The awakened man....

“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”
-Sir Winston Churchill-

Millions of people go to work every day to work for bosses they can’t stand in jobs they don’t like, to earn money they think they can’t live without, to spend on things they don’t need. And as they near the end of their lives they wish they had done something different to have radically changed it all. But the reason they didn’t change it all is because they never truly woke up, they just kept on dreaming and let life pass them by. The challenge before us is to truly awaken to the times in which we live, and commit ourselves to taking charge of life instead of just letting it slowly pass us by. Let every one else live out their lives in quiet desperation, let everyone else sleep on, dreaming of what they would do, if only they weren’t afraid to do it. But while those who dream sleep on, the awakened man is not just breathing but really living, taking charge of his life and writing a little of his own history in the process. Those who dare to awaken will never recover from what they have done.... and they will never want to either.

More than good eyesight....

John 3:3
“Except a man be born again he cannot SEE the kingdom of God”

Seeing requires more than good eyesight.
It requires a shift. A paradigm shift. A new elevation, a different position for a different perspective. With a change in position, one is able to see with the same eyes what was before completely hidden from view. Without such a metamorphosis, seeing is limited to imagination without full context, a blurred image of black and white. We often hear that “seeing is believing”, but this kind of seeing accepts only what is clearly visible in ones fixed line of sight. It leaves no room for that which is easily visible if not restricted to a singularly fixed perspective. If we are to truly see, first we must believe. It is belief that changes our elevation, enabling us to see what before was invisible. It is belief that elevates our perspective, revealing a completely different set of parameters for viewing, opening up 3D, full colour, in real time.
Seeing.... requires more than good eyesight.....

The great reversal...

"Laughter is the happy release of the tension created by an unexpected turn of events. And the grandest surprise of all, the greatest reversal ever has happened by Gods grace in Jesus Christ. Who could have guessed it.? What can we do but surrender to it... Our response is like laughter...."
-Donald McCullough-

“None of the Princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory”
1 Corinthians 2:8

All of heaven daily breaks into laughter. Every new earthly morning the angels giggle. It is the happy release of the tension created by an unexpected turn of events. - The Great Reversal –
The most uncalculated surprise of all has taken place. The greatest gag of all time has been played out into human history. Who could possibly have anticipated it.? Who would have guessed it.?
He who mocked God and oppressed man has been turned. He who thought he had conquered has been brought low. He who imprisoned has become the prisoner. The accuser has become the sentenced.
Grace and mercy have broken through in splendour. Via a rustic manger and a rugged cross, the great reversal has stemmed the flow of death and opened up the floodgate of life.
What can we do but join the angels in Holy laughter…………

I can’t help but be awed by the “great reversal”.
That God would send His only Son to turn the events of “the fall” on their head, and draw man back to Himself in an overt act of unashamed love…… it is beyond my human comprehension. It truly does make me want to laugh, the greatest gag of all has been played out on the “enemy of all that is good” and he has been taken in. He fell for it, hook, line and sinker.!!

To spend a day....

“It had always seemed to Emily, ever since she could remember, that she was very near to a world of wonderful beauty. Between it and herself hung only a thin curtain; she could never draw the curtain aside – but sometimes, just for a moment, a wind fluttered it, and then it was as if she caught a glimpse of the enchanting realm beyond – only a glimpse – and heard the note of unearthly music. This moment came rarely and went swiftly, leaving her breathless with the inexpressible delight of it. She could never recall it – never summon it – never pretend it; but the wonder of it stayed with her for days.”
(From “Emily of New Moon” By L.M.Montgomery)

Rudolf Otto called it “the divine sense of the truly other”
If you have ever experienced it yourself, you know exactly what I speak of and there is no need to read further for nothing I can say can replace the sense of wonder and revelation that comes when one experiences it for oneself.
It creeps up on you unawares like a divine homesickness, like a holy haunting. And for the short while it lingers, we are drenched in mortality, more aware of our brevity and temporality than ever before. And we are left in no doubt that we have tasted but not yet feasted, on that which is otherworldly.
Albert Einstein said ”the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.”
Abraham, experienced it and it drove him forward. He went out, not knowing where he went, homesick for that which he had but caught a glimpse of.
And he sojourned.
The word literally means “to spend a day”.
We are but sojourners in a land of promise. We are aliens on a visit, pilgrims in a foreign land who have come but "to spend a day".
What we have is temporal, and it is the taste of “the mysterious” that calls us onward to that other city, that other country. It beckons us with an ache of the soul that reminds us that the journey is not yet over, we have not yet arrived.

There is music playing, but not everyone can hear it. Most are too busy hoarding things, reputations, egos and possessions. But those that do hear it always recognise the melody. A sometimes melancholy tune that truly moves them, divine music that touches the depths of their being with a longing for that which should be, and what one day will be, the manifestation of the sons of God amidst "Paradise Found."

Life is all messed up. It’s a result of the fall. We just don’t seem to remember that do we? Once upon a time we lived in paradise.
But not anymore.
We spend our days on “that which is not bread”. We labour for “that which does not satisfy”.
Will we ever wake up.?
Annie Dillard says “We wake, if we ever wake at all, to mystery”, and elsewhere she writes “our life is but a faint tracing on the surface of mystery”.
Will we ever realise once and for all that there is nothing on this temporal planet that will ever truly satisfy us because it’s not supposed to.
It was never meant to in the first place. The original blueprint is for a different world. The "mystery" beckons us on, the "holy haunting" calls us forward and we must finish the journey, we were only ever meant to be here but “to spend a day”.

Deliberately written.... deliberately fulfilled....

John 17:12
“That the scripture might be fulfilled”

Circumstances came about in deliberate fashion. Specific people were in specific places at specific times. Intentional events were set in motion. Everything was done with intent and purpose and methodical and systematic perfection. What took place, took place by design. The deliberate calculations of a deliberate God.
Why.....? Because the scripture had to be fulfilled.

Because it was written………. it had to come to pass.
Not the even the minutest of detail could be overlooked or ignored. The scripture had to be fulfilled. It was irrevocable.
It had not been written with the careless pen of an author of fiction living out his fantasy of other worlds, but with the deliberate and wilful intent of the Holy Spirit who created every world. And every letter, every word, every sentence…...set in motion a chain of events, circumstances, people, movings, stirrings……. whatever it took to bring about the eventual fulfilment of that which was written in order “that the scripture might be fulfilled”.
In the fullness of time it came to pass. It had to come to pass, there was no other option. It had been deliberately written...... it had to be deliberately fulfilled.

The dream....

At the edge of a wood with sunset now going, my wife stood nearby her face all a knowing. She stood by a path that led deep in the wood, she’d found out a secret she’d tell if she could. Though midst the darkness of night her face showed no sorrow, somehow I knew it was my task to follow. We entered a clearing where stood a well made of stone, though dark all around us we felt not alone. Around the well leaves of autumn lay in abundant full colour, not one looked the same each unique from the other. A breeze blew upon them swirling them round, making them dance without making a sound. As the breeze gently swirled it merged with white light, and there in that clearing leaves danced in the night. The breeze was the light and the light was the breeze, and it twirled all around us with the greatest of ease. With the light came a peace that began to surround, so we stood there in awe on the holiest of ground. And as we breathed in the breeze and soaked in the light, He healed the hurt in our souls that belonged to the night. All our fears vanished, melted like snow, all gone forever in one single blow. And as we stood there in awe at this wonderful sight, my children came running all full of delight. And one of them whispered as if on a whim, “I know who it is Dad.... it’s got to be Him.!”

Sometimes....God Hides...

When we used to play Hide and Seek as children, I always wanted to hide rather than be the one who had to seek. But in my walk with God I have discovered that joy is often to be found not just in the hiding, but in the seeking as well.

There are many times when I can’t openly see God and feel His presence. Sometimes God hides.
Sometimes God hides in our difficulties, all the while gently calling for us to come looking for Him and to seek after Him.
Sometimes He hides in the midst of our suffering and in our wilderness experiences. But even in those times, He is really just waiting for us to rediscover Him in ways that surprise and delight. And I’ve discovered that whenever God does appear, His laughter always heals the broken heart.

Sometimes I catch glimpses of God as I read His word.
In one passage He is revealed openly, while in another I must dig deeper if I want to unearth a fresh revelation of His face.
But all of the time, my seeking and my searching is encapsulated in an awesome wonder and excitement.... though mixed with a little fear as well, because I’m never quite sure just when it is that He will suddenly appear.

But when it is all said and done, while we always seem to think that we are endlessly searching for Him, the truth is, that it is always He that is searching for us.
And even though sometimes it may take a while, He always reveals Himself in the end. And I’ve discovered, that there is tremendous joy in finding Him in unexpected places.

Mercy... is love let go....

Mercy is not just a pardon. It is not the letting go of the penalty I deserve because the giver of mercy wants to prove he has power.
Mercy is passionate. It is a painful desire welling up from within that compels one to bestow grace.
In essence, mercy is pain. Love pain. A pain that pierces the soul until released.
Mercy is intense desire that must be expended at all costs because the object to which its love is directed has captured the heart.
Mercy is love let go. A love that if not let go, will tear ones heart apart. It is passion released. Desire set free.
True mercy cries out till it touches the object of it's love.

“Oh love, that will not let me go”

Following the Leader.....

I was at this conference for “Leaders”.
Now leaders are just ordinary folks with fancy titles because someone accidentally followed them once without realising it and someone else who was a “leader” saw it and said “look...there goes a leader” and so from then on they were called a “leader” even though immediately after the follower started following the leader, they realised their mistake and quickly stopped and started following someone else who then got to be called a “leader”.

But anyways.... we was at this conference for “leaders”, and there was this guest speaker.
Now a guest speaker is a guest who speaks.
And this guest speaker was speaking something about ships. It was all about leaderships.
Now I’m all for leaderships, or any kind of ship really. Fellowship is good, friendship is good, apprenticeship is good, and computers have something called a microship, and then of course there’s fish and ships...so you can see I’m right into ships and stuff, so leaderships can’t be too bad either.
But the thing was that this guest speaker who was a speaking guest at our conference for leaders was saying things like “You have to do this” and “You have to do that” and then “You need to do this” and “You need to do that”.

Well... somehow, I got it into my head that this guest speaker who was a leader oughtn’t be trying to push me around so much and keep telling me that “I have to” and “I need to” cos I was already feeling pretty tired over all this leadership stuff.
So I started counting how many times this guest speaker was saying “I have to” and “I need to”.
And when I reached 35 times, I said to myself that if this guest speaker who was a leader says “I have to” one more time, I’m going to leap right up out of my seat in the middle of this conference and make a really big scene and demand an apology in a very aggressive tone.

You know those very spiritual prophecies a person gives at 600 miles per hour, and you know it has to be God because no normal human being can talk that fast under normal circumstances and so everyone shouts “amen” at the end even though they didn’t understand a word of it.? Well that was the kind of tone I was gonna use....
So here I was just waiting with baited breath for this guest speaker to say “I have to” one more time, which would make 36 times in all.... and blow me down..... she did.!!
So I thought to myself “Right... that does it”, and so guess what I did..?

Nothing.
I just sat there and passively listened to the guest speaking leader say it all over again another 28 times.!!
Can you imagine the defeat. Can you imagine the feelings of failure.
I was useless. I had failed in my mission to save all of us following followers from the guest leading speaker who was leading the followers who were following the leader.
I was miserable.
Everyone at the conference for leaderships was disappointed in me because I didn’t freak out and stop the guest speaker from her incessant “I have to’s”.
My credibility was gone. It was over for me. No-one could ever look to me again to be rescued from the insanity of a conference for leaders made up of followers who listened to leaders.
And now we would have to do it all over again next year.
So there was only one thing left for me to do...and we did it.

We left.
Yep.... I mean departed. Vamoosed. Jumped ship......leadership that is... and we took off at a great rate of knots and headed for home, checking of course that we was not being followed by any following leaders.
And instead of staying at that conference for leaders learning about leaderships and how to “have to” and “need to”, we went and done some retail therapy and spent some of the banks money which was really ours anyway because they gave it to us to spend and we did, but they want it back and we bought a new lounge suite.
And I have decided I am not going to do it. I am not going back on that ship again. No more conference for leadership followers next year for me, cos “I don’t have to” and “I don’t need to” and “I don’t want to” and..... I don’t have a problem...... with leadership.!!

Delight and Desire.....

It would appear to me that there is some truth to the statement made by the Greek philosopher Aristotle when he said “It is the nature of desire not to be satisfied”.
Our lives are filled with desire, but rarely are we ever truly satisfied.

The way I see it, there are basically two forms of desire.
Firstly there is a desire that is motivated by our hunger and thirst. But secondly, there is a desire that is motivated by having already tasted or partaken.
The Bible seems to indicate that God wants us to predominantly have the desire of those who have already tasted.
Psalm 34:8 “Taste and see that the Lord is good”

We spend way too much of our time hungry and thirsty.
We wrongly assume that because we are hungry for God we possess some kind of spiritual virtue. But far too much of our hunger is due to a leanness of the soul rather than the hunger of those who have already tasted and now long to taste more.
Hunger has never held a greater virtue than being filled.
Thirst has never held a greater virtue than being quenched.
Would you rather be hungry for God or full of God.?
Would you rather be thirsty for God or satisfied by God.?

Time and time again we read in the Psalms of how King David hungered and thirsted after God. But his hunger and his thirst was that of a man that had already drawn sustenance from the river of life, and was desperate to taste it again.
Psalm 63:1 “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.”

King David knew what it was to delight in God because he had spent time with him in the sanctuary of His presence. He had learned to delight in his God and he hungered for more.
Psalm 37:4 says…”Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
According to David, delight comes first, and our desire should spring out of that delight. We almost always operate in the reverse.

It seems to me that the problem is twofold.
Firstly, we tend to put desire before delight. Desire is a powerful thing, and our passions so easily rule us. We become captivated by our desires, and this would not be such a bad thing if our desires sprung out of a delight that we had already cultivated in God. But we tend to respond to our desires without having first spent time delighting in His presence. Yet it is when we delight ourselves in the Lord, that HE gives us the desires of our heart. Our desires are then filtered by his power and presence.

Secondly, we have a tendency to mistake our desire and hunger for God as a virtue in itself and then we rest in our longings. But what is better, to be hungry or full.? To crave for a meal, or to have eaten a meal.? God wants us to partake in him, delight in Him, and then we cannot but be consumed with a desire for more.
“Ho, every one that is thirsty, come to the waters, and he that has no money; come, buy, and eat; come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? and why do you labour for that which doesn’t satisfy? hearken diligently unto me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.”

We seem prone to wrongly assume that if we only hungered more after God, if we only thirsted more…. then we would be more spiritual, and then we would really know God. But what we need is not a greater desire, what we need is a greater delight.
To know God is to enjoy him.
To know God is to revel in him.
To know God is to delight in him.
For many years I had always seen the great commandment “Thou shalt LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” as a command to DO in greater measure. But the command is not about doing in greater measure.... it is about ENJOYING in greater measure. !!
I was fooled into thinking that with a greater desire I would enjoy God more, but the truth is that in enjoying God more I will greatly desire him.

Delight and Denial.....

I have always loved the fact that the first and greatest commandment is one that instructs us to love and not one that instructs us to deny.
A lawyer asks Jesus “What is the first and greatest commandment.?”
Imagine if Jesus had answered “Thou shalt deny thyself with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind and with all thy strength”

Love and delight, and not self denial have always been the Biblical motivation for serving God. Self denial carries no virtue in or of itself.
Self denial only has any real value when that which you delight in is far superior to the act of denial that you might carry out to obtain your delight.
“I count all things but loss (my denial) for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ (my delight)
“I press toward the mark (my denial) for the prize (my delight)......” Phillipians 3

There is no point in self denial for self denials sake alone.
It only becomes of worth when the act of self denial is for the purpose of realising something in which we find a much greater delight.
God is my delight – and any act of self denial only has merit when He is my goal. Any personal price that I might pay, is only of worth and only of value when it is paid in order that I might obtain my delight, my one determined purpose.... “that I might know Him.”

Time and the Ancient Hebrews..

We in Western Society view time as a line that stretches forward and backward in both directions, and what we experience now is a given point or dot on that line – called the present.
We make a clear distinction between something that happened some time ago in the past, something that is taking place right now in the present, and something that will take place later on in the future.
But to the ancient Hebrews, time was viewed more like a rhythm or like a melody, and when you begin to consider what actually makes up a rhythm or a melody it all makes pretty good sense.
One beat of a drum is insignificant on its own because it carries no meaning, it is just a loud noise. A single beat is only important in relation to the beats that have gone before and the beats that are to come. It is only important and only carries meaning when viewed as a part of an overall rhythm of events.
Likewise in a melody, one note on its own is nothing but noise.
But in relation to the notes that come before and the notes that come after, each note has relevance and is a part of an overall meaning and scheme of things.
When we conceive of time as a rhythm rather than a straight line, any one single moment is connected to, and contains all of the significance of the previous moments and all of the significance of the moments still yet to come because that’s what a rhythm is.
A rhythm is not a rhythm unless there are moments both before and after any one single moment. A rhythm is dependent on the moments behind you and the moments in front of you for significance. Without those moments both before and after there is no rhythm and no significance or meaning.
This is how the ancient Hebrews understood time.
The past, present and future are connected to each other.
Each moment in time, is only significant in relation to the moments that have gone before, and the moments that are yet to come.
Time is a journey of “movement”, a rhythmic pulse, with each “life moment” an important part of an overall melody that is significant only when viewed as a whole.
Imagine you went to listen to the symphony orchestra playing in a large auditorium. You take your seat and the music begins to play.
But to your dismay, the tones are very melancholic and sombre.
After five minutes of this you can’t take it any-more and so you get up and leave. But because you did not stay long enough to hear the victorious and the triumphant crescendo that finalises the piece, you will have interpreted the significance of the music incorrectly and will not have benefited from the true meaning of the piece as a whole.
The past and the future, the perfect and the imperfect are actually one piece of music. Time is a great symphony created by God.
There is ebb and flow, there are both melancholic whispers, and there are thunderous raptures of sound. It is not possible to correctly interpret the music until the symphony is over. Each bar of music, each beat of the rhythm, each musical note, each melody line must be viewed and interpreted as a whole...... only then will it all make sense, only then will we understand its true meaning.

Likewise......
Any single beat in the rhythm of your life, that you are facing right now or have ever faced in your lifetime, any one single circumstance or situation, any individual crisis, any momentary heartache, any one single tragedy, or any one single moment in time of any kind must never be judged on its own, because it only truly has meaning when it is understood as a whole, when all of the beats of the past are combined with all of the beats of the future.
Because each beat of your life is dependent on the beats that have gone before, and is dependent on those beats that are yet to come for their true significance and meaning.
Every beat of our life, only makes sense when it is connected to the whole of the symphony, and only carries meaning when viewed in the light of eternity.
Do not pass judgement on the beats of your life that have gone before….. because you have not yet heard the beats to come.
You do not yet know, if that circumstance or situation that you are facing right now will not rebound to the glory of God.
You do not yet know, if that so called tragedy that has left you devastated for the time being, will not yet still bring about something of incredible beauty.
You do not yet know, if that black and white heartache that has ripped you apart at this small moment in time will not yet blossom into full colour of abundant joy.
Because everything that you have faced up until now, all that you can see at this moment, is but a small part of an overall symphony of His mercy and His grace.