take a picture

‘If you took all the girls I knew
When I was single
And brought them all together for one night
I know they'd never match
My sweet imagination
And everything looks worse in black and white’

(‘Kodachrome’ from the 1973 album ‘There Goes Rhymin’ Simon’ by ‘Paul Simon’)

A sobering moment..

                          the ‘snapshot’.

It may be out of context

                      But

                                it sure can tell the story.

  

 - One day my wife ‘puts on’ a very unflattering face and says…

          “This is you…sleeping”       

          Of course I said ‘you must be thinking of someone else’.

                                      

Well, I was dozing one evening…and my cell phone goes off waking me.

  Hmmm,

it is a picture message…

   from my loving wife..

          There I was..

                      Captured as in the old kodachrome..

 Kicked back and conked out in the ‘lounge’ chair

                             Looking like an old balding, dead man…

                                  mouth open….

                                                      head to one side

                                      I most certainly didn’t hear anyone ‘say cheese’!

                           “See? “

                                       (smiling, waves her little camera phone from across the room, calling me old ‘mr.fartypants’)

The rock n roll days of the ‘80s never looked so far away.

 

Not a pretty picture.

                          and you never know Who is taking one…

Or when.

                 Like some of the ‘pictures’ God may show us one day… of ourselves

         Maybe not the ones while we were awake..

                                        Putting on the ‘church’..

But

  while we were ‘dreaming’

        Sometimes in Life…

                        like the Savior Jesus the Christ…

                                                ‘The Truth’..Isn’t always what you want to know,

        but it is what you need.

Today..

Two contenders I consider for first place in knowing a ‘crippled’ walk with Jesus

               are ‘remembering’…

                                                and ‘forgetting’. 

       

                         -  ‘We forget to remember …’

                                                      ‘ remember to forget’  -

By His Grace, Life is a ‘breath’ of given and give.

                Regardless of what you have been ‘given’,

                           It was His to ‘give’ in the first place.

Right?

Genesis 2

7 Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

We forget to remember..

John 8

⁹ At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

                                     To remember to forget.

                                                              ¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said.
                                                                               “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

We forget to remember..

Matthew 3

⁹ And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham

                           To remember to forget.

                                              Matthew 7
 ¹ “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

We forget to remember..

John 16

 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.” 

To remember to forget

Luke 23

³⁴ Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”^[        

as we approach a day we have set aside to celebrate..

                Today
                                Take a picture…
        So maybe when you are ‘dreaming’.. you won’t forget to remember
 ⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:
   “‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come,
your will be done
  on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.                       
                     To remember to forget

¹² Forgive us our debts,
   as we also have forgiven our debtors

In my short life,

I have found that if I come for the Answer

                                     The One for my ‘mystery’

                        One

                                that really addresses my need..

                          -It is all in how I ask the question.-

Mark 10
¹⁷ As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

changing levels

If you've been thinking you're all that you've got,
Then don't feel alone anymore.
When we're together, then you've got alot,
'Cause I am the river and you are the shore.

(Watching The River Run’ from the 1973 album ‘Full Sail’ by Loggins and Messina)

The morning ‘runs’ have been awesome, with this ‘hiatus’ bitter winter has taken.

Clear roads..

        Sure footing

You can let your mind wander a bit..

                Without the fear of slipping, breaking your ‘fanny’ in a fall.

-It is in the 30s..the sun is still low in the horizon to the south east..

    just breaking the hillside.

                 Running a winding downhill on ‘Quarry Street’..

                       past the cemetery..(the ole reality yard)

                                      and onto a bridge.-

The stream was moving fast..like spring thaw.

     The sound of rushing water lured me over to the side, to check it out.

                You know what it’s like.

   Kind of knowing what you are going to see,

    but then…

             your senses pop with ‘wow’ when you actually try to take it all in,

                                  all its ‘Life’

 its ever changing shape and activity that is all part of

                                                 The waterfall. 

       

And I am taking a moment..

       to stop above this aquatic cliff to ravine.

                                        Watching the free falling torrent drop 20 feet

        And crash into itself again,

                          in this …

                                         dramatic change of ‘levels’.

Teamed with activity…motion..

    It’s easy to focus on the mainstream…the Body..

It is loud..

             ambitious..

                         man, it is really dancing with movement!

         But as I turned my focus away from it…just a little to the right

      And on the sidelines.

                     I was captured.

 

      Like a witness..

          Glistening in the morning sun..

                                  reflecting an absolutely gorgeous prismatic buffet of color.

The supports of the bridge were encased with ice.

   Water that had been cast beyond its banks..

                Some by the aeration of the fall

Some by the impact, as the main body recollected at a lower level.

It was left to freeze against the concrete pilings which flanked this outpouring.

        It is another station along the Way-

                          In the stream of changing levels.

Seeing this brings many thoughts, as you can see,

  And once you begin to pursue God, you will find He is still teaching,

    Everywhere

                   if you are willing to listen.

 He will speak in illustration and metaphor, and you will see, how it becomes so personal…

        Relationship.

When you feel like you have been cast aside..

          Left frozen clinging to the pilings as you watch the rest of the body move on…

   

                                   you have not.

        John 14

¹⁸ I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

                        You have not been cast aside…

Romans 8

³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

But await as a beautiful witness…for just long enough..

                                 possibly for this runner to behold your beauty.

Yes,

though we at times seem to make it all about a roaring stream

     it may be just because there a lot of people are talking..

                        maybe too many…

1 Corinthians 13

¹ If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

        have forgotten the beauty in listening-

Luke10

       ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.

Listening…

         might not initially get your attention,

       

                             but once it does

                      how the sun brings so many more colors from you,

    as His reflection.

⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one.^[f] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

               

Pro life

‘for you baby I would, swim the sea
nothin' I'd do for you that's too, tough for me
I'd put out a burnin' building with a, shovel and dirt
and not even worry about, getting hurt’

(‘Tuff Enough’ by The Fabulous Thunderbirds from the 1986 album ‘Tuff Enough’)

Are you pro life?

        Not yours…but somebody else’s?

Knowing of pending doom, while standing at ground zero…

                                     The moment of making that one tough decision-

                                           That it is not all about you.

        Yeah..like you running across a street

                                                toward a burning building.

        You may not have enough time to get your kickstand down, and have to let the Harley fall

                                                Because ‘lives’ are at stake.

       Yes..even that of the arsonist leaving ‘the scene’.

While we tend to call it being ‘heroic’…

            A martyr

                                   Insane

                Pursuing God, I consider it more to be

                                        ‘the purpose driven life.’

   John 13 vs 27-31

²⁷ As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
   So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” ²⁸ But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. ²⁹ Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. ³⁰ As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

Here, Jesus allows the match to touch the fuse..

                                         He depressed the detonator..

                                                    and the numbers began their descending order toward

                                          ‘ignition’

                       

We have Hollywood films of the resurrected Jesus…

                  

                                                              Artist’s impressions

         Our imagination.

    But..

                We were not there

 when tearful eyes beheld the Glory which is Gods only.

                           His Son..

                                        Victorious.

We have faith, but…

                James 2

            ²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Today

               

 there are lives running from ‘room to room’ in a ‘burning building’..   

                              Someone trapped in an ‘auto wreck’..

Luke 10

²⁷ He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’^[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[d]”
   ²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

 ²⁹ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

                       

                         the suffering…

                         the lonely.

                         The hopeless

                         the selfish..      

                         the devious…

                         the diabolical.

                                       

 ³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
 ³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
   Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

                                  All

                                        about you.

                                                         He alone can continue to rescue those perishing

                                        Within each of them.

Tough enough?

 Maybe

 Ephesians 6

The Armor of God

 ¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

                        to choose to turn your attention from a burning fuse…

a depressed detonator..

                                to ‘the occupants’ of the ‘room’

   so that He can save those that have been put before you..

                                                                        everywhere you go?

Romans 12

A Living Sacrifice

 ¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Praise God

        In Him to die is to be ‘pro life’

                       In Him you are

                                       ‘tough enough’