Yesterday was one of those days that if I didn't know better I would accuse God of being mad at me.
Driving down to Fresno, to meet a dear friend and discuss some good choices she was making after a very tough couple of years, I was caught up in a police sting operation where they were waiting behind bushes to catch me and a few others who were going 11 mph over the 40 miles an hour speed limit (that is 51mph, if you are an emergite). Then, I went to the bank to deposit my check at the ATM but realized my check was 37 miles away sitting on my kitchen table where I left it that morning, which I then had to drive back to get when I realized our bank account was close to rubberizing. So I drove back home, grabbed the check and turned around to come back to Fresno deposit my check at the bank and have lunch with my good friend Dan, who treated me to a lunch of Pad Thai Shrimp (noodles). (Emergites know what that is I am sure!)
Dropped off Dan at his office, I wanted to stop quickly at a pawn shop to see if they had any ukeleles. I pulled into a parking garage, got my ticket, pulled into a parking stall on the 4th floor, walked down the four flights of stairs and across the street to find out neither of the pawn shops, next to the Coney Island restaurant had any ukuleles, but they did have a couple of $400.00 mandelins. Ran back across the street drove, walked up the stairs, drove down to check out and then the parking ticket slips under the dash board and the vinyl dashboards cuts my fingers as I am trying to reach under it to grab the ticket which I kept pushing it further into the recesses under the dash. Now my fingers are dripping blood on the dash as I drive up to explain to the parking lot attendant that I just pulled in 10 minutes ago max and my ticket was stuck under the dash board. He saw the pool of blood on the dash and probably pushed the hidden alarm button to summons the police and the Fresno CSI (who will never have a television show about them). I had to pay the lost ticket fee of $7.00 and fill out a form to explain the ticket misplacement. I dripped blood on the form which caused the Fresno PD's HazMat Team (Hazardous Material) to be deployed with their cones, suits, tape, gloves, breathing apparatus, and manuals to properly dispose of a potental AID, hepititis, or Wes Craven body fluids infected form. (well... maybe he just looked at me strangely and I made up the whole HazMat stuff.)
On the way up the hill I stopped off at American Music and bought a ukelele. It was pretty wierd because the place was filled with a generation of multi-tattooed Korn devotees and I am in there buying a uke (that's what we ukelele artists call it). They were staring at me as I asked for a Mel Bay 2006 song book of ukelele hits. I left hearing murmurs of "Dude, I hope that doesn't happen to me when I get that old..."
I then rushed back up the hill to a 3:30p appointment I had with the new pastor at Sierra Vista to step out of some responsibilities with the Time & Space Community to spend more time with my family and new responsibilities at Calvin Crest. In the middle of the conversation, the power goes out and we sit in mostly darkness for the rest of the meeting. (This was a great first meeting.) Power came on 5 minutes before it was time to go two hours later.
I then realized I was responsible for dinner and didn't pick up anything earlier, so I called home and asked Christel what she wanted, she told me she wanted me to make that decision. So I went to KFC (which use to stand for Kentucky Fried Chicken but now stands for Kitchen Fried Chicken). I waited at the drive up speaker for about 3 minutes when a voice comes out of the speaker at me that tensely says, "we will begin serving at 6:30!" No, "I am sorry..." or "you know the power outage caused the oil to coagulate or whatever and we have to wait a few minutes to heat it up and tell you what why don't you drive up to the window and we can talk about your day and I can hand you a hand wipe to clean up the blood that is spewing all over your car and the parking lot..." I just drove off. I didn't bring anything home to eat, not even any magic beans. We had bacon and eggs for dinner.
After cleaning up the dishes, I sat down and played my new ukelele until it opened up the cuts on my fingers and I had to put it back in its case before it filled up with blood.
All of this to say, I am saved by grace for faith, not of my own but it is a gift from Christ, for His purpose and plan. He isn't mad, he is still bleeding...
28 February 2006
23 February 2006
The post office and the Kingdom...
There is something about knowing where the post office is (the understanding of life and the way of people) and the knowing where the Kingdom is. The Kingdom is more than the place of eternity, it is the place of now. What is God doing now? Where is the Lover at work now?
WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) is not the question, WIGD (What Is God Doing) is. The first denies that the Creator is present and participating in the now. This paradigm opens up a huge issue of it is about me trying to figure out what God would want from me, and worst we limit the conversation to what college we should go to and which job we feel called to, etc. We attend "worship services" instead of worshipping in Spirit and Truth because it doesn't matter, "I am just putting in my time." My wife would divorce me (with good cause) if I treated her like we treat God as if she doesn't exist. (I was talking about my wife being a she, I was not trying to feminize God)
What is worse than a pastor who does not know the difference between the Kingdom and the Post Office is a congregation that continually follows someone only because his/her resume is strong or he/she can speak well and keep it under 20 minutes. The congregation sets the bar low and accepts those who are pleasant to listen to and doesn't ask much of them.
We are saved by grace for what purpose? The blood of Christ was shed from what purpose? Sin redemption? For what purpose. So we can get into heaven? For what purpose. People don't like "christians" on earth will we be more likable in heaven? I don't think so.
I got to go mail a package...
WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) is not the question, WIGD (What Is God Doing) is. The first denies that the Creator is present and participating in the now. This paradigm opens up a huge issue of it is about me trying to figure out what God would want from me, and worst we limit the conversation to what college we should go to and which job we feel called to, etc. We attend "worship services" instead of worshipping in Spirit and Truth because it doesn't matter, "I am just putting in my time." My wife would divorce me (with good cause) if I treated her like we treat God as if she doesn't exist. (I was talking about my wife being a she, I was not trying to feminize God)
What is worse than a pastor who does not know the difference between the Kingdom and the Post Office is a congregation that continually follows someone only because his/her resume is strong or he/she can speak well and keep it under 20 minutes. The congregation sets the bar low and accepts those who are pleasant to listen to and doesn't ask much of them.
We are saved by grace for what purpose? The blood of Christ was shed from what purpose? Sin redemption? For what purpose. So we can get into heaven? For what purpose. People don't like "christians" on earth will we be more likable in heaven? I don't think so.
I got to go mail a package...
17 February 2006
Ummm...
A little boy was waiting on his mother to come out of a store. As he waited, he was approached by a man who asked, "Son, can you tell me where is the post office?"
The little boy replied, "Sure, just go straight down the street a couple of blocks and turn to your right."
The man thanked the boy kindly and said, "I'm the new preacher in town, and I'd like for you to come to church on Sunday. I'll show you how to get to Heaven."
The little boy replied with a chuckle, "Awww, come on; you don't even know the way to the post office!"
The little boy replied, "Sure, just go straight down the street a couple of blocks and turn to your right."
The man thanked the boy kindly and said, "I'm the new preacher in town, and I'd like for you to come to church on Sunday. I'll show you how to get to Heaven."
The little boy replied with a chuckle, "Awww, come on; you don't even know the way to the post office!"
06 February 2006
Further thinking...
I don't find obsolescence to be the same as useless. An 8 Track tape player is obsolete but not useless. I have an understanding of what I am and I know that I am not useless. But I need to continuely finding my usefulness in the Kingdom on a regular basis. I believe in knowing that there are shelf lives to everything we own. Nothing is eternal everything wears out. My Levi's seem to wear out quicker today than they did in the sixties. (At my age patches are not cool.)
It is naive to think that just because something was effective last year would be just as effective this year. The second law of thermaldynamics is "in all energy exchanges, if no energy enters or leaves the system, the potential energy of the state will always be less than that of the initial state." Entropy. It begins to break down.
There is something that I am working on and I am not sure what will come of it but I am thinking of the relationship of the physical truth to the spiritual truth. Is there a spiritual second law of thermaldynamics? How has the "laws" of education, affected our spiritual lives. Are there spiritual modalities just as there are learning modalities. Is it good that we dismiss intuitiveness for rational and empirical logic? What is the spiritual implications in this. What if the Catholics are right when they discuss Mary's place in the Kingdom. We dismiss it entirely and throw out Mary's blessedness with the coredemptrix bathwater. The only place held by Mary in the Protestant tradition is usually by a young adolescent girl in a Christmas pageant. By dismissing the transsubstanciation of the blood and flesh of Christ have we inadvertantly removed the very presence of Christ in whenever two or more are gathered in His name? And what have we done to His name? The blessed name.
The Muslims are very upset about cartoons that are derogatory toward Muhammad. I don't blame them. Is our sacred right for free speech more important than the Holiness of a Prophet? By dismissing holiness in the name of mediocrity have we devenerated all saints thus minimizing the sacredness of life of the common.
Just thinking...
It is naive to think that just because something was effective last year would be just as effective this year. The second law of thermaldynamics is "in all energy exchanges, if no energy enters or leaves the system, the potential energy of the state will always be less than that of the initial state." Entropy. It begins to break down.
There is something that I am working on and I am not sure what will come of it but I am thinking of the relationship of the physical truth to the spiritual truth. Is there a spiritual second law of thermaldynamics? How has the "laws" of education, affected our spiritual lives. Are there spiritual modalities just as there are learning modalities. Is it good that we dismiss intuitiveness for rational and empirical logic? What is the spiritual implications in this. What if the Catholics are right when they discuss Mary's place in the Kingdom. We dismiss it entirely and throw out Mary's blessedness with the coredemptrix bathwater. The only place held by Mary in the Protestant tradition is usually by a young adolescent girl in a Christmas pageant. By dismissing the transsubstanciation of the blood and flesh of Christ have we inadvertantly removed the very presence of Christ in whenever two or more are gathered in His name? And what have we done to His name? The blessed name.
The Muslims are very upset about cartoons that are derogatory toward Muhammad. I don't blame them. Is our sacred right for free speech more important than the Holiness of a Prophet? By dismissing holiness in the name of mediocrity have we devenerated all saints thus minimizing the sacredness of life of the common.
Just thinking...
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