Luke 2

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Liberator! He is the promised Liberating King. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."

//Luke 2:8-12//

Whenever people receive a message from God, often from a heavenly visitor, their first response is that they were terrified! I admit I've seen my fair share of ghost movies (I'm really scared of ghosts more than anything, serial killers don't phase me. I mean all they really needed was some Jesus and a good friend....right?), and as soon as I get in my room by myself I can get a feel for the same fear these shepherds must have felt. But the messenger calms them down and tells them of a Liberator, a Savior is born. This spurs thought and conversations amongst the shepherds so they decide to go see in Bethlehem, and experience what the Lord has told them about. Don't forget that shepherds were humble and poor people who had little status in the world. Yet they were the first to be called to visit the Savior of the world, the great King. Sometimes I wish God would communicate with me through some kind of burning bush or a loud thunderous voice full of reverb, but that hasn't happened, I'm not saying it can't. But a lot of times I catch myself praying for God to give me direction, yet I don't seek his direction. Now that I reflect on that it feels like I'm trying to make God my servant. When I seek God whether through songs, art, reading, fellowship, or prayer, all I get is silence from God. Then this whisper saying "trust in me or not at all!" I am blown away, and overcome with thankfulness. But the more I think about it the more I think about what I really talk to God about. Most of its filled with the same old catch phrases. Do I mean them or do I just say them to make me feel better. Feels like sometimes I really don't mean them. Sometimes It seems like praying is like throwing a coin in a wishing well, and I'm deep down flooded with doubt, asking God for this and that, but not seeking and engaging who God is. In the end he is always faithful, and i'm looking fir what he will do next.

No One's Listening

Wait, oh wait, please.
The secrets out,
But no ones listening
No ones listening
The stars are singing songs.
While the moonlight dances on,
But no one’s listening.
No ones listening

But the leaves are rustling
With rumors it’s gonna change
There’s a splinter in my heart
I’m a desperate flame
I’m captured by a glimpse of better days

Time is moving on
But the future and the past
Are keeping me
from meeting you here
Maybe if I lost everything,
if it all could disappear
‘till all that’s left is you here.

Once we get a glimpse of the kingdom of God nothing will ever fully satisfy us.

What Are We Struggling For?

I ask myself this question occasionaly, and I found a poem that comes close to answering that question. Im not too big into poetry but it is definitely something that i find a lot of beauty in, and it really spurs some good thoughts in my head.

"A Future Not Our Own"
by Archbishop Oscar Romeo

It helps now and then, to step back
and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of
the magnificient enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said,
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection...
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development,
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results...
We are prophets of a future not our own.

Thrift Stores......

Theres something about thrift stores that I like. Maybe its the mystery and intrigue of what treasures sit inside the place. Or maybe it's that everything is under $5 most of the time. It truly is a beautiful place, I would even argue thay are better than the Walmart's and Target's. I've had two of my best finds at thrift stores. A few days ago i found this old, small casio keyboard, with a strange tape playing deal in it that looks like its before the time of the 8 track. When i got it home i began to play it and noticed the pitches were wrong.......it was out of tune? how could this be? Apparently you have to tune it. Never before have i heard of tuning a keyboard, but this one is special i guess. So I searched my entire house for a screwdriver small enough to fit in the hole to turn the screw which does something to tune it. So I hooked it up to my tuner and tuned it and it hasn't gone out of tune yet. However this little keyboard is really neat, it has 8 different sounds in it. Plus on the side it has buttons dedicated to playing chords and you can change it to -min, or add a 7th, while you play melodies on the main keys. Hooked up to a Line 6 dl4, I can get some pretty cool tones out of it. the organ preset it has is great, and im sure it will have some more great sounds if i keep messing with it some more.

My next really great find was at a place called thrift town, I found a pretty old hardcase suitcase, that just so happenned to be perfectly sized to house all of my guitar pedals, chords, and such. The oustide of it has a really unique tan color to it, however the inside is light pink, which is fine by me, i would much prefer a different color but ........i could work with rose pink. So I bought some strips of velcro, which costs more money than the actual suitcase, and plastered the inside of the suitcase with velcro. and Wahhllaaa.......pedalboard. Im anxious to find out what other great treasures are sitting out there waiting to be found and put to use.