n : spiritual conversion or awakening; fundamental change of character. Etymology: Greek ‘change one’s mind, repent’
This is pretty cool. Has a great message at the end. Surprisingly from a commercial ice cream company
You can visit the site Help the Honey Bees.
Here’s an interesting rumor. The early Christian church was also called ‘the hive.’
Here is a book about the Hive which looks interesting: The Hive
Pass the honey with that roll or biscuit this Thanksgiving?
Word.
Truly the YouTube video speaks for itself….honestly my mouth dropped open when I realized it was yes, THE Crowder.
In early September, the weather cooled. I 
took the back roads to work one morning with the car windows cracked open, enjoying the fresh morning air. I tend to have blinders on when I drive, just ask those who wave and honk. I rarely see past the traffic before me. But that day, the chatter of birds broke through me reverie as I waited for the light to change. Hundreds of dark colored birds lined the telephone lines, perched on top of streetlights and business signs. A chorus of sound which drowned out all but the loudest traffic.
Several times in the next few weeks, I took the back roads to and from work. Often I would see a sparrows, grackles, geese or other flock of birds traveling southward to warmer climates, their fluid, amoebic groups in the sunny skies, moving—shifting—dancing an aviary ballet of sorts as they continued on their journey.
Lately, on the Palladia channel I’ve seen the coolest commercial. A flock of animated black birds in flight which then morph into details of birch trees and then the perspective shifts yet again into a forest birches and other trees as the ‘camera’ pulls back. It’s a commercial that stops me in my tracks, transfixing me through completion of the animation. The change in perspective, the change
in subject is fascinating.
The images and activities of my aviary friends continued.
A lone hawk sitting atop a fence post, scanning the fields, hunting for dinner as the sun dims on the horizon during my commute home.
A small flock of birds, one early morning, startled into flight from our pear tree in the front yard as I took out the dogs for their ‘constitutional’. The dogs stood, transfixed by the rising mass of birds and muffled sounds of wing flaps. We all watched them rise into the air and depart before moving on to other business.
Birds dotting the lines between telephone posts along the road like Morse Code. I wondered what the words said. SOS?
Empty bird feeders swinging on tree limbs in our windy backyard. No birds in sight. For if the food gone, so are the birds, hunger drives them to look elsewhere.
Birds migrate in cycles including those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Habitat and weather changes are usually irregular or in only one direction. Migration is marked by its annual seasonality. In contrast, birds that are non-migratory are known as resident birds. Migrating birds vary migration travels, some short, some long as they move through this cycle. Some lose their way, most regain direction through the magnetic pull of their migrating pattern.
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It’s been a very long time since I’ve blogged in any sort of thoughtful manner. Part of it was time available to write. A new job and shifts in family life have kept my schedule rather packed, but this has not been the entire reason. I wouldn’t call my current spiritual state ‘a crises,’ but I must admit it has not been peaceful, steady, or void of some serious drama and frustration. For several months, I’ve noticed a steady decline in spiritual direction and desire to pursue it . . .fire dimmed a bit, you might say. I in no way believe following Christ is all ups and blessings. That line of thought has gotten many of us in a state of entitlement within Christianity that has dangerous pathways of disappointment and defeat. I do believe that a spiritual growth ebbs and flows as does the pattern of its pursuit.
I’ve noticed that within a discipleship journey I tend to close off conversation with God when I am under the most duress, thinking I can control my emotion, the situation or some aspect until it is ‘resolved’ to my satisfaction. My instinct is to look to my own ability to interpret and understand why. The worse it gets the more of a control freak I become, the less I turn to God for understanding an
d guidance. Yeah, counter intuitive, I know.
Do you listen in on God’s council?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself? Job 15:8
It is very easy these days to preoccupy myself with other things. Lately, I’ve found myself driving to soccer or work or the grocery store, listening to books or music. I’ve played single parent for more weeks that I care to admit due to some shifts in Wayne’s job responsibilities. I’ve used online communities, movies, TV–any entertainment at my fingertips, to distract myself often from deep thought as I bounce from place to place, from event or obligation to home and work.
Conversation with God dwindled to almost nothing. Even those conversations seemed one-sided monologues, prayers for others done out of duty and habit. I was talking to God less and less. More importantly, I was not listening either.
Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Psalm 25:4-6
But for the past two months, I’ve been subject to these bird whispers, these subtle words of God breaking through the din of everyday life and my insulated turtle shell. Through the amoebic movement of a migrating flock—through the chatter of that flock as I stop for a train. I knew it was God, but I had no gumption to listen. No inclination to ponder why I was seeing all these bird signs of migration, of community, of loners, of transitions. I sat in my misery wondering about everything. As we all know, blind birds don’t really go very far.
My best thinking, you see, is when I write. Focusing on the blank page, talking out my ideas is where revelation comes. So when the chatter of birds drown out the din of my distractions, I sat down to write this. With the tenacity that only God can employ, I now understand the message delivered in the wings of birds, in sky silhouettes traveling to places far away, in the groups and flocks migrating through the cycles of the season.
It’s okay, Deana, I’m still here. Time to move on.
I colleague at work saw these in a window while walking by in Austin, TX and sent out the link to them online. I immediately had a flashback to the Saved movie. The design reminds me of the Lady of Guadalupe figurines I studied for a piece of artwork I did for a competition.
Interesting that SPF 18 is all you need to keep you “Tight with Christ.” “Be Worthy!” “Be Noticed!” “Lookin’ Good for Jesus!” “Look your Sunday Best!” “Protects” “Preserves”…………..Preserves?!?!?
Here is the second one on the site.
I love:
“Monks special reserve” and “Handy Salvation for a sinner on the go” (for all liars, cheaters and wrong-doers)
I humbly add these to the God the Action Figure to begin a collection titled, Marketing for the Beyond mentioned recently on the Performing the Faith Blog.
Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back—in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you. –Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking
Buechner’s description is full of imagery and gives a certain personality to this emotion. Anger is one of my greatest temptations. It is very easy for me to automatically slide into this state of mind. Anger is a familiar friend, predictable, comfortable companion. I used to like being angry.
I’ve realized that a self gratifying anger is not a state of mind I should be cultivating. It’s a terrible waste of energy and it does great damage to my state of mind and relationships with others. Harbored, it becomes the worst self-righteous bitterness that consumes me and my thoughts. I can’t give grace to others in that state of mind and I certainly can’t receive it. And for that fact alone, it distances my relationship to God as it sucks me into the vortex of self cannibalism. I not longer like anger like I used to.
Refraining from acting in anger is a requires vigilant effort and constant reliance on God. Vengeance is God’s, not mine. A lesson I continue to learn and practice.
It is a cardinal principle of discernment that the Lord always speaks in peace, even if he is rebuking or chastising those he loves. - Thomas H. Green
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. - Romans 12:8-10
How do you handle anger?
“It is not a matter of engaging in both the gospel and social action, as if Christian social action was something separate from the gospel itself. The gospel has to be demonstrated in word and deed. Biblically, the gospel includes the totality of all that is good news from God for all that is bad news in human life—in every sphere. So like Jesus, authentic Christian mission has included good news for the poor, compassion for the sick and suffering justice for the oppressed, liberation for the enslaved. The gospel of the Servant of God in the power of the Spirit of God addresses every area of human need and every area that has been broken and twisted by sin and evil. And the heart of the gospel, in all of these areas, is the cross of Christ.” – Christopher J. H. Wright
It is better to just look at what God wants, not what we can fit into our personal views, schedules and segmented groups of how to ‘deal with’ the poor and oppressed. The gospel and social action are not separated and should not be in matters of injustice and mercy. Jesus cared for the poor and the rich and even the overly ‘religious’ or ‘pious’. Each needed different healing. Each were a deeply embedded part of his ministry. We must follow Jesus’ example and let it permeate our lives…service, healing and sacrifice…in words AND in deeds.
”The first thing we have to do is change hearts,” Betancourt told McClatchy in an exclusive interview. “We have to change the vocabulary of hate. When I dreamed of being free, I told myself that I could not engage in hate or rancor.”
”It’s a neurotic world, and there are lots of conflicts,” she said. “There’s a food crisis and an energy crisis. People are very anxious about this. We need to reflect on how we behave.”
”The guerrillas are our enemy,” Betancourt said in the interview. “But we shouldn’t insult them. We should show them how to seek a dignified exit through peaceful negotiations. If we don’t defeat them correctly, we will sow the seeds of hate for the future.”
- Ingrid Betancourt Pulecio
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The short-term exacting of righteous, perhaps even justifiable vengence does not seem to be in Betancourt’s vocaulary. Hostage of FARC for over 2K days, she does not resort to ‘justice,’ in the sense of our version of justice. The justice of tried in court and punished. True to her polictal leanings, Ingrid shows a Christ-like view of reconciliation for the better good of all in her country.
Do we in America do the same? We are under the impression that might makes right. Perhaps we can learn from Ingrid in some instances. I know at a personal level, I need to rely less on justice-based retribution. This is a hard lesson to learn, to apply.
I would be curious as to how she would address Darfur and Zimbabwe. When force and genocide of masses of people are at stake. Then, of course, the US still does little in these areas to help other than a few policies a the state level, official statements at the national level and the protests of non profit organizations. One can only hope it will not be too little too late.
What is our current vocabulary of hate? What can we personally do to change that? Things to think about anyway.
Íngrid Betancourt Pulecio (born December 25, 1961) is a Colombian-French politician, former senator and anti-corruption activist. Betancourt was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on February 23, 2002, and rescued from captivity six and a half years later in Operation Jaque, along with 14 other hostages (three Americans and 11 Colombian policemen and soldiers), by Colombian security forces on July 2, 2008, who tricked the FARC into believing they were a leftist non-governmental organization. In all, she was held captive for 2,321 days after being taken while campaigning for the Colombian presidency as a Green.*
Every small thing counts, even that one dollar bill in your pocket or wallet.
I found this through the Ordinary Radicals site. It’s about a way that one dollar and a few others can help one homeless man named Herman.
Most of you reading this have had encounters with the homeless. I encourage you to tell your stories at the end of the this blog. I have encountered homeless in my life. In fact, since going on youth urban ministry trips through CSM as well as reading books like, “In the Gutter” by Craig Gross, “Under the Overpass” by Mike Yankoski and “Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claiborne, I see more homeless people every day. In fact, I look for them.
Often we struggle with what is the best way to help the homeless. We struggle with our own assumptions and prejudices about why people are homeless. Often these struggles leave us frozen in place instead of moving into some sort of action. Any action, my friends is action. You know Jesus would not hesitate, and neither should we.
Here is your opportunity to skip that soda or cheap hamburger at McDonald’s and collectively pool our dollars to help Herman. Read about his story and who is helping him with this money. Then act. They encourage you to only send a dollar and pass the suggestion on to another.
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of honor.
“For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s;
upon them he has set the world. 1 Samuel 2:8
Licking the envelope as I type this (okay, maybe not simultaneously!)
Deana
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