Seeking The Peace Of Understanding

There are times when I feel as though I've got a "handle" on the peace thing, but more often than not I'm wrong. Oh, don't misunderstand me, it's there, for sure! When I'm sitting at the piano working through the movement of God's Spirit dwelling within my being I am at peace. Give me a long winding highway with some distant mountains to conquer aboard one of my favorite HDs and I'm at peace. Sleeping in a tent next to the water, or high in the mountains, is pure peace for the soul in my book. Even amid the raucous clamor of camp in Sturgis during the rally I find a great peace. I believe the common thread that runs through all of this is the closeness that I feel to my Creator. Out here on the Great American Desert we seem to have a little more time to work through the issues of life than folks in urban areas. Maybe that is why when I have the opportunity to do anything I want, I make the choices that I do as a result of the desire to truly be at peace with myself and the world I live in. Wives are wonderful for pointing out those times when we get overly stressed. I give great thanks for the wife I have. She has got to be the most understanding woman on the face of this planet! We've come through some really difficult times lately. The one thing I know for certain is the ever-deepening power of prayer that sustains us in our day to day lives. You see, for us it is not so much how rough things get, it's how much better we can make them by continually solidifying our personal relationship through the excercise of prayer. It really is excercise, ya know. We build our spiritual muscles through our daily walk of faith lived! No matter what the situation we(By The Grace Of God)will persevere. Now, one might ask, do we only do this together? No! We do it individually, as a couple, in concert with our Body of Christ, and with the people we come in contact with in our greater parish, the world!
Prayer is the greatest of all equalizers(although Colonel Colt had a good handle on equalization in the west), and it is the one place we need to go often, be things going great or not so great. God calls each of us into relationship with Himself constantly. The problem becomes one of how well we are willing to listen. One of my favorite hymns is "Trust And Obey," and in that I will close for tonight, praying that each of you out there has a reason to pray every day. In Christ's Love, Preacher.

No Pictures Tonight!

Everyone seems to have an image in their mind of what our Savior must look like. During the course of the past few years I have encountered a number of pictures that are purported to carry the "exact," "definitive," and "decidedly" perfect amalgamation of characteristics that make up what must have been the "image" of my Savior. Whoosh! I cannot begin to understand where this comes from other than a personal need for some to put a "face" on the image of "grace." We don't know what Jesus looked like, people!
We have not got a clue! Paintings and statues, carvings and renditions, cannot give us an accurate point of reference from which to discern what my Savior looked like walking around healing folks. Even the photographs(this is a pun)do not really do justice to His persona.
I'm not upset, and I don't have a bone to pick or any thing else, I just want to set some of the record straight. We don't know! And we will never know until He returns, and even that leaves us wondering because when He comes again we shall be like Him. God forbid that my Savior should ever look like me or any one else that I know personally. The thing is, we all have an image in our minds that is wrong(as in we have all fallen short), but it is ours. So, if you have that picture in your mind and it helps you to be more like He would have you be throughout your walk in life, hold on to it. The greatest artists of the last few thousand years have sought to render Christ on canvas so that we might all know Him as He was. Here comes the rub....."Know Him as He is Today!!! The risen Christ cannot be portrayed on the "big" screen, or placed on a poster. There are no snap shots available, and nobody has any idea what He really looked like. Who He is in your life and in your heart is the important part of living and understanding that unfolds within us as we follow the teachings that He gave us.
I like to think of Christ as a simple fellow with a beard and long hair, but you don't have to see Him as I see Him. See Him as you see him within. Look within yourself to find the truth of the Savior that was sent to us in the image of all humankind. The innocent babe that was born in a lowly place to ascend to His Father in heaven and in the process free us from our sins. In other words, "A Hero" beyond our wildest imaginings! In Christ's Love, Preacher.

Love That Surpasses Any Other!

This is the love that God offers each of us in the gift of a Savior for all humankind. In Christ's Love, Preacher.

LIFE

These are just rambling thoughts surrounding the images that one of the folks sent me today. I have this feeling that I'm on to something that has to do with the greater truth that is found in knowing God. What you see in the pictures are the works of(from what I can tell looking at them)two ladies with an abundance of creativity in their spirits. What they are in the process of doing is bringing a new life into the waste of our world. Driftwood is fascinating in and of itself. A commodity I seek often when I'm around water, be it river, lake, or ocean. Something happens within the wood when it has been subjected to the harshness of decay and elements of an earthly sphere. Sometimes subtle, other times dramatic, but the rigors of time shine through the original, bursting forth with the image of so much more. Now, take a gifted person and hand these pieces of flotsam and jetsam over to their imaginations and what we have is "art" in a form I must admit, brings a certain sense of awe! My mother loved horses, I still love them and everything that they give to us. There is a freedom in becoming one with the animal that probably lies at the root of my love for motorcycles. The underlying message in theses pictures, though, is the wonderful way in which God has created each of us. We are all different, and unique, and what one of us cannot imagine another can! We don't all see the same things when we look at a work of art. We don't all see the same things when we look at another person. Thank God that we know He sees us as individuals each with their own gift to give. It has nothing to do with how the gift is received(as any artist can tell you), it is in the creating that we become one with the Creator, and thus our goals are realized, when we know without a doubt that we have done what we were designed to do. I'm not going to go into the details of my theological stances in relation to how this adds up in terms of good and evil. I will say that all good is of God and that the antithesis to it is from the other side. There are times when all that is necessary is for us to realize that we are doing what we have been created to do and in knowing that it is good needs no acclaim from the world, only our personal thanks to the One who has given us the gift we are allowed to share with others.
I told you I was rambling. Maybe now you will believe me when I say, "I don't have the answers, but I do have a clue!" The first clue comes in belief in the Creator and then in His Son and then in the infilling, indwelling power that is found in "The Holy Spirit" He has sent to guide each and every one of us. It is enough to know that when we step back from our labors and gaze at them in unbelief that we were able to do something so great....and then humbly acknowledge our thanks to the One who gave us the gift to do this....it is enough to know that God lives...in you...in me...in our children...in our grand children...and this is what life is all about. Each of us marches to the beat of the drum. Not every beat is the same, but when we march with God, realized to the fullest of potentials in Christ Jesus, we are getting closer to the same page. In Christ's Love, Preacher.

Bearly Time To Have Everything Ready!

So many years we have rushed to put all of the proper pieces in place for the celebration of Christ's rebirth. That is the human side of us doing what we do, get ready! Easter eggs decorated perfectly(well as good as they can get when you're three, and there were a few kids older than me, too), baskets prepared, candies gotten ready for joyful consumption, succulent young turkeys basted and prepared for baking(some folks do ham, but I know for certain my Savior was a Jew and I'm not sure He would like that), and in the most traditional ways of doing things we would be eating lamb, still, on the morrow. I watched the bears in our house watching us as we scurried about preparing stuff. Finally I broke down in tears(that was because of the onions, I'm sure)and that is not unusual this time of year. My heart beats with an anticipation that knows no bounds as I recall the events of the very first Easter morn when the tomb was found to be empty and my sure, personal redemption had been claimed in full.
Easter bonnets, and wonderful dresses will accompany my female counterparts as they "skirt" off to church on what is going to be a beautiful day out here on the Great American Desert. I love that about the girls! I have been praying for days now for the lost and divided souls that we only see a few times a year(Christmas & Easter)with the thought in mind that perhaps this morning, in but a few short hours, we might convey to them the essence of sheer overpowering joy that accompanies the celebration of this "High Holy Day." Okay, we only have an hour or so of their limited time, but, can't we do something that will wake them from their spiritual drowsiness? Maybe there is something we aren't doing, or something we aren't saying.
I would rather believe it is something they aren't hearing or are unwilling to truly hear, that stops the ears to the cause of the commotion! In the studio tonight I was talking with the lead guitar player about Brian Adams and his "WAKING UP THE NEIGHBORS" album from many years ago. I guess if the bears could hear me now they would hear me saying, "That's what I want to do, wake up the neighbors!" And who are your neighbors? Well, Jesus said that was everybody!
As we celebrate this morning my only prayer would be that someone out there who has not heard, would hear and find the wonderful truth of belief in Christ. HE IS RISEN!
Thanks Be To God! No, that is not my only prayer, I digress, because there are so many, but that one is very high on my list. Sons & daughters, brothers & sisters, grandpas & grandmas, and parents everywhere, look through the eyes of your children and know that God is good! So good that He wants each of us to accompany Him to His home and be with Him forever! Happy Easter 2006! In Christ's Love, Preacher.

Pieces Of Peace

Most of the pieces of our personal "peace" space are presently broken! I'm going to take some pictures later to better remember what days like this were all about. Out here on the Great American Desert it is construction season, and it will not end until the snows fall. Today, by the way, is Maundy Thursday! We are headed into the Easter weekend of 2006. This evening there will be a service held in many of the area churches. Folks will be reminded of the night that proceeded the taking of our Savior. Before His taking, though, there was this beautiful time that He spent in an upper room with His followers sharing the Passover meal. The neighbor just south of us is cutting down trees and building a garage\workshop. To the west of us the street which fronts our property is being reconstructed(what this means for our lives is a period of anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks without any way in or out other than hoofing it from a half block away). The north is detour city, and the east border is showing all the signs of female spring fever. The college girls that live next door partied until about 3 in the morning. That is the one side that is quiet today!
Such is life! My mind returns to that beautiful evening in the upper room where the Disciples ate and shared the Passover(sader feast)and Holy Communion. That is one piece of peace that cannot be disrupted no matter how much absolute bedlam surrounds our lives. You and I have that opportunity to walk in the peace of our Lord each day of our lives if we so choose. It won't always be easy! Two nights ago my lovely wife and I sat on the yard swing feeling the gentle breeze of spring and watching the nearly full moon glide soundlessly across a cloud strewn sky. God smiled on us, and as we prayed together and cuddled it was a perfect night. Perhaps it is the memories of such perfection that sustain us when all around seems to be coming apart. As you attend the services of this Easter Tide try to bring the peace away with you as a tiny treasure in your mind of the peace our Savior gives to those who are faithful. The peace that surpasses all understanding and gives back to our lives the beauty of an unconditional love that Christ prepared this night to bestow on us. It is in His love that I write to you. God bless, Preacher.

Ahead By A Nose!

Having had my nose broken four times in the past 40 years has left me with some interesting breathing problems, not to mention an extremely enlarged proboscis(did I spell that right?)! I never give it too much thought, it's just out there in front of me most of the time and it's great for inserting into other people's business(that's one of the reasons it got broke), but the past few years the pressure from not having my "drain" thing working right has given me some cause for concern. I suppose we all have our physical things we would like to get fixed one way or another. That's what gave rise to these thoughts today! How easy it is to focus entirely on what we see on the outside of people instead of looking where it really matters, on the inside! That's one of the great things about God! He doesn't worry about how we are on the exterior, He likes the inside of us to be straight with Him even when our noses aren't. The skull news piece was on Yahoo today and I couldn't resist looking and reading simply because I do think about my nose problem at times. Thankfully I submit that after reading the article I feel greatly relieved, looking in the mirror, that there may be some way to fix the "thing" without major surgery to correct all of the flaws. It's that way in our lives, too. God can look at us in an instant and see the minor defects that we have and correct them immediately through the insertion of grace into our beings and belief in His Son, my Savior, Christ. As Easter approaches I would encourage each of us to look at our insides and see if there are flaws that we might be able to correct with the simple insertion and infusing of the Holy Spirit in our day to day lives. In essence, we might allow God to fill us up and drain off some of that excess baggage we carry with us everywhere we go. At any rate, I love the imagery. In Christ's Love, Preacher.