Worship....

This was in response to Reverb (my Brother from another mother's Blog) -

I have just recently begun to take the word 'worship' out of the prison of church land...I now understand that to simply live is worship. I'm probably a day late and dollar short in getting this...But I am sometimes slow...

It isn't about getting worked up in the Spirit or raising my hands, or going to some special place to do it...These are activities that I do with my community of faith (or even alone) in a concentrated manner of focus on God. These things are good. These things are fun, I love these things. But they are only one aspect - a formal aspect of 'worship'. And the best worship IMHO cannot be planned or forced. It is not a 'should', it is not something that if we don't work it into our schedule we are somehow shorting God...The best worship I think happens when we don't even realize it...In laughing with friends. In eating a good meal. In slow dancing with your significant other. In looking at a sunrise and smiling. In loving another person with all that we have.

Jesus talks alot about nature...He says to watch the lilies of the field, the birds in the sky. They don't get worked up or worried, they don't stop and do anything special that is labeled 'worship'...They just do what they were made to do...LIVE. And in that, God takes pleasure...In that they point to the awesomeness of their Creator. Jesus also said that if his people didn't speak for Him, that the rocks would cry out...The rocks. Think about that...What do rocks do? They exist. Just where God placed them. And their very existence as rocks speak about the majesty of God. In essence I think he may have been saying that He doesn't really NEED people to DO a bunch of stuff. He is woven clearly throughout Creation. Jesus came to restore to us this simplicity. The relationship between God and His Creation that people destroyed when they decided they wanted to be able to manufacture their own value through the works of their hands. All along the only thing God wanted from us was to LIVE. And in doing so, come to know Him because He made us. We've turned it into so much other noise that His still, small voice sometimes gets drowned out....

I want to be Undignified in my enjoyment of LIFE. In doing so, I believe God's greatness will be seen.

Politics of fear....

Watchful, yes...But I refuse to worry...The enemy wants nothing more than for the people of God to be in a state of fear over politics or any other pattern of this world. We are dual citizens RIGHT NOW of Earth (where we have been given reign) and Heaven where we are welcome at all times in the spiritual realm. Papa's storehouses of hope, wisdom, grace and most importantly Agape love are free for the taking to fill up on and pour out. Go get it, brothers and sisters and experience the change in perspective from up there!

Don't let the world step on your soul....

Jesus says to come to Him like children...The basic sentiment of this song speaks to that innocent quality and genuine faith that I so often see in the kids I work with and that sometimes rises up in me only to get quickly dashed by 'reality'...


Don't Let the World Step on Your Soul
(Todd Schroeder, Ron Miller)

My God, how new you are
Still untouched by time
You're breathing every dream
Hang on to who you are
Create your own design
'Cause dreamers must run to extremes


Hey, little one, I can tell your an easy believer
And you cry at the sunset While the rest of the tribe calls you fool
Your mind will eat humble pie
While your hungry heart chokes on the rules
But, baby, don't let the world step on your soul.


Hey, little one, I can tell you're a new generation
in the scheme of creation
'Cause you care about people and pain
While all the wheelers and dealers
And the prime-timers call you insane
But, baby don't let the world step on your soul. 


Hey, little one, I can tell you're
The voice of compassion
In a concert of anger
Where the young can't relate to the old
You are the warmth of illusion at a time when our
Hearts have turned cold.


Oh, baby, don't let the world step on your soul. 

Not a leader....

I'm seriously not.

These are my strengths:

Input
Communication
Harmony
Intellection
WOO

Note that LEADER is not in there anywhere...Nor do I think it would pop up anywhere in the next 3 of my top strengths.

But I think that because I am an extrovert and generally not afraid of being up in front of people I am mistaken for a leader. I have mistaken me for one and usually end up over my head and completely ill-equipped to do whatever it is that leaders do...I'm not saying this as a self-slam....Only a self-realization. I seem to always want to lead something...I come up with ideas and visions, etc. And then get overwhelmed by all that is entailed in making that happen and all of that stuff goes way above and beyond any of my gifting. Now, I can lead circle time at school, I can lead a scene in improv, I can sing lead for a band, I can lead a Sozo session. But I'm not convinced that kind of leading is the same as true leadership. That's just strong teaching/acting/prayer skills...So, with this admission, I am making different choices. I will not step up to lead anymore. I will however be right beside any leader who needs a good co-leader or assistant (though not ADMIN assistant)...I am going to live my strengths and I believe I may find some things less frustrating and feel more confident in general....

Bucket list revisted

Morphing happens to one's goal/dream list as life catapults its way toward one's destiny (mine is Heaven, guaranteed!). Was thinking about mine recently and realized I have met some of them and am getting closer to others and have added some things and removed some things. In no particular order (crossed out = YAY!)

1. Visit Australia

2. Visit St. Croix

3. Teach Sozo
4. Have one week without worry (removed - need a lobotomy first)
5. Grow to a point of complete trust in my salvation

6. Meet a man I can love and TRUST

7. Cut a CD
8. Sing on the VWS Praise Team (removed)

9. Go horseback riding again

10. Knit something ridiculously cool

11. Visit Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah

12. Meet the remaining favorite celebs that I have on my list.

13. See certain loved ones get set free and/or find Christ

14. Sing with David Phelps (even if it's just "Happy Birthday"!).

15. Spend time with Father God, Jesus and Holy Spirit everyday and cultivate such a relationship with them that the supernatural is natural.

16 . Get rid of religious lies

17. Walk confidently in complete and total freedom in Christ.

18. Stop trying to have a 'normal' life.



19. Learn to repel (Pending completion on October 25th!)



20. Ride a zip line


21. Go skydiving


22. Save money the Dave Ramsey way


23. Have staged reading of my screenplay


24. Love ridiculously

25. Live in a cute little single-family house

It's like I have fought my way through a party full of loud people to finally push through a door to reach a place of quiet. I wouldn't trade attending the party, but it's sure nice to be where I am. I think of the lyrics to the song "Home" from The Wiz. I 'get' Dorothy and her journey in a way that I never have before...

Suddenly my world has changed its face
But I still know where I'm going
I have had my mind spun around in space
And yet I've watched it growing

If you're list'ning God
Please don't make it hard to know
If we should believe the things that we see
Tell us, should we run away
Should we try and stay
Or would it be better just to let things be?

Living here, in this brand new world
Might be a fantasy
But it taught me to love
So it's real, real to me

And I've learned
That we must look inside our hearts
To find a world full of love
Like yours
Like mine

Like home...

Heart Vs. Wisdom

If following my heart makes me a fool, then I'm a fool. Because my heart led me to seek Jesus. My heart tells me to love the unlovable and my heart tells me to risk the pain to find something deeper. Wisdom as it is so often understood has failed me more than my heart and has often imprisoned me in a cage if fear. Perhaps the wise thing is to let the heart and wisdom be intertwined, for God created both and placed them inside of us on purpose. Do they have to be enemies?

More tangenting...

Was writing a note to a good friend tonight and ended up rambling some thoughts that seemed like they might make a good blog...So since it has been a while...Here they are...Probably just the same stuff I always say with different words...What can I say? I'm a simple person... :)

I'm done with subscribing to any one kind of expression of faith in Jesus...Every move of God ever has been quickly tied down into religion. Even in the subtlest of forms. Something cool happens and it gets bottled, given a name, touted as the missing piece to perfect worship and doing of God stuff, anything prior is pashawed as inferior. I do it, I see every church/movement/denomonation I have ever seen do it....Everyone thinks their way is the best...And maybe I am learning that Jesus loves ALL of it. That he shows up where He is invited by a sincere heart. There doesn't have to be factions and division. It's pride (and I am guilty of it) that kills the heart of love. And I'm sick to death of seeing love and relationships devoured by it. Maybe what I'm doing is all effed up and wrong, maybe my theology is not perfect and my hermeneutics askew but I love Jesus and in the end, I hope that is what matters....Because even with all the shouting from every roof top of what works, I have yet to see true unity in the body of Christ in all of my 38 years. Just periods of cool stuff disrupted at some point by stupid shit. Don't get me wrong, I love my church and I love Sozo but they are just shadows. My job as I see it (and reflected in my name) is to be a warrior of light and grace. However that may play out. If I bring those things with me, the enemy will flee. He's so not worth the energy I used to give him. I am just happy that Jesus is Who He is and Did what He did. Let me just walk my life out and bring Him with me wherever I go. Religion in all its obvious and subtle, ghastly forms closely followed by politics are so out of my life. Bring on the joy, the peace and the Kingdom - whatever vehicle is used to do so....