We're out tonight. Come morning bright.

...Do you want to come over tomorrow morning for morning tea at 10:30..

Fine idea!
C U then-ish.
Keep that Jen near
as breezes swish.

And may your bairns
grow strong and true
as sleep returns
God's peace to you..

and thus to your's -
your images,
sons & daughters
with trim edges..

God your father
smiles on you two,
he would rather
that your love grew!

What if I then
bring some pan-cake
mix to share when
I come. We bake?

pilgrim pulse

As we walk along the road, days end,
we come at last to times when we can stop
and still continue talking with a friend
and even eat a bit, and drink a drop.

It’s at these times when friendship comes alive
at close of day, around a meal, at rest,
When people’s thoughts keep marching past “survive-”
-al”, savour good, and thinking too of best,

and learning too, to listen (not just talk)
and actively to try to feel with them,
and open up your life and not just baulk
at differences that take us past our “ken”.

Past our “Ken”, & “Barbie”, model pair
and to a deeper magic underneath
until we come at last to places where
then we decide to spend of love’s bequeath…

and putting up with others’ weird ways
and then their special other little quirks,
so that it hardly matters what (s)he says
I’m not just thinking “All of them are jerks”.

And yet to call those jerk-ish ways their names,
and handle any flack that is stirred up;
not escalating, playing little games
where all our sensitivities erupt.

But modelling the kind of bigness that
most parents have for kids (who have well grown),
and friends have for their friends who’re thin or fat,
yet open up their inner thoughts. Be known.

Sat 12/11/2016

dislexic learning from an ol' doG...

Oh will I ever learn to keep first things..
at first .. "place" in this journey - Growing Up.
O God! I'm such a baby and that brings
much that will fall away - as with a pup!

The puppy chews the shoes left there with it,
and leaves its "doggy do's" around the place,
& must be trained with "pain" as well as "treat",
to move into the gains where life is "Ace"!

Pups are mostly concrete in their thinking.
It's true some kinds can meet the twist and turn,
like Pointers who can point out to their king, 
the things they are appointed to, & learn.

Sometimes I seem less able than a pup!
To think, a human babe is just a blob,
we're made to learn more as we're growing up,
our culture's more, unless your Uncle's Bob.

But even if it's true, & Bob's your Unc.
- & everything for you is set in place,
it must depend on who's power is defunct,
& which culture "in lieu of" is embraced.

Which fam'lies on this Earth are tuned to life? -
for timely is our birth in history!
The culture of eternity is rife,
it's roots are those which were in you and me

and deeper down in darkness and alone
they may wake up and harken to the call;
but just for now (as dog returns to bone),
I want my father(God)'s culture installed.

G'day!

Creator, good morning! - & I love you!
I want for that to be my stance right through
this day ahead of me to open to
the open-est "One/We" (who's more a "who"

than anyone who's met by anyone
tho' on this day we'll get closer to some).
I'm still a bit tir-ed - but I'm not numb.
Thanks for the sleep in bed - & dreams that come.

(The unconscious re-hash of yesterday:
hopes we had that were dashed along the way,
or else desires that clashed. What else to say?
Or futures, unabashed - for which we'd pay)

Sometimes I see where I am at just now,
by all these dreams that fly through me somehow,
or I am warned to try... a different bow,
or posture in my life, for this I'm "Wow!"

- and thank you! - The Cre-a-tive One who sees
and get's involved each day as it does please
an artist who's not paid (tho' not dis-eased!)
with gold God can't be swayed, but love is "seized".

And so, I know, as you read this today,
not just some dust or view gets in your way,
if you decided to you'd help me say
what's loving and is true, & then to pay

the price (of saccrifice), that turns these words,
the things that sound so nice, to not just turds,
but living breathing mice, or beasts, or birds
that populate and slice through other worlds.

interviews and assessments

Brother, go well!
Wisdom from God,
love from him - smells
wonderf'lly odd,

or else it wells
up & they hate;
jealousy spells
how they relate.

Your life will "fish'
whate'er you do;
so good men wish
more came like you;

other leaders,
with smaller lives
- Bottom Feeders,
or Big Knives -

will not want some
one like you to
be seen or come
on, so they'll "Shoo!".

Use this chance to
learn good skills and
learn to dance to
God's other band(!)

of brothers who
bow their knee to
His Good & True,
which they'll "see through"!

TimE4FolKUS

Hey what time is "focus" tomorrow?
if it is alright to both come up,
we'll try to do so (and NOT sorrow
or sleep in, & be slack) - to sum up.

P&K

chairos moments . . .

Some walkers walk,
while marking time,
so not to baulk
at the sublime.

They hope to learn
from Mark, to see
Life (not to spearn
Community)

in common-place
things like walking
(not power paced)
& too talking.

Here's that there link,
might help you think...
- least be knowing
how we're going :

yvalker.blogspot.com.au

Anyone know
how to jig-jog
some audio
onto a blog-

new recordings
of folk we meet
in our minings,
on road & street

(people's pictures
are straight forward;
seems more strictures
with sound recorded).

Salt & light

Hope that you're doing well there brother Steve,
where-ever you are on this Earth today,
& may folk find it eas'yer to believe
in God, for contac-ting you in some way.

LTG

P1txt: You ok for tonight???

PWtxt: Yup... still working to finish Gen 1-26.
C U then.

P1txt: Ive done it twice lol i will listen again today, very good history and knowledge of God and His love. Have an awesome warm spring day

PWtxt:

Good now.
Thanx bro. 
U 2.
See how 
things go
P. W.

income, & the rest...

Txt2PW:Please pray for us, slowest month in sales since ... ! Strange though that last month was very good and one of the best months??? I am not sure what the problem is??? Something spiritual I think. Thank you. 



God please help this bro. & sister to see 
what can be done and you want them to do.
To rest in your care, listen carefully,
& be content to serve as you would do.

reflection - beauty.

Lovely to think of you lady, my girl.
On this retreat we're thinking of beauty.
And you come to my mind, which starts to twirl,
to play, & to sway, not as a duty.

gardener/handy-man

Well, B the Blessing U were made 2 B.
Cleaning, cul-tiv-a-ting, cutting, planting,
smiling, list-en-ing, using eyes to see,
thinking, im-ag-in-ing, & conn-ec-ting.

Chistiaan sat in a barn, told a yarn.
On lunch break sometimes he'll take time to shake
shake up his mind (or his drink) so to think
down the line, straight & entwined with New Wine.

He's become a living son of the one
who gives life (in this here strife) that is rife
and infects who intersects (not rejects)
life with him. He's (on God's whim) a (New-) wine-skin.

Leadership is not for me!

Christ, grow me past my reactivity,
my smallness, & my sense that I must not
be blamed for things by those right close to me,
especially when it’s not my fault we’ve got

into this mess - “I’ve done what I’ve been told,
or else could see (the best that I know how -
well mostly (there’s that time I wasn’t bold,
or, couldn’t “see how else to act just now”).

I see right now that in that moment I
might just as well have run to you confused
& told you that I couldn’t see, or cried,
& trusted that you wouldn’t feel abused

& shrink, you'd help me in that time as well
where what I needed might have been to see,
or maybe just to speak unsure - not “sell”,
so I’m seen as the leader that I be

(so NOT mature, and finished, already).
I like the fact that you can see further.
Your view is longer than the view of me.
Your view is full of LOVE, you’re the “birther” -

through your torn body we are born & freed!
The tearing, and the loss of “normal choice”,
the gore of the episiotomy,
that lack of dignity, brings girls & boys

right “kicking” into life, with love, and we
hear all that crying, and the peals of pain,
& re-al-ize their immaturity
is not the end, so we LOOK UP again!

Glorify*

* In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Mt 5:16 NIVUK http://bible.com/113/mat.5.16.NIVUK

* ...on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you. With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 2Thes 1:10‭-‬12 NIVUK  http://bible.com/113/2th.1.10-12.NIVUK


Well what's it MEAN to "glorify*" some-one?
It seems to mean, to make them seem quite good,
to make them shine for others like the sun
(which would be false, unless they really could).

There's something in our nature seems to do this,
we want to praise, & help more good be seen,
appreciate the good that comes through, which
we seem to want to magnify - it's sheen,

it's lustre, qualit-y, & aesthetics
(with ethics coming longway back behind)
are things that we perceive (anaesthetics
hain't yet knocked out) we look, and are not blind.

It's what God did when God looked and God "saw
that it was good" - when God made up this world,
the next step is that we want to do more
& speak about it, get that flag unfurled.

It's kind of like to shine the light on it,
to keep the spotlight trained upon the one
that should be seen quite well, at least this bit
of story that's seen now "under the sun".

Or maybe acting like a waterdrop,
"backwards rainbow" for it takes "colours"
of God's good gifts from "all over the shop",
combines them, to trace their source for others.

And yet we know the problems that can come
whenever we then 'glorify' too much
a movie, or a fight for good, or some-
thing that is not the source of "Good", as such.


* After Jesus said this, he looked towards heaven and prayed: ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. Jn 17:1‭-‬5 NIVUK  http://bible.com/113/jhn.17.1-5.NIVUK

the failed crop - turned to pasture

A crop was hoped for - barley or old wheat.
The rain did not fall much - the crop was stressed.
No cash was likely, for no bales would meet
demands in town for stock food at it's best.

So systems based on the rock bottom line
won't help these farmers this year to use well
the capital, the gifts that they called "mine"
as God would have them do, to work 'gainst Hell.

Still, they could let Creator's sheep be fed
for this ol' field could feed some very well
(as if He cared for animals that bled,
and still thought them His own - He'd never sell)!

So this they did. Did they think they had missed
their calling as a farmer on God's Earth?
Were they now learning? Or did God insist
they start to use what he gave them at birth:

- the most incredible and timely gift
one where the landscape helped them to become
and grow to be his "baby gods" - to lift
their heads and hearts together (off their bums).

And into service of God's garden place,
to learn to "till" and be a gardener.
That's not to say initiative's disgraced,
it's just to say "They've much to learn." Ta da!

And who would we learn from? He doesn't need
to have his name shown off - like clothing tags.
He's quite secure, it's he that makes the seed*,
and teachers farmersº - even when they lag.


* Mark 4: "the seed grows -all by itself"

○ Isa 28: "It is the Lord who teaches the farmer how to plant, harvest, thresh etc all the different crops (through observation, thought, learning from those around them, trial & error etc).

'trinas turning fifty five...

Katrina's turning ('round now) fifty-five!
That's years  that she's  been on  this earth  alive
(though prob'ly  'round  a third  of it's  been sleep/
unconsciousness; but she has had a peep

around the place, the rest of while she's here
& come to under-stand a bit (& fear
what turns adventure into tragic tale).
She wanted to use well what would avail

to bring about the most good that she could,
& I think that she's done what many would
consider to be worthwhile, & "good stuff",
(though she says: "15 years more is enough").

But I think that she's only just begun
to see life as a child (daughter or son)
of who's the most creative one of all
when she is helping others who feel small,

to learn a language (& a culture too)
to be empow'd - not caught within a zoo,
& so to be a human (baby God),
who rules here with acumen (& a prod),

& grace that gives to each one dignity.
I'm glad to have a wife that's such as she.
And I confess that she's quite good - in bed
she soundly sleeps  with headaches (so  she said).

And when she wakes she's better than before
(but that is now, while she is 54)
I wonder how she'll be at 55?
I hope I'll see another - with her 'live'
(I mean by that another fifty-five)!

PAUL 

street meet

Txt2PW: I have picked up R... from school and will be .. (at the coffee shop).. in 5 min.
Txtback:

Cool, Alfin.
C U then
we'll begin
my good friend!

human meeting human

When I meet you (I now see)
you're a window in the room
between us, that is as we
interact - in joy or gloom.

A wind-"O" through which the One
(who has given life & breath
to us each, & who's begun
all that's best this side of death,

and too, much more: like friendship,
loyalty; who also hates
all things which we knew can slip
in, and dim-in-ish good traits....

A window, or avenue,
a kind of conduit, or hose,
that brings in light, or pow'r true,
or water; and so good grows.

A wind-"O"; and so a breeze
may blow in and cool us down
as well as bring sights (like trees),
connecting us to worlds 'round

maybe just outside our room,
outside our experience,
else we  become a black tomb
(with no interference).

I will look through you to what/
/who is your own source of grace;
or light, or pow'r, or breath shot
into our "space", from God's face!

Tue8Dec2015AD

fundamental-list mindset*

The Same-Sex Marriage issue.


I started out by wanting to research and explore the same-sex marriage (SSM) issue#, but ended up with a kind of rant against fundamentalism...

I've started to realise that what concerns me most of all in the whole debate is people's adoption of the fundamentalist mindset* as one of the foundational strategies for living their lives. I reject this attitude when it is found within me, within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, etc. And I reject it no less in the Gay & Lesbian community. This mindset doesn't engender real movement towards truth, knowledge, understanding, or reality, but at the same time it appears to be the major weapon now being employed in the Australian forum, against people (possibly learned from many of "their opponents") who disagree with the LGBTIQ agenda. That is I wonder if the mindset has been a mimicking of what they saw done to them by a  fundamentalist Christianity - in regards to this issue specifically.

A mind, set on some goal or "way of thought"
can be a helpful tool to get things done.
We all know this from exploits, or in sport,
- our mind is the main organ of our fun.

Arriving at a "destination" needs
some thinking focused on necessities.
That's done by us (or someone else) who "feeds"
the plans to help provide for needs & dreams.

When doing this a lot of times, we find
the helpfulness of "lists" is apparent;
but if we let them overtake, they bind
us up till we've the mind of a _______(!)

- which speaks a lot, & almost understands.
It doesn't follow well much that it hears,
but memorizes "lines" to meet demands,
& bites, & flaps away when it has fears!

This mind-set works to keep all things controlled
& timely, so that things are working well.
It's fouled - by all the "expectations" doled
out by those other people "sent from Hell",

or - by some folk who don't lift a finger
within one's own "camp", they just seem to "chill".
Unspoken jealousies often linger
for fundamental lists can even spill

on further, into farther differences:
One's "self" is caught up in one's tiny list
of hopes, & dreams, and all our preferences.
The greater parent - Good Creator's missed!


* the fundamentalist mindset is hard to define, but I presently see it - at its core - as defining oneself as the primary instigator of one's own choices, beliefs, ideas & skills, & simultaneously by the kudos received from significant others for such initiatives. A corollary to this is that someone with a fundamentalist mindset doesn't give time to listening to others' view-points, for that would be to tacitly give credence to the others' ideologies. If someone with a fundamentalist mindset does listen to a person with an alternative view-point, it is likely to be in order to gain data for their ideological battle, or to steal any innovative ideas or approaches, to bolster their own mindset. In the world of someone with the fundamentalist mindset "self" & "ideology" are fused, thus "people" (- especially those who hold alternatives to one's own ideology) shrink to be simply vessels that contain ideologies. This leads people with a fundamentalist mindset to a predominantly "combative" way of talking with, & thinking about people who arrive at different conclusions to them. They often act as if any discussion about their choices, beliefs, ideas and skills, is a discussion about their own identity; if any of these are questioned, the basis for their identity is rocked, and they act as though they feel affronted that they even have to discuss this as an open question, perhaps because they feel that, then, one possible conclusion is that their own identity will be "diss-ed". For a person with a fundamentalist mindset, a primary way of asserting their identity and gaining kudos often involves making fun of those with different beliefs/practices.

@... ... ... ... --- --- '&\___/&'--- --- ... ... ...  ...@

epilogue for curious Christian people: 

Have a look at the bible. There are heaps of lists there of what is really needed (the core fundamentals - as far as God is concerned). There is an order or priority with God's commands. If you're going to miss any, don't miss the BIG ones. In the words of:

Micah: "He has showed you, oh human, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Mic 6:8

Jesus (pulling together quotes from his bible and says "there is no other commandment more important than these two" and backs up another teacher's thinking on that too): Firstly "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength", and secondly "Love your neighbour as yourself."(Mark 12:28-34; Luke 10:25-37)

Dr. Luke (narrating an interchange Jesus had with two sisters who shared the same house): "As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him in her home. ³⁹ She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the feet of the Lord and listened to his teaching. ⁴⁰ Martha was upset over all the work she had to do, so she came and said, “Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to come and help me!”
⁴¹ The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha! You are worried and troubled over so many things, ⁴² but just one is needed. Mary has chosen the right thing, and it will not be taken away from her.” " (Luke 10:38-42)

Paul (speaking to his off-sider against this "fundamentalist mindset" that had already ensconced  itself into the embryonic assembly of Jesus' people): " Don’t let them waste their time in endless discussion of myths and spiritual pedigrees. These things only lead to meaningless speculations,^[a] which don’t help people live a life of faith in God.^[b]
5 The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith. ⁶ But some people have missed this whole point. They have turned away from these things and spend their time in meaningless discussions. ⁷ They want to be known as teachers of the law of Moses, but they don’t know what they are talking about, even though they speak so confidently." (I added the italics above) (1Tim 1:1-7)

John (speaking to a colleague against theologizing & power-wielding similar to the "fundamentalist mindset" that was already ensconcing itself into the embryonic assembly of Jesus' people): ^"Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son."  ....  "I wrote a short letter to the church; but Diotrephes, who likes to be their leader, will not pay any attention to what I say. ¹⁰ When I come, then, I will bring up everything he has done: the terrible things he says about us and the lies he tells! But that is not enough for him; he will not receive the Christians when they come, and even stops those who want to receive them and tries to drive them out of the church! ¹¹ My dear friend, do not imitate what is bad, but imitate what is good. Whoever does good belongs to God; whoever does what is bad has not seen God. ¹² Everyone speaks well of Demetrius; truth itself speaks well of him. And we add our testimony, and you know that what we say is true."(2 John 1:9; 3John 9-12)

epilogue for curious LGBTIQ people

Where do you find a non-fundamentalist mindset of humility in your world right now? One surprising and interesting story that springs to my mind is that of Oscar Wilde while he was in prison. If you're interested, checkout his book De Profundis.

# A record of some helpful data in searching so far through this issue, exists for those family & friends who are interested, and who are set on learning to be lovers of the truth in all its complexity and paradox, NOT living by the fundamentalist mindset*.

open up to...

Dear God you've modelled all you call us to:
you 'opened up' yourself to see & hear^
& then respond with actions that you do,
more than just words, though you've sent prophets near -

to speak to folk the truth, but not often
coercively to MAKE them turn around,
for you are wanting hearts that are open
- true children who are wanting to be "found".

So life takes on the quality of "game",
that's "fun", & "sharing life" with our own Dad,
who loves to share his life with us the same,
with more creative times here to be had.

I've heard that your nick-name is "Creator";
& I believe it; you're over the top!
The Servant of you is so much greater,
that I want him to rule, & never stop.

Isaiah said you woke him every day
(your Servant*), and you 'opened up'º his ear,
so eyes to see, and mouth to speak & say
what helps the weary and would bring good cheer,

are what you gave him, so he could impart
this 'openness' he had towards the truth,
to us, and also 'open up' our heart,
to love you and your children, as YOUR youth.

Oh God unless you re-create this bod,
& make my spirit live (from being dead),
& help me grow and learn from a true God,
I never will "arise" from off my bed!¤

^Exod 3:7-10; 4:11-12, 31; Acts 7:34
*Isaiah 50:4-8
º"Ephatha"= open up! Mark 7:32-37
¤ "Talitha koum" = little girl I say to you 'arise' Mk 5:38-43

tomorrow night?

Txt2PW: HI Paul. Are we still right for dinner tomorrow? I was going to come over to your house if that still works?
TxtBack:

Well! Ok!
Night- Thursday. 
6 pm?
Pies again?

... the love of Christ constrains us...

Txt2PW: ...  it is all about "Jesus" and only Jesus. All the rest is man!! If we come with any other motive except to show people Jesus we have missed it. ... Bless you mate

TextBack: Amen & ...

The grace of our Lord Jesus, & wonder!
The Love of God the Father, be on you,
& in you, through you, over and under.
His wisdom "from above" that's beyond too,

in looking, list'ning, asking and answ'ring,
displaying life - of Jesus the Lord, Christ, 
in feeding his sheep, caring at lambing,
his quickness/ slowness are his sacrifice.

Jesus' little brother put it this way... "My dear brothers everyone of you should be quick to listen, slow to speak, & slow to anger."

a breakfast catch-up!

Oh God we think you are quite good to make
the breakfast goodness we've now got to slake
our needs for drink & food and so we'll take
it gladly from your hand, now we're awake.

And we'll enjoy the chance to catch-up too
with each, the other, & also with you,
& we remember now that baby gods
are here with us, though they just look like bods

who've met for breaky. You reiterate
this fact and then help us anticipate
your very nature hidden in the one
where your own spirit self has now begun

to grow from seed your "children" - whom you love,
& we're now caught up in your "from above"
life born (or in the process till we die)
to see its parent's face, & eye to eye.

And knowing you, as we do now (in part
it's true, but you're consistent) - & your heart;
I start to see "you" - in your children's face
& also in their actions which show grace.

Then God I'm seeing all your beauty still
in every sunrise and sunset and hill,
& valley, garden, beautiful design.
Oh God I see your care and love and rhyme

in all creative really helpful stuff,
our bodies - centre-piece - are quite enough
but when you add their food and drink, it's tough
to not fall down in wonder at your love.

will we make it?

What thing we MAKE this world to BE shows up
the way our creativity is bent.
The one I want to follow HE goes up,
absorbs our hate, and jealousies that 'vent'.

We do what we can do to Make, coerce,
to force things to retain the status quo,
so we can keep our power-base, & worse
(this Making is the only "way" we know).

But his creative love that Makes this world
is quite another matter, it opens
up other options that he then unfurls
& helps us learn to use, if we'll be friends.

biological life

So, every "living thing" is made of cells
all cells contain 'organs' - that's organelles.
Organelles then function certain ways
to help the cell maintain it's "living" phase,
and different kinds of cells are organised
to match just how they function (and are sized).
Prokaryotic cells are jumbled mess-
es; as for organelles - they have much less,
Bacteria, Archaea kind of things
can live near everywhere - (like hot-pool springs)!
Eukaryotic ones are more complex,
their organelles specifically address...
the kind of critter - animal or plant(?),
or fungi, protozoa.....  ...  ...   That's my rant!
-except it begs the question of some things
- like viruses, and fire, & computings,
& maybe "higher life", not carbon-based,
or "second-stage", when this one is replaced!

a way with "Father's Day"

With Uni friends they hang out after class,
that's having tea and sharing stories too,
and meeting family members, let time pass,
instead of getting drunk on wine or booze.

Responding then to folk's invitations,
and going round to join them at their home,
& sometimes spending time with relations,
and celebrating Jesus' - "Cornerstone"!

"Amen! " we say, that's Milly and her Dad.
A coffee (Father's Day) is what we've had,
now Milly must away (& not be sad)
returning to her study, & be glad!

And then her father (who is just a child)
remains and writes this up, & meets a friend;
& learns HIS father is more jolly wild
than he could even guess (or ever mend!)

So Father's Day is ev'ry other day
we live within our Father's world down here
& let our Father's heart begin to sway
us, and fill us with love, instead of fear.

I wonder too if sometimes "Father's Day"
includes a night of dark within its time
& our job is to not be so afraid
but trust his incubation as "sublime".

And even if we have to pass through death's, 
great shame and power to cower and to force, 
we'll see it as he saw (no more or less):
it's "sleep", that we'll wake up from in due course.

small2small2small*

All glory be to God, who's able through
His mighty power at work in us now, to

accomplish more than ever we ask for,
beyond our wildest dreams (& even more)!

Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20 none.
Paul M. sent this to me now we've begun!


*The name "Paul" means "small". Paul the apostle wrote to new Jesus followers in the Roman town of Ephesus, Paul McLaughlan personalized and paraphrased it and sent it to this Paul as a text and here it was yet again personalized and paraphrased ... but, what it is talking about is BIG!

celebrating fatherhood

Go well today you father of children
(already doin' God's special command)
watchin' & seein', hearin' & help'n
now that you've done it, you know the demand!

You know what's needed, sharing God's heart-beat
- heart of a father, who'll love & who'll learn
all that his children choose for their own suite
of colours, textures, choices at each turn.

dads and sons

Morning Dad! :) I just had your voice and the piano in my head for that psalm: "You Lord are all I have, and you give me all I need! My future is in your hands how wonderful are your gifts to me how good they are!"
Love you lots Dad! Jesus is asking me to encourage and affirm who you are and what u do. 
U are loved. 
You are stong. 
You are true. 
You are his beloved son.


Amen! - to that, for He is true, and He
has started a good work, so when I'm weak
I just remember where he's taking me
& do what He calls to, (after a peak

@ Jesus, who's the goal for this young chap,
as well as be'ng the way to get there too,
& helps me to again start, when "mis-hap't")
for any little "Paul"; that's me - & you!

Love  :P

HUB-bub

Well Caitlyn, Jordie, Emily & Trish
all sat at a computer in the HUB.
They worked so hard (well that was what I wished)
they learned a lot! Not so much as a bub,

for bubs learn more than most people that live
they learn, in turn, to speak & walk & run;
they learn a language, & then how to give - 
attention to important things - & some

that aren't so much "important", but are games.
Things often are important from our play;
but as we all get older, then our 'aims',
they seem to help us get more done each day.

But thinking of this later, I've begun
to see it's not the "our-ness" of "our 'aims'"
that works (except they're focussed on this one)
it's that they come from parents with no shames.

Christ/ian-Love persists...

The other name of Jesus is "hesed"*.
We recognize in him God's faithful-love,
which never ceases (even when he's dead)
- to show this he came down from up above.

And also he came up, from down below:
the first-born from the dead with that new life
the Resurrection/ New Creation "show"
the prophets talked about, to get his wife!


* "hesed", or "kesed", or "chesed" is the Hebrew term used in the Old Testament for an essential, recurring aspect of God's nature, translated "faithful love", or "loving kindness". 1Corinthians 13 in the New Testament, is a celebration of this same expressed part of God's nature, though in a different language (Common 1st Century Greek), consistent with the biblical view of the Covenantal Love of Christian Marriage.

new Dad to Grand-dad...

Farther more...

Dear Father of me
(& others as well),
I'm glad that you be
here with us, and dwell

on this very Earth
(& look after Mum),
where we've had our birth,
we're glad that you've come

and stayed for this time,
& helped us to see
both reason & rhyme
for following He

who was named Jesus
(Hebrew: Yeshua)
- the one who "frees us
from sin" for sure.

So God, thanks for Dad
whom you've given me,
(who is very rad-
i-CAL). Help him see

more of his Father
(that's Jesus - our King)
& may he rather
be free to help bring...

more people (like him-
self) daily to you
- a Father who'll sing,
& care, & who'll croon.

babe born

Heard yesterday you've had a new baby,
fresh from the Father from whom all good comes.
How good is that! And specially if lately
the little chap's health is "good as his mum's".

Please keep them both well, God (& each Other),
oh that this family will show out your love,
'tween Mum & Dad, & sisters & brother,
may they keep growing your life "from above*".

So born "anothen*", (not just "another
time" - to be born from God's very own heart.
May all your fam'ly display (not smother)
new life connected to whole, as a part!

Shalom!


*Greek "anothen"= either "from above" or "another time". John 3: "unless someone is born "anothen" they cannot enter the realm of God".

choosing despite feeling... (A youth & truth)

Txt2PW: ...Please pray for me I feel pretty crap hey! ...

Hey Papa, this boy feels like lumpy craps.
He's quite concerned about the men you gave
to him, to serve in your name, to show chaps:
that love exists, a father wants to save

his children from those views that will destroy,
& when we grow quite strong enough to join
with you as partners (God with his own boys),
we get to share the friendships you joy in,

& get to be accused like you, of wrong.
But when WE love, invest in, these you give,
we know at times there's dischord in our song,
& that makes it more hard for us to sieve,

(& sort the good - accept it, throw the bad).
So thank you for your spirit who had come,
who's here with us when we are feeling sad,
who spreads your love that overcomes the glum-

ness of our death. I run, & I am glad -
into your arms, as does a small child when
it's all upset and feels alone (or mad !),
but knows it needs love's help to live again.
.................................

Please also pray for me. I woke about 3:30 this morning from a dream that left me feeling an overwhelmingly UNDERwhelming person.  Like I was doomed to ruin people's lives. (So I might as well crawl into a hole and give up now.
I got up, and spent a few hours unpacking it. Still in process...

.

WORK. PRAYER. (through a sister, and brothers, our brother taught us)

As with all of life, it is a rhythm:

tension, release, tension, release. Oh

work, discipline, obedience, do them!

Pull the bow string taut then let it go.

But it must be done daily*; today!

“Taking up my cross” is not just once.

He has led the way into the fray;

yet, so I would follow (though a dunce)!

It’s not so much my understanding

He looks for, though that still gains response;

More the vote of death to de-man-ding

self-willed zombie-life, that is a “ponce”!

Nothing short of “world dom-in-a-tion”

will satis-fy this puny weakling,

yet it whines and moans with inflation,

won’t listen to another speaking!

Don’t give air, food, or water to it.

Don’t give air-play to it’s voice inside.

Deny the rights it claims, just do it!

B’cause this one should simply be denied!

But to whom will I give allegiance?

Who will I say “Yes!” to; try to hear,

Then act to follow as my regent?

There is only one who wins it clear!

I am sure. Yeah sure! That’s the One.

Our brother taught us by following,

How to follow through (Love’s Joy; not Fun)

Hell & high waters! Makes fellows sing!

Through sister Madeleine*:

“The balance of tension & release is somewhat like that of a violin; the strings must be taut before they will play, but if they are not released, they will break.”


Through brother David^:

Lord, I have given up my pride
    and turned away from my arrogance.
I am not concerned with great matters
    or with subjects too difficult for me.
² Instead, I am content and at peace.
As a child lies quietly in its mother's arms,
    so my heart is quiet within me.
³ Israel, trust in the Lord
    now and forever!

Through brother Richard#:

To hold the full mystery of life is always to endure it's other half, which is the equal mystery of death, and doubt. To know anything fully, is always to hold that part of it which is still mysterious, and unknowable. ... 

I now hope & believe that a kind of second simplicity is the very goal of mature adulthood and mature religion. Although we often used it in a derogatory way, I wonder if this was not our intuition when we spoke of older people as in "a second childhood". Maybe that is where we are supposed to go. Maybe that is what several poets meant when they said "the child is father of the man". ... Wisdom happily lives with mystery, doubt, and unknowing, and in such living, ironically resolves that mystery to some degree. ... 
It takes a lot of learning to finally learn ignorance. ... 
The great irony is that you must go through a necessary complexity (perhaps another word for necessary suffering) to return to any second simplicity. ... 
Our mature years are characterized by a kind of bright sadness, and a sober happiness. ... 


There is still darkness in the second half of life, .. maybe even more, but there is now a changed capacity to hold it creatively, and with less anxiety.

* pp 150f, of Walking on water. Reflections on faith & art. by Madeleine L’engle, North Point Press, NY, 1980)
^  Psalm 131(GNB)

#  Falling upward by Richard Rohr, CD4, tracks 9-11.

(Brother Tortoise)