"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before."
-- Jacob August Riis

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

the end of one, the beginning of the other

been reading alot lately.

started and finished a book called "movements that change the world" by steve addison.

addison has a strong case for movements. movements are outpourings of the one true movement. That the need and desire to tell what God has done in your life is the exact glue that binds truth with movement through history. It wasn't the amazing ability of any one man that made movements possible, it was the strong desire to love and share what God had done and what He could do for you. The same is true today. Addison ends with this "What part will you play?"

After putting this read down, this morning I picked up another called "Jesus wants to save christians" by Rob Bell. I am nearly half way done with this book. It seems as though Bell wants to drive home the cyclicality of humanity. That there is nothing new under the sun. That the suffering that once pushed us to the cross becomes the success that causes us to forget the exodus. An excerpt of that dancing off the pages this morning.

That's always the danger, isn't it?
That we'll be broken,
our empires will collapse,
we'll cry out for help,
and when that help comes,
when we get back on our feet,
when there's money in our account again,
and things are back to how they were,
the danger is that once we get it back-
whatever "it" is-
we'll forget what just happened.

have you forgotten what happened?

Monday, November 2, 2009

inspired

yesterday was one of those days I may never forget... It was inspiring, uplifting, and yet nothing I thought it would be.

As I sat in the veranda of the church lawn, a song came rolling off my tongue. Here is a snippet of that process.

After reading Ps. 9:10 for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

I wrote:

Does finding stop the seeking?
Does stained-glass remember it was once broken?
Like a leaf that withers in the fall and grows in the spring
we are here for a moment and gone for a lifetime.

Love raining down like a billion water falls
if only for a moment
I could stand under it all
You'd be there. saying nothing and everything
loving me all the same

Does having stop the needing or is it something of the soul?
Like the desert needs the rain or the flowers need the spring
Your love flows from desperation to desolation
Always on time.

Love raining down
like a billion water falls
If only for a moment
I could stand under it all
You'd be there
loving me the same.

After a wonderful time with the Lord I snuck into a life group of amazing people in san antonio. The tone was moving and yet this is what resonated the loudest...

"We will praise you in the whirlwind, and suffer silently, that all glory would be yours."

I have never felt the way I do, 74 days stand between me and the place I am called. South Africa, tonight I miss you and I pray that the suffering of thousands would be that which points to the glory of magnificent God.