O death, where is your sting?

Breath.
One breath.
One breath is that which keeps you alive.

What a mystery, O death.

Nothing makes one more aware of the breaths they take than watching another take their last one.
Nothing makes one more grateful for that breath.

What a mystery, O death.

In one moment its over.
Or so it seems.
What a mystery.

There is a story about a woman named Annie. She's old and dying. Annie is reminded of when she was pregnant with her son Johnny. Johnny and Annie had a "conversation" while he was in the womb. Johnny was afraid to come out. He was warm and comfortable where he was. He knew his surroundings. It felt wonderful. He was being well taken cared of.
Johnny did not know what it would be like to come out into the world. No idea what to expect. That is terrifying. Annie assured him that when it is time, he must come out. And his time was soon. And when it was time, it would be wonderful. She started to describe the beautiful scenes he'll see, the toys, he'll play with, the fun he'll have, but then she realized that Johnny had no idea what a puppy was, what a toy was, or what sunshine and grass were. She told Johnny that she can not explain how wonderful life will be for him when he's born--he must simply experience it. But she assured him that it will be wonderful. He will be safe. She will take care of him. And if he stays in the womb for longer than he should--it will turn out to be very bad.

How incredible it is to be born?
Can you imagine what an infant must experience in those first few moments?
Simply terrifying.

Then Annie had a conversation with Jesus. He let her know how similar her experience of death will be to Johnny's experience of being born. Jesus could not explain all the things Annie will see, do, and experience, but he promised her it would be wonderful. She would be more than safe. She simply needed to trust him and let go.

What a courageous thing to face death head-on-- and let go.
How terrifying.

One breath.
One moment.
What a mystery.

What a mystery for a Spirit to leave your presence and join another in the same instant.

What a mystery.

What is the gospel?

A group of us are starting up an A&M chapter of International Justice Mission. (please, please, check out IJM) We were looking for an adviser so I emailed a professor and she replied with some questions about how us and IJM "shares the gospel." And things like that. So I replied....it was definitely more than she was asking for....but I felt compelled. This is stuff I am desperately passionate about and I'm learning SO much about. So maybe she asked the wrong person at the wrong time--but she got an answer. The stuff I shared with her is stuff that I want to share with the whole world....and the this is the closest I've got, so here it is....



"Second, all of us who are involved in starting up IJM are madly in love with Jesus and we want everyone to experience the abundant life he has to offer, which is the only reason we are doing what we are doing. In everything I say and do, I pray that it is sharing pieces of who Jesus is. Everything. Not just when I talk about certain biblical truths--everything. So of course, that would carry over into being in an organization with people and of course it is how I even choose what kind of organizations to be apart of. It consumes all my interactions with all people.

Something that I have been wrestling with and learning much about this past year is: what is the gospel?
Is it: 1. you're sinful 2.you need a savior 3. jesus died on the cross for you 4. pray, believe, and you'll go to heaven when you die?
Is that it, or is there more?
I believe all those things are true, but I've been blessed to see so much more. The LIFE of Jesus shows me so much more. Not just the death.
It can't just be those 4 points, because Jesus talks about "the gospel" before he even dies. He tells people to start believing and following the gospel and he had not even died yet. So obviously there's something more to the gospel than just Jesus dying on the cross. Jesus' LIFE is the gospel too. The things he did. They way he lived his life is part of the Good News. If we LIVE like him and did the crazy things he did, we will experience the Good news (the transformation of our minds and hearts)and so will those around us--sometimes with out us even saying a word. This is helping me see that its not just about TELLING people the gospel in a few simple sentences. Jesus didn't just do that. He DID a lot of tangible things too and THAT was the gospel too. He fed the hungry--and to the starving family, THAT is Bread of Life (which is Jesus). He loved (talked to, hung out with) those who everyone hated, like prostitutes--and to the prostitute, THAT is Unconditional Love and Grace (that's the gospel.) And he released the oppressed from captivity--and to the little girl in the brothel, THAT is the Good News, THAT is salvation, THAT is a real God who is dear and near to her through His Body.

The other question I've been thinking about is:
If I were a 15 year old girl sitting in a brothel tonight. I had just serviced 40 men and been beaten by my pimp many times. I have heard of this "god" who "breaks the chains of injustice, gets rid of exploitation, frees the oppressed, and cancels debts." (isaiah 58) And who "heals the heartbroken, announces freedom to all captives, and pardon all prisoners." (isaiah 61) And I've also heard this "god" has told his people "Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong?" (habakkuk 1)
Man, I would be praying to that god. I would be praying to ANYTHING at that point. I would have no hope. I would think I'm worthless. I would think I don't have a soul. And I would probably have a lot of other psychological damage I don't even know about. So I would ask for help from any god. And in that situation, what would "good news" actually look like? What would "salvation" actually look like? How would I know those things were really REAL that I had heard about this god--about him freeing the oppressed and all that?
I think it would look like the Body of Christ taking their talents and gifts to investigate the injustice in that town, teaming up with the local police, storming through that brothel door, and saving me from that awful HELL I was living in. THAT would bring me hope. I would think I'm seeing Christ in the flesh.

And isn't that we are called to be? Little Christs? Hope to the hopeless?
Jesus did not come to just save us from hell when we die. He came to save us from the literal hells on earth too. He came to save us from our personal sins AND from the sins of others that beat us, rob from us, and hurt us all sorts of ways. He came to save us RIGHT NOW, on earth too! How glorious! AND, he's asked his followers to...follow him! Be apart of saving others! We have no power to save people's spirits. Jesus does not ask us to do that. Only HE can bring them to heaven or send them to hell. But he HAS commanded us to save people from the hells on earth--starvation, prison, diseases, poverty of the mind, heart, soul, rape, violence, etc. He has asked us to be apart of that great mission! How incredible is that! I don't know why--cause frankly, we are pretty messed up. But nonetheless, he's asked us.
The gospel is not just spiritual. The gospel is physical and mental and every other -al you can think of.

The hard thing with this injustice topic is that we, as Western Christians, have not really experienced REAL injustices. (i will not assume your personal story, so i don't know what you've experienced, but I'm generalizing here) So it is very hard for us to relate to this part of the gospel; to this part of Jesus. But the bible talks enough about it for us, as bible believing Christians, to just believe it and do it. (seriously, ive been studying all the places in the bible about injustice and oppression, and let me tell you--God ABHORS it.) So I don't know what its like to REALLY need to see Jesus as a savior amidst an awful injustice that's being inflicted on me, but I'm trying to put myself in others' shoes.

For the people experience this stuff, I want to show them an ultimate hope. I want to SHOW them Jesus and how powerful he is; how much he hates injustice; how much he LOVES them. So for now, while I'm a student, I can support a group of Jesus-followers who have the skills and courage to do what it takes to free these oppressed. I want to support them in BEING Jesus to the oppressed. Every day. Today. They're fighting And I can raise awareness. I can tell everyone I know about what's going on in the world and how Jesus feels about it.

The ultimate hope for IJM staff is the everlasting salvation of the clients (the oppressed) they work with. So after they do their wonderful, long, grueling work in freeing people from bonded labor or sex labor, they hope that they can put a name on what they just did--Jesus' name. They hope they get to form relationships with these people and get to use words to explain why they do what they do and all of that. But maybe they were just called to play one part in a person's journey to Christ. (Aren't we all? None of us play all the roles. Sometimes we get to explain a lot to a non-believer. Sometimes we don't say one word, but something we did showed them Jesus and that was crucial in their understanding of that Man.) So that's what IJM does. They do their part. They are only a PART of the body of christ. They work in the legal system and investigation part of it. Other parts of the Body reveal themselves through counseling facilities for girls who have been in the sex-trade and those people will use words to share part of the gospel. They may even use those 4 points that i mentioned earlier. But that's just part of a non-believers Good News journey. Maybe another part was that man who stormed through the brothel door and saved her after she had been crying out for help.

You had asked "does the organization not only help people, but in so doing share Christ and would that carry over to the campus chapter?"
I hope that answers it. I don't know if that's the answer you were looking for or not. I guess the way I see it is that helping people in the way Jesus said to do it IS sharing Christ. Fighting injustices in very practical ways within a country's authoritative justice system is part of sharing Christ.

"Feeding the hungry and righting injustice is good, but we still leave them going to hell in the end unless we share Christ. Their life ends up no better."

Maybe....or what if sharing Christ was inherent in feeding the hungry and righting injustice? What if those two things were not just "good," but were some of the very things that Jesus did and TELLS us to do as PART OF the Gospel?"

Conspiracy....

Before you start getting overwhelmed with the Christmas season, please, please, please watch this quick video.

Oh how i pray for this conspiracy to take over our holiday season.

Share this with your families, and help make it happen.

Here's some truth in trash

Gotta give it to her.

Please watch this short video.

And then you might as well check this out and browse a bit.

And then you might as well start thinking about adoption. =)

I'm not a big advocate of the government actually being able to do much for orphans (because what these kids really need is parents to adopt them, not just more band-aids from foreign aid), but I do think that if the government takes more of an interest in advocating for orphans, then that could raise more awareness for the "normal person" to take more of an interest in them.

And I don't see any harm from the government helping orphans--whether its providing education or medical help, etc.
I don't think its THE answer, but its something. It can help.
Think about the stuff that the government makes a big deal about--> whether its good or bad, the media picks it up and people check it out and become more educated on the issue. Who knows, maybe the government will advocate for Americans to adopt more. whoop!

And I'm not going to lie, Angelina Jolie has some major issues, but I do respect how she is using her fame and power to raise so much awareness about vulnerable people around the world.
AND she really is not "just talking" about it. She is DOING it.
Those celebrities that are actually doing it are few and far between.
Yeah, she thinks that the government is a huge part of answer and that's what will save orphans--and that's crap. (what else does she have to hope in??)
But, she obviously also thinks that adopting lots of them is a huge part of the answer too.


p.s. can we make this fun??
POLL:
1. How long do you think Brad and Angelina will last?? (throw out some time frames)
2. do you think they are the most beautiful couple alive? (throw out some yeses or an alternative)

When the saints

Go here and click the play button on the right and listen to this song.

Pay particular attention towards the end of the song.

Just does something to me.



Lord I have a heavy burden of all I've seen and know
It's more than I can handle
But your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
and I cannot let it go

And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

Lord it's all that I can't carry and cannot leave behind
it often overwhelms me
but when I think of all who've gone before and lived the faithful life
their courage compells me
And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars

I see the shepherd Moses in the Pharohs court
I hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord

I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad
I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul

I see the young missionary and the angry spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear

I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sisters standing by the dying man's side

I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come and kicking down the door

I see the man of sorrows and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them





We are not alone.

Many have gone before us and done incredible, impossible, inconceivable things to bring hope, justice, and love to a VERY injustice, hopeless, and self-defeating world.

Do not think its impossible for a second.
Well actually, go ahead and think its impossible, because it is.

But then remember that we were sent into a extremely messed up world for the purpose of doing the impossible.
And its not like we don't have examples to prove to us the possibility of doing the impossible with a mighty God.
I'm almost positive that if I lived in the 1820's, I would have thought that it would be impossible to end slavery. I truly would have thought that.
Thank God some people did not think it was impossible. OR thank God some people knew it was impossible, but believed in and followed a God of impossibilities.

If I was Elizabeth Elliot and her friends, I'm pretty sure I would have thought it would be impossible for the Waodoni people to live in peace and know Jesus, AND THAT I would be one of the people to share that with them AFTER they murdered my husband.
Good thing God empowered her.

Living right now today, I believe it's almost impossible to free the girls in the brothels in India right now, but good thing Kate Brushnell did not believe it was impossible for God to free the girls that were being forced into prostitution during slavery in America.
And good thing there are men and women at International Justice Mission right now, today, freeing those girls from the brothels, because they are following a God of impossibilities.


I want to be one of them.

Ancient Discipline?

I listened to someone talk about some "ancient disciplines."

Things like: fasting, taking communion, reading liturgy, and others I can't remember.
One of them that stuck out to me was: praying at certain times a day, every day.

This kind of made something in me rise up and say 'no, that is too legalistic. That's a box. I don't like boxes.'

But when I really thought about it, I found some solid truth in it, so I decided to just try it out.

She recommended praying at 9, 12, 3, 6, and 9-o'clock. You stop whatever you're doing and you just say a little prayer. If you're at work, just stop for less than a minute and pray about something. Talk to our Father. If you're not doing anything, than you can pray longer! Just whatever. Just a reminder to talk to him in our crazy, busy world

And the point of it is to know that there are others, in the body of christ, praying at the same time as you. It's community. It's uniting your spirits, no matter where you may be. Now, you have to get others to do it with you in your community for that part to be true. Which is what I'm hoping will happen. =)

I've been doing it for like 3 weeks.

When I first thought about it, I thought there was no way it would work because I would just forget....then I realized that my cell phone comes with all these different alarms you can set that, up until now, I had no purpose for! So I set them for noon, 3:00, 6:00, and 9:00. (i'm not awake at 9 am a lot so ill skip that).
Most of the time the alarm goes off, I'm with people, talking or something. So I just don't do it right then. (But its still a nice reminded to be thinking about my Father) And that's okay. Other times, I'm doing something alone, so I can stop for about a minute and just lift some things up to Daddy that have been going on in the past few hours. Other times, I'm driving or I'm not really doing much, so I can pray for much longer. But those times are few and far between.

Another thing I first thought about was, 'well juliette, you're kind of always talking to Father, aren't you? Something comes to mind, and you just start talking to him about it. So will this be any different? Why would I need to schedule a time for it, when its a normal almost moment to moment sort of conversation.' So I tried it out to see if that was the case.

Turns out it IS a little different.

First off, Juliette needs things to make her just STOP sometimes, because she is always going, going, going in that head of hers. Even when she's talking to Daddy, it just can get a little crazy and all jumbled together. So this is a time where a physical alarm goes off that then triggers a spiritual and mental alarm inside of me, saying "Stop whatever you're doing or thinking, Juliette, and just breath and talk to your Father. Talk to him about what you're thinking crazily about." And that has been great for me, even when its just one minute.
One minute is better than no minute, eh?

Second off, this will provide a more communal spirit than just praying and talking to God whenever it happens through out my day. Of course, I continue to do taht, but it would be great to know that at these certain times there are other brothers and sisters praying with me. We may be praying about the same things sometimes and most of the time it might be completely different. Who knows!

So I feel no legalism; no boxes; no failures. None of that poop. Just a reminded every now and then, and if I can do it, then I do it! And if not, then oh well!

My invitation to those reading this: join me!
The times are there. Set your own physical or mental alarms.
Do whatever.
Let me know if you would like to try this so we can know we're doing to at the same time.

If its not for you, that's totally cool. I'm just offering, in case some one is interested!

I saw what I saw

Watch this.

I saw what I saw

In the words of my dear friend, Blaire,

"How often have we seen injustice/pain/poverty/etc. and just let it roll right off us?

We're numb to the things around us that don't directly effect us."

We truly are numb to the things around us that don't directly effect us.

And I don't want to be numb.

I admit, sometimes the pain is too much for me to handle and my emotions get out of control about it all.

But it's better than being numb.

There is no life in numbness, can't we agree on that?

If you've felt true numbness in your own life, you know there is no true life in that.

Well I don't want to be numb to others' lives either.

Because we are deeply connected. We are one body. So I can not be numb if the rest of my body is not.

No boxes, just love.

For some reason, the Lord likes to open my mind up to Him more than usual when I'm at work and supposed to be working on a computer. It is mindless activity and my mind can never slow down, so maybe that's why.

Here are some things He told me to write down yesterday, instead of working....

This is what I'm meant for.
This is abundant life.
Going to sick, dark people, places, and situations and bringing life to where there seems to be little of it.
I have no power over a person's eternal state. Whether they go to heaven or hell.
That is only is God's hands and I am naive and prideful to think that I determine where they go.
Plus, who knows when that time will arise for them. Today or 50 years from now?
But, not only can I, but I am MEANT TO BE Jesus' hands and feet in the current hells that people are living in. Right now.
Today.
This moment that you are reading this.
Literal hells.
Take everything you've learned about hell and try to wrap your head around the fact that people are leaving in that right now-some physically, some mentally, some emotionally, some spiritually. And many people--all of those kinds of hells at once.
Right now. Not only when they die.


And Jesus said to be his hands and feet and be apart of bringing them redemption and salvation.
Salvation: being apart of saving people from their current hells and trusting their eternal states with the Powerful One because you've done all you can by sharing your time, resources, comfort, and love with them. (this is all Jesus said to do. He didn't say you have the power and judgment to send people to heaven or hell eternally.)

Redemption: find the darkness. open your eyes and look for the horrible people, places, and situations. Figure out what would be light to that darkness. Figure out what would be just a piece of making that messed up stuff more whole.

This may be a little more easier (and biblical): figure out what you would want someone to do for you if you were_________. (being forced to have sex with people; being beaten every day; had no opportunity to an education; forced & brainwashed to kill people at the age of 10; had no idea what a mother or a father was; had a deadly disease that ate away your organs so you couldnt help anyone or take care of your family; had no water whatsoever)

Figure out what you would want people to do for you. (this shouldnt be to hard)
Take some time to research what the Body of Christ around the world and right around your town is already doing.
Ask the Lord what he wants you to sacrifice (not talking so much about financially here) to be apart of the Kingdom of salvation and redemption.

Simple.
No rules.
No boxes to fit yourself into.
No boxes to fit Jesus in.
No right answers.

Just ask Him.

Just take some valuable time. Just be open.
Just sacrifice. (ha, "just")
Just be about salvation and redemption.
Those words that have lost meaning because we throw them around so much. (redefine them for yourself if you need to. I had to)

You want abundant/full/intoxicating life?
Stop trying to figure out what seems natural and comfortable and figure out what Jesus talked most about and did the most.
And that will fill you. And intoxicate you.
Do whatever you need to do to figure it out.
Go through the Bible.
Look at Jesus life from different perspectives.
Pray pray pray. Ask the Lord to show us in ways we've never known before.
Research what's going on already.


I simply can not think about the undeserved, unconditional love that my Daddy has poured out on me; I can't think about the people he's used to do that; I can't think about the fact that I kept spitting in his face and turning from him and yet he POURS out grace on me and blesses me and gives me immense joy anyways; I can't think about the redemption/transformation of the way I think, the way I love people, the way i do life, the way I struggle deep, dark things---I can not think about all of that stuff and not feel a beautiful, deep, joyful compulsion to share those same things with people who HAVE NO IDEA they can experience this!

And this is just a bonus:

politics or love
can make you blind or make you see
make you a slave or make you free
but only one does it all

and it’s giving up your life
for the ones you hate the most
it’s giving them your gown
when they’ve taken your clothes

it’s learning to admit
when you’ve had a hand in setting them up
in knocking them down

love is not against the law
love is not against the law

are we defending life
when we just pick and choose
lives acceptable to lose
and which ones to defend

‘cause you cannot choose your friends
but you choose your enemies
and what if they were one
one and the same

could you find a way
to love them both the same
to give them your name

-good ol D. Webb

just read the words

Tonight at the end of light
Tonight, I feel lonely
I thought I heard my heart stop beating
I long for you to hold me

I guess I feel like Eden
The twilight tried it’s best
Tonight I feel good and evil
Against my chest

Would I love you less or better
If I didn’t miss your face?
Read your words like a love letter
Would I have known your grace?

I guess I feel like Eden

Aware of all I am

Tonight I feel good and evil

Against my skin

We’re all homesick
Is love the reason?

My hunger led me to your hope
Until the end of this colder season
Keep us warm

Cause we are always Eden
The day after she fell
We feel good and evil

And choose which one to tell

When all we have is music
You’re a little more like me
We’ve come too far to lose it
This state of imagery

When nothings real and nothings wrong

That’s my favorite part to see
We dance around and we sing our songs

There’s nothing like the wings of an angel

When all the stars are glowing
Wide awake but deep in a dream
Unconscious of any motion

Save for the movement in me

And I know that this will always be
our perfect in-between
so maybe somehow we can help them see

There’s nothing like the wings of an angel

Entranced in sweet obsession
such a complete expression of myself

cause I know where I am planted
deep in a love transcending everything

When all we have is music
You’re a little more like me

I guess I need to choose
But today I am confused and losing ground
Is this part of some plan?
The rise and fall of man?
I can’t be sure

When I’m away from my source of peace
Something fills that space in me

And it feels like I don’t need you

It’s easy to get by
When I don’t even try to find the truth

Today I learned that faith
Is not to be obtained like a place I can go

It’s more of a choice than a feeling
More of a wound than healing

The act of believing in you

But maybe this is where I grow
When I admit that I don’t know

I like to say my college
Is living in this town

Some days what seems hardest
Is simply sticking around

With so much to see
Places that I’ve yet to be

And I like to say my colleague
Is the mother at the store
The man who serves me coffee
And john who lives next door

We all study life
Learning how to make things right

We wanna change the world
We wanna make you proud

But lately I’ve come to learn
That it might start here and now

Cause sometimes I look too hard at the big things
When the best thing I can do is love you

Josue tells me stories about his home down south
His mother can’t cross the border
But he’s trying to get her out
He names a price

And turns so I won’t see him cry

People make me hungry
But people keep me sane

Josue taught me more than a professor could explain
About working hard
And using what I have to do my part

But how do I get to love?
I’ll start unselfishly

Can I hold out my hands?
Do they even belong to me?
How do I get to love?

I guess it starts inside of me

-alli rogers
good words.
they do things to me.
good words to share.

house

Have you ever watched an artist
skillfully craft a work of art
from nothing into something magnificent?
A painting? A drawing?
Canvas white; white as snow
Clean start
He’ll take it wherever he wants to go
Watch closely;
you can never reconstruct those moments,
just like the artist can not reproduce
the exact same piece of art

What about a baby?
Ever watch it develop in the womb?
Then watch as her parents, and the world,
sketch out who she becomes
Mind is white; white as snow
They’ll take her wherever they want to go
Watch closely

But what about an old house?
One with life and character of its own
Stains on the walls and ceilings
Unleveled ground here and there
Filled with dirt and dead bugs
Light switches that no one knows what they turn on
A cubby hole in the wall where the telephone used to go

Ever watch someone come in and find
a use for the old, useless holes?
Ever watch them give the switches a new purpose-
to light up the house?
Watch them clean out the dirt and death?
Watch them make the ground level
so that everything that’s put on it will not topple anymore?
Watch them, not just paint over the stains,
but tear down the sheet rock and put up clean white walls?
Or colorfully painted walls?
Watch closely

Watch the former owner walk around the house
and not recognize a thing
Watch her not even know where to walk
A friend comes in and asks for a tour of the remodeled house
but she can not give one
Then watch closer
As the new owner takes the girl by the hand
and leads her through the house
He shows her all the things he repaired, replaced,
and made completely new
He shows her how to get from room to room
In some rooms, he spends much more time than others,
explaining every detail
When they get to the bottom of the stairs
He says “let’s wait till tomorrow for the upstairs.
I still have more work to do up there.
When I’m done, I’ll show you.
And then, I’ll come back downstairs from time to time
To touch up the things that wear down again.”
Watch the girl.
She looks troubled by the thought of things wearing down again
But he says, “Don’t worry, I bought this old house
for a mighty price.
I can’t leave.
I’ll be around here forever.
And I’ll continue to work on it every day.
You might even stumble upon something new every once in a while.
Just follow me through it and you’ll never get lost again.”

Watch the woman smile
This house was not a white canvas
This house was not a blank slate
But sometimes watching the old and dirty made new
is more magnificent then watching
the “nothing” or the “blank slate” be made into something
Especially when you’re the one inside the house
Keep watching
He’ll be working on that house until it’s a castle




“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of--throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

this is the birthday of life

i thank You God for most this amazing day:
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;
and for everything which is natural
which is infinite
which is
yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;
this is the birthday of life
and love
and wings:
and of
the gay, great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting
touching
hearing
seeing breathing
any-lifted from the
no of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake
and now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
-e.e. cummings

Agapetos II

Continuing on with those thoughts.....God frequently refers to Jesus as “my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.”
And just think about this: once you accept His love and become a child of God, He says that same thing about you.-->“My beloved son/daughter with whom I am well pleased.”

Because remember, we take on Jesus’ clothing of perfectness; his clothing that represents the fact that we are RIGHT/GOOD.
We become just like Him because He is in us.
And we do the things he did.
We love the way he did.
We pray the way he did.
We serve the way he served. (I mean, I guess that is, if we do in fact have Him. If we are truly being filled by His love.)

Just think about what the word ‘beloved’ must mean when God says that about Jesus.
Jesus= part of God; His only son; completely selfless; came to earth not to be served but to serve; the one who restored harmony with God’s creation.

And then, just think about the fact that he refers to YOU as beloved, as well.

αγαπητός means “beloved; dearly loved; worthy of love; only beloved; dear; prized; valued”

Is that not what He sees when he looks at Jesus and at us?
And more importantly, what this really all comes down to is: isn't this definition what WE should think when we look at HIM; our Father; our Creator; our Lover; our Sustainer; our Beauty; our Warrior; our Comfort?

Oh how I need a constant reminder of that! Oh how forgetful we humans are! Oh how adulterous we are! Oh how stupid we are to forget and to fall over and over again!

But, oh, how good He is to be the epitome of patience and to remind us over and over how truly worthy of love he is; how valued and prized he is; how he is our only beloved! And, oh, how I want that constant reminder of who he is minute by minute; how I want that reminder for myself to simply be, and be loved; how I want that reminder to be love to others, because that Love is in me.

When I claimed Jesus’ righteousness, I claimed His love. And what are the only things that he commanded us (I say ‘only’ because everything else falls underneath it)?
He says: Love me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love others. Let’s not forget that last part. The disciple, John, says “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

And I also need a reminder of that: To αγαπη others. (αγαπη =agape= love)
Meaning, every time I encounter someone I want to treat them as if they are beloved; dearly loved; worthy of love; only beloved; dear; prized; valued.
Because every single person is loved, prized, worthy of love.
It is only this world that tells us that some people are worthy of love and some aren’t.
It is only this world that tells us that sometimes it is okay to treat others as if they are not valued.
Like when they’ve done something bad to us, right? Or when we’re in a bad mood? Or when they are just a mean person? Or when they are annoying?
Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. Everything we do and say, at all times, should be out of love for that person.
And I suck at this. Big time. But I want to be better. And I want my life to be devoted to becoming better at this. Which is why I think it is worthy of being on me forever.

The beloved John also says “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”

And that is simply what it is ALL about: when I let myself be loved, I can then, be love.

Its just so simple: Love God. Love people.

Agapetos

αγαπητός

Many of you kind of know the inspiration behind my blog title.

I have a tattoo of the word 'beloved' in Greek on my wrist.
This word means a lot to me.

But I wasn't going just for 'beloved' for the blog title.

I wanted equally as much focus on the words 'be' and 'love.'

'BE' has been a theme for the past year of my life. Just be, people, just be.
Stop trying. Stop thinking so hard. Stop trying to do so much. Just be.
And in being--that is enough.
Obviously, it goes much deeper than that, but that's the general idea.

'LOVE' is (should be) the theme for every moment of my life. It was the theme of Jesus' life.
It is God. Love, people, love.
Love. And be loved.
That's all that it comes down to.
And everything, and i repeat, everything, comes down to loving.

And then there's 'beloved.'

And for that part, I wrote about 5 pages worth of thoughts behind why that word means so much to me.
About a year ago, when I got the tattoo, I wrote it all down so I can remember forever and put it as a 'note' on facebook. If you've read that, then you should definitely skip out on the next 2 posts. If you haven't, and you are interested, feel free to read.

I split it into 2 posts, because we all know that long posts never get fully read, unfortunately.

Here we go......

αγαπητός = “beloved; dearly loved; worthy of love; only beloved; dear; prized; valued”

The idea behind ‘beloved’ was first made real to me when I was reading the ‘The Four Loves’ by C.S. Lewis. In the last chapter, he was talking about true love here on earth and how it is beautiful and how wonderful it is. And how that beauty and magnificence is only a glimpse of the love that God has for us. We can experience this love right now on earth, but we will experience it completely when we are in heaven with Him. And really, we can not even fathom that completeness. Every type of love that we experience right now is just a taste, a slice, a Sam’s- Club- Sample, if you will.

And then Lewis said the quote that, well you know, just went straight to my heart,

“We are then compelled to try to believe, what we cannot yet feel, that God is our true Beloved.”

And it hit me. God. Is. My. True. Beloved.

And no one on this earth can compare. Yes, I might fall in-love with a wonderful man of God. Yes, I might have the bestest friends in the entire world that make it SO easy to love and be loved. Yes, I might have children that I will pour my heart out to.

But none of this compares, nor will it compare, to the love that God is offering to me. Nothing will completely fulfill me. They might fulfill most of me, but not all.

These loves might be perfect and beautiful. And they are perfect and beautiful because it is God who is providing them, to show me glimpses of His love and to draw me closer to it. But on that day that I am in His presence I will know what complete, true, and perfect love is because I will be consumed with its presence.

He will be speaking affirmation into my soul.

Every form of brokenness, pain, and doubt that I have every felt about myself or within myself because of this broken world we live in, will be eradicated. I definitely feel that peace and wholeness that His love gives me right now, here on this earth. But, since I am surrounded by brokenness every day, every where I am, I can not completely escape its side affects. But there will come a day where I will be completely whole, because my TRUE beloved is consuming me with the presence of His love.

Then, Song of Solomon 6:3 was made more real to me: “I am my beloved’s and he is mine.”

After the revelation that I had above, this verse took on a whole new meaning. Maybe one day I will have a human beloved like Solomon and his bride, but maybe not. The beautiful thing is: I am not waiting for that day because I already know who my TRUE beloved is. And I am His! He has claimed me as His own! And He is mine! He has promised to be inside of me and to be with me always, no matter what I do to hurt Him. And I do many things to hurt him. I cheat on him daily. But He has made a covenant with me, promising that I am His forever. It is a glorious thing not to be waiting anxiously for someone to come along and fulfill you, to love you, to be your wildest dreams. It is glorious to be so in love with the One who created and provides and IS that glimpse of love that everyone else is waiting anxiously for.

The revelation continues on. . . . if you look at the word “beloved,” and break it down, you see:
be loved. BE LOVED. Just stop. And
Be.
Loved.

He already loves you. Just the way that you are. Just by being. He loves you.
He loves you for being.
He SO loved us that, even though we are bad and selfish, even though we have broken his laws, even though we are condemned to the penalty of death, for eternity, He decided to cancel our debt. Not only did he say “you do not have to serve your horrible penalty forever. The penalty that you deserve” but he also said, “I will make you completely righteous.”
RIGHTEOUS: justified, innocent, faultless, guiltless.

“I will make you JUST LIKE MY SON WHO IS GOD. And, I will give up my son, because, I love you SO much. I will make Him suffer. I will be SEPERATED from him. For you. Because you are my beloved. And all you have to do is BE loved. Accept this love. Take it. Be it. Do nothing more. Because if you accept it, all I will see when I see you is my son. I see cleanliness. I see perfect. I see righteousness. And yes, you still deserve something much worse, but because I LOVE you so much, I no longer see that which you deserve. So stop trying to wipe it away yourself. And just be. Be loved by me.”

to be continued.

"The Strange, the different, the unintelligible"

"The strange, the different, the unintelligible, the subjective aspect of my neighbor is the garment in which God's grace meets me."

I heard this the other day and found that is simply MUST be shared. Get ready for this:

The strange, the different, the unintelligible...does anyone have someone who fits those categories? When you hear "the strange," someone instantly comes to mind? "The different"-- yep, look up 'different' in the dictionary and so and so's name is written there. "The unintelligible"-- man, there is this person in my life; i dont understand why they do what they do. They drive me crazy. Can someone BE that stupid??

He then says: The strange, the different, the unintelligible, the subjective aspect of my neighbor.....the subjective aspect! Hm that's great, isn't it? It's like--we know how the world works. You do this and then this is supposed to happen. When I say this, they are supposed to say this. But THIS person--they don't know how I've set things up to operate! They keep messing things up and its driving me insane! The subjective aspect of my neighbor--ya know what im talking about? They don't fit in how my world is supposed to work.

He says: The strange, the different, the unintelligible, the subjective aspect of my neighbor is the garment in which God's grace meets me.

This is what Paul's (in Philippians 2) saying: You want to understand God's love? You want to understand God's grace? You want to truly understand what it means for God to have enveloped you in His grace, peace, forgiveness, hope, and light?

Then orient yourself around the strange, the different, the unintelligible, the coworker, the embarrassing relative, the annoying acquaintance, the person who absolutely sends you mad.

Circle around them. And in your frustration of pain of trying to serve and love them well, you will be face to face with what it means for God to have embraced and loved you in all your strangeness, difference, and unintelligibility.

That person who most gets under your skin-- they may in fact be the garment of God's grace that is coming to you to bring you more fully into the love of God.

If I could actually learn to even take one step to encircle the interest of that person, it would be a step closer to understanding more fully what it means for God to love and accept me.

If I could learn to not hold their past against them, and not always holding them accountable for their past. Maybe I could come to understand what it means for God to not hold my past against me.

Maybe if I could take one lap around them with all of their flaws, I would better understand the God who embraces and loves me in spite of all of my flaws.

The other, the one in your midst that most rubs you the wrong way, the strange, the different, the unintelligible, the subjective one that does not fit into how your world operates, may in fact be the grace of God coming to you saying "i drive you nuts. And i am an invitation for you to understand the trinitarian nature of the universe all the more fully, my friend."

We discover respect for each other, not on this ground or that. Paul is not saying, in Phillipians 2, 'respect those who deserve to be respected. Find your peers, the people who get it, and respect them.'
We respect people on NO grounds. Maybe even COUNTER to any grounds. For no reason at all.

It is the most frustrating, maddening dimension of this person that is God's invitation to more fully enter in the grace and peace that God has extended to me.

The claim my neighbor makes on me, on my patience, on my attention, on my consideration, on my love--is the claim of God's grace. The degree to which this person draws out of me and demands of me things that are absolutely infuriating is the claim of God's grace.




This is a sermon by Rob Bell titled "Others." I strongly suggest listening to this podcast. Mars Hill Bible Church. 4/26/08. This was only a few minutes from it, so you can imagine the rest.
Man, can you say convicting?

We are composed of a symphony of notes

Don't stop your crying on my account
A frightening lion, no doubt

He's not safe, no he's not safe
Are you tempted now to run away?

The King above all Kings is coming down
But He won't say the words you wish that he would
he don't do the deeds you know that He could
He won't think the thoughts you think He should
But He is good,
He is good

I know you're thirsty,
the water is free But I should warn you,
it costs everything

He's not fair, no He's not fair
When He fixes what's beyond repair
And graces everyone that don't deserve

No one knows Him whom eyes never seen
I don't know Him
but He knows me

Lay down your layers, shed off your skin
But without His incision,
you can't enter in
He cuts deep when the risk is great and the talk is cheap
But never leaves a wounded one behind

I will show you love like you’ve never loved before
I will go the distance and back for more if you just say the word

You will come alive again and call the trying times your friend
The pain that you have suffered through will never get the best of you
You will hope in something real that won’t depend on how you feel
When you call my name then I will answer

I am on your side though the wind and waves beat against your faith
You were on my mind when the world was made
Trust in me my child

Walk out on the water where you have no control
So scared to death of failure you sacrifice your soul,
please let that go

You have climbed an uphill road
You have worn a heavy load
You have cried through endless nights
and nearly given up the fight
Watched your dreams like falling stars
the heartaches made you who you are
Now looking back you see that I have always been there

Where you gonna hide? Where you gonna hide from Me?
Where you gonna go? Where you gonna go that I can’t see?
I have heard you cry and it breaks my heart for I love you so
I would never lie, this is not the end
there is still a hope

You can't go backwards, you must go forward
You have not been what you could be

When you are the only one that enslaves you
Then you're the only one that can set you free
Don't run away, question the answers
Live you life like it's on fire

You can't have mountains without the valleys
You can't go high if you won't go deep

You can't do over what you've done already Expecting something new to see

All that I've found through the ups and downs
Is that I'd have it no other way

Life in the raw is both fragile and strong
It's both lovely and ugly the same

Who can attest that when they're at
their best their worst is still crouching close behind???
It's coming to peace with the darkness in me
That allows the true light to shine inside

So let it go, for we are still far from home
Though you try and try to escape

To live and to love will always be dangerous But it's better than playing it safe

We are composed of a symphony of notes
Every life is as music to His ears
I'll play my melody be it haunting, be it sweet
Unashamed of what anyone might hear

So when the load breaks your back and your will
You must still keep your heart in the game

To live and to love will always be dangerous
But would you want it any other way?

If you know me, then you know that when it comes to music-- I'm all about the lyrics.

I stumbled upon a new artist recently and her words have simply been speaking to my soul.
So i'm posting these words. In no specific order.
Simply beautiful language of the universe.

"Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties"

I just heard this teaching on 'creativity.'
It was really good for me to hear because if you know me at all, you know I am not a creative person.
I LOVE art; I LOVE music; I LOVE taking pictures; I love taking people's creative ideas and running with them.
But that's all I got.

The teachers said over and over, "never say 'I'm just not creative'....those words are forbidden."
So they were calling me out.

First they gave these 3 words:
Idea
Thought
Father (God)

And they talked about how we can trigger ideas and thoughts.
"Creative" people go to certain "places" that help them think and get the ideas flowing. For instance, some of the "places" he said that resonated with me were:
the shower
while reading
driving

Some others were:
when you're going to sleep
when you wake up

Basically, figure out what gets you thinking and when ideas come to you. Be aware of that time and go to that place if you want it to happen. Open your mind during those times. Be aware.

Next three words:
Activity
Express
Christ

Once you have a thought or idea, you have to act on it. You need an activity to get the idea going. Once you've found your place that helps you think and be open, you can also find ways that will help you be more creative.
Creative people do activities that trigger their creativity.
Some of which are:

playing-- A study showed that when students (college) were allowed to play with toys and have fun before working on a project, they did much better creatively than when they did not have that time. So play! Have fun! Be childlike! I need to do this more.

certain environments--being outside in nature certainly helps many; being in closed off quite places; being at a concert, etc.

change your routine--creative people some times will mix up their daily routine. Instead of driving the way they always do to work, they'll try a different route. You can do this with anything. Open yourself to something new. I definitely need to try this more often. I like routines, so I'm sure this could help me branch out.

marinate on it--the guy talked about how after he writes a book, he puts it to the side for like a month and tries not to think about it or talk about it or work on it. Just let it sit there and see what happens after a chunk of time. After its had time to marinate.

Next three words:
Power
Influence
Spirit

Share your creativity. Music. Painting. Poetry. Drawing. Gardening. Ideas for an organization. Ways to solve problems nonviolently. Ways to alleviate societal problems. Ways to show love.
Share these things so that God's power and influence can be seen through you.
Make it USEFUL.
This is what they said over and over.
Whatever your ideas, thoughts, actions of creativity are: make them useful. Share them.

God is the ultimate creator. And he made us in his image.
We were made to be creative.
Everyone. In. His. Image.

What creative ideas and acts are you involved in that are helping to redeem the world?

God the father is the idea, the thoughts, the beginning. Christ is the activity. The Word made flesh. The way God is expressed. The Spirit is the power that moves through us all. It is how God's influence is seen through our creativity.

The power we find by living a creative life is found in the mind of the maker.

Redeem the fall through your actions.
If your about what Jesus is about, you're about redemption.
Of course, Juliette, in herself, can redeem nothing. But if I open myself and nurture my mind to the power of God's creativity--my creative acts can be apart of redemption.















"All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." Picasso

"Imagination is intelligence having fun."

"Please don't try to break this life down systematically.
It's not a science but a song that needs to be set free.
It's broken down to notes and measures, but there's so much more
emotion powerfully speaks; it is the key to unlock our hearts doors."
--Taylor Hawkins

Default

So this may be hard to communicate what I'm actually thinking, but I must try anyways.

Something that has kind of been on my mind/bothering me is:
As Christians, what is our default?

For instance:
Be rich or middle class and minister to that group of people or be poor and minister to that group of people?

Take birth control or don't?

Live in a nice safe neighborhood or not (aka. inner city, the country, etc)?

Send kids to public school or home school?

Vote republican or not (aka. democratic, third party, not vote, etc)?

Stay in America or go?

Make money or just don't?

Buy stuff from the grocery store or make my own food, clothing, etc?

Have all my own babies or adopt?

Go to college or not?

I'm not saying what is the right choice in ANY of these. In fact, I think all of these options can be the right choice at any given time.

My question is about our default.

There are certain options we choose automatically as our "default" and THEN we stop, question, pray, and say, should we be doing something different?
And I wonder if our default options look a whole lot more like our society's defaults rather than Jesus' teachings.
I wonder if we can make our defaults look more like a culture of Jesus followers, and THEN we stop, question, pray about if we should do something more like our society.

I guess just some examples I see.... (which could be debated if they actually should be defaults. but i guess its how i see it as of now)....

Birth control:
Obviously, I've come to no affirmative conclusion on this given that I am no where near making that decision. My thought: Why does it seem to be default that Christian couples just take the pill? Why isn't the thought process more like, 'we're getting married knowing that we are to fill the earth. That children are gift from God. And we trust Him to give us that gift whenever--even if we think we're not ready. We trust Him more than our own plans. He knows us better than we know ourselves so lets let him decide the timing....Okay maybe we have extreme circumstances, so we can't have babies right now and God has made that clear, but we're not going to take something that could possibly abort a baby and/or can mess up my body....Okay we have extreme circumstances, and we've really prayed about it. And we've done a lot of research and we think it works for us to take the pill...."
I'm not saying that 'taking the pill' means your not trusting God. Please don't hear me say that. But I just wonder why our default seems to be just to take it. Why isn't our default trusting God more and His ways in family, in children, and just in our own personal relationship with him? I guess I just don't think we should be so quick to do things that "everyone else" just does.

Home schooling:
Why is our default just to sent our kids away to a not-so-good public school system that raises our kids instead of training up our children in the ways of Jesus ourselves? How do we think that parents will be able to influence their kids more than the world if the world gets to spend waaay more time with them than the parents?
Again, not saying home schooling is for everyone. But I think our default should be for parents to raise and teach their children as much as possible and then if its just not gonna work for the parents to do that, through lots of praying and thinking, then of course it's good for whatever else to happen.

Adopting:
Okay its just straight up a command from God to take care of the orphans. I don't know how much more "default"ish you can get from that. Sure, have you own children. But please follow God's very simple command to take care of the orphans. Not saying everyone is suppose to adopt, but i am saying WAY more Christians should be doing so than they are now. Adopting should be a default, unless God makes it very clear that you shouldn't--through LOTS of prayer and community counsel.

How we consume:
I probably could go off on this one way too long. So I'll just say: we put no thought into what we buy, where it came from, what soul made it, how they were treated, how much they were paid, what it took to get that item here, how they item will affect our life, what that item portrays us as. I think the way Christians buy things and the food they eat should look way different than the rest of society. And that is far from true right now it seems. Maybe our default should be to just consume unless we know where all our stuff is coming from. Crazy. I know.

Where we live:
Default--live like Jesus did (with very little, with the poor, with the outcasts, with the sinners).
Should I default be to live in a nice, safe neighborhood with people who are just like us? Or should our default be to live with the poor or with the outcasts? Like we should just automatically do that? And then, through lots of prayer and community counsel, if God makes it clear to us to live somewhere else and minister to another group, THEN we go there. I want that to be default for my kids. I don't want them to think their default is to live in a perfect, safe, surburbia ministering to upper-middle class white folks. I would totally be okay if that's what God calls them to. Really, I would, I promise. But I don't want that to be their default.



I would like to clarify more for fear of offending, but I fear I've gone too long.
I hope this makes some sense.

Be Mustard- part 2

This is just a continuation of my thoughts from the last post. . . they technically together…

“The history of the church has been largely a history of ‘believers’ refusing to believe in the way of the crucified Nazarene and instead giving in to the very temptations he resisted—power, relevancy, spectacle.”

So these days we can support a president and we can worship Jesus at the same time right? I mean, I think so. But I’ve been challenged with that idea. I just don’t know what to do with the fact that one says we must love our enemies and the other says we must kill our enemies (before they kill us or just simply because they are our enemies); one is all about the economics of competition while the other is all about forgiveness of debts. And there are definitely other contradictions such as these.

How can we serve two masters???

This is very perplexing to me and I could surely use some of your thoughts on this.

How do we support this who idea of “ridding the world of evil” by killing our enemies?

What does Jesus think about that?

The way our world is trying to "rid the world of evil" just seems evil to me.

Is Jesus just out of date? Is his world-view and kingdom ideas just out of date?? Does he just not know how the real world works today? I mean, the real world is pretty messed up and evil and the only way it seems like we can fight the horrible, evil things we see around the world is through more evil…but we would never call it evil, because we’re fighting evil....right?

But it seems like Jesus’ first followers knew the same kind of evil—horrible, real world evil. They were burned alive, beheaded, fed to lions, and persecuted in verbal, physical and economic ways. They met evil-doers and terrorists face to face. Yet they did not try to rid the world of evil with more power they way we do, did they?

For Jesus and his followers the question was, ‘how do we live faithfully to God?’

But then..... the church got hold of the kingdom whenever the Roman Empire became ‘Christian.’

And it wasn’t the servant kingdom Jesus talked about—it became about dominance, coercive force, to take charge of the world in the name of ‘justice for all.’

The question for Christians then became, ‘how do we run the world as Christians?’

And we still hear the question today in all spheres of life. How do we make it to ‘the top’ as a Christian and then try to run things?

But this raises another question for me. If Jesus wanted to run the world, couldn’t he have done that? He’s stinkin God. Couldn’t he have taken over this horrible world, taken Caesar’s place, sat on the throne of the Empire of the World, and make everything wonderful?? Couldn’t he have done that? Or even, couldn’t he have put his disciples in positions to do that???
Even Satan offered to make him the ruler of the entire world when he was tempted in the desert. Satan knew how much that would "make sense." He knew how much of a temptation that would be.

So it seems to me that Jesus was not supportive of his followers attempting to “run the world.” Which could also mean, not “ridding the world of evil” like some are trying.

But what IF there happened to be a ‘Christian’ nation that really could “run the world?” Like some are trying....

Nah, still not convinced He would like that.

Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. "The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?"
'An enemy did this,' he replied.
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.' "
(mat.13:24)

Do not pull out the weeds. Wait for the harvest. Do not try to rid the world of the weeds/evil through your own ways.
We were never commanded to rid the world of evil.
But we were commanded to love. To make peace. To love our enemies. To be servants. To be apart of an upside-down kingdom.
Do what God commands. Leave the rest to God.
The destruction of evil is not in our hands. It's in Gods.

When you look at the history of Christianity and empires….“it’s hard to walk away with any other conclusion but that the best way to defeat the kingdom of God is to empower the church to rule the world with the sword, for then it becomes the beast it wishes to destroy.

Caesar seemed to be able to do anything in the world. But Caesar could not wash feet.”

We talk about how we go to war to bring peace, right? I mean most people who are in support of a war aren’t saying, ‘War is good cause killing is fun! And it will bring more harm than good! Yay we like harm and bad things!’

People really believe it will bring peace, or, a better good.
And that’s what Rome, the greatest empire (before US???) believed.

Pax Romana! Peace of Rome!

War for peace!

Violence for peace!

Yet, a historian writes, “people feared the peace of Rome because streams of blood and tears of unimaginable proportions followed in the ‘peace.’”

I’m sorry, but that just does not compute in my head.

That just does not sound like the Jesus I follow.

That makes me want to bless some true peacemakers like Jesus talked about.

And when you compare the way the “greatest” empires or nations in the world have and do govern, and then you compare that to Jesus’ Kingdom, you have to look at the cross because that is central to Jesus’ governing tactics and power. I think we could hardly say that the cross looked like some grand political power “reclaiming Israel for God.” It really didn’t seem to do much to claim Israel’s (God’s people) power in the world.

The cross was a humble assertion of power.

It was an upside-down assertion of power.

Instead of ruling through the sword, which most “great” nations and empires seem to do/did, God washed feet to assert and subvert power. He went out non-violently. He took power through having compassion on the worst of the worst. He took power by loving the unlovable. He did not conquer the authorities and government of his time --and they surely were not good and could have used some Jesus authority. He did not make and lead a kingdom they way we know how and they way we truly think is best. Through charisma, power, military, making himself look good, pleasing the crowds.

Upside down.

Take everything you know about how the world works; about how you live your life; about who deserves what; about what makes life good; about how we should treat and love people; about who should be in power; about how we should follow authorities; about how we become whole and complete—

And turn it upside down.

That’s how we follow our Leader’s example.
We start small. Like a mustard seed.

When we are persecuted, ridiculed, and told that we don’t make sense—the kingdom becomes more potent and grows more.

When we love and love is not fulfilled and we are broken—the kingdom grows more.

We do not seek success and power and leadership the way the world does. In fact, you can start by taking the way the world does it, find the opposite of that, and start shooting for that. (it will be hard and it takes a while, so don’t worry—baby steps…at least that’s what I tell myself)

We do not try to redeem people and situations and violence and anger through more violence. (and when you think about it—that’s just really crazy) We turn it around and try another way and follow our leader’s pro-active and very creative examples when it comes to peace.

We take everything we know and we re-examine it. Take all the ways we think about things and re-examine it.

And after examining it.....most of it will probably need to be turned upside down.

(and feel free to have a new found appreciation for Jack johnson's song 'Upside down')

The Deliberate Agrarian

Check this article out I found from a person who's way smarter and cooler than me's blog.

Its definitely worth reading.

Mustard

The blessings of the world through God’s people are not
A violent, quick revolution that takes power

It starts small
It faces set backs
But it
Will
Permeate
The world
With love.

Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.

Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. (mat. 13)

About this parable Gerhard Lohfink writes, “Jesus is very aware of the ‘impossibility’ of the cause of God in the world… he depicts not only the unstoppable growth of the reign of God, but also the frightening smallness and hiddennes of its beginning…”

I don’t think Jesus ever said that only he sowed the Word of God. (he IS the Word of God) He was constantly sending people away, telling them to sow the seed of the Kingdom too.

As Claiborne says, its like Jesus keeps saying, “In a distracting, violent, and tempting world, keep sowing the seed of love. Sow it everywhere, even when Herod ['the world' or 'the government'] cuts it down, and even when the world’s riches try to choke it. You never know when it will spring up and make great fruit!”

We must not become discouraged easily.

The disciples just couldn’t get their mind around the way Jesus was saying God’s kingdom should come. They thought it should come quickly, in grand production, in a way the world would be attracted to, through fear and bells and whistles.

But what does Jesus compare the kingdom to?

A. tiny. mustard. seed.

And yeast.

Hmm.

The heart of Jesus’ political imagination:

The kingdom starts small and permeates and transforms the larger world.

Not a political party. Not a political issue. Not through a nation or a few nations. Not a huge church with lots of rich members. Not T.V’s, power points, great music, great books, and captivating talkers. Not through a charismatic leader.

Not. What. You. Would. Think.

Mustard seed

Yeast and mustard where both known for their infectious spreading qualities, but they were not likely metaphors for the greatest of all Kingdoms.

Mustard seeds grew like ca-razy. All over. A wild bush. Took over gardens.

A metaphor about the kingdom being like a giant redwood (the greatest of all trees) would have been received much better by first-century Jews.

“What Jesus had in mind was not a frontal attack on the empires of this world. His revolution was a subtle contagion—one little life, one little hospitality house at a time.”

A persecutor of the early Christians said this: “They form a profane conspiracy infecting the Roman empire and just like a rank growth of weeds….it should at all costs be exterminated, root and branch.”

BUT ironically, when a mustard is crushed, its potency is released.

“Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”

Amen, let us be crushed.

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that is hated me first.”-Jesus

Hmmm, if the world does not hate us, are we really a part of another kingdom?

That is always a good question to ask ourselves, but sometimes I think it can be confusing.
So I have to remind myself who ‘the world’ is, because its not like the whole world is trying to kill me or something. To me, it means that if people who are not following Jesus look at the things I do and say things like,

“Okay, don’t you think you’re going a little overboard?” “Are you part of a cult?” “That’s so great that you’re spending time with those kind of people, but I just couldn’t do that.” “I think that is absolutely stupid and I just can’t believe you’re going to do that.” “Do you expect to make it anywhere in life that way?” “Aren’t you afraid you’re going to get sued?” “You will probably get killed! That is so dangerous!” “That is uncivilized and just stupid.” "But they deserve this!! We must teach them a lesson!"

Those things are definitely said to me on a routine basis, but I’m just starting to dig into this upside-down kingdom so I’m expecting MUCH more than that to come.

Early Christians were NOT TRYING TO OVERTHROW OR EVEN REFORM THE EMPIRE, or government, or leaders of society....whatever you want to call it.

But they were also not going along with it either.

They didn’t try to change the leadership or government-- they made a whole other world, a whole other Rome. Forget reforming that which we can all admit is crap, lets believe and be apart of another world and offer it to the dissatisfied people.

We need people who believe so much in another world that they cannot help but enact it.
That’s what a true believer is—a convert. Their minds and imaginations are renewed, made different—and they can not do the things the rest of the world is doing anymore. They think about things so much differently that the world thinks things like, 'that's crazy' a.k.a. 'thats upside-down.' Even the subtle things that no one seems to talk about changes for the convert, not just those "big moral" things. Everything changes.

God bless America….hmmmm….

“So often we do things that make sense to us and ask God to bless our actions and come alongside our plans, rather than looking at the things God promises to bless and acting alongside of them.”

And what does God promise to bless?
When we are with the poor
The merciful
The hungry
The persecuted
The peacemakers.

What if we stop doing things just because they definitely work in our head and then praying that God will make good things come from it and instead just start doing the things God already promised us that good things will come from—even when those things seem completely unreasonable and upside-down in our minds???

Technology has advanced and grown incredibly, people are growing exponentially, more and better weapons, more and better business…..yet our spirituality and morality has not advanced. Out hearts are the same as thousands of years ago.

Can we handle the power?