GREENE STREET LETTERS: Whoa....Dude!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Whoa....Dude!

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching our ducks here at Rapha this week. The cold weather has created ice over the pond and, as such, the ducks are having a hard time adjusting to it. Early on, they came flying in to land on the water only to find it solid. Talk about rude awakening! They skidded, and went into spins. They did face plants right into the ice. It was hilarious to watch because you could just hear their little duck "minds" saying, "Hmmmm. This has never happened before. I fly in. I put out my feet to break myself. I land on liquid. What's up with all this hard stuff?" After a while, they got the hang of it because they did not quit or fly away never to try again.

Life with God is kind of like that.
We become comfortable in our walk and we have a tendency to think that it will always be like this. But then something happens, an outside influence, that changes everything. Just like the cold turned the surface of the pond into ice. We may not recognize the change or even be aware of it until we try to walk or live according to the way we've always done. We suddenly find ourselves spiritually doing face plants, spinning wildly out of control, thinking to ourselves, "What happened?" All the while God has been trying to tell us to pay attention and not get comfortable in the way we have approached life. When we encounter times like this, it leaves us disoriented and with a helpless feeling that everything has changed and we cannot continue. It makes us want to give up and quit. Like the ducks though, we should keep trying to land and learn from each attempt. This is the most important question I have found that God asks of me when I fail or mess up. "What have you learned?" What did I put in my heart that will aid me next time I try to "land on the ice"?

It's about learning as we walk through life, realizing that every day is different and situations and circumstances do not remain the same. The problems and situations I face today, are a lot different that the ones I struggled with back in 1969. This is the beauty of this relationship I have with God. He is ever teaching me, showing me and instructing me on how to learn from mess ups and mistakes. Some people have a problem because they refuse to learn. They keep doing the same thing over and over and over again, hoping for a different result (by the way this is the recovery definition for insanity).

Keep your spiritual eyes and ears open for the changes that come to you.
Learn to "slide on the ice" if you will!
God on you......
mb

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Looking At The World Through Cracked Lens

As ol' Paul wrote in his Corinthian letters.."We see in part and we know in part." Now what piece of this bit of wisdom do we not get? I wish to not run around acting and trying to be some sort of Biblical G00-Ru (I meant to spell it wrong). Or a sage of sages.

I simply want to be able to communicate some of what God has given to me. Why? Do I think what I get is better than what you may have received from Him? Nope. But I do think encouragement comes when we share our daily story of struggle and victory in an effort to encourage each other.

Thanks for letting me share.

Time to soldier on..

mbb

Our Statement of Faith

We believe that God is the eternal king. He is an infinite, unchangeable Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit equal in power and glory. we believe that God created mankind in His image, male and female, for relationship with Himself and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan, our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin, sickness and God's judgment of death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic hosts gained access to God's good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam's original sin. Human beings are born into sin, subject to God's judgment of death and captive to Satan's kingdom of darkness. We believe that Jesus, God's Son, was sent to this world, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, Mary, fully God and fully man in one person. He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God's Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, ushering in God's kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead. Jesus' atoning death on the cross took God's judgment for sin which we deserved as law-breakers. Jesus' resurrection and ascent back to heaven opened the door for those who received salvation to begin a relationship with God.

Little Nets Into Deep Waters

Fishing nets were designed for one purpose only. To catch fish. Nets are no good if they stay on the boat. Nets serve no purpose if they are never used. I think maybe God sees us this way. We are all created for a purpose (by the way, the creator gets to define what our purpose is). Any other use besides the one we were created for does us no good. But when the creator places His hands upon us, casting us out into those scary, dark places with deep waters, it is then we can see the reality of our purpose. He knew there would be a catch waiting for us. I think I will be the net God has called me to be.

The Twelve Steps

As a community of people in recovery, we affirm that our higher power is Jesus Christ. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Just as God told the children of Israel He was going to give them a promised land, He has revealed to us that He desires to give us a "Promised Life." When Israel got to the promised land, God instructed them to go and in a possess it, fight for it and claim it. In recovery, the 12 Steps are the directions given to us on how to fight, possess and claim this promised life.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Whoa....Dude!

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD