Let's bring back face to face
I was talking to Rachel,a freshman band member, who is trying out for All-State Band this weekend and she was explaining the process of being adjudicated on the snare, chimes, and timpani. That conversation reminded me of trying out for the Florida All-State Chorus my senior year in high school. Owing to the fact that my state level tryouts were 46 years ago, I might miss a few details, but the point I'm trying to make is still as clear as that day.
I had rehearsed four separate pieces of music for the examination. I along with another tenor and pairs of singers (none of who went to my school) for each of the other vocal parts were led into a large room with no chairs and three judges.We were to sight read (that is what you do to a selection of music you have not seen before...however I was in luck it was a hymn!) a song and then sing a song or two that we had rehearsed. We sang as a double, mixed, quartet or eight people, male and female, singing four part harmony. Now here is the scary part of this whole deal. After receiving our pitch, we began singing unaccompanied (no piano, no CD, no string quartet, no other help) AND here it comes -the real scary part...the judges walked around the room and got right in your face to ascertain whether or not you were any good at singing! No time to re-tune or use a splash of Listerine, face to face with a person who was interested in knowing all about your singing ability and they were willing to do it up close and personal. This was Face Time well before the i-phone was even imagined.
About a week ago I saw a brief interview with Brady Quinn, quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, who was talking about the suicide of a fellow KC football player who had prior to taking his death shot and killed his girlfriend. Quinn said that he didn't really know what was going on with him this teammate. When they spoke they each had the usual response that they were "good." Quinn continued by saying that we need to stop and listen to friends and family and quit thinking we are communicating when we "talk" on Facebook or Twitter.
Hold your horses...I'm coming to the point even though I think have done a relatively good job of making a point without making the point which is where I am now. "Inside the Tent of Meeting, the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend." Exodus 33:11 (NLT). Look again at the verse. Look for how friends communicate. How God himself wants to communicate with us is the best example for friends - face to face. Looking in their eyes, watching their body language, listening to the inflections in their voice and just being present with them, this is the way to know someone; to communicate with someone; to love someone.- face to face.
Richard
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Fearfully and Wonderfully made? Me?
I looked in the mirror this morning and "whoa!" have I aged and gotten heavier. I need wrinkle cream, eye brows plucked, nose hair trimmed, Grecian Formula for a younger hair color, contacts (can you get those when all you need are "readers"?), a hairscut (why do people call it a haircut? I get way more than one cut since its the same price for a little or a lot), and mouthwash. Boy looking at myself today I can agree with the psalmist, I am fearfully and wonderfully made...well sort of. I got the fearful-to-look-at part down.
I was channel surfing the other night and ran across "Taboo" a show on the National Geographic Channel. This episode was examining people who try desperately to change their physical look with either plastic surgery, anorexia, implants, or major surgery. The segment I saw introduced us to a 19 year old Russian young woman who wanted to be taller so she would like many of her fellow countrymen who have made it as runway (not run away) models. She goes to Siberia to a hospital where a doctor specializes in lengthening peoples' legs. Wait to you hear how. This is straight out of Dr. Frankenstein's monster. Did you know that Frankenstein was not the name of the monster but the name of the doctor who "created" it...him...uh...it? And while we are on this literary rabbit-chasing segment, who wrote "Frankenstein?" Back to Siberia. This girl goes to the doctor and under anesthesia he breaks her lower leg bones with a chisel; places her legs in a bird cage type contraption which has bolts that are adjustable so the leg can be stretched. Yep every day the bolts are turned and the new bone continues to fill in the gap made by the chisel until after about a year each leg is one inch longer. She now is 5-4" instead of 5'-3". In my estimation, no where close to runway model dimensions, but hey when it heals she will have it done again!! The chisel part breaking a bone makes my skin (wrinkled as it may be) crawl.
I wonder what God thinks when we try and "improve" His creation. His pinnacle of creation...man? Okay so you say "God would definitely frown on the leg surgery", but what about tattoos, or body piercings, or other changes like hair color or ____ is it just different degrees of altering the creation? God's creation. Hmmm. <Right here there has been a 20 hour pause to think further, because "hair color" brings my wife, Betsy, into the conversation and I need to weigh the consequences of continuing on this path.> Hey I'm not attempting to judge. Others already do a much better job of that than I, but don't we at least need to struggle with the answer?
If I am careful to read Psalm 139 in two translations here is what the psalmist has to say about himself, God's creation - I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. Psalm 139:14 (NKJV). Also - Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. Psalm 139:14 (NLT). In both he considers his own being and proclaims, "Marvelous are your works" and "Your workmanship is marvelous - how well I know it." Does that in any way give us a clue as to how God looks at me, one of his "marvelous works?" If that is so, should I look at myself the same way? Just wondering....
I looked in the mirror this morning and "whoa!" have I aged and gotten heavier. I need wrinkle cream, eye brows plucked, nose hair trimmed, Grecian Formula for a younger hair color, contacts (can you get those when all you need are "readers"?), a hairscut (why do people call it a haircut? I get way more than one cut since its the same price for a little or a lot), and mouthwash. Boy looking at myself today I can agree with the psalmist, I am fearfully and wonderfully made...well sort of. I got the fearful-to-look-at part down.
I was channel surfing the other night and ran across "Taboo" a show on the National Geographic Channel. This episode was examining people who try desperately to change their physical look with either plastic surgery, anorexia, implants, or major surgery. The segment I saw introduced us to a 19 year old Russian young woman who wanted to be taller so she would like many of her fellow countrymen who have made it as runway (not run away) models. She goes to Siberia to a hospital where a doctor specializes in lengthening peoples' legs. Wait to you hear how. This is straight out of Dr. Frankenstein's monster. Did you know that Frankenstein was not the name of the monster but the name of the doctor who "created" it...him...uh...it? And while we are on this literary rabbit-chasing segment, who wrote "Frankenstein?" Back to Siberia. This girl goes to the doctor and under anesthesia he breaks her lower leg bones with a chisel; places her legs in a bird cage type contraption which has bolts that are adjustable so the leg can be stretched. Yep every day the bolts are turned and the new bone continues to fill in the gap made by the chisel until after about a year each leg is one inch longer. She now is 5-4" instead of 5'-3". In my estimation, no where close to runway model dimensions, but hey when it heals she will have it done again!! The chisel part breaking a bone makes my skin (wrinkled as it may be) crawl.
I wonder what God thinks when we try and "improve" His creation. His pinnacle of creation...man? Okay so you say "God would definitely frown on the leg surgery", but what about tattoos, or body piercings, or other changes like hair color or ____ is it just different degrees of altering the creation? God's creation. Hmmm. <Right here there has been a 20 hour pause to think further, because "hair color" brings my wife, Betsy, into the conversation and I need to weigh the consequences of continuing on this path.> Hey I'm not attempting to judge. Others already do a much better job of that than I, but don't we at least need to struggle with the answer?
If I am careful to read Psalm 139 in two translations here is what the psalmist has to say about himself, God's creation - I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. Psalm 139:14 (NKJV). Also - Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. Psalm 139:14 (NLT). In both he considers his own being and proclaims, "Marvelous are your works" and "Your workmanship is marvelous - how well I know it." Does that in any way give us a clue as to how God looks at me, one of his "marvelous works?" If that is so, should I look at myself the same way? Just wondering....
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
What if Jesus lived just around the corner?
Are you amazed at the "odd" times God chooses to give you a thought to chew on? I was riding the lawn mower this morning attempting to "rake" up some of the 50 million leaves (yes, I counted the first 118 and extrapolated to reach said sum) and God says "What would it be like to have Jesus living in Snellville, Ga. just around the corner from your house probably mowing leaves and likely to run by your house and stop to talk a few minutes after he finished?" Whoa, Jesus just around the corner? I wonder what he will think of how I'm taking care of his Father's little piece of land I've been made responsible for? Or would He want to talk about the last episode of "Duck Dynasty"? Or what "heavenly" topic can I have ready to dazzle him with when we talk? What if Jesus lived just around the corner?
As I finished the yard clean-up, God speaks to me again reminding me of John 1:14- "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." "Dwelt" can be either "tabernacled among us" (you know like God did in the desert as the children of Israel wandered for forty years) or "took residence with us." That is what He did 2,000 years ago (plus or minus), but what if He were to do it again before the Second Coming...which would make it the second coming this time and the Third Coming when he comes back as described in Revelation. What if He did live right around the corner and I saw him every day? I hear you out there. Yes, I know we have the Holy Spirit who indwells us from the day we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. So yes, he does more than live around the corner. Are you happy now? Glad you figured it out? Well hang on just a minute because I'm not sure where God is leading me on this, so we will continue until He puts a period on it.
"The Practice of the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence is a profound little book written by a monk about 300 years ago. The bottom line of the whole work is- "practicing the presence of God in one single act that does not end." Lawrence believed the time he spent in communion with the Lord should be the same whether he was bustling around in the kitchen with several people asking questions at the same time or on his knees in prayer. "One single act?" Hmmm. Seamless without beginning or ending act. A life of practicing the presence of God like one single,beautiful piece of woven fabric without a seam or break.
So here I was looking at this dwelling, this Tabernacling, this residing around the corner, thinking His physical presence might make a daily visit and cause me to live more in line with His purposes or love Him more dearly, but even that scenario would be less than what my relationship with Him is supposed to look like. Waaaay short in fact! I mean like "air ball" short in a basketball game...I can hear the angels and the great crowd of witnesses in Hebrews 12:1 yelling "Air ball! Air ball! Air ball!" I know I fall far short of the glory of God with my sin but my walk with Jesus every day falls far short also.
Now I must find the key to "practicing the presence of God" every moment doing anything, anywhere, with anyone. I've got some serious work to do. Just like that improvement I need on my basketball shooting, my practicing the presence of God needs...practice.
Musing thus far...
Richard
Are you amazed at the "odd" times God chooses to give you a thought to chew on? I was riding the lawn mower this morning attempting to "rake" up some of the 50 million leaves (yes, I counted the first 118 and extrapolated to reach said sum) and God says "What would it be like to have Jesus living in Snellville, Ga. just around the corner from your house probably mowing leaves and likely to run by your house and stop to talk a few minutes after he finished?" Whoa, Jesus just around the corner? I wonder what he will think of how I'm taking care of his Father's little piece of land I've been made responsible for? Or would He want to talk about the last episode of "Duck Dynasty"? Or what "heavenly" topic can I have ready to dazzle him with when we talk? What if Jesus lived just around the corner?
As I finished the yard clean-up, God speaks to me again reminding me of John 1:14- "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." "Dwelt" can be either "tabernacled among us" (you know like God did in the desert as the children of Israel wandered for forty years) or "took residence with us." That is what He did 2,000 years ago (plus or minus), but what if He were to do it again before the Second Coming...which would make it the second coming this time and the Third Coming when he comes back as described in Revelation. What if He did live right around the corner and I saw him every day? I hear you out there. Yes, I know we have the Holy Spirit who indwells us from the day we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. So yes, he does more than live around the corner. Are you happy now? Glad you figured it out? Well hang on just a minute because I'm not sure where God is leading me on this, so we will continue until He puts a period on it.
"The Practice of the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence is a profound little book written by a monk about 300 years ago. The bottom line of the whole work is- "practicing the presence of God in one single act that does not end." Lawrence believed the time he spent in communion with the Lord should be the same whether he was bustling around in the kitchen with several people asking questions at the same time or on his knees in prayer. "One single act?" Hmmm. Seamless without beginning or ending act. A life of practicing the presence of God like one single,beautiful piece of woven fabric without a seam or break.
So here I was looking at this dwelling, this Tabernacling, this residing around the corner, thinking His physical presence might make a daily visit and cause me to live more in line with His purposes or love Him more dearly, but even that scenario would be less than what my relationship with Him is supposed to look like. Waaaay short in fact! I mean like "air ball" short in a basketball game...I can hear the angels and the great crowd of witnesses in Hebrews 12:1 yelling "Air ball! Air ball! Air ball!" I know I fall far short of the glory of God with my sin but my walk with Jesus every day falls far short also.
Now I must find the key to "practicing the presence of God" every moment doing anything, anywhere, with anyone. I've got some serious work to do. Just like that improvement I need on my basketball shooting, my practicing the presence of God needs...practice.
Musing thus far...
Richard
Monday, November 26, 2012
Dear reader,
I have no idea where this journey into the world of blogging will take me. I have enjoyed a few forays into writing my thoughts about life as I ponder the Word of God. Of those times, writing the blast emails I sent to our church members during our study in Genesis a couple of years ago was a very enjoyable time for me and hopefully a thought-provoking experience for at least a few souls.My inspiration to give this a try comes from three sources: my daughter who blogs from Zambia, a college student who writes really well (especially from Washington, DC) and a freshman in high school who gets unbelievable insights from God into His marvelous Word.
I know that my "insights" will be amusing to some,"stupid" to others, a starting place of further thought for a few, but hopefully something the Holy Spirit can use to move you (and me) from where we are to a place closer to where He wants us to be.
Since I am new to blogging, I will make numerous missteaks (or is that mistakes?), have times of serious rabbit-chasing..."squirrel!" (haven't seen that movie?...the A.D.D. times when you get off track in an instant...a flash...the twinkling of an eye?), and because of those factors cause you to think- "What was I thinking (the "I" being you and not me) when I started reading this?" Through it all I hope that something said either causes you to think, remember, or laugh, but at the end thank God for your life and Jesus for your salvation.
Now if I just had something to say...
Richard
I have no idea where this journey into the world of blogging will take me. I have enjoyed a few forays into writing my thoughts about life as I ponder the Word of God. Of those times, writing the blast emails I sent to our church members during our study in Genesis a couple of years ago was a very enjoyable time for me and hopefully a thought-provoking experience for at least a few souls.My inspiration to give this a try comes from three sources: my daughter who blogs from Zambia, a college student who writes really well (especially from Washington, DC) and a freshman in high school who gets unbelievable insights from God into His marvelous Word.
I know that my "insights" will be amusing to some,"stupid" to others, a starting place of further thought for a few, but hopefully something the Holy Spirit can use to move you (and me) from where we are to a place closer to where He wants us to be.
Since I am new to blogging, I will make numerous missteaks (or is that mistakes?), have times of serious rabbit-chasing..."squirrel!" (haven't seen that movie?...the A.D.D. times when you get off track in an instant...a flash...the twinkling of an eye?), and because of those factors cause you to think- "What was I thinking (the "I" being you and not me) when I started reading this?" Through it all I hope that something said either causes you to think, remember, or laugh, but at the end thank God for your life and Jesus for your salvation.
Now if I just had something to say...
Richard
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