Reflection and the Beauty of Transforming Grace

Because I haven't been posting much over the past couple years as I had wanted to, I am now trying to make a concerted effort to do so. In this process, I've been reviewing and reflecting on my older posts.

Wow...

It's hard reading things that I know are true and right but so quickly I have, not forgotten, but have lost focus of, things that should be clear, things that must be black & white I have let fall into the gray.  I guess this is just part of life and learning as I get older, and hopefully by the grace of God, wiser.

Sometimes we, and this is so hard to admit, fall backwards. You know, taking two steps forward only to slip three steps back. That kind of thing where you're trying desperately to move forward but you just can't seem to get ahead. It could also be focus too. I'm not or haven't been focusing on what I should. I have been distracted.

First things first. I will freely admit that once again I have been distracted by the currents of the day; the economy, the political arena/stage, my own selfish desires and worries. As a result my spiritual growth has stalled somewhat. What got me going recently was taking time out on Good Friday with a spiritual brother and traveling to Mount Saint Mary University to go through the stations of the cross at the grotto. It truly was beautiful. I needed it. Not only did I need it then at that time as a retreat and escape from distractions to focus on the spiritual, but I also need need that break to occur more regularly.

This is what I'm finding out about myself as a person and more importantly in my spiritual relationship with Yeshua. I must make time and for me personally it must be outdoors in God's creation, in the woods, on a mountain, by a river or stream, this is where God meets me. Yes, He's everywhere, but this is where we hangout. I've known this for a while but amid the noise and distraction I lose focus on it over and over. Now I realize this is my fight. I must battle the ever encroaching distractions in my life and get away. For spiritual clarity, for renewal, for communion with the Divine.

Practicing the Presence.

Out there which in ways is really in here. Getting away from everything else in order to get within myself. To admit, to confess, to come clean, to be as a stone washed by the river. Letting God in to smooth over my rough edges. I must understand myself to understand others. We share the same struggles but with different faces.

Well that's what this whole thing is about, Life. Living in the space between. Life is the Constant Struggle. We are all living in the Tension.

Some of us like the old song find ourselves going down to the river to pray, others of us go to the mountain top. Either way we must choose where we will go and we must go somewhere, it's no use not going somewhere. Take time to get away. Even if it's a half hour it's better to go than not. God rewards us when we go. Faith gets us going. If you need faith, ask. It always begins with asking. Like the man who brought his kid to Jesus to be healed from an unclean spirit. When Jesus asked Him if he believed he said, "LORD I believe, help my unbelief." That is powerful. I know I believe but the parts of me that are still struggling to believe I know God will help me believe.

So let that be your prayer, "LORD I believe, help my unbelief." Next thing you know you'll be out there hiking and praying like the saints of old.

Be blessed my friend.

Reflections of Faith in Time

Sands of Time when exposed to the pressure and fire of our experiences turn to glass, which like a lens we perceive our life. Yet still our own selfishness blinds us. We will never truly be an observer when our own life is involved. Our perspective skews our sight. At least while we are still living.


Thank God for Divine Mercy and Grace!!!


Wow it's been two years since my last post. I'm thinking about doing it more often honestly. So here goes. On FB I posted this as my status earlier and I wanted to continue that line of thinking.


We have more than enough "churches," what we need is "The Church." Pastors are a dime a dozen, more than most see it as a job not a calling. We don't need more pastors; we need real shepherds to point us to The Good and True Shepherd. "The LORD is my Shepherd..."


This past year has had it's share of ups and downs; physically, economically, and especially spiritually. I am a Thinker. I dwell on things, I contemplate, plan, revise, meditate, and to a fault question. Not so much doubt but question the universality of things, as in the phase, "Unity, not Uniformity." 


Along the journey that is life, many of us find ourselves on a spiritual path. Some find Absolute Truth, others can't seem to see past quasi-truth through spiritual relativism. I'm not here to debate these issues in extreme depth. I adhere to there being Absolute Truth, and specifically that of an all powerful, all knowing, all present, Personal Creator; YHWH of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles. Yes I believe in the Trinity, etc, etc. Skip past all the argumentation and theological presuppositions. Get to the Personal Creator part. God wants to be known to us. As over used as it is, faith in God is about "Relationship not Religion." 


Follow me. God wants to hear our prayers, but He wants more than that. God wants our praise and even more so our worship, but still He wants more. God wants our love, yet still more. Not just love for Him like were fulfilling a prerequisite. No, He wants honest affection, deep desire. 


Simply put, God wants to be intimate with us. 


Closer to us than the air in our lungs. He wants to permeate our lives. 


Does this require change on our parts? Most definitely. 


"But that's legalism!" 


NO. It's not. It's love. Love in action. 


Us accepting His love toward us and giving it back to Him, direct love. And also to others, loving Him indirectly. How's that? Loving God by Loving others.We cannot truly love others without loving God first. Because the love must come from someone. After all He loved us while we were still enemies to Him.


So change? Yes. In the same way we show love in a relationship by changing aspects of our behavior and life, this too happens and must happen between us and God. Hint: God doesn't change... you know what that means, we must.  Does God want us to become a robot? And follow a stiff and dry traditional method of rigid religion? I'd hope not. Remember King David? Guy danced around the streets of Jerusalem shamelessly. He wrote the Psalms, sung and played the harp. Creativity it's a gift. But it's not just the gifts and talents we have it's how we direct them. How we give credit to God not steal the glory for ourselves. That's Pride, it sucks, and it always comes back to bite us in the end. 


Now back to that loving that God wants. He not only wants love for Himself, but He wants us to love others with the love He gave us that they may know His love through us. Like we're just a conduit for His love to flow through. Like if someone is messed up and God the Great Physician operates on them, we are the scalpel, you know, an instrument in His hand.  Now that's perspective.


What am I getting to? I'm getting to a series of questions I am faced with. Do I have to go to a church to be at church? Why are people so concerned about a building of brick and mortar and not a living Body of people? Are these questions too much? If I'm not surrounded by a hundred people repeating the same words or lyrics does God still hear me? What is the church's purpose? Is the church in America obese? I mean really? Is it full of unhealthy things? Fat? Excess? Excessive programs and activities that keep us busy but don't promote healthy spiritual growth? What can we learn from the Christian Celtic monks like St. Patrick? Or even from that of the Italian St. Francis of Assisi? Or Jesus Himself praying in the garden of Gethsemane? 


There is something that connects Nature/Creation and the Presence of God. Yes, God is everywhere. No, I'm not getting all "New Age." I'm just saying we made church buildings,(not that they are bad), but God made nature. I'd like to think of it as His church or cathedral. Maybe I'm being overly cynical, but to me going to a church sometimes feels like putting up a Eureka! or Kelty tent in a massive gothic cathedral to worship God in? Absurd isn't it?! (I know it may not be the best example).


Last fall I left a church I had attended and volunteered in for the past seven years. Now I'm at a point in life where I've seen people who left the church after high school or had nothing to do with it come back or into the faith. But is it about church the place or "The Church" the remnant of devout deeply personal faithful followers of Jesus the Messiah? I seen the fakes, the half-hearted, the angry, the weak in faith. I've seen many fall away. It's sad. We're all broken. But don't give up. All this is to say I haven't left the faith, I haven't given up. I'm exploring faith in a way that most find strange or out of the norm. And that's okay. Why? Because I worship in Spirit and Truth. I attend church off and on. The important thing is not the building but the people. It's finding a place to meet God without being overwhelmed, without being distracted, without being smothered, without facing an inquisition of our whereabouts the week(s) before. What if we as Christians, maybe not all but a few, wanted to meet God out in His Creation? What if we went on a hike on Sunday morning to a quiet rock or by a stream or to a mountain top? We went to a place He made for us not a building we "made for Him" (but looks like more it's been made for ourselves). You don't have to do it all the time but every once in a while by yourself or with friends in the faith, get away worship God in freedom. I'm not saying this is how you must worship God, not by any means. What I am saying is you may need a break, a sabbatical, a breath of fresh air. I know I did and still do. I don't love God any less, in fact I"m falling more in love with my saviour! 


What do I do exactly? 


Pick a place to go to, usually a state park. I'll throw a CD in to sing along to or just to listen and prepare my mind and heart before I get to the trail head. I'll bring a Bible, maybe a devotional or two and some water. I usually leave the phone in the car or if I'm going way out there at least turn it off and put it in my pack. Then I walk and talk to God, mostly internally in my head but sometimes out loud. I ask a lot of questions. Then I find a nice place to stop and I'll read a Psalm or two or three. Meditate on the words. Pray some more and sometimes I'll read one Psalm repeatedly letting the words reverberate within my soul.


I hope someone at least tries to do this. I wouldn't mind the company. Keep the faith!  


Thank God. Praise God. Ask God. Worship God. Thank God.