Saturday, July 16, 2011
Volunteerism
Today I was a volunteer at the Morrison YMCA Triatholon event that ran in South Charlotte around the Y and surrounding community! There were several hundred participants and a host of volunteers to help run things. I don't write this to toot my own horn so that you'll look at me! But I do write this to encourage those who follow Christ to get out in the community and serve! It was a pleasure to serve today and to help point runners in the right direction and then to help take down and clean up! There's something about rubbing shoulders with total strangers and working together on a unified event that stirs you to care for others and to make things better. Now this was just a race event but being able to encourage runners and support the Y was very rewarding and hopefully inspiring to others! It reminds you why we live in this community and why we should serve others. I did it because I love Christ and love others and so I feel compelled to volunteer! I think it's what Christ would do if he were here! It also reminds me that there's more to life than just hanging out with the same folks that I'm most comfortable with! That's easy to do and it's what I'm most likely to do! But I'm so glad I spent my Saturday morning doing whatever was needed to make a great event happen for the community! For those of us who love Christ, let's look for opportunities to get out of our comfort zones and serve our community and serve others! Let's do what Christ would do! Let's put our faith to work!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
The Highs and Lows of Ministry
This past week, I rode a roller coaster of emotions as I was involved in several personal encounters with very good friends that typifies the highs and lows of ministry! On one hand, I visited a former student of my youth ministry days who is battling a brain tumor now for almost four years. His wife and parents moved him here to their home so that he could finish out his days among family and friends. I was able to spend two great hours with them and recall fond memories of youth ministry days! My heart aches for them as they walk this path. You aren't supposed to outlive your students! But it was so refreshing to see their spirit and courage of faith and hope in the midst of suffering!
The day before this visit, another former student who attends our church gave birth to her second child! There's always such great joy at the birth of a baby! It's fun to watch former students experience life in this way!
Then, finally, on Saturday of this week, I was invited to baptize an entire family of very good friends in the backyard pool of their parents. There were some twenty plus family members and friends there to witness the baptism and testimony of this family! They wanted everyone to know of their faith in Christ and their desire to live for Him! What a thrill to be able to participate with them in this blessed day!
As I reflected on this past week and the highs and lows of the events I was fortunate enough to share in, I thought of how life is surely a journey of trust and faith in the midst of joy and pain! But through it all, the same God is present in every situation with each person, no matter where the journey leads them. I'm grateful to be a pastor and to be able to share in these moments with friends, as hard as they may be sometimes. Thankfully, He is there every step of the way!
The day before this visit, another former student who attends our church gave birth to her second child! There's always such great joy at the birth of a baby! It's fun to watch former students experience life in this way!
Then, finally, on Saturday of this week, I was invited to baptize an entire family of very good friends in the backyard pool of their parents. There were some twenty plus family members and friends there to witness the baptism and testimony of this family! They wanted everyone to know of their faith in Christ and their desire to live for Him! What a thrill to be able to participate with them in this blessed day!
As I reflected on this past week and the highs and lows of the events I was fortunate enough to share in, I thought of how life is surely a journey of trust and faith in the midst of joy and pain! But through it all, the same God is present in every situation with each person, no matter where the journey leads them. I'm grateful to be a pastor and to be able to share in these moments with friends, as hard as they may be sometimes. Thankfully, He is there every step of the way!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
NT Wrigth's Repsonse to Hawking on Heaven
Stephen Hawking, the great physicist of England, says that "Heaven is a fairy story". And NT Wright, the renown Theologian, also of England, responds to Hawking's view. I have his response here!
What Stephen Hawking doesn’t understand about heaven
It’s depressing to see Stephen Hawking, one of the most brilliant minds in his field, trying to speak as an expert on things he sadly seems to know rather less about than many averagely intelligent Christians. Of course there are people who think of ‘heaven’ as a kind of pie-in-the-sky dream of an afterlife to make the thought of dying less awful. No doubt that’s a problem as old as the human race. But in the Bible ‘heaven’ isn’t ‘the place where people go when they die.’ In the Bible heaven is God’s space while earth (or, if you like, ‘the cosmos’ or ‘creation’) is our space. And the Bible makes it clear that the two overlap and interlock. For the ancient Jews, the place where this happened was the temple; for the Christians, the place where this happened was Jesus himself, and then, astonishingly, the persons of Christians because they, too, were ‘temples’ of God’s own spirit.
Hawking is working with a very low-grade and sub-biblical view of ‘going to heaven.’ Of course, if faced with the fully Christian two-stage view of what happens after death -- first, a time ‘with Christ’ in ‘heaven’ or ‘paradise,’and then, when God renews the whole creation, bodily resurrection -- he would no doubt dismiss that as incredible. But I wonder if he has ever even stopped to look properly, with his high-octane intellect, at the evidence for Jesus and the resurrection? I doubt it -- most people in England haven’t. Until he has, his opinion about all this is worth about the same as mine on nuclear physics, i.e. not much.
As for the creation being self-caused: I wonder if he realises that he is simply repeating a version of ancient Epicureanism? i.e. the gods are out of the picture, a long way away, so the world/human life/etc has to get on under its own steam. This is hardly a ‘conclusion’ from his study of the evidence; it’s simply a well known worldview shared by most post-Enlightenment westerners. It is the worldview which enables secular democracy to consider itself an absolute, despite its numerous and rather obvious failings right now. The depressing thing is that Hawking doesn’t seem to realize this and so hasn’t even stopped to think that there might be quite sophisticated critiques of Epicureanism, ancient and modern, which he should work through. Not least the Christian one, which again focusses on Jesus.
Of course, the old set-up of the ‘science and religion’ debate was itself deeply influenced by this same worldview, and needs realigning. In fact, the ancient Christians would have been shocked to see their worldview labelled as a ‘religion.’ It was a philosophy, a politics, a culture, a vocation... the category of ‘religion’ is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
N.T. Wright | May 16, 2011 4:15 PM
What Stephen Hawking doesn’t understand about heaven
It’s depressing to see Stephen Hawking, one of the most brilliant minds in his field, trying to speak as an expert on things he sadly seems to know rather less about than many averagely intelligent Christians. Of course there are people who think of ‘heaven’ as a kind of pie-in-the-sky dream of an afterlife to make the thought of dying less awful. No doubt that’s a problem as old as the human race. But in the Bible ‘heaven’ isn’t ‘the place where people go when they die.’ In the Bible heaven is God’s space while earth (or, if you like, ‘the cosmos’ or ‘creation’) is our space. And the Bible makes it clear that the two overlap and interlock. For the ancient Jews, the place where this happened was the temple; for the Christians, the place where this happened was Jesus himself, and then, astonishingly, the persons of Christians because they, too, were ‘temples’ of God’s own spirit.
Hawking is working with a very low-grade and sub-biblical view of ‘going to heaven.’ Of course, if faced with the fully Christian two-stage view of what happens after death -- first, a time ‘with Christ’ in ‘heaven’ or ‘paradise,’and then, when God renews the whole creation, bodily resurrection -- he would no doubt dismiss that as incredible. But I wonder if he has ever even stopped to look properly, with his high-octane intellect, at the evidence for Jesus and the resurrection? I doubt it -- most people in England haven’t. Until he has, his opinion about all this is worth about the same as mine on nuclear physics, i.e. not much.
As for the creation being self-caused: I wonder if he realises that he is simply repeating a version of ancient Epicureanism? i.e. the gods are out of the picture, a long way away, so the world/human life/etc has to get on under its own steam. This is hardly a ‘conclusion’ from his study of the evidence; it’s simply a well known worldview shared by most post-Enlightenment westerners. It is the worldview which enables secular democracy to consider itself an absolute, despite its numerous and rather obvious failings right now. The depressing thing is that Hawking doesn’t seem to realize this and so hasn’t even stopped to think that there might be quite sophisticated critiques of Epicureanism, ancient and modern, which he should work through. Not least the Christian one, which again focusses on Jesus.
Of course, the old set-up of the ‘science and religion’ debate was itself deeply influenced by this same worldview, and needs realigning. In fact, the ancient Christians would have been shocked to see their worldview labelled as a ‘religion.’ It was a philosophy, a politics, a culture, a vocation... the category of ‘religion’ is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
N.T. Wright | May 16, 2011 4:15 PM
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Thoughts on Pursuing God!
How much do I want the Spirit of God to work in my life? Well, to answer that question I must compare that thought to other things I want. There are many things that I want and usually if I want them, I will go to great lengths to get them. It's the way I am, probably the way most people are. Depending on our motivation and the desire that fuels it, and maybe because of need if I want to really rationalize it, I will go to absurd lengths to get whatever it is I'm after. It could be clothes, a gadget, a car, food, just about anything. Recently I helped find my son a car. His car was totaled in a wreck by someone who ran into him, so he needed a car. We needed him to have a car. So, out of necessity I drove all over Charlotte and surrounding towns in an effort to find the right car that was safe, reliable and affordable. I'm talking about hours spent on the internet, driving, and sitting in garages having cars checked out! Now, I do believe it was out of due diligence that I did those things. But I wondered after that experience if I really pursue God with that same all out abandon, where nothing is going to stop me from getting what I want! Sadly, I don't think I do very often, at least not enough! Yes, we need cars and other things we rely on to get us through the daily grind of life. And there's nothing wrong with taking time and effort for things that are a necessity. But it really made me think about how easily I can go after things I want, and yet, the one thing or Person I need more than anything else, I sometimes hardly pursue. Don't I need God more? Doesn't He deserve my all out pursuit of Him more than the things of life I pursue? Part of following after Christ is learning what's important. This day and the days that follow, I commit to not only desiring more of God, but also of pursuing God more than the things of this life! May we all do the same! www.crosspoint521.org
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
A Glimpse of the Woman I Love!
My wife writes a blog and she is writing about the people who have meant the most to her. This will give you insight into the great woman she is! Read below and check out her blog here: http://musingsofapastorswife.blogspot.com/2011/01/2011-cheer-year-letter-4.html Enjoy! Jimmy
2011 Cheer Year - Letter 4
This blog entry will never get read by the person who has greatly impacted my life (probably the one single person who has impacted my life the most). So a handwritten note will be sent to my mother, Barb Shrider, with the following thank you. Please know that everything we do regarding my mother, we always consider it the “last” time to be able to do it. We are having a “long” goodbye with her. She was diagnosed over a year ago with Multiple Myeloma cancer, this on top of the stroke that she had suffered several months before. She lives in the later stages of her life with my sister, Penny who considers it a privilege to have mom in her home to give her the dignity that she deserves. I am so grateful to my sister for doing this; but that’s a letter on a different day. She now is under hospice care, still living with my sister, and is presently stable but weak.
Dear Mommy Dearest (it’s a term of endearment and not in the Betty Davis sense!)
Your silly daughter has decided that 2011 is the Year of Cheer, so I’m looking back and thanking someone each day that has greatly impacted my life. This is your day and I want to thank you for being my mommy! It’s so funny to me how two people could be so different but yet their hearts be knitted together! I think it’s because there is so much mutual respect for each other’s differences! Thank you for teaching me so much. It’s not that you sat down and gave me lessons; it was more me watching you live life! I watched you go to work each day and provide extra money so we could enjoy a new dress or shoes without Dad knowing! I watched you give away your money to coworkers who couldn’t afford medicine. I watched you enjoy your home, friendships and neighbors when you moved out on your own. I watched you get involved in hobbies like painting, photography and dancing. I watched you take care of my grandmother when I was so young and she was dying of cancer and then your own husband when he was dying. You are a great caretaker and a person of sacrifice. Thank you that you never wallowed around in your dysfunctional upbringing but decided early on that your life would be different for yourself and your children when you left home. You always said the most important thing is what your children say about you when you aren’t in the room. Besides thinking you are a little crazy at times, you are truly held in the highest of esteem! A short letter cannot contain all the emotion I have for you but I’ll just simply say, thank you!
Lovingly, your daughter,
Patty
2011 Cheer Year - Letter 4
This blog entry will never get read by the person who has greatly impacted my life (probably the one single person who has impacted my life the most). So a handwritten note will be sent to my mother, Barb Shrider, with the following thank you. Please know that everything we do regarding my mother, we always consider it the “last” time to be able to do it. We are having a “long” goodbye with her. She was diagnosed over a year ago with Multiple Myeloma cancer, this on top of the stroke that she had suffered several months before. She lives in the later stages of her life with my sister, Penny who considers it a privilege to have mom in her home to give her the dignity that she deserves. I am so grateful to my sister for doing this; but that’s a letter on a different day. She now is under hospice care, still living with my sister, and is presently stable but weak.
Dear Mommy Dearest (it’s a term of endearment and not in the Betty Davis sense!)
Your silly daughter has decided that 2011 is the Year of Cheer, so I’m looking back and thanking someone each day that has greatly impacted my life. This is your day and I want to thank you for being my mommy! It’s so funny to me how two people could be so different but yet their hearts be knitted together! I think it’s because there is so much mutual respect for each other’s differences! Thank you for teaching me so much. It’s not that you sat down and gave me lessons; it was more me watching you live life! I watched you go to work each day and provide extra money so we could enjoy a new dress or shoes without Dad knowing! I watched you give away your money to coworkers who couldn’t afford medicine. I watched you enjoy your home, friendships and neighbors when you moved out on your own. I watched you get involved in hobbies like painting, photography and dancing. I watched you take care of my grandmother when I was so young and she was dying of cancer and then your own husband when he was dying. You are a great caretaker and a person of sacrifice. Thank you that you never wallowed around in your dysfunctional upbringing but decided early on that your life would be different for yourself and your children when you left home. You always said the most important thing is what your children say about you when you aren’t in the room. Besides thinking you are a little crazy at times, you are truly held in the highest of esteem! A short letter cannot contain all the emotion I have for you but I’ll just simply say, thank you!
Lovingly, your daughter,
Patty
Thursday, December 23, 2010
God and Everyday, Ordinary People
Part of the miracle of Christmas is that God chose to use the everyday, ordinary experiences of everyday, ordinary people to accomplish his will.
Yes, the central message of Christmas is that Jesus came into the world as Immanuel, God with us, but he came through a young girl named Mary.
Now that is really uncommon and such a mystery. Think about it. Mary was probably around 14 years of age and Joseph was more than likely between 18 to 20 years old, according to Jewish culture. And then to top it all off, Mary, though most likely unsure of what the future would hold as the events of her life changed overnight, said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” Luke 1: 38 (NIV)
Wow! What faith and what courage! You know God could have come up with some other way to accomplish his will. You and I would have certainly thought of another way. It could have involved angels coming to earth to be spiritual police or maybe we'd create some sort of cataclysmic event, but he didn’t do that. He became one of us via the womb of a virgin and grew up in a Jewish home under the care of everyday, ordinary parents who happened to love God and followed him.
The intriguing thing throughout the Bible is that God has always taken the initiative to act on behalf of humanity and he has always used men and women whom he has chosen to carry out his plan and purposes.
All of these people were not chosen because of their intellect or abilities or reputation or any other human quality. They were chosen because of God’s unmerited favor and grace. And he believed they could and would be able, with his help, to do what he asked of them, including Mary and Joseph.
Do you know God wants the same for us? He wants to work through you and me to accomplish the unbelievable. He wants us to trust him and believe that he can use our everyday, ordinary lives to accomplish his will.
All we have to do is say what Mary said some 2,000 years ago: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”
Merry Christmas!
Yes, the central message of Christmas is that Jesus came into the world as Immanuel, God with us, but he came through a young girl named Mary.
Now that is really uncommon and such a mystery. Think about it. Mary was probably around 14 years of age and Joseph was more than likely between 18 to 20 years old, according to Jewish culture. And then to top it all off, Mary, though most likely unsure of what the future would hold as the events of her life changed overnight, said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” Luke 1: 38 (NIV)
Wow! What faith and what courage! You know God could have come up with some other way to accomplish his will. You and I would have certainly thought of another way. It could have involved angels coming to earth to be spiritual police or maybe we'd create some sort of cataclysmic event, but he didn’t do that. He became one of us via the womb of a virgin and grew up in a Jewish home under the care of everyday, ordinary parents who happened to love God and followed him.
The intriguing thing throughout the Bible is that God has always taken the initiative to act on behalf of humanity and he has always used men and women whom he has chosen to carry out his plan and purposes.
All of these people were not chosen because of their intellect or abilities or reputation or any other human quality. They were chosen because of God’s unmerited favor and grace. And he believed they could and would be able, with his help, to do what he asked of them, including Mary and Joseph.
Do you know God wants the same for us? He wants to work through you and me to accomplish the unbelievable. He wants us to trust him and believe that he can use our everyday, ordinary lives to accomplish his will.
All we have to do is say what Mary said some 2,000 years ago: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”
Merry Christmas!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Is it All Real?
Lanny Donoho, who heads up BigStuf Camps and the 410bridge posted this on his blog today. I must repeat it here! It really sums up what we all feel about life and death and God and existence. Please read! It's worth the time.
Is it all real? “an excerpt”
Posted by: Lanny Donoho on December 9, 2010 at 1:06 am
we dont connect unless we are forced to.
we have to feel the need.
drowning, you reach for the air hose
falling, you reach for the rope
lonely, you reach for people
down, you connect to music..
hopeless, you just wish for hope..
and you hope there is a God.
can we connect with who or what God is????
do we believe or not?
dad gets cancer.
mom dies…
bobby is in a wheelchair
unplanned pregnancy…despair…
friends die and get sick
people make fun of me and i feel like crap
hell doesnt seem right or fair
god loves us…but a billion people dont have water?
tsunamis kill thousands…and where again was god?
jesus loved us but he’s dead now and…maybe… some people saw him alive after he was crucified or maybe they didn’t.
history books are really too sketchy to know for sure. nobody even wrote about it for at least 40 years after he died.
the old testament is bizarre…leviticus…ha! that’s just weird.
the new testament books share similar stories but different timelines, and have different details in different books that don’t match up
biblical scholars dont agree with scientists even on the age of the earth
what the hell? what’s real? what isn’t?
why do we say “what the hell?” if we aren’t even sure it exists?
But…when I stop to really think about all this….if god doesn’t exist….then how does anything else exist?
if there was once nothing …can something come from nothing?
why is god any harder to believe in than “something coming from nothing”?
If it all started with nothing…from our perspective “something” had to be there…because we just said “IT” all started from nothing.
“nothing” isn’t fathomable.
so why would it be hard to believe in “god” existing if you can believe in “nothing” …and then everything coming from “that”
so think about this:
the symmetry of the universe.
the balance of nature
the rhythm of the seasons
the regularity of the electrons around atoms
water
air
what it feels like to BREATHE that air
and drink that water…
the fact that you can have feelings about breathing.
the ability to think…
the ability to say that something or someone is beautiful…
and then
that a smell can trigger a memory of a time with someone you love.
that a sound through a phone is simply vibration of particles in the air, and that sound is a voice on the other side of the world, and the first vibration of that sound, and the recognition of your daughters voice can cause your heart to stir… and whatever might be described as a soul, swells up inside you and you smile and your heart beats faster ….because of a vibration of atoms?
that a touch on the lips by another being could stir every fibre in your being
that the incredible pain of childbirth can be forgotten completely when a mothers eyes get the first glimpse of her baby boy
that we could actually feel so deeply the pain of the death and loss of someone we care so much about
that we can actually care and love…and there is no way to adequately explain what caring and loving really are
that we absorb light through cones and rods to the point that the hues and colors and vibrations of those light waves allow us to label unexplainable art as sunrise and stars and ocean waves and mountain ranges…
and so many illustrations of beautiful art can move us to tears
that the vibration of strings and wind through instruments cause music to happen and that very music causes us to sing, and dance and love and celebrate and weep…
how can any of this be explained by only matter and heat and movement….a cosmic happenstance of sorts?
we create love and art and music and poetry and beauty… or should i say we re create it… and with all of the reason we can muster, the only way that any of that is possible is if it were created for those purposes …for our pleasure …for our ability to feel so we can know that beyond our grasp of knowledge there is something more mysterious… way beyond knowledge…
something that makes us who we are and how we are
we cannot see it we cannot explain it but IT IS there. we KNOW it….in the middle of all the doubts we just know
because we have touched something that contains no matter…
with a part of our soul that has no substance.
we dance to a tune that no man has written
we see art that cannot be painted or drawn
we love an individual who is not defined by anything in our 4 dimensions
we know what we cannot know because we are what we cannot define.
so how could we even say what love is if it may come from a creator who exists outside of all we can comprehend?
love and everything about it seems to be why most of us have any desire to even exist…
and so IT MUST exist…and if so where would it come from except from a thinking creator who…
cannot be defined, understood, described, or really even imagined…
so whoever jesus was ..his words seem to echo all of what we have just said…
trust in what you do not understand ….live in that trust…take the little pieces that you can comprehend and connect with those pieces.
then look around…
the people who live as though all of this were true seem to experience life in a more satisfying way than those who do not.
and for some reason everyone’s goal (other than to be loved) is to be satisfied.
and the mere thought that that is what everyone desires signifies that there must be a desire-maker and therefore maybe…
a desire-fulfiller.
One last thought…
all of the universe has movement…without movement there is no time and no space…
Since the beginning, our planet, our solar system, our galaxy, our cluster, all galaxies, are not only spinning…they are all moving.
Towards what?
Away from what?
In space if there were nothing visible around you, you could be moving at a million miles an hour and not even know you were moving. So everything moves, but movement only exists if it is relative to something else. If we know our solar systems and galaxies and clusters all move because we see them in relationship to other galaxies, we deduce that the whole universe is moving. So again, the question is posed…what are we moving towards or away from….???
Well… it must be something outside of our universe…because our word universe incorporates everything we can possibly imagine…which brings us back to the fact that something we cannot imagine or begin to comprehend exists… beyond even what our understanding of the word “exists” means.
Maybe it is the same incomprehensible “what if” that created the unfathomable, non-definable experiences of love and wonder and passion.
Is it all real? “an excerpt”
Posted by: Lanny Donoho on December 9, 2010 at 1:06 am
we dont connect unless we are forced to.
we have to feel the need.
drowning, you reach for the air hose
falling, you reach for the rope
lonely, you reach for people
down, you connect to music..
hopeless, you just wish for hope..
and you hope there is a God.
can we connect with who or what God is????
do we believe or not?
dad gets cancer.
mom dies…
bobby is in a wheelchair
unplanned pregnancy…despair…
friends die and get sick
people make fun of me and i feel like crap
hell doesnt seem right or fair
god loves us…but a billion people dont have water?
tsunamis kill thousands…and where again was god?
jesus loved us but he’s dead now and…maybe… some people saw him alive after he was crucified or maybe they didn’t.
history books are really too sketchy to know for sure. nobody even wrote about it for at least 40 years after he died.
the old testament is bizarre…leviticus…ha! that’s just weird.
the new testament books share similar stories but different timelines, and have different details in different books that don’t match up
biblical scholars dont agree with scientists even on the age of the earth
what the hell? what’s real? what isn’t?
why do we say “what the hell?” if we aren’t even sure it exists?
But…when I stop to really think about all this….if god doesn’t exist….then how does anything else exist?
if there was once nothing …can something come from nothing?
why is god any harder to believe in than “something coming from nothing”?
If it all started with nothing…from our perspective “something” had to be there…because we just said “IT” all started from nothing.
“nothing” isn’t fathomable.
so why would it be hard to believe in “god” existing if you can believe in “nothing” …and then everything coming from “that”
so think about this:
the symmetry of the universe.
the balance of nature
the rhythm of the seasons
the regularity of the electrons around atoms
water
air
what it feels like to BREATHE that air
and drink that water…
the fact that you can have feelings about breathing.
the ability to think…
the ability to say that something or someone is beautiful…
and then
that a smell can trigger a memory of a time with someone you love.
that a sound through a phone is simply vibration of particles in the air, and that sound is a voice on the other side of the world, and the first vibration of that sound, and the recognition of your daughters voice can cause your heart to stir… and whatever might be described as a soul, swells up inside you and you smile and your heart beats faster ….because of a vibration of atoms?
that a touch on the lips by another being could stir every fibre in your being
that the incredible pain of childbirth can be forgotten completely when a mothers eyes get the first glimpse of her baby boy
that we could actually feel so deeply the pain of the death and loss of someone we care so much about
that we can actually care and love…and there is no way to adequately explain what caring and loving really are
that we absorb light through cones and rods to the point that the hues and colors and vibrations of those light waves allow us to label unexplainable art as sunrise and stars and ocean waves and mountain ranges…
and so many illustrations of beautiful art can move us to tears
that the vibration of strings and wind through instruments cause music to happen and that very music causes us to sing, and dance and love and celebrate and weep…
how can any of this be explained by only matter and heat and movement….a cosmic happenstance of sorts?
we create love and art and music and poetry and beauty… or should i say we re create it… and with all of the reason we can muster, the only way that any of that is possible is if it were created for those purposes …for our pleasure …for our ability to feel so we can know that beyond our grasp of knowledge there is something more mysterious… way beyond knowledge…
something that makes us who we are and how we are
we cannot see it we cannot explain it but IT IS there. we KNOW it….in the middle of all the doubts we just know
because we have touched something that contains no matter…
with a part of our soul that has no substance.
we dance to a tune that no man has written
we see art that cannot be painted or drawn
we love an individual who is not defined by anything in our 4 dimensions
we know what we cannot know because we are what we cannot define.
so how could we even say what love is if it may come from a creator who exists outside of all we can comprehend?
love and everything about it seems to be why most of us have any desire to even exist…
and so IT MUST exist…and if so where would it come from except from a thinking creator who…
cannot be defined, understood, described, or really even imagined…
so whoever jesus was ..his words seem to echo all of what we have just said…
trust in what you do not understand ….live in that trust…take the little pieces that you can comprehend and connect with those pieces.
then look around…
the people who live as though all of this were true seem to experience life in a more satisfying way than those who do not.
and for some reason everyone’s goal (other than to be loved) is to be satisfied.
and the mere thought that that is what everyone desires signifies that there must be a desire-maker and therefore maybe…
a desire-fulfiller.
One last thought…
all of the universe has movement…without movement there is no time and no space…
Since the beginning, our planet, our solar system, our galaxy, our cluster, all galaxies, are not only spinning…they are all moving.
Towards what?
Away from what?
In space if there were nothing visible around you, you could be moving at a million miles an hour and not even know you were moving. So everything moves, but movement only exists if it is relative to something else. If we know our solar systems and galaxies and clusters all move because we see them in relationship to other galaxies, we deduce that the whole universe is moving. So again, the question is posed…what are we moving towards or away from….???
Well… it must be something outside of our universe…because our word universe incorporates everything we can possibly imagine…which brings us back to the fact that something we cannot imagine or begin to comprehend exists… beyond even what our understanding of the word “exists” means.
Maybe it is the same incomprehensible “what if” that created the unfathomable, non-definable experiences of love and wonder and passion.
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