Category: Faith Ponderings

Thanksgiving Contest Winners Announced:

Okay, the delay is now over, and with bated breath I am pleased to announce our first annual Thanksgiving Creative arts contest winners!  All three winners will receive a bag of Starbucks coffee!   I am sure all of you have been anxiously, collectively, nail-bitingly holding your breath for this announcement, so without further adieu:  Here are the contest winners and below please find their submissions, which they so kindly and thoughtfully submitted.  They are not in any specific order or placement, but rather as I chose them.  Thank you all for participating in this first annual event, there will certainly be more to come so stay tuned!  

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1) Rebecca Tekautz

“Give Thanks” 

Give Thanks

 

My friend begins singing Christmas carols and the shopping mall is a cacophony of twinkling lights, Santa, and gift displays. It is October.

 

“Respect the turkey!” I say firmly to my friend and to the world in general. I have a rule: No Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving. I am not a scrooge. I am not anti-Christmas. I am simply pro-Thanksgiving.  I cringe as I watch the spectacle of Christmas encroach upon the season of thanks.

 

I am not the first to note the contradiction in the biggest shopping day of the year coming immediately after the day we give thanks for what we already have. Or that our eagerness for the best deals is resulting in more and more stores opening their doors on Thanksgiving day. We’re turning Thanksgiving into “Thanks, I’ll take it!”

 

The breath we take to give thanks is being suffocated by our cry for more. We are creatures of infinite want. There is always more. More to accomplish, more to do, more to have.

 

Thanks requires stopping, becoming still and noticing that which we already have. But we are much more comfortable in moving, seeking, finding the new and the better. It’s no wonder, in a culture that spends billions and billions of dollars annually in advertising to show us the latest “new and better,” that we easily buy into the lie that more will make us happy. It is the hallmark of advertising: This is it. This is what you have been searching for. This is the thing that will fill the void at last. 

 

Our searching is spilling into our season of stopping. Stopping to take a breath, to look around at the blessings we have, recognizing that enough is already here. More stuff will not fill up the void. More stuff is only a distraction from our deepest need. Finite things can never fill the space that was meant for an infinite love.

 

As we enter the holiday season, let’s stop and remember that this is the season of Infinite Love coming to earth. There is nothing more we need. God’s Best has already come to fill up the void. Before we get swept up in the joyful season of gift-giving, let us first stop and offer our thanks for all the gifts He has given us. Let’s not let the rushing of the wants crowd out the moments to stop and offer thanks. As Psalm 136 declares over and over, “Give thanks. . .His love endures forever!”

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2) Jeff Carter: “Sunlight in the Apple Tree” 

http://thatjeffcarterwashere.blogspot.com

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3) Kaitlin Shadle 

http://www.kaitlinshadle.com

“”Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever!”

 

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Re-birth from the shattered (A Poem)

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Innocently, our mystery and providence 

brakes the stranglehold upon this confidence

and as the attempt to grasp a hold of it 

we lose our grip, it slips as does our wit. 

 

And all we can reclaim are the broken bits

shattered and jagged are all that we get

we slice our fingers until they bleed 

picking up the things that we thought we’d need. 

 

Yet on our knees with all of this mess

contrite, we fight this  need to confess

yet it bites at our heels and pulls us still

discarding the shattered and hopes that will kill.

 

A light to our sight is cast in our night

it scatters our fears and increases our fight

it charges our hope, the need to be free

lifting our burdens and making us see

 

That death to the body is not death to the soul

there is a Savior who is making us whole.

We might be weak but He will be strong 

lifting our burdens, and righting the wrong.

 

Find strength dear sinner, find it today

we aren’t alone even when in this fray

Though we are broken and tattered and torn

 An eternal salvation and life is re-born!  

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Kicking in the front door

“Knock and it shall be opened.’ But does knocking mean hammering and kicking the door like a maniac?” 
― C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

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We pray and pray at times for God to answer our prayers the way that we want them answered.  We yearn and we groan, and at times we call God cruel secretly in our hearts because of the lack of answered prayers.  Could it be that it isn’t so much about His answer but about our asking?  I cannot be calloused here to say to a dying person that it was God’s will for you to die…of course it wasn’t.  I am not saying either that God is harsh and wishes some to perish from physical afflictions, this is not the God I serve.  We do live in a fallen and temporal world in which diseases like cancer and AIDS prevail.  God weeps with those who mourn and comforts those who hurt…it was never His doing that would create such a sad predicament of man.  

But in terms of our every day prayers, we can become like a SWAT team attempting to kick in the front door of an assailant instead of humbling petitioning before God the needs of our lives.  It isn’t about our wants, but our needs that He will provide (which are according to His riches).  But sometimes in our asking (prayer) we become more like Veruca Salt.  Do you remember the spoiled character in Roald Dahl’s book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”?  Veruca Salt was a salty, spoiled brat who was given anything her heart desired.  This led to her downfall within the Chocolate factory, because her father could not give her something which didn’t belong to him.  Sometimes our asking prayers can seem like a spoiled little brat, I don’t mean to sound condescending because I too have asked like this.  Then when the answer doesn’t come to us the way that we wanted it, we flail on the floor and cry like a child desperately in need of  some discipline.  

How is your prayer life?  Are you approaching the throne of God with reverence and fear or are you Veruca Salt, intent on kicking down the front door if you have to?  Take an inventory of your prayer life, be mindful that God does listen to us and He will provide to those who ask in faith and that which brings glory and honor to Him.  

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Thanksgiving

It is nighttime
And we are
Speeding down the interstate
Ambers and reds
Of tail lights and house lights
Blur and whir by.
Frosted window panes
And breath that fogs up
The glass
Behind me my son
Is drawing in it
Perhaps another smiley face
But knowing him
It will end in some explosion
Tinged with violence…
Why are adolescent boys
Like that?
We just passed
Another house,
amber burning
shadows of life
Dance among the festive
Ambiance that
Permeates our drive.
We will partake in it soon
Revelers of thanksgiving,
Soaking in moments
That all too quickly flee
From our limited grasp
Far too soon.
But we are,
And will be thankful
Filled to brim with too much food
And family.
Never take this
For
Granted!

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A Bear in this winter. (A Poem)

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I place hands, thick, dry, worn and calloused 

upon the cold, vinyl steering wheel.

Winter’s breath, blue and frozen, 

weighs heavily upon this steel frame. 

I exhale another vapor trail 

which drifts off into some maudlin 

memory and “want to be”…and then it’s gone. 

The engine protests greatly as I turn the key

and jar it from its frosty nap.  

I am tired…  

I am tired of being tired. 

I sling my computer bag onto the passenger seat

it crunches and bounces upon the springs 

and it mechanically sings in a squeaky voice.

it all too feels heavier than it should 

brick-like, a mill stone with broken handcuffs 

from this fleeing assailant…somewhere out there

I’ve discarded my orange prison jump suit

for some other kind of suit and tie

as an old wire clothes line is bereft 

and vacantly missing its belongings. 

I am on the run.

Someone put out the A.P.B….

Something inside of me wells up

like some untapped oil reserve desiring 

to kiss the blue of sky.

It brims again to the surface, spilling over 

flooding the ground with its bucket lists 

of “what ifs” and “how comes” and “why nots”…

I sigh in my creased suit, loosen my too-tight tie

and now, seated in this cold shell

I brace myself, fingers numbing and aching

sighing and shaking.

I’m not broken, I’m not weak or dying

I’m just traveling down roads

traveled before

staring off into the horizon and considering 

that bear that went over the next crest of the hill…

will he ever come back?  

And then I look into my rear-view mirror. Image

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Thanksgiving, Mystery and Childhood.

I’m sipping coffee, I know what else is new?  But as I sit here with my caffeine companion, blue cup, steam brimming from its edges and handle inviting me to grasp and chug down its contents, I am drawn to this topic of thanksgiving.  There’s a little film booth in my mind churning over snap shots and feature length moments of my life.  The booth is dark but for the flickering of projector light as dust dances in its wobbly yet dazzling rays of ambient lumens.  On screen, I am seven years of age.  Sun burst of blonde hair apparently free from the clutches of Dad’s comb that day laying every which way.  I am content.  No, better than content, I am full of joy and warmth.  It’s like that moment when you will finally see long lost relatives again that you’ve been anxiously longing to see since last you met.  Add to that euphoric sense the emotion of a snoozing Saturday when you have to plan, no chore list and absolutely no where to be.  

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I am more than content.  I am happy.  Isn’t it funny the small things that bring us joy?  The plastic bag of army men that probably cost 50 cents down at the convenience store clutched in a seven year old’s hands equaled joy that day.  Playing on Mom and Dad’s bed with folds of blankets, flowery in a sunburst pattern, abruptly becoming mountain ranges and ocean floors in some cosmic battle between good and evil (evil was slowly scaling the mountain only to be repelled again).  

But it wasn’t the plastic arm men that gave joy, it wasn’t their ongoing battle that filled me with jubilation and peace, it was where I was. And where I was can only be felt in the loving arms of children guided and loved by parents who cared.  We were loved.  Nothing greater a gift can be given to your children, than a consistent kind of love and affection!  I am thankful today for the places, the face, the small joys that I have experienced along the way.  Something as small as green plastic army men on my parents bed still brings me joy.  

May we still find these simplistic moments in our ever complicated lives.  I hope we never lose our child-like innocence and faith.  I’m thankful for still frames, images, moments that still replay in my mind.  These aren’t just memories, they are a part of who I was and who I have become.  Dare I say that we all have these moments of pure joy and peace.  When we felt secure, warm and loved.  It was never about any kind of materialistic gift, but rather, it was about parents who took the time to care and to show it.  

Parents, never forget how it was to be a child.  Never lose sight of the fact that life is still full of mystery and wonder.  Don’t whittle it away with logic and skepticism.  Faith begins in the heart of a child.  Matthew 18:3 says, “And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  We need to return to the mystery of life once more.  

Just a simple thought of thanksgiving today.  

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“My Ten Best Books of 2013” Via: DesparatePastor.blogspot.com

My Ten Best Books of 2013 (#2)

Bob Hostetler is a Writer and Pastor who also blogs at DesparatePastor.blogspot.com

Today’s post is the second in a series in which I ask pastor friends to list the “Ten Best” books they read in 2013 (to date, of course). Feel free to comment about any choices you agree with…or not.

Scott E. Strissel is a pastor and Salvation Army officer currently serving in Brainerd, Minnesota. He blogs at Pastor’s Ponderings. Here is his “ten best” books of 2013:

10. The Poor Will Be Glad 
Peter Greer & Phil Smith

Currently reading.

9. What We Talk About When We Talk About God
Rob Bell

Currently reading.

8. Jimmy Stewart: A Biography 
Marc Eliot

Currently reading.

7. Battlefields & Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from World War II 
Larkin Spivey

This is a good daily devotional reader which shares personal stories from soldiers who endured and survived World War II. This devotional both inspires as well as challenges our faith and also provides evidence of God’s hand of protection and guidance to men and women of faith. 

6. River of Darkness: Francisco Orellana’s Legendary Voyage of Death and Discovery Down the Amazon
Buddy Levy

This is a historical look into the European Explorer Gonzalo Pizarro and his Lieutenant Franciso Orellana who made their way through the Amazon. I love historic non-fiction books and when you throw in the investigative style with the awe of mystery, you’ve got a good read on your hands. 

5) The Way of Holiness 
Steve Deneff 

I received this book last year as a gift and I was blessed to pour through its pages! It speaks to the heart of our need for Christ-likeness in our lives, the process, and spiritual disciplines all the while personalizing it for the reader without making it read like a textbook. It is definitely worthwhile to read! 

4. Odd Apocalypse
Dean Koontz

I will admit some of favorite novels are by authors who not only provide suspense and action but those who write about victory with an underlined spiritual theme. Dean Koontz is one of my all-time favorite fiction writers because of his knack for writing in a way that engages the reader with humor and severely likable characters. 

3. Falling in Love with God
Bob Hostetler

Every time I read the book of Hosea in the Bible, I am challenged by its words. Bob Hostetler presents the love of God for His people and their wandering ways in a very simplistic yet thought provoking manner. Falling in Love with God was a page turner which also challenged my faith. 

2. Lincoln’s Battle with God
Stephen Mansfield 

Lincoln has always been a figure in American history I have always admired. To read Mansfield’s biography on Abraham Lincoln’s light and his spiritual battles was a challenge for me but also very enlightening with much that I did not know about this famous president. 

1. The Pursuit of God
A. W. Tozer

I must admit that this isn’t the first time I have read Tozer’s Pursuit of God, nor will it be my last. It has become a guiltless pleasure to re-read and seems to always find its way back onto my reading pile. Each time I read this book I am captured by God’s desire for us to know Him more deeply and this challenge to be like Christ in both word and deed. It is, without a doubt, my “go-to” book on the topic of spiritual disciplines.

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For Today. (Poem & Prayer)

Lord, today I confess I’m struggling 

my heart not brave enough for the fight 

how can I be your light of encouragement 

when this heaviness weighs groaning on me? 

You know me better than I know myself

all of my heart aches, heart breaks, 

heart’s yearnings and attacks. 

Today, though I don’t feel like it

I will serve You.  

I can’t hide, or fake it…I can’t fool you!

Ignite in me, again your passion

blow into flame this desire

set my hopes and dreams aflame

ignition begins again on my knees

in prayer.  

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Heart of My Heart (A poem for my loving wife)

Her hair of gold
And eyes blue as
tropical seas
She means more to me
than she’ll ever know
Heart of my heart
joy within the happiest day
She is my love and light.

She laughs at me
And all is well
Such a spell I cannot deny
While I, heart brimming
Smile a toothy grin
This is how our world begins.
There captured in a moment
Under the moon’s soft glow.

Some things
Are worth fighting for
Waiting for, living for
Heart of my heart for sure
Of all the joys and folly known
No deeper, no greater
Than your love has shown
My reason, this fool’s purpose
To love you and cherish
These days…
Always
Heart of my heart!

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God, Awaken Me! (Poem & Prayer)

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Captivate my heart, O Lord,

Ransack and decimate my sins

shatter all of my dreams and hopes

if you were not invited too.

Banish my selfish, prideful heart

that wants only to be seen by others

hold hostage in me the un-surrendered

unwavering, unapologetic closets

that I have kept from your light.

Shake me into awakening

make me bleed so I can feel

Your love must hurt me deeply

before I can be restored. 

Melt away my apathy 

I’ve been far too numb to care 

tear down my idol worship 

of things and people and places 

Lord begin this in me today…

Violently awaken me

and allow me to drink from your

still waters and refreshing grace

I’ve been comatose for far too long

like a sleepwalker through life.

Tear away these scales from my eyes

allow me to finally see the world

in your blinding light.  

Shine on me and reveal how I really am.

-Amen. 

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