there's danger in distance...

I recently had taken a beautiful girl out ice skating. I was not aware, but this was her fist time on the ice. She looked relaxed, but a little hesitant as she laced up her skates. We get to the ice and her radiant, gleaming smile turned instantly into a gaze of terror. Being the gentleman that I am, I left her to learn to overcome her fear by herself...okay I'm not that big of a jerk! She wobbled and made unusually funny faces trying to find a rythym and maintain balance, but slowly she developed confidence. She did excellent! I was by her side to catch her if she fell; my right hand was the balance recovery go to. I don't know if that was any reassurance, but while I was nearby she did not fall, not once! She started to gain a feel for the ice(after about 20 laps) and so I gave her a little space and went ahead...I spun around to she how she was doing and just at that moment the world came crashing down, in slow motion....
I glide over to her and the look on her face screamed..."this is all your fault"...(HAHA) we got back on our feet and made throught the rest of the day....

here's the moral for those looking for one: God is here! He does not skate ahead and leave us on our own to fend for ourselves. Unlike me, he sticks close by. If I would have been there, she would not have fallen...! Since God is always here, we don't have to fall! He sustains us by his power(Psalms 18:35) What confidence we can have knowing that the magnificence that created the universe is right here...God is here....to keep us from falling on the ice of this world.

a lesson written from a gimped up hand...

fun is what they call it...pain is it's real name. Banged up, bruised up and sent on its way... Gainesville College has a semi-decent mountain bike preserve and over the years it has remained a staple of beginner biking. After you ride the trails for a while you learn and understand every curve, turn, and bend. I had not hit G. C.'s trail in a while so Saturday a pastor buddy and I went to brush up on our mtn. biking skills. I led the way thinking I knew the ropes...and suddenly change became my worst enemy! Since my last visit they had closed off my favorite entrance with large rocks to keep the irrigation and drainage proper, so it seems. In doing so, they created a serious safety hazard..do not put large rocks at the bottom of a hill! So I see them and slow down thinking I can pass through, but there was no way...since I could not stop in time, the rocks and myself became one!

How Common is this in our perception of life? We think we have the answers, all the navigational know how, because life's always been that way. I found that just because I think it is so does not mean it is! Biblically speaking, we tend to operate in the arena of the familiar...we get acquainted with how it has always been and forget about checking the "trails" and we wonder why life lays sprawled all over the rocks! If I would have spent time daily at G.C., I would have known there was a drastic alteration in the landscape of the course. The same is true for life. The Bible claims "the (trails) of a good man are mapped by God"(Psalms 37:23-26 )...When we neglect the daily visitation of the trail map(hint) and think we are "good" in our own mind and perception, life tends to wind up facing head on with an unexpected pile of large, jagged circumstances, giving us little time for reaction. Let us be conscious of the pending changes and fully aware of the future path ahead!

through the looking glass...

I am staring through a wall of glass into a giant parking lot, full of retail, resturaunt and business. I am fortunate to be in Athens for a few days eventhough Athens, to me, is my least favorite place on earth. Bored from reading and sitting around, I have fun watching the cars and people pass by. Unlike some folks, I gets great joy from this. How many times have we taken the time to observe things? How often do we glance around for no reason other than to just watch? This is, to me, one of the great joys in life. You find more quirks, oddities, and wierdness that just makes you burst out in random laughter. Like the dude that pulled into the financing place next door in a bright torquiose camero with a super loud exhaust system. First of all...torquiose? He got out and pimp limped to the drop box...struting like he owned the street he walked on. Then drove off. Or the old lady(in her 7o's) parking on the other side of the building and walking accross the street for a deli sandwich. the parking lot is not full, but I guess she liked to walk...took her 30 min...literally! And finally the couple who pull up in a huge, jacked up f-150, yelling and each on their cell phones talking to different people(I hope..unless that's how they communicate as a couple?)...you always wonder what all that commotion is about? just alot of loud bursts and an echo of more...
These are the things in life we miss out on if we fail to look through the looking glass of life every once and a while.

why Bethlehem?

-A star filled night...voices dancing in the air...shepherds and kings searching for the consolation of Israel...to find him wrapped snuggly in a manger. The Davidic King, the Messiah of Israel, the Light of the Gentiles...in an animals trough?



-The human narrative began with food..."and you shall eat..." Man's reliance of living was based on eating. the imperative was given...eat, but don't eat of this..." Adam directly and consciously decided to make his appetite his God and not vise versa. The Creator of the world, who spread out the heavens and established the earth, desired to be the provisionary, yet Adam ran away.

-It was Jehovah's response in Gen 3:22 "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:"(emphasis mine)

-Before the fall, man's life, his peace, was in what he ate. How up until now is any thing different? We hunger and we eat...physical, material, and emotional food. But there is only one Spiritual food that will bring "life forever". Man craves, yet is never fulfilled. His current food is carnal. His food preserves, but does not heal his condition of self-centered idolatry, the cycle of death and the sting of its venom. The byproduct of failing to eat the proper food is a sure and painful death. By man's diet, he is destined to die. His food can never return him back to a Theocentric position; the garden of Peace. Adam is now concerned for his own preservation, by his own sweat and anxious toil.

-Why now Bethlehem? Micah 5 states that out of the insignificant, greatness will arise! The little town of Bethlehem's significance, like most names in literature, is far more meaningful than the surface of the English language allows. The Hebraic meaning is Biet=House Lehem=of bread. God hath provided a house of food..in an obscure ambiguous town?

-Food from an insignificant source...? Food for the Life of the World?...In a animal trough? Born into a domesticated animals world to redeem that domestication from its anxious cravings of peace. Food to eat and Live!

This is why Bethlehem is! It is obscurity. It is foolishness. It is Peace. " Take, eat; This is my body ...This is my blood..." This is the food...this is what God declared...lest they reach out and eat. God provided the source of life. It was not man's labors, but the divine grace of Jehovah Jirah(The God who will see to it and provide). Bread wrapped in a stable; Bread for the Life of the world...our Eucharist...our great thanksgiving! All who choosingly, eat and live in Peace.

as morning breaks.... or Brakes....

Morning has definitely broken, stopped, and parked. Ha! The sun has set on the era of yesterday and nightfall is pretty boring at the moment...But that is the adventure in the journey of life. The cyclical assumptions of things rising and falling never seem to cease. One thing is for certain, the earth is still spinning and time is still ticking...tick, tock, tick, tock. Congratulations! if you are still breathing, that's half the triumph!
the other half is doing something with that breath...


Right now I am trying to find just that...in the mean time I will remain a Gov't "employee" and get back what from where my taxes have gone. I am very fortunate to have minimal debt and the only main concern is my Mortgage. But The economy I am beneficiary too is not deterred by such concern! This is the other enigma of breathing, LIFE outside the perspective of the living...









Notice the picture to the left. What do you see? and no, waldo is not in the picture! A snow frosted menagerie? empty trees and evergreens? Is there a vibrant living amidst the bitter chill of winter's presence? what's under the snow is it still living? Yep!

Application:Winter frosted the ground of my income just as I began Graduate classes. But again, The economy of which I am entrusted is not shaken by such weather patterns! So I am continuing through the snow, journeying in the presence of frosted hopes, blizzard parched dreams, and wind swept uncertainty. This is the beauty of LIFE outside the perspective of the living! My guide, my compass always points one way and one way alone...the way HOME.

It seem as someone keeps throwing sticks in front of my bike as I ride along, but I know where I need to go and those sticks might hurt but they don't permanently stop the wheel's from spinning! So in the snow or on the street..we just keep shufflin' those feet!

Mountain Climber

Life is more like a journey than anything else. The road seems to wind forever and switchback to the place where you've thought you've been before, only to realise it is not the same. The more we travel, the farther back we can look and say,"I've been somewhere."

We'll I've been down the winding trail of tears. I've climbed the paramount of shining stars. And to this day, I now stand at a foothill; this is a marvelously unblazed trail, a new territory.

I am meeting with the head of the Graduate Dept. of Logos University , Dr. Rivera. I am astonished that an Academic of this caliber would ask me to breakfast before a scheduled meeting we had about my Masters of Divinity course work. I schedule a meeting and the President of the University asks me to breakfast? I am ecstatic but also shaking in my boots. It is kind of like Mount Sinai, the smoke the fire, the trumpets, and a voice that says "come up here w/ me". I am going to climb the the mountain and see what Jehovah has planed through this encounter. I've, through many blisters, overcome obstacles, major disabilities, taunts and jeers. Now, why stay at the foothills of the familiar ? "I've learned the secret of the men who stared at death and conquered sin...and I'm a mountain climber." As Abram did not know where he was going, so I follow the call that says, "Climb! Feel the fascination of the stars(Gen 6)! Climb higher! Look to the hills(Ps 121) and climb..."

a wild years ride

It's been a fast and furious few months. People talk about the wind of change..screw them! It's more like the cat. 5 hurricane of Change. Change is not bad(i've had to get used to change over the course of life), but it is frustrating, due to the variables of uncertianty. I am gearing up for Grad. school next spring, which is req. way too much work...(for those who don't know the story behind why I'm having to do all this work, ask around. I'm tired of telling the story). The office is changing and with that comes new protocol...
But as the hurricane shouts it's mighty words, it is good to have yourself anchored. If the house is built right, it can weather any storm... well, at least so far...