An Odd Pairing?

I love the song Closer To The Heart by Rush. Here it is if you have not heard it and the lyrics follow:



Closer To The Heart

"And the men who hold high places
Must be the ones to start
To mould a new reality
Closer to the heart

The blacksmith and the artist
Reflect it in their art
Forge their creativity
Closer to the heart

Philosophers and ploughmen
Each must know his part
To sow a new mentality
Closer to the heart

You can be the captain
I will draw the chart
Sailing into destiny
Closer to the heart"

As I was listening to the song, the words, I found the theme of people from different backgrounds with different abilities all being called to contribute the talents that they have been given to something bigger than themselves. The following from 1 Corinthians 12 then came to mind:

"4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice[b]; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.[c] 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages,[d] while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. 12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ..." "27 All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it."

Everyone has a part to play. No one is expendable. Philosophers or plowmen, blacksmiths or artists, captains or navigators, fishermen or tax collectors... as followers of Jesus we are called to tell others about Him, His love, His redemption, His grace, His compassion. We are His body, and as we take seriously our faith, our hope, our love for Jesus, we will begin...

Molding a new reality
Forging our creativity
Sewing a new mentality
Sailing into destiny...

closer to His heart.

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

Totally Random Post on Chick Flicks

I admit it - I love a good chick flick. I have a whole string of them that I put on from time to time just for the sheer pleasure of it. I am listening to my playlist, and a song from one of my fave chick flicks just came up, so I felt compelled to post the songs as well as the movie... If these links do not come thru on Facebook, please click "view original post" and it should take you to my blog so you can see the links!

A Lot Like Love


And the songs...
Brighter Than Sunshine - Aqualung


Look What You've Done - Jet


Breathe

What A Disciple Is...From Starving Jesus

Quoted from Starving Jesus, pages 78-80...

"A disciple doubts.
A disciple deceives.
A disciple denies.
A disciple forgets.
A disciple fears.
A disciple changes lives.
A disciple is arrogant.
A disciple denies himself.
A disciple believes Jesus is Savior.
A disciple heals.
A disciple leads.
A disciple hides.
A disciple is human.
A disciple loves.
A disciple protects.
A disciple is radical.
A disciple is lost.
A disciple is healed.
A disciple leaves his life.
A disciple cuts off ears.
A disciple follows Christ.
A disciple gives his life for others.
A disciple dies for faith.
A disciple sins.
A disciple is called to be a disciple.
A disciple falls away from Christ.
A disciple prays.
A disciple leads people to Christ.
A disciple gets in the grill of others.
A disciple has little faith.
A disciple has no attachment to men.
A disciple has no attachment to religion.
A disciple will write.
A disciple will teach.
A disciple will lie.
A disciple will tell the truth.
A disciple forgives.
A disciple asks for forgiveness.
A disciple rants.
A disciple travels.
A disciple fasts.
A disciple questions.
A disciple hopes.
A disciple gets angry.
A disciple does not worry.
A disciple worries.
A disciple likes money.
A disciple doesn't worry about money.
A disciple has friends.
A disciple has a church.
A disciple gives up.

Disciples leave their lives and follow Christ...You will not find them sitting in pews. You will find them among the wolves."

Food for thought.

A Reminder For Myself

It was recently brought to my attention that I had not posted on my blog in almost three months. Frankly, I have not had anything to say, nothing that I wanted to put down in any formal way. That made me think. I got to thinking about why I started this blog and how I came up with the name - which I thought was pretty cool - so I am reposting a combination of two entries from when I first started this blog as a reminder to myself of where I want to be...

I'm taking off my shoes...
What a weird url for a blog! There is some history to it. I have come across a quote from Elizabeth Barrett Browning about being with God:

“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I have found myself thinking a lot about that this morning and what it means. In the Old Testament, God presented Himself to the Israelites as a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night so that He could be seen and easily followed. God appeared to Moses in the infamous burning bush setting, and Moses was told to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. He was barefoot before the Lord.

I like the idea of being barefoot before the Lord. Moses was barefoot before the Lord as a sign of respect for His Holiness, but I also think that it was something more. Being barefoot removes some of the extra trappings that wind up being a hindrance to our knowing Him more. We are exposed.

I want to relax with the Lord, know Him intimately, and grow in that love.
I want to take off my shoes and run around barefoot with my God.

Boundaries

Boundaries - love 'em or hate 'em, but you've gotta have 'em.

The avalanche of encroachment that has been going on the last couple of weeks (in reality, months) caused me to run - no, to vault - over and borrow a friend's copy of Cloud and Townsend's Boundaries for a refresher course. I am already quite a few chapters into it, and it is all very familiar. Maybe it's the familiarity or (dare I say it?) a maturity factor, but it seems easier to grasp this time around. Implementation is another story.

The Golden Rule - Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. On the surface it seems pretty simple, but looks are deceiving. Is it "doing unto others" to rescue them or is it to let them reap the fruit of their choices? When compassion and mercy collide with personal responsibility, personal ownership of your decisions/choices, truly what would Jesus do?

As I was typing the last question, I remembered reading in Will Jesus Buy Me A Double-Wide about a person who was asking another for money because their electricity was about to be turned off. If memory serves, this was a habitual problem. The person who was asked to come to the rescue declined to rescue them but instead promised that he would stand by them, be there with them in the dark so that they would not be afraid.

The question still remains for me, when do you say "yes" and when do you say "no"? Maybe I'll find out when I finish the book?

New Blog Style

I am totally jazzed by my new blog background!!! I love the colors and - as anyone who knows anything about me knows - I love the water. I now open up my blog and can almost smell the salt in the air and the Hawaiian Tropic oil (I know - I just like to smell it - I will use the SPF 50 when I have to!) in my beach bag.

It's been a while since I've posted because it has just been a slammin' summer. Nonstop activity and sunshine and I'm engaging in as much of both as I can. Even so, I have been keeping up on reading blogs and such. Here are a few notables worth checking out:

Lord, Save Us From Your Followers Well worth the watching...

Keith Giles at The Ooze: The Jesus We Don't Know (Yet)

And RJ @ When Love Comes To Town has some awesome thoughts on "doing church as a feast." I love that.

And in honor of my new layout, I'm gonna "Soak Up The Sun."

Handling Criticism

"It's a reality. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone has their own set of expectations (some or most can never be met). Everyone has their own way of doing things. We wave the "thou-shalt-not" statements and laundry list preferences that fly like flags on the fourth of July. Funny how the word "change" is the most feared word in the Church, yet too often, we like to change our minds and comment on anything we think at anytime we like. It's been said before, when you put a group of imperfect people into one room, you are going to have a wide variety of personalities and opinions. As a worship leader, musician, singer or pastor, how do you handle the wide variety of expressed opinions? Importantly, how do you handle those opinions when they come in the form of criticisms?

You've heard it before: "Why do we need drums in church anyway?" "Can't we sing more hymns?" "When is this person going to stop talking?" "Why is she in the choir?" "Why did you choose a song that I don't like?" "Pastor, you did not mention MY name in your sermon."

Read the entire article on Handling Criticism by Branon Dempsey at The Ooze. This is one that I am going to keep a hard copy of so that I can refer back to it!

Learning to Fly

"Followers of Jesus were meant to 'fly'…to let the winds of the Spirit lead them to where they can love, serve and glorify God with their very lives." How often do we voluntarily give up our ability to fly for so little in return? Please take the time to read the complete article on the Parable of the Skylark and the Worms at Spiritual Regurgitations.

No article on flying would be complete without a nod to Pink Floyd - Learning To Fly...

Another Barefoot Sojourner

I was just checking out recent updates on the blogs that I like to read, and Jeff Dunn over at Internet Monk has just posted one on Walking Barefoot, so meander on over and check it out :)

Indigo Girls - Closer To Fine

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I posted this last year, and I love this prayer so much that I thought I would post it again. Hmmm, maybe it is a trend :)

St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the belief in the threeness,
Through the confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth with his baptism,
Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,
Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,
Through the strength of his descent for the Judgment Day.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of patriarchs,
In predictions of prophets,
In preaching of apostles,
In faith of confessors,
In innocence of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me:
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's host to save me
From snares of demons,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.

Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.

Things Worth Reading

Some things that I have come across in the blogosphere that have hit home with me, and I think someone else might appreciate them, too...

Continue Detox or Take The Blue Pill...Detoxing From Church

Who Am I Listening To? Liberated From Legalism @ Jesus Creed

Gospel-Shaped or Just Religious?

I have just recently started on a reading binge again. Amazon is wonderful. They bring me books to my door and all I have to do is click a button. I have read I Once Was Lost, am reading The Celtic Way of Evangelism, and anxiously awaiting my copy of Will Jesus Buy Me A Double-Wide?

The Hard Rock Cafe has been in my brain for the last few days. I really do not know why. I have not been to one in probably twenty years, and only a few at best - Dallas, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. But they had a motto that struck home with me Save the planet. Love all. Serve all.

I do not know who came up with this motto or the reasonings behind it, but it has stuck in my heart still after all of these years. Sometimes as I am reading through the Bible, especially The Gospels, I hear this slogan - "Save the planet. Love all. Serve all." God alone saves, but in this succinct group of words, I hear Jesus. I hear to share Him with others, to love all in His name, and to serve all with His heart.

New Blog Added To My Blog Lists

Check out: Karen Spears Zacharias.

**I am looking forward to reading her book -
Will Jesus Buy Me A Double-Wide which is due out in March.