In Pieces

Too often we associate or down-play/down-grade love to something less than it's full potential. For example, "I love tacos!" is not equivalent to "I love you, baby!" yet we use the same word. Obviously we understand that the meaning of the phrases aren't comparably similar (and as for the same word, lots of words share spelling and pronunciation but have various meanings which can be derived in the context of the sentence, so that's understood as well), it is implied, though, that 'love' is the height of pleasure, joy, etc..

My beef is that we use it too much. Lets get frugal for about 30 seconds and make up something else. Most people who truely love something more than other things (collectively, their 'love' [reminds me of 'my precious'])devote more time to those, and that is where we get art about or for said 'love', and songs or poetry are written. You rarely hear songs about how much someone is infatuated with a taco unless it's a parody.

But let's push past that. making exceptions for the use of the word 'love' is like making an exception of what you love the most. If you say to your spouse, "I love you!" and then to another woman, "I love you!" you will come away with some confusion and possibly a highly angry spouse. How then does that compare to anything else?

The point behind this is to tighten up on the American slack. We make short-cuts for everything, and defining the things we highly enjoy or like exuberantly is one of those short-cuts. Our language is losing it's value.
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When I say the word 'love' I (and possibly you) think of the color red, maybe flowers, heart shapes, someone special, romance, etc.. While all of those can remain true (it gives me those thoughts, so thats proof enough that they are all valid expressions) 'love' is still so much more. We are all aware of the 'love' chapter ("Love is patient, love is kind..") and the idea of ultimate sacrifice (Jesus or anyone giving their life for someone else to benefit, in love of course [see, "there is no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for another"])

The element we tend to miss (and sometimes, in church, find inappropriate) is the helping side. What I mean by inappropriate is a little reversed from the definition; let me explain the way it (helping love) should be, then come back.
The honest care for someone's life so much that you make every effort to assure they don't hurt themselves; and when they do hurt themselves, make every effort to help them heal. That is helping love.

More specifically on that: This includes the attitude of love that doesn't lavish with gifts 24/7: this attitude restricts and prevents in the name of love.

I can already see examples of both sides taking that statement too far.

Know this: God likes balance. Both attitudes of love must be exemplified.

Back to the inappropriate thing: this would be things like spreading info (particularly reputation-damaging info) around in order to "guilt" someone out of their sins. This is WRONG. And it's found most, where? In the church.

"Oh, we all need some understanding; we all need love.
..and every time you love, let it lift someone else up.
If somebody tries to burn you, give them your hand and turn and pick him up when he's all alone. And if you find yourself getting frustrated, try not to get too jaded..
So have some faith, you say? And hope will find it's way? .. It seems to me, the greatest of these is love. But it's so hard to love.. "

I was talking with Sarah on the way to the Mae concert (which was pretty good. I happen to highly enjoy Mae at just about every moment of the day) about life. Her's, particularly. She expressed her awkward feelings on current life situations. This really sent me into a thought frenzy. I'll try to recapture (and possibly shorten) my response to her.

It's not up to God or Chance to decide your life path. Obviously God, Chance and Satan have plans for your life already, but it is ultimately up to you. God has the best plan created: He knows every perfect route to take at every moment (Bible time? Jer 29:11 I think.. "I know the plans I have for you... plans to prosper").

Let's zip out of what we know, and start with the freshness of.. existence. Our role as humans is not to let the world happen around us: Evil/negative forces are set on auto-pilot, so we're guaranteed bad stuff happening on its own; but positive forces are up to us (dun dun: not on auto-pilot). It's pretty unfair, I know. Leave the world alone and it will die.

Our role is comparable to the role of an ambassador. Ambassadors go from a 'base' to a 'foreign territory' armed with the power and complete understanding of the [desires] of the 'base'. The Ambassador must be on constant update/communication with the 'base' as to know what to do in every situation in the 'foreign territory'. And then HE DOES IT.

Now our part's analogy: We are the ambassador. The world (all the peoples) are the 'foreign territory' and the Kingdom of God is our 'base'. Yeah, it sounds weird and probably not original, but follow me.
Goal 1: get to 'foreign territory'
Goal 2: understand the [desires] of the 'base'
Goal 3: act on the [desires] of the 'base'

How are we doing?

The world hurts. God's plan is to fix that hurt, using us. We HAVE to learn His mind so we can act on it (remember, He knows every best move)

So what of these [desires] of Chance and Satan? We are NOT here to just let them happen and sit idle: We are to overcome. Be more than conquerors.

Don't wilt, waiting for the future. You are the future. You have the dreams.

I'll finish with this AWESOME quote from the Message

31-39 So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

Avoid the Noid

Someone thought it impertinent to scratch out 'flu' and write 'noid' on all the "Avoid the Flu _ Wash Your Hands" signs at school. I think it's absolutely hilarious (and heck, everyone remembers what the sign says, so a good advertisement, too)

Yesterday was a slow day at the Center, but quite funny, still. There are two young girls that came in (and are actually currently here again) that talked quite loudly to Mary about all the new stuff in celebrity gossip. One lady left shortly after and said, "The good thing about coming here today is that I'm caught up on all the latest info."

I'm glad we can facilitate.

Ever since Della or Jason introduced me to chai (I'm pretty sure it was Jason: at the center, he made me a chai latte and I can recall making notes on how it stunk but tasted REALLY good) I have been pretty much in love with it. I like it very strong: very spicy. I like it iced or hot or blended (like Starbucks' chai frappuccino)

I'm even drinking one right now.

I can assert that God invented chai, as he did pizza, chocolate, cheese, baked chicken, coffee, black beans and rice, rice pilaf, and the super burrito from La Hacienda.

God is good.

On Top

I name most of my blogs after song titles. I don't think the content of the song and blog match, but the titles are somewhat helpful and generally I'll quote from the song. We'll see here.

Been thinking a lot about.. everything, really. I don't want to sound like a broken record by writing yet another blog about destiny, so I'll shake it up a bit.

Let's talk about coffee. And alcohol.

I think I've heard that it's not possible to purge oneself of insobriety by consuming coffee. I don't know how true that is. I only know that coffee makes me happy.

So I watched, "The Queen" (2006 Miramax) last night [which made for a late nate, considering a 9:30 ferry and work at 9am] and then talked with Mary today at the Center about the real Queen of England and her possible response to the movie's portrayal of her. An interview of the actress who played the Queen (Helen Mirren) on NPR had her answering what she thought the Queen would say. Mirren actually went through a lot of preperation to understand how the Queen acts, etc.. in order to play the part, so her response was based on the understanding she had devoloped over the course of filming. She presumed that the Queen would inevitably succumb to curiosity and watch the movie, and if asked for her oppinion would probably say something like, "Well, that could have been worse. Hand me another gin and tonic."

Just a little funny for you.

So back to the coffee.

I worked the Center this morning. A rather slow day though. Good ol' Pat came for some (typical) unusual request..
[some back story: he used to get a 12oz doubleshot extra extra dry cappuccino. That was easy enough (right..) but then he went to Europe and fell in love with authentic European espresso. So on his return, every drink was a little different, starting with the Macchiatto, then some variation of the Macchiatto, then on to some other drink I can't remember, and now to this:]
..for a doubleshot with steamed heavy cream. It's actually not bad tasting. Della and I made one when he left.

"I'd say I'm the luckiest one you know."
Theres my quote for the song. /laughs

I'm currently waiting on a video to finish rendering. Super Christian Fighting Team. I'll be uploading it to Facebook soon as I get it small enough..
It's a funny video :) Go watch it

_short post_ Up and Up

Lately it seems I've felt a need to focus on trusting God / having faith in God's power. It seems lately like so many people are complaining about something; more like worrying about something that is coming in the near future. I myself am not entirely worry-free. But like I said yesterday, "It's not what you think, it's what you say. 'There is the power of life and death in the tongue'. Speak positively" and the positive will become what you think. (I'm pretty sure that's a Mark B. kind of quote) As you do, you become.

That's as you do, you become.

Do negative, become negative.

Do positive, become positive.

Let's take a look at our self-image. If you are a human, then gratz, cause you've been made in the image of God: which is perfect.

If you don't feel adequate, start worshiping God.

Quit talking about bad things.
Quit complaining.
Start speaking positivity.

_short post_ Trapeze

I'll precede this with a note on twisting words:
It may sound as if I'm saying to be completely unsafe and do whatever you want. Thats not what I mean. The purpose here is to rid you of the excuse to be stagnant and non-prosperous. It's time to do something. Make a move.

If you've ever done circus work, more specifically swinging from a bar suspended very high or tight rope walking, you know all about some safety nets. Safety nets are your friend. They keep you from plunging rather quickly to a painful sudden stop.

If you've ever done anything in life, you probably didn't notice how to tended to adhere to the safe side of things: if you are shy, you don't sign up for public appearances and learn to slip through crowds unnoticed; if you are driving you always stay under the speed limit; if you work in a kitchen, you know where hot stuff is and keep your distance as to not burn yourself.

Something in our bodies deals with self-preservation (might watch M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening") - and who's to say it's not a bad thing? I mean, God didn't put us here to do stupid stuff so we kill ourselves off.

My beef comes when we don't do anything: I mean that -- ANYTHING -- because it might not be safe.

I highly encourage you to be adventurous. Take risks (This kinda goes with my last post on fear)

Trusting God happens one way: when you encounter a point when YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO TRUST HIM. It's like that whole thing on "if you pray for patience, God will give you opportunities to be patient: for practice". If you want to trust God more, then get to places (or allow yourself to be placed) where you must trust that God is the only thing that can get you through.

Let this be uplifting to you. Don't make your own safety net before doing something exciting: trust God.

_short post_ Nothing to Fear

As always, I've been thinking. Over the past few months I've been going over 'fear' and it's purposes. I've pretty much come to the understanding that there's nothing to fear: yeah, it's kinda redundant from the Bible, but seriously.

Think of something you would be afraid of. Now we'll come to the understanding of WHY you shouldn't worry about that.

What's the worst thing that could happen to you? I seriously want to know. Some would say to die, others might say to live severely injured. What is the worst thing that could happen?

America might not be the country that supports freedoms to being a follower of Christ in the future. Does that make you afraid or get you excited?

It gets me excited.

I can't remember where the quote is, but something like, "If God's eye is watching out for little birds, why would you doubt that He would watch out for you, too?"

I would suggest living a little less tied to the things you have. Live with less hold on your life. Everything within you should live to glorify your king; so whatever happens to you would only be in service to your king, also. What an honor! Imagine being killed because you have such a love for God and others that people can't stand it.

It may be mostly related to life and death, but let it trickle down through every aspect of your life: there is nothing to fear!

Talking about the m-word

Yup. Ministry.

Just abandon all your ideas and what-nots.

Start thinking fresh from this post, cause it's really hard to convey an idea when you think you know where I'm going but really you don't...

..well maybe you do, but still just start with a clean thought pattern.

This Sunday was the conclusion of the 'Ministering' series (I actually didn't notice that it was a series until Jason said, "This is the last part of the series" and I was like, "Oh.. I didn't know that") that we've been going through at New Harvest.

So just a quick catch-up, then
1) Ministering to the Lord
2) Ministering to the people in the church
3) Ministering to the community

A very big point in this whole thing is not to think of your personal ministry as limited to one of those: you need to have all of them functioning at some capacity.

In the book of Luke, more specifically Luke 10:25-..? is a story about a man asking Jesus whats the most important law, or something like that. Jesus asks the man what the scriptures say, and he says, "Love God with [everything] and love your neighbor as you love yourself." There again we see that it isn't a matter of 'serving' or 'ministering to' God OR church-folk OR the community: we are to love everyone in balance.

The rest of that chapter in Luke is a 'parable' (or cryptic analogy-based story with a moral) about a man getting all kinds of beat up and being left for dead. Several people pass by him and no one helps him out, until this one guy comes along and takes him to the nearby hotel. This man, the Samaritan, actually carries this beat up dude to town, pays for his stay and medical bills, and then promises to pay any other bills that might be accrued. And at the end of this story Jesus asks the man "who is the neighbor in this story" - the 'importantest law' man says, 'the man who took care of him' - and Jesus pretty much says, "yeah, so now it's your turn to do the same"

Who is your neighbor? Anyone you encounter.
You are responsible for your neighbor, and your responsibility expands with exposure (to more neighbors)

Jason then showed several pictures of people from our community (and one that we support through World Vision, Kalasinga in Tanzania) and introduced us, also giving some back story into their lives. He explained how we might have not known them, or maybe not even have seen them before, but we now know of them, and that they are our responsibility in times of need.

Loving God doesn't matter if it doesn't overflow to loving others

We've been talking about the Kingdom of God for quite a while now (and hopefully it will become part of daily conversation). We realized that the Kingdom of God is here and now, and that Jesus wasn't explaining how the earth sucks now and when we finally go to Heaven we'll all be happy. Sure theres not gonna be any bad stuff in Heaven, but the point isn't Heaven, it's the Kingdom of God, and all those examples that Jesus gave were meant to be used NOW, not in the future.

Heres a hard part

Matt 25:14-..I think the end of the chapter
It's another parable, this time about 'talents' (apparently a talent was worth more than a thousand bucks). So theres this land owner, and he has several servants whom he gives different amounts of talents to while he goes on vacation. 5, 2 and 1, respectively. When the land owner comes back, the servants present his monies. The one that was given 5 talents made a profit and had 10 at the end. The one that got 2 also made a profit (of 2) and had 4 to give back. The guy that only got 1 talent, though, thought it best to bury it in the ground so no harm would come to it. And the land owner comes down pretty harsh on him about it. It goes like this,

26-27"The master was furious. 'That's a terrible way to live! It's criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.

28-30"'Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this "play-it-safe" who won't go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.' (taken from 'the Message')

The part thats hard is relating it to our stuff. First, material things we have. Second, physical and mental abilities that we have. Are they used? Or are they kept clean and safe, waiting to be returned later?

God is looking for a good investment. We may say, "Pay off our building, God, please!" - but is it a worthy investment?

The part about making it personal is this:

What can use, that I already have, for God's purpose?