Even the rocks cry out.

11 . 26 . 11

I took a beach walk today... It’s been a while since the last (relatively speaking i guess, maybe a week or so.. ha).

I found as I walked my eyes were stuck in a trance as though I was hovering above observing in great detail the uniqueness of the patterns on each and every rock.

There’s a verse - I have since the end of my walk found out - in Luke 19 where jesus tells us that even the rocks cry out in worship to their creator. A handful of other places in the psalms too... :)

Although at the time I didn’t know the exact verse, somewhere buried were the words of Jesus, and as I walked I sunk into my own form of worship in the recognition of their worship. My spirit and heart repeating 'even the rocks cry out' as I walked...

I took some pics of these eye stares and posted em below... :)

When I got back, I wanted to find the exact verse so I jumped on my computer and typed ‘even the rocks cry out’ in the searchbar... Anyway, a girls blog popped up where she had written of a similar experience she had.. very different too though.

She had recently read an article that shared a new finding in the studies of our sun which said that it was found to be vibrating, making noise which is unrecognizable to the human ear, but it’s there... ‘crying out’ she says in worship. Nuts...

Well... we know that all matter vibrates - has a fundamental frequency - and we know this as “sound”. Planck’s constant shows us the relation between energy and frequency and explains, rather makes sense of this phenomena... check it out if interested. These vibrations are in all things gas, liquid, solid... everything. Just because we can’t hear it’s frequency, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, in fact it’s crazy to imagine different layers of frequency communicated and received all across the globe.. the universe. Watch the planet earth on jungles sometime, you’ll learn that everything that calls the jungle home, they all communicate on different frequency levels, essentially dismissing or not being capable of understanding other surrounding communication. We all worship...

She was taken by the frequency... the sound they make.

On my walk today I was taken by their beauty and uniqueness of each rock, all telling a very different story... designs my mind couldn’t possibly come up with on it’s own, are there in droves at my feet to enjoy and stare at, soaking in worship at their creation, their creator... glory.

All encompassing, thinking of all creation as a whole (galaxies, suns, moons, trees, water fresh and salt, life on land, in air, and in water... all unique.. rocks, flowers, bees, leaves... photons, dna, corneas, electrons, stem cells... EVERYTHING), I can see how a person - with no faith - might be driven to insanity having no outlet for worship. My spirit and heart repeating 'even the rocks cry out' as I walked...

Encouragement today is this... find time to worship in the little things... dip your heart in the word of truth so that little nuggets of goodness might drip on the path of the mundane, bringing worship.

Even the rocks cry out...

*** PS... After writing, I found this and was grateful... pleeease take 10 minutes and watch this beautiful video.. you won't regret it ***

Farewell, for now.

11 . 20 . 11

I won't be posting any more blog updates on facebook... if you want to receive them via email, just type it in the box to the right :)

I went out again this morning for sunrise... you can see from the picture that the earth has tilted just slightly on it’s axis since my last visit... fascinating thinking of that tilting process in space...

While floating for moments like these, my fingers and spirit always seem eager to find their way into the psalms, it’s as if they feel in their environment a spirit of praise that can be appropriately matched by the words of David.



I started with psalm 142, and journeyed through to the end of 145. Verses jump out from each psalm and speak to me where I am currently at...

“when my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way.”

“Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul... Teach me to do your will, for you are my God, may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”

“Lord, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him?”

“One generation will commend your works to another, they will tell of your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works.”

“You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.”


These are warm words to my spirit as I witnessed the waking of earth this morning.

I’ve realized lately after refreshing my brain and watching several mind blowing TED talks on certain subjects (animation of a cell, the power and neglect of the right brain, the universe etc...) - mostly dealing with things created - that I fail in properly recognizing my place in creation. Somewhere in between the trillions of micro machines working in my body for a purpose of which they will never understand the overall picture, and the billions of galaxies floating around - each with billions of stars - in an uncomprehensible amount of space... all beautiful beyond our minds ability to imagine, all possibly working towards something of which they cannot understand wholly. I would like the theory of relativity to one day apply to the size and purpose of all the different groups of relative life. Click here and check out this picture that places side by side an image of a brain cell, and then a picture of what our brightest scientists theorize the known universe to look like (although it is ever expanding according to science, as well as scripture)... sink in it.

We humans don’t seem (in my opinion) to fit well into this picture... I heard recently that if all insects were to die, in three years all life on earth would be no more... if all humans were to die, in three years all other life on earth would flourish.

In my kayak this morning, I realized in a new way the immense amounts of salt water I was only allowed in my construction to float above, water spread out all across the globe, and the life that teems below reveals a whole new world we can only study, and give worship... Resting atop the weight of all this water, I got hopeful for one day there being a de-salination process that could bring fresh water to the just under one billion people who simply don’t have access... over half of the worlds hospital beds occupied by someone with a waterborne disease... ya, the same stuff we have coming out of our shower heads, sinks, spigots, toilets even... how are we to understand this condition in our culture?

Then I thought... oh wait... we do. The most incredible de-salination process is going on right in front of our eyes, all throughout the day, especially in the pnw! Evaporating salt water brought up in the clouds, energized and purified, then sent over creation on land, and poured down fresh quenching the thirst of all kinds of life...

So like David, amidst the confusion and tangles of muck I sometimes find myself in... I say Lord, “you are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” All living things - great as the vastness of the universe, and small as the electrons firing all throughout our bodies... Lord, you are my refuge, in this crazy brilliant land where perfect harmony can be found and life flourishes, great and small... you are my refuge.

I pick through Walden on occasion, and just read this yesterday. This whole chapter on Solitude reads of Thoreau's connection with the earth, and his core belief that "shams and delusions are esteemed for soundest truths, while reality is fabulous..."

“Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. Its thin current slides away, but eternity remains... I know not the first letter of the alphabet. I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born. The intellect is a cleaver; it discerns and rifts it’s way into the secret of things.” - thoreau

The rich, young, ruler.

11 . 16 . 11

The rich young ruler.

Mark 10:17-31

“I tell you the truth... all things are possible with God.” 10:27-29

This young man... running to Jesus... falling on his knees before him... this young man, met Jesus. What a lucky man...

He failed to recognize the source of Jesus’ strength. Upon calling Jesus “good”, jesus responds “why do you call me good? no one is good - except God alone.”

This is important to not skip over. It wouldn’t be the first time Jesus deflected admiration to that of his Father in Heaven... Jesus was His son, the one that was prophesied to die, and upon his death giving us the gift of the spirit.

Jesus says “no one is good - except God alone.”

... I’ll be marinating on this one for a few days ...

The interaction between these two - Jesus and the young man - is brief and dense in message...

It leads to this young man finding that for him to gain ‘treasure in heaven’, he must go and sell all of his posessions, for they were blocking his access to wholy experiencing his maker.

At the beginning of the story we find out that the man was a pretty upstanding guy... he was a man that held true and followed his whole life the ‘commandments’. Please read this short section if you haven’t... mk10:18-21

Under the ‘scope’ of the requirements of the ‘commandments’, this man appeared righteous... under the scope of Jesus and the spirit that resided in him, this mans heart does not appear to be for God.

He is told by Jesus to “sell everuthing you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

So, how might the spirit reveal in us things which clog our spiritual pipeline.

It says the ‘man went away sad because he had great wealth.’ I believe i’ve always been lead to believe that because this man experienced some degree of remourse, that he was never to have acted upon the requirements of Jesus.

I, today, choose to imagine the contrary... Suppose this man did sell all, suppose this man did realize the freedom in being stripped of posessions and experiencing the drenching of the spirit... suppose this man did later grow a faith that could believe what others might find difficult...

... that a camel actually can pass through the eye of a needle...

... that “with man, this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God...” -jesus

I think today I enjoy this ending to the story a bit better... Harder to grasp maybe just because he ‘went away sad’, it is easier for my spirit to understand and find hope in.

I can’t imagine what kind of smoke screen must be inside the man who can look in the eyes of Jesus, being a witness of his great acts (although not recognizing as Jesus did that the power in those acts came from God), hear his instruction, and go away unchanged.

I’m realizing right now the vitality behind the open ending of this story...

In it’s open ending, the spirit (if invited in) will catch us where we are at, and guide us in what we are meant to hear.

What I take away from this story - with pages between these lines - is this...
... the importance of recognizing God’s goodness, and giving thanks for his Son.
... the importance of looking to the life of Jesus for guidance on how to one day be in eternity.
... how an encounter with Jesus, hearing his words, while they might hurt at first and leave us ‘sad’... the ending is open and up to us with what we do with that.
... i learn that a camel actually pass through the eye of a needle... and that a rich man can get into heaven... nothing is impossible for God... duh

~~ ‘some things have to be believed to be seen’ ~~

... i learn that with the giving up of things that to this world appear valuable, that to that man will be given a “hundred times as much in this present age and in the age to come... eternal life.”

I can’t not believe ALL of this today... Find god in creation, and get lost in wonder...

Find sometime to watch this and wonder at the Designer behind this grand design. If it’s not a fetus, stare at a snail, a leaf, a cloud, a rising sun... an ebbing tide... a waning moon... a floating log... a bird suspended, in air? Comeon... thats nuts.

Wonderlust... get lost in it.

So today...

... give your worship to God... give thanks for His son... give heed to His spirit... & give life to His people... that you might experience life.

Be well frieeeends :)

A broken & contrite heart... You will not despise.

11 . 11 . 11

Today, I read psalm 51.

I was in a coffee shop, and approached a group of men with bibles out and asked them what they were studying. They told me jeremiah 29, and psalm 126.. I went and read 22-30, and then came back over to them and talked a bit about it with them. Turns out, one of them was the pastor of the church, and boy did we both enjoy our maybe hour long discussion... The beauty in this section of scripture, the beauty of the imagery we’re shown giving us a view into the spiritual realms awaiting us, ‘a city’, where we experience 100% of god’s presence.

Beautiful.

Somewhere in the conversation, the pastor led me to re-read psalm 51 in a new light.

This new light was to make me feel the environment in which it was written... David wrote it after he was given the news of the certainty of his son’s death. It was because of his sin, his adulturous relationship, that the son was to die...

It is because of our sin... that the Son had to die... In this psalm we learn a bit about david's heart, our heart maybe too?

Read this psalm and feel the heart of a man "after God’s own heart", a man seeking the cleansing of his God. “do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.”

Repenting, he says “o lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.” Whatever your will may be... my lips, whenever opened, will drip a spirit of praise.

Our words, and the spirit in which they are said, are of the greatest impact we can have on a person, a group... so let them be said alongside a request that you would not be deprived of the presence of the Holy Spirit... like David.. so important.

David knew, even as a very powerful king, the condition of his being, and his need for the Spirit. “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Sink into this... fresh, in a new way today.

A broken and contrite spirit, gives you hope of being in God’s temple one day... check this out.

“Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with righteousness. Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgements. Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation. For this God is our God for ever and EVER; he will be our guide even to the end.”

A broken, contrite, worshipful spirit... and as I read in Jeremiah today... It was the man who “did what was right and just... the man who defended the cause of the poor and needy.. all went well for that man” (jer22:16)

“Is that not what it means to know me?” - yhwh (jer22:16)

Soak in that today...

Going now to kayak some whitewater, FINALLY! might get some pics...

Weightless... we carry our cross.

11 . 09 . 11

Mark 8:31

In this section I can feel a great deal percolating in my spirit...

This section, it starts out with Jesus telling his apostles the story of his near future. He “spoke plainly” about what needed to happen, that he would be beaten and persecuted by the “teachers, elders, chief priests and teachers of the law”.

Hold it...

Think about this. These are the people Jesus said he “must suffer under”, so that he could then die, and rise again in three days. Giving us the Spirit upon his death...

What does this tell you about the wisdom of those ‘teachers, priests, elders...’ when it came to knowing Jesus. I’m not saying these people can’t be wise, but I read this and I see a message that ‘following jesus’ is of utmost importance... and that leaning on the power of the SPIRIT which gave Jesus his strength and wisdom, this is where I look to for guidance at my core, and in the scriptures is where we learn the dialect of the spirit, with time becoming more fluent to hear it’s voice throughout creation screaming glory to Him on the highest, guiding us with greater clarity as we learn to speak with greater afluence... Lets learn us some scripture!

Peter hears Jesus say these things, and rebukes him!

... bold peter ...

Jesus replies with “Get behind me Satan! You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

This will be more important in a minute...

Jesus calls a crowd, he says “if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it... it continues”

I’ve always read this, and been taught this verse to be seen as a parrallel to the physical difficulties of carrying a cross...

“gosh.. can you imagine carrying a cross.. that must be terrible.. that must be what following christ is like..”

blahdadee blah blah..

If that’s how you read it, let's go a level deeper...

Read it in the context of my last two blogs... If you’ve read them, you know i dove deep into the life of Hezekiah, and his longing to be with his lord in Heaven.. and his goodness on earth. He wanted to be there, and (my interpretation) at the news of his staying on earth, he wept bitterly...

Jesus says that whoever wants to save his life here on earth, will lose it... But if we live to “lose” our life for Him and the gospel...

... we will save it. We will join Hezekiah, David and the saints, in a state of being we can’t possibly imagine on earth.. only in glimpses.

Jesus ends his words to this group by saying “I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.”

With Jesus’ death, the Spirit was released to man... (i say it again.. so important to knooow) the same spirit Jesus was given upon his being baptized, the spirit that descended on him from heaven. The spirit that immediately sent him into the desert for forty days to experience (& overcome) every temptation and evil that would ever encounter man... that spirit, because of that experience in the desert, was ready to go out to the world, and through Jesus’ touch would heal many, and do craaaazy things like walk on water and feed thousands with just a few loaves... the spirit that would give jesus eyes to ‘see the kingdom of God coming with power”, before he tasted death.

This same spirit... we are given access to through his death.

The gift of Jesus...

The spirit that overcame all evil with Jesus, will come alongside you... in power, and in peace.

Because we’re given this spirit, we are too given eyes to ‘see the kingdom of God coming in power’... and with this knowledge, live our stay on earth mindful - like we read Hezekiah was - of the hope we have in heaven.

My grandmother and I were just talking last night about how we both felt that from just looking into a person’s eyes you can truly see the warmth they either are experiencing, or maybe longing for. They truly are the windows to the soul... If that is true, then it is pretty neat imagining that the conditions of our souls are being viewed by onlookers through the warmth in our looks.

I love walking along a street and making warm eye contact with complete strangers and giving them a little smile... it makes me feel joy to know that it’s possible i’ve warmed their day a little by lending a simple gesture.

Wow... tangent...

Okay, wrapping it up, lets go back to Peter. This guy - like i’ve often found myself - didn’t have in mind the things of God, but the things of men...

He identified Jesus as the Christ, and then right after he was called “satan” by jesus... interesting reading this and seeing it as another lovely verse which reminds us that even Satan, acknowledges the Christ...

But peter didn’t have in mind the things of God...

... so what are those things?

This is where we are gifted the scriptures to learn the spirits dialect, which in reading scripture soaked in the guidance of the spirit, we learn the “things of God..” we learn of the greats and their greatness, we learn about the not-so greats, and their mistakes... wisdom is in these pages.

So, picking up our cross? To me is identifying with Jesus, in his hope, his suffering too, but his hope in eternity and his reliance on the spirit.. the spirit which gives eyes to “see the kingdom of God” before tasting death, the spirit which overcomes every fleshly pain, temptation etc... and then to one day be raised with this spirit into eternity. It makes our earthly existence seemingly weightless... the cross a joy to bear in exchange for this gift.

Lovely...

*** check this song out... the song I looped writing today ***

Be well friends...

What possesses us?

11 . 06 . 11

2 kngs 20 ~very short.. read it sometime :) ~

** if nothing else, at least check out the pics at the bottom, wait though if you plan to read.. glory!**

Continuing from last blog, we just read in kings the story of Hezekiah, his heart for the lord, his newly added 15 years of life as a result of the Lord hearing his prayers, and seeing his tears.

Reading today, we’re gifted with one more story of Hezekiah, after which - so far as scriptural history is concerned - he went to heaven and “rested with his fathers”.

He was home.

This story, the last story of his life gives us a picture into this mans heart, what he - a man of God - held as being valuable.

Lets ask for ears to hear...

As the story goes, Hezekiah is sent a letter and gifts from the king of babylon lamenting his sickness. Hezekiah takes these messengers delivering this gift, and shows them around his palace... “there was nothing in his palace of in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.”

In his palace, under his reign he had accumulated ‘storehouses of silver, gold, spices, fine oil, all his armory and many other treasures’ Lots of stinkin wealth...

How he handled that wealth, we read next...

After giving these guys the ‘tour’ of his riches.. Isaiah came to him and asked him where they came from and what they wanted... Hezekiah answered him, and Isaiah’s response was of the Lord:

“hear the word of the Lord: The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off...” 2kngs20:17

All this wealth. Gone.

Now remember from my last blog how Hezekiah was told a few years back that he would die.. without tears he asked the lord to “remember” his goodness... read it. Then after sharing his words with the Lord, he wept bitterly... I talked about how I’m not too convinced he didn’t weep because he was meant to stay on earth, maybe he felt the lord tell him before hearing the words from Isaiah that he would not die just yet... and wept bitterly.

So, with his heart for the Lord and steadfast hope in his place in heaven, how do you think he reacted to the news of all his posessions being taken?

“‘The word of the Lord you have spoken is good’ Hezekiah replied. For he thought, ‘will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?’”

He clearly didn’t see ‘his’ posessions, as ‘his’, but ‘His’! :) “will there not be peace in my lifetime?”

He had peace. He knew that whatever the lord said, wherever He might direct, that he would follow , because of his place in eternity. He had peace. And he felt secure... in His Lord.

Do posessions get in the way for us? How would we react to this news? (not rhetorical... answer it for yourself :))

How this section ends is especially warm for me because after sharing this story, it then goes on to say “as for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the books of the annals of the kings of Judah?”

He brought water to his people. :0

h2o. life.

If you know even a little about my last few years, you might know that water has in many ways been my life, become my life, and in more ways is revealing itself in my future. Growing up near water, working on water at malibu, guiding rafts down the arkansas... all warming me to now my favorite water activity, bringing to people without... clean, safe water... this you could describe as my passion, and the Lord has guided me through and to His good work with water, all the while punctuating my hope in eternity :)

Hezekiah is the man in my book.

He spent that 15 years, and gave it back to Him, brought life to His people, and with this last story we learn that posessions had no hold on him.

Give your things back to Him... your heart to Him. Soak in this verse.

“‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this’ says the lord almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” malachi3:10

The only place where the Lord says "test me"... Are you willing? Do you belieeeeve?? Do I? Who resides in this "house" god is saying to bring food to... "His" house... a house for all humans, broken, poor, hungry.. in need. Bring your tithes to these... Test Him.

This morning, I woke up reeeeally early (like 5.. come to find out it was daylight savings)... and the spirit led me to go kayak.

Glad I did. Look at the blessing he poured out, starting with just a dribble of goodness, eventually opening up the 'floodgates of heaven' leading me to worship... I can't remember a more beautiful sunrise :)

Clean ~ vs ~ Unclean

11 . 03 . 11

Mark 7:1-20

Man... reading this, and now writing this, - especially immediately after just doing my last post - I read it in a compleeeeetely new light.

We (I) just read in what manner, and for what reasons Jesus fed four thousand hungry followers... and now Jesus is being questioned by the Pharisees for his disciples being unclean, and eating food.

Actually, NO! I’m just now remembering why I read these in reverse order, and it was because when I finished reading the story of the four thousand, I for some reason placed my book mark a page behind... shutting it, then coming back to it, I wasn’t sure why it was a page back, but I figured that in the interest of letting the spirit speak, I would read where the book mark indicated... and it’s lovely that I read this story now, with the understanding of the four thousand.

Moving on... stick with me...

So as I’m writing now, I’m extending the metaphor from yesterdays blog, so it might be important you have read that... but here goes. These pharisees - people with hearts distant from knowing their God, but knowing the world, the law - they were called out by Jesus when he said...

“these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.”

I understand the gift of God’s law, being a gift given to ALL men, having been written on ALL mens hearts... this, and the gift of His spirit, are the gifts of God given to... all men.

Now, whether or not people know Jesus, that might be a different story, I’ve written other blogs about that...

But, what I hear jesus saying is that regardless of what a person’s intake is (religious intake??!), it is how they respond to the Law of God which makes them clean, and worthy of one day being in eternity with their creator. We read yesterday of the people who suffered for three days in hunger, following Jesus tirelessly, trusting completely in his providence... and at the end, earning the meal of their life.. it taught me beautiful things. :)

I think it’s this view that brings about movements like “one love”... where people in a deep way, all over the world, grip onto the call of God written again on all men’s hearts, being realized by those who seek good... this call to love all men, and be with brothers in their suffering. I love learning the call of God, it has a way of bringing me to know His children, who to God appear clean, but to the world appear very ‘unclean’. think about it...

Jesus goes onto talking to these ‘pharisees’ (or people separate from knowing and abiding by the basic call of god written on their hearts) and to these pharisees he accuses them of adjusting their “law” to their own self interests... the interests of Man, not the interests of God.

I've known myself to do this in so many ways :/

But jesus challenges them, and told them that it was not what went into a mans mouth that made him unclean, but what but what came out of it. Unclean things like “evil thouthts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly" to name a few...

These ways of living 'unclean' - although experienced at different levels in all people - are in some way blinding us from the gift of God.

"To thine own self be true"... a good friend of mine Dave Bondo shared with me earlier, and I pass it along to you and encourage you to give these "things" up to Jesus, and ask to see god in a knew way, a way that brings more light to the hope of what is to come for all who surrender to Him. Freedom.

I see a challenge presented to all lovers of God, a challenge to join together regardless of "intake". Each in their own unique way, worshiping God and knowing they are a part of a beautiful family under Him... a family with other children, all answering the call 'to love' written on their hearts.

Bringing people this hope now, is Jesus. This is the gift of Jesus... Obviously so much more to explain with this, and please, if you want to know more about the gift of Jesus, there would be no greater joy for me than to share it with you :)

Some may see my interpretation of this scripture as being too abstract, or maybe just off... but to some it may connect.. And to all readers, it’s important we understand that whatever Jesus is trying to communicate through this interaction... all who were present, didn't understand!

Jesus was forced to repeat it to the crowd... “listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man... click to continue”

And then again to his disciples (important it's not his apostles.. i'd like to explain if you're interested) in a seperate house...

‘“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man can make him unclean... click to finish”

Grasping the meaning of what Jesus is communicating here was difficult for all present... in fact it doesn't appear any of them do.

... but now we, upon His death, have been gifted with the holy spirit, who to this point had only been given to Jesus after his baptism, and bits to the apostles.

But now we, if we give our lives back to God and his good work, we are given the spirit to maybe read this interaction in a fresh way, a way it was meant to be communicated... soaked in the gift and guidance of the spirit.

Imagine it...


I stop here, the sun maybe seven fingers off the horizon, thankful for many little blessings surrounding me... and asking the lord to forgive me for ways I’ve ignored him... so many ways.

Be well friends.

Four thousand fed... with seven loaves. SOO much more than food here...

11.03.11

Mark 8

I’m sitting, overlooking myyy pacific northwest coast, with poulsbo somewhere just across the way, and up wrapped around the corner of my northern coast lies the beautiful Whidbey. Today, sitting here, I read two stories out of Mark, the story of Jesus feeding the four thousand, and the story of Jesus speaking on Clean and Unclean. Both I read in a completely new way... :)

The story of Jesus feeding the four thousand... I think in the past I just saw it as Jesus feeding this large crowd, and it being amazing that he split a few loaves into being able to feed a few thousand... amazing still, but SOO much more there! Stick with me...

These people he fed... they were devout followers of Jesus... they were three days deep into their tireless journey of following him into the wilderness... they hadn’t eaten ANYTHING.

They knew Jesus, and they would do anything to follow him... four thousand of them.

Just imagine it... what did they seee?! (we know some of the stories...) They dropped ALL, and followed... into the wilderness... with no food.

They were houngry... Imagine the hunger??!

Do we trust our lord enough to go three days without food?? With this verse, a three day fast can be very powerful... think about it.

They trusted Him... in what he promised, because they believed... they knew their gift to come was so good, they were willing to wander, no food, into the wilderness... three days.

And then they were fed... their tummies filled.

Jesus took the only seven loaves this whole group had (the #7 being very important... can talk about that more maybe), he laid them down... and then he prayed for them... :)

"There was fish too..."

So, seven loaves, and a “few” fish were laid there “before the people”, and prayed over, by Jesus.

Imagine it... give your shitty circumstances to Jesus... what does he do, he takes them and fills the tummy of the spirit with His goodness, and afterward there amounts to seven basketfulls... FULL baskets, of leftover bread.

His providence will not only fill our lives, our stomachs, but it will leave us OVERFLOWING with leftovers, for others to enjoy.

Others might read this and hear the words of Jesus telling them that in the early days of our walk with Jesus (Just like Jesus taking on the holy spirit and spending an immediate 40 days in the desert experiencing all temptation satan could throw at him), we are going to experience a tough three days (we all have our different “three days”)... persecution, mockery, and all sorts of suffering, until - like jesus - we feel the warmth of the holy spirit in a way that brings power, confidence, and all sorts of joy... the feast.

I see it both... :)

So, Jesus after feeding them, giving them what He promised (a tirelessly full spirit, and a reward of a feast at the end... not until after three days in the wilderness), disperses them and “sends them away”.

He leaves now on a boat... over to a different region... Dalmanutha.

So, normally I might see a ‘different region’ as being a geographical location... But this time I see it as a different place of the heart... a different perception of the world, a different more ‘pharasaical’ way of living, by the law of man, and not the law of God... I saw Dalmanutha as this location.

Here you have the ‘pharisees’... they asked him for a sign, and he replies - directing his comments towards what he refers to as a specific ‘generation’ - with this...

“why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it.”

To me, he may be speaking to a different thing than he is you, but try and see this as pointing to areas we are blind to seeing the STINKING miracles right in front of us... like the one Jesus just did, feeding the four thousand.. Those suffering alongside jesus in the wilderness (spiritually, physically, emotionally, maybe all three?) with Him, experience his miracles and the gift of his spirit... Their hope, their joy amidst the suffering, is also shared with Him...

Two very different lessons I hear in this section...

The first having to do with the cost of following jesus, his promise, and the yummy reward.. :) Think on it...

The second being my oftentimes blind eyes to see the miracles right in front of my stinking face... it can be as simple as pausing to give thanks for the steady breaths which bring life to our hearts... or giving thanks for the fact that we’re able to even give thanks, that our spirits are magnetically directed towards something outside of life here on earth, the feeling that at our deepest level, something beyond ourselves exists and deservs our worship...

so pause, and give thanks to the god that created you... your thoughts... and a bazillion other things right in front of your face that deserve your... that deserve our ‘pause’.

Sink into these two warm truths, and as a shoutout to my friends who commented/liked the photo I posted earlier... now you know what I meant when I posted it... Promises in scripture comfort a person interested it's comfort, a person seeking the guidance of the spirit...

Next post is about when Jesus spoke on what made a man clean and unclean... don’t miss it, pretty wild, warmly embrassing stuff!