weapons of truth

There is a group of students praying at the table next to me in a food court at uni and for some reason, upon watching them, I wanted to cry. 

Created and creating

I am stuck for a metaphor that isn’t a cliche as I ponder what it is I want to paint my life to be. 

The road ahead is clearing as the stages defined for me by institutions of education have nearly completed. I am six months away from my final exams and then the canvas is blank. 

I am applying for graduate programs in jobs I think I should be doing to fill my time, make use of my degree and my brain and start the ‘adult life’ - whatever that is. 

But I can feel my perspective falling into this rich and colourful unquestioning acceptance of life’s beautiful adventure - perhaps it is doing so because I know that I have every opportunity to experience that life. And as my eyes fall to that image, it pulls me to days so much more than I’ve dreamt to pursue. 

There is so much that I love and I don’t want to miss out on them. I don’t want to walk away from my life wishing I had painted it differently. 

At the beginning of my 20s, surely this is the time for me to really create. 

I was created, to myself be creative, and I can’t let the system steal my imagination. 

High

Up and up,
breathe in deeply.
It overwhelms;
this feeling of invincibility, 
of a plethora 
assortment
spread
as far as your gaze can carry
of all that fills life 
of all senses- to touch, smell, devour with hungry eyes
of everything that makes us hold onto each other 
& tie strings to the earth
like balloons
we don’t know what’s good for us
up and up 
the sky calls
but as high as we feel
we tie to the earth
in all its glory. 

There is nothing as powerful
destructive
chaotic
What can be said for love?
Is there anything as dangerous; 
Anything so difficult to recover from 
as sickness of the soul?
This virus that consumes the mind &
decays any sense of self preservation
eats up rationality
and spills off the tongue in 
poisonous words.
What can be said for love?

Just read James in the message translation and wow. So beautiful, so convicting, challenging.. I think I’ll need to meditate on this book for a while. 
I need to watch what I say and stop dipping my toes in the waters of sin.. as james says - i need to get serious, real serious. 

I think I would have liked James had I ever the chance to meet him. (unlike Paul who sounds a bit scary and unfriendly). It sounds like James would have had a bit more of a laugh and a listening ear. 

Anyway, I love Gods Word. 

The way of love.

 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s word with power, revealing all His mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain “jump” and it jumps, but I don’t have love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t have love, I’ve gotten nowhere. No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. 

Love never gives up,
Love cares more for others than for self,
Love doesn’t what what it doesn’t have, 
Love doesn’t strut, 
Doesn’t have a swelled head, 
Doesn’t force itself on others, 
Isn’t always “me first”,
Doesn’t fly off the handle, 
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end,
Love never dies. 

1 Cor 13, The Message

weaponsoftruth:

To miss a place, a person, a feeling, a time.. it’s such a weird sensation. Because, it’s wonderful to know that there is something I love and yearn for; something or someone that I really connect with in a way that fits into me. And yet it causes me to hurt when  that connection is broken. It is a wanting that is both greedy and starved. 

Anonymous asked: What do you think of the role of women in the church of today? How do you think it should be or not be?

As 50% of the population (roughly), and I’m guessing about the same percentage of Christians (though this changes depending on country, age etc), women play just as much of a role as men - theoretically. 

In practise, I know more men then women are priests, minisiters, pastors, church leaders etc. But it is my strong belief that women should be able to have all the same oppurtunities as men to grow in their faith and teach others the things they have learnt with the wisdom they have acquired and the gifts they possess. More women attend bible college than men at the moment, and I hope this reflects a change in the ratio of women leading the future church. 

As equality for women is becoming more tangible in the West and slowly around the world, I would love the church to be seen as an active participant in this push for equality - just as Jesus was seen to be radically empowering women in the culture and time he lived. 

I think the church should be empowering women locally and globally to have equal opportunity and influence in the church, God’s kindgom and the wider society.  I would hate to see the church being a restraint on women’s rights and equality as it can be seen at the moment by some (particularly the Anglican and Catholic church) 

* please excuse this poorly written, poorly researched and poorly referenced response. I have good reasons for my thoughts but am too lazy in this moment to go into them- a symtom of the typical blogger and a poor writer.