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OC’s word for today is pretty straight forward. When we find ourselves in the dark, we need to listen. Our hearing is so much keener in the dark. Our imagination is heightened. Remember as a kid the imaginings that led to visions of monsters under the bed or spiders crawling about in the dark. Perhaps God places us in spiritual darkness because of a similar increased awareness that makes it easier for us to hear Him. Sadly when things seem dark, we often don’t believe He’s around so we aren’t listening. Another reason for listening in the dark is that talking in the dark is such a bad idea. We are not in a comfortable and secure place in the dark and our words are often unwise and hurtful when spoken from the dark. When we feel we are in a spiritually dark place and don’t feel God around our words are not likely to give comfort; they are more likely to spread doom and fear. Finally, a dark place is not always a bad place to be. When we find ourselves in the dark, it’s likely that God has something important to say to us. When in the […]

I like to listen to the broadcast of basketball games while at the games. I like to listen to audiobooks practically all the time. When I’m not listening to audiobooks, I’m listening to music. Unless, of course, I’m listening to a phone call. One of my favorite accessories on my new truck is the plug that let’s me connect my iphone with the speaker system in the truck. I am listening obsessed. I went to buy new ear pods (that’s what they call them now) at Walmart this week and was greeted by a sea of choices in all colors. Seems I’m not the only one obsessed with listening. Next time you’re out and about check out how many folks are walking or driving around with something stuck in their ear.Why this obsession? I don’t know. Maybe it has something to do with wanting to control what comes into our minds. There is so much noise out there. We want what we want. My iphone has a “genius” feature. It learns what kind of music I like and it plays what it thinks I want to hear. It is scary accurate. With God, we feel we are truly spiritual […]

Yesterday we discussed our general failure to listen. If we don’t listen, we don’t really know others and without knowledge of who people really are, we don’t really love them. We also don’t listen to God. The issues are a bit more complicated and the impact is more eternal.  “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” We don’t follow God’s rules; because we don’t listen to Him. It’s not that we don’t hear His commandments. We are very familiar with the rules. Because we don’t listen to the Rulemaker, we don’t know Him.  We don’t, therefore, love Him. Therefore,  we don’t obey Him.  It’s kind of like your Momma. You hate to hear her lecture you because you know and love her. You know she has your interests at heart. You know she wants the best for you. You know she’s right. You know she won’t take “no” for an answer. Because God is a spirit; it is easier to do with Him what we do with other men. We don’t listen to them; we listen to others talk about them. So it is with God, rather than listening to Him, if we listen at all, we […]

I have  been a bit “drifty” this week. A few days ago OC used the same title for his devotional on consecutive days, “”Are You Ready to Be Offered.” My mind would not accept this, so I skipped the second day with that title. Therefore, all week I have been a day ahead of OC. I was even so arrogant as to wonder why the service which forwards the daily devotional was behind a day. Equally disturbing is no one seemed to notice. Is there anyone out there? This all comes from a lack of focus, not paying attention, not listening. I have the choice of trying to go back and make up the lost day or “fill in” one day. Tomorrow, OC will discuss the fact that we don’t listen to God. Obviously, I don’t even listen to other people. So I’ve decided to discuss that today and, hopefully, be back on track tomorrow. I observe that most of us really don’t listen. That is tragic because each of us has an incredibly deep desire to be heard and an intense, and sadly accurate, feeling that no none is listening to us. Because of that great unfulfilled need, […]

I have the honor of speaking to the Lafayette One Nation Under God group next week.  We will meet at the Public Library South on Johnston St, Lafayette, Monday,  Feb. 15, 2010 at 6:30 PM. I  will present “Re-establishing One Nation Under God – One person at a time” Another presentation will be “The Secrets of the Federal Reserve – Detriment to America” Please join us if you can.  Nick

Rosemary and I were discussing last night one of the problems of aging: loss of memory: Walking into a room and forgetting why I went there, being unable to bring to your lips the name of someone close. Conversations at breakfast which I normally have with a group of friends of which I am the youngest, are often strange. Detailed discussions take place about mutual acquaintances, whose names are never mentioned, because none of our aging minds can remember the names, but we all know to whom we refer. These little lapses of memory are normal; but forgetting our past can be spiritually deadly. In a spiritual desert? It happens,  that “feeling” that God is far away, that our prayers hit the ceiling and go no further, that Our Father, if He even exists, just doesn’t care.  We all have those moments. It becomes a great problem if we dwell in the desert and a momentary “feeling” can become a dry and hopeless way of life. These moments are also “memory” problems and the solution to these desert moments is to remember. “Remember Whose you are and Whom you serve. Provoke yourself by recollection, and your affection for God […]

Once again OC comes up with a fascinating concept: the starvation of our imagination of God. “The people of God in Isaiah’s day had starved their imagination by looking on the face of idols, and Isaiah made them look up at the heavens, that is, he made them begin to use their imagination aright.” I wonder what OC would think of the state of imagination today. Looks like the movie “Avatar” will set records for attendance and sweep the Academy awards. It is without question the most “imaginative” movie I have ever seen. It is just the most recent and most dramatic example of the state of imagination today. We are bombarded with imaginative images and concepts. I think that very avalanche has starved our individual imaginations and particularly our imagination of God. In our media intense world the need to imagine is virtually eliminated. Movies in 3D, video games and constant exposure to television replace individual imagination. The Art of Reading is dying. To read requires the application of imagination as our minds turns the printed word into self-created visions that make up the story line. We don’t do much of that anymore. Starvation for the imagination of […]

I slept like a log last night. I was completely exhausted. Sometime during the game I got a several inch long cut on my arm. It was a tough game. It will be useless to try to accomplish much today. I’m still too high. The Saints are the Champions of the world. It’s a “once-in-a-lifetime” experience and the exhaustion and exhilaration are intense and simultaneous. It’s not a completely unknown feeling. It feels very much like the days after completing a Kairos weekend. That experience is also exhilarating and exhausting. There is a feeling of having  been spiritually used up. And that is a good and appropriate thing. It is what we are created for. It’s our purpose after our salvation: to be completely used by God.  Recently after a period of great productivity in my life; I realized that the cycle of waking in the morning excited and motivated to get things done and the evenings feeling almost too tired to move, is the right and natural way of living. But remember that it is crucial that exhaustion is part of a cycle of refreshment, pouring out, and exhaustion. A balance in our spiritual life is crucial. We […]