Ok here's something worthwhile, unlike my writing from yesterday which was about as desperate as a Michael Bolton impersonator looking for work. The following started the tear ducts working after a long dry spell the first time I heard it (about 7 years ago). I was really beginning to lose faith in the power of words to communicate creatively. Oddly enough I was working in a Christian bookstore at the time.
Poetry by a guy named Bill Malonee. A portion of a piece called 'Parting Shot'.

There's a question forming out here in the dark and a heavy air all around my heart
Now laden with consequence, chain link fence, and shot though with all manner of lies
I've been trapped in and caught
And the world like a tempist in your ears doth roar
And the flesh wants to dress up and play the whore
And the devil wants to cast all manner of doubt on the real lover with the key dying to let you out
Of the bars that you fashioned with your stolen clout
When the great divorce happens hide me in your song
Though I don't deserve it and I don't belong
Well I may be confused but I'll play my hunch,
Did it feel like a kiss or a counterpunch?

I've been neglecting the site for the past few days to devote time to the annual church fireworks stand. Most of the time the company makes the time pass with brevity and levity. Yesterday, though, was about 105 degrees in the shade which made working the stand as fun as being a proctologist in a leper colony. Don't take me too seriously here today. My brain has been scrambled into a cream cornball of insanity by the heat, dust, and gunpowder. Right up there with climbing Everest, running with the bulls in Pamplona, swimming the English Channel, and tipping cows, is working a fireworks stand in Texas in July with 'Sweet Home Alabama' playin in the background. Add to that a fine game of dominos with a buddy who happens to be a card carrying member of the NRA, and you've got an experience that is worth writing about on a weblog that nobody reads. I just looked in the mirror and sure enough, part of my neck is turning red. Bright red.

(A rare moment here. I actually allow another page out of one of my personal journals to leak into cyberspace. Read at your own risk)
For the first time in a great while, I'm bored with life. I've turned 30 and I've become boring. I'm boring myself, for cryin out loud. My quick wit has grown dull and my scathing humor has eroded into chronic irritability. I have no earthly idea why. I still soak in the Scriptures and, by God's Holy Spirit, profound truth occasionally raises it's fearsome head. This is a condition that I have to deal with. I'm not so interested how I went wrong as much as how to get right. Perhaps therin lies the problem. Unless I take a couple of mental steps backwards I may blaze a trail to a greater darkness. When you come to a cliff, only the hopeless or stupid step forward. Optimistic progression steps back to get a clear perspective from a safe vantage point - with the understanding that while the goal still lies ahead there is a way to attain it without plunging to your death. In addition if one dismisses the risk and therefore forfeits the goal, then another death of sorts has occured. This death is far less forgiving because it's a death you have to live. No wonder zombies are so angry. Like other believers I press toward the goal of 'Christlikeness'. People's response to Jesus was to cheer him on one day and kill him the next. Is that what I really want? I want to serve and for that service I would prefer their positive response over the negative. I guess I have to resolve that in fickle people just like me, one is married to the other. So I've come to the cliff. I think I will choose to..."

Spiritual Hypocrites and Jars of Clay

What happens when you admire the teaching of a teacher but the actions of their personal life don't seem to mesh with it? Plainly put, how do you deal with a spiritual hypocrite?
If truth's reality depended upon the character of the messenger we would all be very confused. There is tremendous comfort in knowing that the cure for the sickness of sin retains its potency regardless of the filthy hands that deliver it to me. Their decision to (or not to) reflect what they teach has no effect upon my acceptance of that truth unless my eyes are focused on man rather than God. If I look to man's character to validate the truth he proclaims I set myself to err. For men of character can also proclaim a lie. With sincerity and passion, they can deliver a deception. So truth that is of God must be spiritually discerned. Ultimately since we have this treasure in earthen vessels, dig out the truth and the treasure and let God deal with the vessel. That's spiritual discernment. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.

I often leave a conversation wondering if my silence would have ministered more than my words. Consider the following observation from a true story.
Torn By Grief by Joseph Bayly
"I was sitting, torn by grief. A Christian came and talked of God's dealings, of why things happen, and hope beyond the grave. He talked constantly of things my heart knew were true. I was unmoved except to wish he would go away. He finally did.
I was sitting, torn by grief. A Christian came and sat beside me for an hour or more. He listened when I finally spoke, briefly answered, humbly prayed, and left. I was moved. I was comforted. I hated to see him go."

The legend is that St. Francis was praying in the field one day when a pilgrim came to be edified by his words. The pilgrim sat waiting for quite some time when finally a fellow disciple walked to Francis and said, “Please say something to our brother that he may be edified.” Francis replied, “If he is not edified by my silence, he will not be edified by my speech.”
Look around at the ‘wordiness’ of our world. Signs everywhere begging you to “taste me, touch me, buy me, smell me, drink me, etc”. The ‘word’ has become worthless for we are drowning in them. The result is that the function of the word is no longer realized. The word no longer communicates, no longer fosters communion, no longer creates community, and therefore no longer gives life.
Often it seems that we find ourselves entangled in such a complex series of discussions, debates, and arguments about God or ‘God Issues’ that a simple conversation with God or simply enjoying the presence of God has become nearly impossible.
Silence is the home of the word. Meditation gives strength and fruitfulness to the word. Words are meant to disclose the mystery of the silence from which they come. Human silence is often born out of embarrassment, shame, or guilt. In divine silence, love rests secure.
Unfortunately for us, silence has become a fearful thing. For most people it creates an itchy nervousness. Most people experience silence not as full and rich but as empty and hollow. We have all experienced times when someone has said in church, “Let’s be silent for a few moments.” People become restless like one waits for a fuse to burn down to the powder. I have shunned silence in some services because of the anxiety it provokes. But God is not a God of fear but of divine love. He also is silent more often than He speaks. Allow this time of silence to store up the heat and passion for His presence within you. Convert an empty silence into a full silence. Don’t be disappointed if He doesn’t “speak to you” as you think He ought to. Be content to enjoy a shared moment of silence with the Creator of the universe.

Perspective effects our behavior or reaction to everything. As a child everyone of us has walked with arms outstretched along a curb pretending that we were hundreds of feet from the ground. With a cocky confidence we skip and dance our way from one step to the other thrilling ourselves with our false sense of courage. When suddenly a misstep causes us to tumble into our imaginary abyss but the illusion of danger is shattered by the concrete that beneath our feet. God began gut checking me recently about my own perspective of facts and truth. What's the difference? The facts are something that we see happening in the physical which while feeling very real now happens to be a lie. There are areas of your life that are out of control and things happening that are motions of sin that seem to negate the truth. Plainly put the fact is that we all have problems and issues. The knowledge of that fact won’t set you free for facts are not a solution. Truth on the other hand, has far greater power. The Scripture says You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Freedom rarely results from facts. We've often identified a problem by saying, "The fact remains..." But God has sent the 'Truth' to demonstrate that what appears to be fact doesn't have to remain.

It's Monday. The day that preachers shouldn't do anything that requires a mental pushup. For some reason I can teach school all day for five days a week but one single service on Sunday morning drains you like an 800 lb mosquito. Everyone seems to have issues on Monday though. I'm sure we could eliminate preacher scandals if right after every service they threw a straightjacket on him and put em in a rubber room for about 24 hours. I say him because when was the last time you heard of female preacher scandals? The likelyhood of that is as probable as getting a Jehovah Witness to say, “Look we really gotta be going." Nothing against female preachers but some of them have a strut like they went to the Janet Reno school of runway modeling. Speaking of Janet Reno, I just heard she was having prostate trouble. Or was that John Madden? I get them mixed up. Getting the brain to work on Monday is more challenging than organizing a round of twister at the nursing home. To all you intellectual friends, foes, and female preachers who grace my blog, no offense intended. In light of the rest of posts on this site this one is as out of place as a boom box in an Amish colony. I just thought of something else I probably shouldn't do on Monday. Type.

The law of cause and effect is in play all around us. If we throw a ball or fire off a round the result of our action will be felt far from us and this result though caused by us and in spite of our finest aim and best intentions, is out of our control. So it is with spiritual truth. God has placed into the world around us certain spiritual decisions that all have cause and effect. When we act based upon a cause that is unwise won't the ensuing result be negative spiritually? Conversely our positive decisions must have a positive effect spiritually since the world that is seen is directly connected to the world that is unseen. So I determine today to study the spiritual effects of my actions (as much as that is possible) and understand the cause for which they were put into play. Not for the purpose of explaining the ways of God which are beyond our capacity to search, and not for the purpose of attaining any grace, favor, or gain for myself, but instead for the purpose of building a deeper faith in the faithfulness of the Father of lights in whom is no shadow of turning.