Ever feel like someone is chasing you? I mean from the moment you wake up, till the moment you go to sleep, and every time frame in between. Every thought, circumstance, choice, event, every aspect of your daily life someone is following you and chasing you down. I am not saying this with a schizophrenic tone, that is not the thought, the thought is actually faith based and proven. Because I believe each and every one of us are chased, and interestingly enough by the author of the world. Think about that statement, and allow your brain to detonate and explode inside your head at the thought.
The ONE who places the stars in the sky " One by one" who breathed and the oceans were created in all their glory and massive power, the ONE who parted the Red Sea for humans to witness, told a guy to build an Ark in a drought, and turned water to wine, defeated armies of thousands with few, and died for us when he was found to be perfect, but WE didnt see it that way.
Yah that guy, he never sleeps, he embodies the modern day mantra LIVESTRONG,and he cares enough about us when we spend most of our lives at times not caring enough about ourselves or others to merit that love or chase.
So what does the ONE who chases us look like? Does he appear in conversations, circumstance, or coincidence. Is HE visible in the eyes of a child, or a Mothers time? Is he in awe of our daiy lives and persistent enough to chase us even when we arent worthy of being caught?
The fact is, I dont know the answer to the above questions, and the longer I live, I am thankful that I dont have to. Because I am thankful HE does, I am thankful for a plan not my own that leads to roads unseen on the Gantt chart of my mind and life. No, I dont know but HE does and I am glad HE is in control, cause his thoughts are higher than mine, his ways are perfect, and his timing is impeccable. He is the friend that always " shows up."
Not knowing I will still search in the daily goings on in my life for the one who is following me, cause I want that glimpse of perfection, I want to be found worthy of being chased. I will look to have converstations with a mind greater than mine, and a love I will never understand nor deserve. I will live the adventure and make stops where I need to, looking behind to see if indeed HE is visible, knowing he is back there somewhere...watching, waiting, and loving...in spite of who I am.
Thanks God, for seeing me as worthy of your time and energy, and pursuit.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Hidden from View.
What happens when the weather in your life never seems to change? The sun stays hidden for years, the rain doesn’t stop, and the clouds never part. Where do you go what do you hold on to?
The thought that I have is that we have to believe in something. We have to hope that there is someone or something greater than us that will see us through, and provide a raft when the water is high, or shelter, when the hurricane sounds outside the door of our existence. For me that is God, the something and someone that I fall into the arms of.
I think that it is funny how you hear of coincidences in life, that aren’t really coincidences at all but designed. For many years now I have believed that we live a life of no coincidences but rather we are apart of a wonderful and perfect plan that through faith only we can follow and stay present. It is easy to doubt, easy to make excuses, but in doing so you rob yourself of the one thing that life foundationally is built upon, faith. Faith that says we are in and of ourselves not strong enough to function alone that we need help, we need guidance and direction. Faith that stands as a guardian from ourselves and our choices as being the end or seeming it is the end and we are left to nothing but hopelessness. Faith that sees a crack in the clouds, a letting up of the rain, and a confidence that the sun will shine again, and we will bask in its radiant light. If the world can be created in a day, and the stars placed one by one, we can trust that we are in safe harbor with the author of life.
The thought that I have is that we have to believe in something. We have to hope that there is someone or something greater than us that will see us through, and provide a raft when the water is high, or shelter, when the hurricane sounds outside the door of our existence. For me that is God, the something and someone that I fall into the arms of.
I think that it is funny how you hear of coincidences in life, that aren’t really coincidences at all but designed. For many years now I have believed that we live a life of no coincidences but rather we are apart of a wonderful and perfect plan that through faith only we can follow and stay present. It is easy to doubt, easy to make excuses, but in doing so you rob yourself of the one thing that life foundationally is built upon, faith. Faith that says we are in and of ourselves not strong enough to function alone that we need help, we need guidance and direction. Faith that stands as a guardian from ourselves and our choices as being the end or seeming it is the end and we are left to nothing but hopelessness. Faith that sees a crack in the clouds, a letting up of the rain, and a confidence that the sun will shine again, and we will bask in its radiant light. If the world can be created in a day, and the stars placed one by one, we can trust that we are in safe harbor with the author of life.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Pray for Rain
It has been raining for 5 days straight now, the ground is saturated, the youth football teams uniforms, cleats, socks, helmets carry the field with them in muddy form. There is something about rain that cleanses, renews, and washes our souls it seems. I often have walked in the middle of a rain storm and talked with God, or talked out loud to myself because it was just me and the rain, and the rain wouldn’t talk back to me, would simply agree and continue to fall. I think it is vital to the human soul to withstand the elements, live through them, walk in them, experience them, survive them. There seems to be strength and growth in experience individually when you walk through the elements of weather and you meet them head on where they are. For this reason I have never carried an umbrella or taken dry shelter from one. I want to be out in it, live in it, experience it, feel it, I want it to build the armor of my soul thicker so that I will be up for withstanding future storms.
Being from North Dakota offers a distinct advantage as a human being to me. In that state you experience the extremes of heat, cold, rain, wind…after living there, you can live and thrive anywhere. People think of the north as the coldest place in the United States. They believe that we wear gloves and jackets year around, but they have never experienced the 100 degree week, with 98% humidity, or they are not aware that North Dakota pre ice age was once a rainforest. All they here about are the -30 degree winter days with 50 below wind chills and snow piled as high as your roof. That is apart of the experience as well but just a small part. The fact is when you live there, you drive right through the elements, you work in them, play in them, embrace them. In short you survive them, and feel stronger in the human condition because of it. There is a sense of accomplishment after deer hunting in 30 below zero and sitting around a campfire and talking about the day. What isn’t said but is felt is that, “ We are strong, we are resilient, we can withstand anything.” I miss those days, that cold, that heat, that wind that makes the wheat fields dance across the praire. There I am strong, there I am uplifted, there I am free to run into the eye of storms and come out on the other side unscathed and better for it.
Being from North Dakota offers a distinct advantage as a human being to me. In that state you experience the extremes of heat, cold, rain, wind…after living there, you can live and thrive anywhere. People think of the north as the coldest place in the United States. They believe that we wear gloves and jackets year around, but they have never experienced the 100 degree week, with 98% humidity, or they are not aware that North Dakota pre ice age was once a rainforest. All they here about are the -30 degree winter days with 50 below wind chills and snow piled as high as your roof. That is apart of the experience as well but just a small part. The fact is when you live there, you drive right through the elements, you work in them, play in them, embrace them. In short you survive them, and feel stronger in the human condition because of it. There is a sense of accomplishment after deer hunting in 30 below zero and sitting around a campfire and talking about the day. What isn’t said but is felt is that, “ We are strong, we are resilient, we can withstand anything.” I miss those days, that cold, that heat, that wind that makes the wheat fields dance across the praire. There I am strong, there I am uplifted, there I am free to run into the eye of storms and come out on the other side unscathed and better for it.
The Steady Current of Life
I am sitting riverside on a cold crisp day. The sun is out, the traffic passes by the bridges home for the weekend, and the water flows.
When I look out at the river I notice something that strikes me as profound I guess you might say. With the current there are logs, trash, birds, other objects that drift. Looking out I can see them for a bit, a few moments, but then they are carried downstream out of sight. It strikes me, that is life, that is the destination of past choices, and decisions made good or bad. They all flow away out of sight, and the new clear water comes with its own elements of choice and chance. Could have trash, could be clear, still will flow, and continue to move to a yesterday that will never be today, or tomorrow.
Guess it is refreshing to know that with time and the current of life we can be free to see a clearer view and a new chance at significance free from the trash and debris of the past. Because if we let the past define us instead of describe us, we forfeit the wonderful chance that is today, and the tomorrows of the rest of our lives.
When I look out at the river I notice something that strikes me as profound I guess you might say. With the current there are logs, trash, birds, other objects that drift. Looking out I can see them for a bit, a few moments, but then they are carried downstream out of sight. It strikes me, that is life, that is the destination of past choices, and decisions made good or bad. They all flow away out of sight, and the new clear water comes with its own elements of choice and chance. Could have trash, could be clear, still will flow, and continue to move to a yesterday that will never be today, or tomorrow.
Guess it is refreshing to know that with time and the current of life we can be free to see a clearer view and a new chance at significance free from the trash and debris of the past. Because if we let the past define us instead of describe us, we forfeit the wonderful chance that is today, and the tomorrows of the rest of our lives.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
See the Effects
I awoke this morning standing on the deck to a crisp breeze that was blowing in tree country. Looking at the tops of the trees, and hearing the wind that moved them something hit me. We can only see the effects of the wind, but we can't see the wind. We can hear the power, we can see the result, but we cant physically see the wind itself.
Standing there like I have so many times before, I started to think of other things and objects I have seen the wind move in my life. Wheat fields that connect by section lines on the North Dakota country side...dead tree branches creeking in the middle of a -10 below day as I stalked deer in Montana...white caps that become a force on a lake and crash into the shore with nothing visible pushing them, but the force is there behind them driving them.
I am reminded as I see the winds effects in the tops of these trees that the wind is a lot like God, and faith. We cannot see Him or faith, but we can see the effects of Him and our faith if we choose to take the time to look. I have often believed that there are no coincidences in life, that like so many people using the trite phrase " Everything happens for a reason," Godly coincidences can be all around us and meet us at our point of need if we look for them. Once we see them, it is then our choice to believe that the effects are real and embrace the unseen touch that is reaching down to us to tell us, " It is I," look and you will see that I can become visible in your life, and you can feel the effects of my leading if you make the choice to believe.
There is an empty feeling sometimes when we struggle with daily life, and we fail to see the coincidences where an unseen God is working. It is my belief that if you are seeking answers and there are signs that flash in front of you in daily life that beam brightly with coincidental truth and direction...God has done his job. Now the choice is yours, step out in faith, or don't, choose to believe, or don't, follow the effects of Godly coincidence and trust in the unseen adventure of faith he has for you...or don't.
When we base our decisions on ourselves, on our feelings, on our circumstance, we reject the only power that although unseen holds the answers. In short God has shown us, now its up to us, his job is completed, do we believe and follow, or trust in ourselves like we have so many times before only to see nothing and feel the same.
Look for the effects of the unseen, scan your daily life for Godly coincidental answers, you may find that the unseen will reveal the lighted path and lead you on the road where you were predestined to go. The same force that moves the tops of these trees can move you and me...if we allow. It's a yes...or no, but His job has been completed, we should expect nothing more.
Standing there like I have so many times before, I started to think of other things and objects I have seen the wind move in my life. Wheat fields that connect by section lines on the North Dakota country side...dead tree branches creeking in the middle of a -10 below day as I stalked deer in Montana...white caps that become a force on a lake and crash into the shore with nothing visible pushing them, but the force is there behind them driving them.
I am reminded as I see the winds effects in the tops of these trees that the wind is a lot like God, and faith. We cannot see Him or faith, but we can see the effects of Him and our faith if we choose to take the time to look. I have often believed that there are no coincidences in life, that like so many people using the trite phrase " Everything happens for a reason," Godly coincidences can be all around us and meet us at our point of need if we look for them. Once we see them, it is then our choice to believe that the effects are real and embrace the unseen touch that is reaching down to us to tell us, " It is I," look and you will see that I can become visible in your life, and you can feel the effects of my leading if you make the choice to believe.
There is an empty feeling sometimes when we struggle with daily life, and we fail to see the coincidences where an unseen God is working. It is my belief that if you are seeking answers and there are signs that flash in front of you in daily life that beam brightly with coincidental truth and direction...God has done his job. Now the choice is yours, step out in faith, or don't, choose to believe, or don't, follow the effects of Godly coincidence and trust in the unseen adventure of faith he has for you...or don't.
When we base our decisions on ourselves, on our feelings, on our circumstance, we reject the only power that although unseen holds the answers. In short God has shown us, now its up to us, his job is completed, do we believe and follow, or trust in ourselves like we have so many times before only to see nothing and feel the same.
Look for the effects of the unseen, scan your daily life for Godly coincidental answers, you may find that the unseen will reveal the lighted path and lead you on the road where you were predestined to go. The same force that moves the tops of these trees can move you and me...if we allow. It's a yes...or no, but His job has been completed, we should expect nothing more.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Life in the Mind.
The mind is a wonderful and fascinating thing. To know that we have a rolodex in our brain that can collate, file, and record every circumstance and experience that we have gone through is both an amazing gift and an eternal tormentor at the same time.
When we encounter circumstances in life that challenge, and hurt, we perseverate, these experiences within our mind and memory for a time. In doing so we torture our current existence and limit our existence daily for a time, in short we are there, but we are not there. We are both present and absent, hearing, but not listening, living yet, dieing to self for a time. The movies are horrors, and the reviews are endless and played back continuously for a time, if we allow.
In these times if one takes the time to consciously think about and go to the file of good memories and experiences and attempt to align it side by side with the bad, and push play, eventually the good will win out. The days will come back into focus, life will resume as it always has, and hope and faith will once again rule.
Whenever I have had a good experience in life, I try to compartmentalize that in its own file cabinet, separate from the other. Here in this cabinet life truly exists, comforts, and renews, here life is as it should be, a wonderful adventure with us as wandering optimistic tourists.
When we encounter circumstances in life that challenge, and hurt, we perseverate, these experiences within our mind and memory for a time. In doing so we torture our current existence and limit our existence daily for a time, in short we are there, but we are not there. We are both present and absent, hearing, but not listening, living yet, dieing to self for a time. The movies are horrors, and the reviews are endless and played back continuously for a time, if we allow.
In these times if one takes the time to consciously think about and go to the file of good memories and experiences and attempt to align it side by side with the bad, and push play, eventually the good will win out. The days will come back into focus, life will resume as it always has, and hope and faith will once again rule.
Whenever I have had a good experience in life, I try to compartmentalize that in its own file cabinet, separate from the other. Here in this cabinet life truly exists, comforts, and renews, here life is as it should be, a wonderful adventure with us as wandering optimistic tourists.
Home
When people talk about wanting to go "home," it is not so much the physical space of the house as much as it is the idea of what that place means to them. In my memories, home was a place of thought, and open idea sharing. It was a comfortable existence that included love, and discipline, but mostly love, and always--- thought. Here my confidence was built, my life was started, the stones of my personal foundation were laid.
In this idea I smell supper cooking, I here my sisters talking, and my father coming through the front door to greet my Mother. Instruments were played, voices were raised, and thousands of pages of books were turned. The downstairs was my domain, my restaraunt, my entertainment room, my library.
In my mind I'm always going home, although my body hasnt followed lately. I am there in thought and reflection, and that is what sustains me and provides comfort when needed. So I guess I would disagree with those who say " you can't ever go home," I go there daily and that makes all the difference.
In this idea I smell supper cooking, I here my sisters talking, and my father coming through the front door to greet my Mother. Instruments were played, voices were raised, and thousands of pages of books were turned. The downstairs was my domain, my restaraunt, my entertainment room, my library.
In my mind I'm always going home, although my body hasnt followed lately. I am there in thought and reflection, and that is what sustains me and provides comfort when needed. So I guess I would disagree with those who say " you can't ever go home," I go there daily and that makes all the difference.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Farmer and Wife
He is small in stature but his forearms are evidence of hard days not behind a pencil. His straw hat is soiled on the rim and has seen its share of tractor seats and pickups. The pearl snap cowboy shirt isn’t starched but looks clean and sharp. They are seated outside which is fitting, the open air with its rain, and sun, and storms has made or broke their yearly lives. She is a pretty woman who loves this man you can tell from the smile and the look. She looks at him, and he looks at her and also stares across the open field in the distance. He is maybe thinking of that old John Deere, or that Allis Chalmers combine that broke down right before the storm…or maybe about how much he loves this woman and open fields. All is right this day for them no more worries about storms or wind, or rain…only thing on the agenda is a sip of their coffees, black…and the retired life.
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