Joash 1

Most mornings I send my younger son, Joash to the station to get his trainride to the office. In the evenings I pick him up. Most of the time we say little - maybe it's just the start of the day and in the evening after a hard day's work - tired. I enjoy doing it except if I am really tired/sleepy. He never fails to say thank you after every trip, and I never get tired listening to it. IN fact every time he says it, it gives me a good feeling.

Somehow I think, although we don't talk much, we share much. Does it make sense? A kind of knowing - even when there is little disclosure - verbally. I don't really know how this comes about. I felt much understood by him even if I don't explain much. It's good to have him around.

I also enjoy making "food" for him and his beloved. He likes my cooking or maybe he does not complain even when the food is not so good or bad. Anyway, he finished whatever I put on his plate and what more can a aspiring cook like myself ask for. Poor Joash - my "food tryer".

Tonight he will be trying my "black pepper chicken / pork " - brocolli, cauliflower, mushroom saute: Rainbow salad too.

Invitational life 4

Where do you stay? John's disciples asked.
Come and see. Jesus answered. John 1: 39
"Zaccheus come down from the tree, I am coming to your house for tea."
Jesus lived an invitational life.

The Christian and Community of Jesus must have windows for others to "peep inside' and doors for them to walk in to learn of our friendship with Jesus.
Evangelism is not primarily about prepositional truth about Jesus, but more of an encounter with the Living Jesus among His Living friends. The persecutors acknowledged the uneducated and untrained Peter and John that they have been with Jesus. Acts 4:13.
When we invite others to come and see, we are inviting them to witness not only our personal but communal friendship with Jesus - NO LONE RANGER CHRISTIAN!
We need to remind ourself that Jesus is a friend of sinners. Our friendship with Jesus presupposes our acknowledgement that we are not different from our "prospects'" status as sinners, i.e, our brokeness and woundedness and our desperate need of mercy and transforming truth. Jesus is full of Grace and Truth.
So the body of Christ is a fellowship not so much of the "mighty and victorious" but of the "weak and helpless" who have understood and experienced the transforming power of Grace and Truth = JESUS. "MUCH FORGIVEN MUCH LOVE"
Only with this posture can the mercy that we have received be released as we embrace them whole-heartedly with GENUINE Christ's compassion. A "holy than thou, I saint, you sinner" attitude is abnoxious and repulsive not only to God but to even the most earnest seeker of truth and mercy.
In living the invitational life, we are inviting others to come and join in the redeeming story which God himself is writing. LISTENING is an important part of that life, because many times we miss the cue that God has already began writing his story in the other and so miss the opportunity to show the other that they are not far from the kingdom of God.

Are you living that invitational life as a priority?

Name it, claim it?

As Chris dialogue with me, I found the word to describe my "unease" or "disease".
It's called dying. Ah.......Dying. Wow.....relief...erh.
Still I think, I felt better.

If you hear sounds at the back of your kitchen while getting a drink at midnight, you want to know what exactly it is. Is it a cat, a mouse or a ......thief???
With much precaution you determine to find out the source of that sound. Once you could name the "thing" you decide on your next action. If it is not a thief, you get back to sleep with peace of mind. As long as you can't name the "sound" you will continue to be unease, worried, fearful and a lot good energy is wasted.
So name your "disease" and make you next decision.

More than songs - the heart of worship

From style to substance
From shallowness to brokeness
From music of the soul to the mosaic of our hearts
From songs of our lips to the cry of our spirits.

"I bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You've required.
You search much deeper within
through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart" -The heart of worship - M.R

Something beautiful,
Something good.
All my confusion,
He understood.

All I have to offer Him,
is brokeness and strife.
And He make something beautiful
Out of my life - Bill Gaither

Morning Song & Prayer

This morning we held hands at the breakfast table.
We sang but it was more than a song, it was our prayer.

Here I am waiting, Abide in me I pray.
Here I am longing for You. [ Lord we need Your Presence ]
Hide me in Your love. [ Nothing is more secured than Your Love ]
Bring me to my knees. [ What a picture of being vanquished, the posture of surrender, the folly to fight anymore ]
May I know Jesus, more and more. [ Will I know You more, to walk the path You are leading ?]

Come live in me, all my life take over. [ Yes Lord, You have to take over ]
Come breathe in me and I will rise on eagle's wings. [ Yes Lord, I will soar with You ]

It was more than a song. It was a cry from my heart.

Isaiah 61
61:1The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,because the LORD has anointed me to preach 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, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God,to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion--to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,the oil of gladness instead of mourning,and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.They will be called oaks of righteousness,a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. NIV

Isa 61:10-11
I delight greatly in the LORD;my soul rejoices in my God.For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow,so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. NIV