since the beginning of November, i’ve begun using the deliberate people (www.deliberatepeople.com) method for my morning worship sessions. before, i would mostly dance around my Bible with no particular agenda, just filling the time. since i’ve been back on the deliberate people plan though, i’ve started journalling, and moving through with a slow determination. one thing i have noticed though, is that occasionally my reflective journalling will begin to sound like a psalm, which i think it kind of cool. i get such a charge out of praising the Lord! i just want to share a few quick examples with you:
this morning I had to read Ezekiel 36. i’ve been doing most of my reading in the Message Bible which seems to be the Bible for the artistic flowery mindset. my Bible is a parallel one, with the other side of the page being TNIV which I find great for clarifying areas where the Message seems to go overboard. at any rate, there were a few verses that spoke clearly to me:
“Because the enemy crowed over you, ‘Good! Those old hills are ours now!’ now here is a prophecy in the name of God, the Master: Because nations came at you from all sides, ripping and plundering, hauling pieces of you off every which way, and you’ve become the butt of all jokes … ‘Listen! Look! I’m angry - and I care. I’m speaking to you because you’ve been humiliated among the nations … I’ve solemnly sworn that they are next … But for you, you will burst with new growth, putting out branches and bearing fruit for my people Israel … I’m back again. I’m on your side.’ ” Ezekial 36:2-3,5-9
my journal response:
God is god of the oppressed; of the unjustly wounded; of the underdog. He cares intimately and is offended when bullies pick on the defenseless. Father, help me to follow in your footprints. Let me also care deeply for the underdog, the oppressed, and the defenseless. Help me to make a difference in each life.
“… I, God, rebuild ruins and replant empty waste places. I, God, said so, and I’ll do it.” Ezekial 36:36
my journal response:
you are a God of restoration; of renewal. you delight in making old things new; in making empty spaces flourish. you are a God of thriving freshness.
i know that my journals can seem short and occasionally simply rephrase what has already been said, but i have found in my life that there is nothing quite like journalling to enhance one’s spiritual life. it can help you put ideas onto paper, to think on a slightly deeper level about a topic, or in this case, simply to reflect and to praise an all-deserving God of thriving freshness.
Sitting alone he gazes
Peering down over the world
Over his world he sees the future
His future
A closed circuit
A city under fire
Locked in by the outside
Left alone and unable to escape
Escape these shackles
Shackles that bind him
Bind and keep him down
Keep him from reaching out and
Reaching up
Keep him from reaching up and grasping the next rung
Grasping and climbing
Making his escape
His escape to the outside
Where his dreams lie
Where his dreams lie dormant
Dormant and alone they lie
Scorched by the outside sun
Scorched and withering
Withering away until one day
They’re gone.
Alone on a rooftop he sits
Looking out across his world
And as he looks
Peering as far as his eyes can see
For the first time he notices
As the sun begins to ascend
As the sun climbs over the horizon
Finally he can see
Hope.
One last song for today! This one was written for a special friend from a land far far away. I only wrote two verses and a chorus and never did like the chorus, so when i recorded it i played the chords, but did an instrumental overtop of where the chorus would have been.
Here’s another song of mine. This one started out as a mushy wushy love song at the beginning of a relationship, but for some reason I never got around to finishing it until just before we broke up over a year later. Incidentally, the ‘He’ mentioned in the middle of the song refers to God, not to a mysterious third party. Just thought I’d clear that up…
The Dream v2 - Donny & The Bunnies
One thing I’ve wanted to do with this blog is to use it as a place to put some of my music. So far I’ve been more or less hindered by dialup internet - the bain of country living. But as luck would have it, I find myself in a hotel room in Leduc, Alberta tonight. This song is one I wrote after losing touch with my first ‘girlfriend’. Several years ago, during a mission trip to Mexico I found myself falling for a local named Jesusa. I barely knew any spanish. She barely knew any english. But it was love at first sight. We kept in touch for several years, ‘dating’ for two of them until we finally quite literally ran out of words. When I’d lost touch with her I was really saddened, so to help myself cope I wrote this poem which I eventually turned into a song. I hope you enjoy!
A friend of mine sent this link to me a week or two ago and honestly it moved me almost to tears. This is true beauty:
http://www.stylemepretty.com/2009/06/12/jonathan-canlas-photography-memorable-engagement-session/
I don’t get it. Not 100% sure where God’s going with my life, but I’ll give him this: it’s definitely been an interesting journey so far. So far I can see two distinct parallel options He could have taken in these last few years and I’m uncertain why He chose the one He did, but He’s the wise one, so who am I to argue!
Kinda reminds me of Job. Complain complain complain. He goes around for thirty-something chapters saying how much he’d like to have a word with the Big Man. Then Elihu (i think) decides to mention something he’s been noticing… “See that storm over there? The big huge powerful scary one? Yeah, well, I was gonna tell you this earlier, but the old croonies were all blabbering too much to hear me. But yeah, anyways… God’s in it.”
Then God let’s him have it. “You wanted to talk? Let’s talk! Where were YOU when the world was made? Who measured it out? You’ve lived a few years, so surely YOU know!”
You know… as cool (not to mention humbling!) as an experience like that would be, I think I’ll just keep my complaints and grumbling to myself and buckle up for the rest of the ride.
Deep inside me i have an urge to move, an urge to just… go. I think I’ve gotten tired of comfort. My life is good. It’s great in fact. I get paid to sing, I have free weekdays, a comfortable life. The two things I love about being gone is the people I get to meet and the places I can see. For me there’s nothing quite like getting lost in the middle of a place I’ve never been. Not like ‘I’ve-still-got-a-general-idea-where-I-am’ lost, but completely lost. I mean, even the idea of living in a cave or on a street of some town is appealing to me. I wanna take a trip with no maps, no agenda, and no deadlines. I wanna end up on a farm somewhere, or in the rockies, or on an island, or somewhere, doing something. I wanna make something of myself, but not at the expense of quality of life (and I don’t mean money, comfy clothes, big house… I mean good friends, relationships, adventures…).
Maybe I’m just a dreamer. Maybe I’m just a slacker. Maybe.
I don’t have an agenda with this post. These are all just words on screen. Thoughts. Ideas.
Maybe I should go to bed before I get too carried away with dreams and plans.
I am thankful for all that I have.
I asked God if there was anything He was trying to tell me. He said “Seek me and you’ll find me”. Hmm. I guess that’s clear enough.
It wasn’t that long ago that I discovered that you can change your main language on Facebook to English (Pirate). It made my day/week/couple-of-weeks. So needless to say, I’ve been feeling very piratey as of late and have been thinking about pirate things. While considering pirate philosophy with my matey Jessi the Terrible, it occurred to me (while discussing the hypothetical possibility of pirates banishing things) that it is slightly paradoxal for a pirate to live within a set of rules. I mean, how can an outlaw live within the framework of a law?
The last few days I’ve been slowly going through the book of Romans, trying to figure out just what in the blazes that Paul guy is trying to get at and how he gets to his conclusions. So this outlaw business struck a memory strand with me. Romans says “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (Romans 3:21-22). Being saved outside of the law, one could say that Christians = outlaws. That’s pretty rad in my books. Of course though, this living outside of the law doesn’t mean we can go rogue and freelance our way to heaven. Later in the chapter Paul says “Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law” (Romans 3:31). That means that this new faith in Jesus (Paul explains later with his dead-to-sin/slave-to-righteousness stuff) instead of going against the law, walks hand in hand with it. But what he’s saying is that following the law isn’t your free ticket to Heaven. ’Course, if you wanna know more, i recommend you read the good book for yourself. The whole point of this is that it’s rad that we’re outlaws. Super rad.
Incidentally, Jessi the Terrible brought up another point about that. She told me that Christians are rebels against all that society lusts after. Cash, status, chocolate, vogueness, sloth, meFirst… all that is anti-natural for the Christian. Christianity - true christianity - is counter-normal. Just look at the sermon on the mount! (Matthew 5,6,7) In there you’ll find little nuggets like “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:43), “Do not story up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). Weird stuff, eh? But very cool. And there’s waaaaaaay more where that came from.
So yeah, if you (like me) are the type of person who reads the first paragraph and then the last paragraph because you can’t be bothered with what’s between, then I’ll summarize for you. It’s like this: Christians=rebels=outlaws=verycool.
