Marketing Manager

It's funny how available help is when asked for. There is free expert advise everywhere I turn, with gurus offering to do for me and for you what they have done for themselves. The offer goes something like this: Allow me to guide you, lead you around those pitfalls and take you to the Success Mountain top on the express train. Let me help you make money. There is a sneaky undertow message...I will also help you spend what you have or borrow to pay me. A small price to pay-you give a little and you get a lot. I am compiling my writing for book publishing. Formatting it for readability. Best selling authors are keen to sell me their success programs and for a limited time, they are willing to discount what they pawn off.

Squinting my eyes, I see. What if my marketing manager is God Almighty? What if my book is for His glory? What if the message is from Him to His people, His kids? What if the message is you are mine, you are precious and I love you. Child, I want you to feel and know my love. My book will be in the hands of many or by human standards, the hands of very few. It will be read by those for whom He has a very personal message and they will know that His love is immeasurable. Romans 8:38-39 "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. " God as editor, publisher, marketing manager, Divine Leader to Mount Zion. I get to trust Gods plan and blueprint for success by His standards. Sweet.

Weapon of Love

Behind the scenes not so secret support weapon of love. I have some people cheering me on. They appear and disappear, letting me know that they are somewhere out there. Cheering me on to what? I don't know, I just know that I have support and it buoys me. I had a conversation with a close friend this morning. We share our lives in one hour increments, twice a week. She told me about an injustice and with flashing eyes, divulged her wickedly schemed revenge. With some anticipatory excitement I asked "what are you planning to do?". I grin broadly as I report to you Dear Reader that the plan involved killing, with kindness. She said for every nasty thing this enemy of peace says, does and implies, she will retaliate with KINDNESS (ok so I did not have a pen and paper and this is not a verbatim quote-this was the just of her intentions!). This type of gentility is rare. My friends secret weapon is love. She rights a wrong with what she is naturally inclined toward, elegant righteousness. Revelations 22:11 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy." If you are inclined toward lying, misrepresenting and manipulation than chances are that is how you are known in this world and guess what? It isn't hidden or a secret-everyone is well aware of your propensities and who you are. They may not feel comfortable confronting you because the fallout is nasty but they can see you. On a happy uplifting note, if you are kind, gentle, generous, thoughtful and loving, you are a beacon and you too, are known and oh so bright that we can all see you from miles away! Dear Reader, how do you want to be known, seen, behind the scenes spoken of? Is it too late to change your ways? Never. Kindness is a choice just as being mean spirited is chosen. You are not your moods or your behaviours and yet, they both say a lot about what is going on in your heart. May you be righteous, do right and be holy.

One Life, One Love, your way of being to choose. 

Bleeding Heart

Have you ever had a bleeding heart? You are not reading about body mechanics, that is not what I am referencing. It is the soulful rupture of a wounded heart that threatens soundness, threatens to steal permanently peace from life, from the soul. What if your heart is hurt and you cry out help, someone anyone, help me, only to have your words muffled, mouth covered by a rough and callused hand? What if no one hears you and if they do, they do nothing, covering their ears, not wanting to hear so that they can block out your desperate pleas? I am not speaking about my life, Dear Reader. Have no concern for me. I live a gilded and privileged lap top and big house existence. In fact from the convenience and comfort of my home, I can read about brokenness, violence against the vulnerable, the poor. Thankfully, my heart is capable of feeling, bleeding for others. I say this not to illicit praise or admiration. I write this feeling genuine gratitude, because my fear is that I would be some kind of monster if the suffering of others was simply a fact that I accept as tolerable. The number one human need that we all must have met in order to ever survive and thrive in this life is safety. Without this, water, food, clothing and shelter are worthless. They can be provided and, in a violent and unsafe environment, easily stolen and taken away-you know, the old survival of the fittest adage. Where does this leave women and children? Widows and orphans? I have heard many people say that they follow the ten commandments, that they are good people. They harm no one and break no laws. I am glad to know this and where I live, it is much appreciated because I get to go to and fro, nary a thought for my well being, my safety. No one comes to my house and steals from my fridge, takes my clothes or car and no one enters my bedroom to violate my body. I am protected. This is a call to hearts willing to take action. James 1:27 "Religion that our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Being a good person is not enough, it is too easy. What if you have all that you have so that you can give all that you've got? What worth are you as a human being if all your care is invested in self? Forgive me, I am waking from my own trance, my own happy ever after and with it comes shame. Listen now, quiet yourself. Can you hear them? The broken bleeding hearts crying for help, someone anyone, please help?

What will you do?

Welcome to communicable diseases (said in a rich deep vibrant DJ voice). This is the recorded greeting for the immunization health unit. This message cracked me up. I giggled and or full on laughed at the thought of it and while repeating the message to others throughout the day. A communicable disease is clearly something to be avoided. Being welcome to it was plain old ridiculously hilarious! When choosing who to speak to, a recorded request is made of the listener that goes something like this "if you have a fever or flu like symptoms, do not come to the clinic". This message delighted me as much as the first one! I'm inclined to spin this into a super cool metaphor, come with me. What if the communicable disease is dis ease, agitation, anger, dissatisfaction, selfishness, bitterness, self pity, entitlement, envy, self indulgence, me first? These are real health threats. Corrosive and sometimes contagious. These are emotional contagions. Why would you or I want to be exposed to these toxins? What is the impact when we are? I for one feel sick afterward and like any illness, the symptoms take a while to dispel. They linger far longer than the actual exposure experience took in the first place. Doctors and nurses are called to the aid of the ill. They have healing hearts and hands. They expose themselves to real and deadly disease for the sake of others. Those who request their help for healing are given the gift of health aid. This said, they have a call to duty, to protect the general public from "communicating" illness by refraining from exposing others when they are already very sick.  What about you and I Dear Reader? What is our responsibility in the spread of dis ease or perhaps, more enticing than this, the spread of wellness? What is our call to duty? What you have is indeed, contagious. The question is, what is it and do I want some? What if your recorded answering machine message went something like this: Welcome to communicable diseases. If you are prone to delighting in dancing eyes, witty banter and hilarious can't stop laughing until your face and stomach muscles hurt experiences, please join us immediately! All sour puss complainers please press the number 6 followed by 66 on your phone and you will be connected with…

Grin. 

Devils Vortex

So its like this. You need to have priorities, a set of values. You know, a code of ethics with a moral compass attached to that plan of yours. What is she talking about, you wonder? It is the go nowhere fast or get to where you want to go theme of this life we live. The question in the current queue is do you have a life plan? What about priorities, what are your priorities? In this series of questions I ask you, what is most important and valuable to you? Ethically, morally, where do you sit, stand, walk, run? Lets simplify, shall we? Pick three areas in your life that you consider the most important, the most worthy of your time and attention. I will list mine while you ponder. Family, God, Work (with friendship coming in a close second with work, depending on my schedule). What is on your list of three? Now that we have our lists, lets take a second to prioritize them. My areas of life reorder with the directive question of priority and the list becomes 1. God 2. Family 3. Work. What does yours look like? Did it change? Stay the same? No matter, these areas may very well shift and change over your lifetime, depending on circumstance and attention span. I would like to say that I am always focused with my priorities leading me through my day but alas, I must confess this is not so. Which brings me to the term I heard yesterday from a friend who heard it from someone else who picked it up from another. You know how these things go, good ideas get shared and I am the happy recipient of the concept and term, the devil's vortex. Sometimes, I am utterly priority less, I mean devoid of purpose and scattered without direction. Ever feel this way Dear Reader? If you too feel the regret of time spend uselessly, the devils vortex is a fabulous concept to utilize. Once you have established what your top three best uses of time are, the devils vortex becomes the dumping ground for all nonsense that annihilates your most precious commodity, time. Now this exercise in none futility requires your immediate attention. ATTENTION. Your task is to be self aware, to question your own choices. While doing, ask yourself, which category does what I am doing fall into? If whatever it is you are occupying yourself with does not fall into your top three established priorities, then it goes into the vortex. Refocus now, we are almost there. You have an opportunity staring you in the face right here, right now. Its called life. Lets face it, you wouldn't be reading this still if you did not long for a call to attention, a call to awareness about you. You are worthy. You have an offering. You get to choose to share your gifts and talents or conversely, to horde and hide them. You also get to choose what gets and holds your attention. Where you spend your time will determine if you stay where you are or get to where you want to go. Perhaps you have heard the expression "An idle mind is the devil's workshop". Give back to the devil what belongs to him and you, yes you, go claim that amazing life that is your Divinely intended destiny. 

Coveting

Have you coveted, Dear Reader? You know, looked at what someone else has and wanted it for yourself? How about adored, have you fallen into this trap? Seeing another, admiring them so and finding them irrisitibly and magically equipped with all the qualities you desperately wished you possessed. Wanting, wanton, you worship at the alter of another. This supplanting of you and superimposing of other onto your psyche can be consuming. You are starter material for their fire, the newspaper and kindling required to cause a blaze. Look around you. People are being worshiped everywhere your eyes land. Scan in all directions and you will not have to go too far to see that we, as a people are heightening in this thing called covetousness. I take a shallow breath as I type, grieved at what is manifesting in this world. There is a man, a public figure who is running for the presidency of the United States of America. I will not type his name in this writing as a statement, a point of principal. He is a human being and I have been inclined to feelings of hate toward him and this too, is grievous for me, a Christ follower. I am too pray for my enemies and God help me, He has been whispering in my ear, to my heart, my spirit, mercy. I am to show mercy. The man I am thinking of, the followers who nod and agree and perpetuate his brand of covetousness, they are the lost, human evidence of idol worship. The love of money; the might is right entitlement logic; the greed that bloats and enflames arrogance; the idea that by his own hand he has built an empire. My soul cries out in despair, seeing the Godlessness of the front and centre mockery of the image of God displayed through a thoughtless self serving man. I am instructed to pray for my enemies, to have mercy in my heart for them for they know not what they do. I am forgiven by the grace of God and I want so much for others to feel and know His saving grace. We approach Easter and I weep picturing Christ, substitutionally dying on the cross for all sin, past and present. My sin, you ask, Dear Reader? Judging a man who is outside of the family of God because he has yet to know Him. Hating rather than praying for a mans soul, a lost human who knows not that his day of accounting and reckoning before God Almighty draws near. I end with this, Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Lord, Thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, forever and ever. In the name of Christ, amen. 

Ant Arrogance

Ant Arrogance

What ants do best

In the jungle, an army of ants work diligently on their hill, building and adding to their nest. Work is what ants do best, gathering what is needed to house and feed themselves. On this particular day, nothing was different until something was. 

Back to work

No One can stop us now

Off in the distance, the reverberation of heavy footsteps shakes the earth, causing gentle tremors near the
hill. The ants bounce with every step, and in unison, they lift their heads in a brief moment of listening and acknowledging: something is heading in our direction and it is large. Nonplussed, and with single minded focus and drive, they return to their tasks of building and storing: back to work.

Thudding foot

With their unstoppable work ethic, the ants continue gathering, building, searching for and finding all they need for safety and sustenance. Move this here, shove this over there. Follow the path, pick up this and relocate that; the ants are on the move and their diligent teamwork pays off. They are not to be distracted from the tasks at hand, and all the while, the heavy thudding foot landings become more palpable, and undeniably close... until suddenly, it was upon them. 

Thunderous culprit

There, in full view, appears the earth and ant moving thunderous culprit. An enormous elephant. Too busy and undaunted, the ants continue their work. Collect, connect, redirect, transport, establish, find, place, unearth. Looking up to see what the massive animal in their midst might do next does not occur to them; then the unanticipated happens. With one well placed foot plant, countless hours of work are for not and the ant hill is destroyed. This has the ants that have by their good fortune, avoided being crushed, scurrying furiously, outraged by this assault on their sensibilities. How dare it? How dare this thing disrupt our work? they thought, if ants could think that is. 

They climb quickly

Enraged, the ants quickly react and en masse, take action to make the elephant pay for this indecent, culpable assault. They rally, encourage one another to climb the mighty beast and attack, bring the elephant down and kill him. They climb quickly with many making it to the top, determined in their quest. They have the elephant where they want him, and avenging themselves gives them angry energy: they will have their pound of elephant flesh if it is the last thing they do. The elephant notices very little, if anything at all, in fact...

One ant remains

Feeling a slight tickle, the elephant nonchalantly swings his majestic head, back and forth, flinging the tiny ants hither, thither and yon. What does an elephant know of ants? What does an elephant care, if ants rampage against him? Teeny tiny tortures are lost on mighty elephants: no matter the number of the ant army, elephants cannot be impressed. The elephant head swings manage to dislodge the ants that have climbed as high as his neck: all but one ant remains, clinging desperately to his post, the elephants throat... 

"What shall I do?', the lone ant shouts down for instruction from his fellow fallen ants. The ants on the ground shake their tiny heads, slightly concussed from their drop from glory. The hard earth met them in their fall, and once the stars cleared from their tiny minds, they remembered their rage and with one voice shouted "Strangle him, STRANGLE HIM".

Writers note

This little story made me laugh heartily with the ridiculousness of the mental picture of a solo assault ant attempting to strangle an elephant. A family friend told us this joke during a dinner party and it has remained with me for countless years. 

Yesterday, while listening to one of my favourite preachers, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, I laughed at his attitudinal quick wittedness. Stay with me here, I will make a connection. One of the most commonly heard criticisms and excuses for not believing in God is His allowance for suffering in this world. It's the old "if I were God, I would do this or that", blah blah blah. 

Vernon's question and response to those who don't like Gods performance and feel confident enough to verbalize complaints is: "What are you going to do about it?" 

God

Dear Reader, You and I, we are the ants. I shake my head in disbelief at our arrogance. Think of the ant, searching to find food that he will eat but has not made. He looks for building materials to place on and in his shelter, finding these too, conveniently located for his retrieval and usage. None of it his, all of it borrowed from here, over there, everywhere. God as the powerful Elephant in this metaphor can place His heavy cosmic foot wherever and whenever He pleases, right on your little ant hill castle. 

The Ruler of the Universe

• Do you, do I, dare to arrogantly suggest that The Ruler of the Universe do anything other than exactly what He is currently doing? 
• Are you a would be God assassin, with your turned up nose and slanderous words, challenging His might and right to do as He pleases? 

Little fellow ant, you are nothing and no-one without Him. Your castle is build based on His provision, and He can do with it, and you, whatever He wishes, with or without warning. 

"Strangle Him!"... Not a chance!

Pain

We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. C.S. Lewis from The Problem of Pain. Think of the last time you were in pain. What else could you dwell on, consider, wonder about other than when would you be relieved of the agony, the suffering? Have you ever thought that death would be far better than enduring the pain? No matter the cause of pain, excruciating physical dis ease can change a persons perspectives, attitudes and behaviour, making them almost unrecognizabe or perhaps, more themselves? I recall the results following my first adjustment by a chiropractor. I floated out of the office on an invisible sea of pain free bliss. I had not known what feeling fantastic was like until after the treatment, once everything was back in its original place. Emotional pain is similar to physical pain and can be just as debilitating. If God whispers, speaks and than shouts, what are your ears doing to block Him out? Notice: it is in peril, it is in desperation, it is in the dying or the threat there in when we call out for salvation, restoration to wholeness, wellness of being. Who can save you from your pain, your death, your dying? "I'm not sick", you say? "No need to have this conversation. I don't want to think about it, talk about it would you just SHUT UP about it already?" you yell. People wonder about God and suffering, how He could possibly love us and allow so much suffering. He is the Great Physician, Healer of bodies and hearts, a Soul Surgeon. Regular check ups with Him can mean a world of health and pain relief. Unstop your ears and listen, He whispers before He shouts~don't make Him pull out that megaphone now. Go to Him before He calls your number.