A Collection of Half-Thoughts from June

Written in June

I read Psalm 136 again this month.  It was encouraging and convicting.  It was a reminder of the great steadfast love of God - that is an endless source of comfort  and inspiration.  It was also a reminder of how often I take for granted the works and blessings of our God.  How easy is it to say, what has God done for me?  As we are reminded, He parted the sea and sky, He created day and night, He provides us with food.  We take these things for granted.  We say them as if they are not amazing.  We say them as if they are possible without God.  And then we begin to question the many things He does not do.  We begin to wonder why others starve.  We begin to wonder why the world seems to be crumbling.  We begin to wonder why we don't have more money.  We begin to wonder why God is not fulfilling our every wish.  We begin to wonder why God is not doing all the things we want Him to do, and we lose sight of the things He has already done.  We begin to blame him for the things that have gone wrong.  Is it the fault of the Lord that water supplies are going bad?  No, it is ours.  Is it the fault of the Lord that we throw away excessive amounts of food while other's starve?  No, it is ours.  Is it the fault of the Lord that some are Homeless and others have multiple homes?  No, it is ours.  We have created the problems that cause us to quickly point fingers of blame.

We can surely take steps to restore a broken world

*****

She squatted among the bushes

That hid beneath the overpass,

Gently rocking on her toes

To the beat of the rain

Cascading upon the cars

That sloshed through pools

That collected above her

And fell in a splash

That never seemed to end;

A waterfall of dirty water,

Eerily glowing in the fog infused with moonlight

That seemed to descend upon her

Like a raven.

She was baptized with the night.

"And I begin the dance anew."

She allowed the wind to carry her sentiments

To the moon.

Stretching her body,

With resemblance of an alley cat,

She embraced the tears

That bled from the starless sky.

*****

There is a huge contrast that is present in this world. There is a constant seeking for more and more…none really sure when enough is really enough. It seems that the word enough is drifting away, and the word more has become the answer. There is never enough, you should always strive for more…that is our lifestyle. The fact that each of us seems to posses these feelings inside, suggests that perhaps there is a purpose to it, perhaps we aren’t meant to feel satisfied, perhaps we are always to strive for more, but more what? More stuff, more money, more land, more house, more food, more sex, more time? All of these things are passing. All of these things are self serving. The problem is, we are so busy attempting to satisfy ourselves, that we can’t move beyond self-serving. We are so busy trying to quench a thirst or fill a gaping hole within ourselves that we can’t begin to strive for something greater. So it seems the answer to strive correctly, is to be satisfied. But how can we be satisfied in nothing. Well it seems that if we can’t become satisfied by striving, we must attempt the opposite. Instead of striving, we need to surrender. But what are we surrendering to?

God. We are surrendering to Jesus Christ.

There was once a Samaritan Woman at a well. She wasn’t striving more much, only for the basic necessity of water. She walked to the well to fetch some, but even in this humble pursuit – Jesus spoke of surrender. While all she wanted was enough water to satisfy her for the day – he wanted to create living water inside of her. He wanted to satisfy her completely. She would no longer look to the well as her source of life, but to Him. For if she had continued to find her satisfaction in water, she would have passed that to her children, and this great need to be satisfied in water would lead to the question, how can I obtain this water easier? And this question could lead down several roads. It can lead to industry, creating new methods to retrieve the water. It could lead to theft, stealing water from neighbors. It could lead to greed, stockpiling the water for oneself. You see this chain in each generation. A new “need” is presented and slowly but surely it becomes obsession. People seek satisfaction in this need. They seek ways to create idols out of the need. They seek ways to be more and more satisfied by this need.

Perhaps water seems a silly need to pick in your eyes. Perhaps this tendency would be more obvious if I mentioned Sex. It has lead to romantic novels. It has lead to pornography. It has lead to a multibillion dollar industry of products and services. It has lead to prostitution. It has lead to rape. It has lead to molestation. It is slowly becoming as casual as water.

*****

It is becoming increasingly important to me to try to bring light into the world.  It is becoming evident that the world has so much potential to begin to become the Kingdom that Christ declared.  We will never achieve perfection here on earth, but by striving towards the Cross and towards Christ's future kingdom - many are sure to follow.  Rather then trying to constantly yell at people to follow after us, let's start and let them see what a beautiful journey this can be. You can sit around all day talking about something…or you can simply do it, and allow the spirit to move your heart.

There is no reason to trick people into Christianity, when you are following it with all your heart, they will want it too.  We don't need to try to make the rest of the world do things the way we do them.  We don't have to fix everything.  We simply need to live by example.  And when those who need help cross our paths, we will help them.