Simplifying the kingdom of Heaven

God is not looking for heroic figures - wonderful people - who captivate others with their charisma. It must have been quite baffling to the educated world when Jesus pronounced, "Blessed are the poor in spirit" - blessed are the uneducated, those who do not try to understand everything with their intellect! Blessed are they who do not have to impress others by showing how smart they are. Blessed are they who are not always theorizing about spiritual things. What Jesus is saying is that it is the day laborers who are blessed, those who live from hand to mouth and yet are skilled with their hoe or pickax. Blessed are the Farm workers with their plow, who can't think much about anything except how best to do their work. Blessed are the craftsmen who create their handicraft and work hard to finish it on time but do not have time to read many books. Blessed are all such people whom we label uneducated - for these people are taught by God.
The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these, those who are poor in spirit - for it is these who understand God, for they live according to their hearts. The others live according to their heads and thus cannot be used. They are too concerned about what might happen and don't leave the Father freedom to act.

- Christoph Blumhardt

The power of nothing. . .

Ok, so not so much nothing as little. Being still, passive, quiet. i think of power, and instinctively i think of bombs, of raging fires, of steroid enhanced super body builders. Try and imagine life with absolutely no motion whatsoever, not even on a molecular scale. It's like imagining absolute nothingness. . . It can't be done.
It takes some effort to think about rain drops, a gentle breeze, and stopped movement. i suppose that there are two expressions of power. One is the kind of power that comes forcefully and can not be stopped. It is the force that changes landscapes, fells giant trees, or drops gigantic buildings.
The second is the kind of power that stops movement. It travels inwardly exploring the truest caverns of peace. It takes motion and pressure and paralyzes them both in a passive manner. This power is the power that allows us to have the clearest and most lucid of thoughts, and bring us to the truest place of peace and balance.

Same Bat times, different bat channel

Tonight was pleasant, in spite of the fact that i am five hundred plus miles away from Amy and the kids.
i am in Sackett's Harbor, New York. George and Maida have been with us for just over a couple of days. Tonight was the first clear night that we have seen in several weeks, so George and i decided to walk from my mother in law's house (we are helping her move back to Maine), to Lake Ontario. What a night! It was so much like the many walks that my brother and i would take in down town Santa Cruz, all those years ago. But that was when we were neither married. i thought those days would never end. Then they did. Then i thought i would never get those days back.
i know that these days, like those, are fleeting. George and Maida and Daniel will have to return home eventually. But it has been such a nice reminder that sometimes old things are not lost, they are just made new!!!

-isms

The view from the fence is nice. Not a popular place to ride from anymore it seems, especially if you go bareback, but all of the discomfort and splinters are offset by the amazing view. i have had a week of wonderful conversations this week ranging from matters of religious expression, to local and state politics (The state primaries and local elections are coming up in a few days). What a society and probably a world of black and white we have become. It seems that everything is all evil or all good. Whether it's candidates, religious expression or varieties of wine. Its numbing that we take all or nothing. People are judged by their affiliations rather than for their hearts, and character, and groups are judged wholly on their public face rather than by the members that make them up (ok, so the last statement doesn't seem to make sense from the get go, but there is quite a bit of logic behind it). Hang on while i go and get the tweezers, got another splinter. Nobody is either all good, or all bad! Yes that's right, neither Bush, nor Hussein, nor Hitler. Not even Osama! Yes they suffer from an excess of bad judgment, but they can not be all bad. Likewise for the staunch democrat. . . Bush isn't all bad. Or for the fundamentalist Christian. . . Buddhism isn't all bad. If it were it couldn't share many of the same teachings of Jesus, or one would have to argue that Jesus couldn't be all good. So what's my point?The world isn't black and white. Any line of thinking or organization, the "-isms" as i like to call them (racism, feminism, sexism, etc), that focuses solely for the advancement of their people above all else are wrong! Not totally wrong, because everyone should have their causes supported, but they should not be advanced to the loss of others. There must be balance. All people treated equally. If we spent more time seeking the good in people, and building them up, and less time seeking out the negative (which is usually much more blatantly obvious) and making it our purpose to *fix* everyone else, maybe we wouldn't fight so much. The view from the fence here is good, though i do have some recommendations.
1) Avoid the white picket variety, they tend to smart a little.
2) Find one with a wide gate.
3) Probably not a bad idea to invest in a saddle. . .Otherwise at least a pair of tweezers.

g'mornin' all!

The havoc of peace in chaos

Oh the joy of a bad memory. It humors me anyway! i can't tell you the number of days i have double booked or sometimes triple booked. Every now and again i am able to find a way to work things out, but there are other times when i find myself in a pickle. For whatever reason i find myself in that position again. This of course is partly my fault, but more for reasons of bad communication than actually double booking myself. This is just a crazy time of year. This weekend one great friend graduates, we have a yard sale to help support another friend, i have to work Friday and Saturday night, we have a gathering of the church on Saturday and Sunday, i am supposed to pick up the new chicken coop Saturday, and my mother in law is trying to move from New York to Maine, and i am supposed to help with that. All of the strain has taken my 8 month pregnant wife right to the brink of insanity, as has it my mother in law. They had what i call a "festive interlude" last night. Then of course my wife called me in a failed attempt to debrief and to let me know that a couple was coming to stay with us for a month or so. Originally they were slated to show up in July, but they called to say they would be here Saturday. . . . It was a strange feeling as i listened to my wife (i could feel her angst rising along with her blood pressure), you could here the concern and stress in her voice, but for whatever reason the more i thought about how insurmountable this weekend seemed, i know/knew that it is all going to be alright. Sometimes in the midst of chaos God adds one more bit of havoc that helps to bring peace. He will not gives more than we can handle!!! Thank God for that.

Expressions, intentions, and willingness. . .

i am a transplant to New England.
Last night a friend of mine who grew up here was talking to a friend of hers who is also a transplant to the area. During the course of conversation her friend noted how spiritually cold New England seems. My friend asked me if i thought is was true. My answer of course is yes.

i have traveled quite extensively and i have been to no place like New England (well Maine specifically). i don't find it dark, or even a turn off. There are some truly wonderful people and fellowships here, but the aura is very, very subdued - even traditional.

She asked how to change this, and was a bit shocked by her obliviousness to this atmosphere. i think that the answer is fairly simple. In light of all that Amy and i have experienced in the last year, it becomes more and more evident that we need to abandon some of the "old ways" of church. People do not believe because they have not seen. Even the most devout follower of Jesus believes part on faith and part on tangibility. i have seen, therefore i can believe.
The problem lies therein. Few in New England have seen the love of God or the Kingdom lived out.
Monkey see, monkey do. We must live out this love so that others may see it. i do not believe that we can accomplish this living in the fragmented communities that we do. However i would not suggest that we run away and live outside of the world. We need to remain in the world, but in solidarity. Communities supporting communities. We need to be the church instead of churches. We are too spread out, to consumed by our need to possess, and be Americans. Ruled by our schedules rather than ruling them.
Intentions are good, but the kingdom of Heaven is not a matter of talk but of power. We need to become kingdom minded, looking forward to the future and what is to come, and live like we are looking forward to that. We need to put ourselves into a lifestyle that allows us to express our love as Jesus does. We need to be willing to give up everything, right down to our interests, possessions and even our calling.
There are three from the old covenant that we can learn from. Enoch. . .who was called a friend of God, but unfortunately little is recorded about.
Abraham, who gave up his future and was willing to give up his "calling" by sacrificing his son. He was asked to be willing to give it up, but was not ask to actually give it up. And he was willing. He was credited with righteousness for believing God.
David, who although was given a promise about the future, did not seize any opportunity to further that promise. He waited patiently on God to fulfill his purpose. He was one after God's own heart.
We should simplify.

Just some rambelings from the journal

A friend of mine died, and i didn't really know him
my sons been walking, like a toddle, for a week or so.
i have been sitting in a static haze of my own betraying thoughts,
i make a victim of myself lamenting decisions i have made
mourning my past - oh hindsight and duality.
Past shadows of ghosts, and whispers tugging.
my head and my heart argue. clutched like in the midlife.
i think i missed my twenties, but i am not mad
Many of my friends, older and gray. my teachers -
Mentors like i thought they would be back then
But not tomorrow.
Only to say that i regret decision but not decisions.
That hindsight doesn't bleed into foresight.
We choose regret. we opt for joy.
To grapple at love.
What of our selections - our borders - exclusivity.
Mapping out love, it's borderlands and territories.
Like kings and oxen reveering the fence line -
But as buzzards and gazelle to dance with disregard.
my friend, he died - i miss him - gazelle
Wiser fool than we are now. to encompass and understand.
i should tell her - probably not -
Wisdom is the ant.
Hindsight then is foresight now.
Did i mention my friend - he's walking.