What's my right arm

Matthew 5:27-30

Jesus said to the crowds, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell."

What are you saying to me, Lord?

(From June 13 '08 Sacred Space)

My right hand and right arm are the things that I would supposedly use the most. Things I am dependent on for my daily living/getting along. Something that it would very difficult to live without but not impossible. Something that causes me to sin in the course of my every day. It might be so ingrained that it isn't quite perceivable without the light of the Holy Spirit to show it for it's true colors. So here goes a frightening but strangely excited prayer. Dear Father, King Jesus, Comforter Spirit please show me what is my right arm or right eye?

Right arm-Something I do. A habit, a behavior that I rely on daily for my safety or survival.

Right eye - A way of seeing, an attitude or paradigm that I have carried my whole life that is not Kingdom vision and separates me from the Triune God.

Selah

A Real Worship Service

The service Sunday night was beyond anything I could conceive. It was as if the Lord descended in a cloud and we were overcome by His glory. It was all Him - nothing to do with any of us present. We were all just privileged to be there.

I drove home from Cali - I left on Friday night. I ran into a little trouble in Utah. You can read about it in my previous posting. To sum-up, I spent a good portion of Saturday baking in the desert trying not to worry that I wasn't going to be able to pull together the things I needed to for the Sunday night service. I got home Sunday morning with no sleep. Carol graciously talked to me on my cell and kept me awake from Frisco to home.

I slept for a few hours and then jumped up and started work furiously on getting ready. God intervened and everything went wrong. Everything to the point that it got ridiculous. I was sobbing in the shower when Carol came to pick me up. (My car wouldn't start) We prayed and God said, "No music." We called Tami and left her a vmail and headed to the church to get the Children's Church sanctuary ready.

Carol had lots of great ideas and the place ended up looking better than I would have believed. Ian showed up was not thrilled that all of his music choices had been cut by the Lord. :-D I'm sure he was thinking "What an excuse!" Then Carol and the team went in the back to pray over Dawn and Al. I was gatekeeper praying and singing out front and getting the programs printed up. Holy multitasking I guess. Bernie, our only guitar player, hadn't shown up. I started to feel bad and get worried again. Fortunately, I had too much to do to give this worry much energy.

At 5:50 the folks were meandering in from the prayer session. Carol said it had gone well and I was so grateful about that but dreading what I was sure would happen next. I hadn't been able to do any of the usual preparation and how could it go well without my efforts? I had let everyone down. We didn't have music, we didn't have slides, we didn't have anything we were used to having. Go ahead and laugh, I am.

At 5:57 Bernie walked in. Mark, our music minister had been there for the Al & Dawn prayer and he walked down to his office and got a guitar. We decided we could do Awesome is the Sight since it didn't need a slide and the Lords prayer.

We started at about 6:10. Brad opened with prayer and from that second the Lord's glory shown and just got brighter. As we started the opening song - Awesome is the Sight - we knew we were on holy ground. We followed the liturgy, we sang choruses as the Lord directed, we worshiped.

At one point Brad invited us to be on our faces before the Lord. I laid there, crying with gratitude for the day in the desert followed by this overwhelming cool drink, this filling of His spirit. There was no way to grasp the incredible honor and privilege that we were being given, that I was being given. All I could do was to soak in it and be filled beyond overflowing.

Just in from Utah. My opinion hasn't changed.

I used to send out a picture of a lovely desert sunset viewed in the rearview of my car. It was titled My Favorite View Of Utah.

Saturday, the hottest part of the day and I was crossing the section of Utah that looks like the Grand Canyon - it is 50+ miles either way to the next town. I pulled into the Ghost Rock Viewpoint to take make a pit stop. (They really were pits, ugh)

When I got back to my car it wouldn't start. Since I am on the Suckulair network (now a part of the new AT&T) I had no cell signal. I asked some folks from Cali who had cell signal but no jumper cables if they would call AAA for me and they did - bless them. AAA then proceeded to take until 10 pm to get there.

I had my hood up. All I needed was a jumpstart...

A couple of retirement age folks from Kansas in a big truck looked at me, turned away and drove right past without stopping. Let's hear it for the Midwest

God takes good care of me so I had a whole case of bottled water on ice in the cooler. I took a sweaty nap, worked on my computer, drank A LOT of water and eventually watched the typical gorgeous desert sunset.

Then the Perseid meteor shower started. It was so dark as the sky rained fireballs. I felt so safe and cared for - that God would make sure I wouldn't miss this incredible show of his creation. I'd wanted to get out of the city and see it so many times but never made it. Now here I was, a command audience.

I fell asleep looking up. I was wakened by the sound of a tow truck. The driver was an off-duty cop working his side job. Huge like a muscle mountain and so sweet. He apologized that I had been out there so long but I was kinda grateful.

Gladys Reed Bush, acquainted with sorrow.

Today is Aunt Glady's' birthday. She was my ideal of humility and love. The softest heart, open to all. She was the closest thing to Jesus I'll probably ever see here. She was my mother's best friend. She died in 1982. I still miss her but she had gotten so rundown, I was very happy for her when she went home.

I wonder, Jesus was a man acquainted with sorrow. There was always a background sadness in Aunt Gladys. She was fun, hopeful and never a downer but she was sad. At least I knew she was. She was so loved by everyone in her life, except maybe her son that took her for granted.

I have to wonder if the closer you get to Jesus, the more you become "acquainted with grief." Jesus knew and knows the end from the beginning so he has a hope we can ask for but not own. We won't get that perspective until it's over. That's a lot of faith if you become really acquainted with sorrow.

We walk by faith and not by sight...but boy, is it easy to see the sorrow. If we open our hearts and let it all in, it takes a great faith to not be overwhelmed and lose hope. A faith that we can only receive. Nothing that we can manufacture in ourselves.

It's a very hard thing to choose to see other people's pain and not run from it. We all naturally do it like pulling our hand back from a fire...but if our loved one is in that fire we choose otherwise. At least I hope we do.

I wanted to be like Aunt Gladys and Aunt Paula and I think in some ways I am. In the good and the bad. I really want her humility but that's like asking for trouble. Whip me, beat me, make me humble. LOL.

Happy Earth-Birthday Aunt Gladys. I love you so much and am so grateful for you - you are a big part of who I am. The best part of who I am. I look forward to eternity with you. Kiss Aunt Paula for me.

Even less drama

I realized this morning how immature I am in my thinking. Once more, it's not all about me. That goes so deep, I'm gonna spend a lifetime rooting that garbage out.

This particular thread: Everyone that doesn't love me, hates me.

There is someone in leadership in my church that disapproves of me. (And this is probably why.) I have blown her disapproval up in my head to the point that I'm paranoid. All because I don't sense her complete approval. As if she has that much time and interest to spend on me.

Alcoholic behavior 101. Todays lesson boys and girls is BLACK & WHITE. You are either adored or hated, accepted or detested. Everyone out there spends all their time thinking about YOU. You are the center of the universe.

This behavior is appropriate for a two year old. Thank God I'm potty trained.

Delete some drama

I used to say that my mom hated me but now I see that is way too dramatic. Not just dramatic but inaccurate. Hate requires caring and my mom was too self-involved to hate me. I annoyed her, she resented me is probably the most accurate way to put it.

My mom lived in a constant search for love. He childhood sucked and she had no idea what it looked like. She just new she needed it. She knew my dad didn't love her and was using her for sex but it was close enough. He asked her to marry him as an excuse for missing work because he had been on a drunk. So his family pulled together a makeshift wedding - he got his excuse and mom got married.

I was born two years later. I looked just like my dad and he adored me. As in most families, babies are very well loved in our clan. I wasn't anymore exceptional than anyone else's baby. I was just my dad's first and he was 31 years old. He expressed his love openly, affectionately to me - the way my mom wanted him to express it to her. It didn't happen. I was competition.

It totally sucked to be me in that place where it already sucked to be my mom. My mom didn't know how to receive or give love AND was pissed off that I got what she wanted. It wasn't fair but it just was what it was.

disappointed

not appointed
cancelled appointment
dissed appointed

I am surprised by my disappointment. Better, the depth of my disappointment. I didn't realize how much I was hoping for it.

Maybe it was just the hope for the drama - to be center stage and have an excuse to for slacking. I haven't done crap for quite a while at work. I've done lots at church where I get my reward/approval fix.

Wow, is that immature! I'm supposed to be working as if for God and not men - meaning for His approval - not anyone else's.