A rant if you will

The point between Love and Law

This is the point where my Lord dwells

His home is between judgment and righteousness

Between Ego and humility

Where the love pours out like wine, on both the rich and the poor, the weak and the strong, the smart and the "ignorant"

Lord how do we enter into this place that you have prepared for us Lord

The place where love is the law

The place that following you Lord is the place we desire to be

To be in constance fellowship with you Lord

How is it that we have gone so far on your grace,

and have yet to walk on our own with you

Lord I feel as though I fail you more than I champion for you

What is this allusive point that I hunt for, 

that place between my head and my heart where I seem to get lost more than I am found

To love you to the point of ridicule

To love you to the point of persecution 

God my God how is it that you still love me in spite of me

It can happen at the drive up?

So, if your anything like me. You, from a young age have found yourself noticing that some people do more than others and you in fact are most often that one that does more.
Most times I try to blow it off and say that I don't mind. I will be honest right now, eventually it will rub on me and I will build resentment about it. Why do I have to do so much more than that person and we either receive the same or frequently they will make more? Why am I busting my back when they are loafing or doing so little?

I bring this up today as I read through 2nd Corinthians 8:12-15- ¹² For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
 ¹³ Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. ¹⁴ At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, ¹⁵ as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”

This is really working on me about equality and the whole idea behind this blog - Relationally how do we get through this thing alive? How will we come together if we are always judging "fairness".


We get out alive by not building up resentments and loving one another! We do this by caring for others more than we care for ourselves. you all know that the first shall be last and the last shall be first right, so?

I, and hopefully I am not alone on this one. I seem to have a keen ability assess value to what others do in their days. I can tell you without question whether or not you work hard or not. I can tell you whether you are pulling your weight or not. I have been blessed with the ability to tell if someone is doing all that they can do or not. Hopefully you can read the scarcasm in that.

As I read this passage today it really hit me that I have to reevaluate what or how I look at others and their commitments to this thing called life. Have you ever been blessed by a beautiful steak dinner? How about a small little flower growing out of a crack somewhere that you would never suspect it to be? Has any one ever told you a story or said something nice to you in just the smallest and almost unnoticeable way? Have you ever got a chuckle or a smile out of the old guy driving his farm truck 20 miles and hour under the speed limit?

One day, about 20 years ago, I was driving around Madison Wi. and I was having the absolute worse day of my life. I was on the verge of tears all day. Everything sucked and I mean everything. I am sure that I had contemplated my reason for even being on this earth. I know that it did not matter to me at that time if I was here or not, it would not matter to anyone especially me. I pulled into a McDonald's of all places. I drive up to the menu and I hear this young kid ask how I was doing and if I knew what I wanted and if there was any way that he could help me. This young man sounded as if He knew why he was there. He was just doing his seemingly insignificant job. He delighted in what he was doing though. I could hear hope and joy and love in his voice. I instantly began weeping. I was weeping because a kid that was probably only making 3.50 an hour was doing his job. This kid did not find his job insignificant and neither did I after hearing him. I knew that things would be ok. I knew it from kid at McDonald's. I knew that it would be ok,from that kid's attitude about his "stupid little job.
      I look back at it now and I would like to say that God sent a not so insignificant angel for me.  I gave the kid a 5.00 tip and said thanks and told him that he may never know how much he just changed my life and my day and drove away. So, while this "kid" made his .30 for his less than five minutes with me, he made a difference in my entire life. So as this "kid went from there to wherever he went after work, and maybe he didn't have an abundance of money,(that is not the real point) he did more than money could ever buy, he helped to save my life that day. He gave from his "little"and gave me a lot.
I am not sure how his day went from that point on or even before hand, but this line of work is often looked down upon by many, it is menial and trivial and matters very little in the grand scheme of things. I guess what I am saying is that while some appear to not do there part, think about it. Do you really know what there part is? Have you been given divine insight to see what they were meant to do today?

Even if they did nothing today or as long as you've known them, maybe it is because you are not giving of your abundance first. Maybe you need to pour out into them. Maybe you can ask them in a genuinely pleasant way today - How may I help you? 

While we don't know what each other is suppose to do from moment to moment, it is my argument that we know what we are suppose to do.

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF!

Do not worry about what others are or aren't doing, worry about what Christ is doing in and through you!

If we do this correctly, we just might get out of this thing alive!

way of the warrior

A wonderful book entitled qualities of a spiritual warrior has been so revitalizing. Graham Cooke wrote the book in 2008 as a way to help people realize the power they have in Christ.

One of the struggles I have always had in my life has been being reactionary. I frequently react to circumstances that need my tending to. This could be someone picking on the under privileged or maybe something not quite so hero - esk. If it was not an action type situation such as the previously mentioned, it could be my getting upset when things did not go quite right for me or someone said something to me that was upsetting. How about road rage or being tested in the realm of patients.

Reacting to situations is something I am quite good at - if you will. This book talks about those things as well as helps you to get through them. Seeing scripturally how God has made provision for us. He has us covered, He already thought of it. He talks about how much God loves us. We know from scripture that God delights in us, but Graham describes this as God bubbling in enthusiasm for us. That certainly puts a great big smile on my face.

These descriptions help me to keep up the fight. To continue to run the race, to endure in what He has called me to do. If God so desires a relationship with me that He bubbles in enthusiasm for me, it is my blessing to do the same in return. This brings up a question for me, how do I love Him the way that He loves me? It is necessary to be genuine in our pursuit of Him. To ask Him truthfully what is in our hearts. If we are able to be real with God, won't that show in all that we do? It should show in our relationships with others, and that is the catch for me. That is something that truly draws me in, draws me deeper into a relationship with Him and others.

Many times the church is it's own worst enemy. We rely on our own abilities to understand and relate to people we only see on Sundays ( most of the time). Remember when I talked about judging people and their walk with Christ. It is easy to see that I have been relying on my own understanding of God and what He would want from me.

Graham has an amazing quote in this book.
     "This is the land of the religious and the Pharisee, where men make God in their own image; and intellectual study governs our thinking. We have no internal perception of God's true reality, and our logic based faith is so reasonable we cannot achieve anything with it."

If we only fix our eyes on what we learn from a book, we can never fix our eyes on what He is showing us - how much He loves us and how much we are to Love others. We can never get fixated on peoples performances or the way that we think they should be that we forget to Love them where they are at, the way that Christ took us - as is - damaged goods - He bubbles with enthusiasm for us!

Can we take from example - What He has shown us - can we be the difference that changes the world? Can we show a love that is undeniable to those who know no love like this?

It is my recommendation that everyone who has an interest in knowing God more intimately -  read this one! it is simply amazing!

If we do these things correctly or with a true heart, we might just get out of this thing alive!