Womb-Leaping Friends

That's what I call those whose deep calls to my deep...and whose heart kindles my heart. Remember when John the Baptist leapt for joy in his mother's womb as she neared her pregnant cousin Mary? Her baby's molecules sparked and his tiny soul spontaneously combusted in the presence of the embryonic Christ.

I wait for those moments in life. Moments when I can sense the sacred in another soul, or when I intuitively know their spirit has felt what mine has felt in the presence of the Lord.

This flesh-weary world insists intimacy is born skin-to-skin, but that's not what I believe. True intimacy is not born of blood, flesh or bone; true intimacy is born of the spirit. Just like the friendship between David and Jonathan, of whom the Bible says:

"the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him
as his own soul... " (I Samuel 18)

 I think that is what human beings are craving in 2013. To know and be known. To love and be loved. This generation swoons to the nagging drumbeat of sexuality, but I don't think that's what people are really craving. I think people are crazily searching for intimacy...union and communion first with God,
and then with each other.

Fifty Shades of Grey can never satisfy a human being as much as one ray of light.

There is a beautiful line in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, when Jane says to Mr. Rochester:

"It is my spirit that addresses your spirit, just as if we had passed through the grave and now stood at God's Feet...as we are."

This is the kind of romance we have desired. This is the kind of friendship we have craved. But the flesh can't buy it. The will can't force it. The mind can't think it into reality. The emotions can't feel it into being. This is the love of the spirit, and it is given by God to those who love Him.

I Hate The Word Control

I cringe when I see the Animal Control van. I shudder when I hear the term birth control...quality control...gun control...pest control...population control. I don't even like the thought of control-top pantyhose. I flinch when I hear someone say, "God is in control." Aaaaaaargh! Why does that word pack such a punch? I looked it up in the dictionary, and it literally means:
TO EXERCISE AUTHORITATIVE OR DOMINATING INFLUENCE OVER...

TO HOLD IN RESTRAINT 

No wonder I hate that word. To a kid who grew up with a controlling parent, that word summons up fear, frustration, rebellion and rage. That's why I never wanted religion. It seemed like just another word for control. And I'd certainly had enough of that. I've been running all my life from anything that might try to conform, de-form or reform me into something I am not.

Remember Ralphie in A Christmas Story? His mother made him wear the bunny suit his aunt made for him. I so related to that little kid who felt angry and helpless because he was forced to do something to please someone else. Isn't that the common denominator of all religions?
We gotta amend, attend, blend and pretend?
May it never be.

That's why I love Jesus. 

He is the Anti-Controller. 

The One who opens His Hand and says, "Your move." 

The One who gently closes my self-help book and says, 

"Come to me, little self, and I will give you rest."

He doesn't wield authoritative influence over me. He sings over me.

He doesn't dominate me. He delights in me.

He doesn't restrain me. He resurrects me. 

Jesus says, "This world will try to control you. Friends will try to control you. Media will try to control you. Religion will try to control you. Family will try to control you...and you will try to control yourself. But be of good courage, for I have overcome control. My Spirit will give you self-control, because My Banner over you is Love."

And that is the good news, my friends.

SEMPER GUMBY (Always Flexible!)

A Microphone for Nobodies

I love the Internet.

Now that seems like a strange thing for a Christian to say,

since the Internet abounds with anarchy, confusion and the peddling of human flesh.

But it's also overflowing with PASSION, and the dictionary

defines that word as: "a powerful emotion...ardent love...boundless enthusiasm."

Where can we find those things in today's world?

We long for passion, but we find it not. We can hardly find it within ourselves,

because our human voices have been silenced by the Cult of Fame.

And that's why I love the Internet. I love the Internet because it gives a microphone to nobodies.

The Internet has returned to common people their God-given VOICE.

You don't have to be Celine Dion to sing on YouTube.

You don't have to be Robert Frost to read your poems online.

You don't have to be Fred Astaire to have millions watch your little dance.

You don't have to be famous. You don't have to be beautiful. You don't have to be handsome.

You don't have to have a recording contract. You don't have to have a publisher.

You don't have to be a pro.

But you do have to have passion.

Society has had enough air-brushed emotion. It's been overfed canned pleasure...but it loves passion.

And when you see a street performer with two teeth and a tear in his eye...you hear passion.

When you see a kid doing some ultra-weird dance in an airport...you see passion.

When you see ordinary people singing the Hallelujah Chorus in a crowded mall...you feel passion.

I think Jesus loves the Internet, because He was, is and forevermore will be...a Man of Passion.

He'd rather hear a passionate man sing out-of-tune
than hear a professional with perfect pitch and no heart.

He'd rather see a passionate cripple waltz in her wheelchair than watch a bored ballerina twirl.

So, fellow nobodies, let us unite in cyber-space.
Let us sing, write, dance, shout, leap and release the passion that is within us. 

The God Who made you LOVES your voice.
The God Who made you LOVES how you express His gift of life.

Gift From The Galilean

In 1983, something happened to me. 

I was given HOPE.  

I didn't pay for it, open my chakra to receive it, earn it, attune myself to a higher frequency, 

say affirmations, read the right book, eat the right food, wear the right color, 

go to the right church, listen to the right teaching or follow the right leader. 

Nope. I did...nothing. 

Oh.

Except for one thing.

I admitted I was dead.

 Tired, discouraged, bitter, betrayed, hopeless, unbelieving, unloved and unloving. But mostly tired.

That's all I had to offer.

So what did I have to lose?

May as well try Jesus. I had tried everything else.

So I came to Him lifeless.

And He came to me alive.

The next day...I awoke to a new world. 

Colors were brilliant.

The air was sweeter.

The light was brighter.

The ground hummed.

The dawn whispered.

Hope was no longer a stranger.

Hope was now a companion.

The gift of the pale Galilean.

Hope.

Resurrection is not religion.

Resurrection is not dogma.

Resurrection is not morality.

Resurrection is not theology.

Resurrection is hope.

And that is what Easter means to me.

HOPE.

Remembering My First Love

I remember Easter as a child...lusting for chocolate bunnies and white dresses with pink satin sashes. My eyes and ears and mouth longed for Sunday's earthly delights. A holy day for pastel gluttony! But then I grew up, and took on the cynicism of adolescence. Candy and bunnies and baked hams and church programs fascinated me no longer as I became an overfed and bored adult. 

But 29 years ago, my spirit awakened to Resurrection. As the stone rolled away from the grave of my heart, I could see color again! I could smell hope! The very air seemed seemed to throb with joy. Easter became ALIVE as I became alive, and my spirit said "YES" for the very first time. 

But, as the years went by, my joy began to dwindle. Disappointments, dogma and deferred hope began to roll the stone back over the tomb. The bells of Easter were replaced by the burdens of religion. My heart stopped celebrating, and the earth stopped singing. 

As Rich Mullins said so beautifully: 

"...the stuff of Earth competes 

For the allegiance 

I owe only to the Giver 

Of all good things..."

The stuff of earth is a dangerous drug, my friends. It can make you forget your First Love. But I am being born again...again. The voice of the Father is calling to me, saying, "Arise, My Beloved, and come away. Return to Me, your first Love...and do the things you did at first. You have walked through the darkness of human Law...now come forth into the reality of divine Grace."

May you return to your First Love this year, my friends. Put aside the boots of the flesh, and put on the dancing shoes of the Spirit. The world doesn't want what we KNOW...it wants what we LOVE. The world doesn't want another PROGRAM...it wants the PEALING of Easter bells! It doesn't want MORALITY...it wants MESSIAH! It doesn't want LAW...it wants LIGHT. It doesn't want RELIGION...it wants REJOICING.

And so do I...And so do I...