Breakfast

One of my favorite meals is breakfast. I'll eat breakfast food pretty much anytime of the day. Here is a little poem about breakfast - actually, written as a kind of hymn to the tune of "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God."

Gazing at this galaxy, my eyes take in the splendor.
A warmth wells up inside of me, for soon this sight will render
Exactly what I need, and as I start to feed,
Upon this universe, I break the wretched curse
That night has cast upon me.

Clouds surround a glorious sun; a golden epicenter.
Celestial forms in orbit run. Into this race I enter.
Just after I have prayed, I grasp my skewer and blade.
Then launching into space, I stuff into my face
Creation's morning delicacy.

YUMMM!

Cape Fear

We have taken upon us
The mantle of self-god.
While we liked the look in the mirror
And the flattery from others when
They see it in just the right light,
The truth is the fabric constantly chafes;
Trying to keep it clean and free from holes
Embezzles all our attention and energy.

In response we no longer consider our beauty
But only our relative lack of shabbiness when
Compared to others’ cloaks of delusion.
If we look to one with great stains and flaws
We are puffed up and spread our capes wide
Until one passes whose mantle exceeds our own.
Then we pull in our covering, hide, and wonder
“How long until the entire thing is in tatters?”

So, these three remain, pride, shame and fear;
But the greatest of these is fear.

Simple as This

Jesus says in Matthew 7:

"Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is wise...but anyone who listens to my teachings and ignores it is foolish."

It really is as simple as this - Jesus speaks wisdom and so to agree with wisdom (obey) is wise and to ignore wisdom is foolish. The results are most clearly seen when difficulties descend upon our lives. The wise have a foundation to weather the storms, the foolish do not. The problem is that foolishness is often easier in the sunny times than is being wise. Being lazy in practice is easier than working hard, but when gametime comes, hard work pays off and laziness does not.

Playing Alone

Black on red and red on black
Nine on ten and ten on jack
Turning cards from seven spaces
Hoping to reveal the aces

You Are

Clouds move
Atmospheric blue
Leaves dance
Grass sways
Umbrella leaps
Papers tumble
I breathe
You Are!

I am amazed by God's presence and movement above, below, around, through, across, beyond and in all of life. I smile with joy this morning at the presence of God.

The Shack

I'm about 2/3 the way done with this book and I'm quite a fan. I can see why some people have their undies in a bundle over some things, but this is a book that will be quite helpful for those who have serious blockades between them and God. Because I believe that much of our problem is that we don't completely believe that God is good and we have distorted images of God, I think this book can be really helpful. Check it out.