Deep meditation inspired by a pile of dirt.

ARE BOYS MADE OF DIRT? OH, I FORGOT WE ALL ARE.

After all our cleaning was done, it was time to sweep. The boys room was mostly just dirt. I thought boys must produce dirt. Then I realized it is the base for the creation of all man. Adam was made from dirt. (Isn't that ironic) The name actually means "red earth". So the next time I think my boys are attracting dirt, I must remember they were made from it. I found it ironic that man was made from dirt. So that would make us dirty right? Dirty is defined in the dictionary as 1. soiled with dirt; foul; unclean. 2. imparting dirt; soiling. 3. vile; mean. 4. morally unclean indecent. Other words that describe dirty are: filthy,foul, and squalid. Filthy; it is an emphatic word suggesting that which is offensively defiled or is excessively soiled. Foul; implies an uncleanness that is grossly offensive to the senses. Squalid; applied usually to dwellings or surroundings, implies dirtiness that results from the slovenly indifference often associated with poverty. Our righteousnesses is described as filthy rags.(Isaiah 64:6) Doesn't that mean at our closest to God we are " an uncleanness that is grossly offensive to the sense? ( does that not describe the state of man kind in a nut shell?) When I look at this direct list of ingredients of human kind, I have to say my nose turns up. I don't mind dirt that much but the description given to thing containing dirt or things that are dirty is a bit harsh. Squalid applied to a dwelling, our earthly bodies are squalid and our indifference to God is associated with poverty or being poor. We will never be able to reconcile the difference of the inside and the outside. They are a reminder of our squalid existance. Another verse that this brings to mind is how God "remembers we are just dust."(Psalm 103:14) He has compassion on us because he knows what we are made of dust. Dust is 1. Earth of other matter in fine, dry particles. 2. any powdered earth or other matter in the air. 3. that to which anything, as the human body is reduced by disintegration or decay 4. a dead body 5. a low or humble condition. 6. anything worthless. Is God trying to send us a message or what. He has likened us to these descriptions.

Imagining a homeless man who walked up and down the streets. Doing his very best to survive. When he was tired he slept, he ate what ever he could find. He had not showered or changed his clothing in so long he could not even remember when the last time was. He went through the hot summers and the cold winters in the same clothes. Clothes so foul smelling that to come close to him may make you feel queasy. The assault of his foulness is apparent physically and his smell is strong and unpleasant even from a distance....................................... This is the appearance of you and I at our most righteous moment before God. Christ came to take that away and to give us his righteousness. In Rev 7:13-14 John asks who the people are in the white robes and he is told they are the ones who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.(read the rest of the chapter and imagine yourself homeless and dirty it will make you cry) I know you can picture how amazing a shower and fresh clothing would fill after many days of living and accepting your own filth.(any one who has been on a BIVWAC sure can) Sure it happens gradually and you just accept it and get used to it. But once you get a shower, you would feel so good. Close your eyes and feel that relaxed feeling you know has to come across you. We have been living with ourselves like this for a life time. What a relief it must be to finally be and feel clean.

Isn't it funny how sweeping a pile of dirt can lead to all that? I can't help it I have tried.

The call to greatness!

Have you ever felt that you were called to something bigger and out of the realm of your own thinking. I have seen so much lately that has led me to see that the course of my life is not under the direction of my own will. I have experienced things I never wanted to experience and things I have always wanted too experience. There is some greater picture that is happening here and I have no idea my place in it all. I am amazed and confused at what this means. God has taken me through the darkest of valleys only to show me a picture of how He loves us. I have experienced the pain of life and sin. The Lord has allowed me to come to understand his heart in a way I never would have ever imagined or understood before any of this. Thorough the pain and suffering as I have taken up my cross and followed him I have been given a gift. The most powerful gift ever created, a co habitation with salvation and the love of Jesus. I can't even place into words what He has given me and I know most of you reading this will not understand. I know that I could have never had this amazing gift if I had not gone though the suffering. I see Christian's struggle and kick against the goads if you will. I see the greater picture of this suffering. To love the way He loves, to judge the way He judges. The compassion the glory, the shame the suffering it is all the way of the Lord! It all fits into the picture. If we are immune to the world of sin and suffering we have lost the greatest gift. We as Christians have come to a point of isolation from the sin filled world to protect our holiness and have in the process lost all Jesus could ever hope to give us. Jesus is not in the church pew on Sunday He is among the lost, hopeless the undeserving. How many Christians go to church every Sunday and then go home and never reach out to people with "imperfect lives". God will not accept this incomplete worship. With out a love for the unlovable and service to them your worship will be hindered. If Jesus came today. He would not be at church he would be with the sinners, the substance abusers, the lost. And Christians would be as the Scribes and the Pharisesses saying He could not be the Son of God because He did not attend the church every Sunday and sit among us, The righteous. "We say we are better than a drunk....yet when He wrote, Romans 12:1-3."For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." He is addressing us all. We are drunk with an unreal idea of how wonderful and how much better we are than others. We are not sober and are just like that drunk we despise only worse because we did not use a substance to alter our thinking... we did it naturally!!! We must see Romans12:16b "Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble, Do not be wise in your own opinion." I have never understood those verses as I do now. My eyes have been opened to the true heart of the meaning with in these words. Who more humble than the lost and those who have been destroyed by sin, (they have nothing) trust me when I say there is nothing more humbling than that!!! Christian if you do not heed the lesson the Lord has for you, you will continue to struggle until you have been humbled. And it will be devastating, but it will also be the most pure moment of your existence. God thank you for giving me the message of your love and the experience of the cross, in a real and life changing way. I hope that I can follow this path that your grace has set me on. Even though the perfect life is my choice, I will choose brokenness, as Christ chose brokenness. I will choose loving the unlovable because you do. It has been such a struggle for me to see "Christian" who have not yet come to understand their righteousness is as filthy rags. I pray for them. The process that has been set before you is marked with suffering. I pray you will quickly see and be brought to Him. The message has been placed in my heart and I have debated with myself as to what is required of me. I understand I have been given this for all of us and we will all benefit from the sufferings of one another. "Though there is pain in the offering Blessed be the name of the LORD!!!" Move us Lord move us to see it. It is hidden in plane site among the faces of the person in the car next to us. In line at the store in front of us. Open our eyes no matter how painful it may be. I asked you for this and I am glad I did not know what the processed consisted of or I would have never asked for it. I am so glad I asked you to make me understand, and I am so sorry I did not see it before now. Fear is a friend who is misunderstood....."He who tells his sins and turns from them(because there are more than one) will be given loving-pity."Proverbs 28:13. Are we ready to be truly honest with yourself and come clean about the dirty little sins you hide? The gossip? The Matirialism? The sex? The substance? The lack of love to your brethren? The lies? The hate? The false front of who and what you really are? If not so... so be it. The opportunity was given to us and we choose to turn away. We my dear one's are the only one's who loses. And we alone will morn that loss.

Forgot how good saltine crackers are?

Have you ever picked up a saltine cracker took a bite of it, and then thought to yourself...I forgot how good plain old saltine crackers tasted! This has happened to me several times. Which has inspired me to write. When you see a saltine cracker you think, plain, bland, maybe even cardboard. Of course something so simple like some flour, shortening, yeast, baking soda, and of course, salt does not seem the least bit worth its calorie investment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltine_cracker
This is especially true next to those more appealing options like a chocolate cake perhaps, or a big slice of your favorite pizza. The cracker seems so basic. But it has been a fundamental staple of human history. Every culture has existed on the cracker in one form or another. Life is so much like those little boxes of powders mixed with shortening. Oh, YES! We sit around waiting for those main events of life, the main course if you must, and we munch on saltines to tide us over in the mean time until the meal arrives. When it's all said and done, life was made up of those simple ingredients! Those moment of the day to day routine. And we forgot how good that basic salt of the earth cracker tasted. That everyday snack that we just take for granted becames the meat and potatoes of our lives. We forget the simple things in life too often. So today I challenge everyone out there to sit down with a box of saltines and maybe some peanut butter, or a few slices of cheese and indulge on the simple pleasures of life. As you devour those powdery, dry, crisp crackers, count all you blessings. Remember all those little things you forgot to be thankful for.