Spirit Gives Birth To Spirit

Brilliant green. Made of the stuff of Behemoth spinning galaxies Growing stars in the endless night. Soft and thin and beautiful Shot through with green veins like a hand Marking time with the passing of the seasons. You grow from a shoot In the warm spring sun And decorate the tree With the bright color of spring. Maturing into a well-designed mechanism: You feed your giant tree With sweet sugar And life-giving energy. Made from the warm sun. In the process of photosynthesis – A marvel of science Replicated by man So that it provides energy for our great cities. Birds nest in your foliage, Squirrels gather their food. You provide shade In the heat of the African sun. And as time passes slowly You begin to shed your deep green And burn alive with beautiful red That fills my eyes As it brings peace to my soul. The fall comes Cool breezes breaking the stifling heat of summer. And you blow in the soft breezes ...

Beauty gives life. Notice for yourself, the beauty around you this season. For me, doing this requires a certain state of mind. That state of being is cultivated in my alone times. When I take these times, away from the hustle and bustle of my busy life, it keeps me in a place where I am more apt to notice the beauty around me in the world. I heard that when you decorate for Christmas, it is best to use live and natural decorations as it adds to the peace you feel. Something about man is made to be refreshed by beauty as it occurs in nature. So for my survival guide for the holidays, I would say to do the following: 1. Take time to yourself away from all distractions. 2. Decorate with organic natural decorations. 3. Spend time with other people who are apt to notice the beauty around them.

I long to see my savior.  I long to see him coming on the clouds and standing there in front of me.  I will kiss his feet and touch his face and say, Rabbi, you have been my teacher, my friend, my confidant.  I love you and all that you do.  You have inspired me to better myself, to better the world, to help my fellow man.  I could not exist without you and you have given me everything I have. You have given me a good job, a beautiful wife, feet that know the good of walking the path you laid out for me, even the thorn of suffering in my side that has grown me and perfected me. Take this soul and make it sing, Son of Yahweh. "Take this mouth, so quick to criticize. Take this mouth, and give it a kiss." I am waiting for the dawn after the long night.  Anticipation gives life to me.  I am ready to do anything you ask of me.  No man can take this from me.  You have my heart and all of me.

I was baptized on Sunday, the first day of the advent season.  I gave the following testimony: God found me after a long illness in my early twenties.  Over the next decade, God led me to Jesus.  He blessed me with a beautiful wife, a house, and a good career.  He blessed me with a good group of men to stand beside me through thick and thin.  There have been trials, but always he was there, growing me, pruning me, perfecting me. I was baptized as an infant and have been going to Vineyard since 1997 and I have decided it is time to make a public declaration of my faith.  I want to be God’s hands and feet upon the Earth.  To bring hope to the suffering, relief to the poor, to bring his good news to all who will hear it and to bring his kingdom to Earth now.  After getting baptized I stepped out of the water and a group of friends and family surrounded me and prayed for me.  My wife, Aynsley, got down on her knees and held my bare feet, pray...

"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,...