Just downloaded syllubi for this term,… I will see you at the end of March.

Something for Everyone

I am glad I came across this guy, witty sarcasm and truth.

Where Are You? Revisited.

Sometimes it seems like I am here waiting wondering why God is asking, “Where are you?” Then there are other times sometimes after just a few weeks have past, that I feel that I am playing “Marco Polo” or “Hide-n-Seek” with God. Of course God is not the one hiding or the one with his eyes closed, that would be me, the silly little boy that thinks it is all fun and games.

I as I am swimming around with my eyes closed yelling “Marco” or “where are you”, I don’t even realize that God’s response is not “Polo” but “I know where you are, do you?” So I go on swimming and yelling, “MARCO!” Or in the “Hide-n-Seek” analogy never realizing that I not really the one seeking but I am hiding. Not hiding out of bounds or anything, but running each time I feel I have been caught but never really having escaped. He is always within reach but I never realize it.

So, I am hiding in my school work, hiding in my family, “Marco!”, hiding in my job, “Marco!”, hiding in my ministries, “Marco!”, in school, “Marco!”, even hiding in my Bible. “Marco!” Yet some how He doesn’t get mad at me and stomp away.

He does not stop calling back to me, “I know where you are, do you?”

Sometimes I think I hear Him say “Randy, you are in the deep water, I Am here.”

“MARCO!” is my reply.

“The current is fast and strong, I have you.”

“MARCO!”

Then it hits me I cannot touch, deep. Something does not feel right, fast. Why am I so tired, strong water. The water is working against me. I cannot do this. I open my eyes and cannot see Him. I cry out “Where are you?”

“I know where you are, I am here” He says quietly. But all I hear is”POLO!”

“I am scared, why are you still playing? This is not fun anymore! I am hurt! Look there is blood.”

“POLO!”

“I have you, I have not been playing. Hold on, this is going to be rough. I will never let go, but because you feel like you have to do something, hold on.” I come to some sort of comprehension at those words.

So, I am clinging to Him, I am safe, whatever that means, bruised, banged up, and bloody. I am here where I said I was in “Where are You”, I am in the torrents of life some times oblivious as a child playing a game to the things that are happening around me. Other times feeling battered by the torrents not able to see how safe I am in His hands. Hearing His voice but not recognizing His words of warning and of comfort. Tomorrow we will be in a still calm pool again. Will you hear me? “MARCO!”

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
2 Corinthians 4:7

Twitter Cloud

Above a visual picture of my twitter account.
Below a visual picture of my WordPress account

Gluenow.com

Well I am sitting here thinking about my Integrative Paper Due Dec. 6th. I am not getting anything written down but I have several ideas. Unfortunately, ideas are not bringing me any comfort. So, I am blogging about the paper instead of writing it. I am using gluenow.com to see how it works at updating all my feeds (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace,WordPress, etc.)

I have decided to re-read Blackaby’s Spiritual Leadership to add to my thoughts about the paper. I have not been disappointed. There is a lot of graet stuff in the book.

“Where are you?”

“Randy, where are you?”, God calls.

“Well, Crap! Where have I gone that You can’t find me?”, I whisper under my breath.

God replies, “No, I know where you are, you silly man, I am only asking because I want you to know where you are.”

“Oh, You heard that? Um… You, had me worried for a moment”, I say. “In that case, I am here in Georgia, You know that place I said I would never go to live again. I’ll tell You, these past five years have been hard on us (Wanda, the kids and I). We are tired, emotionally, spiritually and physically. Also, I am bored intellectually. I know this is where You wanted us to go, and I thought I was prepared for the difficulty we would face, but, this has been even harder than I imagined.

“It isn’t really hard physical work for me, it’s the limited hours of sleep. Of course You know that. It is hard to watch any person die slowly day by day. It is even harder to watch Wanda, watch her mom die. Then, at the same time watch Wanda’s dad cling to some hope that he can keep his wife by shear force of will. It wears on my soul. How do I express the hope we have in You, without making him feel like I have given up on her. I know he misses her, but only her body is here. Sure there are the occasional moments of twinkle in her eye or when she says something that may make you think she is with us, but those moments are happening far less frequently. Those moments reenforce his hope. I don’t understand why he can’t see that as we lose more of her, You have not lost Your hold of her, she is secure.

“This time has had a dual affect on my spirit, I am constantly running to You and from You. Sometimes both at once. My emotions tell me to run from You as quickly as I can! ‘Do you really want to face the next heart ache He has in store for you?’, they say.  Then, You do some thing miraculous, like speak some truth from Your word, from one of Your children, or even from on of Your enemies and I collapse into Your peace clinging to You. So, does that make any sense to you? Because I have a hard time with it.”

“Yes.”

“Yes? Well um, thats it?”, my confused reply.

“Yes.”

“Okay. I guess it is kind of like that song ‘Storm’ by Lifehouse, Crying out to You in the mist of this crazy storm of which I can make no sense. Then realizing that if I could just see You everything would be okay. Everything is okay”, I say, “right?”

“Yes, so what next?”

“You’re asking me? I suppose I am going to keep taking care of the Jerrys, the kids and Wanda while I pursue the MATL at Bethel. You know I have wanted to get a masters degree for a long time, but I have put it off three other times in order ‘to do ministry’ rather than learn about it. I can’t really say what will come after that. I mean I never thought I would be the one taking care of Wanda’s mom. You know there are some people I just never wanted to bathe and/or see naked. Anyway, as I look at it now my being laid off seems to come right when Wanda couldn’t keep lifting her three or four times a day. Then you give me the part-time job at Woodland just when I thought my brain was going to turn to jelly from lack of use. So, I am just hoping to live each day and not worry about three years from now. You know, I am not very good at living for today. So, is that what you are trying to teach me?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe? That is awful vague.”

“Hmm.”

Knowledge and Reality

This statement was posed to me this week in my hermeneutics class:

Suppose someone said to you: ‘Knowledge is not so much like a statement that we consider objectively true, it’s more like a lens humans employ for making sense of reality.’ What would you say to that?
This was my response:

I would have to ask the question, ‘What is reality?’ Is it the world I can see and touch? Is it that plus what I feel? Does it include what I imagine? Or is reality, what exists outside of self? How do we define real?

I am going to define reality as the Creator GOD (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit). God created “everything that is”, it is real because He made it. I am viewing things from my finite created position within “everything that is”. So if I follow through with the lens analogy, because I am within “everything that is” I cannot see but from my perspective (my knowledge) which is then also tainted by sin. So my lens is small and broken.

Therefore my view of “everything that is” is also small and broken. So, yes I use my small and broken lens of knowledge to view “reality”. Now, because of that small and broken lens I may not be able to see enough of “everything that is” to want to admit that there is a creator that made “everything that is”.

The good news is that the Creator God has stepped into “everything that is” and wants to repair my small broken lens. Thus, He widens my view of reality (my knowledge) to gain a clearer, yet, still small view. Overtime as I submit to him that view gets less and less distorted, though I will never have the Creators perspective.

SocialMedia

It is hard to deny that this is a fundamental change in culture but I am sure some will try.

But, I have some questions:

How should believers act in this change?

Can we steer this course? or Do we ride the wave? or Try to catch up later?

Can we use it effectively to introduce people to Jesus?

What is my role?

And They Devoted Themselves

⁴²And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. ⁴⁴And all who believed were together and had all things in common. ⁴⁵And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2;42-47 CEV)

The above passage is a picture of the “church”.

Brad has been teaching from this passage for a couple of weeks now and this week he quoted a speaker he heard some 20 years ago while in seminary Dr. E. K. Bailey. Dr. Bailey said, “The problem is church, you don’t look like your picture!”

So, if it is true that Acts 2:42-47 is a picture of the church, I have to ask myself some questions:

Am I a fulfillment of this picture?

Am I filled with AWE?

Am I seeing signs and wonders done?

Am I together (unified) with other believers? If so, do we have everything in commom?

Do I sell what is mine to give to those in need?

Am I devoted to meeting together with the Body?

Do I take time to eat and fellowship with other believers daily?

Do I recieve all my meals with gladness and sincerity(NASB)?

Do I praise God as He deserves?

Do I have favor with all?

Is God adding to this body daily?

Attitude is the Key to Winning in a Shifting Job Market
Although the current economic crisis poses many challenges, how we approach it will determine whether we sink or swim.
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