Quiet on the Set

Posted on June 21, 2014 by PJ

I love adventure movies. I prefer them to chick flicks any day. Who doesn’t like a good adventure? Globe trotting Heroes, creepy villains, epic story lines, mysterious occurrences, mass mayhem and death, clueless bystanders, exciting chase scenes, crazy cinematography, and of course a pot of gold at the end (or the lost ark.)

I believe we love adventure movies because we were created to live our lives as an adventure. Instead we’ve been tricked into living vicariously through Indiana Jones, while safely eating popcorn.

Everything about God and His story screams adventure. But you already know all that. Pick any person in the Bible… Adventure. John Huss, Charlemagne, Joan of Arc, Martin Luther (both of them), Smith Wigglesworth, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera… Adventure.

Lately, I’ve decided to see my life as an adventure. Woah, that totally changed my perspective. It has been awesome just hanging out with Jesus and watching Him work through me and despite me.

But right now I’m not thinking about all those exploits. I’m thinking about the in-betweens. The parts that never make it to the big screen. Waiting for set changes, waiting for make-up and wardrobe, waiting for others to complete their scenes… Waiting, waiting, waiting.

The adventure was moving right along when someone yelled, “Cut! Reset, back to 1.” Again?! We have to do that whole scene over again?! Or worse, waiting for the extras to get it straight before you even walk on the scene. Waiting for the adventure to get rolling again is the hardest part.

So here I sit in my director’s chair, munching on popcorn, missing the thrill of the chase. Suppose I’ll take this time to go over the script again. I guess the waiting is an adventure in itself.

Quiet on the set, filming resumes in 3, 2, 1… Action!

New Thing

Posted on June 13, 2014 by PJ

Rumbling in my spirit
Hunger
Food can not satisfy
Drink will not quench

Rumbling
Awake O Sleepers
Feel the rhythm
Cadence calls

“I can hear the rhythm
of the Lion of the tribe of Judah
He’s doing a new thing
So we’re singing a new song”*

I tire of old wine skins
Stretched and wrinkled
I am like bottled-up wine
New wine skins ready to burst

Rumbling in my spirit
It’s coming
The new thing
Cadence calls

“I can hear the rhythm
of the Lion of the tribe of Judah
He’s doing a new thing
So we’re singing a new song”*

Do you hear it too?

And His Name is made famous again!

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” (Mark 2:22 NIV)

*lyrics by Misty Edwards, “People Get Ready”

System Reset

Posted on June 9, 2014 by PJ

What if the local bookstores were churches?
What if prophetic churches spent their words at the local coffee shops?
What if pew sitting Christians walked and prayed around the downtown and called it Church?
What if art galleries preached the Message of peace to the Lost?

What if there was a reset button on the “Church?”

We could press the button and restart the system with a clean memory, no old programs running in the background, bad data is deleted, the system is re-balanced. Get rid of obsolete programs and run more efficient space-saving apps. Everything would look different. Compare Windows 95 to Windows 10 (at least how it looks)

So why is the Church still running on Vista?

Jesus never followed the same patterns. Heal the sick? Spit, mud, and relying solely on faith – 3 different ways, same result, the blind see. Jesus seemed to upgrade His apps often.

I don’t want to keep running old programs, I’m upgrading to the iAm system. Frequent downloads necessary but way more efficient.

John 14:12
NIV
“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.

2 Corinthians 3:18
The Message (MSG)
16-18 Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

To Know Him and Make Him Known

Posted on June 8, 2014 by PJ

O just and righteous Father, although the world has not known You and has failed to recognize You and has never acknowledged You, I have known You [continually]; and these men understand and know that You have sent Me. I have made Your Name known to them and revealed Your character and Your very Self, and I will continue to make [You] known, that the love which You have bestowed upon Me may be in them [felt in their hearts] and that I [Myself] may be in them. (John 17:1, 25, 26 AMP)

It seems so simple. Get to know God, personally, like a dear friend. He’s so amazing awesome that you’ll want everyone you know to know Him too.

Why do we complicate a natural reaction to a great friendship?

Through His Eyes

Posted on June 5, 2014 by PJ

What would we see if we were in Him and He in us?

Made on my ipad with Sketchbook Mobile

Nothing like the smell of compost in the morning

Posted on June 1, 2014 by PJ

The gardener at the Miksh house in Salem keeps a compost pile. He also grows the most beautiful assortment of vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers. In fact, that garden is gorgeous.

I love taking the young students to see the gardens. The gardener enthusiastically shares his knowledge with the children. I also love to show the kiddos the compost pile.

Why? Because it’s cool to show them that there is a safe and natural way to fertilize the soil. Plus, kids love poop. In their world it’s a conversation stimulant.

If I were to dig through that pile – and I won’t- I’m guessing I would find the mess of dead things, past dinners, scraps and scattered feline deposits all stacked on top of each other. Garbage, really – but when all the messy past is piled up and sprinkled with Time it becomes the best fertilizer. And those gardens could not hold such beauty and nourishment if it weren’t for the dead and messy scraps of the past.

Fertile, the root word of fertilizer, duh, means to make fruitful. And boy is that garden full of fruit.

So the next time I lament over the ugly, messy, dead things in my past, I’ll think about compost. Without those leftovers, I would not be fruitful person I am today. All of that garbage actually prepped my heart for growth. Yup, it stunk to high heaven when I was wading through it, but Time and Holy Spirit changed the composition to fertilizer. He makes ALL things work together for good. Now the scent of life takes its place.

… God said unto them, BE FRUITFUL, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat… And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (Genesis 1:27-31 KJV)

He chases His Bride

Posted on May 25, 2014 by PJ

Stunning afternoon
Sky, the bluest blue
Sun, clear bright and warm
Ancient tree, luminous green canopy

The Bridegroom waits

Waiting bird
Wings, outstretched motionless
Eagle, mounts in high spirals
Movement and rest, magnificent

We all wait

Opening music
Bridegroom, ear-to-ear beams
Bushes, shimmer and part
Bride, revealed glowing

The Bridegroom runs

Trembling Bride
Arms, outstretched reaching
Heart, wild aflutter
Hands, entwined embracing

We wait no more

Everlasting Vows
Two, emerge as one
Witnesses, tears streaming
Unity, God’s mystery unveiled

The whole Earth applauds as The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life. (Revelation 22:17 NLT)

The Gallery

Posted on May 20, 2014 by PJ

I am a Canvas unfinished
Layers painted over with vibrant hues, tints and shades
Unfinished, yet hung in the Gallery

The Gallery opens tonight
This Gallery called the “Church”
Piece after Piece line the Gallery walls
Some finished, some works in progress
All unique in theme, texture and palette

Heavenly thrones empty
Unseen guests peruse each Piece
Dignitaries and Despots
Amazed and shocked as they read the Canvas stories

All Fall to their knees

For Trembling Powerless Despots
It is the dreaded writing on the wall
For Applauding Joyful Dignitaries
It is the fulfillment of their long awaited eager expectations

Nevertheless all react, all fall

The Mysterious Plan that the Creator kept secret
Now revealed in this Gallery of Art
Christ in us, the hope of glory

And I too, yet unfinished, am on display before the whole earth, as His masterpiece.

God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ephesians 3:10, 11 NLT)

Nothing But A Mist

Musings about life for life

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