What a week it has been. Feels like Monday was 2 weeks ago. Work has been extremely hectic this week but there has also been a lot of excitement in the air outside of work as people are getting ready for “The Call”. Hopefully in my day to day tasks, I brought some of that needed excitement to the work place. Had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine about some things that may begin to take shape in the next few months. Just pray that God will be the lead in the coming decisions and I will not strive as I had once before.
I probably will not be able to blog again until July 9th as I have a lot of work to get finished before the 4th, then we are leading worship the 5th and 6th, and my parents are coming up also on the 6th, so needless to say, I will be very busy.
Blessings Friends,
Gene
Seems that the last 2 1/2 years have brought countless new things to our lives. For those of you who don’t know, in April 2005, I took a step of faith and resigned from my job at God’s direction. Since then we (my wife and I) have been growing into a newness that suprises, excites, and scares us beyond belief. Growth, although continual, is not always continuous and constant. As you grow, you go through seasons and some seasons are harsh and some are thriving. Survive the harsh seasons and you become stronger with more fruitful growth, much like a pruned plant. The source of your growth is God and your spring of water will be his love, similiar to a sun for the plant, so seek after him so that you may never die and grow into the creation he knows you to be. Let us all become a new creation….”I make all things new”
I was thinking of the different blogs I maintain and the different facets of my life that are representative by those blogs or sites. I also think of the different friends I have, each one that may have a different view of life and some that are very disinterested in any form of Chrisitianity. Some people can present themselves the same way no matter what company they are in. At this time, I cannot, but I am learning too. I am slowly learning to merge all of who I am into what God created me to be. I was thinking of how excel merges all the cells into one big one, so I started writing down some of the major roles I play in life and my different identities. When I wanted to get the warning alert message graphic above for this blog, I noticed that the left hand cell would be the only data left. I knew this from working with Excel before, but I didn’t think about it this time when I was putting different roles in the cells. So after I merged who I am into one person I got this:
This doesn’t mean that I do not still do those roles and have those other identities, but my faith guides them and I find new joys with those roles. As a surfer back in the day: “I once worshiped the waves, now I worship the source of the waves, the wind, and the ocean.”
This is a repost from a blog a few months back. With ”The Call” just around the corner, I feel it is timely for this season.
Acceleration
Acceleration of vision.
We were comfortable at one time. We were fine there. We took and we gave.
I feel that we have stepped out of that comfort, similar to the comfort of a warm house on a cold winter day. We have been placed in the wilderness where there is no heat. We feel an urgency to find heat to warm ourselves. He is calling us to warm others as well.
We feel the need to start a fire. We need to heat it up.
So we look for kindling. We are to help gather this kindling to aid in the combustion of the flame. So we start gathering it and as we do we see that some of the kindling is wet, some of it is rotten, and some of it hasn’t seasoned yet and will not combust readily.
In the South, our kindling was known as “fat lighter”. Fat lighter is known to burn very hot and fast. It comes from a tree called long leaf pine and there are two ways it is made naturally:
1. The first way is when the stumps and roots of a long leaf pine become saturated with resin as they age over years. You can find these stumps buried in fields and it is in high demand because of the wood’s high combustible qualities.
2. The second way to obtain this wood is from the HEART of the tree. The heart wood of an old tree is usually saturated with resin in the same way as the roots. This resin keeps the wood from rotting and decomposing. Out of the HEART comes very strong, heavy boards that will last forever without any man-made treatment.
Since this wood is very strong and with-stands the elements so well, it is sometimes used to build houses. What one achieves is an irony of sorts, for it is a strong and everlasting house that withstands and endures what the world gives out to it, but also a house that is highly combustible that burns hotter and can quickly ignite houses next to them.
Do you want to be like that house? Do you want to burn hot with God’s love and spirit and ignite others? It’s okay if you haven’t aged yet. It’s a process. We are the kindling. God is starting a fire. But we are to help gather that kindling. And he will season it, he will dry the wet wood, and he will change the kindling, the person, into what and where he has them to be.
It’s time to start gathering, building, and burning for him.
This past week I have been going through our older photos and selecting many for archival scanning. This task has brought a plethora of emotional baggage with it. Thing about historical mediums, there is a story to tell and sometimes the story is less than happy. I look back at these memories and negative feelings put in the past seem to arise and stiffle my passion for life. Obviously I wish things could have been different in some aspects, but I am aware that these negative feelings and circumstances that I have walked through have created and molded who I am today. I have risen above it through faith in God and have walked out of darkness and it has brought him Glory. I have peace through him. I am history in the making. I have purpose and I press on. He is writing my future.
When my alarm went off this morning the traffic report was on. It just so happened the route that I normally take to work had a major accident so I would have to take an alternate route to get to where I needed to be in a timely manner. The usual hour of hitting the snooze button from 5am to 6am was not to be as I had to get up due to the incredible congestion that happens on the alternate route when everyone is DC bound in the morning. It took me out of my routine, it was uncomfortable for me to be up that early, and I am now extremely tired with St. Arbucks at my side.
Detours can do that to you. You hit them in life when least expected. They will make you uncomfortable and they will exhaust you. Life path detours remind you to look to God for your strength. You will get to the place where he wants you to be and in the perfect timing, but it may be different than you expected. So suck it up, awaken sleepers, and get moving toward the call.
For the past few weeks my outlook has been extremely negative. I have been angry at all the choices I have been given and not having the choices that I wanted come to closure. Questioning the reality of God due to illusions created by well meaning zealous individuals….Interesting. A song just came to my mind that Upton sings. Don’t know if it’s the name, but the phrase “A Better Way” keeps coming up in my spirit.
Your outlook needs to be on a plane higher than whatever it is on now. We need to continually seek out a better way, or perhaps the better way is God’s way. Life will start to soar as issues bounce off of you and your response of God’s love to others will actually start to surprise even you.