Parakalein

I looked up into the sky.  It is beautiful and bright with some few white clouds, like pieces of white cotton on a blue blanket  The sun shining brightly.  It looks like a perfect day. I thought of all the different things I see in the sky: Winged birds flying with the freedom of the wind and the joy of the heavens.  Planes man's attempt to fly so he could have more time to visit.  I think of the plane that just took my daughter back to Seoul, Korea.  Ot the planes that brought my other daughter and her family to Yellowstone Park for a vacation.  I thought how good God is to give us wings to fly and the joy of being with people who love us and who we have love towards.

Then I recalled the forecast:  hurricane Irene is coming up the coast and there will be rain and more rain and high winds for days.  Indeed the calm before the storm.

Then I recalled that nearly 10 years ago on a Tuesday morning so similar to today their was a storm about to come our way.  A storm of "hells fury" when people feel abused and terrorized so think they have a right to abuse and inflict terror.  Who would have ever thought of planes being used as missiles to crash into the twin towers without respect to human life on the airplane or in the towers, nor the terrorists themselves.  Their was not warning, no forecast just the sudden trauma of the tragedy.  For a time the heat of that fury galvanized a nation.


I am reminded that there is also a calm in the storm and a calm after the storm.  Calmness is the gift of faith in a world of chaos.  The certainty of heaven's calm is the balance point of "hell's fury".  The sky is not falling. Peace and love are rising to meet the peace of the blue sky and the arm love of the sun.

Thanks be to God.

A number of years ago when I was first introduced to the "Internal Family System" model of therapy (www.selfleadership.org) the founder said one thing then another that seemed incongruent and inconsistent. He said "the Self" has not agenda.  Later he said, "the Self has an agenda".

So today I am reflecting on two incidents in my life one today and one last Saturday.  Last Saturday, we went for a day trip to Nantucket Island.  I twas a perfect weather day and we had waited for one to come up.  My agenda was to get on the island early via the Freedom Ferry then eat at our favorite breakfast nook.  They have a patio that allows our dog to lay at our feet while we enjoy breakfast.  She gets the leftovers as a reward for good dog behavior which in her mind makes us good people.  There was an hour wait so we walked around town and it became a 2 hour wait.  I was bummed.  We then chose to eat at another new place.  We are adventuresome eaters but I was bummed my agenda was not done.  The new place was perfect and had a 10 minute wait for a perfect out of the way table.  Then another couple came in with their dog and we felt, "oh no".  the hour conversation that followed was great for our dogs and each of us.  Their were numerous connectors with this couple and we have exchanged emails already.

When I let go of my agenda something wonderful happened that I would have missed if I was so agenda focused that I could not be flexible.  I wonder how many connectors we miss because we are too agenda focused.  At the same time if I we were not faithful to our agenda to go to Nantucket the connection would never had happened.

So I began to imagine the bounty of living with an agenda but not being so fixated on what we want that we are not flexible about that agenda.  Maybe God's agenda is not for us to do or not do any particular thing but to be fair and flexible no matter what.  God remains in a position of peace and in a posture of love toward everyone.  That is God;s agenda.  Beyond that God is fair and flexible.

What if we all simply had an agenda to stay in a peaceful position or place regardless of anything and to remain in a posture of loving kindness toward everyone regardless of anything.   The we would be willing to sacrifice all the other agendas of life and the pursuit of happiness and in so doing be open to new vistas of mysterious living and ventures of wonder.

So I have learned to attempt to be faithful and focused in the agenda of loving actions and peaceful attitudes while at the same time having agendas that are easily flexed and changed opening my life to the wonders of wonder itself.

Oh yes, the other event:  I had on my agenda after dropping my daughter off at the airport to visit the New York Road Runners Club to meet up with some concerns for the NYC marathon some three months away.  My car overheated on 83rd street right by a parking space several blocks from the club.  So I am taking care of my ailing car and my agenda to stop at NYRRC will wait to another time. I was upset at first that my agenda was being dismantled.  At the same time, my agenda of getting my daughter to the airport and getting into the city and even finding a parking space were all met.  So i was more thankful than anything.  I was not happy about the car trouble but I was not rattled in my peace or disturbed in my loving kindness.  This is not always true but it was true today.  Thankfully.  I just got an email for them saying it will work out better next week.  So there you go.

It is both having an agenda and not having an agenda that is liberating and pacifying simultaneously.

Mmmmm.

I was listening to the sports station the other morning.  The news of the day was the man from Miami University who was a football booster and who indicated that he gave money favors etc. to young men to play football at Miami University.

The gentlemen is already in jail for a ponzi scheme.  So what he was not the issue.  The dialogue went to the issue of how can you hold these young men of 18, 19, 20 years old accountable for taking these gifts.  Really?  The argument was that they were just young men not nearly grown up enough to be held accountable.  Really not grown up enough to know right form wrong, or to not care/be heldto know I thought to myself.  Is there no age of accountability anymore.  So we can hold some youth accountable enough to sign them up for the military or have them make decisions about where they go to school but we cannot hold them accountable for decisions in the presence of great temptation, a moment of pleasure, or an opportunity to get money.  I thought how I held my children responsible and accountable for their behavior at a much earlier age than 18.  Am I an abnormal parent.

Then it hit me.  This is part of the problem in our world.  No one is accountable for anything to anyone.
We are living in an age of un-accountability.  A few are held accountable by law and a punitive system but many of the real and affluent criminals are held above the law.

Accountability for behavior is a primary deterrent to poor choices.  When Adam and Eve sinned they were not give a second chance.  They were held accountable.  the key is that God also held Self accountable too.  It was mutual accountability.  No one was left free of accountability to grow up, become more aware, or change.  It was the accountability that forced them all to grow up, become more aware, and change.

It is all over.  We punish people for their third offense implying that they can offend twice.  We say we endorse "Zero Tolerance" of drinking but you can have up to .8 which means there is not zero base tolerance.  There is a .8 tolerance.  Zero tolerance does not mean punishment without compassion, or judgment without compassion.  It means we will not lower the standard but elevate the expectation that no one do anything without accountability and to embrace a posture of justice toward all in equitable and fair ways.

The university should be held accountable.  The young athlete is accountable.  The agents should be held accountable.  Parents should be held accountable. The system that puts winning football games ahead of education and learning life lessons should be held accountable.  Let's stop fooling ourselves and calling it gracious to not hold people accountable to a standard of just and equitable fairness.

Were arrived on the remote blueberry island on the St Croix River in Maine 3 miles from St Stephens, NB by boat.  An island bequeathed to the heritage of Debbie's Maine family heritage, especially infamous Flip.  The first woman Maine Guide and premier fly fisherperson!  Baileyville, ME is the address.  The location is "God's country" preserved from al the modern comforts of home that only seems to create discomfort in peoples lives.  We see more and have less.  We want more but need less.  With tongue in cheek we say "less is more" but we live as if "more is more is more is more and so on and so on.

The camp had been boarded up for 10 months.  We chased two bats out of the porch then the next day noticed one was caught in the wood stove.  We set it free but it stayed in the camp so we had to catch and set it free.

Coincidently I was reading a book, Heaven on Earth in it the Talmud Sanhedrin, 98a was quoted:  A rooster and a bat were waiting for the light.  The rooster said to the bat, I await the dawn. But you, why do you want the light?  .  He had a chapter named, "Bats and Roosters".  The author stated that roosters crow at the first light of day as they welcome the light.  Bats on the other hand say, "What is the big deal".

I was reminded of the expression of running like a"bat out of hell" and wondered why they were so content to be in total darkness.  As night fell and darkness put us all to bed I imagined that this is what it used to be like.  Total darkness.  No light for us to see things of the day that lead us into the darkness of night.  The bat caries a powerful message of heaven to me.  A message I only got her in the middle of no where, God's country.   The bat sees nothing.  Imagine if all the temptation of the day that cary me into the night of the soul were not visible to me.  If I were blind to all the subtle lures of sin for a season, or happiness for a moment, what would life be like.

Like a "bat out of heaven"I would walk by the light of the inner world of God's love and grace free of the sight that sees with prejudice, disdain, despair and disappointment.  In the darkness all I would see is the God of all and be silently comforted by the Shepherd's presence no matter what and loudly praising God from whom all blessings and burdens flow.  I would see not what i do not have and want.  I would see God in the thick darkness and be comforted. (Exodus 20:21)

So walk like a "bat out of heaven" and be comforted always regardless of anything.

A year and a half ago, I fell on ice and twisted my knee so badly that I severed the small tendon in my left knee.  It was so painful, I was unable to walk for some time.  Surgery was not advised.  Learn to live with it, was the advice.  I just hate that as living with something puts that thing in charge.  Resisting the part of me that thought I would never run again, I proceeded to exercise the knee, walk in increasing pace, and think optimistically.

My thirteen year old grandson was visiting with us from Seoul Korea and he was telling me, "It is about mind over matter".  I chided him some then acknowledged that many times our minds think negative and work against us and if we could get our minds to think more positively they would help us achieve more than we ever thought possible.

This morning I was running with a friend much younger than I and I told him, I was more of a walker these days.  I had built up my knee and it was feeling very good but I had not sustained more than a 1/2 mile jogging while doing 12 mile walks.  I began to jog with him at a slow and comfortable pace.  We talked as we moved along.  Because my focus was not on what I was afraid I could not do, my focus shifted to what I could do.  I ran a slow pace but pain free for the first time since my accident.  Why today and with a friend? Was I able to run and not grow weary!

I forgot about the problem and just ran.  Maybe that is the secret of mind over matter.  Just do it, and it will surprise you what you can do.  It is so easy to focus on a problem, a pain, or a perspective that is uninspired.  It is discipline, dedication, and devotion that turns eyes to see beyond and through whatever is, to all that you can be, become and do.

Maybe it is what Paul meant when he said, "Let this mind be in you".  The mind of Christ never saw an obstacle without seeing a way around it,  a problem without seeing a solution, or a cloud of despair without seeing a way through it.  Nothing matters in life except your mind yielded to  God and for all others and yourself.

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God saw everything that he had made and how it balances and counter balances and said it is very good.  Genesis 1:31.  In everything give thanks for this is the Will of God for you.  Everything works together for good and goodness is in everything.

Another breath of fresh air.  It is God country here!

I was our jogging with a friend this morning.  We talked about everything from Apple Strudel to God.  He is from Germany and was up for a visit.  He promised to make "apple strudel" from scratch just the way his mother did when he was a boy.

We talked about how people need encouragement and challenge to excel.  We shared stories of people who had great potential but never developed because they could not risk with courage nor receive encouragement
to face difficulties and set backs and emerge better and stronger.  I reflected, Jesus did that when he told the disciples that when he would leave them, they would not be alone.  They would do greater works than he had done.  Jesus telling the disciples that they would exceed and excel beyond their master if they would only believe.

We sell ourselves and God short when we let failure define us, difficulties overtake us, and disaster shake us.  In all things we are more than conquerors if we just perennially remember that the encourager always sees what we can become even eclipsing His work and witness.  The wonder of extravagant encouragement propels us all too the wonder of Excelling.  Extravagant encouragement leads to extravagant excellence.

Be in wonder.  Live in Wonder. What a witness.

Sprint placed an add in Wall Street Journal. It read:
"Competition. It is not just better for America.  It's better for the planet. Competition inspires us to think about the future. Competition benefits everyone. Mather nature included."


In some ways we in America have lost our competitive edge.  As we try to make everyone a winner, winning as good incentive way is lost.  As I mused about this I realized there are two faces of competition:
One is a mean and hard face with lines of adversity;
I will beat you no matter, whatever it takes.  It is about winning no matter what.  It is driven by a win lose, winner take all orientation. I will do anything to win including cheating.  It is essentially Machiavellian and simultaneously mutually destructive.  Even when I win,I Lose.

One in a hard and firm face with lines of compassion:
I love the challenge of competition as it drives me to excel and causes you to excel as well. Mutually beneficial competition is excellent.  It makes both of us better. This kind of competition 
Is not about:  win loose, but about bilateral winning. It is essentially Christo-centric and is mutually constructive.  Win or lose we win as we better each others lives with fair and honest competition.

Good and healthy competition is mutually and societally beneficial.  It embraces fairness and honesty and enlarges the sense of community and connectedness.

The competitive edge that drives growth and excellence is lost when it only about winning. There is no incentive to achieve excellence or to advance the quality of living and relationships.


The face of healthy competition has a smile of achievement and competes with a smile of fairness honesty and mutual beneficence.
A good heart is necessary for healthy competition and healthy competition promotes growth and excellence, and good heartedness.  Competition without compassion creates chaos and confusion.  Competition with compassion and honesty creates and advances community and respectfulness.


So put a good face on competition and see a good face on your competition.

Perspective can be everything.

In I Corinthians 2 we read "Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the mind of humanity what God has prepared for him".  I love thinking about all God has prepared for me in heaven and reviling in it but that is not the context of this verse.  The context implies that it is the reverse.

What we do not want to see and hear or even imagine is that what God has for us is suffering, frustration, grief, loss, pain, difficulties etc.   Why because they are part of life and God is with us helping us to grow and have insights we would never get without the suffering.  As C S Lewis once said, "Jesus suffered not so we would not have to suffer (that is what we want to think and see) but to teach us how to suffer".  How to grow thru the suffering when our eyes are on what we do not want to see and hold on to the faith that sees Jesus in the suffering.  I have learned this thru the suffering I have walked.

It is why the passage goes on to say if the rulers of that day knew this secret, "they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory".  Thankfully they did not know this secret.  So they caused Jesus to suffer and die thinking that would get ride of him only to discover that that emboldened the message and empowered our salvation.  Thanks be to God.

The secret:  "Christ (the divine Self) is in you and with you always.  The most in the difficult times.  Eyes on Jesus you will learn incredible things beyond what you can imagine.

Thanks be to God.

Several years ago in an effort to represent the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the thinking world, CS Lewis posed the following:  Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic or who He claimed to be the son of God, the savior of humanity. CS Lewis posed that he was an ego maniac that believed and taught something that is just not true:  that Jesus was the Son of God and the only way to heaven, which would make him a lunatic, a crazy person self-deceived and deceiving of others.  Or what was worse is that he knew he was not the son of God but lied, presenting intentional untruths about himself and others to deceive.  Or Jesus was and is who he said he was and is, the Son of God, the Savior of humanity.

Here is CS Lewis reframed from a look at the Gospel in us as the church,  in a new and fresh way...

If I say I have compassion and sit in judgment condoning or condemning other communities of faith, I lie and do not the truth. I lie to myself, others, and to you while believing you are going to hell and being okay with that despite a little sadness.  Would that sadness be with me for all eternity and therefore interrupt the joy of eternity.  How sad that my theology about who Jesus is would create such a dilemma.  EIther I reject the Christ I love and embrace or I embrace the sadness that you will be in hell and I can do nothing about it just embrace that sadness forever.  How sad.  How unacceptable to the balance of love and peace to embrace sadness when there is a better way.  Either it is a lie that I care about you, or I am crazy to believe such a splitting Jesus, or Jesus is the the Son of God and Savior of humanity but in a very different way than I have though.

 Jesus is the only way to heaven, as heaven is governed by and promoter of the way of love and peace. Earth is about being governed by the alienation of opposite ideas, and beliefs.  It is either Jesus is a liar, a lunatic or the savior as I frame him.  That is ecclesiastically splitting, theologically exclusive, and antagonistic.

Jesus and the community of faith that embraces Jesus must give up the internal lie, "that we care about people". Even though they are going to hell we keep that to ourselves and live in love and peace with them.  That is lunacy and we are not lunatics.  We do not impose of belief in Jesus as the only way because we know it is not true but then we do not shift how we believe that that allows that truth to not sentence our loved ones and colleagues to hell while we pretentiously stand by apparently indifferent though saying we are filled with compassion and care and calm.  Rather with compassion, care and calm, we learn to shift our frame and not our belief.

Jesus is not the way (in an excluding way), nor is Jesus a way (as if the way of Jesus is just another way), the way is Jesus (the way is defined not as a particular ecclesiastical belief or theological postulate about Jesus that others must assent to, The Way is the way of love an peace regardless of loss or defeat, win or victory, sacrificing life itself only to embrace life beyond death, which is the message of Jesus resurrection).  All who live in love and peace are living in the way of Jesus even if they reject the theological and ecclesiastical Jesus they are going to heaven for they are living out the way of heave, teh way of Jesus and that living sacrifice is the essence of the gospel.

The gospel is good news for all for it is in all to live in "love and peace".  It is not a lie, and we are not lunatics, and Jesus is who he said he was in a new and refreshing way that fulfills his will not through ecclesiastics or theological antics but through reality living.  God's will, "that they may all be one".

I am either lying to you about my compassion for you or my sadness toward you if I am okay with your going to hell but say nothing to you about that

Lunatic
Lie to myself and say it is okay that u do not believe in Jesus because I do not really believe that all who do not believe in Jesus will go to hell.  He'll god will figure it out.  I just live the Gospel but do not use words.  How crazy.

Jesus is who he said he was is forever shall be, a person who in his person remains at peace/balance and with compassion/ love for all.  The way of Jesus is not a particular way defined by a particular
religious group, with words  The way of Jesus is a particular way of being and living that is beyond words.

This is the good news of the gospel. It dispels the religion of words, repels the way without God, and expels all that denies the truth that The Kingdom is Within and must be released from all restraints and constraints.  Free to be is the Gospel.  It is good news.www.peacecripplers.blogspot.com