Brothers and Sisters....Listen!

I Cor. 15:58,
   
   Therefore, my brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Aways give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord. For  your labor is not in vain.
   


     This particular scripture follows Paul's discourse just before this on the resurrected body and what it shall be.  Curious.....The entirety of his discourse to the Corinthians was to dispute the ongoing error on the resurrected Christ and also ours, as Christ's followers. In other words speaking of the future to come?  NO not so.  AS we are par takers of Christ's new creation now in this present time, then we have a work to do to be par takers in the work here and now.  After the resurrected Christ came and showed himself to his followers realize that something momentous just happened not to Christ only, but to all those who would believe.  Redemption of ourselves of course but also of the new Jerusalem and the Earth. (N. T. Wright) Surprised by Hope).  What Paul is trying to convey is life is now worth living, in the here and now. We being the vessels by which God will usher in the so needed changes in this present evil and corrupt world.  We are changed so our mission has changed. No longer do we just work for money, safety, our families, and the like.   The great commission stands.  Why?  Because if we held to the former beliefs that all is passing away and heaven awaits us elsewhere, why bother?  With that mindset corruption continues, evil persists, bad people continue to be bad people.  There is no resistance.  I do not mean we should fight, but we should be able to influence what is around us, if in fact Jesus is the first fruits of something entirely different.  Death has been conquered.  If when casting out demons he refuted the Pharisees saying If by the finger of God ( get this..finger is small but greater than us.) he casts them out then the Kingdom of God has come down to Earth.  So then as " Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, then we have a witness to uphold in  whatever we do. Since now his kingdom is come to earth and Jesus is alive and well and reigning. Now...
     So when I look around me and and get very dismayed, my nose out of joint because some do not carry their own weight and despise good work ethics, that cause wasted time, money, and labor that ultimately leads to ruin the very company they work for, I have to remember .......What I do will last and transcend to the resurrection and the new. In other words...what I  sow I will reap, Likewise so will they.....and then I rest, compose myself and Let Nothing Move Me!   Peace!
   
   

There is Still; This rising Up" This new creation........

     Even  now in  my 62nd  and a half years, there is this rising up......from within, this new creation that Christ has given me so many years ago now when I was only 25.  This rising, is surely not of me, of my own making.  Can't be. I know myself. What's the saying, " To thine own self be true?" Well then there it is.  Christ in me, That's the difference. And that's what people would argue, "That's just you, you know, your changing.  Evolving......Not so!  Death and decay is the natural order. Look around you.  But, resurrection begins here and now ushering in the new creation in Christ.  The New Testament is  pregnant, full of life for the believer. Otherwise death is not defeated Christ is not raised and like Paul said. " We would be the most miserable of men."  Resurrection then is not then a disembodiment of soul and Spirit heading towards heaven after we die.(1). N. T. Wright) . No it is like Christ's....a new body, glorified, transformed, yet recognizable and not..., able to apparently walk through closed doors, and disappear and so forth.  Pentecost....the giving of the Spirit and the transformation through Baptism of the Holy Spirit, that is the beginning. A process in which a new mind is given over time. Thoughts are transformed, repositioned to think through things from a Godly perspective.  Like minded to Christ. 
     These springs of living water are now part of me. The women at the well asked for water. Jesus told her of you knew who I was, you would ask me for the living water, and then you would thirst no more.   Don't get me wrong we do not walk in twinkle dust. No we persevere, and go forward and look ahead all the while knowing what the grand plan is.  Christ subduing all things to be under his authority, death being the final enemy, vanquished once and for all.  So then this rising up from within  is still there with me, a constant companion (comforter) and reminder what is to come upon the bodily death first and then ........renewal! 
     The corruptible to incorruptible.   




     1. N. T. Wright, "Surprised By Hope, Harper Collins/ Publishers 2008

SKIN, KIN

What gets under my skin,

is one with no kin,

With illness inside,

no reality to coincide,

With slaps, and taps, muttering, and puttering,

they walk alone,

singing,  their own song,

Crazy, they might be, but we only see,

The outside, and not inside,

where once was housed a mind so sound,

now only a soul homeless and bound,

To be set free one must come,

To God and his only Son..............

Legion, was found, by a man of renown,

You know the story, it's old and re-told

For when you see another so bound,

remember to pray for a mind so sound.

Every body ask, what I do? Everybody ask what you do? I say, What you mean...?

Everybody always ask what you do? I say, what you mean, what I do? I live. That's what I do.  My job is not who I am. I've had many jobs. I say.  If that's so, then I be many things. They say not so, your work, your passion, what is it? I say and laugh, riiiiiight....I do what I can, when I can, you know? Today it's bein a janitor. Yesteryear it was, a cook, tomorrow, who knows, Lord knows, I say, not important to me.  I just live.  Then they look at me sideways, not knowin what to think.  You see they on the other side of the tracks.  And i'm on this side.  I live day by day, year by year, and it all works out.  They stare.  I think they from Mars, they think, i'm lost......but I know.
     I gave up worry long time ago.  It wasn't worth it. Always thinkin, always wrinkled up my brow, got me ulcers young.  And so here I am 85 and still truckin!  They be 60 and dead.......I smile, walk on........

parajumpers

With a a mighty leap from wings on high
men  dart through earths azure sky
with mirthful grins and hearts aflame
their chutes deployed their fears allayed
like a ball in a glove the earth receives
the feet of men superbly trained

Homeless and nowhere to go.....

     she's about to lingah
     
     directing traffic with her fingah,

     she crosses the black asphalt,

     hoping she's not at fault,

     with eyes open wide,
 
     surely there is no pride,

     with one coat on her back,

     she doesn't look back,

     holes in her shoes,

     there is no new news,

     she scuffles along,

     watching traffic move on,

     windows uptight,

    there sheds no light,

     for from within, a man with a grin,

     feeling so nifty, he full of fifties,

     speeding on by, she begins to cry.........

"THE HOUR HAS COME........"

JOHN 17:1

     The seventeenth chapter of The Gospel of John has always intrigued me.  Why? Because it is the most intimate prayer I think Jesus had just before his betrayal and crucifixion. How exactly are we privy to these words of prayer?  It would seem that Jesus would have been as his usual manner be alone when praying this. Who then was near enough to hear this prayer of his and record it for posterity?  It is not only beautifully intimate, all inclusive of what the heart of the gospel is all about, I.e. (he longs for us) and wants us to be with him and the Father.  Also we know these things too....
    We are to know God and his life that is eternal life...
     That Jesus has been glorified and we have brought him glory
      That he prayed for us and not the world, because like him we are no longer of this world, in other words we have come to his kingdom and we know it.
       That through the power of his name, the name (you gave me) has protected them
        He gave us his word, the word that was given to him (Jesus).
        That he sanctified himself and us as well.
         And finally he prayed for all those who would believe through their word that they would be one in complete unity.......

           Now notice this last line...be one in complete unity.....in other words no discord among believers.  and in love also.


       But back to the nature of how we got these words....I suspect that John was within earshot of Jesus when he prayed this incredible prayer of his.  How else did we get it?  It wasn't dictated, recorded or re-transcribed, like the letters of the Jews.  I think it was indelibly etched upon John's heart when he listened and later written down from memory in love for his master and Lord. Peace.