Still Alive

To all my friends out there, don't give up on me. I'm still alive and have just been in a season where I have not felt like writing much. God has been stirring some things in me, and I have felt like posting anything would simply be to put some words on my page because I should.

I'll be back soon, so please keep checking in.

Blessings,
Gary

The "Everywhereness" of God

At the encouragement of my pastor and friend, David McLean, I began reading a new book last night, God Is Closer Than You Think by John Ortberg. I've only read one chapter thus far, but I'm already encouraged by it. Ortberg's message in this book fits in nicely, in divine-timely fashion, with what God has been doing in my own heart and life lately concerning intimacy with Him.

Here is one quotation from the book that was simple refreshment to my soul:

"He talks through burning bushes and braying donkeys; he sends messages through storms and rainbows and earthquakes and dreams, he whispers in a still small voice. He speaks (in the words of Garrison Keillor) in 'ordinary things like cooking and small talk, through storytelling, making love, fishing, tending animals and sweet corn and flowers, through sports, music, and books, raising kids--all the places where the gravy soaks in and grace shines through.'"

Today, remember that there are NO ordinary moments!!! Father, open the eyes of our hearts to see You.

To My Fellow "Dwellers on the Threshold"

I've been a big Van Morrison fan for quite a while now, and over the last few years my love for his songwriting has grown tremendously. There is a deep spiritual-questing that comes through in his verse. Nobody writes, or sings for that matter, like "Van the Man." Below is my favorite song, "Dweller on the Threshold," not just my favorite Morrison song but all-time favorite song. Other songs and artists come and go; however, this one keeps coming to the forefront for me. Read the words, but make sure and track down a copy so that you can hear it.

I'm a dweller on the threshold
And I'm waiting at the door
And I'm standing in the darkness
I don't want to wait no more

I have seen without perceiving
I have been another man
Let me pierce the realm of glamour
So I know just what I am

I'm a dweller on the threshold
And I'm waiting at the door
And I'm standing in the darkness
I don't want to wait no more

Feel the angel of the present
In the mighty crystal fire
Lift me up consume my darkness
Let me travel even higher

I'm a dweller on the threshold
As I cross the burning ground
Let me go down to the water
Watch the great illusion drown

I'm a dweller on the threshold
And I'm waiting at the door
And I'm standing in the darkness
I don't want to wait no more

I'm gonna turn and face the music
The music of the spheres
Lift me up consume my darkness
When the midnight disappears

I will walk out of the darkness
And I'll walk into the light
And I'll sing the song of ages
And the dawn will end the night

I'm a dweller on the threshold
And I'm waiting at the door
And I'm standing in the darkness
I don't want to wait no more

I'm a dweller on the threshold
And I cross some burning ground
And I'll go down to the water
Let the great illusion drown

I'm a dweller on the threshold
And I'm waiting at the door
And I'm standing in the darkness
I don't want to wait no more

I'm a dweller on the threshold
Dweller on the threshold
I'm a dweller on the threshold

Good Tales

"Tales of Resurrection"

I read a story of resurrection
A tale of life from death
Death disrobed like a towel
On a cold stone floor
After a warm bath
In the living water of the Son
Baptized, Cleansed, Raised to walk
As a new man who has been claimed

I live a story of resurrection
A journey of peaks and dales
Formed from the shedding of dried bones
Of death exchanged for breath
Breathed into my nostrils by the Wind of Life
-GMM Jr

I am currently reading a very encouraging, gritty book entitled Save Me From Myself: How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story by Brian "Head" Welch. Welch is a former guitarist with the heavy metal band Korn, and this book is his testimony of salvation and transformation through Jesus. When I read things like this, I find myself so encouraged to remember how God broke into my life almost 15 years ago.

Another good read, along the same lines, is The Virgin of Bennington by Kathleen Norris. Be forewarned; neither one of these books are light, family-friendly stories, but they are incredible tales of how God, in His radical grace, reaches into the darkest lives and brings light.

Man, it is so easy to forget the chains that once bound us and the love that blazed in and set us free. Praise be to God alone, and thanks to Welch and Norris for sharing their stories that help me to remember.

Whose News?

I penned the following poem this morning while having my "early morning, pre-children-waking retreat" on the back deck. While working on a much more serious poem, which may or may not show up here in the near future, this one just began to flow. Hope it makes you chuckle, and think. Blessings!

"What's important?"

They try to tell me
"We've got the news;
Listen up or you're out;
Let us shape your views."

Lindsey's back in rehab
Paris is out of jail
Usher, did he get married?
Tom and Katy, doing well?

Brangelina, they're acceptable
Bonds, swing away!
Pacman's gonna wrestle
Vick will have his day

"You'd better pay attention!"
While the world goes to hell
No, I will not; I rebel against it
Your news you're trying to sell

The "News" is before us
No ordinary moments in the day
Reject the mundane, live the mystery
What's the Father got to say?

Here it in the whisper
See it in a friend
What's that? What did He say?
It's what matters, in the end

Real news is found in moments
Ones we call "mundane"
They run around before us
Easily slip slidin' away

Yahoo! page before my eyes
World of celebrity
Lives lived as if they're weighty
Truly vapor, VANITY

Me, I'm pullin' back, clearin' out
News that's fit to hear
Doesn't flow from the cultural shout
It's Father's heart to listening ear

Father, speak, yell, whisper
Grace me with Your news
Spoken to my soul this day
It's You before Yahoo!

Serious Times

Last night, I read a few things that really stirred me.

First, from James Emery White's book Serious Times: Making Your Life Matter in an Urgent Day:

"Serious times met with serious lives. This is the anvil on which history is forged. More important, it is the means by which the kingdom of God is advanced and the life of the Christ follower measured."

Next, in his book The Callings: The Gospel in the World, Paul Helm states,

"According to Scripture the whole of a person's life is fundamentally serious, something for which he is responsible before God, and for which he will have to give an account (Romans 14:12). It is easy, in the modern world, to caricature such a view, to suggest that it means that Christians are to be long-faced and should emphasize individual responsibility before God to the point of neurosis. But to say that the Christian life is fundamentally serious does not mean that it is gloomy or morose. The Christian ought to be aware that he lives his life, the whole of it, before God and that he is individually responsible to God for what he 'makes' of it."

Before I picked up these books, for the last several days, God had already been stirring in my heart a deep desire to be more fully committed to His purposes, with His power and fueled by His passion. Actually, I picked up each of these books in response to that stirring. In the past, I have tended to read much but not well. One of the things that I am learning in my relationship with the Lord is to read what, when and how He wants me to read.

I really, really want to live a life that counts for eternity, but there is a growing awareness in my life that any impact must flow out of intimacy. And, I did not study myself into this awareness as I have tried to in the past; it was God-given. I am amazed at how much God desires this intimacy with us, and to be with Him is my greatest longing and need.

Paul was certainly a man who met serious times with a serious life. One passage, from Paul's first letter to the Corinthian church, that I've been reflecting on, reads as follows:

"For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because an obligation is placed on me. And woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!...For although I am free from all people, I have made myself a slave to all, in order to win more people...I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some...Do you not know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win...Therefore I do not run like one who runs aimlessly, or box like one who beats the air." Paul was a committed, serious, passionate follower, but where did that come from?

In the third chapter of his epistle to the Philippians he lets us in on the secret, knowing Christ. He writes, "My goal is to know (Jesus) and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings." In this text, that word "know" is a cool word. The Greek word used here (ginosko; actually used some times for sexual intercourse between a man and woman) is not just talking about facts (there is another word for that), simply knowing some things about Jesus; it is a word that connotes experiencing, feeling, a heart-level-down-in-the-bones kind of knowing. Is it important to believe certain facts about Jesus? Yes! It's essential. But stopping there want give me, or you, the passion to lay our lives down "so that (we) may by all means save some."

I want to know Him. Then, I can live in the joy of making Him known. God, we need to know You!!!

Choose Joy

We can choose joy, in every circumstance, because God is there. Our joy is not determined by what is going on but by who is with us. Emmanuel - "God with us" - one of the names of Jesus, is not just a nice Christmas-time label; it is the Father proclaiming "I am with you." It's all about relationship. All of it. You may have heard people say that Christianity is not a religion; it's a relationship. Bingo!

At its very core, being a Christian is about being loved by, loving, knowing, following and sharing Jesus. It's not, at its root, about self-driven effort: doing enough for God, performing to a certain level of obedience, or being a good person. Does God desire for us to do good things for Him? Absolutely! But He wants to be the goal and fuel of those works. Does God want us to obey? You betcha! Jesus even said it; "If you love me you will obey me" (John 14:15). Our love for and true obedience of Jesus are inextricably bound together, but our obedience flows out of His empowering grace. It is not to earn it. Does God desire us to be good people? Yes, but there is a bit of a quandary here. The Apostle Paul wrote, "There is no one who does good, not even one" (Romans 3:12). Ouch! What can we do?

The answer is receive! If you are reading this and you're a follower of Jesus; the call is still to receive. His power, His grace, His love. If you are not currently a follower of Jesus, same thing: receive Him, a person. All that He desires from us, He longs to put into us. Then we can walk with and live for Him in joy. Choose joy. Choose Jesus.