On Stillness

 

It’s been a while.

Sometimes you are following a direction and you're reluctant to change course because it means you must go back to where you started—back to where you made the turn that led you down the road you are now on, but once you go back and get on the right road it feels better and you're glad that you turned back.

Where We Live

I haven't heard it yet.  I'm sure it's been said but I haven't read it, so here goes:  Race relations have not gotten worst with the election of President Obama!  What has happened is under President Obama the hate and racism that has never subsided, has been enraged and embolden to find expression in the public square.  It's an illusion to talk about making America great again when it has never been great—not for enslaved Africans, or victims of Jim Crowe legislation or the fallen soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement.  That gets us from about 1619 to now.  So when is it exactly that we are trying to return to.  Until we face who we are as America, greatness will continue to be a fantasy and an illusion.

Freedom in Forgiveness

I have learned that anger and engagement with evil no matter who is at fault results in a weight—a heavyness of the spirit. When it is released one is enabled to connect with the Spirit of God. This is the reason that the scriptures teach us forgiveness and to turn the other cheek, so that we can operate in freedom from the burden of entanglement with sin. I encourage you today to forgive and release any resentment you have harbored against anyone so that you can be free.

¹³ Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. ¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

My Pen Continued...

I was attacked by my pen--

Thought after thought

Taken from deep within me--

Thoughts I'd been holding on to as my private possession

No one else could see

My pen reached in and began to take them all from me

You win

Thank you anyway

Pen

My Pen

I wrote again today

Its been a long time

But my pen woke me up and said

Let's do this!

Let's do what I asked?

Capture the moment--express it--

Tell it--tell somebody!!

So under the influence of my pen

I started to write again

There is so much I kept inside

So I am glad to talk again

Thank you pen

Continued...

The Time is Now!

This week the Lord told me to stop waiting. Stop waiting on what? I asked. Stop waiting on human encouragement. Stop waiting on consensus. Stop waiting on more support. I was told "move now with all deliberate speed to fulfill the mission to which I have called you." The Lord told me to love deeply. To be patient with misunderstanding but not to be deterred from the mission. This week the Lord told me that I have equipped you with everything you need to be successful. Move. The time is now! Don't be afraid. Fear only me.

¹⁷ “Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. ¹⁸ Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. ¹⁹ They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Je 1:17-19

Freedom to be

Freedom is the absence of fear and doubt. I have often failed to choose a new direction even after the old way had proven unfulfilling and even miserable. I have been imprisoned by the thought that I am better off remaining in a familiar place than risking trying a new direction because of the potential to fail. I didn't seem to realize that my present suffering may have been familiar but it was no less undesirable than the possibilities I feared. At least with the new way comes new opportunities most of which would represent an improvement on my imprisonment. Freedom entered to release me from my self-imposed lock down and offered the opportunity for escape. Not only that, Freedom offered to show me the right way out and the only way in.

6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) NIV