moving on ..

sometimes there's this .. move on

this blog is, for the most part, a done thingy
i ranted and raved about the mess we're in as 'christianity'
about the role of the leadership in that
and my part in it
and about the fundamentalist cultish approach to things christian
which damaged me and others ..
and too i decried the liberalistic approach that moves God into the hands of humans who want God to fit into their box and be shaped by their science/logic think
as if God is definable by us or by science and logic ..

we're so smart ..

i'm done with that

there's a place for that
and it never ceases to be relevant that the people God places in places of leadership should be upbraided wherever there is insensitivity to the Scriptures and the people ..
they are, after all, shepherds who, by definition, are responsible to represent Jesus to those people
to care for them in Jesus' name ..
that's big
and God treats it as big
Jesus spent much of his energy decrying the abuses of the leaders

it's time for me to shift my line-of-sight
turn towards more positive stuff
looking for edification and building and strengthening and encouragement

i hope it doesn't become another self-help/mushy/mish-mash of dribble
if it does please let me know ..

the focus of Messiah's body is just that ..
to work together to bring to maturity all the members
every one
to the fulness of the measure of Jesus

and it doesn't mean i won't ever again rantandrave ..

thanks for being here
now go here ..

http://denyingme.blogspot.com/

shalom ..

mercy trumps judgement ..

taptaptap
   on the glass window ..
who ? at this time of night ..
taptaptap ..

i know that girl ..
" got anything to eat ? "
..  .  . .

no gear .. no gear
nothing ..
i scramble up some stuff
i found a small blanket, a sweater, a sweat shirt and a beanie
don't have any sleeping bags !

you can't sleep here
have to come back at 4.00 a.m. when we open the Hangout ..

at 3.30 i walk the street nearby
miss her the first time
second time i see her
almost missed her again ..
almost invisible
in the dark
on the sidewalk next to the store wall ..

she's here now            
eating donuts oatmeal boiled egg and drinking coffee

she's from south carolina
says her stuff gets stolen all the time
no gear

. .  .    .     .                .

why ?   ?         ?
can't ?
we ?
solve ?
this ?

she shouldn't be sleeping on the sidewalk
she should have a safe place to sleep ... .. ..       .
she should have a bag to sleep in
she should not have her gear ripped-off
she should not be abused
   or played
 .. . .     .

i have an idea ..
if everyone who names the name of Jesus was to help
one person at a time
as they run across them in their homeplace
it would lessen the hurt
lighten the load of suffering these people carry around in their backpacks
.. don't you think  ?

isn't that what we're called to do ?   ??

Jesus ..
Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 
I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; 
I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; 
I was a stranger and you took Me in;
I was naked and you clothed Me;
I was sick and you took care of Me;
I was in prison and you visited Me.’

Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’

And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’

to
          one
of the
                    least ..
.. you did it
for
              me ..

' called to do '  ??    ?
we have to be ' called ' to be human to our human brothers and sisters  ??
but.. that's part-and-parcel of being human ..
isn't it  ?

we'll stop for a wounded bird, sometimes nursing it back to health
or for a stray dog
but we walk right pass a homeless person  .  ... . ....    .
what's with that  ?

we parade and demonstrate over adopting animals to prevent their death
and leave the homeless to do their slowdeath
death one day at a time ..  .  ?
what's with that  ?

Jesus' words then are a slam in the face of our humaness ..
we aren't even getting to square 1 ..
and those of us that are ' christians ' are all the more accountable for our unwillingness to be human
to be Jesus-followers
demonstrated in a big way by showing mercy

shame on us  !
shame ..

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 

Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but you say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet” - have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Hasn't God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 
But you have dishonored the poor. 
Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Aren't  they the ones who are dragging you into court? Aren't they the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?..
judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. 
                             
                    Mercy triumphs over judgment.

mercy
triumphs
over judgement
every time

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds with their faith? Can such faith save them? 
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

actioned faith
faith moving
towards my neighbour
love played out through mercy

love the Lord with all you are
and love your neighbour like you love yourself
all
all the law and the prophets
are contained in these 2

we are failing dreadfully at being ' christian '
and that at the most basic level
we fail from the ground up
and everything else is spitting in a strong wind
useless really
fail

Jesus ..
I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another.      
          By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you love for one another.

in living that love we love others
      everyother
we show that by helping them
we show that by embracing them
we show that by accepting them
listening to them
hearing them
allowing them to cry out their soul
   'cause noone's listening

.....

this dude says he's been sleeping in wet sleeping bags since the last rain
3 days ..
sleeping at 40 degrees, outdoors, in wet bags
his clothes are damp
his bones are cold
3 days
and nights
tailending on years of sleeping in the streets ..
how much longer can his system handle it .. ? ?

mercy

mercy triumphs over judgment

go
and do likewise

shalom

troubled ..

watching the tides roll in
the waves
rocks
birds
breeze
sunlife
   life

back of that lies noel and his 2 girl-friends
sleeping in a car
looking for help ..

he just landed a job
but they have no money for deposit/rent on an apartment

i gave them
stuff
smile
chat a while

and they leave
because there's no room in the inn
none

there is no inn

noel's 22
one of those girl-friends has a baby

one day
they'll stay
if i have any effect at all

in Jesus' name

shalom

the purple shoebox covered in dirt ..

today is a gorgeous day
yet
a faint odour of death tinges the atmosphere
just there
in the shadows next to those rosebushes
in a purple shoebox wrapped in a many-coloured scarf

young
mourning for their young
youth
troubled youth
struggling with life as it is
without a home
watching the dirt

there's a child in that purple shoebox wrapped in a many-coloured scarf
michael

her sad croons of sadness
and love
" i love you michael " ..

mother lost in the deathly shadows
father hiding .. mask on

there was a closure of some sort i'm sure
but there will never be closure until death is destroyed

children burying their children
how cruel is that  ?
it cries out ..
   nay screems
for mercy
for justice
 for goodness
for
love

for
reconciliation

it's coming
praise God ! it's coming
on the way now even as i write these words

i am too restricted
too constricted
too confined
too damaged in my broken creation
to understand it all
too damned naive too ..

Lord Messiah Jesus pains
even in the pursuit of that reconciliation
as he watches the dirt fall on the purple shoe box

michael will live again

but the bondage of death is suffocating
can't breathe
can't think
can't speak
.. numb
it's everything life is not

reconciliation
Jesus
life
   from death
hope
   out of tragedy
love
   rising in a blaze from the ashes
      of the purple shoebox

reconciliation of everything cosmos
and God will be all in all
IAmThatIAm will dwell with us and be our God
we his people
age upon age

allelujah !

. ..   .     .

2 stars a cross 3 small flowers
and a purple shoebox covered in dirt

compassioning .... .

in a friendly discussion with a fellowdisciple who cares a bunch about the marginalized

the point was well-made that homeless people sometimes cause problems for the general public and for business houses

some can be boisterous and messy and inyourface ..
i stepped from there across the divide
and tried to walk into their space for a minute
   as ignorant as i am of their condition

thing is .. . .   .
when you have no place to call ' home '
when you have no privacy
when you never get to use your bathroom
   only public restrooms and sometimes the woods
when you have to truck everything you own around with you all the time
   which is basically whatever you can move with
   which = hardly anything you don't absolutely need
      no picture albums with family fotos
      no teddy bears from when you were 2
      nothing extraneous at all
when you have to look for space to sleep night after night after night
   and never ever know how safe you will be on any given night
when you're wet and cold and have no way to get dry
   sometimes for days
when you have to deal with traffic and water and getting splashed
when you walk into a place soaked from rain and have to endure all the glances and stares
when people are constantly judging you for your condition
   looking down their noses past their gold-framed specs and mascara
   as if you were some wet stray dog
when you have to ask for everything
   hand outstretched
   and then have to ask tomorrow again
   and the next day
   and the day after that
      feeling indebted to everone
when you never ever feel comfortable regardless of where you are
when you have to face cops and militant neighbourhood folk and protective business owners
and anywhere you are is not cool for somebody or the other
when your days run into one another
   and you walk for an hour to get to a soup kitchen for food
   and realize it's the wrong day for that ..
   now you have to get back
      find another source for a meal
when all about you is suspect
   all day
   every day   .  . . .      .       .

when you are the person noone wants to see or hear or be around
they just want you gone from there
gone from their space
... invisible

when that kinda stuff defines who you are

then
i can see how you get upset so easily
maybe have an overly defensive attitude
get easily offended, even when no offense was intended
fly-off at almost nothing ..

i get that
i get it

because i am not an animal
i am a human
and i deserve shelter
and i deserve food
and the privacy that accompanies toileting and showering

i deserve the basic life-rights of a human created in the image of God

.....  .. .  .    .

when daily life is spent on the edge
walking the fence line
   where 1 misstep left is wild dogs and 1 misstep right is animistic auhtority
when it seems the whole world
doesn't want me around ..

how can you not understand my constant tension
how can you not see my stress
how can you be so judgmental of my attitude
of my drinking
how can you be
so heartless ..

help
just take it on as a family matter
and look to help
with longsuffering
with patience
out of love
for Jesus
and
me

i am the you you fear ..

love me
help me
hear me
see me

give me space to be human
to feel human again


.... in Jesus' name

compassion .. ~

stepping out of my space

crossing over 

into your space

to be 

you

enough already .. tough issue #3

well well ...
who'd have thought ..

been trying to say this for days, but want to say it right
   with the right attitude
   sometimes that takes time, patience, backing-off
....   . ..  .

on the 29th i introduced a 3rd ' tough issue ' for me as i work my way back through my doctrinal stuff

i had already posted on these:

- ' tough issue 1 .. inclusivism '
         http://asthekingdomturns.blogspot.com/2013/10/tough-issue-2-is-evangelization.html

- ' tough issue 2 .. is evangelization the priority of the church '
         http://asthekingdomturns.blogspot.com/2013/10/tough-issue-1-inclusivism.html


i'm simply talkin' my head out as i walk through it ..
personal stuff, really
   but my blog is my journey ..
i don't expect anyone necessarily to go the same route or to agree with my think
i'm just putting it in writing as i go, and if it strikes a note with anyone then that's cool ..

so i posted
then, all of a sudden
bang !
i realized i had touched a nerve
exposed tension ..

on fb and in conversation and on the blog
there was this tension building
fast ..
impassioned ' statements ' and challenges
and even veiled rebukes for my naivete - my stubborn refusal to accept the science of the thing ..
kinda put me on my backfoot ..

and then the debate showed up .. Nye vs Ham ..
i had no idea it was coming
just poked its head into the issue for all the world to see, apparently ..
and more stuff came tensioning out

and i began to feel quite uncomfortable

i stopped working through the issue as my attention was redirected to the potshots and lobbed grenades that now attended the debate ..
serious stuff
christians shooting christians
bang bang
wow ..
same ol' same ol' ..

i started shifting down, looking for reverse
seems i jumped into shark-infested water
and now i want
out

the creation/evolution thing became linked to other stuff ( think strawman )
guilty by association ..
it don't fly
not with me
i been in this too long
. .. .     .

there's something to be said for placing a high value on scripture
regardless of  ' proof '
i don't worship scripture, but i revere it - i have a ' deep respect ' for it and try to honour it
for i see it as inspired writings
inspired by God

. . .   .    .

i'm not burying my head in the sand on this; after all, it was for just the opposite reason that i went here ..
it never was my intention to create more factioning
i was moving in the direction of
                                                   understanding
                                unity
friendly discussion around the family table on a niggling issue

at the end of the day, i don't have the educational history or intellectual faculties to address the science of it at this stage ..
but
my issue is not the science of the matter as much as how it speaks to God and his revelation
   and my life as a disciple of Jesus ..
the science is part of it
scripture and revelation and Godness is the other

God is never ever reducible to science ..
   that doesn't means he necessarily conflicts with science
   simply that our science may not be scientific enough yet
      as in Jesus walking on water
      healing the withered hand
      and the man at the pool of bethesda, invalid for 38 years
      feeding thousands with very little
      raising lazarus from death
where do we go with that  ?
myth  ?
allegorical stories that need to be mined for some underlying truth  ?
   maybe
fact is, if there's any reality to miracles
they defy science

.. . .

we need to give God room to be God

he will not be boxed
... . . .

and, by the way, it's really hard to take a lifetime of conviction on a spiritual issue that sits deep in your soul and which syncs with scripture as a whole
   and which colours your view of God and Earth and humanity and Jesus and ..
      and toss it ..
that's tough ..
so when you sit in your place
be gracious
and recognize that others are struggling at soul-level with this
   not brain-level only

..  . .   .

one final thing ..
when i assume a position on a doctrinal matter, the argument that it turns people off of christianity is flatout invalid
i don't ever set out to turn people off of Jesus
Jesus is my master ..
my positioning is primarily a result of my attempt to align myself with him ..
if people are offended by that, i'm sorry ..
i don't bring this issue to the table as a fighter
i hardly discuss it ..
i raised it on my blog for discussion as a sticky issue
.. .

i watched about 40 mins of the debate
i don't know i'll be watching the rest
   at least not yet

i relent
i quit
can't handle the heat

i'll maybe see you again on this issue someday

thanks so much to those who contributed to the conversation ..
i appreciate it

think i'll grab my bible and whistle-up my dogfriend and head back into personal private refection on this matter
for now
.. or not

after all
i hate war ..

peace and love

and shalom to you

in Jesus' name

good read on Jesus ..

as part of a series of blog posts on who Jesus is, this post stands out
   but you should read the others too

http://reknew.org/2014/02/what-kind-of-god-did-jesus-reveal/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-kind-of-god-did-jesus-reveal

tough issue #3 more .. good article ..

i just picked up the following link from a website i follow
i am where the writer is in his personal history on this issue
as i said from post 1, this is not a must-have for me; i introduced it as a tough issue for consideration and discussion, and apparently Ham and Nye jumped in ..  :)

http://redemptionpictures.com/2014/02/04/creation-v-evolution/

tough issue #3 followup .. a debate on creation/evolution ..

apparently ( as in, i missed it )
there was this debate ..
and, fortuitously, it was on this issue we've been discussing

i read something about it just now
here ..
http://www.redletterchristians.org/ken-ham-v-bill-nye-christians-passionate-helping-poor/

the church, the church .. whence the church ? ..

   

it's a sad sad statement of the state of the church Jesus intended
that we want the state to deal with human suffering ..

it's said of some christians that when the great plague destroyed 1/3 of european humanity
instead of running from towns where the plague hit
they moved in and helped/comforted those left to die of that awful killer
a marvelous demonstration of newlife in Jesus and his intent to love all
even if it means giving up my life in the doing of it ..
( course the scriptures teach from the mouth of Jesus himself that we are to lose our lives, give them up, in the pursuit of him, as disciples .. )

( http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/1991/issue30/3011.html )

point being, Jesus didn't make it incumbent on the government to relieve the condition of the poor and fatherless and widow and alien
we run towards suffering, not away from it ..

it was always a matter of loving my neighbour ..

selah ..~

a  couple things .
- we had to turn away people that wanted to spend the night sleeping on the lawn last night destined for temps in the mid-30's
young people
one of them a deaf/mute girl /./. ..
one day, God helping me, this is going to stop
at least in this place
someones will have to stop us doing it ..

- there is now officially a rationing of water usage in this place due to the worst drought in decades
guess who feels the brunt of that firstmost and foremost ??
the homeless will ..

seems the people who live on the fringes are the first to be pushed further out when things like this occur
shouldn't they be last to be hit ?
absolutely
they are already on the edge of life
how much further we going to push them ??

not i
i'm fighting it ..
any little way i can ..
God being my help ..

stay tuned ..
and pray for the hurting, the suffering, the margined
in Jesus' name

then
go and do likewise . . .   . . ..

shalom ..

tough issue #3 followup .. an article

the link is to an article that describes the basics of approaching the ' creation ' text in Genesis, allowing for evolution ..

it's a pretty good brief overview ..


http://www.faraday.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/resources/Faraday%20Papers/Faraday%20Paper%2011%20Lucas_EN.pdf

do the crossover ..

a few of us were talking today
we have in common christian concern for homelessness ..
some of us are

one voiced his plan on travelling to several cities and photo-recording the lives of homeless people
he wants to create a picture book

another wants to do something similar and put it on the internet

i mentioned in a recent post a project that went online last week, one close to my own heart
Not the Other, Oral Histories of People Experiencing Homelessness
( go here .. http://oralhistoriesproject.org/homepage.html )

i firmly believe that, outside the direct help we give our homeless brothers and sisters, this is the biggest thing we can do for them on a national scale

when we give people eyes and mouths and noses and the right/opportunity to tell
we give the statistics an opportunity to live ..

where did you sleep last night
what did you have for dinner ..
the homeless had a quite different experience
one sprinkled with fear, trepidation
seasoned with the insecurity of knowing that anything could happen to them this very night

in rapid-pace life like we experience it's easy to diss the person and nod to the stats
and in rapid-pace tech life it's easier to tech life
so that much of life occurs on a screen ..
that addiction to internet/cell sucks community out of me
i have less time and less opportunity and less interest in relating to people i can touch ..
it's easier too, because i can switch off whenever i get bothered or it gets too stressful or the person gets in my face ..
i can walk away

one exec at an internet news org recently gave up their cell for a week
think about that .. internet news exec .. no cell

we lose touch with the reality of people
because real people can't be tech'ed
the tech and the stats and the accompanying rhetoric are really ' virtual reality '
personhood is gone
relationship reduced to 1's and 0's and wifi signal-strength

we have removed ourselves from the ability to crossover to the other's reality
lost much of the soul of existence through relationship

think about that ..

compassion and empathy and understanding of another require relation on a real-life level ..
that's right where Jesus wants us
real-life
living life with him in mind
living life with person(s) in mind

we need so much to regain the crossover
to live in the facetoface of life
be able to feel the emotive content of the stats
be able to smell the homeless condition of my friend here
and that person there .. hadn't seen her before

be able to hug . . .    .... .
they really need a hug

that's why we need homeless stories
that's why we need to enable the homeless to tell their stories
they're human
they're imago dei too

Jesus resonates with the homeless
he lived there ..

i'm his disciple
i do what he do
i live where he live
i attitude his attitude

Jesus lived the crossover

let's do the crossover ..

shalom

' Not the Other ' .. a massive move for understanding the homeless

there's this thing i want to do
wanted to long before i came here
and still want to ..
i want to let homeless people tell their stories
and add faces and voices to the statistics
turn the numbers into people
a person ..

somebody is already doing that
and i think it's massive
kudos to Not The Other .. Oral Histories of People Experiencing Homelessness

go here .. http://oralhistoriesproject.org/homepage.html

blessings, and thank you for stepping-out and your hard work

this is such good stuff ..

tough issue 3 .. creation

it's becoming the ' in ' thing
maybe the ' smart ' or ' intellectual ' thing
to slide scripture across the table
more and more in the direction of fable
stopping at myth along the way ..
or versa vice

in the doing of that there are as many positions as there are points on the route ..
were there miracles ?
   which will we allow ?
did God ever step in along the way and do something outside the 'laws of nature'  ?
   could he  ? ..

and that's just the miracles issue ..
that was one of the easier issues to point at
there are a plethora of others
and a multiplicity of combinations of positions on the various issues
...  . .  . .

for some time i have been walking a discovery trail
Bible in hand
marking places here and there along the way
   with some carving in a tree or some underlining in a text
lookouts and jumpoffs and particularly awesome spots and potentially dangerous places ..
it's a personal journey
i have to go there alone
although i stop many places on the road, discussing this or that spot on the trail with other travellers over coffee or a local brew ..
listening, mostly

one thing i have decided ..
there aren't as many ' musts ' as i used to fight for
in fact there are far fewer
and i'm willing to walk a long stretch of road with folk that disagree with my theothink
because there's more to be insync about than to divide around..

point .. i'd appreciate it if you would offer me the same respect and consideration in your walk ..
that is, while you might think of my position as antiquated or unintelligent or whatever
treat me like family and not like some lost child
some black sheep on the run

... . ... . .     .

now let's pick a jumpoff point to illustrate ..

given that there are several types of genre used in scripture
   poetry and narrative and apocalyptic and whatever ...
and given that the books were written over a very long period
   allowing for social changes over the centuries and the morphing of oral/literary style to suit
and given that science sheds light on history ..
given givens like that
i allow for differences of opinion on most things

one issue that pops it's head up regularly, gopher-like
   our jumpoff
is the creation story ..
touchy ..
particularly touchy in that it speaks not only to revelation
but to factuality, as in supportable by science ..

while i have historically signed-on to the creation view
my take has allowed for the time frame that science supports - billions, rather than thousands of years
either by allowing for God to have created with the appearance of age
   creating with maturity in mind
or by allowing for something like the Gap Theory
   whereby there was an ' interruption ' in the time flow of the narrative
      particularly between Genesis 1.1 and 1.2 ..
or something similar ..
   i'm open ..
my philosophy being that God personally created ..
for me, all is built around that core issue
and evolution diss'es that ..

here's why my philosophy ..
it presents God as being intimately involved in the creation, particularly the creation of the human ..
it is the perfect expression of loving involvement
firstly in the act of forming the human from the dirt
and then, beautifully, in breathing life into that form..
marvelous wonderful loving God ..

that's not an issue of genre or interpretational framework or historical setting ..
it's simply an observation i have made over time across the grand scope of Scripture, epitomized in Messiah Jesus himself
   and in the kind of person i see revealed in his life ..

to me, ultimately, the issue of a more or less literal view of the creation erupts from the aura of the Scriptures as a whole
which posits a God rooted in love              
   demonstrated most boldly on a cross
   but pointed-to in other places,
      like the very same creation account

the same God that personally shed his otherworldy attributes and his glory
and took upon himself the form of the very human he created
humbling himself
   Creator becoming servant
   serving his creation to the point dying ..
that same God personally gathered dirt and molded it with his hands to form a body into which he breathed life
creating human
in the very image and likeness of him, Creator

incredible
and the only theological tenet applied is integrity - the wholeness and consistency of Scripture as a whole..

so that, when you empty my creation bucket on the ground
what remains is not a scientific issue or a particular theological positioning
it's a leaning towards the love of God illustrated in the intimacy of personally creating human in his own likeness and image ..
that along with Jesus own repeated testimony to it in his own words
   for red-letter christians ..

i cannot think of a better place to sit on that issue
at least for now ..

i'm there
regardless of theological bents on the one hand
regardless of scientific postulates on the other

where are you  ?

why are you there  ?

where do you get your view of it  ?
..  . .

for me it's not a matter of literal vs. non-literal
it's a matter of testimony to my rabbi
my master
the perfected revelation of God
and creator ..

Word incarnate ..   . . .      .


word

shalom

be ye childish ..

sometimes it's better to simply move in the direction God is pointing
and let the chips fall ..
sometimes we spend too much time trying to smooth the path
   butter the bread
that we fail in a different way
even if we eventually 'win' ..

sometimes we forget that God himself said
" if you trust me
i will smoothe the path and level the road for you .. "
kinda implies .. as you go
faith is trust-in-the-doing ..
in the going he will straighten the road and level the rough spots ..
God said that ..
God

i am not God ..
  .  .  . .  . . .     .

maybe it has something to do with
being childish ..

the passage that speaks to this is ..
..  the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 
So he called a child and set him among them and said, " Surely, unless you turn and become like children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven; so whoever humbles himself like this child - that person is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and whoever receives a child like this in my name receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble and fall, it would be better for them if a heavy millstone was hung around their neck and they were drowned in the depths of the sea! Woe to the world because of offenses, for offenses must come; but woe to that person who cause those offenses .. 
See that you don’t despise one of these little ones; I'm telling you, their angels in heaven are constantly in the presence of my Father. 
...The Son of Man has come to save the lost. What do you think - if a man has 100 sheep, and one of them wanders off, doesn't he leave the 99 on the hillside and go looking for the stray? And if he finds it, for sure he rejoices over that lost sheep more than over the 99 that didn't go astray. 
In the same way the will of your Father in heaven is that not one of these little ones perish.
        ( Matthew 18 )

 Then some brought children to him so he might put his hands on them and pray for them, but the disciples rebuked them. And Jesus said, “Leave the children alone, and don’t try to prevent them from coming to me - the kingdom of heaven is made up of people just like this.”
        ( Matthew 19 )

Jesus didn't point to the religious
or to the religious leaders - the popes and the priests and the pastors the imams and yogis and ascended masters and the shaman..
he didn't point-out the wealthy
or the philosopher
the genius
the successful
the warrior
the rich
the emperor
or the american idol ..
he distinctly identified
                                                 the children
as ' greatest in the kingdom of heaven ' ..

that kinda makes a mess out of what we would think
doesn't it .. ?
we would have looked for ... someone else
hardly a child

has something to do with humility ..
whoever humbles himself like this child - that person is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven ..

humility
the untrained unindoctrinated unsophisitcated unschooled unsocialised unintentional unpretensious realness that comes from being who you are without feeling the need to apologize
because you don't know there's anything to apologize for

no posturing or power-plays
no facade
just ..  me

with children you get what you see
as we adult that changes as we learn the art of manipulation
and the dread of self-ish
the me-me syndrome that comes with growing up
adulting

Jesus doesn't want pretense in any form
just me
just you
he wants the heart
where the real us lives
way down to the depths
the deep and secret rooms where only i have the key
where noone goes
ever ..
all of it
all
all of me
the real me
genuine
the child-me
the only real me

be childish

i need to be childish
for if there's one person whose approval i long for
it's Jesus
because
he
is my rabbi ..

shalom

more Randomness and flowers in my sickness ..

if you've been here recently you know Random ..
he's a homeless person
a vet
lost his 20-something year-old son to a car accident recently ..
he's been dealing with it as best he can
mostly by drowning himself
in alcohol ..

he left a few days ago
much to my chagrin
i'd developed a special place for him inside me ..

was thinking while walking to the coffee shop ..
i need to be careful of that, i suppose
i really need to treat all of my homeless friends as friends
and not be favoriting ..
maybe
but i like him a lot
so i was sad to see him go ..

a couple days ago i was in a warmup area with some of my homeless friends
and looked up to see a very beaten and frail Random walking in ..
i was elated, privately
i'm so glad he came back
God gives me more room to be his friend ..

he left because a friend was leaving and convinced him to go along ..
15 miles from here they were walking along some railroad tracks
and Random started falling behind ..
then the next thing he knew someone was banging on his chest ..
some people found him and called 911
they brought him back to the hospital
ran some tests ..
he's due to go to a clinic monday ..

he was severely dehydrated ..
his hands were shaking when i sat him down
he smelled bad
   really bad
could hardly speak
looked like he could die any minute ..

i gave him hot coffee water a hot shower a change of clothes breakfast water more coffee
and he left

i just saw him again
sitting on the sidewalk
waiting for the Circle
waiting for lunch
sober ... ha !              
suhweet ! ..

he's back

he's back

thank you Father

help me to know how to to be his friend
and to learn from him
.. allow him to be my Jesus ..

shalom

in search of shalom and kicking my self in the arse ..

there's this thing that's kickin' my butt ..
yesterday i walked by who is probably the best example of homelessness i have ever seen ..
clothes were absolutely in tatters
dude looked like he hadn't bathed in a year
hair looked horrible ..
he was probably in his early 20's ..
                                                       
and i passed him by ..

i kick my self in the arse
over and over and over for passing that guy..

ok, i have excuses ..
i am absolutely not a human when i get up from sleeping ( or trying to sleep ) ..
my system goes through a wakeup process
probably similar to a computer or a space vehicle ..
things have to be brought online
   like my brain ..
you don't want to be engaging me in too much conversation
do not be asking me questions ..
i'm latent ..

add to that, i hadn't yet had my 1st cuppa ..
   that's huge
and too i'm sick
as in sick
and not sleeping

and there you have the recipe for what could have been a poor response to whatever that dude brought to the table if i had engaged him right then

but ..
i should have
regardless of the potential for damage

am i not Jesus' disciple  ???
is he not a person
   a person in dire need  ??
how do i juxtapose those 2 things and walk away
   unscathed  ?
it just doesn't compute
will not launch  ..

i should have taken that opportunity to be Jesus to him
he should have experienced some kind of love yesterday when we passed each other
i should have clothed him and fed him and given him a cup of water in Jesus' name ..
no other option makes any disciple-sense ..

he should have walked away with some sense of refreshing
some feeling of self-esteem regained
   at least a notch or 2
some renewed recognition of his humanity
   in whom is the imago dei
.. some hope

i'm asking God to organize another meet with that guy
give me another chance
please


in search of shalom .. .

Random left .. Thorin ... and i have a dream .. .

i'm glad i was around to say goodbye ..
but it was rough for me

Random left town today
headed new places
he went with Jimbo

they got rousted by police last night
bird watchers complained they were trashing the place by the tracks where they hung out
i guess they don't see any future for themselves in this town
after all, the homeless here don't yet have toilets and showers and trash cans at their home down by the tracks ..

maybe they'll find relief and better circumstances elsewhere

i guess the naysayers got their wish this time

selah ..~

got a couple thoughts ..

i've been trying my best to envision, piece by piece, what it would feel like to be homeless
i'm not doing a very good job of it
'cause i simply don't know how they do it
i mean, i can't see myself there ..

i love camping out ..
but
i invariably have control
i get to decide how long i stay out
i get to head back home whenever i want
back to my comfortable comfort ..
" what a wonderful time i had "
" great adventure ! "
get a hot shower
fix a homestyle meal
sit by the tele and cock-up my feet and watch the world die on the ' news '
crawl into my warm comfy bed and sleep
   unworried
   unconcerned
   unafraid .. . .
 
Random doesn't get that choice
he ' sleeps ' with one eye open
he manouvers himself trying to find a position that's not so hard
   not so rocky
   not so sticky
and hopes noone can see him as they walk by in the dark

he sleeps in the same unwashed clothes he's been in for several days
in the same sleeping bag
same socks
same underwear ..
last shower was 3 days ago
   back into dirty clothes
the one before that was a week before ..
he shaved a month ago, maybe
haircut .. long time
brushed his teeth .. a while

Randon hasn't sat in a comfortable chair watching tele in a long long time
eating a homecooked meal
feet cocked up
freshly showered and shaved
all clean-clothed
   and so on and on
   and on ..

Random fought for this country
he offered his life
   regardless of his outlook on the war
he was there, did that ..

and i get to
and he doesn't
 ?                            ?

processing ..  . ..    .     .        .   . .  . . .  .      . . . .       .

my dog lives better than Random
and Jimbo
and the other 4000 of them in this county
my dog had a professional bath 3 days ago
hot water and shampoo and hair dryer - the works ..
2 squares a day
safe home/shelter
and he has friends ..

Random is a person
my dog is a dog ..
huge difference ..
one bears the divine image
   the imago dei

selah ..~

my heart is heavy
i already miss Random                                                        
i looked forward to a long relationship
praying
watching him as he emerged from his hellhole
return to humanity
after the tragedy ..

i liked him

he's my friend ..

selah ..~


one day
one fine day .. .    .       .
.. .. .. .....      .     .    . .. .  . . .     .


i have a dream ..

a dream that one day
Random and Jimbo and many many other Randoms and Jimbos
will have a safe place to sleep at night
   every night
a warm place ..
and have access to regular hot showers
and laundry
and a change of clothes
and hot meals
and a not-so-hard surface to sleep on
their own lockers
a place to hangout and feel welcome
   like family
to read
email
recharge their cells
.. .  .
                                  recharge their souls

i have a dream

i dream that Jesuses will rise up all over this planet
people who commit to be disciples of Messiah
   not ' christians '
   disciples
and who give their lives to creating Kingdom with their rabbi
   starting now
bringing reconciliation and wellbeing and wholeness to other humans
   who, like them, are created in the image of their Creator ..
people enslaved
people abused because thy have no option
people sidelined
   because they have no ' value '
      except abuse-value, however you want to coin that
   and are looked-on as animals
   less-that-human
somehow thay don't get to be God-image-bearers
   because they don't look like it
      smell like it
         they don't look or smell like me ..    .
outcasts
         ...
...

i have a dream                                      

and it's as clear to me as the sky outside that glass window
and i am walking directly towards it
   stick in hand                                                
   dogfriend off chasing in the bushes
eye on that city where there is no darkness no sorrow no hunger no thirst
   noone kicking someone out
a place where Random has a shelter of his own
a warm place with a picture of his son on a wall, just over there
   the 20-something lad that was killed in an accident just a few weeks ago
a place where people smile and laugh and feel safe
and are consciously reflecting the imago dei in them
where God is constantly put on display
and the aroma of Jesus fills the air everywhere

i have a dream

and
God helping me
i intend to see it transform us
before i leave

____  __ _      _  __ _          _________    _



i was walking home a few minutes ago
when i met Thorin
he was riding a bicycle and using one hand to pull along a trailer on 2 wheels
   it had his stuff in it
in his 20's
he asked me for a light
we talked a few
i invited him to come in at 4.00 a.m. the next time we open ..
we have this thing going where we open a room 3 mornings a week for 5 hours
people can come in and get hot breakfast
and can move into another space where they can sleep for a few hours
and i told Thorin i expect to see him there ..

then he lifted his pant leg and showed me a pretty awful sore
said he squeezed a pimple there without washing his hands
and now it's infected
he has antibiotics and cream ..

said he'll come
i gave him a card with dates and times ..

i'd like to see him there
and another 500 like him
or 900 ..
breathing Jesus with every breath

pray for it
                                                         it can happen

because we are the imago dei
disciples of Jesus


shalom

there's a whole lot of life behind there ..

   

everything has been corrupted
everything is affected ..
that's why Jesus was here, after all
to fix it
to take care of it
to begin the process of reconciliation ..
and we're included in that ..

everything is deeper than i see ..
___    _     _  __ _    _

take for example the woman that lost her home a year ago
or the dude that had mob connections
the grandchild that came for food with Grandaddy
the person we thought died
   he didn't
the guy that thinks he's going to be able to sneak alcohol when noone is looking
or the girl that's doing life after childhood abuse
the people that live down the tracks
   who try to care for other homeless people
      while they themselves have nothing but sorrows
   and some of the people they're helping are stealing their stuff
      and they turn around and feed the same ones that stole from them ..
or the artist that studied under some important italian master
the vet that's only now climbing out of his hellhole
   barely
or the drinker that's going to show the diesel-engine world how to cut fuel costs in half
the woman who's running scared from ' everyone coughing '
   while she coughs
the teenager that doesn't much like to eat
   mostly sits there bobbing his head to the plugged-in sound
the person that just had their truck broken into
   all their clothes and stuff dumped out
   and whatever they didn't take they pissed on
the guy that was talking to the plants as he dug a hole
   he just needed someone to talk to
or the one that's trying to get past a failed marriage
   and still find life
the one that wanted to end it
   but's still here
or the lady with the 2 young children
or the man that's trying to live down a prison history ..
... ..     ...... .. .

so, then ..
those people i mentioned ..
i just said 1 or 2 things about each one of them ..
what's behind that ?
what was in back of that ' thing ' in their lives  ?
or is that too frivolous a question  ?
maybe i'm reading too much into this  ?
maybe i expect too much out of it  ? .. .
well .....  .. maybe
but what about the woman that lost her home  ?
or the vet in the hellhole  ?
or the person that was thinking of dying puposefully  ?
or the grandchild  ?
or the Granddaddy  ?

frivolous  ?

. . . . .     did i mention
       you
in that list  ?
. .. . . . .     .

there's life behind there
and the life that lived that life was created in the image of God
and is a God-image-bearer ..

think about that for a minute ..
it's important

selah ..~


and i'm going to judge that  ?
how dare i  ?
who do i think i am  ?
i haven't earned that right ..

some of those people i mentioned are homeless
some aren't
can you tell who is which  ?
does it matter to you  ?
does it matter  ?
are they worth the same  ?
do you value them the same  ?
do you treat them the same  ?
do i  ?
                 ?  ?
_ _     _ ___    _   _   _       _

i'm just sayin'
that person you run into tomorrow and talk with
most likely has some serious issues going down in their life
notwithstanding the upbeat conversation

just sayin'
we need to face the truth that most people
   especially in today's america
are suffering from one thing or another ..
they might not be homeless
but not only the homeless suffer, ya  ?
.. .    .

how then do we respond to that person i talk with tomorrow
with their smile and all ..  ?

and how do we respond to the homeless person  ?
they're ' person ' too ..

judge them  ?
no, friend, that is not my place
   nor yours
all i know to do is to meet them at the point of their need
and hope that something in me smells like
my rabbi
and that they are drawn to that fragrance ..

the fragrance of          
                                       grace
                                                                 truth
                     and love

            .. we are the aroma of Messiah ..
                          God is always displaying Jesus through us wherever we are, 
     like some fragrance that fills the air with the knowledge of him ...
                                                    ( 2Corinthians 2. 14-16 )

shalom

today's good read ..

http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/bible-clear

a good short read .. self-esteem stuff

http://reknew.org/2014/01/the-cross-in-the-mirror/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-cross-in-the-mirror

enjoy ..

wonderful idea ..

i came here to where i am with this thought in  mind ..

to ' put a face on homelessness '

to use photography and videoed talks with our homeless friends

to help us move away from our penchant for numbers and categories and boxing-in

towards an understanding

a felt-relation to the people who live on the street ..

it's the only way to change the mindset

or at least the best way, in  my mind ..

here is a project that's looking to do just that

and i say " kudos ! "

may God bless this endeavour

http://oralhistoriesproject.org/homepage.html

another reading ..

.. [ GodFather ] has rescued us from the domain of darkness
   and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves
in the Son we have redemption and forgiveness of sins

this Son is the image of the invisible God

he is superior to all created things
   for everything was created by him
      in heaven and on earth
         the visible and the invisible
            whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities
   all things have been created
      through him
      and for him
he is prior to all things and holds all things together

the Son is also the head of the body, the church
he is its genesis
   the firstborn from the dead
      so that He might come to have preeminence
      in everything

for God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him
and through Him to reconcile
   everything 
      to His Godself
         by making peace through the blood of his cross
   whether things on earth or things in heaven
      [ the visible and the invisible ]
         [ whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities ]
[ all things are reconciled to GodFather through him ]

            ( colossians 1:15 ff )

a reading ..

.. [ GodFather ] has rescued us from the domain of darkness 
   and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves
in the Son we have redemption and forgiveness of sins

this Son is the image of the invisible God

he is the firstborn over all creation
   for everything was created by him
      in heaven and on earth
         the visible and the invisible
            whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities
   all things have been created 
      through him 
      and for him
he is before all things and by him all holds together

the Son is also the head of the body, the church
he is the beginning
   the firstborn from the dead
      so that He might come to have preeminence in everything
for God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,
and through Him to reconcile
everything 
   to His Godself
by making peace through the blood of his cross 
   whether things on earth or things in heaven.
              
            [ colossians 1.15 ff ]

everything hangs on this ..

God gave his life for the world ..
in person

the reconciliation of all things
begins here

misquoting Jesus on poverty .. a good read

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-irwin/war-on-poverty_b_4571433.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

nothing is for sure .. a good read ..

noone knows what tomorrow will bring forth ..

one thing's for sure

if we do see tomorrow             nothing is for sure

nothing

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dennis-powers/the-new-working-poor_b_4591538.html

praises to the Almighty, who alone is worthy ..

yesterday ..
what a day

water into wine
rejoicing and celebration liable to loss because the wine had dried up ..
and Jesus, before his time, transforms water
   speaking to jewish ritual cleansing
into wine
celebratory stuff
perhaps speaking to movement away from lines in the sand
   clean vs. unclean
towards life, new life ..
speaking too to the wine of the communion table
speaking to ' i will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until i drink of it in my father's kingdom with you ' ..
speaking to the wine of sacrifice to follow
when blood is spilled for the shalom of the world
the price of redemption

... ..   .

and the Circle joined hands
and people spoke their hearts before each other and before God
asking for his intervention
praising him, who alone is worthy of praise, for blessings

and the bread is broken, the wine poured
and ' come to the Table; all are welcome '

and a run-down beaten-down depressed homeless man with alcohol in his veins
falls to his knees
and walks up to join in ' membership ' and association with the church that reached out to him in love, in Jesus' name

and my heart swells thick
swollen with the love of God

and the pastor said
' this is church ' or similar
and he was dead-on right-on in the zone

there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels over
one
soul that repents ..
ever wonder who's doing the rejoicing ?
  ?

may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you all ..

i'm in ..

shalom

a reading on christian love and personal preference ..

Welcome people who are weak in faith, but don’t get into an argument over differences of opinion.

Some people believe that they can eat any kind of food. Other people who are weak in faith believe that they can eat only vegetables. The ones who will eat any food should not despise people who eat only vegetables; in the same way, the vegetarians should not criticize people who eat all foods, because God has accepted those people.

Who are you to criticize someone else’s servant? The Lord will determine whether his servant has been successful. The servant will be successful because the Lord decides that.

One person decides that one day is holier than another; another person decides that all days are the same - every person must make his own decision. When people observe a special day, they observe it to honor the Lord. When people eat all kinds of foods, they honor the Lord as they eat, since they give thanks to God. Vegetarians also honor the Lord when they eat, and they, too, give thanks.

We don’t live to honor ourselves, and we don’t die to honor ourselves; if we live, we honor the Lord, and if we die, we honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this reason Christ died and came back to life so that he would be the Lord of both the living and the dead.

So why do you criticize or despise other Christians? Everyone will stand before God to be judged. Scripture says, “As certainly as I live, says the Lord, everyone will worship me, and everyone will praise God.”

Each one of us will have to give an account of ourselves to God, so let’s stop judging each other. Instead, we should decide never to do anything that could make other Christians doubt or lose their faith. The Lord Jesus has given me the knowledge and conviction that no food is unacceptable in and of itself, but it is unacceptable to a person who thinks it is. So if what you eat hurts another Christian, you are no longer living by love. Don’t destroy someone by what you eat; Christ died for that person. Don’t allow what you regard to be good to be spoken of as evil.

God’s kingdom is not about what a person eats or drinks ! Rather, God’s kingdom is all about righteousness, peace, and the joy that the Holy Spirit gives. The person who serves Christ with this in mind is pleasing to God and is respected by people.

So let’s pursue those things which bring peace and which are good for each other. Don’t ruin God’s work for the sake of what you eat. All food is acceptable, but it’s wrong for a person to eat something if it causes another to falter. The right thing to do is to avoid eating meat, drinking wine, or doing anything else that hinders another Christian.

So whatever you believe about these things, keep it between yourself and God. The person who does what he knows is right shouldn’t feel guilty. He is blessed. But if a person has doubts about it and still eats, he is condemned because he didn’t act in faith, and anything that is not done in faith is sin.

           Romans 14

where have all the Jesuses gone ..?

whatever happened to Jesus ?
i mean .. i know what happened to Jesus
but what happened to the movement he started
the principles he set down
the life he was passing on
the movement that became known as ' christianity '  ?    ?

what happened to his followers

i don't see Jesuses walking around much

selah ..~

a ' disciple ' is a person who relinquishes their own life-agenda to study and learn from a master
the intention is to become just like that master
= the same as the master
= i have no agenda but learning from my rabbi and becoming like him ..
so if that's the case
and if Jesus said to preach the good news and make disciples of all peoples .. . . . .
where are the Jesuses  ?

i mean, there have to be some, right  ?
right  ?
  ?

tell you what
the very next time you run into one
comment here on this blog
say something like " hey.. i saw a Jesus today! "
   and i would love to see this blog full of those comments, truly ..

i'm looking for him
all over the place
everywhere i go
dying to see him
in her over there
in that person there
in
me ..
Jesuses everywhere     ....  . . . .. ..

where are they  ?
they should be everywhere

selah ..~

something is wrong
dreadfully wrong and out of place

when God incarnates and spends his life here on Earth with us
and uses that life to illustrate the love of God
by healing and feeding and casting out demons
and doing good everywhere he went
overturning the madness and abuse of this world ..
when people experience the goodness of God in person
and we have a reliable record of that in the Scriptures ..
how is it that his life translates into so little  ?

considering who he is and what he's done
don't you think there should be a much more evident influence in this world  ?

i don't get it ..

selah ..~


' christianity ' took off like a rocket at the beginning
and disciples were everywhere
Jesuses walking around
other people couldn't help but see the love of this good God
and be overwhelmed
absolutely
these pepole were different, they loved one another and their lives showed it in the community
they took care of each other and made sure everyone's needs were met
they didn't have ' class ' structure
noone was excluded
jew/gentile
man/woman
slave/free
fisherman/shepherd
sick unclean lame blind ...
all were welcome in Jesus ..

and then constantine happened
and the church morphed out of living life-giving organism
into political power-wielding power-making organization
and we've never been the same since ..
the life gone
   for the most part
      i think ..

discipleship turned into pomp and looking-for-recognition
and disciples were switched-out for ' members '
and membership became a social thing ..
the marginalized were sidelined and excluded
the abused were abnormal ..
people stopped living as church
and ' the church ' became another master/servant establishment
what with laity and clergy
and everything else that divides

and Jesus got lost in the shuffle
lost in stained glass and golden chalices and huge expensive buildings ..

and he holds his head in  his hands
" i thought i taught them exactly the opposite ..
didn't they learn anything from me  ? ?
oh .. ye of little faith "

no wonder ..
no wonder we can't find disciples much
'cause he is absent
   absent in the church
   absent in the teachings
   absent in the ministering
just not there
he got displaced by all the other stuff
pharisee stuff
   pretense
   presentation
   power

and too .. they even flipped it all
so that Jesus was used as a means to gain
to profit
materialism
can you imagine that ??!
Jesus
the Creator that humaned and died for us
and the church he built uses him as a profiteering scheme ..

i'm amazed i could just write that
noone should have been able to say that

selah ..~

Jesus is about love
simply-put
and that love is lived-out in him
as him
following him
disciples
being like him

it's not a ' church ' thing
it's not a creedal thing
or a denominational thing ..
it isn't a ' christianity ' thing ..
it is life in Jesus
Jesus lived-out in us
in you
in me
and people will see it
and proclaim that God is indeed with us

that is preaching the gospel right there

friend, find Jesus
learn about him
learn from him
and then
follow that
follow it hard
as if it was the only thing that mattered ..

because it is

all else is sucking air through straws and spitting into the wind

make your life count
go with Jesus

 selah ..~

where have all the Jesuses gone
long time passing
where have all the Jesuses gone
long time ago ..
                know the song ?


shalom

a lil' Randomness ..

my life is changing ..

there are people i'm investing in

and the return-on-investment isn't quantifiable ..

not a very thoughtful type of investment if you're looking to make $

but it's not about making $

it's about something much more significant

as in hope

as in life

as in love

as in Jesus

one of the issues with western christianity is the entanglement with corporate techniques to measure success

'cept we ain't dealing in $ or numbers or percentages 

we're dealing in the souls of men ..

christianity has become about $

but that's to abuse the name of Jesus

that homeless person that came to bring reconciliation

not $

not numbers

not western-style success

success in the kingdom is flip-side-up

you go down 

                       to go up

and going up usually results in down ..

the first will be last and the last first kindathingy ..

meet Random

i mentioned him a couple blog posts ago

he's my return-on-investment

i didn't know if i'd see Random again

but i saw him yesterday and today

and i was very thankful

very

he's an indigenous american and a vietnam vet

i'm not sure how old he is

maybe 50's

   it's difficult to tell sometimes - homelessness ages a person fast

Random doesn't know i took this pic

he's been crying today

although a lot less than he was ..

see, his 27 year old son was killed in a car accident a couple weeks ago

and it broke his heart

he had to beg and borrow the money to bury him

and he ' put him in the ground ' as he said

and then he went on a drunk

because he couldn't deal with the pain and the sorrow

and there was noone 

so he drank

and drank

i'm glad i met him

God has been sending a couple people to Random from time to time ..

a stranger-lady brought him a sub sandwich on the tracks where he sleeps - not a word, just gave it to him and patted his shoulder

then there's Jimbo another homeless dude that sang an impromptu song at the last homeless meal we shared

Jimbo has been finding Random and helping him a bit, encouraging him ..

and McTavish, who thinks he is god, makes company too at times

although he thinks he's god    :)

Random is still here ..

he's come a long way in the last several days ..

he wasn't sure he wanted to keep on living ..

but .. i saw him today

and yesterday

and i hope to see him tomorrow

round about 4.00 a.m. or so when we open the doors to the warm-up room where street people can come in from the cold and sleep and eat hot food and drink hot drinks 

and talk

maybe ..

Random is my friend

he may not remember my name

i don't really care ..

he told me today ' i love you '

and my return-on-investment just went directly through the roof

as in straight up

maxed-out returns

how do you measure that ?

you don't

you simply smile in your heart

turn your eyes thataway

and whisper ' thank you ' to Jesus, my Rabbi

and walk on

hoping Random will be back

and others like him ..

or not like him

doesn't matter

bring 'em on

i need them

i want them

i want to be with them

i want to hear them

see them

know them

and i want them to know Jesus

my best friend

my master

that's all ..

i need more Randomness in my life ..

the returns are in-credible

shalom

watch .. and weep with those who weep

http://billmoyers.com/content/slideshow-poverty-in-todays-america/

salvation by works .. ?

while researching stuff on christian community life, i found an article describing one particular group living it ..
and readers posted comments

another group was mentioned in the article, the Mennonites
and several of the comments included thoughts like " they have a works-based salvation " ..

from my reading over the years, and knowing the Mennonites fall generally within the Anabaptist tradition, i immediately dissed those comments and consider them unfair
but i followed up by researching the ' what we believe ' of Mennonites and, as expected, found them to be much like the rest of evangelical christianity as far as their statement on salvation is concerned

which begs the question ..
presumably the commenters believe in ' salvation by grace through faith ' ..
so do i
   and so do the mennonites, according to their statement
yet they went to ' they believe in salvation by works ' ..
how then did the commenters get there so swiftly  ?

hmmm ..
i suspect they swallowed the same pill i did and many of  ' us ' did while sitting in the pew being coached in the faith vs. works thinkology ..
as has often been the case, in order to separate ourselves from others we drew lines in the sand
ever-narrowing lines that ' defined ' who we are and what we believe
   and who we aren't and what we don't believe
and sadly, we went too far east and ended up west ..
again

fact is
there is no dichotomy between faith and works in christianity ...  .  ... .     .

let me rephrase that ..
there is no need to stand across the trenches on this one ..
faith and works in Christianity are bedfellows
they sleep under the same covers
and they embrace gleefully

further, to divorce them is to totally misunderstand christianity
and the man that it reveres and adores as master

selah ..~
 .. .            .


we strain out gnats ..

i look at Jesus
and see him constantly doing ..
the man went about doing good as a matter of course
it was his lifestyle
his worldview
and God's answer to the awful mess of the world system he had created
   the system that enslaved the humans he had created
      in his own image and likeness
         ( look like and resemble ? )

selah ..~


the book of James in the new testament deals with this theological strawman, summarily ..
James answered the faith vs. works issue simply
' faith apart from works is dead ' ..
that's the barebones response from James
and is all you and i need

we doctrined so much and forced the pendulum to swing so far in the direction of faith
that we effectively dissed the life of the gospel
   the
   life
   of the gospel
which is, in summary, love the Lord your God with all your heart mind soul and strength
and love your neighbour as you love your self
' all the law and the prophets is contained in this statement ' said Jesus ..
and, really, how do you love without living that love
doing that love  ?
can we ' be ' without the ' living '  ?
a tree is known by it's fruit
it's in the fruit that we can safely say ' that's an orange tree ' , ' that's an apple tree ' ..
and it's natural that we associate the two
   fruit and what-it-is
      or what-it-isn't ..

as a friend once said
the faith Jesus teaches
is a verbed noun ..
it is in the doing
that we express our ' belief '
and evidence who-we-say-we-are

i'll flip that
where there is no doing
faith is a barebones skeleton without life
lying there
just lying there

A body that doesn’t breathe is dead. In the same way faith that does nothing is dead.
   ( James 2.26 ) ..

my friend, the gospel is a lived faith
a transformation that recreates me through and through ..
live it
and in living you diffuse the bomb of faith vs. works
which is not a bomb but a dudd
a distraction
a long windy rabbit trail that looks to pull us away from the living Jesus
and from living Jesus
.. ... .    .

there's this strange phenomenon in the loooooonnng debate between faith and works ..
it centres in Ephesians 2:8,9 which most evangelicals my age can quote offthebat ..

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. 
learned it in sunday school
a basic tenet of doctrine ..
and the fight ensued over the ages
faith vs. works
lines drawn guns locked and loaded

and then
we read on
just 1    ( as in one )    verse later, in v 10

10 For we are God’s handiwork [ this is the point: salvation is God's doing, not mine ], created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

God saves us in his graciousness, through the medium of faith and the person of Jesus
creating us anew for the purpose of good works

and the debate dies right there
a dead issue
just like faith without works is dead, as per James
dead


selah ..~

i'll posit that faith is not only made evident through works
   that my works are the evidence of the faith i claim
but is made stronger through works ..
as you live faith by working it out, it matures

selah ..~


faith is not what you believe about God
it's what you do about God ..

it's all mixed up in the same bowl
and you can't have the one without the other
simply can't

read Hebrews 11
those great people of faith were doing their faith
not ' believing ' it
doing
actively living what they trusted

if our faith isn't working
we might want to take Apostle Paul's advice and test ourself to see whether we are ' in the faith '
. .. .     .

faith and works are not enemies
they are married
the one filling out the other and vice versa
the two demonstrating one union of in-Christ-ness
inseparable
indivisible
perfectly balanced

life in the Son
is by God's graciousness
through the medium of faith
working the works of God
just like Jesus did

when you're done read hebrews 11

 You see that a person receives God’s approval because of what he does, not only because of what he believes.
( James 2.24 )

shalom