Never Again

Quick Sand
Here I sit at my work desk, with the sun shining into my window, blue sky painting my view. What I really want to do is run outside, and away from my problems! I laugh at the word problems, because it isn't a word I use to describe any parts of my life, ever. 

What I realize in this moment, is that sometimes what I face feels problematic, and it makes me mental. I feel a bit crazy as I wade into, and sort through the minutia, all the stuff that has to be taken care of to get to where I want to go and be: the mental minutia that feels like quick sand. When I feel this way, I turn to what others have suggested works for them, a to-do-list. 

What I know works for me, is to get outside and get physical. Somehow, the trees just don't care about websites, FB, Instagram, and the financial environment we all must face in our own circumstances. I leave you now to go out there, where imagination and limitlessness calls to the spirit.

I'm Back
I walked and then took the long way and walked some more. I took a path straight up, almost a vertical climb through a leaf littered forest, and my joy factor multiplied exponentially, because there was no one else there, not a soul: just me and the wind that rustles the remaining tree attached leaves, the ones that will soon spiral downward toward the ground, rejoining their mates. 

Was the walk good for my soul? Did my imagination ignite and become limitless? For moments at a time, it was indeed, good for my soul. But mostly, mostly dear reader, I grieved and I realize, that I am like one of the stubborn leaves that have yet to believe that fall has come, that I must let go: stop clinging to what was, and give way to the cold of winter 

The never agains have begun

I know this feeling, it is age old. You too, know this feeling, don't you? 

Never again, accepting never again...

The Climb

When life is a vertical climb
The view is often spectacular

Which moments changed your life?
What difference does one plane ride, one shuttle ride to the airport make? What difference do a couple hours or even, a few minutes dear reader, make, when you are in the company of other humans? For me, each moment in time is either lost to nothingness, or quintessential in monumental life shifts. 

Think for a moment about your own moments: 

• Which ones changed your life? 
• Which ones have you captured, and recorded in your memory, forever? 
• Was it when you first laid eyes on your love? 
• The day you discovered your baby stole your heart? 
• The day your dad died?

Forgive me as I self indulge: these were some of my moments. I am traveling in my head, my heart, my mind. My soul, it wants to travel too, a vertical climb...

Switching seats
I enter the Robert Q shuttle, taking a seat in the back row. The driver has pulled away from the curb, when I quickly realize that I have selected the wrong seat. I pick up my bag, and begin to awkwardly rectify the situation, moving toward the front of the van, while simultaneously asking the driver if he would mind me taking the passenger seat next to him. 

He agrees: to not ask, to not move, would have been a lost opportunity for me. The driver is talkative, and knowledgeable but mostly, I notice that he is a judicious man who has studied human nature. He speaks on things that pertain to me or perhaps, I ask questions I need answers to, and it just so happens, he is my current muse, my very own wise man, sent to give me insights I needed to learn and grow from.

Muse number two
I sit, middle of the row of three seats. I offer my trip companions gum before take off, and they each take a piece. We are strangers, but for me this means nothing, absolutely nothing. 

We are on the tarmac, and we stay there for near, or just over an hour. We each mind our own polite business, but not for long, never for long. It is there again, the knowing that to not connect, to not share, means a missed opportunity. 

I turn my head to the right, and it begins: the invitation to intimacy, to exploring the heart, the mind, the soul of another. It is what I live for, it is all that matters, and it is, why I exist. I am not disappointed. I meet yet another muse, and I begin to soar, the sky is the limit.

How many moments in time have you captured?
I am a traveller. I see mountains and trees. I enter shuttles and airplanes. I travel highways and byways but dear reader, my soul demands and responds to calls for exploration and discovery of other, the landscapes of their being 

• What about yours: your soul?
• How many moments in time have you captured? How many have you missed? 
• What have you ignored in favour of ignorance, in favour of disconnection? 
• Will you switch seats, not wanting to miss one more chance? 
• Will you engage with those on either side of you, knowing that to not do so might mean you have misplaced the opportunity of a lifetime? 
• Will you decide to fly high, travel vertically for the sake of your soul?

Today is the day the Lord has made, today is the only day you have to let someone steal your heart...

God Singing

Of course
Of course! I said this to myself after an astounding epiphany this morning, while driving to a clients house. I was listening to Faith FM and I heard the DJ share this verse for the day:

Can you hear God
singing over you?

The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing (Zephaniah 3:19)

Dear dear reader! Look at the verse! God Almighty saves, yes yes, we know this part. He takes delight in you, and me. Okay what, this is astounding. He will quiet us with his love. This is lovely and I have experienced this, have you? But the next part, the next part had me in tears

He will rejoice over you with singing! 

Singing
As I drove this morning, I heard joy in the DJs voice, celebrating this message. I knew it was for me, I knew it was for you! God sings for goodness sakes and this was my epiphany. Of course God sings-every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights... (James 1:17), this includes singing. 

And why wouldn't God sing? If we are created in His image, and this is what is expounded in The Bible to be true, then it follows that we can only do what He does, isn't that right? Now, I admit, some of us do this singing thing way better than others, and perhaps this is why we cry or laugh, feel when we hear powerful angelic voices: echoes of Gods own voice as He sings mightily in heaven. The thought makes me weep in its beauty, and the astounding truth that each time we hear human voices in song, they are an acoustic reminder of who God created us to be, His voice on earth.

Imagine now dear reader, God rejoicing over you! 

Can you hear Him singing?

Hangover

Hangover

Sometimes I experience hangover. A hangover is descriptive of the unpleasant head and body reactions to something ingested the day before; the after affects of indulgence. I have had many hangovers. In my youth, these were the result of alcohol consumption, but in my mid-life, hangovers act like sinus issues that cause headaches, as I react to various foods and even scents. The world has become toxic, and I am not alone in my reactions. There are some buildings that have request signs posted on their doors and walls "Fragrance free zone", "Peanut and nut allergies; be aware". The world is polluted, and polluting, and people are getting sick as a result.

Emotional Hangover

Today I have an emotional hangover. I had an unpleasant exchange with someone I love, and it has left me feeling sad, disappointed and a little weak, sick at heart. We poured verbal venom into one another and today, I wonder about long term affects. Allergic type reactions that dictate how we interact in the future? To say I am contrite would be a lie. I felt justified in the venomous verbal spillage but than again, this is how it always is when we feel right(eous), isn't it dear reader? 

Fights and Quarrels

From whence comes wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts (James 4:1-3)  

What I know is that whenever there is verbal violence, a toxic exchange, God was not consulted, He wasn't asked to mediate. My remedy for this emotional hangover is Him, His Word 

It is His correction that convicts me, and has me accountable for my own words and actions:

For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison (James 3:7-8)

Oh the tongue: to tame it is my plan, with Gods help

Word Became Flesh

The Word became flesh
Words become people, places and things... or is it the other way around?
Personification: the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something non-human, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form:

And the Word (notice Word is capitalized, signifying a Person, the Personhood of Jesus Christ) was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1:14)

God made what?
Think about God dear reader: try really hard now, picture Him walking, talking, floating on clouds, orchestrating the sun and moon as they go about their business day and night. 

Funny, I just pictured them on cruise control. Do you suppose God has them on some kind of auto pilot, turning them into their very own self governing light in the sky robots, fully kitted out with smiley faces?

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and for years (Genesis 1:14)

You made what?
Think about you dear reader: try really hard now, picture yourself making your DNA, speaking it into existence, causing it to select your hair and skin colour, your height, and your sex. 

Next, picture yourself selecting your parents, your origin of birth, your accent, even that mole that everyone looks at, to the right of your right nostril. Move on to your kids now, you know, the ones you said you wanted and then made?

All teasing aside, there is this:

For you formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb (Psalm 139:13)

Words live and breathe
Words are alive dear reader! They have power and might inside of them. Words are concepts, sentiments, and feelings, that can be noble and enriching, or vulgar and abasing. Words capture the imagination, and words become. Words turn into action, and change the flesh, change DNA, warp or wrap the speaker and the hearer. Words are the power of God personified, trapped or released into the world when we speak.

Love in Action

Male and female
He created them

This is why love in action is so vitally important. It is not just a concept, it becomes, it is personified when you and I are the hands, the feet, the messenger, the warm embrace. 

We are creative because we are the created; He knows our inmost being and knit us together, in His image: 

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them (Genesis 1:27)

You bear the image of God Almighty, the Word incarnate... is this what people see, when they look at you? 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and theWord was God (John 1:1)

Do you, dear one, resemble Jesus, the Word? Will you be His hands, His feet, His messenger, His warm embrace for someone, for many someones? 

Think on this, speak the word yes and now go, be ... love

Branding

Branded

Man alive dear reader, I have been branded! I laugh as I type, picturing a red hot branding iron, like the ones used on cattle. It is fired up and ready; it sizzles as it sears into my flesh, leaving an indelible mark that lets everyone know who I am. I am branded... as me.

Becoming is Painful

This sounds so painful, doesn't it? In many ways, the process of becoming who we are meant to be is exactly that, painful. In some instances, this becoming can be excruciating. Self doubt, push back from others, criticism and rejection, can all make self actualizing a near impossible feat and yet, this is the only reason we exist! 

You and me, we are only here to become what we were designed to be, and until we each decide that this is far more important than just getting by, and living on the mediocre side of mind numbing boredom, we stay the same or worse yet, we stay the same! Yes, I repeated myself because that is what happens to us; we repeat ad nauseam whatever feels comfortable and convenient. 

There is always someday, not today, to look forward to. Perhaps, change will be out there in space, and will smack us upside the head like a meteor, knocking us into the reality that today is the only day we live in. That is right dear reader, this day, and this very minute, is your only reality. Is reading this writing what you want to do with this minute, your minute, in time? 

If you are still reading, then I must Thank-You and ask, what will you do once you are done reading? Me being me includes writing: 

• What does you being you include, that you have yet to engage in? 
• What are you leaving undone that calls out to you? 

Sizzling Iron

Now picture a sizzling red hot branding iron: it is getting close to you:

• Do you allow contact? 
• Do you allow it to press into your flesh and leave its indelible, unmistakeable mark? 
• What does being branded you, look and feel like? 

This might hurt a little, but the pain is worth it. Go on now, go get branded

The world is waiting to discover who you really are💘 

 

Ocean Tears

Ocean Tears

One year mark approaches
One year ago dear reader. Can you remember what was happening in your life one year ago? Perhaps you have an astounding memory and you can remember what was happening in your life ten to twelve months ago; maybe you are on Facebook and they have reminded you, a year ago today, what you were up to back then; or maybe you are like me, and cannot recall much about the details of the events of your life, except for perhaps, some life altering occurrences that changed the trajectory of your existence, forever?

Panama, the Ocean
I feel the pull of the ocean. The waves whoosh toward me and then recede as I step closer to the wet, to the entry point of watery expanse. The water is warm and inviting, so that I do not have to play the game of should I or shouldn't I fully immerse. The sun kisses my skin and as I step down, the water rises up and I am in. I am in and my salty tears add to the ocean, mixing and mingling. I have a request, many requests, and I cry out to God for someone I love, someone I long for, someone I must place in His hands. It is my fiftieth year and it marks the end of many things, the beginning of others. I did not know this at the time: what I knew was everything was different, nothing seemed recognizable, and I was changing too.

Every beginning has an ending, every ending has newness in the beginning

My prayers, they have been answered dear reader. God heard me above the waves, He caught my tears in the expanse. I prayed for His will, His way, His words 

God sees you in your sorrow

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11). 

I prayed, He answered, watering the seed of my request, giving me the gift of budding and now flourishing. I am not done yet, with my praying, my requesting and this: I am never done being thankful, for a God that hears our cries for help, catches our tears and counts them all, and answers our earnest prayers.

Now it is your turn dear reader. Cry out to the Lord and in a year from now...

Persecuted Church

International Day of Prayer
This coming Sunday, November 12th, is designated as an international day of prayer for the persecuted church. While I sit comfortably in my nest like living room chair, I can write about prayer, loving Jesus, going to church in my car and openly entering a place of worship. Not so for hundreds of thousands of believers all over the world...

Safe places no longer exist     

In ancient days, churches were considered sanctuaries where the blood of the innocent and even the guilty (and we are all guilty of many things, would you not agreed dear reader?) was never to be shed. There were whole towns of refuge that were dedicated and considered safe for someone who had unintentionally committed manslaughter...relatives seeking to avenge the death of a loved one could not enter and take the life of the guilty one, and this bought time for both parties. The one who had taken a life had time to suffer the grief of having killed, and the one who lost a precious family member had time to cool their heels, look for forgiveness in their heart, and see that where there is no malice and death has occurred without the intention of killing, retaliation is not acceptable, and only leads to more loss of life. Churches, sanctuaries, safe places no longer exist, do they dear reader?

Dumbfounded Disbelief
Are you frighten yet? Do you fear that you, your children, your loved ones may be next? Murder, the taking of lives in church dear reader, it causes the soul to shudder, to quake in dumbfounded disbelief. 

How can one shoot a five year old in the house of God? Texas is in the throws of massive turmoil this day, and you can bet, you can believe, that people are on their knees, arms raised up, crying out to God, in homes, places of business, and in churches, for what has been violently taken from them. Lives are beyond precious, and our freedom to pray to God cannot and will not be thwarted, regardless of whether or not we are murdered, heads bowed, knees on floors everywhere. 

This is war

This is war and the battle started long ago. While Satan wants to imprison, God wants to free. While the devil wants to frighten, God says love. While evil steals the life of a child, God says He is with me, in heaven. 

Godlessness is the threat dear reader, and we have invited this by excluding Him from our lives, our homes, our families, our work. There are no safe havens, because of the hate that has grown in one field and town, and spread to its neighbour... love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself (Luke 10:27)

This mandate from God, is ignored by unbelieving man. The devil, he says you are free to do whatever you like: go on now, satisfy all of your cravings, and desires. You are entitled: the world is yours to do with it whatever you will. 

God says, thou shalt not commit murder but this is a useless, antiquated, out of date and time command, just like the rest of the commandments and wise teachings of the Bible, in a world that has indulged itself fully, with self satisfying endeavours.
   
Does Evil Exist?

• Do not grieve and ask God why He allows the slaughter of men, women, and children en masse, if you are unwilling to be convicted in your own heart by Almighty God. 
• Do not shake your head and say God does not exist, or blame Him for what only man can conceive of: pure hate filled evil. 

You have a choice, if you have not made it yet?

Believe that evil exists, and that God is good
Believe that evil exists, that God is good, and that He hates sin, and cannot abide it, cannot participate in it

You can choose to pray, like the rest of us who grieve the earthly loss of those who worshiped Him and taught their children to too, the One who made them and us. We are continually at crossroads these days dear reader and today, in the aftermath of another vile, despicable display of vulgar violence, we must again choose, God or the devil? 

Your life is an indicator of the one with whom you align

Addendum: It is December 31, 2021. Reading this piece of writing gave me an eerie sense of foreboding, considering how efficient, and effective, the devil has been in turning family against family, friends into enemies, and parents into participants, in murdering their own children, via poison injections 

The death toll is rising, as many have committed the heinous crime of global genocide, while those that are currently sick and dying, are unwittingly, committing suicide each time they submit themselves to mercenaries with loaded weapons, armed at the arms of the willing: those that would save themselves, as though their lives were a choice, and not a gift from the eternal, living God

See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive, I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand (Deuteronomy 32:39)

Romance

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold (Proverbs 3:13-14)

I just love proverbs dear reader: wisdom is denoted as female! Excuse me while I delight in hearing wisdom being described as: 

... better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold 

This statement makes me gleeful, giddy and well, a little smug. Now, the proverb speaks to man directly, and this does not exclude females, not by a long shot. But would you admit, would you consider, that it is natural for a man to seek profit, to search for silver and desire gold?

Men and women, the differences
There is a driving force in men, that has them work, strive, desire a reward for their efforts, something tangible: sweat in, equity out. It is in a godly man, to feed, clothe, protect, and provide for his family. 

Forgive me if I do not sound modern, if I lack a feministic voice, but hear me out. Women have the same drive and desire, with eager ambition, to see a return on their emotional, psychological, physical, spiritual, and psychosocial investments, in their people.

Women and children first
This starts in motherhood, when we pour into our children. Next, when wiser and older, women want a return on their investments in their husbands. In our more advanced states of emotional maturity, and when we are less preoccupied with caring for basic needs, we want to invest in our communities and ultimately, in the betterment of the world at large. This is not to say that men do not also invest similarly, it is to say that we are different, and the perceived and desired rewards are often different too. 

The tangible, the invisible

One set of rewards is tangible, the other, invisible but noticeable, manifesting in outlooks, and behaviours, and ultimately, in how we interact with others in relationships. This world is gorgeous, and none of the manufactured things come close to the created, and this includes us humans! We are stunning in our beauty.
   
It is not a guarantee to be wise, it is something to seek. There is romance built into the pursuit: 

She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her (Proverbs 3:15-18)
   

Why not be a tree hugger? Why not embrace wisdom, lay hold of her? God gives us a striking image of male and female, and the interplay of each, one completing and complimenting the other. 

Grin

God is a romantic