The Building Inspector

  On my way out, I closed the kitchen door behind me, and stepped into the garage. 

                                                          

                                                                              I felt uneasy.

                                                                       

        Fired up the electra glide...it was like 35 degrees out, sun coming up, and I was heading out to meet with a dear friend. My wife was still sleeping.

    (the bedroom is on the other side of the house, praise God.) 

                                    the bike idled its loping idle there, getting ready...warming up..plumes of vapor out the mufflers..

       

                             and I just didn't feel right...haven't for a while...

                                                                                               thoughtful and looking forward to meet my brother,  to praise our Savior, scripture on the table, and open.

               

        still..uneasy..questioning Ephesians 4 vs.2...and do I really know what that means?  The Holy Spirit had asked.. and I felt.. I did not.               

         looking back at my house, I said under my breath 'what is it, Lord?' 'why do I struggle so?'

                                                            something is wrong, and I know it.

        Like a house that has a problem,I could feel my foundation was ... not solid....like it had been eroding from beneath me... even while I slept.

                                        

                                         and all the timbers... 

                                                                       the wallboard that had been adorned..

                                                                                                                               were apprehensive to a pending collapse.

                              

  Why..?

                            I looked back toward my house..its' beginnings... and could almost see a ghost of a yellow tape that read 'condemned' across the doorway..

                                                   

The Wise and Foolish Builders

 ²⁴"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

                      I knew why I felt this Way..

                                      the Inspector was coming..and I sensed His presence..

                                I may have made an error in building code..a fatal one for this house, if left unattended.

                                        He has unquestionable standards, and an eye for detail..which can lend to you being unsettled, with your choices for building materials.

                                                                                        as He began showing me the structural problems with the materials that I had chosen to use in the foundation of my Home.

                        .. and to just why I spend much time in 'the struggle', the 'trouble',whether alone, or when gathering with others...

                                                                                                                                                             

                                                                    .. rather than His conclusion...you  know, the other side of the equal sign...     

      

                                                         ³³"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

                  and it was painfully evident..  I may have been a little hasty in the construction... that which by choice is left up to me...in my selection of foundation materials.

                                                   

                                            I'm not sure when...but for 'Supply', I had changed suppliers...

The Vine and the Branches

 ¹"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ²He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. ³You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

    and now .. I wait on the Inspector...as He assures me in Love..that the needs can be met...in the foundation of this house.

   

                                I know that if I can experience this... there are others.

                                                                              and if you find yourself thinking more about 'your trouble' when you are alone...talking more about 'your problems' when you are with others..

                          

             Look closely at what you chose for your foundation...who was the supplier?

   

                                                                                                                                 was it you?

                                                               

                                                                   and open the bible..

                                                                                                              

                                                                                        It may be time for the building Inspector.  

Where you live.

I was dwelling.

                Isn't that one of those sayings that indicates you're building where you shouldn't be?

 Dwelling in the past...

                        the future.

Eyes open but not seeing.

With my Bible in my lap,

                my dog pokes me with her snout to snap me out of it,

                                        with a pull toy in her mouth,

       

                                                wagging her entire rear end.

 I learn so much from my dog, maybe because G-D knows I'll pay attention to them.

Here is a scripture for your contemplation-

                        When Peter saw him and asked " Lord what about him?".

 Jesus answered,"If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me"

                                John 21vs 21-22.

      Think about your dwelling,

                                and leave it for Another.

The Deeper Root

I am often distracted, and like a youngsters hand firmly gripped by his father, take for granted that He is committed to holding onto me, as I pull toward the 'candy'.

Though the wrappers change, the distraction is basically the same, because it lies somewhere other than the Hand that is grasping mine.

We mistake good intentions for Good...misunderstand death and disease...and continue to insist mending a curtain that was torn.

 All in the name of G_D.

We quote our 'heroes' rather than becoming them, and true joy is closer to our illusions while we try to make our illusions true joy.

King Solomon has become like many I have read that are giving us a warning about what is illusory and what is 'meat'.

I found great peace, hope in this passage I read Sunday morning.

1Thess 4 v 11-12

⁹ Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. ¹⁰ And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, ¹¹ and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, ¹² so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Humility is not a public performance...but it has its spectators.

Often we strive for good, while passing by the best, taking for granted the hand that will never let go, and forgoing who we were created to be, for our 'illusions'.

Dance with Me

 For Ellie Morlang-
 
'Dance with me, I want to be your partner.
Can't you see the music is just starting?
Night is falling, and I am calling.
Dance with me.'

(Dance With Me’ from the 1975 album ‘Waking and Dreaming’ by Orleans)

Rolling the Electra Glide out of the garage,

                My passenger nervously smiled, and tightened her grip on my waist.

 ‘Just around the block, then back home ok?’ she says

                ‘Ok.’ I answered ‘But if you change your mind, just let me know, and we’ll go around a bigger block.’

‘No’ she says,’just around the neighborhood , then home’

        --              As she attempted to ‘steer me’ through the first turn,

Turning my waist like a steering wheel..

                         I was glad she weighed half of nothing,

       

                                          Though she did have quite a grip for 75.

On the straight that followed, I talked gently to her, encouraging her to ‘trust me’, and just ‘enjoy the ride’.

                        To just accept my invitation…

                                                                        and Go with it.

She relaxed.

                I sugguested she would enjoy the padded leather backrests..

                                                                             

                                             and to try out those armrests.

                                         Rest.

 By the time we had completed our neighborhood ‘lap’..

                        Where the left turn would take her home..

               

        She wanted to turn right…

                   taking us into the country…

for the bigger block.

        She forgot about ‘driving’..

                                            to discover ‘riding’…

                                                                           and that changed ‘everything’.

‘This is wonderful!’

                        she said looking all around..checking out the scenary.

‘Next time’.. I told her.. ‘the henna tatoos are on me!’

When you head out on the road ‘two up’..

                it all works together for a wonderful experience

                                        when there is One driver..and one rider.

And two of you ..move as one.

                Just like learning to dance with another..

                                the ‘tango’

                                                  Only exists with ‘lead’ and ‘follow’…’follow and lead’

One is not above the other…

^{John 15}

¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

        and learning to ‘lead’

^{Matthew 28}

¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

                                                        is only complete with knowing the joy of following.

^{Luke 14}

³³ In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

        and only Together..

                                they become One.

 __

                                           ‘It’ 

is not something ‘to do’..

                                                 ‘It’ 

is something ‘to allow.’

If this is it..

‘Woke up, fell out of bed,
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup,
And looking up I noticed I was late.’
(A Day in the Life by The Beatles from the 1967 album 'Sgt.Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band)

   

          Well..

                          If this is it.

       

    My last..…’Today’

        I want to leave my wife with fresh oil in her ride

so I dropped her car off at McCarthy Service before they opened,

 

                                  and signed their ‘release’ form

   for the last time…

                              

                              and dropped the keys in the envelope, and put it in the overnight box.

                                                                                           -Gone-

   

 As I looked out at route 7, cool air against my skin..

                                       shorts and ‘sneaks’ on...

I’ll have this one more run home...

       

                                            in this misty morning.

  Stretching out a little before I head out

                                      I see a couple of gals from a local church are walking…talking..

          And heading back into the fog.

                             as I approach the road.

                                                                            the air smells great.

breaking into a run,

          I feel ‘in Creation’

          And in a few more miles I’ll be

                                                       home.

to walk Tootsie one more time..

                give Rosemary one more kiss.... 

     

                                       ²⁴ Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

      It is a day like no other.

                      ¹³"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

                                           Yes..and maybe Lord..

                                                     I'm finally 'getting it'.

   ³⁰Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'^{[f] 31}The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'^[g]There is no commandment greater than these."                             

       

                                showered...

                                            clean underwear...

         

                               shaved....teeth brushed..

                                          hmmm...

   

                                    lets see now....the wardrobe..

                                                                    which black Harley shirt to wear?

                                                                       

    Everything outside seems to have more color today, as I roll the electra glide out of the garage. 

          

       

                                   'the money'..

'the board meeting'..

                                   'the job'..

'the house'..                                          'gigs'...

                         

                          'chores'... all have fallen to the ground

           like leaves for someone else to rake up. 

   

                                                                        for this

                                                                                     is my last Today. 

        

               Pressing ‘start’

                                      The 103 comes to life..and waits for me.                          

                   ‘ So Lord...

                                            how about we Go for 'just one more'...

Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

                                                               

                                                        for You to share 'the good news' with,

                                                                                                                                                                                             

                                                                                                              

                                                                                       before I come Home Today?

       

                                                                           

Luke 16

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
²² “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
²⁵ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
²⁷ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
²⁹ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
³⁰ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
³¹ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

                  don't wait another minute...

if this is it... Today