Relying on the Word of God

Jesus was there at the beginning with God, but humbly accepted his fate to come to Earth to live and die as a man.  He lived his childhood and early adulthood in relative obscurity.  He came to be baptized by John which led to being tempted by Satan for forty days in the wilderness.  Satan tried offering the riches and pleasures of the world to Jesus.  Jesus relied on scripture to rebuke the devil.  Holding fast, Jesus relied on the Word of God.  After defeating temptation, he then taught, performed miracles, inspired and led many people to God.  The established religious order falsely accused, persecuted, then compelled the Romans to sentence Jesus to death.  All of this was for declaring the truth of his divinity.  

We find ourselves today in competition with Judaism, Islam, Scientology, Mormonism, etc.  We even have competing Christian doctrine.  More insidious still is Satan's ideal form of self aggrandizement, the New Age movement. A convenient denial of biblical principles, the New Age (like Satan) is about pride, self empowerment and rejection of moral order.  New Age proponents like to call Christians hypocritical, ignoring the fact that as Christians, we know we are sinners, fallen, fragile and broken.  It is the New Age believers that are hypocritical, imagining themselves as having attained inner truth and enlightenment.

Ephesians 3:20:  "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory"

Embrace the Quiet

I’ve been down that road before so many times

I’m looking for meaning, seeking new Rhymes

I’m absorbed in life’s intricacies, puzzling it out

Attempting to determine what life’s all about.

Creative flow and then periods of drought

Achieving intimacy, and then being locked out

Bathed in information but overcome with doubt

Questioning, probing, but religiously devout

Armed with the knowledge that the word is true

I’m occasionally delightful and I’m often blue

I seek redemption and commune with the saints

I seek flow with words as a painter who paints

In an age where connections are fleeting and few

I reach out to embrace the quiet, my spirit to renew

I seek out the paths our good forefathers trod

I don’t fear the isolation..I’m linked to God

The Islands Will Be There.

I must find a way to stop being down.

I may not be perfect, but who is?

My work is to illuminate life itself.

Had I not been a person on this planet

I wonder if the planet would be different?

I am a joyous father of three.

My life mate is a soulful woman of strength.

There is an element of her in my work.

A modern life is one of distraction.

Simple and complex things absorb me.

Spin around.. and become happy or confused?

My umbrella keeps me dry!

but I sometimes leave it.. somewhere..and then I need it.

I wake to the rain. It gets me wet, but it cleanses me.

It takes a pool of water to allow immersion.

Earth needs to feel my feet walking on it.

Earth has the wind to keep it cool,

the fire to keep it warm. 

Water to cleanse.

I am the earth. I am rained upon. 

I have living water inside me.

I am scorched by the flames, but I always recover.

In the cycles of life, I return to flourish.

The water of life is salvation for earth.

Fire is the transformer 

and sometimes the masked destroyer.

Fire needs air to sustain it.

Earth itself is unaffected by fire.

Stone is unaffected.

Living things like trees and animals fear the flames

but within their structure, they have ever-renewing life.

Some people are elements other than earth.  Some are air.

They rise above the world to give us perspective.

Soar above. Be lifted up.

Rise and float. I was made to be nourished by water,

but I want to have flight, have color,

and have an opportunity to be free from the roots.

Away on a dream. 

Resigned to be asleep 
I know that I am prone, motionless.
Away on a mysterious journey. 

The world spins curiously.

I am going to be revealed as someone 
with some feelings in my soul.

I dream of this ability. I seek the moments…

I relish privileged moments of reaching some conclusion.

I am lifted upon a Gaelic tune.

Staring out at Arthur’s castle

I look upon the green meadows and the green sea.

The sunlight is hidden in thick clouds.

The earth’s well is filling with water 

from an underground reservoir.

I am lifted to new levels.

I am strengthened by the living water.

We have waited too long 

for someone to bring us the goods.

The best thing is to fill the boat, set the mainsail

then the islands will be there!

Waiting is not good. 

The wind rises while we prepare.

The wind dies when we are fully prepared

Get out of the shell of possessions.

Out there…out of the shadow of the things…

is a beautiful breeze propelling us over the earth.

Let’s just escape! Get into a boat and float away.

The Bonding Force of Love

•The bonding force of love has strengthened.

Cherished are the moments spent by a loved one’s side.

Varied and many are the things in which we can confide.

Precious and vital moments have been spent at your side.

Little to none are the things we are able (or want) to hide.

We think of the same things simultaneously.

We finish each other’s thoughts.

We are meant for each other.

God made us one.

With each other.

With him.

Us.

An Epiphany

in the Old Testament God laid down the law to his people

In the New, God is the savior laying down his life willingly

In the early days, God was directly providing for the chosen people,

Now God asks that we accept his grace, have faith and feed his sheep

The Lord promised the Jews a Messiah to save mankind.

In our time God promises to return to Earth in glory.

In the old bible times, God tested Abraham’s resolve

In New Testament times, God sacrificed his son for all posterity.

God is the creation.  He is the provider.  He is worthy of all praise.

God is patient and kind.  He truly grieves for his children.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd that wants each and every sheep safe.

The holy spirit remained behind to provide us with inner strength.

God is in his Heaven.  Jesus returned to Paradise in Glory, defeating death.

The prophets, the disciples, the ancient kings, and the legacy of religion...

Each of these human vessels have contributed to the kingdom by their works.

God inspired them but God is  much larger than all of his creation.

He is worthy of our praise.  He is trustworthy and true.  He reigns.  

All heaven and earth will open the gates and bow down to him.

Triumphant, but not conceited.  Able to create and destroy, but not vindictive.

Sits in judgment of us all, but is capable of forgiving sinners who repent.

Tarnished Crown

You know God created and then came to his earth.

He entered the world as a man in a miraculous birth!

His name is Jesus and He came down to save us.

We saw the truth for a time then deception enslaved us.

When facing God Almighty the devil bows down.

His kingdom is a lie.  He hides his tarnished crown.

Pretending to be dangerous, but he knows who’s boss.

He is laid low. In his heart he knows he’s already lost.

Florida is in the Big Time!

We’re in the Big Time

I’m convinced that Florida is overtaking California as a bellwether state.  The international commerce, the emergence of South Beach and the continued economic expansion of the theme parks, resort areas, etc. are becoming more popular than the older, more polluted and congested state of affairs in California.  Florida has nature in abundance, thriving metropolises in Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando and South Florida.  We even have a Redneck Riviera on the gulf coast.  International travel to Europe and South America is more convenient.  Florida is a peninsula and tropical in climate.  Our artists, authors and entertainers have national acclaim.  Personalities are purchasing homes in cosmopolitan Palm Beach and Miami.  The super rich are attracted to the cultural and social aspects of South Florida and are undeterred by the traffic and congestion.  

New York and Los Angeles are dominant in the entertainment industry and publishing industry but they became that over a period of several decades and out of a lack of a new central location.  Florida may well be the destination to converge those industries and high tech industries.  Deteriorating infrastructure in the old areas and emerging infrastructure (and technological advances in communications) have tended to outweigh the necessity of living in the old centers.

It is true that the entertainment gurus in Orlando have literally manufactured a culture.  Where Hollywood is and will be a mecca for music, film and mayhem, Orlando is so new.  It was born in 1972 when Disney came.  Before the entertainment giant came to town, the city was a depot for citrus and a third rate financial (insurance) center.  With some notable exceptions, none of which come to mind, but I’m trying to be nice, Orlando was a major bore.  That’s not necessarily bad.  It’s just that Orlando’s prominence as a major U.S. city, it’s high-profile airport and convention center, and especially it’s international draw, the theme parks, is a phenomenon that is only 25 years old.  It’s about the same as the comparison of the colonies vs. the great European powers.

This upstart city has a personality that is developing, but it’s so immature, that it just allows the corporations to dominate it.  Universal wants to build more, Disney wants to build more.  Sea World wants to build more.  The only thing the City asks is for the developments to pay for the impact by contributing to the road and sewer systems needed to support their massive projects.  Population booms.  The entire area is always in a transformation.  The projects promote the growth of residential and retail to support the employee’s lifestyle.  The entertainment is formed from mimicking national trends and trying it on for size here.  Tourists, of course, are from other areas and support the local area and are entertained, amused and then leave to be replaced by another tourist who has a similar experience.

  

What can be said of the local resident?  The locals have the opportunity to enjoy a world-class entertainment/amusement mecca.  The overexposure to the theme parks promotes apathy and some condescension.  In spite of that, the local residents benefit from the revenue generated in the form of resort tax.  The residents put up with the traffic and the construction and the hassle and enjoy new schools, new arenas, new libraries, etc.  There is a definite parallel to Las Vegas.  Las Vegas exists for one reason.  It was formed from the desert in support of gambling.  It still is forming like some demented bacteria.  I suppose Las Vegas is one of the few cities Orlando can look down upon.  Orlando is younger but it is more wholesome.  After all, Orlando is the support team of the family entertainment giants.  Vegas is the vassal of evil and greed.

A comical view is that Miami looks down upon Orlando.  Orlando owes it’s success to a geographical advantage.  Miami was a popular destination up through the sixties, when the bubble burst and the tackiness was laughably obvious.  Orlando simply had the good fortune to be an inexpensive, but centrally located city in waiting.  Disney would have met resistance in Miami.  

Metropolitan areas such as Tampa and Jacksonville were too established by the early seventies.  Disney needed a place it could conform to it’s image.  Although it could have been Gainesville, Orlando was the lucky suitor.  It’s still the bride of corporate entertainment and it is a prominent socialite now.  One of the Nouveau Riche, but still a force in society circles.    The notion that the world can be entertained by a corporate world is in itself a little intimidating.  Corporations feed on capital.  They extract capital from consumers.  The best corporate scenario is to be fed systematically.  The consumer market as a whole is under a mass hypnosis.  The corporate giants convince us that their park is the “best place on earth” and that their entertainment reflects society.  The corporate world is unable to compete with nature which truly is the “best place on earth”.

A Letter to the Lord

Letter to the Lord

Dear Lord:

How many times have I found myself thinking of you and your kingdom?

How many of those times have I realized that you abide in me?

In every single instance, I have wanted to express my love for you.

How can one be so consumed with these thoughts and feelings?

Indeed, how can a love so strong be maintained in a busy world?

Are there not a myriad of distractions and important goings on?

What is truly trivial and what is deeply and personally vital?

The motions, the strivings and the nest feathering are never done.

The thing that is able to last forever is spiritual and ephemeral.

It is quite possible to add to, to bolster, to reformulate a feeling.

So feelings, thoughts and emotions are superior to tangible things.

The things of earth are only devices to allow moments of epiphany.

King Solomon obtained all the world could possibly offer.

He had wealth, power, position, possessions and great wisdom.

Why did he question all of those things, including wisdom, in his old age?

Solomon surmised that all is meaningless without your spiritual presence.

All was available to the great king.  All he could imagine could be his.

Instead of enjoying the enviable position he had, there was great sorrow.

He was not able to pass on the wisdom he ultimately gained to his heirs.

They did not hear him.  The things of the world drowned out his voice.

No Easy Remedy

No Easy Remedy

You capture some hostages and expect us to jump

You think we’re always at fault and you call us chump

You dislike us for our prosperity... our Coca-Cola

You best be reminded of what occurred in Angola.

Terrorism is too easy in that it lures the weak,

promising a quick solution to all that you seek.

You lock up a victim of your misdirected rage

You terrorize their families and lengthen your cage.

We’re all living in an era needing quick remedies

The answer is not to demand, but listen to the pleas

Of a world full of problems, a world full of sickness  

A world that insists on the remedy’s quickness.

Love's Shining Light

Love’s Shining Light

In passing a long and arduous day

I find solace in my true affection

of someone who banishes the gloom and gray

Among my confusion, I have direction.

The one vital source that contains my relief

Brightens my day and confirms my belief

I eagerly await the time of our meeting

Whether for a day or a moment fleeting.

A bright future awaits us the rest of our days

But for now, my love, we count the hours

Till we embrace together, and I’ll bask in the rays

Of your bright, illuminating, healing power.

And as we share our time with each other

We trade our lives, one for the other

I’ll be yours, if you’ll be mine

Today and forever, be my valentine.

In the Shade of Aspens

I am sitting in the shade of Aspens, looking out over Colob Canyon Reservoir. It seems as good a time as any to record into a diary. Southern Utah has a beautifully varied terrain with foothills, mountains, sheer cliffs, tree cover and crystal clear water. The beauty is in the tranquility. Despite the rugged terrain, the feeling it exudes is majesty. A mild but cooling breeze sweeps over the expanse of the lake's surface. Small waves generated by the wind sparkle on the surface and telegraph the angle of the wind. It is as if God realized the need to direct this scene for me. He expects me to care for it while he is busy doing something else. When something of this quality is loaned to me, I feel gratitude and a feeling of being loved and respected. Yes, on occasion, God takes a special interest in a particular physical place and breathes life into it. In our lives, I imagine there are mighty demonstrations God will orchestrate to uplift us and to make Satan despair. Nature attempts to teach us spiritual lessons. Things are cyclical. The cycles can be over ages, over lifetimes, over decades, or over mere minutes and seconds. Things are predictable in some instances and quite unpredictable in others. God's creatures and plants attempt to survive and adapt but ultimately the larger powers of the universe they inhabit controls all. We can predict tides, hydrology and use meteorology to measure weather but we are unequipped to alter what we survey. One cannot witness the majesty of God's creation and not be humbled.

My Brain

My Brain

My car just burned up.  The stupid car.  I turn on the heater, the car stalls and stops.  I walk to school, get a ride back and the entire car is engulfed in flames.   The fire department asks me what happened.  I turned on the heater!  Ha Ha.  The car is on fire!  The dashboard is melting.  The windshield is bashed in.  The Fire Dept. did that.  Probably thought someone could have been inside.   I could not help but imagine this was a staged scene for a gang warfare movie.  It wasn’t.  It’s just my luck.  It’s no big deal though.  Inconvenient, but no big deal.    

My school days are just about to reach an end.  I have an education in filmmaking.  A lot of good that will do.  I have decided that I don’t want to enter the film job market as a laborer.  No, I want to earn my fortune and produce a film.  How long would it take to earn my fortune?  What would I do to earn this mythical fortune?  How could I pay for groceries for this week? These and other questions zip through my brain as I stand there watching my car scorch the roadside grass.

My brain.  I have to rely upon this machine to guide me in the right direction, or several directions at once.  I need to devote time to earning the money and still keep the dream alive of investing the money into a project that I love.  What’s the use of earning it and living a life devoid of  art? My brain drives me to earn so I can spend it on the art.  But the art requires the earning, or more specifically, the freedom and opportunity to spend the money on my passion.

Waste, waste, waste.  So much time, money and opportunity is wasted while the earning is taking place.  But isn’t the art also a waste?  Doesn’t the idea of art mean that waste is relative?  Art is wasted on the vast majority of people.  Ignoring art is common.  Blurring the distinction between art and commerce is even more common.

I have a small umbrella that keeps me dry, but I keep leaving it somewhere.  The umbrella is my protection against the storm but it is not sufficiently large.  If I were alone and in a new place, would I be dedicated to the writing or would I let the past distractions follow me like some malevolent genie?  

What can give the hope that I can succeed and not return to my workplace with the stark realization that I am supremely untalented? It is tempting to let little pieces show through the drapes rather than reveal the entire nude statue.

Hope springs eternal!  Other self absorbed would-be writers are similarly stuck in the quicksand.  Think of all the angst and the remorse.  These are the people that populate the movie theaters and the bookstores.  The term “frustrated “ suggests that an attempt was made in the midst of obstacles.  Were they attempts or rehearsals for an attempt?

This will work because it is marketable.  That won’t work, but it’s of high quality.   Keep seeking the compromise.  It’s there somewhere, but hurry before the demographics change.  Rush into something you really feel passionate about and let the passion carry you.  Is the storm too much?  Does the passion at least provide a canopy under which you can duck for a time to gather yourself?