Clay

"But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand."

-Isaiah 64:8

Our lives are not half-hazzard, they are not the random result of fickle chance or human choice - these merely second causes - but rather, they are the design of Deity, the Master Artist's magnum opus, an intimation of Immanuel Himself.

There is much work that goes into re-making us into His image, but each day we spend on this Potter's wheel of a planet brings us closer to that end.

The path to "Finished" from "Authored" can be arduous indeed, at times painful, at times downright disorienting and riddled with disillusionment. So much surrender is required, so little leeway is allowed.  But as we trust ourselves more fully into our loving Father's hands, something sublime and truly useful is formed: a vessel into which He can pour Himself, out of which He can quench the thirst of thousands...

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith"

-Hebrews 12:2

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rain

"The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad...the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose"

-Isaiah 35:1

~ ~ ~

Let it trickle down

till it covers this dust

till it runs through my hair

down my neck

over my shoulders...

Let it soak through my pores

and pool up inside me

till I'm flooded and full and overflowing...

For all who are thirsty

Make me more than mere mirage

Let them come and drink deeply of You

Living Water flowing freely

Let nothing occlude

Wet this wasteland with mercy

Let this dry desert bloom...

~ ~ ~

E.A.A "Hindsfeet" 7/11/10

From Regret to Redemption....

"Remember my affliction and bitterness...My soul still remembers and sinks within me."

-Lamentations 3:19-20

How often have I immersed myself in immobilizing ruminations of time gone by, ruefully remembering mistakes made, opportunities lost, roads not traveled...My strength is slowly sapped, parched in the desert of this paralyzing pastime.

My attempt to re-construct the flimsy framework of forgotten sins,  to piece together the pick-up sticks of my past proves to be an excercise in futility, for unless the Lord builds the house I labor in vain.  God does not dwell on antiquity, He does not put His shoulder to the wheel of our self-reproach, He is not building monuments to our mis-steps and neither should we.

God does not take part in preserving our past, He is not interested in the relics of our wrong-doing.  He died an agonizing death to forever form a division between then and now, to forge the way from failure to forgiveness, to secure safe passage from sin to salvation, and to rebuild the road from regret to redemption.

"This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope: Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness."

-Lamentations 3:21-23

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fair Trade?

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me..to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness"

-Isaiah 61:1-3

What a gloriously inequitable exchange, one which could only come from the "foolishness of God"*, one which makes no sense whatsoever in man's economy (although we see where that's gotten us). 

In First Love's fashion He lavishes us with laughter for tears, joy for mourning, praise for heaviness, seemingly oblivious to the less than comensurate compensation offered in return.

He takes our toil and gives us rest, He trades serenity for the storm, He gives amazing grace for our guilt, and, as if that weren't enough, He laid down His life and died our death.

You see we serve a God who took into account, not what we could do for Him, but all that He could do for us.

"...that you may be able to comprehend what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

-Ephesians 3:17-19

*1 Corinthians 1:25

Wait

"Wait"

-Psalm 37:7

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wait.

Wait.

What a hard thing to hear from the Almighty, especially in answer to some seemingly earnest request; something we perceive to be of considerable portent and requiring immediate action on the part of Providence. 

When we find ourselves in the fiery furnace of the eleventh hour, our endurance all but spent, it can be tempting to take matters into our own hands, rushing ahead to rectify the situation, right the wrong, resolve the problem pressing us...

...but the still small voice persists; the Lord's love constrains us; the counter-intuitive call of Christ bids us be still, let go, and let Him be God.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

" For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him."

-Isaiah 64:4

Prayer....

"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth,

for his love is better than wine."

-Song of Solomon 1:2

~*~*~*

without a word, through silence shared

through faraway and forever

my heart rises to meet Yours

and I am Home

baring whimsy and wishes

buds waiting to blossom

dreams defying the passage of time

I lay myself open to quintessence of light

finding First Love's fulfillment

sipping Solomon's wine...

...sacred simplicity
secret things shown
in solitude's bounty
my cup overflows...

~*~*~*

"I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine"
-Song of Solomon 6:3

Beacon...

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

-Psalm 119:105

Plodding along this path I'm on, feeling my way through the darkness, my eyes strain to see signs, signals, anything that lends meaning to the maze, any reassurance that I'm on the right track and headed in the direction of Home. 

The way seems winding and endless at times, looming beyond my limited scope, underscoring my smallness in the scheme of things...

That's when the gentle reminder comes...I am sheep, and not Shepherd, follower, not Forerunner.  My feet have but to follow in Your footsteps...

If my eyes can see You, then I see far enough. 

"He made His own people go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock; He led them on safely, so that they did not fear...He shepherded them according to the integrity of His heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of His hands."

-Psalm 78:52,53,72

Free

"Whom the Son sets free is free indeed."

-John 8:36

~*~*~*

Wings flooded with Genesis light

Spirit unfettered

Finally free

Promises kept

Destinies Dawning

Divinity's Authorship Finished in Flight

And so we soar beyond wildest dreams

mouths filled with laughter

cocoons left behind

Out of confinement

And devil's dark night

Into Land of the Living, Into Faith become Sight

~*~*~*

E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 6/10/10

"Those sho sow in tears shall reap in joy."

-Psalm 126:5

Blessing...

http://danieldenardo.blogspot.com/2010/06/god-beams.html

“The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”

-Numbers 6:24-26

What a beautiful benediction breathed from the heart of our God over His children.  Almost lyrical in it's prose, presented to Moses from our Maker Himself to be spoken over His posterity.

If there was ever any doubt concerning the posture of Providence toward us, these words clarify His stance resolutely and settle forever every argument against a benevolent Sovereign, depicting our Creator's deep desire to drench His beloved in His goodness.  These words are not just inkblots on a page, but a powerful invocation, meant to impart Christ's love to you and me.

As such, may these words wash over you, and fill you to overflowing; may they bless you, and keep you, and give you peace.

"Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause Your face to shine..."
-Daniel 9:17

~*~*~*

Thief

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy."

-John 10:10

Jesus came that we might have life and that more abundantly: Our Father floods us with good and perfect gifts and fills our cup to overflowing; the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God; the windows of Heaven pour out more than we can pack in...

Our Lord is all about blessing His children; 

our enemy is all about robbing that blessing from us.

If he can convince us that our gifts our garbage, cause us to take God's goodness for granted, or corner us into believing our abundance to be base, he wont even have to take it away; we'll throw it away ourselves.

If he can trump an entire garden with one fruit tree, a birthright with a bowl of soup, a man's soul with thirty pieces of silver, what will it take to obscure your all?  What dainty is he dangling in front of your face?  What empty promise is playing at your mind?  What tantalizing trifle is turning your head?   

Our blessing lies in the balance of obedience to a Father who has our best and highest at heart.  When the God who didn't say "no" to being nailed to a cross says "no" to us, we can trust that He has our wellbeing in mind, that He is not trying to plunder us, that He is trying to protect us.

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."

-1 Peter 5:8

Chrysalis....

"He who has begun a good work in you will complete it"

-Phillipians 1:6

Chrysalid creation

veiled from view

A cosmos concealed in His keeping

His best and His highest

hanging by a thread

awaiting the culmination of wings

Out of this place

New life will emerge

the substance of faith's vested vision

And what has been formed

will unfurl and rise

captive soul set free

one day

we will fly...

~*~*~*

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 6/1/10

Shepherd......

"Our Lord Jesus...that great Shepherd of the sheep."

-Hebrews 13:20

Hindsight being twenty-twenty, I can look back over my life and see God's providential guidance consistently plotting my path, though I can remember at times feeling no sense of any path whatsoever, feeling more lost than led. 

And yet, all the while, God's hand was firmly holding mine, with unflinching faithfulness.  His rod at the ready, His staff securing my every step. 

Even those prodigal steps I took that carried me far from home could not carry me outside of His reach, or outside of His heart. 

So you think you've gone too far, that Heaven's hand just goes so far?  I can tell you, as a beneficiary of God's gloriously fuzzy math, that He who leaves the ninety-nine to search for the one (my apologies to the ninety-nine), the One who screams "seventy times seven!" in the face of my sin, still tirelessly and tenaciously seeks out the lost. 

When this path leaves us bruised and bloodied, His heart bleeds and bends toward us to bind up our wounds, to take us tenderly back into His arms.  He does not leave us to navigate life's labyrinth on our own, but has immersed Himself in the maze,  and joined us in the journey, with a single eye on leading His loved ones back home.

"I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick."

-Ezekiel 34:16

~*~*~*

Holy hush........

"Be Still, and know that I Am God."

-Psalm 46:10

Where there is great stillness on our part,
there is great movement on God's.

This peculiar paradox is portrayed in scripture time after time: in parables, in proverbs, in psalms and in the lives of the saints.  When we are waiting on God, He is working behind the scenes; when we are quiet, His voice can command even the stormiest sea.

When Mary sat still at Jesus' feet to hear His word, He called that, and not Martha's serving and busyness, the one thing that was needed...

.....The One Thing.....

Stillness, Waiting, Quietness...all fundamental facets of our faith, all integral aspects of His action on our behalf...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today...The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace."

-Exodus 14:13,14

"Stand still, that I may hear what the LORD will command..."

Numbers 9:8

"The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.  it is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD."

Lamentations 3:25-26

"Sit still my daughter...for the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day."

-Ruth 3:18

"Wait on the LORD...and He shall strengthen your heart."

-Psalm 27:14

"Since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him."
-Isaiah 64:4

"I waited patiently for the LORD, and He inclined to me, and heard my cry.  He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps."

-Psalm 40:1

"And now, Lord, what do I wait for?  My hope is in You."

-Psalm 39:7

"The LORD your God in your midst,

The Mighty One, will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness,

He will quiet you with His love."

-Zephaniah 3:17

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Puzzle Pieces...(a re-post)

(this post from 12/28/09 recently took on new relevance for me due to a dear friend's influence on my life, on my path, on my puzzle pieces. So I'm pulling this one out of the vault, back into the light of day, this one is for you, my dear friend...)

"...that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

-Ephesians 3:17-19

What a rich prizm of perspective is afforded me when I manage to see life not so much as a picture, but as a puzzle, and my particular persuasion as merely a piece of that puzzle among many many pieces that comprise the compostion.

Pardon the mixed metaphor, but mine is not a panoramic lens. There are others who have vantage points that vary from my own, whose vision I benefit from. What a gift to be privy to others' perceptions, especially where our concept of Christ is concerned.

Dozens of denominations make up the fragmented portrait of Christ that we present to the world today. How wonderful would it be if, instead of compartmentalized convictions and stubborn segmented stances, we could, as Ephesians 3:17-19 suggests, "come together", each faction foregoing it's appetite for autonomy, acknowledging that their piece of the puzzle is just that, one piece of an intricate array of pieces that make up a mosaic of our Messiah. When we're willing to do that, this jigsawed picture of Jesus will come together. Broken bread made whole again.

It's an age-old altercation that still ripples through the ranks today, a power struggle first depicted among the disciples in Luke 9:46-48: These factious followers were arguing about who among them would be the greatest. The epiphany that they were one body - making their question moot - had not dawned on them yet.

Two thousand years later we still struggle with that concept, clinging stubbornly to our separatism, but the call of Christ remains:

Come together

that you may know what you can't possibly know apart from one another,

vis a vis, the fullness of My Love.

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!...For there the LORD commanded the blessing—Life forevermore."

-Psalm 133:1,3

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

                       

Heaven scent.....

"For we are to God the fragrance of Christ..."

-2 Corinthians 2:15

Do we evoke in others a desire to inhale deeply, to breathe in the perfume of our presence?  Does Christ dwell in us so richly that there is an effusion of His essence wherever we go? 

Our lives are a bouquet, given by God to a world He so loves.  He designed us to bud, to blossom, and to fill the earth with the fragrance of Christ.  We are the aroma of our Maker, the censers through which His ardor is diffused.

May these, the gardens of our lives, be so given over to God, that the world cannot help but fall in love.

"Awake, O north wind, and come, O south! 

Blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out."

-Song of Solomon 4:16

~*~*~*~

Rest...........

D2 Photography

"Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

-Matthew 11:28

Come, lay back into my arms, let your head fall back against my shoulder.....Rest......

Feel my steady breathing and let it become yours...Listen to my heartbeat and relax into its rhythm.....Rest......

Feel me around you and exhale in my embrace.....Rest.......

Hear my still small voice whisper over and over, "I love you, I'm here, all is well......."

.......Rest......

Close your eyes, let the day diminish, let my love enfold you, let me hold you close...

Let go your worries, you're safe here now...

You are mine, I am yours

All is well, my love...........

Rest

~*

Chiaroscuro

"Praise God, Who has called us out of darkness, into His marvelous light."

-1 Peter 2:9

Chiaroscuro paints a picture of paradox, denoting the division between light and shadow.  This sacred interplay was formed in the beginning, Creation's first order of business: 

"God said, 'Let there be light', and there was light.  And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness."

-Genesis 1:3,4

God could've done away with darkness completely, but He didn't; Genesis 1:5 tells us that He allowed darkness to remain, calling it Night.

We are surrounded in Creation by pictures of God, lessons of His love, reminders of redemption.  The powerful paradox of light and darkness is no exception.  God allowed this juxtaposition to serve as analogy, to shepherd us into a deeper understanding of amazing grace. 

When Adam and Eve crossed that fateful border from from the land of the living into death, from God's Light to the devil's darkness, there was no way back.  Imprisoned in shadow, chained by their choices, they had passed over into a place from which, humanly speaking, there was no return, for them or their posterity.

But God, Who is rich in mercy, Whose lavish love for us is not beset by boundaries, and Whose anguished heart would not settle for such separation, left the light of Heaven and crossed over into our night.  He knew we'd never find our way home in the darkness so He became flesh and the lost became found.  

He Himself became the Way, disarming darkness, bridging the distance from Night to Day.

Praise God indeed, Who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light...

"Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.  If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall fall on me,' even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You."

-Psalm 139:10-12

~~~~~~~~

Drought...

~*~*~*~*~*

Roots straining deep for water

Pushing past unforgiving stone and seared soil

Seeking out the succor of hidden streams

and forgotten fjords...

Buds aching to burst into blossom
bearing seed, swollen with sweet promise
Fingers probing for precious pools
Willing these waters into its hands

Till Finally, the Treasure is tapped
Till this field is flush with fruit
Full, Heaven's harvest
hanging heavy on the vine...

~*~*~*

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 5/9/10


"He turns a wilderness into pools of water, and dry land into watersprings."
Psalm 107:35

Rolling Stones.....

"I Am the Resurrection and the Life."

-John 11:25

God has a knack for rolling away stones...

A thing can seem so completely dead, so entirely outside the realm of re-animation: perhaps a dream, maybe a hope, or, tragically, a life not lived.....

We so readily resign ourselves to these requiems, tending to their grave clothes and ascribing to death the final word.  We all too easily turn our backs on soon-to-be bursting cocoons, and seal in stone these resting places of the heart, taking fate at face value, assuming destiny has been decided...

But catacombs are often chrysalises in disguise...Divine Do-overs in the making...

There are verdicts yet to be unveiled, faith yet to be finished, tenuously sealed tombs waiting to be opened...

There is One Who is greater than death, Who triumphed over it on the cross, Who holds sway over the grave and all that is in its grasp...

His fingers flung out the stars; it's nothing for Him to fling away a few little stones...

 

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

-Jeremiah 29:11

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here Comes the Sun

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seeing God.....

"The pure in heart shall see God."

-Matthew 5:8

"The pure in heart shall see God."...What emotional response do these words evoke in you?  Fear?  Hope?  Hopelessness?  Shame?  Self-righteousness? 

I wonder if we tend too much to fixate on the former part of the verse, rather than the latter, putting the cart before the horse.  When seeing these words in black and white, without knowing Jesus' heart behind them, they can conjure up an image of a God with a white glove, meticulously, perhaps mercilessly, going over our lives, wanting cleanliness for the sake of cleanliness, chastity for the sake of checking off some cosmic criteria.

God does desire purity in His people, but as a means to an end, as a course to communion with Himself.  When we allow Christ's cleasing to wash away the things that obscure our view and varnish our vision, we can more fully engage with our God, we can see the Way clearly to this precious place of intimacy with Him.

God craves companionship with us, His creation; He is not a clean freak, He's a fellowship freak.  His desire is not for a white washed fan base, but for followers He can call friends.

"I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning, but I have called you friends."

-John 15:15 (The Message)

Faith Fall.........

"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."

-Psalm 119:105

Steadily traversing the path God has plotted out for us requires tremendous trust.  Trust requires intimacy.  You don't trust Someone you don't know.  For all of Christendom's criteria, carefully scripted prayers, religious rites and rituals, our walk in this world always comes back to knowing Him. 

Jesus said, "I Am the way..." (emphasis mine)...When life throws us for a loop, when we're feeling lost, when our trajectory seems to be turned on it's ear, Christ, our Compass, can make our path straight, can displace confusion with clarity, can comfort us when our way is clouded.

We need His vision, as our own is laughably limited.  While there are times on this terrain where I feel like I can see forever, there are also times I can't see the hand in front of my face.  As frightening as the latter state can be, it presents a precious opportunity for sheep and Shepherd alike.  These are the times I draw closest to Him, cling more tightly to Him, and tune my trust into the One Who sees above the trees. 

"He knows the way that I take...Aquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace."

-Job 23:10, Job 22:21

~~~~~~~~~~~

Breath of God...

"...God, Who holds your breath in His hand..."

-Daniel 5:23

...Breathe in.......Breathe out.........

This world can be a suffocating place at times...Daily demands can feel like weights on our chest...The taskmaster of time can take its toll...others' expectations can stifle us completely.

But the God Who breathed breath of life into man, raising him from the dust, is living and breathing today, lifting us from lowground to highground...resuscitating us when we're starved for air, respirating our weary souls...

God's breath still beckons, desiring that we draw near, inviting us to inhale deeply.  He longs to fill our lungs with His life, He longs to be close enough to do so...

"He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and all things."

-Acts 17:25

...Breathe in.......Breathe out.........

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rest........

"Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while."

-Mark 6:31

The same God who so gently and so intimately washed the feet of His friends, still washes feet today.  When we sit quiet in His presence, without Peter's protest, sans self-conciousness, relaxing into His nail-scarred hands, forgetting fear, consumed by His compassion, trusting our grime to His grace...without judgement, with only gentleness, He begins...

The fountain of God is always flowing, ever moving, a continual cleansing...Where the waste of the world would settle over our spirits and sully our souls, the waterfall of God washes over us and wipes the slate clean.

We emerge from this purifying pool, taking with us into the world the water of the Word Himself, and become for everyone we meaningfully or peripherally encounter conduits of His cascading grace, in which to wash the feet of fellow travelers...as Jesus did for us, so we do, without judgement, with His gentleness....we can begin...

"...according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior."

-Titus 3:5-6

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

                                                                   

Glorious Humanity...

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

-Genesis 1:27

We are God's divine design, His very special people, fearfully and wonderfully made, skillfully wrought in His image, the culmination of creation.

As to how many days elapsed between that sixth climactic day and the day of man's demise, we cannot be sure, but we do know that the Father's face fell, and that His crestfallen countenance was mirrored in man; the decline of Deity displacing the Glory of God.

Thus began the recreation of creation, the redemption of mankind.  The God Who made man in His image, made Himself in our image, the Master became the Servant, the One Who had made His likeness our own, came in the likeness of men. 

In an act of humility that verges on hyperbole, our Creator condescended to His own creation; Jesus made the first move and reached out to us, because He knew in our fallen state, we could no longer reach Him, and Heaven's heart could not bear such separation. 

The One Who made man in His image, came in our image, to resurrect His image in us, and return us to Glory.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"...Jesus, Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men."

-Philippians 2:6-7

"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings."

-Hebrews 2:9-10

*Psalm 139:14

Gardens....

 "Awake, O north wind, and come, O south!

Blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out.

Let my Beloved come to His garden and eat its pleasant fruits."

-Song of Solomon 4:16 

It all began in the Garden of Eden...A perfect paradise, common ground in which God and man could coexist, freely fraternizing amid flora and fauna,

Nothing to interrupt, no power or persuasion to interfere...

nothing.....

...except a tree.....

The day of the imminent intrusion came, and the Garden was lost forever...

Its mournful Creator, though heartbroken and bereaved, set out to recapture this sacred ground.  There would be another Garden where this communion could be reclaimed, where the battle for His beloved would be waged and won...

...The Garden of Gethsemane...

Wielding every power of His will, summoning all the strength in His body, wresting resolve from His mind, He fought His fears, till blood and tears dually flowed and the decision was made...

...A tree had separated them...another tree would bring them together...

He bore the heavy beams that would bridge the divide; a lesser man would've failed, but for the joy set before Him, He endured...

"Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid."
-John 19:41

His destination, yet again, a garden, in which he would be crucified, in which there was an empty tomb where the division would be laid to rest,

forever.

"The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD.  Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing."

-Isaiah 51:3

*Hebrews 12:2
*John 19:41

Wanderings...

"He knows the way that I take..."

-Job 23:10

This endless Exodus

Threads a golden maze of sand,

The grains of which are said

To number Your thoughts toward me...

I sojourn with strangers

We take turns at playing shepherd and sheep

Sheltering each other in arid exile

Offering one another the oasis of ourselves

The manna of mutuality

Intertwined trajectories

Carve a convergent course

Through an otherwise boundless expanse

Thus enfolded we endure,

The communion of common destiny

Our compass and consolation

The sunrise of Promised Land's light

Hints at the horizon

Beckoning our bedouin souls

Leaving languor behind

Like long shadows cast

We set our swelling hearts on Dawning of Day

Home at last...

Home at last.....

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet"

"You number all my wanderings and put my tears into Your bottle"

-Psalm 56:8

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let there be LIFE!!

He's Alive!

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbRPWUHM80M )

The End?

Isaiah 53

The depth of their dillusionment rivaled the darkness of that night

Baffled and bewildered, dispirited by despair

Hopelessness held sway over their hearts

As the Life and Love of a thousand days all too abruptly fell silent

Their would-be King called a criminal

This Man they called Messiah now mistaken for a fraud

The One on whom hung all their hopes now Himself hanging on a cross...

But what seemed like separation

Was Communion's highest call

This sublime suffering a sacred trust...

Heavy hearts make it hard to hear

The Father's call to faith

That He will have the final Word

That the Gift will not remain buried in grief...

"...That I may know Him...and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

-Phillipians 3:10-11

Convivial Contrast

Jesus wants intimates, not inmates. 

We see this truth proved out and personified in the lives of Jesus' loved ones, Mary and Martha.  Our first peek into their home reveals a jarring juxtapostion: 

         Martha, scrambling around, sweating over "Sunday dinner", setting the table, seeing to the guests...

         ...and Mary, seeing to Jesus.

Martha had allowed her focus to become diffused and diluted until Jesus was nothing more than another party guest in the periphery (how often do we allow this in our lives, or worse yet, in our churches?), while Mary was mesmerized by her Master, thoroughly enraptured, seeming to sense the sacred intimation of the moment, hanging on every word...

...For her, there was nothing but Jesus.

Jesus met Martha's aggravation at her sister's seemingly sedentary behaviour with affirmation of Mary's choice and an implied invitation for Martha to opt for the same singlemindedness her sibling had found.

Fast forward to another feast, also at the home of the two sisters, six days before the Passover, six days before Jesus' execution:

Martha is still serving, and again, Mary's uncanny sense of the sacred steals the show.  She knows somehow that time is short; devotion displaces decorum and protocol is pushed aside by passionate love for her Lord.  She produces a pound of pure nard, worth a year's wages, and pours out this, her most precious possesion, to Jesus.

Once again, Jesus chastises those present for chiding Mary, not wanting this moment between them diminished in any way by the pettiness of paltry objections.

In both scenarios, Martha offered service to Jesus, Mary offered herself.

Jesus didn't love Martha any less, He just wanted her to know the freedom Mary knew of loving Him more.

"One thing is needed"

-Luke 10:42

-Luke 10:38-42

-John 12:1-8

Storm

"Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.  When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.  But He said to them, 'It is I; do not be afraid.'"

-John 6:18-20

Treading on the tempest

Eschewing the safety of shore

Surefooted strides

 Summoning the sea's submission...

Before she cries,

He comes

Embattled and beaten

she wages a fool's war

combatting the convulsions of the deep

wielding weakness against the wind and the waves

she pleads for Him to come...

Her entreaty sails over the surface of the squall

And falls on Heaven's ears

He traverses this terrain as terra firma

Supplanting the storm

Demanding deference,

"Peace!  Be Still!"

His arrival arrests the violence about her

His voice silences the vehement gale

The breakers bow at His behest

and all is rest

all is rest

"Peace, be still..."

With the sea her heart surrenders.

bending to His will

The storm inside finally subsides

and all is rest

all is rest.

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 3/22/10

"It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear."

-Isaiah 65:24 

Spring's Song......

“Death is swallowed up in victory!  O Death, where is your sting?  O Hades, where is your victory?”

-I Corinthians 15:54-55

Life comes back; Life always comes back. 

It is tenaciously persistent, perennially present, perpetuating itself against all odds.

In the book of Ruth, we read about Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law, whose name means Pleasant, but who demures at the address, asking instead to be called Mara - meaning Bitter - because of the leveling loss she has endured - the death of her husband, the passing of her two sons, the deprivation of the place she has called home for over a decade, and worst of all, the seeming abandonment of the Almighty.

In a dramatic denouement, Ruth providentially meets Boaz, who is a wealthy relative of Naomi's.  He marries her, and they have a son whom Naomi nurses, Obed: Would-be grandfather of David, the King of Israel.

What reeked of ruin,

what smacked of bitter despair,

what connoted catastrophic failure on God's part,

what looked like the end,

was actually the beginning in disguise. 

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." 

-Psalm 30:5

Emmanuel's Embrace......

God is a Romantic.

Such an unexpected aspect of Christ's character -- unexpected in our Western culture -- though it was very commonplace in the understanding of the Celtic Christian.  Romance was very much more a part of their frame of reference...music, poetry, romance, an important expression of their faith, and a big part of their interaction with the Almighty.

To make such a declaration in our culture almost seems irreverent, ill-fitting when speaking of Immanuel, but as I write, I can almost hear Yahweh's "Yes!", because it's a big part of His interaction with us too...

The bible is not a book full of bullet points and boardroom tactics...there is an entire section smack dab in the center where He serenades us with song after song, one hundred and fifty ballads to be exact, revealing Himself, inviting intimacy, a cleft carved out in the middle of it all where two can touch, where He plumbs the depths of His beloved's heart with prose and poetry, wooing us into deeper communion, a mutuality of mind, a union of Spirit, a sacred meeting of saint and Sovereign.......

God's great desire is oneness with His creation...with you and with me.  Yes, He's our Father, absolutely, He's our Saviour, without question, He's our Provider, our Redeemer, our Judge, our Lord......

...but He is also the Lover of our soul...

To push this attribute aside to the periphery of our understanding of God, to demure at this dimension of Deity, to blush and bypass this beautiful bent of His heart toward us, is to deny Him His deepest desire.  To dismiss His fervent ardor for us is to miss out on an amazing encounter with the Most High......

Love Song....

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TrailBlazer....

The Lord is my Shepherd...

-Psalm 23

Our path may seem uncertain, challenging and even impassable, yet there is no where our way can take us that our Shepherd has not gone before, no eventuality He has not provided for, no difficulty that is not paved with His grace. 

This is no virgin soil we tread upon; Christ, our forerunner, has traversed this sod. 

He fashioned all our days, laid all the track, when as yet not one step had been taken, not a single moment had been lived...

He knows our path like the back of His nail-scarred hand; He's walked every inch, negotiated every turn, navigated every difficulty, climbed every high and trekked every low.

Ours is not some ambivalent Autocrat, standing aloof above the stuggle...

He who could've chosen the safe distance of detached Deity, chose instead intimate involvement in all our ways; He, who could've stood idly by, watching us manage this maze, instead inserted Himself into the milieu of man, and became a participant in our pilgrimage.

He is not only the Author of our journey, but its Finisher as well.

Our Creator offers Himself, not only as a compass, but as a confidant and a companion.  We are not in this alone.  He is our Way through this wilderness, His very footsteps are ours to follow.

He will make His footsteps our pathway

-Psalm 85:13

Hebrews 6:20

Psalm 139:16

Psalm 139:3

Hebrews 12:1-2

Viewfinder...

"He must increase, but I must decrease."

-John 3:30

We are here to be a window into Who God is, a lens that people can look through and see Jesus. 

I find myself having to continually refocus the 'camera' on Christ, fighting that tenacious tendency toward self promotion, that plebeian posture that says, Look at ME!

We are here to personify Jesus, to be living portraits of our Lord.  How often do I detract from Deity, demanding the foreground, distracting the viewer, valuing ephemeral ego gratification over engendering a meaningful encounter with Christ? 

The ego-chafing correction comes: 

People do not need me; People need the Lord.

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life...He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him."

- John 6:63, 7:18

"When it's all been said and done..."

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Fuzzy Math...

"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!"

-Romans 11:33

When we come to see God as a God of paradox, it opens for us a door of understanding into His "higher ways" and His "higher thoughts".*

In God's economy weakness is strength, servitude is freedom, the poor are rich and so on...

Jesus' disciples were at first scandalized by this seemingly upside down philosophy: They wanted to become a new Nation, Jesus wanted "Nobodys"; they wanted to be lords, Jesus called them to be the least; they wanted a King, Jesus gave them a crucifixion.

I can understand their perplexed, crestfallen state in the upper-room, in that seemingly anti-climactic moment following the execution of their Lord, which was, in actuality, the most triumphant moment in all of history.  It really does require revelation from the Holy Spirit to grasp God's perspective, to see the sense in Christ's counter-intuitive ways.

But I think it's a matter of waiting...waiting prayerfully in the upper-rooms of our own discontent, our disillusionment, sometimes even our despair...until the Holy Spirit comes with the wind of wisdom and helps us to zoom out from our limited lens on life and our resultant compartmentalized conclusions to view things from the vantage point of Heaven.

From this lofty lookout, this God's-eye-view, what seems like very fuzzy math indeed, adds up afterall.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

-Proverbs 3:5-6

*Isaiah 55:9