Wings...

Celebration. Dancing. Pictures. Guests. Cake. Joy.

After many days of preparation (so many people did so much work!) and a few days rejoicing with family and new family, my little sister is married. She is a wife now, and I have a brother. A real brother. Finally, a big brother.



[Boaz] said, "Who are you?" And she answered, "I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant for you are a redeemer." ~ruth3:9

my change jar

$17.83 in pennies, nickles, dimes and quarters
14 guitar picks
2 Canadian pennies
2 safety pins
1 paper clip
1 yellow 20 gauge shotgun shell
1 glass bead
1 button
1 set of keys
1 sliver of wood

Endurance

I bet the frozen pizza industry really understands America's hunger for instant gratification. All the food chains should, actually. We want instant results, instant gratification, now rather than later, and dessert before dinner. Our desires rule our lives, or so it would seem.

And some actions do offer instant results--I'm hungry, so I'm motivated to make supper, which I eat and instantly my motive/desire is satisfied. But what about those goals that are more abstract? What about the realm of character and the spiritual? I understand the seed, the motive that starts an action. What I'm wondering is this:

What is it that keeps us going?

Where do we get endurance from? How do we remain steadfast? "The testing of your faith produces steadfastness" (James 1:3)

I would submit to you this: that the fuel for our endurance IS our faith. As it is tested, it is either proved true or consumed, which produces a faithfulness, an endurance, a steadfastness in our lives. In spite of opposition, we are able to keep going in the good work we have begun. Why? Because He is faithful to create in us that which can withstand the test. And over time, through many trials, we gain character. We begin to see that we are His heirs in more than title.

I think faith is kind of like hope: a looking forward to what we know we already posses. Like the son who has an inheritance but yet looks forward to receiving it. We begin an action in faith, we suffer testing which proves our faith to be true, and we end up where? With hope that doesn't disappoint us.

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
Ro5:3-6

At the right time. When we were still weak. Wow. Surely every ounce of our faith, our action, our hope is a gift. I want to enjoy every particle of it. I believe it is mine. Yet I have need of endurance.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
Heb 10:35-36

Healing

We have to stop closing our eyes...

Tree

Not alone; in peace

and freedom I sway my branches,

dance in the breeze,

worshiping in the rain.

A cool rain that soaks deep,

soaks gently, splashing off

my new growth, running down

last years branches, sinking under,

lower, further, into the hidden places.

Not alone; in stillness

I see the night come. See

the fading light offer stars that

come silently and move their

dream-like pictures across my sky.

A waxing moon slides past.

It keeps its secrets or maybe

whispers them to the stars,

or the angels. I don't mind.

They are humble, never jealous that

all day long the sun overpowers them.

They are faithful, never out of

formation, always on time.

Men trust their lives to the

stars, sailors to the night-sky-truth.

I trust mine to the sun's promise

of tomorrow.

Not alone; I soak in light,

in sunlight. My leaves stretch, grow

larger, and become deeper hues. I grow,

and no one sees me,

and no one hears me,

until I am strong enough to bear the

weight of a tree house,

or am filled with fruit.

Anonymity is fitting for me;

Rain, stars, and sun I contain.

Enough, and Relationship

Ok, enough with marriage posts. Why? Because it's a heck of alot of fun being single!

[note to friends: NO I am not posting as a rebellion against all the weddings happening]

Being single. Ahh. The refreshing winds of freedom. I call it my time of being boss. No sanctifying influence of another person you have to live with day in and day out, that you have to love when they are being irritating. Our burdens come from other places.

Like loneliness. How do we deal with that? Do we look at couples being cute and pine away? I propose not. I mean, looking sounds nice, but not pining away. I say...pray.

Prayer. To me, prayer has been the sweetest gift found in my singleness. It succours the loneliness. It brings answers. It brings adventures and challenges and dares even. It is scary and exciting and risky and fun, but it's also safe, romantic, comfortable and secure.

Of course, this kind of prayer does not happen in one day. Or one week. It is a lifestyle, and it isn't as easy as that paragraph made it sound. But it isn't hard either. It's plain old good. The safety grows with our knowledge of God's faithfulness, the risk with our ability to hear his voice of direction.

I used to think that singleness was a trial. I would 'suffer' through all kinds of unfulfilled emotions. Then I got into this prayer thing. The emotions are still there. But the suffering has turned into a relationship.

And relationships are what I'm all about.

Inter-racial Marriage???

"For God shows no partiality" Romans 2:11

Our God doesn't play favorites. The young do not receive more attention than the old; the foreigner gets equal access to worship as the native ("You and the sojourner shall be alike before the LORD" Numbers 15:15b); and all nations and heritages receive equally of His grace and attention. Even the Jews, his chosen people, do not receive more of His heart than us, but being grafted into the vine (Romans 11:11-12) He delights for us ALL to be with Him where He is and see his glory (John 17:24).

Race, I believe, is a social construct. Yes, God did divide people by creating separate tongues to prevent the world from being able to accomplish all the evil man was capable of. This brings up a strong point about division. It works powerfully against the momentum of any movement. It is what God himself used to hinder mankind in their unified evil purposes. It is also what the enemy uses not infrequently against the Church. But that is a side track. We are talking about race.

There are separation of languages. There are nations created through the bloodlines of family trees. But what exactly is race supposed to mean? What is color? And why are some of us so against the combining of these differences in "inter-racial" marriage? Do we not see that this sort of thought process is actually causing division?

I guess that's my point. That inter-racial and inter-cultural marriages, when they are carried out lovingly and successfully in the body of Christ, serve to promote unity. They perform a valuable function in the Body's witness to who Jesus is by revealing His love for all people and the fact that He is not partial to any special inside group. Jesus is not about uniformity (look at the diversity of creation!) but He does care about unity. Thank you, Joel, for pointing that out.

So a note to all my friends out there are or who may one day be in an inter-racial/cultural relationship: I support you. Kudos to being the body and showing the world that God does not show partiality!

dusk

Dark skin radiating, sweet and pungent
the voice of a mellow sax
alone among the first blue stars.

He moves to the somber sound;
a slow dance, a lumbering gait;
his long lashes catching moisture

of his own tears, mixing with the
sky's as mist rolls against the
stars and nebulae;

rolling, swaying
to the ancient rumble of thunder
in his chest,

running down powerful arms,
taste of bronze night,
mighty as thunder, crying.

Motly thoughts

I believe this is what I do when I am thoroughly sick of schoolwork. Blog.

So in lieu of sharing something powerful or passionate or inspiring I'm giving y'all a list.

1. In case you were wondering, the contraction "ain't" is perfectly useful for saying "have not," "will not," and three other contractions. Unfortunately overly bossy grammarians have denied it a place in formal writing. Ain't ain't a word is actually a lie: "Ain't" IS a word.

2. Shakespeare was overly interested in ambiguity and double meanings, along with syphilis and every kind of bawdy humor...somehow this has earned him unending fame.

3. In Spanish, the pronouns for direct and indirect objects come before the verb.

4. I am the only one who has enough of nothing to lose to get into a relationship on facebook just for April Fools Day.

5. I am no longer enrolled in summer classes.

6. Becca is going to be in Kentucky soon.

7. I love looking at the stars/heavens because this is the only physical representation of God's infinite nature I can begin to comprehend.

8. I miss my dead golden retriever, Sandy.

9. I am going to plant Chamomile early this spring, so maybe it will actually have time to bloom...TEA!!!

10. My brother is the best boy I've ever met.

I hope you enjoyed this snapshot of my mind tonight. On to more plodding forward. School ends in three weeks. FREEDOM!!!

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free; stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yolk of slavery. ~Gal 5:1

this could be your little sister, daughter, neice, or friend

IJM - Reality of Human Trafficking from International Justice Mission on Vimeo.

Human Wrong

This is a Human Wrong.

http://www.humanwrong.org/

Silver leaves

Silver leaves, those feathers from the sky as
falling stars flutter gently to our feet.

Crinkles wrinkle my nose with delight when
cold clean breath touches bark, toe.

Forest scent and prairie night, foxes
red, foxes grey. A whisper to the crescent
moon, a cry,

a secret for the day. A mouse
wiggles in the grass; the feathers move.

We feel it soft beneath our feet begin and
our skin is crawling with the first light when

our hair stands on end, and tight our
hands--the wonder-- as if each ray

spoke answers to our pain and the
cold, cold grasp of thorns all up our clothes

into our skin could not hold back the
deep, deep red of some tropical fish.

Three Words.

Go To Urbana. If you ever get the opportunity to attend an Urbana InterVarsity missions conference and are ready for major transformation, I assure you, it will be worth every penny and more you may spend getting there.

The way my King turned Lover encountered me at Urbana '09 missions conference changed my life forever. Jesus, I didn't know. Let me learn you more...keep blowing my preconcieved notions out of the water with the real YOU! Keep showing me the places I'm accepting a counterfeit image of you for the real live man you are. I want to know you for real. I'm amazed that you want to know me too. I'm amazed that you want to be with me.