PnP On The Road - [The Narrow Road: A Journey of Hope - The Good Red Road - The Way of the Cross]

an epiphany or "opening" this day:

2012-02-02T17:36:00.000-08:00

It's as if all my life up to now (the good & bad) has been preparation for this "season" -- grandfather, heyoka & disciple of Jesus Christ.

Affirmation that indeed we must lose our life to find it, and that "worldliness" and material things are not part of it.

Anonymity is a blessed part of it too, at least while we are alive in this world.

anon e. moose }:-

Books

2012-02-01T08:45:00.001-08:00

There are many, many wonderful books to read, too many for one lifetime. So, while I do occasionally read fiction or the classics (Jan Karon, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy & others), I prefer to immerse myself in those works that are "transformational". The Imitation of Christ, Augustine's Confessions, Brother Lawrence and others.

So it is that I come (and it seems much too late) to a small but powerful & beautiful book titled, A Testament of Devotion, by Thomas R. Kelly. I hesitate to say this is THE book I most highly recommend among them all, because each author may speak God's truth for a particular season of our lives. And I suppose God knew this book was for this time for me personally? That said, I do recommend this "little" book for anyone desiring to go "deeper" in their search for the heart of God. It is one of those resources that one can come back to again and again along the road.

Testament of Devotion
Thomas R. Kelly
Harper One, with intro. by Richard Foster

Moosing on things religious . . .

2012-01-30T16:06:00.000-08:00

Christian, or disciple of Jesus? A lot of people claim to be, even want to be, Christians. However, very few desire to "take up their cross" and follow Jesus." (I include myself here, as I'm often a "reluctant religious".) Of course that's good for "professional" clergy whose churches are full of the former. (The latter are to be continually found out in the streets and byways, and only occasionally in churches.)

This world is so tragically full of lost young people. And graceless Christians, or the just plain crazy ones, aren't helping them.

Surrender & submission lead to the "light burden" & "easy yoke", a blessed contrary to the "world's ways".

Honestly, would we even know one if we saw one?! A true disciple of Jesus Christ. A lot of people in Calcutta probably thought Mother Teresa was just a really nice old lady who loved to take care of the "down & out"?

Man! Something's gotta give here! Maybe we should all have to do a short or long term mission in a destitute country. Then perhaps we might actually make a difference back home?

Honestly, can it be that hard? This following, this disciple thing? Maybe just simply and lovingly start with what (or who) we wake up to?! Life, spouse, children, neighbors, coworkers . . . Let's start there and see what God does. ;-)

Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.

Missionary or Missio Dei?

2012-01-29T17:47:00.000-08:00

When Jesus sent out the disciples the term He would likely have used is “missio” (to send), and of course in His case it would have been Missio Dei (mission of God or sending by God). And of course, the Good News of the Kingdom would have been the message carried, couched in love, grace and humility and reflecting the Christ.

Sadly, as with the church’s chequered history, missionaries too often tended toward harshness in their zeal to convert other cultures. Especially sad when we consider that being a messenger was the task, not converting or transforming people (Christ’s work via the Holy Spirit alone.)

Often the self-assigned task (or from the missionary group sending) was too annihilate the existing “pagan” cultures while inculcating the “accepted” norms of the missionary’s own culture. Some people, both secular and Christian, have called this “genocide of the mind”, possibly not too harsh a term for some of the destruction wrought on innocent people by “well-meaning” missionaries.

Fortunately, somewhere along the line folks realized that “success” in mission Dei could only be accomplished in an attitude of humility, love and acceptance. Jesuits, especially those in the late 1800’s and continuing into this century, have sought to validate cultures where appropriate and seek common ground in the stories of their respective cultures. By doing so, they have helped various people groups “see” God and His Christ in their own stories and culture. They have led people “farther up and farther in,” (to steal the phrase from C.S. Lewis in The Last Battle.)

So it is in our time (post-modern, post-Christian 21st century) that Jesus followers from various backgrounds, denominations and churches have recaptured the essence of Christ’s original greatest commandment and commission; to love God, love one another and to go and spread the Good News. So it is that the “Body of Christ” is once not found in buildings, programs and budget meetings, BUT out in the streets and neighborhoods; in coffee houses and pubs with Christ’s (God’s) children, meeting them “where they’re at” and imitating the Savior, even occasionally using His words of love, forgiveness and peace.

Things may begin to look very different, things already are. Status quo is no longer acceptable to Jesus’ followers, pastor/autocrat-driven churches are passing into obsolescence, and the “priesthood of all believers” is becoming a reality again, even as God makes all things new under heaven and on earth. It’s time people, wherever you’re at, whatever you’re doing . . . “will they know we are Christians by our love?”

1 John 4:7-21 . . . (check it out)

authentic availability and vulnerability to spread good news

2012-01-17T09:10:00.000-08:00

It is not so much our ability He has need of, but our availability.

I see a Man like a Son of God walking by the seashore, whistling gently to the waves of those who will come to restore the ruined places and bind up the broken-hearted.

As John the Baptist did so many years ago, we are to “prepare the way” even now . . . prepare the way for the Lord. We do so as disciples rather than prophets, for He has come and is coming. Proclaim this “Good News”, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, by loving one another and using words when necessary. By always seeking and asking to be more like Him; humble, compassionate, forgiving, filled with His love to overflowing . . . a refreshing spring of living water.

religion or relationship –

2012-01-15T18:01:00.001-08:00

I’ve come more and more to realize that I care not necessarily if my children “go to church”, but I care deeply that they know God and His love for them. And, that is actually what I desire for everyone I meet along the road. Corporate worship and fellowship may come, but to know of God and His love, and then, to KNOW God personally, that is it, what matters most. I want my children to turn to God in all things and times, whether good or bad. To find their strength and guidance from Him, and to become more like Jesus every day; loving, compassionate, humble, forgiving . . . to live “abundant lives” as He promised.

“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Lord have mercy, may my actions and life reflect you more truly and deeply than my feeble words. Amen.

a journal page from Kingdom Life . . .

2012-01-09T10:57:00.000-08:00

the forgiving Father parable . . . in song

2012-01-05T11:34:00.000-08:00

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^[a] And by him we cry, “Abba,^[b] Father.” Romans 8:15

These verses may be sung to any of the tunes used for 'When I survey the wondrous cross', and are brought to us by Wild Goose of lona.

When trouble strikes and fear takes root and dreams are dry and sense unsound when hope becomes a barren waste, then doubts like mountains soar around.

Our wandering minds believe the worst and ask, as faith and fervour fade, 'Has God now turned His back on us, forsaking those He loved and made?'

God says, 'See how a woman cares, can she forget the child she bore? Even if she did, I shan't forget. Though feeling lost, I love you more.'

'My dearest daughter, fondest son, My weary folk in every land, your souls are cradled in My heart, your names are written on My hand.'

Then praise the Lord through faith and fear, in holy and in hopeless place, for height and depth and heaven and hell can't keep us far from His embrace.

[From Celtic Daily Prayer, Aidan readings for January 3&4]

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year - from the Watters Family (aka Harbaugh Nation)

2011-12-30T19:43:00.000-08:00

resolution???

2011-12-30T15:29:00.000-08:00

in this new year, in this new season, resolve to simplify; more focus on God, eliminate distractions as much as possible, and the toughest but most blessed of all - die to self . . . my personal first step; goodbye Facebook!

Excerpts from Poustinia by Catherine DeHueck Doherty:

2011-12-23T17:29:00.000-08:00

Definitely worth the read and may it lift and guide your spirit:

The word 'poustinia' is Russian meaning 'desert'. It is an or¬dinary word. If I were a little Russian girl, and a teacher during a geography lesson asked me to name a desert, I might say 'Saharskaya Poustinia' - the Sahara Desert. That's all it really means. It also has another connotation, as so many words have. It also means the desert of the Fathers of the Desert, who in ages past went away from everything and settled there. In the Western sense of the word, it would mean a place to which a hermit goes and, hence, it could be called a hermitage. The word to the Russian means much more than a geographical place. It means a quiet, lonely place that people wish to enter, to find God who dwells within them. It also means truly isolated, lonely places to which specially called people go as hermits, and would seek God in solitude, silence and prayer for the rest of their lives. However, a poustinia was not necessarily completely away from the haunts of men. Some people had reserved, in their homes, a small room to which they went to pray and meditate, which some might call a poustinia. Generally speaking, however, a 'poustinik' (a person dwelling in a poustinia) meant someone in a secluded spot. It was considered a definite vocation, a call from God to go into the 'desert' to pray to God for one's sins and the sins of the world, also to thank Him for the joys and the gladness and all His gifts.

It seems strange to say, but what can help modern man find the answers to his own mystery and the mystery of Him in whose image he is created, is silence, solitude - in a word, the desert. Modern man needs these things more than the hermits of old.

True silence is a key to the immense and flaming heart of God. It is the beginning of a divine courtship that will end only in the immense, creative, fruitful, loving silence of final union with the Beloved. Yes, such silence is holy, a prayer beyond all prayers, leading to the final prayer of constant presence of God, to the heights of contemplation, when the soul, finally at peace, lives by the will of Him whom she loves totally, utterly and completely. This silence, then, will break forth in a charity that overflows in the service of the neighbour without counting the cost. It will witness to Christ anywhere, always. Availability will become delightsome and easy, for in each person the soul will see the face of her Love. Hospitality will be deep and real, for a silent heart is a loving heart, and a loving heart is a hospice to the world.

Who were these men and women of Russia? Why did they go into 'the desert'? Who were they spiritually? They were people who craved in their hearts to be alone with God and His immense silence. The mountain of God's silence - covered with the cloud of HIs mysterious presence - called these future poustinikki in that awesome yet loving way. To go into the poustinia means to listen to God. It means enter¬ing into kenosis - the emptying of oneself. This emptying of one-self, even as Christ emptied Himself for us, is really a climbing of this awesome mountain right to the very top where God abides in His warm silence. It also means to know 'how terrible it is to fall into the hands of the living God' . . . and yet how delightful, how joyful, and how attractive! So attractive, in fact, that the soul cannot resist. That is why the Russians say that he who is called to the poustinia must go there or die because God has called him to this mountain to speak to him in that awesome silence, in that gentle, loving silence. For God has something to say to those whom He calls to the poustinia, and what God says to them the poustinikki must repeat as a prophet does. Humanly and psychologically speaking he is reluctant to speak, as every prophet was reluctant; but to him too comes the angel with the coal of fire, that invisible angel that cleanses his mind, his mouth, and his lips (symbolically speaking) and watches that man or woman arise and start on this awesome pil¬grimage.

Silence is not the exclusive prerogative of monasteries or con¬vents. Simple, prayerful silence is everybody's silence - or if it isn't, it should be. It belongs to every Christian who loves God, to every Jew who has heard the echoes of God's voice in his prophets, to everyone whose soul has risen in search of truth, in search of God. For where noise is - inward noise and confusion -there God is not! Deserts, silence, solitudes are not necessarily places but states of mind and heart. These deserts can be found in the midst of the city, and in the everyday of our lives. We need only to look for them and realize our tremendous need for them. They will be small solitudes, little deserts, tiny pools of silence, but the experi¬ence they will bring, if we are disposed to enter them, may be as exultant and as holy as all the deserts of the world, even the one God Himself entered. For it is God who makes solitude, deserts, and silences holy.

Into the poustinia the poustiniks brought one book only - the Bible. They read it on their knees, impervious to or even perhaps uninterested in any purely academic question. To them the Bible was the incarnation of the Word and they felt a lifetime wasn't enough in which to read it. Every time they opened it they believed with a tremendous deep faith that they were face to face with the Word. Yes, the poustinik reads the Bible on his knees. He doesn't read it with his head (conceptually, critically) except in the sense that the words pass through his intelligence, but the intelligence of the poustinik is in his heart. The words of the Bible are like honey on his tongue. He reads them in deep faith. He doesn't analyze them; he reads them and allows them to stay in his heart. He may read only one or two sentences or maybe a single page in one day. The point is that he puts them all in his heart like Mary did. He lets them take root in his heart and waits for God to come and explain them which inevitably He will do when He finds such deep and complete faith.

Everyone is a pilgrim on the road of life. Some - and there are more than we know of- are like the poustinikki, truly seeking the Absolute-God! So I think the poustinia will begin slowly to attract many such people who will arise now here, now there ... and go seeking to find a place where they can enter into the silence of God and meet his Word - Christ - in that silence. Thus the hermit, the poustinik, learns to know God. Not learn about Him, but learn of God Himself through God Himself. For in the tremendous silence into which this poustinik entered, God reveals Himself to those who wait for that revelation and who don't try to 'tear at the hem of a mystery' forcing disclosure.

The poustinik also occupied himself with some work, like weav¬ing baskets. People came to visit him, for a Russian hermit has no lock or latch on his door except against the wind. Anyone at any time of day or night can knock at his door. Remember, he is in the poustinia not for himself but for others. He is a connecting bridge between people and God and God and the people, and God speaks through him. The East believes that the poustinik is such a chan¬nel, so they come to him, and he must always be available. He also must share food with anyone that comes. They may refuse, but it must always be offered. He may just have a piece of bread, but he will break it in half or into as many parts as there are people. Thus the second aspect of this strange life is hospitality, the sharing of what he has, the offering of it at any moment. Hospitality above all means that the poustinik is just passing on whatever God has put into his empty hands. He gives all that he has, and is: words, works, himself, and his food.

A poustinik lives not far from a village. It is hay making time, the weather turns stormy, and his help is asked. Immediately the poustinik drops everything or anything he might be in the middle of doing - prayer, garden, reading, whatever it may be - and spends all his time on the hay. For we believe in Russia that if I touch God I must touch humanity, for there is really no distinction. Christ incarnated Himself and became man, so I must, like Christ Himself, be a person of the towel and the water. That is to say, wash other people's feet as Christ did, and washing other people's feet means service. I cannot pray if I don't serve my brother. I cannot pray to the God who incarnated Himself when my brother is in need. It is an impossibility. It would be like the priest, the Levite, who passed the man beset with robbers, and that I cannot do. So sometimes a poustinik might spend a month, six weeks, working for the various needs of the villagers and never think even for one minute about the fact that he is supposed to be in a poustinia, reading the Bible, or praying, because he is in the poustinia of his heart always, especially when serving others.

If you ever see a sad hermit or poustinik, then he is no hermit at all. The most joyous persons in Russia are the ones who have the eyes of a child at 70 and who are filled with the joy of the Lord, for they who have entered the silence of God are filled with God's joy. Yes, the life of a poustinik should be truly joyous with the quiet joy of the Lord and this will be visible. He will have the eyes of a child even if his face is old. You cannot fool people as to such things as the presence of love and joy in a human being.

The poustinia can never simply be a place of rest - sleeping, recreation, a 'change of pace'. The poustinia is a holy place, so holy that one trembles when one enters. It is not an eating place, nor a sleeping place. It is God's place. The desert, of course, is the symbol of austerity, poverty, and utter simplicity. It is God who leads the soul to the desert, and the soul cannot remain in the desert long unless it is nourished by God. Therefore, it is a place where we fast from bodily food and even spiritual food, such as reading all kinds of books, for we enter there to meet our God with the only book in which He is fully accessible: the Bible. Let your poustinia be a quiet, secret garden enclosed, for it is a hallowed place, a holy place where the soul enters to meet its God.

The one who goes to the poustinia for the first time will experi¬ence a certain amount of interior noise. The first time one of the staff went she said to me on returning, 'Boy, that was a terrible experience! You know what happened to me?' I said, 'Yes, I think I do. But tell me anyway.' She said, 'All my thoughts buzzed in me like flies. I was think¬ing that my jeans needed stitching, that the garden needed weed¬ing. I thought about everything except God.' I said, 'Oh, that's perfectly natural.' It takes a long time for the person of today to close the wings of his intellect and to open the door of his heart.

For those of you who go into the poustinia, this is the essence of it: to fold the wings of your intellect. In the civilization of the West everything is sifted through your heads. You are so intellectual, so full of knowledge of all kinds. The poustinia brings you into contact first and foremost with soli¬tude. Secondly, it brings you in contact with God. Even if you don't feel anything at all, the fact remains that you have come to have a date with God, a very special rendezvous. You have said to the Lord, 'Lord, I want to take this 24, 36, 48 hours out of my busy life and I want to come to You because I am very tired. The world is not as You want it, and neither am I. I want to come and rest on Your breast as St John the Beloved. That is why I have come to this place.'

The West values itself for its ability to produce things. Priests, nuns and lay people tend to evaluate themselves interiorly by what they produce. Priests especially do not realize that their presence is enough. I often tell priests who work in parishes that one of the best things they can 'do' is simply walk around their neighbourhoods and be present to their people. If they don't do something, they feel that they are wasting their lives away. So it is with the poustinik. There is an inability to realize that the pres¬ence of a person who is in love with God is enough, and that nothing else is needed. That doesn't mean that the poustinik's assistance in definite ways cannot be helpful to the community. But it does mean that one should be perfectly at peace even (should I say especially?) when one hasn't got 'something to do'.

Prayer is the source and the most intimate part of our lives. The life of prayer - its intensity, its depth, its rhythm - is the measure of our spiritual health, and reveals to us ourselves. With the ascetics, the desert is interiorized, and signifies the concentration of a recollected spirit. At this level, where man knows how to be silent, true prayer is found. Here he is mysteriously visited. There should be no break in our prayer. Why should my heart be removed from God just because I am talking to you? When you are in love with someone, it seems the face of the beloved is before you when you drive, when you type,, anything like that. If you fall in love, then it is impossible to escape and you must breath from prayer. Prayer is simply union with God and one does not need words. When people are in love they look into each other's eyes, or a wife simply rests in the embrace of her husband. Neither of them talks. It has reached that intimate realm of silence where it pulsates and reaches proportions unknown to those who haven't entered into it. Such is the life of prayer with God. You enter into God and God enters into you, and the union is constant.

Our house of prayer in the marketplace would continue to intensify its very ordinariness and simplicity, bearing with people who will not understand why they are producing so little. They will have to accept the fact that people will say of them what others said of Jesus: 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' Through their prayerful, hidden and seemingly unproductive life, God will prepare those involved in the house of prayer for new contacts and new works according to His plan and not theirs. Subtle temptations will come as the devil will try to twist the meaning of their vocation. He will suggest how impossible it is to form a community of love, to really become a poustinia in the market place with its door open. The essence of such a house will be that its members really bear with one another, and cover them¬selves with humility, compassion and love toward one another. The devil will attack with all sorts of logical arguments and prove that it is just not possible.

The poustinia in the marketplace begins with prayer, much prayer. It does not mean that you are not doing the work you have been doing. No. But you must understand that the poustinia begins in your heart. It is not a place, a geographical spot. It is not first and foremost a house or a room. It is within your heart. It is imple¬menting the prayer of St Francis. That is the work of the poustinik in the marketplace, to be hidden as Christ was hidden in Nazareth.
When this work of the Holy Spirit is really allowed to take place in a human heart, the person is utterly indifferent as to where geographically he is situated. It is possible to live in a lovely house while inwardly, spiritually, you are clad like John the Baptist in animal skins and eating locusts and wild honey. If this inner poustinia, this stripping of oneself, this kenosis, is begun, it means that you kneel before the Lord and say, 'Here I am, Lord, do with me as You will. Speak for Your ser¬vant is listening. Lord, I thank You for all You have given me, for all You have taken away from me, for all You have left me." When you have done that, you will have begun to understand the poustinia in the marketplace.

Suppose that you were married and became pregnant. Would you stop cooking for your husband? Would you stop doing the laun¬dry, the cleaning, stop going to meetings on racial justice and school affairs? No. You'd go about your daily business. The only difference between you and everyone else would be that you were carrying a child. Your womb is a poustinia for the child, and you carry him wherever you go. Wherever you go you are pregnant with Christ, and you bring His presence as you would bring the presence of a natural child. For when a woman is with child, people give her special attention. They smile, they offer her a comfortable place to sit down. She is a witness to life. She carries life around with her. I don't know if I have succeeded in giving you a clearer idea of what this kind of poustinia of the marketplace is. It is not a matter of retiring to a basement! You live in the marketplace and carry the poustinia within you. That is your vocation. You are pregnant with Christ. You are Christ-bearers. You are poustinia bearers. Where? In the marketplace. To whom? To anyone whom you meet there, but especially to those you are mandated to be with. This eliminates, I hope, all notions of being recluses, of with¬drawing from the marketplace.

We must follow Christ in the rhythm of His own life, the rhythm of solitude and action. What is needed in our days is to retire to solitude and silence, to hear the voice of God, to glorify Him and pray to Him, and then to return to the secular world. Tragically the West keeps brushing this aside and saying, 'Yes, that's basically true - but let's get down to action!'

If a Russian built a poustinia next to the village, he automatically knows that he is part of that village. He doesn't have to be told that he is now part of that community. Being part of the community is not a matter of geography. If your spiritual director says that you should spend three days in the poustinia, you spend three days. If he thinks you should spend four, you spend four. If he thinks you should come out of the poustinia for a while altogether, you come out. Wherever you are in obedience, you are part of the community. It is not a matter of being inside or outside the poustinia.

IN THE HOSPITAL - OCTOBER 21, 1973
A room, a bed, two chairs: stark, naked room of pain, a room set all apart for just that pain, in a desert more real than the deserts of sand and heat. Poustinias indeed where man meets his God, face to face, both crucified. Gone are all subterfuges, excuses, rationalizations. Now man enters into the truth of God. All his masks are torn and man becomes what he truly is. Poustinias in a hospital of Golgotha on which the crucified God is planted in the midst of crucified men. Now is the moment of meeting. Now is the moment of speaking. But no words are needed in the poustinia of a hospital room. Only the steps of the Father and the light of the Spirit that comes like a gentle breeze in the spring, consoling, assuaging, making clear all that was unclear so that in a stark, naked room of pain joy enters. The sick arise and dance with Christ.

As I sit here and try to rethink and meditate on what I have writ¬ten about the poustinia, I honestly wonder if I can say 'Amen' just yet. My purpose was to explain the poustinia vocation as found in Russia, in my own life and in the life of the Madonna House. But, when you come right down to it, the poustinia is not a place at all - and yet it is. It is a stage, a vocation, belonging to all Christians by baptism. It is a vocation to be a contemplative. There will always be 'solitaries', or should be. But the essence of the poustinia is that it is a place within oneself, a result of bap¬tism, where each of us contemplates the Trinity. Within my heart, within me, I am or should be constantly in the presence of God. This is another way of saying that I live in a garden enclosed where I walk and talk with God (though a Russian would say 'where all in me is silent and where I am immersed in the silence of God'). It's as if I were sitting next to God in complete silence, although there are always many other people around. (Like a hus¬band and wife being in a private silence and solitude even though they are at a party and the room is filled with people.) How stumbling words are! How inadequate the similes! Yet the poustinia is something like this to me: a state of contemplating God in silence.

The poustinia is within, and one is forever immersed in the silence of God, forever listening to the word of God, forever repeating it to others in word and deed. Thus everything that I have said about the physical poustinia, about trying to adapt it to the West, can be said about every Christian. The poustinia is this inner solitude, this inner immersion into the silence of God. It is through this inner, total identification with humanity and with Christ that every Christian should be living in silent contemplation. This is the poustinia within oneself. I don't know if all this makes any sense. It is only in identifying with Christ, it is only by plunging into (In-great silence of God within myself, that I can love others and identify with them. It is by listening to the great silence of God, and having this strange, passive dialogue in which I become aware of the silence which is the speech of God - it is only by listening to this that I am able to speak to my brother. It is only by listening to this silence that I can acquire the ingenuity of love, the delicacy of Christ in my human relationships. In this silence I become identified with Christ, I acquire a listening heart.

The poustinia is a state of constantly being in the presence of God because one desires Him with a great desire, because in Him alone one can rest. The poustinia is walking in this inner solitude, immersed in the silence of God. My life of service and love to my fellowman is simply the echo of this silence and solitude. Inwardly I identify myself with God and with humanity. Jesus Christ Himself conducts me into this inner silence, into that soli¬tude which speaks so loudly to the Father under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Now I am immersed in the Trinity, in the fire of the silence of God (for the silence of God is always fire; His speech is fire). Now I become as one on fire with love of Him and of all human¬ity across the world. Now it is not I who speak. I speak what God tells me to speak. When my immersion into this immense silence has finally caught fire from His words, then I am able to speak. I can speak because His voice is sounding loudly and clearly in my ears, which have been emptied of everything except Him. Now only His name is on my heart, constantly; it has become my heartbeat.

These readings are extracted from Poustinia by Catherine dc Hueck Doherty, used with permission of Fr Robert Wild, Madonna House, Combermere, Ontario. Copies of the book may be obtained from that address or from Cloisters, the Northumbria Community's trading company.

Advent

2011-12-20T07:59:00.001-08:00

"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light."
"For to us a child is born; . . . "

But have the people really "seen" the light. Have they understood not only what, but WHO the light is?

Jesus came and turned things upside down; the least is the greatest, less is more, smaller is better. Doesn't sound like our world does it?! While His Kingdom is already here, we mostly fail to see it, or to live like it.

We call ourselves Christians, but we really don't reflect Christ. We are caught up in our worldly lives, including this religion called Christianity, and have lost sight of the Person.

This Christmastide why not turn aside from all the hype & glitz; all those big productions & promotions, and simply find a quiet place (like a lowly stable) and reflect on the first Christmas and it's little family.

Joyeux Noel . . . O come, o come Immanuel and ransom our captive hearts.

My Christmas Letter?

2011-12-14T08:57:00.000-08:00

“Help us, help us, help us! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

This is how your Mom likes to condense the Prayer of Philippians 4:4-7. This morning when I awoke I realized I was feeling a bit stressed (depressed & anxious). But I personally don’t have anything to feel that way about.  Let’s face it, Pops is retired and doing what he loves most; being a grandpa and storyteller.

However, my family lives very busy, stressful lives, and therein lays my own “worry”. So, what better place to go than in God’s Presence praying that prayer that has become a “bedrock” for our family over the years. So, I proceeded to do what comes easiest and most blessedly to me; to rejoice in God always, to stay calm and know He is very near, to lift up all those worries and cares, and most importantly to give thanks for all the ways He has blessed all of us.

Here is a list you will all identify with at some point:

 Employment – in an economy where many are not working, you all have jobs!
 Relationships – God has richly blessed you all, even if there have been some trials along the way (we all have them.) 
 School – Karly and Phil are headed toward those coveted Bachelor’s degrees, AND Cody toward his Master’s, with Dr.’s Kyle & Laura already in the midst of theirs. And, even though Laura is in a tremendously stressful period, she is meant for what she is doing, despite the trials, we all rejoice in Dr. Laura!
 Finances – God has always provided what we needed, we are not rich, but we all know we have much to be thankful for in this area as well.
 Health – Well, yes, M&D are getting older and “suffering” some aches and pains, but generally we all have good health, especially that lil pumpkin of our collective eyes, Anthony! 
 God – we all know to some extent that God is real, AND for us! That is the most important and blessed thing to be thankful for in a world that seems so harsh and unforgiving at times.

Yes, I do get stressed at times too, but it passes, especially when I focus on God’s Providence and Love, and recite that Philippians prayer. So, here is the whole thing from the Bible for your reference, including verses 8&9 which are good too. 

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Heyoka

2011-12-07T18:26:00.000-08:00

Found my true identity:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heyoka#section_1

Classic Christian Literature – A Simply Annotated List

2011-12-07T10:03:00.000-08:00

Introduction: This is an attempt to list generally the best in classic (and soon to be?) Christian books & authors. The annotation simply gives one word or phrase for the overall theme of the book so that readers can find particular selections for that aspect where God is either speaking in their lives, or where they need some direction; whether from Holy Spirit (circuit judge in the brain) prompting or some other conviction or “leading”, including a word from trusted friend(s). I heartily recommend the collections from Renovare; Devotional Classics, Spiritual Classics, Longing For God and 25 Books Every Christian Should Read. Time spent in those publications is invaluable to personal formation, but I realize many of my friends and loved ones do not have the luxury I currently have in this season of geezerdom.

So, in no particular order:

 The Imitation of Christ – “humility” [My personal favorite, and I also prefer the Tylenda translation with foreword by Sally Cuneen.]
 On The Incarnation – who & why of Jesus, apologetics (defense of the faith)
 Confessions – struggling with faith, autobiographical
 The Sayings of the Desert Fathers – humility & discipline
 The Rule of St. Benedict – humility & discipline
 The Divine Comedy – the journey in poetry
 The Cloud of Unknowning – contemplative prayer
 Revelations of Divine Love – divine knowledge of God
 The Philokalia – comtemplative life & total surrender
 Institutes of the Christian Religion – foundation of reformed theology
 The Interior Castle – aka Mansions, contemplative journey & knowledge
 Dark Night of the Soul – spiritual desert/depression
 Pensees – apologetics from a mathematician
 The Pilgrim’s Progress – allegorical journey steeped in Scripture
 The Practice of the Presence of God – Presence & simplicity
 A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life – practical daily living with Jesus
 The Way of the Pilgrim – interior life, prayer as Presence
 The Brothers Karamazov – theology in allegory
 Orthodoxy – apologetics and journey
 Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins – faith in poetry
 The Cost of Discipleship – total submission
 A Testament of Devotion – interior life in the midst of the world
 The Seven Story Mountain – spiritual autobiography (see Confessions also)
 Mere Christianity – apologetics, classic and transformational
 The Return of the Prodigal Son – biographical, relational, theological in allegory

finding that perfect book for your spirit . . .

2011-12-06T08:36:00.000-08:00

At the risk of being bold and appearing a "know-it-all", I offer some direction on Christian reading (in companionship with the Bible of course.) And of course I do tend toward boldness (a fault too often), but certainly don't know it all. There are so many wonderful, classic or soon to be classic books on the life of following Christ, that many people just give up, overwhelmed and don't bother.

I have found some publications of Renovare to be invaluable in my quest to read those classics that will speak to my heart. The books; Devotional Classics, Spiritual Classics, Longing For God, and the latest, 25 Books Every Christian Should Read, are like a wonderful annotated bibliography of the best in Christian writing from the 4th century on. You can read these surveys any way you like, picking what you're led to, or check out all the entries and find those that God will speak directly to you in. Okay, you say, but you've still given me FOUR (4) books to read! I get it, so I would say start with Devotional Classics if this is your first venture into these books. I trust you will find a books/authors within its pages that will lead into a deeper knowledge (heart & head) of God.

I highly recommend any of these books (collections), and they would make wonderful gifts that will last and keep on "giving".

only by Grace . . . always Grace,

da Moose ;-(

Is God “at work” in your city?

2011-12-01T07:55:00.000-08:00

If indeed God is "at work" in our communities, that "work" should look like His Son's work; the hungry get fed, the naked get clothed, the homeless get sheltered, the sick and suffering get comforted. For following Jesus, being a disciple, an apprentice, means doing as He did, exhibiting His character in our lives by the Father's grace.

"Thy Kingdom come ON EARTH as it is in heaven." His Kingdom HAS come, and is coming. We who live in the Light of the Resurrection get to partner with the Almighty God; Father, Son & Spirit, in making all things new, in completing God's work of the redemption of Creation . . . Outrageous isn't it?!

As the Body of Christ, this is NOT about "inreach" for one particular church or denomination. It IS about "outreach" of His Kingdom by His disciples as ONE, without regard for the "differences", and with complete focus on, and surrender to Him.

We get a glimpse of his heaven come to earth on the grand scale (stage) of events like Convoy of Hope, where many churches partner, putting aside their own agendas. But the even grander scale is the often unnoticed work of individual disciples, which when combined changes the world!

When churches, leaders and others put aside their own agendas and petty theological differences, focusing instead on Jesus Christ (read your Bible), then we will truly have something! When His church (remember He said He will build it) was just getting started there were no buildings, programs or denominations. And, their numbers grew because and as a result of the proclamation of the Gospel (sometimes using words). ;-) And this Gospel; in Jesus Christ, God's redemption of His people (yes, Israel too) has come! The Kingdom is here and now, and the King is on His throne.

I suppose this is why I love "parachurch" ministries and organizations; no one church, pastor, denomination, etc. seeking its own agenda, or claiming to have "the corner" on God's Truth. Just a gathering of people trying to follow Jesus, and doing His work wherever they find themselves. Being vulnerable and available to others they meet, and even occasionally sharing the Gospel, but not before trust is built through the intimacy that vulnerability and availability bring.

Can I get an “AMEN”? ;-)

Moose reflections, or “conjectures of a guilty bystander” (apologies to Thomas Merton), or simply “moose musings”.

Moose musing along the Road - via Facebook

2011-11-22T07:40:00.000-08:00

Patrick Watters
Moose musing — at In My Room.

Polkinghorne - when religion/philosophy meet quantum physics. Hmm, maybe that explains why Patti seems so close even though she's 2K miles away? ;-)

‎"moose musing" - part prayer, part 'day dreaming', always in the Presence of God. ;-)

The "mystery" of Job in a nutshell - when we have lost everything and are miserable, God remains the "Eternal constant" and our loving, merciful refuge and hiding place.

A Healthy Perspective On Evil

2011-11-08T10:11:00.000-08:00

Recent dialog with a friend, and the current illness of my wife, Patti, have had me looking into the question of evil in the world, and specifically the devil (or dweeb as I like to call him.) There was a time when I had an unhealthy fear of evil and the dweeb. I suppose I could attribute some of it to depression and chronic anxiety? I've learned as I've walked with God to understand this aspect of life in the world and have a more healthy perspective on it.

To deny the existence of the devil, evil and darkness, or even to ignore it, is to deny much of God's Truth in the Bible and Jesus' own teachings on the subject as well. Not that we are to obsess on it, but to be aware and put it in its "right" place in His Name. We have nothing to fear because we are already victorious in Christ. We await and partner with Him in making all things new. Yes! God Who IS Light, even in the darkness, will eliminate evil for all eternity.

Here are some Bible passages to reflect on as you seek this Truth for yourself; Job 1 etal, Luke 8:11-18, Ephesians 6:10-18, James 4:7 and 1 Peter 5:8-9.

Family Matters

2011-11-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

As I anticipate my return home to Sacramento from the "Big Island", I do so with both excitement and husbandly concern. I am truly excited to return to my role and life season of grandfather. Yet, I am somewhat saddened to leave Patti here in Hilo for another month. Yes, of course she can take care of herself, but some recent health issues have not been completely resolved, and so I feel a need here as her husband and soulmate. But we have learned to surrender all to our loving God Who knows best and always cares for us. We look forward to having our family together again (at least those of us who now share the family "compound" in the City of Sacraments.) And to whatever God has in store for us in this season.

The heart of the matter, and the person -

2011-11-07T09:24:00.000-08:00

"Never judge a book by it's cover." And, never judge someone's heart and soul by their exterior. You may never know what you had until they're gone.

as seen recently on facebook:

2011-11-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

Patti often must remind me that's "it's time for you to visit Thomas 'a Kempis"! I guess I sense it myself this time, facebook has become to much a distraction, time to immerse in The Imitation of Christ and God's Word so interwined there, especially the humility of the living Word, even Christ Jesus. Sometimes I think it would just be easier to "disappear" into grandfatherhood, to become a "hermit" of sorts there? So, goodbye for now, I'm sure I'll be back, (to many's dismay). :-)

the evolution of the "family" home, or returning to simple, sustainable living -

2011-10-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

As Patti and I plan our "living quarters" at the "family compound" back in Sacramento, I've been thinking about how we've become so consumptive in the western world. The family home is a primary example of this evolution toward "bigger and better" (worse in my opinion) homes. We have gone from 1K square foot easily sustainable living spaces to 5K monstrosities with separated living spaces where no one has to enounter anyone else throughout the day. There are "living rooms", "family rooms", "AV rooms" (the entertainment centers of our media submersed culture) and more.

My first home in North Dakota was about 800 square feet. We lived there with a native American family who also had a baby, our dads worked together on Garrison Dam. One "living space" that constituted kitchen, dining, living, work space . . . and also the only room with heat! :-) Then two small bedrooms (sleeping quarters) for each family. Oh, yes we did have indoor plumbing, including a bathrooom. Now, we have so many separate spaces we really can "avoid" one another if we want to. However, we are thinking of ways to be "family" and save money too. All of it also helps reduce our "carbon footprint"; energy conservation, etc.

This poor economy has everyone looking for ways to save, which is a great thing. It motivates us toward simplification and conservation, something we all should be doing anyway. I am personally excited to experience three generations under one roof, just hope we continue to "get along" and not become our own version of a bad reality TV show?! :-)

2000 years – Context, or what the heck is going on here?

2011-10-26T16:50:00.000-07:00

Consider if you will the “state” of Israel in the first century A.D. Palestine is under Roman rule and experiencing a time of relative peace (Pax Romana). Although “puppet king” Herod is bent on killing off his entire family, he seems willing to let the Jews live their lives in peace as long as they “behave”. The Jews for their part are awaiting the long anticipated arrival of their messiah/king who will deliver them from tyranny. This is the world Jesus (the Christ) will be born into, but this humble messiah/king will not be what the Jews are expecting. Now, think of the context of these events as one grand story or play being acted out over thousands of years, but where every event is connected to the other across time, for this is the reality of God’s plan. If we look at the first century and our 21st century, we will see some interesting and possibly disturbing parallels. But fear not, this is a creation process, not a destruction process as many view it . . . at least it is for those who seek God. Okay, bear with me and see if these parallels are also obvious to you? Since the time of exile (separation) for Israel, sectarianism has increased and solidified among the Jewish people. The sects [read denominations” here] are as much political and cultural as they are religious. The Pharisees [read “leaders” here] have become enamored with their own interpretations and legalistic hypotheticals which do not necessarily jibe with the Torah [read “Scripture” here]. Interpretation and tradition, in fact, are on par with the Law itself. Okay, fast forward to our own time, about what we are seeing now, (you PC USA folks should really be getting this.) Further, with popular support, many of these religious leaders are seeking government offices or places of high regard and authority in the sects [denominations]. (Think General Assembly here PC USA friends.) It is fairly clear that in their first century religious beliefs and practices the Jews had come a long way from Mt. Sinai (or maybe a better way to phrase that would be “have strayed a long way?”) In the same way, Christians have come (strayed) a long way from the empty tomb. Lord have mercy indeed! But the truth remains; God has taken on human flesh and moved into the neighborhood! What a mystery! What a marvelous and wonderful mystery! So, if you feel you have strayed too, look to the Good Shepherd, He’ll lead you back. Amen?

Oh, one more thing . . . “church” isn’t happening in denominations, committee meetings or often even in corporate worship settings. It’s not about big glitzy highly promoted events; it’s about intimate personal discipleship. It’s happening out there where His disciples are lovingly imitating Him, where He is “building His church.” Remember, Jesus did not come as a religious leader. He held no official position, nor was He trained (seminary) to be a priest or other cleric. He took His ministry to the cities, towns, country roads and farms and homes . . . wherever the common people might be found. And, He calls us to do the same.

Reflections from retreat – Ainaola Anam Cara “Monastery” Waiakea Uka, Mauna Loa, Hawaii:

2011-10-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

The following are notes and reflections gathered during time of extended retreat. Much is taken directly from Scripture, or adapted from Celtic Daily Prayer with my own notes based on my family heritage of the Celtic Highlands and Islands (Scotland and Northern Ireland). Prayers of the Highland Christians and Hebridean Altars are also sources. The Watters clan [tribe], (name meaning in Gaelic: they that dwell by loch and muir; or lake, inlet and sea), lived out life for some time as farmers and fishermen under clan chiefs, later emigrating to North America to begin new lives there as both Celtic and Lakota. That story, “From Clan to Tribe”, has been documented elsewhere. No directions are offered here for either study or meditation, but I trust that those who read and reflect will enter upon on holy ground and be blessed.

During the season of falling leaves, (canwapekašnawi in Lakota), in the year of our Lord, 2011:

I have learned during solitude and silence up here, that life cannot be all retreat nor all mission. There must be a balance as Christ Jesus modeled; wherein each discipline feeds and nurtures the other. So life is a series of seasons during which God provides His own rhythms for our good and His service. Finding our rhythm and getting in step with the “dance of the Trinity” is a lifelong journey along the Narrow Road, the Good Red Road of Christ.

John 16:33
33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

St. Columba’s final words to his fellow religious seem an appropriate beginning, as well as end, to these reflections: “I give to you, my children, these final words: Be at peace with one another, bound together by mutual and unfeigned love. If you do this, according to the example of the ancient fathers, God, who gives strength to the righteous, will bless you; and I, abiding with Him, shall intercede for you. Not only will God provide all things needed for this present life, but He shall prepare for you blessings of eternity.”

I recall during prayer the struggles of our former church family, and these words of Columba seem apt knowledge and reflection for them.

1 Chronicles 16:8-11
8 Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness.
Let the whole world know what he has done.
9 Sing to him; yes, sing his praises.
Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.
10 Exult in his holy name;
rejoice, you who worship the LORD.
11 Search for the LORD and for his strength;
continually seek him.

A common aspect of monastic communities, especially the Celtic which combined work in the community with retreat into solitude, is the daily offices or rhythms: “When labor in the fields was finished they returned to the monastery and spent the whole of the day until the evening in reading, writing or praying. When evening came, and the stroke of the bell sounded, whether only the tip of a letter or even half the form of the same letter was written, they rose quickly and left what they were doing. In silence, without empty talk or chatter, they went into the church. When they had finished chanting the psalm, with voice and heart in complete harmony, they humbled themselves on bended knees until the appearance of the stars in the heavens brought the day to a close.”

May we be one Lord God as You are ONE; Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Amen.

Isaiah 53:3-7 – counting the cost

3 He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows[a] that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the LORD laid on him
the sins of us all.
7 He was oppressed and treated harshly,
yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.

“It was custom that anyone who yearned for this manner of saintly life and asked to join the monastic community first remained for ten days at the door of the monastery, as if rejected and also silenced by words of abuse. If he put his patience to good use and stood there until the tenth day, he might be admitted and first put to serve under the elder who had charge of the gate. After he had toiled there for a long time, and many conflicts with in his soul had been reconciled, he was finally judged fit to enter the brethren’s society.”

My brethren, be joyful, keep your faith and belief, and perform the small things which you have learned from me and have seen in me, those which God will make great in His providence. Amen.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
A Time for Everything
1 For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
2 A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.

John 4:23
23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.
“Recognizing time as a reality made holy by a loving God, the Celtic saints valued the daily, the routine, the ordinary. They believed God is found not only at the end of time when the reign of God finally comes, but now, where the reign is already being lived by God’s faithful people. Theirs was a spirituality characterized by gratitude, and in our stories we find them worshipping God in their daily work and very ordinary chores.” Sellner, Wisdom of the Celtic Saints

Labor and rest, work and ease, the busy hand, and then the skilled thought: this blending of opposites is the secret of the joy of living.
Whether I be in retreat, or about Your work, keep within me a stillness deeper and sweeter than a forest’s in mid of winter.

Ezekiel 33:30-32
30 “Son of man, your people talk about you in their houses and whisper about you at the doors. They say to each other, ‘Come on, let’s go hear the prophet tell us what the LORD is saying!’ 31 So my people come pretending to be sincere and sit before you. They listen to your words, but they have no intention of doing what you say. Their mouths are full of lustful words, and their hearts seek only after money. 32 You are very entertaining to them, like someone who sings love songs with a beautiful voice or plays fine music on an instrument. They hear what you say, but they don’t act on it!"

Mattew 25:35-40
5 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,[a] you were doing it to me!’

How wretched we are, given up to sleep and laziness so that we never see the glory of those who watch with Christ unceasingly! What miraculous things I have seen after so short a vigil here!
Deliver me from self-trustfulness. In the frequent days in which I must do battle with my self as foe, arm me with a constant trust in Thee.
I am calmed because I know You love me. Because You love me, nothing can move me from my peace. Because You love me, I am as one to whom all good has come.
Lord, You love us to stand in Your sight upright and with such a gentleness in us that some other will yearn to win its power.

John 17:25-26
25 “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. 26 I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”

Amen.

An open question re: seminary -

2011-10-23T16:48:00.001-07:00

Does the intellectual pursuit at seminary better prepare one for apprenticeship to Jesus?

Further, is that what Jesus had in mind when He said, "Go and make disciples."?

If so, or if not, why do seminaries exist? Are they just professional clergy prep for the denominations?

Yes, I have my own thoughts, but I'm curious what others think, especially seminarians and graduates.

humanity vs. Humanity

2011-10-11T22:17:00.001-07:00

So much preoccupation with politics and agendas of the world. So much distraction from what really matters to our true Humanity as opposed to that lower form we so often exist in. Whether LGBTQ extremism, Christian Right, or other media-fueled nonsense, we become mired in useless activity and dialog. What if we could rise above this lowly state, and even for a moment experience the "knowledge" that we are meant for something higher. What if our sexuality, politics, materialism and more could be shed for that higher life we were created for?! Lord have mercy, we are a pathetic lot! We argue as if we have the absolute truth in our own little brains . . . and He would laugh if it all weren't so sad. Only the Spirit can reveal the truth, and we'd better be very careful what we do with that truth. It was never meant to be used as a weapon or to enslave others. No, it was meant to free them and us. That's why it says "speak the truth in love" . . . and not speak your truth and condemn. Yes, I know, we are called in this Humanity to "judge", but only as to truth and/or sin, and not another's heart, only the Creator Himself has that authority, and it is rightly His and His alone.

So, what do we do? Well, discourse is good, the Apostle Paul loved and used it often leading into teaching moments. But when the point is reached where friendly, respectful discourse is replaced by shallow argument and finger-pointing accusations . . . that is the point where "shaking the dust out of your clothes and off your shoes" becomes the best recourse to failed discourse. In my simple terms; walk away, ponder and pray, preserve what little love and grace you have left for another day.

Anything more only gives the evil dweeb a "foothold", and he just loves to weasel his way into those places. Best to recognize him and his slimy little minions and put them in their place with haste, in Jesus Name of course! ;-)

And that will end this latest Moose rant, posted here at the monastery at Ainaola Anam Cara.

Grace & Peace, and always only by grace on my part.

Church?

2011-10-04T22:46:00.000-07:00

Thinking about my daughter and son-in-law, and so many others I meet along the "road". If they don't like the church, no amount of invitation (pressure) will get them there. So, how to introduce them to Jesus? "Go" . . . where they are, speak their "language", live in their world.

Bring church into our home, (imagine that, church in a house). ;-) Play some spiritual music, something from their world that creates a space or place for thought and discourse. Then just "talk story", like Jesus did. Keep it simple, friendly, seasoned with love and grace.

Start with Him, Jesus, you're gonna end up with Him too since the whole Bible is His story. Explain the gospels and His teachings, as He did with his first disciples. (Not heavy theology, not OT study, just simple stories a fisherman could understand.) Move to Paul; his story and letters . . . always imitating Christ. Converts will eventually desire deeper, further study and pursue it on their own.

Always be in prayer; for yourself AND those you meet with. Ask the Father to send His Spirit to give the word and lessons. Intentionally surrender self and BE in Christ - for as Paul said, your true self is hidden there, in Him. Trust God to use you as you submit to Him.

Lastly, make sure you are in a discipling relationship for yourself too, and maintain your own church connections. God will honor your efforts.

While I wrote this thinking about my own family, it is easily applicable to our lives out in the world too. It works in coffee shops, diners & dives. Just be open to opportunities, don't force it, just let God work.

Yes, I do this. It never seems to look the same each time, owing to different people and places I guess, and it is a work in progress, a process that is dynamic, just gotta keep goin with the flow.

Amen? Amen.

Searching for what?

2011-10-04T22:44:00.000-07:00

The big island of Hawaii is certainly all that people and travel publications say about it, and more. It IS a paradise of sorts, at least physically; climate, scenery, etc. But paradise should also have something to do with how we feel, a spiritual aspect? And to be truthful I have met some "locals" who seem to understand what they have here. They are content in relationships, family, with little need for material possessions.

I have also met many "transplanted" folk, mostly haole, as the locals call them (and me), but not in a derogatory sense. However, the haoles all seem restless to me? They don't have the same calm demeanor, the aloha, of the locals? I've chatted with many, asking about their "journey" and such. They all seem to be either escaping from something (often literally) or searching for something which continues to elude them?

Interestingly, more than a few have left the deserts of Sedona for these rainforests. I guess the harmonic convergence petered out or they got tired of peyote?! ;-). Here they can trade in peyote for pot, and still have a cloudy mind in their seeking. Then also, there are the wealthy who come and build multi-million dollar homes in double gated enclaves, missing so much that is Hawaii.

I admit I love it here, but family and home are in Sacramento. And, if I've learned anything while living here, it's the ultimate importance of relationships, of deep, vulnerable, authentic, caring, loving relationships.

Sadly, many of the "aliens" here tend to intentionally isolate themselves, physically and socially from the people here, the kamaaina who could really help them. So, while I do love it here, I sense a sadness that seems so out of place here, especially in the tension of the haoles and of course most of the tourists too.

I believe I know what, or rather Who is missing from these lost lives. The Creator of this place, and all of them too. But, I don't force religion on my "friends", just smile and listen, and trust the Lord will reveal Himself as He chooses. Oh, they do know where I'm at on this journey, and often remark about the message in the tattoos they see. Even asking what 3:16 and 2 4:7 mean. Yea, I know, a little sneaky evangelism on my part. ;-)

So I spread His love, His aloha, as best I know how. I get to disciple a couple young men here too, praise God. One a gifted artist and writer who is searching, and another who is a wYLdlife leader here, and who stayed with us on the mainland when he came to camp as a HS student.

It's still a weird season for me here Lord, but I'm just trying to obey and learn what You have for me in this time.

Hmm, started with a question, ended with a prayer . . . actually, I guess it's all prayer?

Amen.

The Alcoholic - a pseudohaiku

2011-09-28T16:47:00.000-07:00

The evil and idolatry is destroying his soul, even as the alcohol, his body.

Anon E. Moose

The Question:

Is he so stubborn and proud, or evil, that he refuses to save himself?

a place of more "regular" entries i.e. daily life

2011-09-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

https://www.facebook.com/#!/patrick.watters1

My Personal Daily "Office"

2011-09-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

My daily “office”: (slowly and deliberately, listening for His voice)

In Your Name Heavenly Father, in Your Name Lord Jesus Christ, in Your Name Holy Spirit.
Knowing what lies ahead, a new heaven and new earth, I press on toward the goal for which You are restoring me.

One thing I ask of you Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in Your house all the days of my life, to behold Your beauty and seek You in Your temple.

Even my faith is a gift from You Lord, even that I seek you is by Your Grace.
“And who is it that you seek my child?” I seek You Lord God, with all my heart and soul, with all my mind and strength. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, may it be so.

Yes, I seek You Lord Jesus, the Way to the Father with Your Spirit as my guide. In this way I bind unto myself daily Your Holy Trinity, Your Three In One.

I life up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? To whom shall we go Lord?
You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and come to know that You are the Holy One of God. Praise to You Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory.

Readings, prayers & meditations – (Psalms, OT & NT, inserted here, and again listening, with added supplications and intercessions, as well as thanksgiving.)

Christ as light illumine and guide me. Christ as a shield, overshadow me. Christ above me, Christ below me. Christ before me, Christ behind me. Christ beside me, on my left and on my right. This day be within and without me. Lowly and meek, yet all-powerful, be in the heart of each to whom I speak, be in my heart as well. Be in the mouth of each who speaks to me; be in my mouth as well. Lowly and meek, yet all powerful, Christ as a light, Christ as a shield, Christ beside me, on my left and on my right.

(as sung by the Father and the Spirit to us):
“May the Peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.”

In Your Name Heavenly Father, in Your Name Lord Jesus Christ, in Your Name Holy Spirit. I bind unto myself this day and forever Your Holy Trinity. AMEN.

[adapted from Celtic Daily Prayer]

In this way I experience sweet daily communion with the Creator of the Universe and lover of my soul. Such is His outrageous Grace and Mercy.

Carmina Gadelica & The Watters Clan

2011-09-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

In these writings from the 19th century are captured the spiritual heart and life of my Celtic family. Alexander Carmichael collected the hymns and prayers of the people of the Scottish Highlands and western islands, which were handed down from generation to generation, and which sustained a people who lived hard lives and suffered oppression throughout those generations.

The Watters "clan" can trace their roots back to those islands before fleeing to northern Ireland (county Antrim) during the "Clearances", eventually emigrating to America when the Ulster Plantations threatened them once again.

Their faith, weathered and beaten, remained their only steadfast rock as they forged a new life in Pennsylvania, and later the Dakota territory. Even incorporating it into Lakota life as they became part of those tribes. [See "From Clan To Tribe"]

And now, in my generation, we seek that truth and faith once again by God's grace. Knowing that our past is part of "who" we are, but that we also look forward to a new heaven and earth.

Mitakuye oyasin, beannacht De ort. (all my relatives, God bless you - in Lakota & Gaelic respectively)

The spiritual health of places -

2011-09-08T14:04:00.001-07:00

As I alternate living between Hilo, HI and Sacramento, I have sensed differences between spiritual calm and tension, respectively. Here in Hilo there is a "pace", a spirit of aloha as Hawaiians call it. It is evident in how people treat each other (most of them anyway), and most notably for me, how they always yield to others on the roadways.

On the other hand, California and my beloved City of Sacraments has a spirit of anger and tension. Whether due to politics, crime, economy or just everyone always in a hurry I can't say. But, I find myself struggling to maintain my own personal spirit of aloha (for me the spirit & character of Christ) when I'm back in Sac.

I realize this may have benefits for practicing spiritual discipline, as the tension "drives" me to seek Him more intentionally there. Contrastingly though, the spirit of love in Hilo reminds me continually of our loving Father God, which prompts thanksgiving and a grateful heart,as well as a "drawing to Him".

What to do with such "openings"? I continue to seek Him wherever I am, trusting His Son's assurance that He is near. To persevere in faith, even more so in the places and people of tension. And of course, I seek out "thin places" in and around our City of Sacraments. I continue to follow Jesus by Grace and in His strength, hoping to be a source of His love and light (however small mine is) trusting Him with outcomes, etc.

I also try encourage others to do likewise, AND, I try to introduce others to Jesus; first through actions & attitude, later through gentle words and personal introduction to and invitation from Him. Getting around assumptions and biases, the historical and institutional church, even the words (Christian, Christianity, religion and more), presents challenges, but submitting to Jesus allows The Spirit to work in ways we cannot anticipate.

This journey on The Narrow Road is one we were all created to take, our adventures may be very different, but our destination is the same - a new heaven and new earth. Our responsibility is to encourage one another, and gently invite others to join us. Be encouraged in Him; Father, Son & Spirit.

only by Grace,

pat

P.S. One place we can all do better as Christians (The Body of Christ, the organism called church) is in our institutional churches. Avoiding a spirit of competition and fostering a spirit of cooperation and collaboration will go a long way to introducing others to Jesus by reflecting His Character; love, humility, grace and mercy.

A ‘”nutshell” update from Da Muddy Moose:

2011-09-01T09:44:00.000-07:00

As our kids settle into life in their various pursuits and locations, Patti and I continue to “follow” where He leads. 

 Kyle & Laura thrive in Omaha (if that’s possible), he loves teaching physics at Creighton University, and Laura weathers second year residency at U. Nebraska Medical Center. Hoping we see them back in California in the future (Santa Barbara/Westmont??!!)
 Cody is excited as his graduate studies begin at my (Pat) alma mater, Sac State. Already loving classes, and getting paid as a grad assistant, he can’t believe it?! Also working at our Zoo, which is a bonus, and getting to rotate on all the animals.
 Karly and Phil are into family life, and holding down the home front for Nana & Papa. Finishing up their own studies in Sociology and Criminal Justice respectively. Anthony is thriving with all his BIG family; walking, talking and just getting into little boy trouble as best he can. 
 Patti and I are in Hilo for another three months, she continuing to serve the elderly community at Hale Anuenue, and me finally getting all my volunteer opps lined up for the next three months; Arc of Hilo, Wainaku Elem. School and YL Big Island, with time for outrigger and stand up paddling on Hilo Bay. And, of course my favorite role as “house boy” for Hilo Patti.

We have notions (plans to come) for an “ohana” addition to our home for Nana & Papa. The kids will take over our home and we’ll live “out back” in our own little Aloha cottage. Ministry continues as only God could envision and lead, and we expect to stay in our anam cara (soul care) upon return to the City of Sacraments. Breathing his Life and Light into those He places in our lives, so good be two broken jars of clay leaking goodness as He fills us up.

Packing for a short trip up to Corvallis, Oregon and visit with friends celebrating 60th birthdays (I’m already there), Sac State vs. Oregon State game, and more before my own flight back to Hilo.

All “only by Grace”, and God is good, all the time, God is good. So, seek Him and His plans for your own life. He promises a “great adventure”.

Getting life right?

2011-08-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

Conservative Christians cast their disapproving glances my way. Even the liberal ones also seem to disdain me? Republicans, democrats, LGBT activists, both pro-lifers and pro choice, just about anyone with an "agenda", (other than unconditional love), hmm, maybe I'm starting to get life right? I love you world, I truly do.

Those "agendas" are just more idols disguised as justice and righteousness. No, I won't worship your idols. But, my love for you will/must surpass any disagreement we may have. Yes, I choose to love and defend you regardless the cost.

My "reputation" means nothing aside from my reflecting the love and grace of the One I owe my life to.

Regardless of my puny personal opinions and my beliefs, may my gay & lesbian friends know I love them above all and at all cost. My prolifers & prochoicers, war-mongers & peace-mongers, atheists, agnostics and more.

Hate me, curse me they may, but . . . Father I will love and forgive them as You have done me.

May my eulogy simply say, "In the end . . . his life was hidden in Christ."

Only by Grace, Da Moose

Searching for the "true" Jesus and His apprentices -

2011-08-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

Matthew 5

The Message (MSG)

You're Blessed
1-2 When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:

3"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

4"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

5"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

6"You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.

7"You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.

8"You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

9"You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.

10"You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.

11-12"Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.
Salt and Light
13"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

14-16"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
Completing God's Law
17-18"Don't suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures— either God's Law or the Prophets. I'm not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama. God's Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God's Law will be alive and working.

19-20"Trivialize even the smallest item in God's Law and you will only have trivialized yourself. But take it seriously, show the way for others, and you will find honor in the kingdom. Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in the matters of right living, you won't know the first thing about entering the kingdom.
Murder
21-22"You're familiar with the command to the ancients, 'Do not murder.' I'm telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother 'idiot!' and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell 'stupid!' at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.

23-24"This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.

25-26"Or say you're out on the street and an old enemy accosts you. Don't lose a minute. Make the first move; make things right with him. After all, if you leave the first move to him, knowing his track record, you're likely to end up in court, maybe even jail. If that happens, you won't get out without a stiff fine.
Adultery and Divorce
27-28"You know the next commandment pretty well, too: 'Don't go to bed with another's spouse.' But don't think you've preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices—they also corrupt.

29-30"Let's not pretend this is easier than it really is. If you want to live a morally pure life, here's what you have to do: You have to blind your right eye the moment you catch it in a lustful leer. You have to choose to live one-eyed or else be dumped on a moral trash pile. And you have to chop off your right hand the moment you notice it raised threateningly. Better a bloody stump than your entire being discarded for good in the dump.

31-32"Remember the Scripture that says, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him do it legally, giving her divorce papers and her legal rights'? Too many of you are using that as a cover for selfishness and whim, pretending to be righteous just because you are 'legal.' Please, no more pretending. If you divorce your wife, you're responsible for making her an adulteress (unless she has already made herself that by sexual promiscuity). And if you marry such a divorced adulteress, you're automatically an adulterer yourself. You can't use legal cover to mask a moral failure.
Empty Promises
33-37"And don't say anything you don't mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, 'I'll pray for you,' and never doing it, or saying, 'God be with you,' and not meaning it. You don't make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say 'yes' and 'no.' When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.
Love Your Enemies
38-42"Here's another old saying that deserves a second look: 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.' Is that going to get us anywhere? Here's what I propose: 'Don't hit back at all.' If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.

43-47"You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

48"In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you."

Bringing Creation Care Home

2011-08-20T15:59:00.000-07:00

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3 and teaches the kids too.

1. Use only manual or electric yard work equipment. (It’s good exercise also.)
2. No chemical herbicides or pesticides. (Instead nurture your mantids, ladybugs and lizards.)
3. Plant for habitat and creatures. (You’ll reap the benefits of beauty, AND entertainment.)

Practice conservation every day around home. There are many simple ways to do it and your utility companies are glad to help; energy saving light bulbs, water conservation devices, and more.

For motivation and inspiration here’s an excerpt from The Jesus Storybook Bible, by Sally Lloyd-Jones:

“Jesus knew that God would always love and watch over the world he had made – everything in it – birds, flowers, trees, animals, everything! And, most of all, his children. Even though people had forgotten, the birds and flowers hadn’t forgotten – they still knew their song. It was the song all of God’s creation had sung to Him from the very beginning. It was the song people’s hearts were made to sing: ‘God made us. He loves us. He is very pleased with us.’ It was why Jesus had come into the world: to sing them that wonderful song; to sing it not only with his voice, but with His whole life – so that God’s children could remember it and join in and sing it too.”

Sometimes returning to elementary Sunday school roots (as teacher and student), is a really good thing! Practice creation care, and then sing along with all Creation!

The JOY?! of sharing in Christ's suffering . . .

2011-08-11T11:35:00.000-07:00

As I am forced to lie low with a cold, I have time more time for prayer . . . the deep, Spirit-led kind. God reminds me that when I surrendered my life to His Son, He (The Father) sent the Holy Spirit (as promised) to teach and guide me. This is one of the profound mysteries of the Holy Trinity working (dancing) in unity as a beautiful relationship to grow us and at the same time renew the Kingdom ("make all things new"). I don't begin to feign understanding of this mystery, but sometimes the Spirit reveals things to me ("openings" as George Fox called them.) Today, I marvel at how the Holy Spirit enables us to pray out of compassion and with "suffering" for others and Creation. Filled with the Spirit and the compassion of Christ, we enter into the "groans" of Creations itself for the land and people; in poverty, in starvation, in death and dying, in tyranny and so much more that is a sign of brokenness in this world. We partner intimately with the Holy Trinity, Father, Son & Spirit in prayers that emanate from our guts . . . no words, just groans from deep inside. It is a most blessed "calling", this prayer. But God does not leave us there, He prompts us to do practical things; whether donations to causes or direct labor in the Kingdom . . . and of course, He takes our small (and seemingly insignificant) offerings and magnifies them for His Glory and the welfare of His Kingdom, which is here now, and yet also coming. This is life, to be yoked with Christ and share in His sufferings . . . there is an indescribable JOY in this that the "world" cannot understand or fathom in the least, but it is JOY unsurpassed, even heavenly. Out of darkness into Light, come Lord Jesus.

Eternal Perspective

2011-08-03T15:07:00.001-07:00

Eternal Perspective: an attitude of heart and mind, even spirit, that enables us to face each day without fear. To face even death without fear. It also enables us to share our stories of salvation without shame or guilt, because it assures us that we are totally forgiven and loved by God. That He has washed us clean, white as snow, and forgotten any transgressions (sins). It enables us, empowers us, to be an encouragement to others who might otherwise become mired down in their own quilt and shame. It allows us to be vulnerable and available, filled with compassion and mercy.
Coming soon; Part II, how do we get E.P.???

Stones

2011-07-31T12:21:00.000-07:00

An old Japanese man with long, white hair bends down and picks up three stones. He places them in orderly fashion at his feet. He stands and regards the stones.

The LORD grants me a vision. The stones come alive as a blessed community. They begin to dance in perfect unity, leading one another with divine love and grace.

The old man continues to regard the stones. I wonder, does he see the dance too?

some things to ponder . . . and maybe share too

2011-07-25T09:33:00.000-07:00

Powerful thoughts on the life of Christ, and how we are to imitate it – The City Without A Church by Henry Drummond. Excerpts follow:

2011-07-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

“If you ask what particular scheme you shall take up, I cannot answer. Christianity has not set schemes. It makes no choice between conflicting philanthropies; decides nothing between competing churches; favours no particular public policy; organizes no one line of private charity. Christianity is not at call carried on by committees. As Christ’s friends, His followers are supposed to know what He wants done, and try to do it – this is the whole working basis of Christianity. Next to its love for the chief of sinners, the most touching thing about the “religion” of Christ is its amazing trust in the least of saints.”

“His pulpit was the hillside, His congregation a woman at the well. His work was everywhere; His workshop was the world. One’s associations of Christ are all of the wayside. We never think of Him in connection with a church.”

“ . . . Christ did not pass among them as a very religious man. It is certain that the religious people of His time not only refused to accept this type of religion as any kind of religion at all, but repudiated and denounced Him as its bitter enemy.”

“It is a mistake to suppose that the working people of this country are opposed to Christianity; the working men would still follow Christ is He came among them.”

“In many lands the churches have literally stolen Christ from the people; they have taken Christianity from the city and imprisoned it behind altar rails.”

“As a channel of nourishment, as a stimulus to holy deeds, as link withal holy lives, let everyone use the church, and to the utmost of their opportunity. But beware of mistaking its services for Christianity. What church services really express is the want of Christianity.”

“Earth is the rehearsal for heaven. The eternal beyond is the eternal here. The street-life, the home-life, the business-life, the city-life in all the varied range of its activity, are an apprenticeship for the city of God.”

“ . . . even when the highest heaven lies all around us, when we might touch it, and dwell in it every day we live, we almost fail to see that it is there.”

Having been a “chief” of sinners, I am still a least of saints, but here I am LORD, speak, your servant is listening.
only by Grace,
pat

Some thoughts on personality profile “instruments”:

2011-07-15T11:42:00.000-07:00

Whether Myers-Briggs or some other tool, I always seem to “end up in the middle” for some reason? Not that that is a bad thing, it just always seems to leave me wondering “where I belong”? For instance, on the aspect of introversion or extroversion, I always end up scoring equally on both! I guess I’m an introvert from the standpoint of receiving “energy”, (loving solitude for that), but I love being with people and interacting with them, (it just wears me out emotionally rather than energizing me, so I must always return to solitude to recharge.)

For the most part, I am usually, (I say usually because I often take these assessments in different “seasons” to see where I am), a “T-J” on the Myers-Briggs scoring, although not strongly. But, I am always in the middle of “E-I” and “S-N”. What I’ve learned from all these assessments, (aptitude, personality, etc.), is that we don’t “have” to be any particular “type”. The usefulness in all these assessments is to reveal our strengths and weaknesses, and use that information to better understand God’s plans and will for our lives.

So, by all means, take and use Myers-Briggs, Strengthsfinder, LifeKeys, and other good assessments for helping determine your “gifts”, aptitudes, personality, etc. But, remember that the key to truly understanding and benefitting from them is to seek God’s guidance and wisdom regarding them. Prayer (the “listening” type) and quiet reflection are the best way to “hear” what God has to say about those things, then seeking affirmation, encouragement and accountability within community. Once you have all that . . . get out there and use it. There’s work to be done, God is making all things new (a new heaven and earth), and He desires us to be a part of that beautiful work.

Oh, and one more thing for humor’s sake (and some truth as well): My good Brother Asa James always loves to quote Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry, “A man’s got to know his limitations.” :-)

A kupuna reflection . . .

2011-07-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

A Kupuna-Kahuna Quiet Time Reflection:
In the year of our Lord, 2011. I am an old man in this season, having seen better days physically. My time as a youth, and with youth seem to be over? I walk more slowly now, speaking more quietly to individual hearts on behalf of the Son. And truthfully, it is enough in this season. For, I have come to see that “the philanthropy of quiet ways, and the slow work of leavening others one by one with the Spirit of Christ,” [Henry Drummond] ultimately has more impact than all the material blessedness, public schemes & charities, and glitzy marketing & programs the “greater church” has to offer. For discipleship as Christ created and modeled it has always been a “one heart to one heart” experience, even in the midst of groups. Yes, I have come to realize that, for me personally, my greatest “calling” in life has been that of husband, father, grandfather and friend. This I can still do as an old man through the Grace and Strength of the One who makes me perfect in weakness.

The Kingdom Life As Christ Would Have Us Live It:

2011-07-11T16:52:00.000-07:00

In every city throughout the world today, there is a city descending out of heaven from God. Each one of us is daily building up this city – or helping to keep it back.

In all seriousness I make this definite practical proposal: believe in your city. What else? In Jesus Christ. What about Him? That He wants to make your city better; that that is what He would be doing if He lived there. What else? Believe in yourself – that you, even you, can do some of the work which He would like done, and that unless you do it, it will remain undone. How are you to begin? As Christ did. First He looked at the city; then He wept over it; then He died for it.

Where are you to begin? Begin where you are. Make that one corner, room, house, office, as like heaven as you can. Begin? Begin with the paper on the walls, make that beautiful; with the air, keep it fresh; with the very drains, make them sweet. Abolish whatsoever makes a lie – in conversation, in social intercourse, in correspondence, in domestic life. This done, you have arranged for a heaven, but you do not yet have it. Heaven lies within here; in kindness, in humility, in unselfishness, in faith, in love, in service. To get these in, get Christ in. Teach all in the house about Christ – what He did, and what He said, and how He lived. Teach it not as a doctrine, but as a discovery, as your own discovery. Live your own discovery.
Then pass out into the city, your community. Do all to it that you have done at home.

[based on Finan readings from Celtic Daily Prayer]

Kingdom Life – The Bicycle Wheel Metaphor

2011-07-07T15:59:00.000-07:00

No doubt several people have pictured life with God as a bicycle wheel before, but in a recent quiet time the Spirit revealed a very detailed vision of such a metaphor, so I thought I would share it.

Also, no doubt some of this vision comes from my own personal experiences at a cyclist and triathlete, and also because the Tour de France bicycle race is currently happening. But, the God connection lies in this season of my life that is filled with study, meditation and missional discipleship.

So, picture a bicycle wheel, including tire and rim. At the center of the wheel is the hub, everything is connected to the hub assembly. Hubs are generally made up of three interrelated parts; axle, bearings and the hub housing, (get the trinitarian nature of the hub?) Nothing works without the being connected to the hub – God.
Next, emanating outward from the hub are the spokes. Spokes can be made of a variety of materials and come in various arrangements, sound like a little like all of us?? The spokes are connected to the hub, then run out to the rim assembly; rim (again various materials), and tire. The vision of the spokes given to me is one of various sized groups, smaller and more intimate near the hub, larger and less intimate (although always in relationship) as the spoke extends out to the rim and tire.

Now along these “spokes” (Kingdom speaking and in 3DM [www.weare3dm.com] terms) lie first “huddles”; small groups of leaders discipling one another. Beyond the huddles on the spokes are “missional communities”, larger groups where these leaders facilitate Kingdom Life with others, and where there is a shared “mission”, a caring connection with the world. These missional communities connect wherever and whenever they can with a variety of communities (note: these are not usually Christian communities, in fact, almost never are.) This is where “the rubber meets the road” so to speak! This is where disciples are “in the world, but not of it”, being Jesus, modeling Jesus, with Grace and sensitivity.
You might have already seen the “circle” connection of the tire and rim, but if not, notice how all the communities are connected around the outer circle. That represents the Body of Christ in the world, coming from a lot of different places, but connected to One Lord and One God . . . THE HUB!

I love this metaphor/picture, and it reminds me of the depth and interconnectedness of the Kingdom Life, following Jesus as He commanded, and as He leads through the Holy Spirit. As I often remind myself and others, this is “here and now” life, the “abundant life” Christ promised. It is partnering with God in “making all things new” now, beginning to live our eternal lives now. Yes, there is a lot of violence and destruction in our world, both natural and man-made, but we have a choice to be depressed and defeated by it, OR, to realize it’s all “birth pains” of the new creation, new heaven and earth which we are invited to participate with God in bringing about.

Find your place in this season, seek God’s guidance, and trust Him to do exceedingly more than you ever imagined with your life. Surrender and find that ultimate victory and freedom await you!

Only by Grace, pat

Reflections from the Big Island

2011-07-05T08:57:00.001-07:00

As I spend time here in Hilo with Patti, I have lots of opportunities for study and reflection. I am practicing my "up, in and out" led by good readings from 3DM (www.weare3dm.com). The "up" is easy here, especially in the solitude of Ainaola and it's beautiful countryside. The "in" is mostly with Patti now, via prayer and long walk/talks. The "out" is very diverse as I venture out and meet all kinds of people in and around Hilo; young restless ones, old seemingly content ones, and a whole host of others. Yet, I always am left with a sense that they are all seeking happiness which eludes them? Even our host family, they came here seeking fulfillment, but it is very clear that their hearts are restless. I continue to smile, make conversation when it presents itself, and always lift up prayers for those I see and engage. I am learning a very important lesson to "be", just be . . . in the moment, in His Presence. To be alert for sure, to seek His "still quiet voice" as His Spirit leads. I guess my greatest hope during this time is not so much knowing what God is doing from one day to the next, but can I bring this "attitude" back and keep it intact when I return to Sacramento?

Books and Authors on Discipleship & Spiritual Formation

2011-06-30T14:07:00.000-07:00

Some basic instruction on making good use of this list: Briefly, discipleship is the journey of following Jesus, of being an apprentice to Him. It is the “discipline” we engage in, in order to prepare (partner) in our own spiritual formation, our transformation into the image of Christ, taking on His character by the power of the Holy Spirit. So, as you seek to use the resources on this list, to find those that suit you in your current season of life, your place on the journey, some basic guidelines will be helpful.

 The number codes (1-3) are my attempt to apply a general reading level or complexity to the books; 1 being the “easiest” to 3 being fairly “deep” stuff in my opinion.
 While my short annotations may be helpful, I always recommend using amazon.com to review, read excerpts, etc. to help determine which books to choose, those that will be meaningful for your particular “bent”, reading level and personality (style preference.)
 Also of great use are the websites for Renovare, Navigators and Intervarsity Press (IVP); all publishers and organizations who have wonderful resources for discipleship and spiritual formation. (links included at the end of this document.)
 I have broken the list into two categories; discipleship and spiritual formation. They are certainly directly related, but discipleship is what we do, the formation is the Holy Spirit’s work. It’s good to understand how the Spirit works in us, transforming us into the image of Christ, esoteric sometimes, but good. These readings require time and reflection, a reliance on the Spirit to “speak” to our hearts.
 This is simply my own personal effort, and as such, is certainly not a complete or exhaustive list, but merely at attempt at a “best of” in this area of Christian literature.
 You will probably find books missing that you would have included, that is not a condemnation of any authors or books, just my choice to limit the size of the list.
 You will also note an absence of “emergent church movement” literature and authors; McLaren, Pagitt, Kimball, Miller and others? I did this purposefully choosing what I felt were “timeless” or classic offerings, works that seem to be widely accepted across Christian thought and groups. That said, I have read and appreciated what they all have to offer as followers of Jesus.
 Lastly, (and to avoid being too lengthy here), the point ultimately is to apply the wisdom and practices (disciplines) we discover, to our own lives. And, begin living the abundant life as apprentices to Jesus, today!

So, in no particular order (random, so as not to appear to be recommending one book or author over another) here are books and resources. Have fun researching (searching for treasure) as suggested above, and enjoy the “spiritual direction” that these folks offer:

Discipleship:

The Lost Art of Disciple Making, by Leroy Eims [2] – a good general resource for pastors, churches and lay persons. An overview that includes history. Don’t forget to visit amazon.com for reviews, etc.

Waking The Dead, by John Eldredge [1-2] – Eldredge is an engaging author that entertains while he teaches. Touches on discipleship, among other areas of the Christian life. Ransomed Heart is Eldredge’s website presence for those who are interested in more from him. Some people question Eldredge’s theology, but his passion cannot be mistaken.

Transforming Discipleship, by Greg Ogden [2] – Ogden has been doing discipleship after the model of Jesus for many years. This book, along with Discipleship Essentials, are excellent tools for anyone who wants to engage in lifelong discipleship and disciple making. Solid one-on-one or triad formational resource.

The Great Omission, by Dallas Willard [2-3] – Willard is thought by some to be the most influential Christian author of our time. This work is aimed at elucidating the loss of discipleship as the cornerstone of the church. Renovation of the Heart is another work to be considered. No less than Eugene Peterson, John Ortberg, Francis Chan, Bill Hull and many others consider Willard to be their spiritual mentor. Great stuff from this author, although often very challenging intellectually. (Took me three times before I got Divine Conspiracy, which is another title for those seeking the deep stuff of discipleship. I give it a definite #3 level code!)

The Kingdom Life, by various authors [2] – A wonderful collection by several really good authors on discipleship and spiritual formation. I hesitate to say this, but if you can read only one book, get this one. The reason I hesitate is that another book on doing discipleship (a “how to”) would be a good (necessary) companion to this one.

The Life You’ve Always Wanted, by John Ortberg [1-2] – Ortberg is a pastor (well, I guess most of these authors have been at one time or another?) who writes with humor and wit, while getting his message across. He might call his writing a “dumbed-down” version of Willard?! A personal friend and pastor to my boys, hope he doesn’t find out I said that!  He has several books that are good; including If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat and The Me I Want To Be.

{Don’t forget, check out all these books at amazon.com to read excerpts and get a more detailed synopsis.}

Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster [2] – Many call Foster’s book the bellwether of the new discipleship movement (return to the first church). Great stuff on the spiritual disciplines (the practices of discipleship.) I consider this the first of a triad of great books on spiritual disciplines, and applying them (discipleship.)

Spirit of the Disciplines, by Dallas Willard [2] – You’ll see a lot of Willard in this list, and you’ll see him quoted in many other ones here. This book complements Celebration well, and even Willard will say that. Affirms discipleship as the practice of the spiritual disciplines and following Jesus.

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, by Donald Whitney [1-2] – Proven and practical “how to” book that I consider the third member of the triad here. While Whitney is a lesser known author, he does a wonderful job of taking the above two books and giving us direction in applying them to our lives.

Longing For God, by Gayle Beebe & Richard Foster [2] – I love this book for taking the ancient fathers and mothers offerings, giving us a sample of them, then helping us apply their experiences and teaching to our own lives in this time. This is somewhat of a compilation of earlier Renovare works; Devotional Classics and Spiritual Classics, both books I highly recommend in the spiritual formation category.

Crazy Love by Francis Chan [1] – Here is a truly passionate follower of Jesus who has taken the call to obedience very seriously. Chan appeals to a younger audience (he pastors my other son’s church, Cornerstone, in Simi Valley, but I’m not admitting any prejudice here.) 

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, by Eugene Peterson [2] – The author of The Message version of the Bible offers his own look at discipleship based on the Psalms of Ascent, an ancient, poetic look at following God. While not technically a discipleship book, it may suit those who don’t want a “cookbook” type of offering?

Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren [1] - The bestseller by a pastor of a megachurch (who coincidentally understands that megachurches don’t make disciples). This is a good book for seekers and others who are new to Jesus and His church.

Complete Book of Discipleship by Bill Hull [2-3?] – Probably my personal favorite on discipleship (even though I really appreciate The Kingdom Life, in which he authors a section.) Just a flat out excellent work, comprehensive with very good recommended suggested readings (yes, an author who isn’t afraid to recommend other books.) If you are looking for a contemporary overview on discipleship and spiritual formation, with lots of practical advice and references, this is it!

Down to Earth Discipling, by Scott Morton [1] – Short, easy to read and practical. Not looking for lots of theology and complex thought, this fits the bill.

Lifestyle Discipleship, by Jim Peterson [1] – Another offering from a NavPress guy (Hull and Morton are too), that gives basic life application guidance to discipling others.

Apprentice With Jesus, by Gary Moon [1-3] – 1-3 he says??!! Well, I guess that’s because I believe you can benefit from this book no matter where you are on the journey that is discipleship (following Jesus.) This book offers a 30 day experience in applied discipleship. A great way to inculcate the habit of discipleship into our lives, and to find some things that just “tick” with our hearts in this area.

The Apprentice Series, by James Bryan Smith & Renovare [1-2] – Last but not least for sure, a series of books that most of us can read and digest. “The Apprentice Series is based on a simple structure for producing change that has four components. The first “element” is actually the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that enlivens all our efforts to follow Christ—including the other three components of transformation.
The second area where change can happen is in transforming our narratives. Narratives are the stories we live by that give our life purpose and explanation. Often our narratives are at work in our lives without our knowing it. We have narratives about God, our self, others and so forth. Many of us have narratives about God that do not match the narratives that Jesus revealed. We cannot change our behavior until we change the narratives that guide us.
One way to change our narratives is to engage in soul-training exercises, which makes up the third component of transformation. Each chapter includes a practice that helps the reader open to the Holy Spirit and begin replacing false narratives with the true narratives of Jesus. The exercises are often simple and usually counter-cultural. For example, the first exercise of The Good and Beautiful God is sleep, because when we sleep we are relinquishing our perceived control of life and inviting God to be God.
The fourth and final component of transformation is community. We cannot change on our own, we need other people on the journey with us to encourage and challenge us. And while each book in the series [can] be read by an individual they also include reflection questions throughout each chapter as well as a group guide appendix that offers discussion questions for each chapter. In addition, on this website under the “Small Groups” tab you will see a “Leader Guide” which is another, more robust resource for nurturing community.
With this framework in mind, the topics of each book in the series flow in a natural progression. Book one, The Good and Beautiful God, looks at our competing narratives about God and tests them against the God Jesus revealed. As we come to know the God that Jesus knows, it is natural for us to fall more deeply in love with God.
As we fall more deeply in love with God and as we recognize God’s provision and love for us our lives start to look different. This is what the second book explores. The Good and Beautiful Life walks through the “Sermon on the Mount,” Matthew 5-7, taking seriously the teachings of Jesus as something his apprentices will be able to do. But how is it possible to be free from anger, lust, lying, vainglory and the like? It is possible as we grow in understanding where we are—in God’s wondrous kingdom—and who we are—people indwelt by Christ.
As our hearts are changed our lives begin to change and the ultimate expression of this change comes in our relationships with others. In the third book in the series, The Good and Beautiful Community, the outward expression of a Kingdom heart is the focus. Just as our perception of God and our self is transformed and healed, so too we begin to see other people as precious children of God.”

{once again, don’t forget to use amazon.com to check out the books}

Spiritual Formation:

Devotional Classics, by Smith & Foster from Renovare [2-3] – I suppose if Hull’s book is my favorite on discipleship, then this one from Renovare is my personal favorite on spiritual formation/spiritual development? I love the sampling of the “ancient fathers and mothers” from 300 AD to the 20th century pillars of the church. (My wife is using this book in three different Bible study groups!)

Spiritual Classics, by Griffith & Foster [2-3] – The companion book to the above, and another “sampler”. These books introduce us to some wonderful saints, and often you will find one that you are inclined to read further. The Imitation of Christ has become a staple at my quiet time corner since “discovering” it (Thomas a’ Kempis) in these books.

Renovation of the Heart, by Willard [2-3] – I include Willard’s book here because I honestly felt it was . . . “spiritual” . . . it was about the Holy Spirit? Besides, most reviews refer to it as a spiritual formation book. This is inspiring, if not a little “heady” stuff . . . typical Willard.

Sacred Rhythms, by Ruth Haley Barton [2] – Wonderful, mystical, beautiful . . . no wonder, a female author in the list, finally. Sorry ladies, if you are wont to read female authors, please contact me as I have some suggestions, it’s just that the most widely read and accepted books on discipleship and spiritual formation seem to be from male authors. Okay, here are some names that I have personally found inspiring over the years; Rebecca Manley-Pippert, Joyce Meyer, Joni Eareckson Tada, Madeleine L’Engle, Ruth Bell Graham, Anne LaMott, Annie Dillard, Anne Morrow Lindbergh and others.

Conformed To His Image, by Kenneth Boa [2] – A virtual college seminary course in spiritual formation, but not too difficult to read and understand, (unlike some seminary textbooks.) 

Okay, that’s about it for my list of books. Yes, Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonheoffer, Martin Luther, J.I. Packer, A.W. Tozer and lots more are missing, I admit it. You want to read those guys, or T.F. Torrance, McGrath, and more, I suggest you enroll in a seminary. But, for most of us the list above will suffice.

Finally, I include the following links to those organizations/publishers I mentioned earlier above. They provide an abundance of resources besides books, and are good places to seek spiritual direction (if not from a personal “spiritual director”.) Always remember, Christ is our true teacher through the Holy Spirit.

http://www.renovare.us/

http://www.navpress.com/

http://www.ivpress.com/

http://www.ivpress.com/formatio/ (IVPress’ pages specifically for spiritual formation)

Only by Grace, Patrick Watters

Hilo Patti . . .

2011-06-27T12:05:00.001-07:00

And another twist in the Narrow Road, and we will follow . . .

Jesus Storybook Bible Deluxe Edition

2011-06-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

Yea, okay, it's supposed to be for kids, but adults will love this book as well. A wonderful introduction to the primary character of the Bible and His story. :-) [Not recommended for theologians, especially those suffering with kidney stones or just a bad attitude.] :-)

http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Storybook-Bible-Deluxe-Lloyd-Jones/dp/0310718783/ref=pd_sim_b_3

on forgiveness . . .

2011-06-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

Corrie was spared, and survived the horrors of the awful camp at Ravensbruck. Afterwards she dedicated her life to witnessing for Christ by conducting meetings and writing several books about her experiences. Eventually, a motion picture of her life story was made. It was called The Hiding Place. Corrie tells of a very moving incident which happened during one of her testimony meetings in Germany, after the war. She had just finished speaking to the German congregation about the love of God and how He can forgive even our worst sins. 'In fact,' she declared, 'God takes our sins and casts them into the deepest ocean.' After the service, as people were leaving the church, she noticed a balding, heavy-set man, in a grey overcoat making his way towards her as she stepped off the platform. As he drew closer, her blood ran cold, for she instantly recognized him as one of the cruel, wicked guards from Ravensbruck where both she and Betsy had been so inhumanely treated. Now this guard stood before her with an outstretched hand.
June 19
PSALM 130:78 2 KINGS 1O:I5 ROMANS 5:5
The man began to speak to Corrie. 'A fine message, Fraulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea. You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk. Well, I was a guard there.' It was obvious to Corrie that he had not recognized her. But she had never forgotten his face. The man continued: 'You know, since that time I have found Christ as my Saviour and I know that He has forgiven me for all the terrible things I did. However, I would like to hear you say it too, Fraulein.' Again he reached out his hand. 'Will you forgive me too?'
Corrie stood, looking into the face of her former tormentor, a man responsible for the death of her sister. She recoiled in anger and contempt as the terrible memories came flooding back. Hatred welled up within her. How could she forgive this man?
She held her own hand behind her back as she wrestled with the awful contradictions raging inside her. Love and forgiveness had been her message to others. But right now it seemed impossible to practise it herself. One of her favourite sayings was: 'Forgiveness is not an emotion; it is an act of the will.' Poor Corrie, her emotions had failed her. All that remained now was her will.
Silently, she lifted up a prayer to heaven. 'Jesus, please help me. I can stretch out my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.' Awkwardly, hesitatingly, she reached out her hand. Suddenly her prayer was answered, for immediately her heart was filled with the love of God for this man. 'I forgive you, my brother!' she cried. 'With all my heart I forgive you too.'
June 20____________________________
PSALM 86:5 MICAH 6:8 MATTHEW 18:23-25
Forgiveness is very easy to talk or even write about, but we need the power of the Holy Spirit to actually forgive. For the Christian, forgiveness is not optional. It is mandatory.
Henry Ward Beecher said, 'We are most like beasts when we kill. We are most like men when we judge. We are most like God when we forgive.' Go ahead - stretch out that hand of forgiveness to someone today. Write that letter, make that call, as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. And always remember the words of Corrie Ten Boom: 'Forgiveness is not an emotion. It's an act of your will.'

a little light, Hawaiian Moose verse . . .

2011-06-07T16:22:00.000-07:00

In Dis Life (in memory of IZ)

My car is not a Beamer or a jag.
My house is a plain brown paper bag.
But I got a great family and loving wife.
And God has shown me that's what matters most in this life.

Now this life is not all there is.
And even Bruddah IZ sings about this.
There’s more in eternal life here now, and yet to come.
If we choose to follow God’s one and only Son.

So, as for me and my “house”,
We be livin large and livin fine,
Cuz livin for Jesus is deeevine.

Da kine Moose verse for all you “Hawaiians at heart”!
And, in honor of Hilo Patti, my beloved wahine.
Makua kane Paka, Da Moose

Following Jesus the "Celtic" way . . .

2011-05-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

PSALM 145:3-7 GENESIS 22:14-l8 ROMANS I2:l6-l8

BE GENTLE IN GENEROSITY, UNTIRING IN LOVE, JUST IN ALL THINGS

Bede speaks of Bishop Colman and his predecessors Aidan and Finan:

The sole concern of the teachers of those days was to serve God, not the world, and to feed the soul, not the belly. The religious habit, therefore, was held in great respect at that time, so that whenever a cleric or monk appeared he was welcomed gladly by everyone as a servant of God. Even if one was discovered passing on the roads they would run up to him and bow their heads, and were glad to be signed with the cross by his hand or blessed by his lips; and they paid close heed to such men's exhortations. On the Lord's Day they gathered eagerly in the church or monasteries, not to get food for their bodies but to listen to the word of God; and if a priest came by chance to their village the people at once came together, eager to receive from him the word of life. The priests and clerics themselves visited the villages for no other reason than to preach, baptize, visit the sick and, in sum, to care for their souls; and so free were they from any taint or avarice that none accepted grants of land and estates for building monasteries unless compelled by the secular rulers!

Further:

Aidan, dining one Easter with King Oswald, was himself ill at ease with the feast set before them. Just then a servant arrived to say that many poor people had arrived at the castle asking for alms. Oswald with a wave of his arm ordered their own meal to be taken away and fed to the people outside, and the silver plate broken and distributed between them. Aidan was so overcome that he exclaimed, 'May the hand that did this never perish.'
Any society or 'civilization' may best be judged by the way it treats its weakest members.

Lord, daily order my steps that I might be transformed into your likeness; imperfect as I am, make me a mirror that reflects your uncompromising love. Holy Spirit rule in and over me.

AMEN.

Family update - Wow!

2011-05-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

A brief update on our family's "adventures:

Patti has accepted a six month OT rotation in Hilo, Hi. Pat is hoping to do three months with her doing volunteer work?
Kyle enters his second year teaching grad and undergrad physics at Creighton, while wife Laura starts second year residency at U. Nebraska Omaha, their current home.
Cody is finishing up work on Maui at the Bird Conservation Center there before returning home to pursue his Masters in Environmental Biology at Pat's alma mater, CSU Sacramento.
Karly continues her own studies in Sociology while raising our grandson Anthony with his Daddy Phil.

More to come later . . . Oh, and I continue to seek God's guidance for His plans in this season for me personally.

Yes, only by Grace

Renovation of the Church

2011-05-10T17:28:00.001-07:00

The book by the same name (authored by two pastors; Kent Carlson and Mike Leuken), really hit "home" for me on several fronts, not the least of which is my former church and our family there. During my tenure as an Elder (sitting) on Session, we engaged in not just one, but two expensive and extensive evaluation processes to identify where we needed to improve as a church. Ironically (Godincidentally?), both processes identified the same primary issue or weakness in our church. While they used different terms for this weakness, the focus was a lack of discipleship (sic. spiritual formation, passionate spirituality, spiritual development, etc.) Sadly, we didn't really respond to either of these processes in intentional or successful ways. And, we didn't engage in another (third) process to remind us where we needed help. It's been ten (10) years since that time, but the book really brought things back to the surface for me. And, I began to realize that the identified weakness the processes identified continues to be an issue for my former church and our beloved family there. During those ten years we "tried" to engage in spiritual formation, but never more than about 30 or so people (out of an enrollment of over 1,000) participated. Program, events, etc. seem to "headline" each week at my former church and many others. But, intimate discipleship groups (two or three gathered together) continue to be scant or absent.

Change is always difficult, and never something we tend to embrace positively. But, change is inevitable and if we embrace positive changes as God leads we will avoid painful changes down the road. The church in the western world in general is struggling with recapturing the vision and commands of Jesus . . . make disciples! We have become an entertainment producer catering to our consumer base and it's wants and desires. Discipleship (spiritual formation and transformation into likenesses of Christ) has suffered or disappeared altogether! But, there are people, faithful disciples who are taking up the "call" once again within their churches, who are leading the charge back into discipleship and spiritual formation, AND often in spite of a lack of leadership and support from denominations and individual church leadership and structures. That's the way revival always happens anyway . . . among the people with the Spirit leading the way.

So, I'm hopeful . . . for discipleship and for Jesus' Church!

Osama Bin Laden is dead . . .

2011-05-02T13:51:00.000-07:00

The Vatican response which we agree with:

"Osama bin Laden, as we all know, bore the most serious responsibility for spreading divisions and hatred among populations, causing the deaths of innumerable people, and manipulating religions for this purpose.

In the face of a man’s death, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and before men, and hopes and works so that every event may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not of hatred."

order and read if you dare . . .

2011-04-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Renovation-Church-Discovers-Spiritual-Formation/dp/0830835466/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304101062&sr=1-1

Kairos times

2011-04-29T11:14:00.001-07:00

Many at my former church will recall a time when God moved and spoke more powerfully than possibly any other time in the long history of that church? Some 15 or so years ago, a time the pastor recalls as his most difficult "pulpit" time, but a true "kairos" time when the Lord chose to transform lives and bestow "new names".

Many at my former church will recall a time when God moved and spoke more powerfully than possibly any other time in the long history of that church? Some 15 or so years ago, a time the pastor recalls as his most difficult "pulpit" time, but a true "kairos" time when the Lord chose to transform lives and bestow "new names".

The pastor remained faithful and obedient in the midst of persecution and oppression within the congregation (remember Jesus words about prophets in their own land?). And yes, some lives were forever changed by God through that faithfulness.

My wife and I went from spiritual "milk" to "meat" under this pastor's faithful, humble and vulnerable teaching. And yes, we were both given new "names" at different times and in different, Grace-filled, loving ways.

We now hunger and thirst for God constantly in our lives, and the infinite love of Jesus poured out on our formerly wretched but transforming souls prompts a deep love and compassion for His "sheep".

This IS what Jesus referred to when He declared, "The Kingdom is at hand." We live in "already, not yet" times when the resurrected Jesus invites us to join Him in making all things new.

Want to know more? Contact us via http://pnpontheroad.blogspot.com. An "abundant life", one that enables us to find JOY in all circumstances awaits you.

Sent from my iPhone

Postscript: As I prepare to venture up to Lake Tahoe another time, I can't help but remember that time when I was given my "new name". Dobbins Hall on the Zephyr Pt. conference grounds (zephyr - wind - Holy Spirit) was the setting for a truly Holy Spirit-filled evening, one when many men got new names and a faithful pastor/shepherd was drained completely as the Lord's vessel. "Encourager, Eagle who waits upon the Lord", and hence my own Lakota/Celtic version, Patrick Perching Eagle Watters . . . still learning to "wait" upon the Lord before soaring out on the wind of the Spirit.

just a few things today . . .

2011-04-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

"If you want my love, if you need my love, you've got to closer to me." From Jars of Clay new album in reference to Jesus' love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM1rkhML9lk&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dooif2-yAoI&feature=fvwrel

Who can know the mind of God?

2011-04-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

What is worse; old pastors who are “set in their ways”, or young, upcoming ones who act like they know the mind of God?!

The church in the Western world, especially in America, seems to have an over-abundance of young and even gifted pastors and prophets who purport to know and disseminate the “truth”. They preach, write books and make videos . . . they “blog” too! And, they also go to “war” with one another, each claiming to have “cornered” the real truth of God.

All the while, older and even brighter minds, (Polkinghorne, Wright, Willard, e.g. and others), remain humble and charitable about such matters. They point to all we don’t know about God, (which is infinitely more than we do know), and caution us to be very careful, lest we get pumped up, or worse yet, lost in our own “secret knowledge”. Yes, secret knowledge! Some who claim to have the “truth” may actually be slipping into the way of Gnosticism?!

Do I prefer those old pastors who are “set in their ways”? Well, no not really, but I do prefer those, old and young alike, who are “set” upon the WORD of God first and foremost, those who “sit” under the Word and seek to be taught by the Spirit of Christ as they do. Young men, self-proclaimed shepherds of the Word, would do well to take heed from Thomas a’ Kempis who wrote a “handbook” for young apprentices of Christ, The Imitation of Christ, wherein humility and simplicity are the dominant themes.

For, who indeed can know the mind of God? Job 38-41 contains “instruction” from the LORD God on such matters! Phew! If that doesn’t stop you in your tracks, I don’t know what will?! But, I suppose God could arrange something? So, young guns, er, I mean guys (and maybe some gals too), I enjoy your “explorations” but try to keep humility and charity in your hearts please!

One thing I have learned from John Polkinghorne, N.T. Wright, Dallas Willard and others of similar ilk is that we know very little about God. Oh, we know “enough” for His purposes and ours, but He will always remain a Great Mystery as well. And, further, much of what has been revealed are only “signposts” pointing to an even greater truth. Once again, this revelation should serve to keep us humbled.

“Thin Places”

2011-04-07T19:34:00.002-07:00

For the modern church, especially in the Western world, heaven seems far away and so too the Presence of God, the true Heaven. However, for those who seek the ancient paths, who rely on the Spirit to guide, Heaven is very near and even occasionally “glimpsed”. For those of the ancient Celtic church, these “thin places” can and do occur in surprising and unexpected ways. And, it has more to do with our “attitude”, the inclination of our hearts, than any actual physical location on earth. Many “first nations” peoples also know this spiritual truth. And, those who have been introduced to the resurrected Jesus Christ are not at all surprised by Him. He is the One so many of them have been looking for, been expecting. And so, simple people of deep faith experience the in-breaking Kingdom in very real and substantial ways. They understand that the Creator is “re-creating”, making all things new, and they embrace the opportunity to partner with Him in this grand work.

E komo mai, e komo mai i ke alo o Iesu! (Welcome, welcome into the presence of Jesus – Hawaiian)

Wiconi (LIFE, true life – Lahkota)

In Memory Of My Brother Mark

2011-04-07T19:34:00.001-07:00

Two days ago my friend and Brother in Christ, Mark, too his own life. I am both saddened and relieved. Saddened for Mark, for wife Cate, for children Molly & Jack. Relieved for Mark especially, and the pain and suffering and torment he was experiencing. I am also saddened and confused that my own prayers and those of others for healing were not effective in the way we had hoped. And, I recall these same feelings when beloved Brother Dr. Dave passed into paradise with the Lord Jesus. For Mark, as for Dave, we held a constant vigil for healing, and yet . . . . ????

Now I lean on the faith I have in a loving God, even in spite of my lack of understanding in Mark’s death. My prayers for healing continue now for Cate, Molly and Jack as I entrust my dear Brother into the hands of the One Who created him. And, as I am wont to do, I feel compelled to share, to try to explain for others what I know (and don’t know) of this journey of Mark’s, from my own personal perspective and journey with mental illness.

I could say much about the parallels and differences between physical and mental or emotional illness. Why we more easily understand the physical, but fear the mental. Why there remains an undeserved and uncompassionate stigma surrounding mental illness. But, for me, the best way is simply to share my own journey in light (darkness) of Mark’s, so that others may understand why Mark took his own life, and perhaps find some measure of comfort or relief themselves.

First, and importantly, let me say I fully believe Mark is with the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is the greatest of comforts.

I am one who is well acquainted with mental illness. My own father committed suicide when I was younger. One of my sisters attempted to take her own life more than once before she found the right medicines and beloved counselors. And finally, if that weren’t enough, I found myself with a knife, in my own hand, pressed against my own chest at the age of 19. Something, SomeONE prevented me from plunging that knife into my own heart those many years ago. And, that SomeONE has comforted, healed and sustained me these years hence, even in the midst of further deep depression and darkness. You’ll just have to believe me when I say that the torment is so bad that it can bring us to that point of wanting to die rather than continue in it.

Please believe me when I say the pain and torment is real. It affects us certainly mentally, but also physically. I have had 16 major surgeries, at last count, for a variety of injuries and ailments, and would take one, or all of them, over again rather than experience clinical depression. So, what do we do? What do we make of this? What do we learn from this and other similar tragedies? I hope that we learn compassion most of all, but also that we must continue to persevere in prayer regardless of whether the outcome is what we had wished for. That, above all else, we would love one another, even as our Lord and Savior is making all things new.

Now to Him be all Glory, Honor and Praise, even in the midst of suffering.

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

AMEN.

P.S. Of course, if you or others have further questions or need of prayer, please get in touch with me. If nothing else, I will understand.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/patrick.watters1

http://pnpontheroad.blogspot.com

Following Jesus

2011-04-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

What shall I tell you about my soul? It is still more or less as you knew it, I still have a lot to do about humility, obedience, charity, meditation too, and many other things; it seems to me t where my soul is concerned I lose rather than gain; I ought to admit this as a tragic certainty; the only thing, basically, that prevents me from doing so, that prevents me from admitting this sad fact, is my huge desire for it not to be true. I have no humility, no simplicity. What a huge sheet of paper I would need to enumerate all that I have too little of and all that I have too much of! Charles de Foucauld

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. Romans 7:15
For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Romans 7:19

You are powerful over Your creatures. You can do all things in me. Give me a right mind; give me the wisdom that You promise to all who ask for it. Convert my heart and through all eternity. I ask this in the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen. Charles de Foucauld

I and rejoice in will be glad you;
I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High. Psalm 9:2

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: Romans 1:16a

Je veux crier l’Evangile toute ma vie, avec ma vie . . . Oui, et avec toute ma vie! Le Moose
(I would shout the Gospel all my life, with my life . . . yes, and with all my life!)
[in recognition of the film “des hommes et des dieux” and in memory of the Trappist monks of Algeria]

a video for everyone . . .

2011-04-03T08:53:00.001-07:00

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150156630043739&oid=140294062677517&comments

Your testimony - a gift to you, AND others . . .

2011-03-29T08:42:00.000-07:00

We are called to have an answer for our faith, a testimony. That story is a gift to us from God, but can and will also be a gift to others as tell it, whether verbally or in writing.

Here is a link to a further description from a dear Brother in Christ, as well as two links to my own testimony and a subsequent "chapter":

http://restlife.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html Day 14 of 40 Day Focus titled Time to Write Your Own Story.

http://www.myspace.com/anonemoose/blog/148490750 Our testimony

http://www.myspace.com/anonemoose/blog/434033773 An example of a further "chapter"

Of course, the story continued to be written on the "pages of our lives", with more chapters in this blog. I may never write this "book" (for publication that is), but it is here for my kids and anyone else.

only by Grace, Pat (aka Anon E. Moose, etc., etc.)

Territorial

2011-03-27T17:37:00.000-07:00

Territorial: a word that describes many species in the animal kingdom, including and unfortunately, man! Our “need” to “protect” and defend our “space”, our territory, leads to division and worse yet, WAR. Sadly, this nature is seen within the “Body of Christ”, the church, as well. Leaders, churches, denominations all take on the territorial nature, harboring distrust and enmity between each other, even those who profess the same belief in Jesus Christ. And, the dweeb sits back with a smirk on his evil face as he watches us do his work!

When we create our own power structures, our own little kingdoms, they eventually crumble from within. Our “territorialness” never truly protects our “territory”. God alone is our “strong tower”, our rock, our refuge and strength. Once we “get” this, we can let go of our territorial nature and learn to live in His Peace with one another.

NOTE: This “opening” is prompted by a realization that as my wife and I left our former church to obey God’s call to “go” and serve Him in another church, it became evident that some at our old church (and still our “family”) now harbor a distrust for us, even a “disowning” of sorts. While we see a “sending out” from the place of our years of discipleship, others see an “abandonment” or “treason”. So sad, and yet, so human. However, many remain beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, encouraging and affirming our obedience in His command to “go”.

Encouraging and fostering unity and cooperation among churches within the same community is a difficult mission! Lord have mercy!

“Territorial”: not a gift of the Spirit, not fruit of the Spirit.

Matthew 25:31-46 indicates that Christ’s ultimate judgment will be based on the love we have shown (or not) to one another, especially Brother and Sisters in the Lord, the Body.

God has done far more through me than I could ever have done myself. To Him be all Glory, Honor and Praise. 2 Cor. 4:7

Only by Grace (always a fitting “signature”),

Oh yea, we still do "ministry" at our former church, probably unbeknown to some of those who harbor distrust or ????

Healing Prayer

2011-03-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

" . . . lowly and meek, yet all powerful." The key to healing prayer "In The Name Of Jesus." Not a contrived, "noisy" human authority over evil, but a quiet confidence in the strength of the Lord. For example, Agnes Sanford, William Vaswig and others who imitate Christ in this manner. Prepared under the "covering" of Ephesians 6 and St. Patrick's Breastplate prayer, they go forward in confidence and the authority of Jesus Christ.

Christ as a light
Illumine and guide me
Christ as a shield
Overshadow me;
Christ under me;
Christ over me;
Christ before me;
Christ behind me;
Christ beside me
On my left and my right.
This day be within and without me,
Lowly and meek, yet all-powerful,
Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; (be in my heart as well)
In the mouth of each who speaks to me, (in my mouth as well)
This day be within and without me,
Lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Sin, Mercy & Grace

2011-03-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

Sin keeps us from God. Sadly, we, and too often our churches, ignore or worse yet condone sin in our midst. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners. Anon E. Moose

To confess your sins to God is not to tell him anything He does not already know. Until you confess them, however, they are the abyss between you. When you confess them, they become the bridge.
A Christian is one who points at Christ and says, 'I can't prove a thing, but there's something about His eyes and His voice. There's something about the way He carries His head, His hands, the way He carries His cross - the way He carries me.'
Who knows how the awareness of God's love first hits people. Every person has his own tale to tell, including the person who would not believe in God if you paid him. Some moment happens in your life that you say Yes right up to the roots of your hair, which makes it worth having been born just to have happen. Laughing with somebody till the tears run down your cheeks. Waking up to the first snow. Being in bed with somebody you love.
Whether you thank God for such a moment or thank your lucky stars, it is a moment that is trying to open up your whole life. If you turn your back on such a moment and hurry along to Business as Usual, it may lose you the ball game. If you throw your arms around such a moment and hug it like crazy, it may save your soul.
How about the person you know who as far as you can possibly tell has never had such a moment - the soreheads and slobs of the world, the ones the world has hopelessly crippled? Maybe for that person the moment that has to happen is you. Salvation is a process, not an event.
It is as hard to absolve yourself of your own guilt as it is to sit in your own lap. Wrongdoing sparks guilt sparks wrongdoing ad nauseam, and we all try to disguise the grim process from both ourselves and everybody else. In order to break the circuit we need somebody before whom we can put aside the disguise, trusting that when He sees us for what we fully are, He will not run away screaming with, if nothing worse, laughter. Our trust in Him leads us to trust His trust in us. In His presence the fact of our guilt no longer makes us feel and act out our guiltiness. For a moment at least the vicious circle stops circling and we can step down onto the firm ground of His acceptance, where maybe we’ll be able to walk straight line again.

Frederick Buechner

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+62&version=NIV

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2063:1-8&version=NIV

Some thoughts during this season of Lent

2011-03-13T15:03:00.000-07:00

It’s probably not an epiphany or new revelation for others, but I have come to “see” that inner healing, discipleship, spiritual formation, forgiveness, repentance and more are all comingled, interrelated, interdependent . . . in union, just as the Holy Trinity are in union. As we grasp this, as we claim this Truth and thank God for it all, this Kingdom life becomes real for us, and we truly begin to live our Eternal lives here and now.

The renewal of the church [of Christian community] will come from a new type of monasticism, which has only in common with the old an uncompromising allegiance to the Sermon on the Mount. It is high time men and women banded together to do this. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together & The Cost of Discipleship

Blessed are . . . meek, poor in spirit, peacemakers, those who hunger and thirst . .

Dynamic and erratic, spontaneous and radical, audacious and immature, committed if not altogether coherent, ecumenically open and often experimental, visible here and there, now and then, but unsettled institutionally. Almost monastic in nature but most of all... enacting a fearful hope for human life in society. William Stringfellow

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19

Looking down I saw (the entire western world). The treetops upon the hills and the clustered clouds hid the people. Suddenly small, flickering lights appeared. They were scattered all over the isles. I came closer to the land. The light was firelight. There were fires burning from the top of (the continents) to land's end. Lightning streaked downward from the sky above me. I saw it touch down with lashing swiftness, exploding each of the fires into streams of light. Like lava, they burned their fiery path downward from the top to land's end. The waters did not stop them, but the fire spread across the seas to (the rest of the world.). Then the Lord said: I will penetrate the darkness with a visitation of My power. With lightning swiftness I will release the power of my Spirit through a renewed people who have learned how to be led by the Spirit. They will explode with a witness that will touch every part of society. I'm strategically placing them to touch the farms, villages, towns and cities. No one will be without a witness whether they be children in the schools, farmers in the fields, workers in the factories and docks, students in the universities and colleges, the media, the press, the arts or government. I seemed to see an army of all types of people moving into the continent with a compassionate ministry - participating, caring communities involved with each other at a grass-roots level, sharing the love of God everywhere. I saw the empty cradles of (western civilization), her churches, holding a new generation of Christian leaders. Jean Darnall, Heaven, Here I Come (adapted from)

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Revelation 21:5

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

Behold, I have seen the Light and will never again walk in darkness, for even the darkness is as light to Him. Da Moose

Gifts and giving . . .

2011-03-10T16:13:00.000-08:00

It's a shame when we take God's Gifts and make a business of them, becoming rich on the pain and suffering of others.

some entries from Anon E. Moose's journal

2011-03-04T15:22:00.000-08:00

From the Journal of Anon E. Moose (Da Moose):

Why don’t people seek God??? I ask this question now “from the other side”, having received the answer for myself. If people only knew, if only they could grasp the unspeakable JOY and contentment in all circumstances that God brings, I believe they would truly “hunger and thirst” for more of Him.

“Christianity has to be ‘disappointing’, [my emphasis] precisely because it is not a mechanism for accomplishing all our human ambitions and aspirations; it is a mechanism for subjecting all things to the Will of God.” Simon Tugwell
[disappointing in the sense of worldliness and fleshly desires, but ultimately fulfilling beyond our wildest dreams or expectations]

Entole – Greek for commandment:
1) an order, command, charge, precept, injunction
a) that which is prescribed to one by reason of his office
2) a commandment
a) a prescribed rule in accordance with which a thing is done
3) a precept relating to lineage, of the Mosaic precept concerning the priesthood
4) ethically used of the commandments in the Mosaic law or Jewish tradition
What is the derivative in Greek of “commandment” in the way/sense Jesus used it in Matthew 22 and John 13? The “love” He spoke of was not just “philleo”, but agapao (agape) love, a deep, interpersonal, knowing love. So, does the “commandment” mean something more than “marching orders”, clearly it is not just a request. There is a sense in my heart that it is like the Father disciplining the child . . . it has importance and clear significance for our own good. And, He desires (commands/expects) us to obey willingly and joyfully from our hearts.
34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. John 13:34 (New Living Translation)

16 A simple life in the Love-of-GOD
is better than a rich life with a ton of headaches. Proverbs 15:16 (The Moose Message)

a truly beautiful poem . . .

2011-02-25T08:06:00.000-08:00

“I Stand ByThe Door” by Samuel Moor
I love to read it O’er and o’er.
A Shoemaker was he
But a Doorkeeper he will always be. [Anon E. Moose in honor & memory of Samuel Moor Shoemaker]

I stand by the door.
I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out.
The door is the most important door in the world -
It is the door through which men walk when they find God.
There is no use my going way inside and staying there,
When so many are still outside and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where the door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like blind men,
With outstretched, groping hands,
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,
Yet they never find it.
So I stand by the door.
The most tremendous thing in the world
Is for men to find that door - the door to God.
The most important thing that any man can do
Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands
And put it on the latch - the latch that only clicks
And opens to the man's own touch.
Men die outside the door, as starving beggars die
On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter.
Die for want of what is within their grasp.
They live on the other side of it -
Live there because they have not found it.
Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it,
And open it, and walk in, and find Him.
So I stand by the door.
Go in great saints; go all the way in -
Go way down into the cavernous cellars,
And way up into the spacious attics.
It is a vast, roomy house, this house where God is.
Go into the deepest of hidden casements,
Of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood.
Some must inhabit those inner rooms
And know the depths and heights of God,
And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is.
Sometimes I take a deeper look in,
Sometimes venture in a little farther,
But my place seems closer to the opening.
So I stand by the door.
There is another reason why I stand there.
Some people get part way in and become afraid
Lest God and the zeal of His house devour them;
For God is so very great and asks all of us.
And these people feel a cosmic claustrophobia
And want to get out. 'Let me out!' they cry.
And the people way inside only terrify them more.
Somebody must be by the door
to tell them that they are spoiled.
For the old life they have seen too much:
One taste of God and nothing but God will do any more.
Somebody must be watching for the frightened
Who seek to sneak out just where they came in,
To tell them how much better it is inside.
The people too far in do not see how near these are
To leaving - preoccupied with the wonder of it all.
Somebody must watch for those who have entered the door
But would like to run away.
So for them too, I stand by the door.
I admire the people who go way in.
But I wish they would not forget how it was
Before they got in. Then they would be able to help
The people who have not yet even found the door.
Or the people who want to run away again from God.
You can go in too deeply and stay in too long
And forget the people outside the door.
As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place,
Near enough to God to hear Him and know He is there,
But not so far from men as not to hear them,
And remember they are there too.
Where? Outside the door -
Thousands of them. Millions of them.
But - more important for me -
One of them, two of them, ten of them.
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch.
So I shall stand by the door and wait
For those who seek it.
I had rather be a doorkeeper
So I stand by the door.

A Brief Story Of My Personal Spiritual Journey

2011-02-24T10:30:00.000-08:00

For years I struggled along in a kind of “darkness”, seeking some inner fulfillment but not finding it. I investigated eastern philosophy and religions; Buddhism and others. I considered the “new age” movement, Native American spiritualism, and more but found no “harmonic convergence”. Atheism, Agnosticism and even Gnosticism . . . and still emptiness. The distant, nebulous religions and do-it-yourself spiritualism became a cruel joke.

Finally, through prayers of others (unbeknownst to me) and God’s “pursuit”, I discovered the one, the only “thing” . . . a being, that could fill that empty place in my heart and soul. Through Jesus Christ I found not only a savior, but an awesome, mysterious but oh so personal God that had been patiently and expectantly waiting for me to turn to Him.

My life is now a constant, perpetual “seeking” to know Him more, and to live my life in a way that pleases Him. To live for the sake of others, and hopefully to help them too find this contentment.

So, “I stand by the door”. “I live in a house by the road.” I “date the world”. All in response to the amazing Grace and Love that He has poured out on me . . . a sinner. In Name of the Three in One, the One in Three. AMEN.

Patrick Perching Eagle Watters (aka Anon E. Moose, Da Moose, Big Muddy, Da Muddy Moose, Poppa Watters, Papa, etc.)

http://pnpontheroad.blogspot.com . . . and other sites as well. 

another hard lesson

2011-02-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

Because of our involvement in parachurch ministries and many ecumenical gatherings, Patti and I have met several people who have left their churches and joined others. I have personally been involved in reconciliation efforts among believers, including my time as an elder at my own church where we had a standing reconciliation team (a sad but necessary thing.) Here is another “hard” lesson for us in the Body of Christ:

“Suppose there is friction and bad feeling in your church - what should you do, especially if you are involved in the arguments and divisions yourself? Further, let's suppose that you are in the right, that the trouble is not your fault, and that you are a mature and compassionate person. In that case, I suggest that you should say to the elders and members of the church: 'If I am in any way the cause of this trouble, even if unwittingly, or if my presence will in any way serve to perpetuate it, I will move to another congre¬gation ... I will go away anywhere you wish, and do anything the congregation says - anything, if it will contribute to peace among Christ's flock and its pastors.' Anyone who adopts this attitude will deserve a high reputation amongst Christians, and God's approval.” Clement of Rome

And, if and when we do leave, to not say any harsh words about the place and people we left, instead remembering that we loved and were loved there.

"Where would we have been without this Church? Who would have handed down to us, across twenty centuries, the teaching of our dear Lord Jesus? Who would have encouraged us in the truth, reassured us in the path we had undertaken? The Church already was founded before we appeared on the scene, and had we not come on the scene would have gone on being saints and sinners, capable of high ideals and base enormities, the dwelling place of peace and a jungle of violence. But one thing is sure: if we should fail, overwhelmed by our sins and our faithlessness, the Church will not have failed. The 'little remnant' will have arrived none the less. God Himself is the guarantor." Carlo Carretto, in I, Francis

In the end, we should be known by our love for one another, not our differences. Christ commanded it, Bonhoeffer, a’ Kempis, and others certainly agree, and God approves!

Seeking to be part of the “church without walls” in urban Sacramento we follow Jesus and remember Him. Isaiah 53:7 –

“He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.”

For an example of a loving community of Christ: http://churchwithoutshoes.com/

a very tough "lesson" or concept . . .

2011-02-19T13:14:00.000-08:00

The more a human being advances in the Christian faith, the more they live the presence of God as an absence, the more they accept to die to the idea of becoming aware of God, of fathoming Him. For they have learned, while advancing, that God is unfathomable. And from then on the presence of God assumes value in their eyes only against the backdrop of absence. The mystic, in his long and complicated pilgrimage, experiences alternately the presence and absence of God. But, by degrees, the absence of God is felt more and more and the mystic understands that this absence is now the norm. Thus the mystic is someone who has had a long-term confrontation with God, like Jacob in the struggle that he waged all through the night, someone who does not cease to confront God. God always precedes us, we see Him only from behind, He walks ahead, He is ahead of us. What the mystic experiences - and every Christian is a mystic because it is not the great illuminations that are the mark of the mystic but the night, an everyday night - is a kind of distancing from God in proportion to advances in the deepening of their faith.
Jean Francois Six

A Parent's Prayer

2011-02-14T10:27:00.000-08:00

My deepest daily prayer Lord is that my children and their loved ones would grow in the heart knowledge and Grace of You. That they would weather all the storms of life with Your assurance and confidence. That trials would turn to Gold in You, for them. That they may be Your Light in a broken and depraved world, to bring HOPE to the lost and forlorn. AMEN.

showing one another "uncommon decency"

2011-02-07T09:07:00.000-08:00

Differing in Christ . . . showing others “uncommon decency”:

"A clash of doctrines is not a disaster -- it is an opportunity." Over the years I have had a number of rather significant "doctrinal clashes" with fellow disciples of Christ whom I love dearly, and for whom I have the utmost respect and regard. Fortunately, in most of these instances, our relationship was rather significantly strengthened by this challenging of the other's theological concepts and constructs, for such "clashes" were tempered with love, both for ultimate Truth as well as for each other. They were indeed "opportunities" for greater growth in understanding, and thus were far from "disastrous" in nature. If men refuse to allow their cherished doctrines to be challenged, guarding them at all cost from any intense scrutiny, these doctrines will quickly become tyrants over the thinking/reasoning of those who embrace them. We must resist such doctrinal tyranny with all of our being. There's no biblical doctrine so sacrosanct that it is above being subjected to thorough investigation in light of God's inspired Word. Any doctrine that men refuse to expose to such examination should be immediately suspect ... as are those who seek to shield it from this scrutiny, or who refuse to participate themselves in such biblical investigation into their own beliefs and practices.

(dialogue about a differing position goes on here)

Could I be wrong, and Leroy Garrett right? Absolutely. Neither of us has cornered the market on perfect perception of eternal Truth. However, we both must stand up boldly for what we believe Scripture teaches, and lovingly denounce those teachings we perceive to be contrary to that revealed Truth. I emphasize the necessity of love here, as I believe a vicious attempt to eviscerate my brother simply for differing with me places me in a most unenviable position before our heavenly Father. Therefore, I hereby reaffirm my love and respect for Dr. Leroy Garrett, and simply state that I believe he is mistaken in his above view. On the whole, however, this dear brother of mine, over the course of his lengthy lifetime, has done untold good for the cause of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and only eternity will reveal the number of those who have been brought to the Greater Light by the tireless efforts of this dear man. All of which far outweighs any particular point of doctrine about which he might be wrong. In the final analysis -- and this is true of each of us -- when we stand before the Lord one day, our various positions on various doctrines and practices will count for very little. What will count for far more is how loving and how merciful and how benevolent we were in our dealings with others. There's nothing wrong with challenging one another regarding our views, but may we never allow these dialogues over doctrine to deteriorate into division between devoted disciples. Our Father deserves better than that from His children!!

"It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us." - Oswald Chambers

a poem to linger on . . .

2011-02-04T06:12:00.000-08:00

The House by the Side of the Road

New England poet Sam Walter Foss (1858-1911) evokes the age old image of
a humble house where the weary traveler finds a welcome - a house such as
Baucis and Philemon's - to remind us that we are here to help one another
along life's journey. Friends are "help-mates" to each other.

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the peace of their self-content;
There are souls, like stars, that swell apart,
In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
Where highways never ran;
But let me live by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

Let me live in a house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by;
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban;
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

I see from my house by the side of the road,
By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of hope,
The men who are faint with the strife.
But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears
Both parts of an infinite plan;
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

Let me live in my house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by;
They are good, they are bad, they are weak,
They are strong,
Wise, foolish - so am I.
Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat
Or hurl the cynic's ban? -
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

Sam Walter Foss

following Jesus or just being a cultural christian

2011-02-01T10:41:00.000-08:00

Some thoughts on following Jesus vs. being a “Christian”:

 The world will not believe and know that God sent Jesus because our theology is true, our doctrine correct, and our liturgy proper. The world will know and believe when it sees Jesus in us.
 Are we seeking to follow Jesus, or are we just trying to find or create our own comfortable religion? The former will lead to contentment, the latter to emptiness and disillusionment.
 Even my faith is a gift from You Lord. Even that I seek You is by Your Grace.

[Inspired by The Way of Scripture, Shaped by the Word, and Invitation to a Journey, and I suppose other readings and authors as well?]

spiritual formation

2011-01-26T12:12:00.001-08:00

Sometimes we read words that ring with clear truth in our hearts. A truth we feel we have always known. And, we are delighted someone put it to words.

“We are largely governed by a materialistic/humanistic worldview that perceives everything "out there" as something to be grasped, controlled, and manipulated for our own purposes or, even worse, for the purposes of God! This perspective is so deeply ingrained, as we shall see, that we determine our own self-image, our meaning, our value, our purpose by the effectiveness of our grasp, control, and manipulation of the world, of other persons, even of God.”

“Genuine spiritual formation, being conformed, is the great reversal of the negative spiritual formation of our culture. It reverses our role from being the subject who controls the objects of the world, to being the object of the loving purposes of God who seeks to "control" us for our perfect wholeness. Genuine spiri¬tual formation reverses our role as the controllers (who act to bring about the desired results in our lives) to beings who allow the spirit of God to act in our lives to bring about God's purposes.”

“. . . a fundamental shift from being our own production to being God's creation.”

[excerpted from Shaped By The Word, Mulholland]

Christian Spiritual Formation: the process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others.

Running from God

2011-01-08T16:28:00.001-08:00

For many years, after my first wife left me, I “ran” from my pain and rejection. According to my psychiatrist, the obsessive running and training may have actually treated my clinical depression and anxiety. Many of us are running to or from something in our lives. We pursue meaning to our existence through a variety of activities and passions. However, it seems none of us ever truly finds contentment, never discovering the “secret to happiness” that fulfills our heart and soul.

I spent several years working, eating, sleeping and training . . . period. Any social contact I had was either at work or while training for triathlons and ultra running events. Literally, every waking hour during that time was consumed with running, swimming and cycling . . . if I wasn’t doing it, I was thinking it. I don’t know if I ever stopped to wonder what it would be like without all the physical activity. Or, if I might ever want to be in a relationship with someone again?

Then, Patti (my current wife) slowly came into my life. She was a delightful distraction from all the training, and the beginning of a different life. Little did I know how different that life would be in the years ahead. There are many subplots to this story, but my intent here is to illustrate a common “dead end” path we all seem to take at times in our lives. Pursuing hedonistic pleasures always leads to dead ends. People may seem like they are happy, but ultimately their lives come to ruin, OR, change dramatically in an opposite direction.

Mine was a slow change, happening gradually over the years until I look back now, some 30 years later, and realize how dramatic the change looks from this perspective. My life is much simpler these days, though still very full. My athletic pursuits consist of long walks with my grandson, and I can honestly say I don’t miss the long runs, rides and swims. My time now is full of a deep sense of JOY, contentment and even worldly happiness . . . but it is not satisfied by hedonistic pleasures or material things. It is “full” of . . . words escape it, definition or description is hard to express . . . full of . . . God, the Great Mystery, the Father I’ve discovered who is full of Grace (unmerited), love and mercy.

I suppose if I could pass along any wisdom from this journey, it would be to seek God right where you are. His Presence and JOY are they to be found no matter where you are, or what you are doing. And all those other things you are pursuing; fame, fortune, hedonistic pleasures, material things, whatever you are currently “worshiping” . . . well, take stock of it all, and I think you will decide to give it all up to find your true life, who you were created to be, and to find the One who created you and loves you beyond words. If this sounds eerily similar to something you may have heard before . . . well, this is the life of following Jesus, the life of a disciple of the God Man.

“He has shown you o man what is good and what the LORD desires of you. To do justly, to love mercy to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8
“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Matthew 19:21
Only by Grace, patrick

darkness . . .

2011-01-06T11:48:00.001-08:00

"Thou my best thought by day or by night. Waking or sleeping, Thy Presence my light." The night can be a time that makes us uneasy. And yet, darkness is the covering of God; it is where He lives. He is light in the darkness. [excerpt from Celtic Daily Prayer]

Why Lord, why?

2010-12-27T07:06:00.000-08:00

While we were celebrating Christ's birth, He led another precious one Home, and our "Whys" echo across eternity . . . "and thank you for your prayers for our family,Our dear Julie went home to be with the Lord on Christmas morning. We aregrieving and heartbroken for [our son] Dan and their 4 small children. We travel to Ohio to be with them at this time. Please pray for our family. In Christ, Elaine and Loren" . . . friends in Montana. Praying over John 17 . . . and "listening" . . .

mental health and Christmas

2010-12-21T10:39:00.000-08:00

Those of us who have had, are having, or may have in the future, struggles with mental health issues; depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, schizophrenia and others, should never have to feel ashamed or fear seeking help and sharing our pain. An illness that is so prevalent and touches so many should never be denied or “swept under the carpet” of cultural stigma. And, the church, of all places, should lead the way for those who need healing, but even it too often fails.

It breaks my heart to see, to know of so much pain that goes unnoticed and the lack of real help and compassion because society/culture is afraid or indifferent to it. To hear the pain in the voices of those who are able, by some grace, to come to the point of expressing that pain, to find a safe place to be themselves . . . no masks, no pretense . . . to seek healing in the love and understanding of another.

Why do we refuse to heal one another?! For Christ’s sake we should be doing as he commanded, loving one another, healing one another, easing the pain, carrying the burden that cannot be carried alone. Lord have mercy on us, sinners in need of a Savior, and yet, ignoring You! Come Lord Jesus, make all things new, restore us and bring us into Your Kingdom! Come quickly Lord, we are desperate.

In this season of celebrating Your birth, do we truly seek You? The One who came in such humble circumstances to seek and save the lost. “Perfectly” dressed up for all the exuberant and glamorous celebrations, hiding pain and brokenness. The same pain and brokenness that you desire to break through, to heal and to restore us from, to make us new creations. May this Advent truly be a beginning for so many of us who suffer, may we celebrate Immanuel as the shepherds did in humility and as ourselves . . . naked of pretense and any sense of entitlement.

O come, o come Immanuel and ransom our captive hearts . . .

Christmas 2010

2010-12-17T20:06:00.000-08:00

So another year survived in the Grace and Love of a God who apparently has a “sense” of humor along with that compassionate nature?! So, in brief bulleted order are the following highlights:
 Patrick Perching Eagle Watters began his storytelling “career” in earnest, spinning tales of both Lakota and Celtic heritage.
 Patti continued to enjoy her new teaching career at Sac City College, among all the ministry things.
 May saw things really “ramp up” for our family:
 Cody graduated from EATM program at America’s Teaching Zoo in Moorpark.
 Laura (Kyle’s fiancée) graduated from med. school at UC Colorado and moved to Omaha for her four year residency in OB/GYN at U. Nebraska med. ctr.
 June saw Kyle and Laura get married at Grand Island Mansion in our own Sacramento Delta. (Yes, they would be “separated” by many miles for a few months.)
 The rest of us (PnP, Cody, and Karly & Phil) sneak off to Kauai for ten days!
 July saw Cody begin work for Pacific Animal Productions (San Diego) doing shows all over the State.
 Mid-August saw Kyle finally move out to his sweetie and wife in Omaha, while still pursuing his PhD from Stanford!
 On 8-9-10 Anthony Cayden DeFazio joined us . . . and what a delightful addition to both the Watters and DeFazios, and a gift to Mom & Dad (Karly and Phil).
 In September PnP finally answered a “call” to move to another church to serve the new pastor and congregation there, after 20+ years at our old church during which time the Lord prepared us well to “go”.
 Kyle made his successful defense of his thesis and was declared Dr. Kyle Watters, PhD astrophysics & cosmology, Stanford University!
 And we ended the year celebrating Christmas early with the entire family home . . . a rare occasion indeed!
Patti and I continue to listen for God’s direction for our lives in total trust and surrender. Including, a potential “call” to be a licensed pastor for Pat. We both continue to partner in many ways, while also doing our individual soul care (Anam Chara) things. It is an amazing season, including our temporarily “empty nest” now refilled with family, including AC, our grandson. With grateful hearts and only by Grace, PnP

11 Rules That You Won’t Learn in School About Marriage.

2010-12-17T12:39:00.000-08:00

Rule 1: Marriage isn’t about your happiness. It’s not about you getting all your needs met through another person. Practicing self-denial and self-sacrifice, patience, understanding, and forgiveness are the fundamentals of a great marriage. If you want to be the center of the universe, then there’s a much better chance of that happening if you stay single.

Rule 2: Getting married gives a man a chance to step up and finish growing up. The best preparation for marriage for a single man is to man up now and keep on becoming the man God created him to be.

Rule 3: It’s okay to have one rookie season, but it’s not okay to repeat your rookie season. You will make rookie mistakes in your first year of marriage; the key is that you don’t continue making those same mistakes in year five, year 10, or year 20 of your marriage.

Rule 4: It takes a real man to be satisfied with and love one woman for a lifetime. And it takes a real woman to be content with and respect one man for a lifetime.

Rule 5: Love isn’t a feeling. Love is commitment. It’s time to replace the “D word”—divorce—with the “C word”—commitment. Divorce may feel like a happy solution, but it results in long-term toxic baggage. You can’t begin a marriage without commitment. You can’t sustain one without it either. A marriage that goes the distance is really hard work. If you want something that is easy and has immediate gratification, then go shopping or play a video game.

Rule 6: Online relationships with old high school or college flames, emotional affairs, sexual affairs, and cohabiting are shallow and illegitimate substitutes for the real thing. Emotional and sexual fidelity in marriage is the real thing.

Rule 7: Women spell romance R-E-L-A-T-I-O-N-S-H-I-P. Men spell romance S-E-X. If you want to speak romance to your spouse, become a student of your spouse and enroll in a lifelong “Romantic Language School,” and become fluent in your spouse’s language.

Rule 8: During courtship, opposites attract. After marriage, opposites can repel each another. You married your spouse because he/she is different. Differences are God’s gift to you to create new capacities in your life. Different isn’t wrong, it’s just different.

Rule 9: Pornography robs men of a real relationship with a real person and poisons real masculinity, replacing it with the toxic killers of shame, deceit, and isolation. Pornography siphons off a man’s drive for intimacy with his wife. Marriage is not for wimps. Accept no substitutes.

Rule 10: As a home is built, it will reflect the builder. Most couples fail to consult the Master Architect and His blueprints for building a home. Instead a man and woman marry with two sets of blueprints (his and hers). As they begin building, they discover that a home can’t be built from two very different sets of blueprints.

Rule 11: How you will be remembered has less to do with how much money you make or how much you accomplish and more with how you have loved and lived.

Dennis Rainey, Family Life

submissive clay

2010-12-10T14:27:00.000-08:00

We are not called to be successful, but faithful . . . relax.

Further, our accomplishments mean nothing if our hearts are not inclined toward the Lord, enabling us to walk in humility.

Jeremiah 18:1-6
At the Potter’s House
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.
2 Corinthians 4:6-7
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”[a] made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

simplicity . . . it's how He came

2010-12-03T08:46:00.000-08:00

And so, with barely a ripple of notice, God stepped into the warm lake of humanity, without protocol and without pretention.
Where you would have expected angels, there were only flies. Where you would have expected heads of state, there were only donkeys, a few haltered cows, a nervous ball of sheep, a tethered camel, and a furtive scurry of curious barn mice. Except for Joseph, there was no one to share Mary's pain, or her joy. Yes, there were angels announcing the Savior's arrival—but only to a band of blue-collar shepherds. And yes, a magnificent star shone in the sky to mark his birthplace—but only three foreigners bothered to look up and follow it.
Thus, in the little town of Bethlehem . . . that one silent night . . . the royal birth of God's Son tiptoed quietly by ... as the world slept.
[from Intimate Moments With The Savior by Ken Gire]

We would like to have something to give, to pour out for love of Him, but we don't have even that. It seems we don't have anything.
Nothing to offer except our uselessness, and our choice to be with Him: and that is a choice that no one but Him is likely to put any value on.
[from Celtic Daily Prayer, Aidan readings, Dec. 3]

This Christmas, this Advent Season, why not reflect on the simplicity of Christ’s birth? Why not, even in the midst of the commercialism, the grand celebrations and concerts, the lights and fanfare . . . why not realize again, or for the first time, the truly ignoble and curious, but oh so sweet, birth of our Savior?

Silent night, Holy night . . .

The Two Wolves Story

2010-12-02T11:53:00.000-08:00

The two wolves story is said to have originated with the Cherokee peoples, but is also a traditional story in many other Native American people groups. The story is most often told by a grandfather to his grandchild or grandchildren, and this is how it came to me. The wisdom and spirituality contained within is clearly from the Creator, Wakan Tanka, God. And, if the wisdom were applied to our lives the world would be very much different and beautiful.

When I was a youngster, our family always returned to northeastern Montana where my father’s family grew up. All the cousins of the eleven children of James and Eliza Watters would gather at the home in town, Nashua, or out at Uncle Arvie’s ranch. We would play, ride ponies, learn to drive farm equipment, hunt with bows and arrows and more. Grandfather would chew plug tobacco, tell stories, play his mouth harp and pass on his wisdom learned in hard times.

Inevitably, the two wolves story would come up. Many of us children were being raised in California where violence and corruption were prevalent. Yet, in Montana life seemed to be another world; people cared about each other, were kind and always helpful, even if they didn’t know you. Whether we asked the question, or Grandpa just felt the need to share, the two wolves story became important to us, and even more so as we grew into adults.

“Grandfather, why is there so much killing and cruelty in the world?” we would ask. “My children, inside each of us are two wolves who are fighting each other,” began Grandfather. “There is a dark wolf who is filled with hatred, lust, greed, evil, and selfishness. There is also a white wolf who is filled with kindness, compassion, selflessness and love. They cannot exist together, so they battle within us.” “But, Grandfather,” we ask, “Which one wins?” And Grandfather replies, “The one you feed.”

I have told this short, but powerful story many times as a parent and storyteller, and in my adult years my faith has drawn me to Bible passages which seem to speak about the two wolves story. It could almost be applied to discipleship in the sense of imitating Christ Jesus? Personally, Philippians 4:8-9 seems to be an exhortation to “feed the good wolf”?

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

May you feed the good wolf and teach your children and grandchildren to do likewise.

Patrick Perching Eagle Watters

coming to God just as we are . . .

2010-12-01T09:20:00.000-08:00

There is a story told about a Jewish farmer who, through carelessness, did not get home before sunset one Sabbath and was forced to spend the day in the field, waiting for sunset the next day before being able to return home.
Upon his return home he was met by a rather perturbed rabbi who chided him for his carelessness. Finally the rabbi asked him: 'What did you do out there all day in the field? Did you at least pray?'
The farmer answered: 'Rabbi, I am not a clever man. I don't know how to pray properly. What I did was simply to recite the alphabet all day and let God form the words for Himself.'
When we come to celebrate we bring the alphabet of our lives. If our hearts and minds are full of warmth, love, enthusiasm, song and dance, then these are the letters we bring. If they are full of tiredness, despair, blandness, pain and boredom, then those are our letters. Bring them. Spend them. Celebrate them. It is God's task to make the words!
Ronald Rolheiser

If my lips could sing as many songs
as there are waves in the sea:
if my tongue could sing as many hymns
as there are ocean billows:
if my mouth
filled the firmament with praise:
if my face
shone like the sun and moon together:
if my hands
were to hover in the sky like powerful eagles
and my feet
ran across mountains as swiftly as the deer:
all that would not be enough
to pay You fitting tribute,
O Lord my God.
Unknown author

For many years I've written under the pen name of Anon E. Moose because I've always felt the words belonged to God and not me. Both of these writings reminded me of that truth.

the good and beautiful life (apologies to James Bryan Smith)

2010-11-13T20:48:00.000-08:00

Two men/women are living lives which outwardly may appear to be similar. They are married, raising children and working in their respective careers. The difference, which may be noticeable in their countenance, is that one has discovered the secret of living every day "in the house of the Lord", of "beholding His beauty and seeking Him in His temple." Not just a once-in-a-while thing but the life of communion with God in every little thing, as well as the great things. To experience God at work, play and school throughout the moments of life which may appear ordinary to others, but that are in reality heaven on earth.

Isaiah 61:1
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a]

Jesus read these words in the temple and said He was the fulfillment of them. He commands us to do likewise.

From Clan to Tribe – The Story of a Celtic Lakota Family

2010-11-11T21:12:00.000-08:00

The Watters family, the name meaning “They that dwell by loch and sea”, originally lived on the western islands and the highlands of Scotland. Belonging to a sept (smaller family group) of Clan Forbes, the families were farmers and fishermen under the protection and leadership the clan chief. Being in the upper highlands and islands afforded some security during the 18th and 19th centuries, the land and climate being somewhat inhospitable and troublesome for travelers. These people subsisted on a diet largely of potatoes and whatever vegetables might grow in the rocky soil, as well as whatever the sea would begrudgingly give up. Life was extremely simple and often just plain “extreme.”

Faith had always been a mainstay of strength and community for our family and others. The old Celtic church established by monks, (Patrick, Columba and others), was critical to the life being and morale of people who struggled to eke out a living in this country. As time and seasons would pass, this faith would play a continual role in the life of the family. Especially, as oppression and tyranny caused the family to uproot themselves and journey to other lands and places.

The 18th century finally brought insecurity to our family in the form of the notorious and often barbaric Highland Clearances. Without going into detail in this brief history, the Clearances were England’s answer to dealing with troublesome clans, and also, to introduce sheep to the highlands to bolster their woolen industry. Lowland clansmen were even utilized by the government to drive out, burn out and brutally displace the highland families and clans. There are many general accounts of all this mayhem and where all the surviving families fled to, but there are always exceptions to generalities throughout history.

For the most part, the Watters family fled the highlands to either the outer islands or across the sea to Ireland, settling on the north shores in what is known as County Antrim. James Watters (this author’s great, great grandfather) and Ann Lowery were wed there and started their family, continuing in the pattern established by generations before them; farming and fishing. Dates and details of the Watters family are very difficult, if not impossible, to find. Ship’s manifests and the occasional recorded birth, death or marriage document are often the only evidence of where and when the family turned up in places.

It wasn’t long before another “clearance” of sorts would cause the Watters to once again seek freedom and safety from oppression. The English weren’t satisfied with colonizing just the highlands, but now wanted to displace troublesome Gaelic peoples in favor of bringing industry and colonists to the Ulster regions of Ireland. These actions once again included military operations in what is now Northern Ireland. Suffice to say, James Watters did not want to stick around for the potential destruction and death that seemed to be coming once again. Making their way to a port, the family secured steerage on a ship bound for Philadelphia in the hopes of connecting with other Celtic families that fled earlier to America.

James and Ann settled in Alleghany County Pennsylvania after a short stay in Philadelphia. Farming was good and the family prospered. During this time, my great grandfather, Samuel, was born. Again, there is not much in the way of detail about our particular family in Pennsylvania, but other histories give a very good indication of how life looked during this time in the history of the United States. Samuel apparently thrived in this new world environment, and developed an also apparent penchant for exploration and adventure. He eventually left Pennsylvania and traveled northwest to Minnesota, where he became employed as a fur trapper for either the Hudson Bay or Northwest companies, again, details are sketchy but those were the two major companies employing trappers. French, Irish, and Scots made up the bulk of the work force at that time. Like many other trappers, Samuel “took up with” a Native American woman, which was not only convenient for surviving in the land, but also brought valuable connections with the native population in terms of business propositions. Eventually, Samuel and Isabel Marshall (her English name) were wed and started their own family. At this time, (early 1800’s,) the Lakota people were happily entrenched as a woodland people, enjoying hunting, fishing and gathering, while also engaging in the occasional skirmish with the neighboring Ojibwe tribe.

It wouldn’t be long, however, before yet another sort of “clearance” would threaten the Watters family. Now, a little cultural history on Lakota family is probably necessary here? The Lakota people had a somewhat matriarchal society, not so much that women were in charge, but that whenever a man married, he became part of the wife’s tribe/family. Tribes usually consisted of several family groups led by a chief, hence the “clan to tribe” transition of my family. During this time, settlers were pushing westward seeking their own “manifest destiny”. And, often the settlers were accompanied by government military forces who would establish forts in the frontier. The forts provided protection and a sort of town where people could gather, obtain goods and services, and in general maintain a sense of community. Needless to say, the native population was often a hindrance to this new colonization westward. All sorts of “arrangements” and coalitions were established between various people groups; unfortunately for the Lakota these coalitions didn’t include them. Eventually, the Lakota people sought another place to live in peace, and this saw them leave Minnesota traveling southwest into the Dakota territories. Samuel and his family were part of this migration, at least what little evidence that exists seems to lend credence to that movement? (Later evidence such as death certificates and gravestones would provide further hints to the movement of the family.)

During the time of life on the Great Plains, the Lakota nation thrived. The new lifestyle of hunting and moving with the great Buffalo herds seemed to suit them well. Horses added another advantage to the growing nation of tribes, and the often glamorized life of the Indians began to be developed among white America. Sadly, the “good days” of the Buffalo and plains life would also be short-lived for the Lakota and our Watters family. Further westward movement of settlers and forts (cavalry) continued to desecrate both the land and the indigenous people; disease, massacre of the North American Bison (Buffalo), and environmental damage (yes, believe it or not it had already started,) among other things. The government felt compelled to intervene on behalf of settlers and deal with the “Indian uprisings”. Again, I won’t belabor that history here, but suffice to say our family was once again feeling the need to move.

Establishment of reservations (areas of isolation for the various tribes) by the government heralded a clear signal to Lakota leaders that something must be done. Several skirmishes among cavalry and Indians alarmed Washington and prompted further escalating military intervention. Notable among these campaigns was Custer’s debacle at the Little Bighorn River (the Greasy Grass our people call it.) While Lakota people did have some effective efforts against the government troops, it was clear to all Native American leaders that they could never outlast the numbers and force of the government. Most leaders chose to comply with treaties and move their people to reservations, (which sadly was the beginning of “social genocide” of Native American culture and people.) Our family chose to flee to Canada with other Lakota, accompanied by Cheyenne tribes. Sitting Bull, chief of the Hunkpapa tribe of Lakota, had made this choice while Crazy Horse (a relative and also chief of the Oglala tribe) finally decided to stop fighting and return to the reservation, (he was later tragically murdered there.)

In Canada, the government had taken a much more amicable approach to native populations, ceding large tracts of land and granting citizenship to their indigenous tribes. This looked like a very good choice for the Lakota, but the Canadian government took the position that only existing indigenous Canadian tribes could be granted this status. Once again, my family was a people without a country. Staying in Canada was useful for a time, but Lakota people wanted to be with other families (tribes), and eventually Sitting Bull decided to return to the reservations, and many different tribes followed. Sadly, this choice would also end Sitting Bull’s life in similar fashion to Crazy Horse. This became a critical turning point for my family.

My young grandfather, James, chose to return with some Lakota back to the U.S. via Montana (west of the path of other tribes.) Those Lakota joined cousins of the Assiniboine tribe at the Fort Peck Agency in northeastern Montana. This was also a time of deeply emotional decisions by members of our family. Samuel Watters chose to take his family and separately move back to Minnesota. Details of that move and whatever happened to he and his family are once again scarce, except for a death record of Samuel in Ottertail, Minnesota. His son, James, on the other hand decided that he must begin to hide his Lakota heritage if he wanted to own land and have a future in America. James met and married Eliza Coffey, an Irish woman whose family lived in that area of Montana at the time. James homesteaded near the intersection of the Missouri River (Big Muddy) and Milk River. There they raised their family of eleven children, farming and hunting (but all the while being very cognizant of hiding any Lakota connections.) The children were an interesting mix of clearly Lakota looking people (much like James), but also with fair skinned and even some red-headed ones! When asked about the darker character of some members of the family, James explained that we were descended from “black Irish” lineage. The ruse worked and my family thrived in the Fort Peck area, but never associated with relatives on the reservation there. Some of my uncles even went so far as to deride “the lazy Indians on that reservation.”

Anyway, fast forward to all of my father’s family getting older, going away to college, starting their own families and moving to one coast or the other, (Montana winters had taken their toll on their collective psyches.) Many of us ended up in Sacramento, California, and life went on for the Watters, the Irish Watters. The only conflicts of note were the occasional bout between the Protestant and Catholic sides of the family, but those usually boiled over harmlessly, (unlike things back in Ireland.) Most of the families gathered every summer back in Montana to visit the grandparents and Uncle Arvie (the sole member who stayed on to ranch and farm.) Us kids spent those summers hunting, riding horses, learning how to drive the farm trucks, working the harvest and more. I always recall the “tack room” my Uncle Arvie had on his farm. It was loaded with the most wonderful collection of leather goods; saddles, bridles and more. And, there were many handcrafted bows and arrows among the weaponry in that room. I suppose I should have suspected some Indian connection in my family, what with all the prowess in hunting and horseback skills, but again, no one in the family ever brought up Indians in conversation. Then, one summer when we were much older, and apparently with the blessing of my now very old grandfather (James), my own father pulled out an old sepia tone photograph of a Lakota woman. The resemblance to my grandfather and my own father and a couple of his brothers was uncanny. It was then that I first knew of our Lakota heritage, and yet still it was a secret between my father and me. Sadly, the family still harbored fears of being “found out”, even though at this point it would not have mattered. I guess my father felt a deep need to recognize this heritage with me? We had done Boy Scouts for many years, and my father always emphasized the Indian lore aspect of Scouting. In fact, we both joined the Order of the Arrow, a subgroup of Boy Scouts dedicated to Native American culture. His own skills as a Lakota warrior became very apparent; horse whisperer, wonderful worker of leather and natural materials, an amazing hunting eye and skill. That time passed too quickly for me, and especially for him. I went on to playing football and forgot all about those Order of the Arrow days.

Fast forward again, I have raised my own family and “retired” from regular work. All the years of being a park ranger, environmental biologist and father now seemed to be speaking to me of something deeper in my spirit. I had also become a Christian in the truest sense, a disciple of Jesus. That new identity seemed to be calling me to look back, to seek my roots. This new journey led to expanding our family tree, which had been mistakenly “altered” at the point of Samuel and his alleged wife in that tree. Thus this story was born, and it has given me a deeper understanding of who I am, not only as a Lakota Celtic, but as a follower of Jesus, and through Him of the Great Mystery, the Holy Trinity. It has given me a loving and compassionate attitude for other people groups and religions; it has made me a better person. I realize I am on a journey with still more seasons to experience, but now the journey has a destination, even if I don’t know where the next step leads. I have found purpose, God’s purpose, in my life as a disciple. I have found identity in my heritage as a holy man (shaman, priest, etc.) but also as a heyoka (clown in the Lakota sense.) Henri Nouwen would call it “wounded healer”, or one who takes his own story and struggles, and uses them to give comfort and healing to others. Not that I have “arrived”, but I have a more clear path . . . the Narrow Road, the Good Red Road of Jesus Christ. From Patrick and Columcille, to Nicholas Black Elk and Crazy Horse, I have found relatives and spiritual mentors from the past who continue to “speak” to me today. They point me to the Way, they affirm my path and guidebook, the Bible, and they join me in the Journey.

Mitakuye Oyasin, Bennacht De Ort, (“All My Relatives” in Lakota and “God Bless You” in Gaelic, the language of the Celtic peoples)

Patrick Perching Eagle Watters, Lakota and Celtic

[Among resources that have provided both physical and spiritual “evidence” for this story are; Nicholas Black Elk – Medicine Man, Missionary, Mystic by Michael F. Steltenkamp, and Stories of the Celtic Soul Friends – Their Meaning for Today by Edward C. Sellner. These two books, among other written forms, have been instrumental in seeing my family history in a spiritual light, as well as providing some vital physical history.]

From Celtic Daily Prayer - Blessings

2010-11-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

Prayers of blessing

THE TELLING PLACE
Bless us, Lord, this day with vision. May this place be a sacred place, a telling place, where heaven and earth meet.
FOR WORK
Lord, bless the work that we do;
bless it,
and keep us in Your power.
ON FOOT
Bless to me, O Lord,
the earth beneath my feet;
bless to me, O Lord,
the path I tread:
my walk this day with the Father,
my walk this day with Christ,
my walk this day with the Spirit.
I thank You for this, my God: I am a traveller and stranger in the world, like so many of Your people before me.

ON THE DEPARTURE OF A WELL-LOVED GUEST
Would it not be the beautiful thing now, if you were just coming instead of going?

TILL WE MEET AGAIN
May the road rise to meet you;
may the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face
and the rain fall softly on your fields.
Until we meet again
may God hold you
in the hollow of His hand.

A BLESSING ON SOMEONE'S JOURNEY OR ON A CHILD
I bless you, (Name)/darling one,
in the name of the Holy Three,
the Father, the Son and the Sacred Spirit.
May you drink deeply
from God's cup of joy.
May the night bring you quiet.
And when you come
to the Father's palace
may His door be open
and the welcome warm.

following Jesus along the Narrow Road . . .

2010-10-26T09:32:00.000-07:00

I sometimes (often?) wonder why so many Christians are satisfied with “consumer christianity” and avoid following Jesus . . . being a disciple, an apprentice to the One who redeemed us?
Psalm 119:141-143
141 Though I am lowly and despised,
I do not forget your precepts.
142 Your righteousness is everlasting
and your law is true.
143 Trouble and distress have come upon me,
but your commands are my delight.
Jeremiah 9:23-24
23 This is what the LORD says:
"Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
24 but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,"
declares the LORD.
Matthew 11:25-26
25At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

I am small and despised.''Yes, but have I not said, "Do not despise the day of small things!"?' Amy Carmichael

I'd rather be a little thing climbing up than a big thing tumbling down Old Sunday-school song

The man to whom little is not enough will not benefit from more. Columbanus

Many a man has grown upright because his tendrils have clung to a cross. Hugh Redwood

By Your cross and resurrection You have redeemed the world. Say but the word, give me understanding, and I shall live. I shall not die, but I shall live and proclaim what You have done, Lord. Just say the word, Lord. Speak it to me. There is a power within the word You speak which is greater than the word itself. Give me understanding. Only You can impart revelation. People may explain to me, but only You can reveal it to me, even then, in a way that makes me realize it. Realize that word within my heart. Realize Your word in my life. Make it real, Lord, in me. Let Jesus the Living Word become flesh again, and live among us, spoken through our lives to a world that is dying for want of the knowledge of Him. Send forth Your word and heal them. Let Your glory be over all the earth.
Arthur Burt and Andy Raine

Patrick Perching Eagle

2010-10-19T09:02:00.000-07:00

I have used that name in my storytelling times, but it has great significance in my own life and that of my family. My parents named me after St. Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), and the parallels of his life and that of my family are seen in many ways. Recently, a pastor of mine suggested I read "Stories of the Celtic Soul Friends - Their Meaning for Today" by Edward Sellner. The chapter on Patrick of Armagh was a true revelation to me. That book coupled with another by Michael Steltenkamp (SOJ) titled Nicholas Black Elk - Medicine Man, Missionary, Mystic, completes for me a "who I am" in God's Kingdom and how that has been formed through my family's history. Lakota and Celtic - a beautiful mix of God's making.

Now, while I find these books to have great personal interest, I can also recommend them to those who love stories of the Celtic saints, and those who love native American history and culture, especially in the 1800's to early 1900's. For me, these books, and God's Word and Spirit have given me another "guidepost(s)" along the Narrow Road.

Mitakuye Oyasin Bennacht De Ort, Patrick Perching Eagle

a "healing ministry" . . . ???

2010-10-13T14:34:00.000-07:00

PnP On The Road – a “healing ministry”???

It is your business and others' to go forth, being available to
them face to face, for that is the only way of bringing them to Me. For when you are face to face with them, you love them, and once you love them, then I can speak through you.
From Molchanie by Catherine de Hueck Doherty

His love that burns inside me impels me on the road to seek for Christ in the stranger's face or feel the absence of His touch, then to be His hands and feet.
'Aidan'

Make friends of God's children; help those who are weak; forgetting in nothing, His blessing to seek.
William D. Longstaff

Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away.
George Eliot

If your heart is right with my heart, give me your hand, the right hand of fellowship, the right hand of brotherhood. If your heart is right with my heart, give me your hand. Anon from Celtic Daily Prayer

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (New International Version)
The God of All Comfort
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

PnP On The Road . . . it is, in a sense, a healing ministry in that we simply allow ourselves to be used by the Lord wherever and to whomever He sends us. To be vulnerable and available is the rule we live by.

Christ as a light, Christ as a shield, may the Peace of the Lord Christ go with you.

[Inspired by Celtic Daily Prayer, Aidan readings for October 13 and the daily morning prayers.]

is it the dweeb, or our Father disciplining us???

2010-10-12T16:45:00.000-07:00

"When things seem really bad we might need to hesitate before assuming it's against us and out to get us. As Gamaliel pointed out, we need to be careful just in case it's God we'd be fighting in rejecting it." [from Celtic Daily Prayer, Aidan readings, October 11]

It's not necessarily always the dweeb . . . we too often give him too much credit for trouble in our lives. We need to stop, look and listen to see if God is trying to get our attention.

"Great questions stand unanswered before us, and defy our best wisdom. Though our ignorance is great, at least we know we do not know. When we don't know what to say (or do), best to keep quiet and seek Him." Peter Marshall

He disciplines those He loves . . . Proverbs 3:12 & Hebrews 12:6 . . . among others.

The ancient fathers and mothers (a Kempis, Teresa de Avila, and more) have learned this lesson and passed it along for those who would "hear" it.

A Two Month Old Changes Everything

2010-10-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

A Two Month Old Changes Everything . . . Then Again, Maybe Not?!
A two month old grandson changes everything . . . well, it seems like it anyway?! Quiet time that used to be first and foremost for an hour or more each morning has become baby feeding, changing and entertaining time . . . déjà vu!
Riley, the dog, takes his usual place at my feet and attempts to entertain little Anthony when I finally get to “quiet time”, but sometimes the little guy just wants to be held. And, because I’m an “old guy” these days . . . well, it suits me fine . . . all things in God’s time.
The Lord has truly placed eternity in my heart and is allowing me to live His Kingdom life here and now. Each day, each moment is a blessing and a gift (ah, such sweet “knowledge”, thanks be to God my heart has finally grasp it.)
I have been acquainted with “earthly” death, my own, and that of others close to me. I fear it not, and in that, find great freedom and Peace. The prayer attributed to St. Francis has become my own:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon:
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope
where there is darkness, light
where there is sadness, joy
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
More encouragement from Celtic Daily Prayer (my daily devotional):
In the night Your song will be with me, will be with me, in the night. A song keeps singing in my heart for I am Yours and You, Lord, are mine, and all my times are in Your hand.
Lord of my heart,
give me vision to inspire me, that working or resting,
I may always think of You. Lord of my heart,
give me light to guide me, that, at home or abroad,
I may always walk in Your way.
From Robert van de Weyer's anthology, Celtic Fire
With Your inspiration the pilgrim is fired, is filled with courage to tackle the way.
He treks through Tear Valley and makes it a spring, a blessing, like early rain bringing new life. He takes the path inward to stand before God.

Believer, hold Him high that all may see the light of Jesus in a son of man.
'Aidan'
Poor Joseph fell foul of his brothers' jealousy. In the bottom of his pit it took a lot of imagination to believe any good could ever come of it.
From The Othona Psalms

The earth is full of Your steadfast love, but now teach me Your commands. It is me that is out of step, out of tune, discordant and jarring.
The brightest colour upon His palette is of no use to the Artist if it refuses to blend with the others.
Hugh Redwood
We need to find our place in God's purpose, receptive and open to His direction and inspiration; and all creation waits as it were on tiptoe in excited anticipation of what can happen if we assume the destiny for which we were created, and stand as 'sons of God'. We become 'Christ-carriers'.
Anyone who strives to climb out of a pit will not pray that its sides shall be smooth.
Hugh Redwood
Withdraw not Thy hand, O my God, from me here, O Chief of the chiefs, O withdraw not Thy hand.
From Poems of the Western Highlanders
When things seem really bad we might need to hesitate before assuming it's against us and out to get us. As Gamaliel pointed out, we need to be careful just in case it's God we'd be fighting in rejecting it.
Great questions stand unanswered before us, and defy our best wisdom. Though our ignorance is great, at least we know we do not know. When we don't know what to say, keep us quiet.
Peter Marshall
O God, forgive the poverty and pettiness of our prayers. Listen not to our words, but to the yearning of our hearts. Hear beneath our petitions the crying of our need.
Peter Marshall
God, You hear within us the groanings so deep they cannot even be uttered. Let Your tender mercies come unto us that we may live again.
'Can I not do with you as the Potter?' says the Lord God. Lord, help me to realize that I am Your project.
Have Your own way, Lord, have Your own way You are the Potter - I am the clay Mould me and make me after Your will while I am waiting, yielding and still.
Adelaide A. Pollard
'Can I not do with you as the Potter?' 'Yes.'

HOPE . . .

2010-09-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

The "world", especially the western world and American culture give us no reason for hope in this life. And, the church often does no better, teaching that we can get our "ticket" punched for Heaven, but again offering us no hope in this life. Leaving us with the modernist lament, "Life's a bitch, then you die." But Jesus taught us differently. He told us the Kingdom is here and now! If we would but have "eyes" to see and "ears" to hear we will encounter the living Lord in our seemingly mundane daily lives, and discover the "abundant life" He promised. "Seek first the Kingdom,and all else will be added." This IS the HOPE that is missing from our lives, from the lives of so many disenchanted, even nihilistic, young people. This IS the REALITY, not the paltry, shallow nonsense pedaled by the media and our pathetic culture. We do have a choice in this life . . . choose the Way of the One called Jesus. Not talking consumer Christianity or pop religion here, but the path of the "ancients" . . . the tried and true Narrow Road. It's there and you will find it if you seek it. The "road map", the divine GPS unit if you will, is the Bible. And, there are "guides" to assist you along the way as well.