covered in dust: April 2012

it's all already ours

Ownership changes everything.

Father, thank you for loving me and choosing me before you made the world. You alone are my true Father—my Creator, my Redeemer, my Sustainer, and the true end of all things, including my life. I love you; I trust you; I worship you. Thank you for proving your love for me by sending your only Son, Jesus, to be my substitute and representative. I receive him and all his life and work, which you ordained for me. Thank you for including me in Christ, for forgiving my sins, for granting me his righteousness, for making me complete in him. Thank you for making me alive with Christ, raising me with him, seating me with him at your right hand, granting me his authority, and anointing me with your Holy Spirit. I receive it all with thanks and give it total claim to my life.

This portion of the Daily Prayer For Freedom reminds me of the following:

"Only let us live up to what we have already attained." (Philippians 3:16, NIV)

It's all already ours. Nothing more needs to be done. Nothing more needs to be achieved. We need to claim and take ownership of what's been already granted to us.

Just think, if I gave my son a gift that he treasured, like a Transformer-- Bumblebee is his favorite-- but he left it in the packaging always waiting for the "someday" that he could take pleasure in owning the gift, wouldn't that be a waste? It's already his. He can us use it now.

Sadly, this is often true of me, of us, as followers of Christ.

Our Enemy, Satan, knows this. With his sleepless eye and constant wandering, he has spooled up a lie so profound and so simple that even the most heroic of kings and valiant of queens have been lulled to sleep through his magical incantation... "You aren't worth it. You have no value."

This lie has demolished many a king as he ponders his strength, "Do I have what it takes?" This insidious deception has crippled many a queen as she inquires, "Am I beautiful?"

Fish swim and don't wonder if they were created to live in water. Trees reach skyward and don't hesitate to embrace the light and allow the wind to fill their branches. Lion's rule and don't wonder if the prairie is their domain. They own it. They live in the freedom of their gift.

If only, we who are co-heirs with The King, would swim in the ocean of freedom through His grace, would embrace His Light allowing The Wind to fill our souls, and reign with mercy in our domains.

It's all already ours.

| composed by dave |

no one lives his life

No one lives his life.

Disguised since childhood,
haphazardly assembled
from voices and fears and little pleasures,
we come of age as masks.

Our true face never speaks.

Somewhere there must be storehouses
where all these lives are laid away
like suits of armor or old carriages
or clothes hanging limply on the walls.

Maybe all paths lead there,
to the repository of unlived things.
II, II

From Rilke's Book of Hours, The Book of Pilgrimage

| composed by dave |

little jesus

It's quite possible that my view of Jesus is WAY too small.

Let me say that a different way...

It's reasonable to conclude that my perception of Jesus is diminished in relation to the grandeur of who He truly is and who I experience Him to be in my life.

Allow me to explain.

I hear of stories from across the globe of a Jesus who doesn't mind rubbing shoulders with and living amongst transcendental meditationists, converses with spiritualists who practice alchemaic healings, and suffers at the hands of tyrannical extremists.

I want that Jesus.

I hear of stories from across this nation of a Jesus who ditches funerals to go have a drink (yeah, the alcoholic kind) with a mourning brother, leaves cushy jobs-- comfortable lives-- doing "ministry" or otherwise, and pursues the Musings of the Spirit on a wild goose chase into the wild.

I want that Jesus.

I hear of stories from across Austin of a Jesus who hugs homeless guys who reek of booze and excrement, hangs out regularly with a GLBT tribe, and lives among the most spiritually wandering souls to ever walk this City.

I. Want. That. Jesus... because that is a big Jesus; that is a big God.

This Jesus seems to be okay living in the tension of who He is and who those are that surround Him. He is not agitated by the undone-ness that surrounds Him; He is steadfast though His heart breaks. He is not swayed by the admonishment of crafty arguments but responds with a love that neutralizes pretense and engages the heart calling it forth to more. He is willing to get dirty- be mislabeled- because the people He serves are vessels of Light covered in the muck and mire of this life.

See, it's possible that I've been deceived into thinking that Jesus is confined into some big production ritual that occurs once a week, has no interest in those different than Himself, and who is defined by a religious structure that bears some resemblance to His name.

But then I read Scripture.

And I hear of Jesus doing exactly the opposite of all of that... religiosity; He is defying expectations. And I hear of Jesus conversing regularly with those who deny His Deity with a love that is tender yet provoking. And I hear of Jesus pouring His life into a few so that they too can take bold risks of Faith to do everything He has done. And I hear of a Jesus who treats all those who encounter Him as family-- as dearly loved brothers and sisters-- regardless of their faith background or personal story.

And I ask myself, "Is this true of me? How big is my Jesus?"

I think some days my Jesus is too small.

| composed by dave |

it's all already ours

no one lives his life

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