Keeping Simple Faith Simple

"Keep Simple Faith Simple," and the cry in response--a resounding all in agreement--Yeah right! At least that's what you thought while your mouth shouted, "Amen!" in response to the preacher.

Yeah, me too. A lot of the things I write on this blog are the things we're all already thinking but never tell anyone. You know, those things we tuck away in our psyche's dusty basement. We all know they're there, and prefer it stay that way. 

We think about them nearly every day and swear to ourselves we're really going to get down there and at least dust things off, but we're just so darn busy keeping up our facades of respectfulness--it's just so damn tiring. If we all knew that we all know, (and it's not just me) we could have the world's largest party and bonfire. 

How do I know it's true? I can see all your heads bobbing up and down as you read.

Jesus said to keep it simple-

Mark this:Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." Mark 10:15 (Message)

I'm sure the people there to hear Jesus speak those words shouted Amen too.

So what's a guy/girl to do? I have no answer short of try. So how do I try?

We have to let God do as much of the assembly and ordering of our lives as possible.

It's a matter of shoving that crazy pile of life's Legos over to Him and saying, "I hope you can do something with that. I haven't been able to make much sense of all those parts YOU GAVE ME, and You could have at least sent a picture along of what it should look like when it's done."

And then He'll nod, grin and say, "I was wondering when you'd finally let me play."

I could of made this post(but I didn't) all about how complicated we make faith, with a billion churches, and more websites; all telling us what it should look like and how messed up the world will be until we can figure out how to put that complicated mess together. If we will 'simply' order their CD DVD Book or Podcast sermon series, all will be right with our world. That's all I'll say on that.

But then there's our own head/heart to contend with; it pulls us a hundred different directions trying to get that ONE PIECE that will finally fit correctly. If we would cut it all back and downsize, yes I said DOWNSIZE our faith to the mustard seed Jesus talked about, then we just might feel that fresh wind of joy that a child knows.

There's no drug or possession quite like little-kid-happy. They trust perfectly what Mommy or Daddy says, at least until their early teens. If we have a hard time squeezing into those little clothes and shoes, let's drench ourselves in the truths of God's word and the simplicity that is not really hidden.

Acts 2:46 (NKJV)

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.

2 Corinthians 11:3 (NKJV)

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

A saying I first heard in Alcoholics Anonymous many years ago still rings in my head:

K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid, which I am until I learn to let the Driver drive.

Wrestling for Control

I first heard the saying, “Let go and let God,” in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

That saying strikes a chord within each of us because of a trait/problem universal to each of our lives, and not just alcoholics. As human beings we have the hardest time letting God be who He is and do what he wants.

Given half a chance to think about it, our heads surely must bob up and down in agreement, like a parrot performing for a treat. 

Moses stood at the head of 1.5 million people he was leading out of slavery; he came to an impassable river with an enemy army in hot pursuit and God told him to stand still and see what God would do. Yeah right was probably Moses first thought.

Would we all agree that the lot of our predicaments, troubles and issues lie partially or at most wholly rooted in our struggle with God for dominance and control. Believe Him or not. We need to let go and let God, or let God be God.

Regardless of what we choose to believe, God is God, for how could we finite(though eternal) beings influence who or what He is? There are a million, no make that near limitless different forms that humans choose to make of God or god and each of us believe that our way is THE WAY to see God and everyone else is mistaken. Ludicrous. No matter who you are.

Who is it that gets the final say on who God is? God. 

So how can we mere mortals put the brakes on our fight for supremacy? God knows, he has been unable to stop us.

It comes down to choice.

We can choose to refuse bitterness when life turns south on us.

We can choose NOT to reject those that refuse to play to the role we have mentally or emotional cast them in. Three cheers here for husbands, wives and parents. The bible calls husbands to love their wives, wives to honor their husbands and all of us to honor our parents good or bad.

By trying to force our spouse, parent or friend to conform to our ideal—or else—puts us in the role of a god or at least telling God his business. Whether you believe the bible or not doesn’t change who God is one wit.

Has life dealt you a bitter hand? Would you sour it even further by raging against the God who made you.

Let’s give God the same freedom we desire for ourselves and allow him to function as the Supreme Being that he is. You and I both know life would taste sweeter and the load grow lighter if we did.

Peace.

The Closer You Get...

I was driving through a 'mountain' range north into the Central Valley of California when my wife commented on the beauty of the distant mountains. Now, I included MOUNTAIN in quotes because I wanted no one to get the idea that these were the heavily forested snow-capped peaks that would automatically be brought to mind. After all, this is Southern California coastal sage and scrub, the technical term for 'little bushes and rocks'.

But, it did look pretty from a distance. It appeared green as a golf course and blankety smooth, if you looked farther than several hundred yards from the roadway that is. Any closer and all you would see is the little bushes and rocks.

I commented to her, in my often dystopian view, that if you climbed to the top it would all look the same as the sparse dry edge of the highway. Of course, as is my way I commented further. I expressed my opinion that most things in life are this way.

Look at the produce in the grocery store, from two aisles over and what you would see is bright colors, plump and shiny pieces of fruit and your mouth would begin to water. But, roll your cart over to get some and then you see every bruise on the over-ripe bananas, the wilted greens and rotten apples.

To now draw some judgements about peoples looks, just for the sake of this article of course, we've all had the following experience whether you're a boy or a girl- You're out walking, driving or riding a bike and from a distance you see a very attractive person, but as you get closer you realize that is not the case at all and far from it. Your mind got very very creative with the minimal information at its disposal.

On people you meet and eventually become acquainted with, at first you think to yourself, "Now here's a real together person." Roll forward a few days, months or years, and you will have wished you fled in terror or are now comforted that they are just about as messed up as yourself (of course I'm speaking of MYself).

Le's drill down deep now and look inward at the events that have made up our lives. Often when we look back it can look very beautiful or so bleak you want to end it all now. But while you were in it, it didn't look as beautiful or bleak as you remember. 

That vacation from hell you took with the kids, while it was happening you were looking for a steep and craggy cliff from which to toss them from. Roll forward some years and you all sit around laughing about it as if it was better than Disneyland. (This really happened for me)

So, you say, "How in God's name is this supposed to help me? Did I just waste 10 minutes of my time reading 500 words when I could have found out how the Kardashian family is doing in a lot less?"

Hold on for just a few more words.

If we would arm ourselves with this knowledge in advance, we could free ourselves from much grief and disappointment. We would be free to pursue relationships with much less than perfect people. The huge expectations we put on family could be minimized and make for much more harmonious holidays.

There are at least 101 more applications to make a more pleasant life for ourselves and others.

Just sayin'.

Universal Aggression

The title isn't meant to suggest that all things are aggressive or actively engaged in hostile acts against you. Albeit, somedays it sure can seem like they are. And, after that attempt at humor, which I thought funny in an ironic sort of way, I'm going to make for the long pass and go deep, perhaps even off the deep end.

On a notion of the universe conspiring against us, I may not be far from the truth. No matter how troubled, how calm, how perfect or dysfunctional our lives may be, each of us have had at least one moment that lashed out at us with its terrible biting teeth. You're thinking of it even now as I type.

Lucky few of us made it into our teen years without at least one event striking deep at our soul. Even if we were not old enough to understand at the time, we knew it hurt, and lucky we were if we didn't know how much so at the time.

This shattered and broken universe's agenda is to take you out and down never to rise again. The Maker of the universe, as it would have been without our meddling, He allowed for such pain, even counted it into His design, not the pain, but the healing. 

No matter how tempted I may be, I am not about to embark on a big religious treatise to define what that all means. I don't have to; if you're alive, you most likely have enough experience to either nod in agreement or stop reading and delete me from all social connections...

BUT, I believe it is the Maker's wish that, in some way, through our pain, rejection and heart-wrenching sorrow we would be made into what we were designed to become.

Go-along with the process and it works, sometimes quickly, but more often maddeningly slow.

Fight against it, and life gets all twisted into ever more complicated and painful knots.

Ultimately, the battle is ours to fight, and the choice of outcome is ours. He will not leave us alone and twisting in the wind.

Peace,

Mike

No More Mister Nice Guy

Well, here we go.

I just finished the last major edit of my first novel, No More Mister Nice Guy. It's now sitting in the cooler waiting for the dough to rise before I take it out for one more read and give the manuscript to someone else to read and edit. It sits at 72,000 words which is sure to change once stupid stuff is removed.

The plan is to release September 11 as an Ebook on Amazon B&N Kobo etc.

(My disclaimer to the low quality graphic. The image is something I threw together on my phone, can you believe the technology available. I used two apps After photo and Over.)

I believe  with all my heart that God  wanted me to pen this story, and when my doubts arose, He would remind me in some rather profound ways including, but not limited to:

Predicting my cancer and healing. The story had already been written but was not fleshed out and polished until now. In 2011 I was diagnosed and spent the next year in treatment and healing from treatment.

His voice speaking and confirming  this as a mission in conference settings and more.

My prayer, armed with the knowledge of the  gift God gave me, has been to write at least 5 books before I 'Go Home.' That prayer is based on,

Psalms 37:3-5 (NKJV)

Trust in the Lord, and do good;

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

 Delight yourself also in the Lord,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

 Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him,

And He shall bring it to pass.

I can be very wordy, so as I chomp at the bit wanting to add to what I've already said, I'll sign off.

Peace and Grace to you,

Mike

I AM

I long to know YOU as YOU are,

Without my added twisting skew,

To see YOU not with eyes alone,

Nor even hear the slightest tone.

Closer than to flesh and blood.

Deep within my secret keep,

Nearer than my soul can sing,

Nothing in this world does ring,

Alas for now my broken heart,

Be still and know--that I AM

Our Last Great Battle

I stand in awe of Christ in God,

My jaw hangs down,

with mighty wonder,

At our future with, for and in,

More than heaven,

More than bliss,

But joining in one Last Great Battle

Led into by our conquering King.

Holy Battle where only WE Win,

All Glory Goes to our Captain of Hosts.

Finally end in eternal rest, 

Living on in HIS fellowship.

#Rev19:14 #Rev20:4 #Rev21:6-ItisDone

Ode to Psalm 91

More than help,

I need Your Presence,

More than healing, help or money,

I need Your loving touch,

More than YOU to DO,

I need You more to BE,

Closer by today, much more than yesterday.

          -an Ode to Psalm 91 (see text below image)

Psalms 91

Safety of Abiding in the Presence of God

 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

 I will say of the Lord, “ He is my refuge and my fortress;

My God, in Him I will trust.”

 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler

And from the perilous pestilence.

 He shall cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you shall take refuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,

Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,

Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

 A thousand may fall at your side,

And ten thousand at your right hand;

But it shall not come near you.

 Only with your eyes shall you look,

And see the reward of the wicked.

 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,

Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

 No evil shall befall you,

Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

 For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

 In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,

The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;

I will set him on high, because he has known My name.

 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will deliver him and honor him.

 With long life I will satisfy him,

And show him My salvation.”

Stumbling After Holiness

In the Race, 

described as the race for the Prize, oftimes I run, sometimes crawl, and often stumble. Along the way I am distracted by myriad temptations/distractions of this modern world. Modern though is just an excuse, for when I read books of the great men of past centuries, I find that they were just mere men and found the world a busy tempting place.

It may be a race for the Prize which is Christ's final upward call, but while I am here it is a race for Holiness. Not to be more holy than the next guy, as if he was my competitor, but to come as close to the bar set by Christ as possible. It woud be the Guiness World Record understatement to say that's a very high bar indeed.

Sidebar- I am afraid that every time I mention or write on holiness, and the word HOLINESS is heard and or viewed in regard to ones own attitude or behavior; it's as if I pulled a live rattlesnake from an old stained burlap sack and asked you to handle it.

"There now that's off my chest, I feel better."

Holiness is not measured by a necktie-charcoal-suit, bun in my hair, dress down to my ankles, and other severe and ancient grooming attributes, but by a heart set apart for Christ in God which on the way does result in the much more important attributes of love, mercy and justice.

The picture I would like to draw is of a man running for all he is worth and stumbling forward. 

Have you ever ran so fast you lost your feet under you and were afraid to put the brakes on lest you end in a disastrous and wounded heap?

That's the picture I have of my run. An arms flailing, amateurish, wobbling and floundering run, sweating the next hurdle and trusting Christ for all I am worth. 

I will not stop no matter what, and if I do happen to fall, I will not lay there and moan and grieve over my failure, I'll put a couple of Band-Aids on, add a stitch or two and a splint if need be, then I'll dust myself off and get back at it.

That's what I believe holiness to be.

Seer or Sightseer

Do you see or do you sightsee?

Sightseer usually conjures up a vision of 'older' folks in mismatched shorts with horrid black socks and binoculars strung about their neck, unless that's you of course.

Placemark that view and now think of truth seekers, some who want know truth and some to merely consume it. There is a difference. 

Unaware of a monumental loss of spiritual satisfaction the masses satiate themselves with collecting sayings, scriptures and thoughts chock full of life-changing truth and store it away shelved in Tweets, Posts and Shares(not a bad thing in itself). And, in our info-saturated society, the collected truth that felt so good to the eyes and ears got strangled on its way to the heart where it belonged.

Truth has a purpose, to change, to build, to divert us from error. It was never meant for sightseeing.

The vacationing sightseer spends his money and time to behold the sights, but usually never partakes, never actually lives in that wilderness or city with the local inhabitants. That is why so many economies have ended up built on tourism, so too many churches unknowingly rely on spiritual tourism. The best music and programs are searched out, and 'the tourist' ends up hopping away to the BEST church.

Instead of mere seeing alone we need to be knowing. 

I once puzzled over the scripture, Matthew 13:13-but I guess that's how i came to finally understand.

Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

 Jesus spoke in parables so they wouldn't just listen to nice truth and feel better about themselves, but so their heart would digest it and it would explode deep in their soul. POW! "That's what 'that' meant," and leave an eternally changed being.

In John 12:20-26 some Greeks wanted to see Jesus, and the words they used were simple,

"Sir, we wish to see Jesus." 

Not a big deal in our language but the Greek word chosen for see, ειδω eido, meant they wanted to know deeply. They had heard about Jesus, had come to worship and know the Messiah,  and they wanted not just head knowedge and a handshake, they wanted to KNOW Jesus.

Jesus response explains it all, he didn't say, "Well come on in, how are ya'?" He said,

John 12:24-26

"Listen carefully:Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal.

" If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you'll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment's notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me.

So, if you want to know the truth fully, you must give yourself to it, move into it, no more sightseeing. If you try to just know it, consume it and tweet it without living it, it will rot like Manna on the ground and literally make you sick and destroy your life. But if you give your whole life to it, it will take up residence in your soul and give you the real life you're craving for. Jesus used the word ZOE for  that life which is the real life that everyone knows they want, but try myriads of ways to get ( spiritual consumerism). 

Put down the binoculars and trade those ugly black socks and your office shoes in for some more appropriate and pleasing footwear. Walk off into the city of truth, live and love its people. Plant yourself in that wilderness of truth instead of observe and photograph. Pitch your tent and start your fire.

Then the life you truly want will flood your soul.

Yet Pray!

Do you pray impossible prayers?

That without God's intervening Grace

All will go ignored?

Yet Pray!

Pray the prayer that's easy done?

Stay at home, He will not come.

Yet Pray!

You can't conceive the answer come?

All is useless shouting sky!

Yet Pray!

I've asked for years, so does He hear?

He asks us this, What is a year?

Yet Pray!

For would you could,

That He respond,

In a week, a month or year?

Yet Pray!

God needs not us, but we need Him.

If He were starved, He'd not let us.

Yet Pray!