Month: April 2013

Jesus in a New Light

Blow the dust off of your Bible
Unclose your mind
turn back the night
If you’re weary of this dreary world
see Jesus in a new light.

He cast out demons
healed the lame
turned water into wine
He healed the centurion’s son
and even healed the blind.

He fed 5,000
without reservations.
Yeah, he raised Jairius’ daughter to life.
But look out dude cause He withered the fig tree
and said, “all things you ask in prayer, believing,
you will receive.”

See Jesus in a new light
Watch out for lightning
Jesus in a new light
Don’t you be frightened
Jesus in a new light
He’s bad!
Jesus in a new light
Oh c’mon, I didn’t mean it that way.
Jesus in a new light
Chillax!
Jesus in a new light
We’re out.

Depression

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I learned today that Pastor Rick Warren’s son Matthew committed suicide. At times like this there is a lot of discussion concerning mental illness. In the main, I find that most of the talk is healthy, in that we talk about different kinds of mental illness and how to help friends and family who find themselves in its often deadly grip. It may seem obvious, but it bears repeating that no family is immune. No matter how comfortable financially, no matter how together spiritually someone may seem, disorders of the mind are equal opportunity foes. Even these days, when we would like to consider ourselves more enlightened, it’s not easy to talk about. People struggle for years with depression without telling anyone, fearing the social stigma attached.

Although I gave my life to Christ when I was 12, by the time I reached college age, my relationship with God had started to slip. Personally, the problems I had later on were magnified by the fact that I didn’t take these issues to God. For that matter, I didn’t seek professional help either. Instead, my wife was left with the awful chore of trying to support me emotionally. She saw me through some terrible times, but I will always regret that she had to suffer such pain trying to help. There are many levels of depression. I suffered for years with feelings of inadequacy and crippling fear that sometimes made it hard to leave the house. I forced myself to work, but was often held back by this unnamed fear. Please understand that I don’t claim to have an easy answer for the multifaceted issue that depression is, but for myself the abandonment of my faith caused me to be so much more vulnerable. I am thankful to God that I made it through the worst of my own pain. I hope in some way by the grace of God to be able to help others who are going through it too.

Two years ago my older brother, Jay, who had suffered with his own mental pain and substance abuse took his life in the same way Matthew Warren did. The resulting pain our family endured was compounded by the fact that he did it shortly before my Mother died as a result of cancer. It’s a time that almost seems unreal now. I understand what the Warren family is going through and I’m praying for them as they grieve the loss of Matthew. I know one of the things they will do is something we all should seek to do as well, try to find ways to help others. We aren’t always aware of the positive impact we can have on those around us. This is a good time to reach out.

Pursue Your Passion

When I began my University studies, all incoming students were required to complete an English essay. This was basically done to judge our creative writing skills and to ensure we would be able to handle the courses and their writing requirements. Sometime later, the scores were posted outside. Although I worked hard, I was not normally an A student, so when I found my score near the top of the hundreds of students, I was surprised. Later on, I wondered whether I should have pursued a degree focused on Creative Writing instead of Journalism. Although I’ve always been grateful for the writing discipline my degree taught me, there have been times when I wished I had pursued something less “practical.”

Now, years later, I have dropped any pretense of being practical, and I’m doing the kind of writing I love, knowing that whether I succeed or not, I will have gone after my passion. I really can’t see any downside to that, no matter what your age. I believe at the end of our lives, we will have infinitely greater regrets over those dreams we failed to chase than the ones we went after. The recipe for success is different for every person, but I believe the efforts to pursue what most brings us alive are always worth it. God plants those desires in us for a reason, after all.

I and U

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I
a
door
U

the
1
eye
most
trust
in
side

U
reached
4th
with
2
hands

With
U
eye
doughnut
knead
2
Hyde

In
sail
or
swim
or
sink

with
U
air’s
know
missing
link

No
matter
how
ruff
the
see

I
a
door
U

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
Revelation 3:20

Please and Carrots

panzies 002

Would you feed me please
and carrots?
It’s what this little bit of me
most dearly loves.
For other children
see,
it may be macaroni
but tender colorfully
grown fare
are what please me.

Would you feed me please
and carrots?
Just stay away from me
see,
with those doughnuts.
They only make me feel slow,
I’m certain
don’t help me grow,
and surely
worse
I perceive,
than no lunch.

Noise

It’s noisy out there…
city fare constant pounding
resounding
to the tune of progress

engines winding up
and winding down
moving citizens round
where do they stop?
they don’t stop…
they rebound

even listless feet
beat the street while
other feet
passing
are in sync
creating rhythm

no chance
for tedium
from the strum
of a corner
guitar whose star
waits
to be discovered

there will be others
to take his place
when the pace
is too fast
and at last
a pause
in the action
occurs

what would it be
worth
if all the
noise on
earth
simply stopped?

would we be
deafened
by the
silence?

Right Relationship

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There was a time in my life when the first place I would visit in any bookstore was the “Self Help” section. Later, when I worked in bookstores, I would joke with customers and tell them that I could show them where self help was, but after that they were on their own. Sorry ma’am, it’s self help, your first step towards wellness is finding the books by yourself. Of course, I’m kidding, but I think that if I ever said that, it would have been to someone who knew me and my sense of humor very well. Knowing what kind of relationship you have with people is important. You can let your hair down with friends and family and know you’ll be understood. But while it’s essential to have close healthy relationships with the people in our lives who matter most, the one we should be closest to often gets the leftovers. “God, when I have time I’ll sit down and it will be just you and me; I promise.” But our actions speak louder than anything we ever say.

So what kind of relationship are you cultivating with God? The bible says the church is the Bride of Christ.

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
Revelation 19:7-9

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Ephesians 5:25-27

If we want that close and open relationship with Jesus, and want to know everything about Him, where do we start? The Word is the best place to go.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.
Isaiah 40:8
We can trust that He wants the best for us and has great plans for our lives if we will submit and trust Him.
“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11

So how would you characterize your relationship with the Lord? Do you spend quality time getting to know each other or do you just occasionally throw Him a “like” on Facebook? Don’t get me wrong, I’m writing this for myself as much as for you. I do think it’s a good question to ask ourselves, though. Good relationships take effort.

Like Sheep

All of us like sheep have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity
of us all to fall on Him. Isaiah 53:6

Sheep have been unfairly “branded” with the stupid label. The primary reason for this lies in their flocking behavior which causes sheep to group together and play follow the leader, at times to tragic results. Since nature hasn’t equipped them with great individual defensive abilities, their best bet is to join together in a group. We also tend to value the individual over the group, but a sheep on its own is vulnerable to being preyed upon.

The verse refers to the passion of the Servant, our savior Jesus Christ, who suffered vicariously for our sins. His punishment obtained well being for us.

While we are all vulnerable on our own to temptation and being misled, this does not absolve us of our responsibility for becoming informed through scripture and prayer so that we might better defend ourselves against the onslaught of the enemy. At the same time, the body of Christ must join together to pool resources and search the word for edification and reproof.