Defragmenting Life (Thought life)

If you have children you know what it is like to go into their room and everything that was neatly on their shelves, in their toy boxes, hanging and stacked in their closet, and folded in their dresser has somehow become floor camouflage. Even their beds aren’t untouched by the carried away, spontaneous moments of imagination and play.

I guess there is a time for everything - a time to play and a time to clean up. (Clean up. Clean up. Everyone do you part. Clean up. Clean up. Everyone do your share.)

Even us adults have to un-clutter our lives once in a while.

It may not be the usage, consumption, or lack of effort in sorting material possessions but the way we think over, absorb, and hold on to information.

Our minds get so camouflaged with the matters and details of life we can no longer see the foundation of our lives and what truly matters in life. That goes for activities too!

Ever get over loaded with information and activity?

Has someone ever dumped or unloaded a lot of hefty information in your lap and then walked away? Has someone ever done something to yank your shirt collar?

How about when the aspects and events and tasks at hand get to be SO much to handle that you just end up becoming SO task oriented that you fail to see those around you being turned off by your super taskmaster mode. You’re giving orders here and there and forgetting you are being somewhat insensitive to other people’s feelings around you. (Then you realize… did I just grow horns, become red, and become a great pitchfork poker?)

Then there are some us who get so bombarded with so much information, jobs and tasks that we begin to get bogged down and then literally shut down. Sleep is good for the mind but when your mind is tired because it has a three-ring circus running around inside of it and you happen to be the strong man trying to hold up the elephant there is a problem.

I personally tend to think WAY too much on certain aspects of life which bogs me down emotional and physically. I start to put things on my shoulders to the point I am emotionally and physically drained and worn out.

So what do we do when we cannot discern the matters of the world verses the matters that truly matter in life that us give peace of mind and joy?

There is a wonderful illustration in Luke that might help us understand what truly matters in life.

Luke 10:38- 42 says “As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed them into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was worrying over the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are so upset over all these details! There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it- and I won’t take it away from her.”

Martha had her eyes on the details of life. She had made a problem for herself. Ever get so blinded by all the things in life that you get carried away by them and make yourself upset and frustrated? Do you sometimes get even more upset because others aren’t helping you out to solve the problem or they don’t even perceive the tasks, that need to be done, as a problem?

Martha made herself a bomb.

I can see Martha thinking this: “Dinner must be served by this time. This many places must be set. This many dishes must be clean. These food items must be prepared in this way and this manner or else it will not be perfect. It will soon be getting dark and I wonder if I have enough oil to keep the lanterns lit. The main course isn’t being cooked as well as I would like. Why is my sister who knows how do these things as well as I not helping me?”

Mary, on the other hand, is in a different state of mind. Her mind and eyes are on Jesus.

Ever have dinner with a large group of friends? There is a lot of talk and activity. Mary, in the middle of all this activity, has quieted herself down in front of the Lord and simply listened. She made herself available to listen to what the Lord had to say to her and everyone else who had inquiring ears. Her eyes are on Jesus not on the activity and matters going on around her. Notice she didn’t try to argue with Martha, she just stayed focused on Jesus.

Yes there are a lot of things to be done in life. There are a lot of things that are said. There are a lot of things happening in the world around us but where is our focus?

I will admit first hand that it is difficult to see past those missiles of tasks, ideas, and opinions coming towards us everyday. During times of struggle, it is sometimes difficult to pray. It is sometimes difficult to open our bible and read. It is difficult to just sit and be still and be quiet both inside and out. It is hard to find clarity.

Yes it takes a MAJOR effort and step on our part BUT if we just take that step… those few minutes of quiet and few words/ thoughts to ask God to help clear our minds, we’ll find that
Jesus is the greatest interceptor of clattered thinking.

Philippians 4:6 “Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

The cluttered pieces of life will be placed in their rightful place and you will see what truly matters in this life.

Th0ught5 –Ripples and Waves

There is a show, called Numb3rs, on television. It’s basically about two brothers who solve crimes for the FBI. One brother is a FBI agent and the other is professor/genus in mathematical theory. In the show, the brother who is a genus uses mathematical theories to solve crimes but unfortunately his theories are not always understood by his brother and co-workers so to help them understand the ideas behind the theories the professor brother often uses illustrations to explain the theories.

Now recently I have seen and felt the effects of a bad understanding. Most of us would have an idea what is a “misunderstanding” because we have all had them and "been there" but many of us would wonder what would be considered a “bad” misunderstanding.

A bad misunderstanding to me is when it effects a large group of people but instead of going into intimate details of this ordeal, which might be construed as some form of gossip -down the short or long road ahead I will give you an illustration.

Most of everyone hates misunderstandings. I say “most” because there are individuals and beings out there that like to use misunderstandings to their advantage or social gain. One way to divide and conquer their opponent is to provide opportunities and breeding grounds for misunderstandings to occur. Then there are misunderstandings that just happen innocently but they somehow make a big mess.

As I mentioned before, am currently watching and experiencing this ripple affect which is spreading like a stone dropped in a pool of water and every ripple that is produced is changing in size and speed as it moves further from where the stone was dropped into the water. I say “stone” now but in actuality the incident was really just the size of a pebble.

The incident, the pebble, which has caused this affect, was quite innocent in circumstance and nature has transformed into waves - due to those “experiencing” the ripple - and in a sense, those experiencing this ripple have made ripples of their own which have carried this mishap into something that was really nothing from the start.

Like rocks aligned near a beach getting hit by a simple wave, these rocks all have been giving the opportunity to output a splash and ripple pattern of their own.

When these different individuals have been hit by the same wave their different sizes and shapes and perspectives and moods - have perceived the hit differently.

The responding output ripples of these rocks aren't just different but can even be more damaging then the simple initial ripple, which was not harmful at all.

Think of it as rowdy bar scene in a movie. A guy innocently loses his balance and bumps into another guy who knocks a waitress over who is carrying beers to a table. The beer is dumped into some guy’s lap who only sees the guy who bumped into the waitress and decides to give the guy that drenched him a black eye, which proceeds into even larger bar fight and people going to jail.

People have different perspectives, attitudes, notions, bias, responses, and even insecurities and unless the individuals who get hit by the ripple initially realize the ripple was just a ripple - the responding ripples from that tiny pebble will become something much larger and different then what actually happened in the first place.

Remember playing that game in school, where one kid whispers something in another kid’s ear and that kid passes it down to another kid and that child repeats what they thought they heard and by the time the last child in line gets what is supposedly said by the first kid – it is totally different.

Probably the least affected will be the ones who started the miscommunication in the first place.

And those mostly affected will be those who further down the line from initial ripple.
Incidents like this one can adversely a large group of people because of understandings or misunderstandings of the original intent of the pebble.

The incident, innocent or not, can become negative notions or feelings based on previous histories, experiences, attitudes and insecurities. Add vocal and facial expressions to the mix and you have puddle of assumption that has turned into quick sand.

Words and ideas can be powerful but they are only powerful if we give them residence within us.

And unfortunately it is often based on a negative perspectives or judgments on others or even ourselves that make up this mess.

It can be like an ant taking poison to the rest of the hive or a Trojan horse into gates.

Sometimes we can carry the ball of fire all by ourselves without any help from others who intend or don’t intend to hurt us. Even the devil doesn’t have to work too hard to get those bees in the hive all a buzz when they already have circumstances and unresolved issues that are still working among them.

Usually presumptions and unresolved issues can be cleared up if parties are standing on Christ- in humility, honesty and love but if one is just phony or wants to hold onto hard feelings then the parties who want resolution can only do one thing....

There is a painting I saw recently when we went to the Oregon Coast. I had seen it several times before but this time it was a sequence of pictures of the same picture. The pictures were of a lighthouse sitting on a piece of rock jutting out of ocean and a man standing just outside the door of the lighthouse as a surge of a wave comes crashing into the backside of it.

With every proceeding picture the humongous wave is surrounding the bottom of the lighthouse and coming ever closer to where the man of the lighthouse is standing and just before the bottom the lighthouse is totally surrounded by water and the man of the lighthouse swept out to sea, the man of the lighthouse goes inside and shuts the door where he is protected.

2 Samuel 22:2 These are the words he sang: "The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the strength of my salvation, and my stronghold, my high tower, my savior, the one who saves me from violence. I will call on the LORD, who is worthy of praise, for he saves me from my enemies. The waves of death surround me; the floods of destruction swept over me. The grave wrapped its ropes around me; death itself stared me in the face. But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I called to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry reached his ears.

Psalm 92:15 They will declare, "The LORD is just! He is my rock! There is nothing but goodness in him!"

Psalm 94:22 But the LORD is my fortress; my God is a mighty rock where I can hide.

Psalm 144:1 Bless the LORD, who is my rock. He gives me strength for war and skill for battle. He is my loving ally and my fortress, my tower of safety, my deliverer. He stands before me as a shield, and I take refuge in him. He subdues the nations under me.

God is our rock and he has built a lighthouse in Christ for us to go to and to be sheltered and protected in. This lighthouse was the one who simply told the storm to stop and it did - but in order for any storm to stop inside us we must give it to the LORD.

God gave us free will but it is our choice or not to weather out the storm and crashing waves on our own or seek protection in the LORD who is our high tower in the storms and waves of life. If we try to weather out the storms and crashing waves of life, by ourselves, we are doomed to sorrow and hardening of the heart.

Thoughts, presumptions, insecurities, a person’s outward reactions to you and others you love must be given to the LORD. We must all stand on the ROCK of Christ that will stand forever. We must all enter his strong tower to be perfected and protected in his wisdom, grace and love as the ripples and waves of life come our way. Sure we will hear the ripples and waves and maybe even some vibration but in Christ we can walk out every word and action in love.

There we endure. There we live. There we remain the men and women of the lighthouse.

John 8:12 Jesus said to the people, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life."

Growth, Boldness, Vine & Wine

Currently I have been trying to grow some red grapes in our backyard. We bought a grape vine early this spring, dug a hole and planted it in some good soil and covered and surrounded the area with a layer of mulch. It has been watered everyday and gets plenty of sunshine but so far it has only grown about 4 feet and is covered with leaves. Come to find out while reading a magazine, grape vines need poor soil to produce grapes… and if you coddle them you’ll get just what we got… lots of leaf and vine and little else. Grape vines I guess thrive in gravely, sandy, calciferous soil that hardly retains moisture and holds little if any fertile soil. Sounds a lot like the natural surroundings we have here in Texas… in short we tried too hard and got poor results.

Who would of thought a grape vine would grow fruit in such poor conditions?

This reminded me of Jesus:
“Yes I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who parts from me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted! My true disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to my Father.” John 15:5-8

Jesus came to earth to face what kind of conditions? You might say the soil conditions were pretty stony, hard and unfertile. In fact it lacked the soil type to keep people from getting thirsty and satisfied. Some would even agree the conditions were extremely turbulent.

Jesus is the vine of life. A person who tries to grow on any other vine or a counterfeit won’t just produce any good fruit but will suffer greatly and will even suffer eternity if they don’t find Christ before they leave this life.

Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned for greater fruitfulness by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine and you cannot be fruitful apart from me.” John 15:1-4

Without Jesus we can do nothing of good in this world. This world’s soil type is a hard, gravely, sandy, unfertile and certainly keeps many thirsty - metaphorically speaking.

The world being so however…. Is a great place to grow “Christ-centered fruit.”

It is a great place to mature us, Christians, as we remain “connected” to the “Vine” and are empowered by the Holy Spirit. The conditions regardless if they are favorable or not in our eyes, will have a favorable moment if we are willing and listening to what God has us to speak at the precise moment he wants us to speak or act. Sometimes it takes boldness but that boldness is not dependent on our perception of ourselves or those we are speaking to but God’s understanding of that person or people we are to speaking/witness to.

Witnessing should come as natural as breathing… but as human beings we like to THINK too much! Agreed??? Witnessing should come from a Christ-centered love that is not based on self-perception or a pre-determined, laid out plan but you merely being a vessel of Christ’s love.

Sometimes we are blessed by being this vessel but this vessel shouldn’t get any credit for merely doing what it was designed to do.

“And the servant is not even thanked, because he is merely doing what he is suppose to do. In the say way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are not worthy of praise. We are servants who have simply done our duty’.” Luke 17:9

God did not make you into a robot or some copy of someone else. He doesn’t want you to follow some “Way of the Master” method. He made you, the person you are, to witness to the people he had planned for you to come into contact with long ago. (Remember God knew his people in advance.) God wants you to be yourself not someone you are not and God will do the rest.

Building on the WORD:
“But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere –“ Acts 1:8

“For it won’t be you doing the talking- it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” Matthew 10:20

“This will be your opportunity to tell them about me. So don’t worry about how to answer the charges against you, for I will give you the right words and such wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to reply!” Luke 21:13

“For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you the full assurance that what we said was true. And you know that the way we lived among you was further proof of the truth of our message. “ 1 Thessalonians 1:5

“With my authority, take this message of repentance to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me.’ You are a witness of all these things. And now I will send you the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised.” Luke 24:47

“For in him we live and move and exist. As one of your poets says, ‘We are his offspring.’ Acts 17:28

“For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.” James 1:3.

Fruit into Wine: When it comes to the moving of God, God can make water into wine. (John 2) He can do the same in us. Fruit is instant and wine is quickly created and poured out of an individual for all to see and enjoy. Often it defies and challenges human understanding and rational.

Our lives are changed in a moment. We, as vessels, once used for things we were no intended for, found our true purpose. The transformation from old wine skin to new wine skin was instantaneous when we surrendered our life to Christ. (Everything was made new again.)

The old was replaced by a new spirit and heart -for the old would not hold up during the fermentation process of the new wine that is made with the new fruit that grows under the watchful eye of the master gardener.

The fruit is tested and tasted and turned into wine to be shared with the less fortunate. The taste is either sweet to those seeking a better life or it bitter to those who have given up conscious, morality and life is self. (Matthew 9:17, Luke 5:38-39)

And let us remember with every taste/test of a wine thief, we know we are becoming aged to perfection.

Let us make the most of every opportunity for doing good. Let us not act thoughtlessly but try to understand what the Lord wants us to do in every opportunity or changing condition…. Let the Holy Spirit fill and move us in the correct manner and action. We are God’s ambassadors, God’s perfected wine in Christ, so let us ask that he give us the boldness to speak - as we should and pour out God's love. (Ephesians 5:15-18, 6:19-20)

I am not a wine drinker but I enjoy the good wine that is poured out of others. It is full of character and glimmers with beauty.