The beauty of faded stripes

Very recently I have had time to reflect on just what kind of activity sparks my interest. It's the same activity that has driven me since I was in my 30s. Over two decades and the spark comes from the same place. That proves up the saying, "You can't change the stripes on a zebra." My stripes appear the same. The last blog, in fact, points up the same thing. Why would I be in the same position 16 years later that would require the same response as indicated in the poem?

Some things change with maturity, but the activities are the same. In my 20s, for example, I sat and spoke in a Bible circle with friends and felt free to voice my opinion whether or not it was the better part of discretion. 3 decades later, I still sit in a Bible circle with friends, but this time I speak only when I think that I have something of value to add and mostly if it is discretionary. The stripes are there, just faded with age.

It's the faded stripes that lend themselves to wisdom. Long live stripes, and may they all turn to faded.

Freedom arrows

I received two bits of news over the last two days, one per day. I was disappointed in the first news and really, really disappointed with the last news. I am going to have to wait to write about the second piece of information until I can plan around it more fully, but I have had time to think about the fist tidbit.

Someone said to me that she had penciled my name in on her prayer list. I don't mind that. Prayers on my behalf are good. The conversation went on. Then, the implication was made that I knew the Bible, but not the savior of the Bible. I probably do know the Bible fairly well, but I'm pretty sure that I have responded to Jesus' words, "You have trusted God, now trust me" (John 14). The conversation went on. I was told I needed a Damascus experience. There is a lot of action in Paul's Damascus experience, but I took it that I needed to have a more direct experience with God in order to see him more clearly. The conversation went on.

The thought did occur to me that I needed to listen in the same way that David allowed the man on the side of the road after a battle to call him names like Baldy, and worse. I probably need reminders along the way to heaven that my dependency on God is not always evident to others.

Then I had a flash-thought. I had given this person a little of myself, a translation I had made and put in a power point. Was that not evidence that I had a purpose in life beyond what my job provided?

The situation reminded me of a poem I had written about 16 years ago when someone had challenged whether or not I was a Christian.

Pointed Words

My mind is troubled. A semi-friend spoke pointed words.
She aimed an arrow my direction.
And it stuck right in my heart.




Now my mind is troubled.
The words were not a blunt arrow.
She said she was surprised.
And I didn't fit her idea.
The words pierced my heart.

My mind dwelled on this trouble.
Her words kept begging for reply.
She knew me as a Christian first.
She matched me to her idea second.
This sharp arrow still stuck in my heart.

My mind wrestled this trouble.
Her words served as a reminder.
"John came: you considered him a madman.
I'm here: You call me a drunkard, a glutton."
Jesus' words freed the arrow from my heart.

My mind resolved this trouble.
Her words show her confusion.
She said, "My background won't allow me."
She said, "Christians can't enjoy life."
May my arrow's heartblood change her heart.

My mind is troubled again.
What if these words are a warning?
She is merely relaying Your message.
Is she coaxing me back on the path?
A heartwound causes hard thinking.

My mind is freed from trouble.
Words can change, like ideas.
She needs to see Christ's enjoyment.
She needs to hear Christ's laughter,
Thank you, Daddy, for heart healing.

For the person who caused me to again reconsider, I offer a return prayer.
"In my father's compound are many, many houses... and I am going to prepare that house for you." I'll check on you in your house in the compound when we both get there.

Trigger happy

I see that it is a part of our culture to disagree. But, I think part of the culture of disagreement is to offer either evidence for the point being argued or a show of attitude that it is according to one's own experience. So, I was taken off-guard yesterday after making a statement that I thought was non-argumentative and contained nominal evidence on behalf of the observation. One party around me was not on the same wave length and uttered vehement opposition. Opposition is good, so I listened and pondered a great deal afterward of all the counter-evidence to the opposition's side of matters.

So it goes in America. I'm still wondering what triggered the vehemence, but there seems to be an abundance of people who are full of anger and willing to let it overflow in their attitudes toward others. I think what the son of man wanted second most behind a trust in his deity was a unity among those who do trust him. A show of unity would be nice sometimes, but it almost appears to be anti-American to let something trivial slide. We would rather be IN YOUR FACE than to let something trivial go. No wonder that the Master said, "Will there be faith on the earth when I return in my glory?"

Unexpected Presence

The poetry is good. The rhyme and meter are predictable, which is good if you don't want people to think about something off-focus from the main message of the song. The music has special effects. The music crescendoes when moving from verse to chorus. Repetition keeps the listener from having to guess so much as to what the next words might be. The theme of deliverance, or presence when absence is expected, is reiterated 3 different ways, succinctly stated. The simile comparing freeing ourselves and singing about our Maker to weight placed on straining hinges shows very well how we could injure ourselves (metaphorically) if we don't sing of the presence of God. The song includes very consistent contrast since the three reiterated points of the verses suggest any idea except for God to be with us. And, of course the whole point of any work dealing with humans and God is to show that what we have to offer is miniscule compared to what He has offered us already. Only chains of looking in the wrong places would keep us humans from recognizing right away that God's presence with us is such a priceless gift. Finally, the instrumental part following the words allow us to ruminate the unexpected anomoly of God's being with us. It concludes with the same rising tone as a question does in the tones of our language as if to ask, "Shouldn't you drop your chains?"

Of course, I'm talking about the song "God with Us" from Mercy Me's CD All that Is Within Me.

Who are we that you would be mindful of us?
What do you see that's worth a look in our way?

We are free in ways that we never should be—
Sweet release from the grip of these chains.
Like hinges straining from the weight
My heart can't keep from singing,

All that is within me cries,
For you alone be glorified
Emanuel—God with us.

My heart sings a brand new song.
The debt is paid These chains are gone.
Emanuel—God with us.

Don't you know our hearts don't deserve your glory.
Still you show a love we cannot afford.
Like hinges straining from the weight
My heart no longer can keep from singing,

All that is within me cries
For you alone be glorified.
Emanuel—God with us.

My heart sings a brand new song.
The debt is paid these chains are gone.
Emanuel—God with us.

Such a tiny offering compared to Calvary;
Nevertheless we lay it at your feet.
Such a tiny offering compared to Calvary;
Nevertheless we lay this at your feet,

All that is within me cries
For you alone be glorified.
Emanuel—God with us.

My heart sings a brand new song.
My debt is paid these chains are gone.
Emanuel—God with us.

Over the last week and a half I have tried hard to ponder the thoughts of the song as I go to sleep. I usually hear it three times before sleep sets in. Now my morning walks in the park in conversation with God are not so limited in time and space. God is with me the night before.

A new year, a new understanding

New year's day nearly always represent new beginnings for people in some aspect of life or another. It's important for people to get new starts. We live in compartments and experience life in phases. We live from one holiday to the next, from one vacation time to another, from one season of the year to the next. We practice our understandings better at seasons of recall than in the long haul.

So, I am going to try this coming year to understand a particular set of Jesus' words better than the last year. The words come from John 4 when Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well and asks for a drink of water. Although the woman does not refuse a drink outright, she finds a way of putting off Jesus' request.

Jesus answered, "If you only knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you life-giving water."
"Sir," the woman said, "you don't have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where would you get that life-giving water? It was our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well; he and his children and his flocks all drank from it. You don't claim to be greater than Jacob, do you?"
Jesus answered, "Those who drink this water will get thirsty again, but those who drink the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give them will become in them a spring which will provide them with life-giving water and give them eternal life."
"Sir," the woman said, "give me that water! Then I will never be thirsty again, nor will I have to come here to draw water."

Like the Samaritan woman, I am intrigued with having water that gives me life now and eternity later. So, I ask for this kind of water. The comparison of concrete water to an abstract water has much to offer in the way of understanding. It's the obvious—following Jesus' teachings lead to eternal life. But, it may be the less obvious. Once Jesus' teachings are ingested, they are the spring within us that keeps us from having to go back again and again. We don't need to keep reviewing, we need to enjoy the perpetual spring, our conscience, that considers what we already know to be true.

Forgiveness and slander come to mind as two teachings we have ingested but really don't enjoy our consciences considering. We don't have to review the teachings on forgiveness and slander over and over. Our consciences remind us each time an occasion arises to continue on a higher path or ignore the right behavior and take the lower road. The teaching has been ingested so we really do know which behavior leads to life.

There are many more nuggets here. I want to revisit them at regular intervals during the year and check my understanding.

Happy new year, happy new beginnings in whatever way you are starting new.