Spirit Gives Birth To Spirit

"It is easier to talk about a person than to help a person. It's easier to debate homosexuality than to be a friend to a gay person. It's easier to discuss divorce than to help the divorced. It's easier to argue abortion, than to support an orphanage. It's easier to complain about the welfare system than to help the poor." - Max Lucado

He is the thunder in the storm, The roar after a crack of lightning Burns through the sky and hits the ground. He is the silence in the womb, The sweet quiet noiseless depths That lie at the bottom of the ocean Rushing in like a heavy silent wind That is so poignant, it is heavy. He is the bird in winter Singing out of his longing For warmer days; Singing out of his desire To connect with you, To hold you - To comfort you. He is wisdom In human form Stumping the educated, Raising the fool into honored places This is scandal: he raises the lowly And strikes down the proud. He is the sweet clean water Flowing through a child’s hands In the park on Sunday Under the warm sun amidst the calls Of the children playing nearby. 40 days and 40 nights I wept for him That he would come and fill me Make me the man that I should be Give me peace and understanding And bring life To my weary soul. He burns hot in the great ...

The wise are dumbfounded. The simple are raised to honored places. The prostitutes, tax collectors, and yes, even murderers, are given honored places in the kingdom of God because they believed a simple truth: that Jesus could provide them with salvation. It is truly a scandal. It scandalized the pious in the little Roman province of Israel 2000 years ago...and it is still scandalous today. Go d, this amazing being, decided to live among us and sacrifice himself for us, so that we could be right with him and call him a friend. It brings him no greater joy than to turn the world on its head and to welcome the humble into eternal discourse, not as equals, but as prized students who are dearly loved. This love flows into us and you can see it in our actions as we work tirelessly to bring heaven to earth here and now. We make so many mistakes, because we are human, but one pious and humble heart can change the world with love that comes from above (a love that we cannot produce on our own,...

It is so easy to fall into the trap of saying, my faith is too weak; I just have to try harder. I was confronted with this problem when I reflected on my doubts centering on Jesus. But telling ourselves we just have to suck it up and have more faith makes the assumption that faith is something we can obtain on our own.  But if you look at the scriptures, faith is not something you can muster. Ephesians 2:8 says "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourselves, but it is a gift from God. And again in   Philippians 1:29, Paul says "For it has been granted to you  on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him" Faith is not from us, it is from God.  So instead of trying to muster it on our own, we need to turn our attention toward God and ask that we can have more faith. And as Jesus reminds us, the smallest amount of faith – “the size of a mustard seed” - can move mountains.

“Many of the questions we ask God can't be answered directly, not because God doesn't know the answers but because our questions don't make sense. As C.S. Lewis once pointed out, many of our questions are, from God's point of view, rather like someone asking, "Is yellow square or round?" or "How many hours are there is a mile?”  ―  N.T. Wright ,  Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense Sometimes we feel that the questions we ask are ignored by God: difficult questions such as, why is the horrible life-threatening illness affecting me, when will I have a child finally, or which mate is right for me?  Many times God answers with a whisper from the silence in our souls when we meditate.  Other times the answer comes through circumstance as unsolicited words from someone close to us, or even a stranger... that seem spot on.  But sometimes our questions are just not answered.  And it is important in these times to consider the question itself. ...

In my time here on Earth as a Christian, I have been particularly disturbed by those in the evangelical and fundamentalist communities who assert that science is at odds with Christianity.  For me, science shows the intricacy and complexity in the design of the universe as we explore and attempt to define the world around us. The more I learn from science, the more I am convinced that there is an intelligence behind the design of the universe.  From the variety and beauty of the landscape and heavens, to the amazing design and variation of plants and animals, to the finely tuned conditions of the universe that make life on Earth possible. There are the intricate dependencies of large bodies and galaxies in the universe over unfathomable distances.  There is the sheer beauty of it all.  I see in all of this, God's artistry and his hand in the mechanisms of evolution and geological time.  In fact, it seems to me that God is much more of a a brilliant artist if he ...

A warning for the church: I think this applies in America especially. "I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are luke warm, I am about to vomit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing. You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked." Rev 3:15-17 We can be either cold to the gospel or on fire for it. God can do something with either of these states. But apathy is a killer, because God cannot do anything with it. So many people here are living in Apathy. It is not like this in Ghana. It seems to be a trait that is particularly pervasive in western culture. What is it going to take for America to wake up? Perhaps all this should be taken from us so we will go back to relying on faith. We are fat on fast food, easy money, and the trappings of western society. It is time for us to slim down, and if it means God is going to take this way of l...

I sat and watched the sunset from my car in the Meijer's parking lot. The sun was a beautiful ball of orange against the gradated blue sky dotted with pink back-lit clouds. I felt so small. What is man that you are mindful of him? And then the religious training kicked in and I thought, it is because he is in us in our spirits - we are made in his image after all. We are little divine beings walking around on this rock in the corner of the universe. That should be empowering and humbling at the same time. Now my reading turns to the sunset of our lives.  I am reading Max Lucado and he is talking about death.  I think it is important to consider our own human frailty... the great equalizer: we will all die sooner or later.  The pastor at a church I visited this morning joked that the death rate in America is 100%. It is an undeniable part of existence that at some point, we will cease to be.  But does the story end there?  Sometimes it is hard fo...

It has been almost 18 years since I first found God in native American literature. Since then God steeped me in the beauty and majesty of his presence. I grew more peaceful and contented. But during these 18 years, God slowly introduced me to the story of Jesus and it wasn't until I started relying on Jesus that God changed me from an inward focused and self-centered being into a man who does His will on Earth. I can come to no other conclusion that there is power in this Christian story and, though I do not deny that God can use any religion or a lack of religion to find you, Jesus is the rabbi that actually changed me. Nothing else could. And no other faith could save my soul.

Sacred Vapor condenses It falls to earth And sweetly comes to rest On the delicate petal Of a single purple flower Growing wild in endless fields: A picture of the sacred. Great megaliths of rock Spin in endless circles Around behemoth stars Of exploding gas. Delicate shoots grow in the forest, Pushing upward out of nothing To become great cedars, Straining against a limitless blue sky. Seas crash against the shore Their violent power Melting the rocks into sand. And a young man grows fond of a young woman He woos her And the two become one, Consecrated, In an endless dance Echoed from the beginning of time. The last light falls in the evening Shadows pooling in the valleys They thicken and spread And the sun sinks softly Beyond the hills. I take these things in In between the seconds As they pass by slow In a time that lasts for an eternity And I turn my gaze to heaven Reaching outward Towards the creator ...