Walk Ye In It

Through the Sea

backstory:
at the end of this past semester i was thinking about my "after college plans"
dun-dun-dun-dun duhhhhh!!!!.....
and no matter what they wind up being exactly...(though i am leaning toward moving overseas...who really knows except the Lord, right?)...wherever i am i want to know more about this God whom i serve...but how? and then it hit me: it's called the Bible, stupid-> read it
teeny caveat: sad really how little we "christians" know about the "inspired Word of God"
so i asked God to help me read it more consistently
----and the next day my beloved watchcare mother gave me an early birthday present

you guessed it: a Daily Walk Bible (amazing how the God of the Universe does these small small things to remind me that He really is who He says He is!!!)

real story:
i jumped into this thing pretty excited and managed to clop my way through Job (of all the places to have to start) which actually considering the state of my life was very appropriate

but now it is June...June is all about the Psalms...
but you see- i don't really feel like reading Psalms everyday---and sometimes all the tree and mountain references kinda blur together (that happen to anyone else?)
okay so a few days ago i came upon Psalm 77- mind you it was like 1 am and the blur thing was happening- so i mustered every oz. of the Holy Spirit i have in me and made myself pay attention to that which i was reading- and boy am i glad i did
Asaph (the writer) starts off crying to God- i mean he is moaning and groaning (been there) he feels like God has rejected him...he feels forgotten by God...so what does he do? he begins to recall all that the Lord had done...and then...in the midst of his terrible situation-feeling separated from his God...what does he do now? he starts praising God (whoa) ....he starts talking about how God delivered the Israelites from the Red Sea and this is what he says:
"Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters- a pathway no one knew was there! You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds." (verses 19 and 20)

good story:
i think sometimes we tend to picture "God's will" like it is this yellow brick road and if we take one step off of it we fail or something...i'm not so sure this is true- in fact i think that might be wrong...because we all stumble...we all wander off the path...and occasionally something comes upon us that was not our doing that is downright miserable...besides i'm not sure success and failure should be things we are concerned with anyway.....the point: whatever we are dealing with...no matter what particular 'sea' we are facing--his path leads through it...not around it...not over it...but right through it...and he doesn't expect us to go it alone...no- he leads us through it!
how incredible!!!
as we stand on the edge of whatever we are facing with our past haunting us like Pharoah's army and nothing but storms ahead- we can be confident that he will make a way- a way that no one else could have seen before-- and then he will lead us on that way
....now whether the sea floor is made of yellow brick-i suppose is still up for debate

posted by Charris @ 11:28 PM 1 comments

Torture

As some of you may know- i am currently unemployed (though searching for work diligently) but this week- this week i have a "job" of sorts...and no... i was not hired to 'wack' anybody...nor have i taken up exotic dancing
believe it or not- i'm house sitting
(of all the ridiculous things to do with my time)
actually it's kinda like being at a spa- laying by the pool- eating their food- watching their television- good times- and although i'm stuck here all by myself all i have to say is to offer some wise sentiment from a disney movie (oliver and company) "Hey man, if this is torture: chain me to the wall!"
so back to my hermit ways- but this week i'm a first class recluse!

posted by Charris @ 2:31 PM 0 comments

Insurrection

before i begin- let it be known that i borderline hate star trek and will always (and i mean always) be a star wars lover at heart.
that said- in the midst of my current funk (for full details see blog below) i had a moment of slight inspiration the other day while watching star trek: insurrection. why- you ask- would i bother wasting my time at 2 am to watch this ridiculous film...let's not attempt to cover motivations- instead- may i leap o'er the reasons why and try to share what it is that i managed to glean from this most unusual source...

2 things really:
1) i need to remember how to play
2) i need to learn how to live 'in the moment'

the first comes from a conversation between a child and an android
(a machine that looks like a human) Data (the machine's name) wonders what it would feel like to be a child because he has been the same dimensions since he was 'created' and will be the same way when he is 'switched off.' he cannot fathom what it would be like to always be changing and falling over your feet- in response the kid asks him if he plays- Data does not understand what it would mean to do something 'just for the fun of it'

so i asked myself if in the midst of all this 'big girl drama' if i had forgotten how to play...this may seem childish- but that is kinda the point now isn't it?

the second is from a conversation between the captain (the bald guy that plays the professor in X-men) and a woman (who lives on this planet that has made her sorta immortal and given her the ability to appreciate things slowly because time is no longer an issue for her and her people) she asks him if he has ever experienced a moment where time seemed to stand still- in response he describes the first time he ever saw his home planet from space- she explains that there is such power in that one moment- and that if we are always focused on what lies behind or what is to come that we cannot begin to feel that power or experience it's beauty

sadly- i am a person always reflecting on the past or contemplating the future- my thought patterns are typically oriented around 'when' or 'if' or 'then' instead of 'right now'...this manifests itself in my poor use of time and the paralyzing tendency to procrastinate. not to mention- if i am forever dreaming of the greener pasture- when am i doing the business of becoming that person i see in the vision????

i thought of these things as i walked through the park last week- it started to rain- i kept walking- it continued to rain harder but i kept thinking- and then i stopped-and walked over to the playground- in the rain- and began to swing-

just for fun

in the moment

posted by Charris @ 10:02 PM 1 comments