Thursday, May 27, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
The Long Silence
I did not write this, yet it's clever and worth the read! Enjoi.
At the end of time, billions of people were seated on a great plain before God’s throne. Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But some groups near the front talked heatedly, not cringing with cringing shame – but with belligerence.
“Can God judge us? How can He know about suffering?”, snapped a pert young brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. “We endured terror … beatings … torture … death!”
In another group a negro boy (sic) lowered his collar. “What about this?” he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. “Lynched, for no crime but being black!”
In another crowd there was a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes: “Why should I suffer?” she murmured. “It wasn’t my fault.”
Far out across the plain were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He had permitted in His world. How lucky God was to live in Heaven, where all was sweetness and light. Where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred. What did God know of all that man had been forced to endure in this world? For God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said.
So each of these groups sent forth their leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. A Jew, a negro (sic), a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, a thalidomide child. In the center of the vast plain, they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather clever.
Before God could be qualified to be their judge, He must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth as a man.
Let him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think him out of his mind. Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured. At the last, let him see what it means to be terribly alone. Then let him die so there can be no doubt he died. Let there be a great host of witnesses to verify it.
As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people assembled. When the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered a word. No one moved.
For suddenly, all knew that God had already served His sentence.
At the end of time, billions of people were seated on a great plain before God’s throne. Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But some groups near the front talked heatedly, not cringing with cringing shame – but with belligerence.
“Can God judge us? How can He know about suffering?”, snapped a pert young brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. “We endured terror … beatings … torture … death!”
In another group a negro boy (sic) lowered his collar. “What about this?” he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. “Lynched, for no crime but being black!”
In another crowd there was a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes: “Why should I suffer?” she murmured. “It wasn’t my fault.”
Far out across the plain were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He had permitted in His world. How lucky God was to live in Heaven, where all was sweetness and light. Where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred. What did God know of all that man had been forced to endure in this world? For God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said.
So each of these groups sent forth their leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. A Jew, a negro (sic), a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, a thalidomide child. In the center of the vast plain, they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather clever.
Before God could be qualified to be their judge, He must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth as a man.
Let him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think him out of his mind. Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured. At the last, let him see what it means to be terribly alone. Then let him die so there can be no doubt he died. Let there be a great host of witnesses to verify it.
As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people assembled. When the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered a word. No one moved.
For suddenly, all knew that God had already served His sentence.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
All I Need Is Love? My Testimony(s)
Love has always known me, as I have always known Love. I sensed it, the moment I felt a warm towel wrapping me after a bath. I heard it, when two doves cooed me awake each day one summer. I tasted it, as I ate a warm slice of pineapple-upside- down cake in my grandma’s kitchen. I saw it, when I met my first love. I heard it, when I listened to a hungry orphan cry in my arms.
“The Pursuit” began for me, in a hospital bed at age four. I remember lying on the cold, hard, uncomfortable bed, painfully struggling through a fatal disease. I should have felt alone. I should have died. Mysteriously, I knew I was not abandoned. In my heart I knew, there was more for me, and so I never worried. In my room, I felt deep warmth. This warmth was Love, and it was then I believed in His power.
At age five, the battle began. Insecurities, fears, and physical pains: Sin. “I have discovered this principle of life--that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong, and evil is in me” – Romans 7:21. I lived a while, with this confusion. Yet, still, lingering in the back of my mind remained a small voice--thought saying: ‘Davy…Believe in Love, Love believes in you!’
At six, I knew I would go to Africa, because Love told me to. I would one-day work with orphans. A light bulb went off, and sunk into my heart with an explosion. Then, the waiting and preparation began.
Years past in a blur, and I chose to push Love away. I ran my own way, and chose easy—worldly-- living… Or so I thought. Parties, people, travel, school, food, busy-work, cooking, dancing, studying, dating and working… just to name a few. All these ‘Martha-fillers’ distracted me from the true Love and freedom I had once known. I was running so fast, I almost killed myself… literally.
One day in the fall, Love stopped me in my tracks. He pursued me again. “For humans, it is so hard to believe in love, because it is hard to obey.” Memories of my hospital bed flooded back, as I lay (not on a hospital bed), but on a cold, drafty jail-cell. What had happened to the Love I knew? What had happened to childlike belief and true Faith? What had ever happened to the perfect child, Love wanted me to become? Where was my trust in others? Where was my freedom? In one night, all the worldly things I deemed important vanished in a moment of brokenness... but He was still chasing me. Love found me again that night. I did not find Love. Redemption is the key to knowing Love’s heart, and mercy was the act. Love came down and wrapped me in His arms that cold, unforgettable night, and showed me that there is hope! No pit is so deep that Love’s grace is not deeper still. No amount of mistakes, shame, hiding and fear could ever separate me from Love. No matter what I had done, Love pursued me, passionately.
I’m here to tell you today, that no matter how much you run… Stop running! It’s not worth it to run from Love! Love is God. God is Love. To run from Love, is counterintuitive to its whole message of Life. Love is always with you and always present. You cannot run or hide from Love. Love will find you! Love is not something you can physically escape. The more you believe in the works of Love, and the more you accept its truth, the more you know God love yourself, and others. Also, the more you believe people love you for who you are, the more you understand God’s Love. Love cannot hide itself… when it is real. No matter what areas of life you are hiding under… He will find you. So, get out from under your man-made lampshades and false realities and live!!
Love knows me more than I know myself. It has always known me. God has known me, when He touched the dirt and formed my fragile frame. God has identified with me, when He heard me crying on a hospital bench. God has tasted, when I prayed in desperation for food. God saw me, as my heart was breaking after I witnessed brutal tragic death. God heard me, when my songs were overwhelming with gratitude. He sent His only son to suffer and experience my life. Jesus became Love for me, in order to feel, hear, taste, touch and see everything I did. Love (AKA JESUS) truly understood me, because He was me, looking through my mortal glasses, living in my shoes! Not one ounce of pain I feel, and will feel…He has not felt. Not one ounce!
I know what Love is. Believing in Love is true reality, and I have found the key to eternal life is found in the burning, compassionate, flaming Love of Christ. He is mine, and I am His… beloved. He altered himself for me. “Love does not alter the beloved, it alters itself.”
All I need is Love. All YOU need is Love All we need is Love.
“The Pursuit” began for me, in a hospital bed at age four. I remember lying on the cold, hard, uncomfortable bed, painfully struggling through a fatal disease. I should have felt alone. I should have died. Mysteriously, I knew I was not abandoned. In my heart I knew, there was more for me, and so I never worried. In my room, I felt deep warmth. This warmth was Love, and it was then I believed in His power.
At age five, the battle began. Insecurities, fears, and physical pains: Sin. “I have discovered this principle of life--that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong, and evil is in me” – Romans 7:21. I lived a while, with this confusion. Yet, still, lingering in the back of my mind remained a small voice--thought saying: ‘Davy…Believe in Love, Love believes in you!’
At six, I knew I would go to Africa, because Love told me to. I would one-day work with orphans. A light bulb went off, and sunk into my heart with an explosion. Then, the waiting and preparation began.
Years past in a blur, and I chose to push Love away. I ran my own way, and chose easy—worldly-- living… Or so I thought. Parties, people, travel, school, food, busy-work, cooking, dancing, studying, dating and working… just to name a few. All these ‘Martha-fillers’ distracted me from the true Love and freedom I had once known. I was running so fast, I almost killed myself… literally.
One day in the fall, Love stopped me in my tracks. He pursued me again. “For humans, it is so hard to believe in love, because it is hard to obey.” Memories of my hospital bed flooded back, as I lay (not on a hospital bed), but on a cold, drafty jail-cell. What had happened to the Love I knew? What had happened to childlike belief and true Faith? What had ever happened to the perfect child, Love wanted me to become? Where was my trust in others? Where was my freedom? In one night, all the worldly things I deemed important vanished in a moment of brokenness... but He was still chasing me. Love found me again that night. I did not find Love. Redemption is the key to knowing Love’s heart, and mercy was the act. Love came down and wrapped me in His arms that cold, unforgettable night, and showed me that there is hope! No pit is so deep that Love’s grace is not deeper still. No amount of mistakes, shame, hiding and fear could ever separate me from Love. No matter what I had done, Love pursued me, passionately.
I’m here to tell you today, that no matter how much you run… Stop running! It’s not worth it to run from Love! Love is God. God is Love. To run from Love, is counterintuitive to its whole message of Life. Love is always with you and always present. You cannot run or hide from Love. Love will find you! Love is not something you can physically escape. The more you believe in the works of Love, and the more you accept its truth, the more you know God love yourself, and others. Also, the more you believe people love you for who you are, the more you understand God’s Love. Love cannot hide itself… when it is real. No matter what areas of life you are hiding under… He will find you. So, get out from under your man-made lampshades and false realities and live!!
Love knows me more than I know myself. It has always known me. God has known me, when He touched the dirt and formed my fragile frame. God has identified with me, when He heard me crying on a hospital bench. God has tasted, when I prayed in desperation for food. God saw me, as my heart was breaking after I witnessed brutal tragic death. God heard me, when my songs were overwhelming with gratitude. He sent His only son to suffer and experience my life. Jesus became Love for me, in order to feel, hear, taste, touch and see everything I did. Love (AKA JESUS) truly understood me, because He was me, looking through my mortal glasses, living in my shoes! Not one ounce of pain I feel, and will feel…He has not felt. Not one ounce!
I know what Love is. Believing in Love is true reality, and I have found the key to eternal life is found in the burning, compassionate, flaming Love of Christ. He is mine, and I am His… beloved. He altered himself for me. “Love does not alter the beloved, it alters itself.”
All I need is Love. All YOU need is Love All we need is Love.
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