men in our church family who have testified to God's healing power,
the men who can confidently tell of His rescue from addictions
addictions to pornography
addictions to self, to pride,
addictions to alcohol, 
addictions to money and control.
and any of these have in common a core belief that God just isn't enough
and many of these brothers share that they masked and performed and faked their ways through years,
claiming Jesus, telling of dreams to serve Him, leading others "in the name of Jesus"
but now, now able to claim Jesus with assurance, to tell of dreams that God is bringing to fruition now, now that they are walking with Him in all truth,
and He, now, has placed so many of these dear brothers into leadership in His Name
because now they walk in His strength,
trusting Him for purity, depending on the all-surpassing power of the Spirit of God in order to fix their eyes on Jesus as the only way to resist sin, the only way to experience life, 
this is testimony.
neil challenges us to recognize testimony the way that paul testified of God - not by telling our stories and how God fits into them, but by telling God's story and how we so humbly and so gratefully fit into His.
the One who has called you is faithful and He will do it.

wiser

there is rich suggestiveness in this interpretation of the pruning process, as we apply it to the christian life. pruning seems to be destroying the vine, the gardener appears to be cutting at all away; but he looks on into the future and knows that the final outcome will be the enrichment of its life and greater abundance of fruit.
there are blessings we can never have unless we are ready to the price of pain. there is no way to reach them save through suffering.
[dr. miller, from streams in the desert]

 

"i walked a mile with Pleasure, she chattered all the way;

but left me none the wiser for all she had to say.

i walked a mile with Sorrow, and ne'er a word said she;

but, oh, the things i learned from her when sorrow walked with me."

He

oh, my God, He will not delay
my refuge and strength always
i will not fear, His promise is true
my God will come through always, always
[kristian stanfill]

so, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! no temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. and God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. but when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. i speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what i say. is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ?...
[paul, 1 corinthians 10]

He is faithful
teaching humility in temptation
and childlike dependence in suffering
because it is not a question of who will be tempted, who will sin, who will suffer,
but when.
yet
He is faithful to provide avenues around this,
a learned process - 
sanctification.
r often says "choose to sin, choose to suffer"
and it is unfathomable that a person would choose sin so that s/he might suffer
and neither is suffering a result only of sin
but yet God produces fruit out of our suffering

politics

led

a testimony indeed
and not just because this season is good
but because He is so obvious in it.
He has led me away from things that have sapped His life out of me
and into the things that make my eyes shine
with all the joy and hope that He intended.
i'm finding what i love, finally,
because He has meticulously chiseled me,
not without pain, to fit where He has me now.
and as things so often do under His watch
pieces from each category come together to make sense of it all
and i don't mind collecting them into one whole
that, by His grace, will increasingly reflect His wholeness
.

rainbow

this is beautiful.
this is the kingdom of God.
[m says that there is even 1 sister missing from this picture]
but these 10 brothers and sisters
have Jesus in common.
some adopted,
some biological,
but family regardless.
all loving and all loved.
a small glimpse of what eternity will be...