April 28, 2010

Treadmills...


Pride is our treadmill.
Pride is the root of everything- selfishness, greed, individuality without God, impure ambition… everything. It keeps us running in circles. When satan gets us on the treadmill of pride, he can get us to go round and round, thinking about ourselves all the time. It messes up our desires and our hopes, which messes up our actions. Our hopes and desires influence our every action. What we hope for, we realize. If we hope and desire pridefully, that which happens will be a result of those desires within us.  But if we hope in the Lord, if we hope unselfishly, if we desire that which He desires, then what he desires will be realized. And we will be able to step off of the treadmill of pride. We can hit the stop button. And go run in God's creation, discovering new things with out eyes open in the world he wants to reveal to us.  Treadmills are safe. We know where we're going, because we're not really going anywhere at all. They don't take dependence on anything at all, not on a map, a plan, nothing. We control them. We go as fast as we want to. We make our incline. We control them. They give us power. That's what happens when we try to be self-reliant and plan our lives out. We run in circles on our own, boring, uninspired , selfish path. It might seem inspired, it might seem creative, it might seem exhilarating. We might be getting a great work out. But without the up and down natural hills of life and the unsteady terrains to run through that God gives us when He leads us, our lives are boring and running in circles.


I am at Greyhouse and I met a guy named Collin. He was talking about how pride is the root of everything and that's what he's learning. He's learning to go where God wants him and not plan out his own life. Satan is real and he's trying to get us running with pride and obsessions and selfishness. He's trying to get us to run in our own tracks of our past. We've seen this track too many times. We've run too long on the same stupid conveyor belt. It's time for new terrain. It's time to get off of the treadmill.
Collin said whether anyone is a writer, an actor, a drawer… whatever. Our purpose in life is to be a better servant. Not a servant of ourselves. Not to bring glory to ourselves. But to bring glory to God and strive towards perfection in Christ. Not perfection in ourselves. God I only write well when I write with you. I only dance well when I dance with you. I only speak well when my words are yours. I only live well when I give up myself. I only think well when I'm thinking of you. I only love well when I'm loving for you. You are my only. You are my well. You are my adventure. I will get off this prideful treadmill. Your life you've planned for me is perfect. Your life for me is beautiful. I will live in today. Not plan tomorrow. Godwilling I live. Godwilling I run. I will get off this selfish treadmill.

Collin was a blessing from God. A reminder that without him I am nothing. That Satan is real and he's trying to get me to believe in myself, when myself is a lie- and without God I'm just my selfish self. Thank you God for Collin.
My relationship with God can't be about writing about him. My relationship with God can't be about reading good books about him. It can't be about having good friendships where we talk about him to hang out more. My relationship with God is about loving God. God is good. I love him. He deserves glory just because He is. His existence is our relationship. I love him because He is. The "I am" of our forefathers. He is. God help me love you regardless of whether I am writing or not.

(4-12-10)

April 27, 2010

Pay Attention

by Amyra

pay attention.
perhaps He's everywhere.
in everything you could possibly think to see.
perhaps the world has been forgotten.
perhaps Christ has been forgotten.
what does it say about us?
if our lives
can be measured and defined
by how many God signs
have eluded our mind.
and how well we have mastered,
becoming humanly blind.
perhaps the trees feel ignored.
and the breeze feels ignored.
and every insect on the trees
those that dance melodically to the heartbeat of the breeze
feels ignored.
perhaps they know the truth
and they'd like for us to see it.
...what if everything were a sign?
how then could you avoid
an everywhere God you try hard not to find.
pay attention.
because maybe the trees and the breeze
and the land and the seas,
perhaps they know better than you and than me.
for they hold God within themselves.
and they know God.
and they see God.
and they show God all the time.
so maybe they know better.
i mean,
what would we discover?
what could we uncover?
if the earth went unignored.
perhaps we'd marvel at what were blind to before:
all creation holding signs that say that God is Lord.

April 13, 2010

Illogical?


I think we get all this so-called "wisdom" on earth. We try to attain all this knowledge of God and knowledge of the world (in the realms of science and development), and we end up calling the truth of God "illogical" or not making sense with what we have discovered, when, really, it's just illogical to us currently in this frame of mind, in this current era. 600 years ago, it would sound crzy if someone said there were extremely small particles you can't see individually that make up big things we can see. Wouldn't that sound crazy? Well, now, in a different era, we call them atoms.
God has showed us truths from the beginning, but our minds just aren't in the same manner of thinking and we declare them as "illogical" or a religious opinion. That is why it is called the mystery of God. And he promises to reveal it to us. Maybe not all at one time, because our brain wouldn't be able to take it all in, and we might declare the whole thing as over our heads. Instead, like a good Algebra teacher, He teaches us the basics.
If x=1 and y=x, then y must equal 1. Then he moves on to the more complex once he has built a good foundation. The more complex. Graphing that x=y. 2-D and 3-D. He slowly reveals to us new dimensions that we never would have understood without the basics. God would not createa world with patterns and seeming logic, without letting that logic lead to himself. If his goal is for all of humankind to know his truth, he would not lead us to a dead end. That is faith- knowing in your heart that all of this does, indeed, add up to something. Meanwhile, God places in front of us people like C.S. Lewis and scientists whose work led to God and agnostics like Lee Strobel whose search for answsers led to the God he never believed in. God would not leave us groping for sight in the wilderness. "For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever." (Lamentations 3:31)
God uses tragedy and the world around us to get us to walk on our own, just like our parents. If we want our children to walk, we can't carry them in our arms 100% of the time. We have to let them develop, and that, indeed, might mean that they fall down a couple of times. Or maybe a lot of times. But all the times, when our legs fail, God has us by the hand to pull us back up again. And then we walk. And it is glorious. All that falling and work, then it pays off and we walk alongside our parents. When we recover from suffering, and even in suffering, we walk alongside God.
I think Jesus says that the way to life is narrow because if it was wider, the light at the end of the tunnel would be coming from too many directions and we would spend too much time zig-zagging through the tunnel instead of getting straight to the point. We don't know all of the mustery of God and his ways yet because, if we did, there would be no goal. Our hearts would never search for that narrow ray of light. We'd be quite too content where we are, on the wide road where we can wander about as we please. I'm so glad some things don't make sense! Wouldn't life be dreary if there was nothing more to learn than what we already know?

April 3, 2010

Event Soon!

We, Ode to the Forgotten, are praying and, in faith, are beginning to plan an event, God-willing! More details will come later, but we hope that this event will be inspiring and, at the same time, boost involvement with what God's doing through Ode. It will be a debut of sorts of our CD and an experience to not miss for sure! Here are our hopes for this event:

This event is meant to inspire people to go out and write, but most of all to take a look at their community and the world around them and see how they can serve it and show God’s love in all situations. It is not just a performance but an experience. Even before the poetry/songs/stories are presented, we want people to be drawn to examine themselves and the world by the quotes on the walls, the atmosphere, the pictures hanging up, and the information creatively presented all around them. There will be multiple chances for them to get involved in service during the night.
The performance portion will include poetry from our CD of How To (tentative name) that is coming out, which describes how to get involved in ODE, original songs inspired by mission trips and God, and possibly stories from people who have been earnestly convicted by God to turn from their comfortable living and live to serve other people in the name of God. We hope that people leave the event feeling inspired to help with Ode (to write, take pictures, draw, sing and send it to us), but most of all inspired to see the world and to see their lives differently. We pray that we can help open peoples’ eyes to the glory of God and to their purpose, and that they would never be tempted to shut them ever again and return to their previous comfort.
Ode to the poor, the lame, and the blind. Ode to the forgotten. We hope to inspire the poor in spirit, open the eyes of those whose hearts are blind toward God’s calling to love, and to invigorate those who have made themselves numb to the needs of others. We have the poor, lame, blind, and forgotten sitting with us in our schools, in our work buildings, in our homes, as well as in other countries. We are, at times, blind ourselves. Let us refresh ourselves and be open to God’s calling. That is the purpose of this event.

Let us know what you think! Praise God and thank you for your involvement! It's growing now! Love you all!