Coffee and Hope

I’m sitting at my table with a cup of coffee as one of my communions. I have two dogs lying at my feet. I have a turkey sausage sandwich on an orange plate being gobbled quickly. Life is good.

Most of all I have my best friends with me as I write, drink, and eat. They have accompanied me my whole life but I was not aware until in my late teens. I have become more aware as time and life went forward. The ups and downs and twists and turns. The hills and valleys and mountain tops and bottom of the ocean floors. I’ll tell you more about them….

As I read through my last post, that my friend Ann wrote, a couple of lines stood out to me:

“I tried to wear them

These black and white lenses

That religion required.”

Well, religion is a tough one. I’ve been religious. I actually hate it when I am. You see, I am a Christian. Some of you may stop reading now that you saw that simply because it means a certain attitude, or religious rites, or hurt in your heart from some of the same “religion”. I understand. I even cringe sometimes when someone says to me that they are a Christian.

As I sip my coffee on a full tummy of yummy breakfast sandwich I am just one person that is going to tell you that religion is not what Jesus is all about. He wants us. He wants a friendship like none we’ve ever experienced before.

When you realize that it’s a personal relational friendship with God, Jesus His son and Holy Spirit you can breathe a deep sigh of relief. They are real and wonderful and free from laws and religion.

By no means am I saying not to go to a church building. But when you realize that every breathing hour of everyday can be accompanied by a living God your churches will look different. A whole new perspective opens up before you. Will all your troubles leave suddenly and life becomes full of rainbows and unicorns and puppies and kitties? No way! God never promised life on this earth will be perfect if we know Him. He did promise a boat load of other things such as, He will never leave us alone to face the hardships and challenges. He will make a way right out to the other side. He gives us a perspective of how He sees our life. He sees the whole picture – like a jigsaw puzzle. The end result is beautiful and He works through every piece with us.

Back to Ann and her story. She just didn’t fit into the religion and oppression she was born to. She was born to soar and create and be who she was made to be. Thankfully she was able to be free to leave and find her self and her own relationship with God. How many of you have lived a life that others made for you? I did. But I also was able to find who I was and set out on the journey I was made for.

This post is written for those who feel lost still. Those who struggle with not really knowing what to do or even feeling afraid of the world around them. Let’s face it, COVID threw the world a curve ball. So many of our old normals are gone and will not come back. Many lost loved ones and many are still recovering from an awful sickness. Burt I have good news for you. If you doubt that God can know you, that Jesus can be your friend, then I highly recommend you just set yourself off under a tree or on a beach or in your car on under your sheets, wherever you can be alone and just ask Him to show Himself to you in whatever way you need.

I’m going to give you an example of God meeting you where you are at…. I was parked outside an elementary school waiting for one of my grandsons to be dismissed from school. There was a dead sparrow on the side walk next to my van. As kids immersed from the building a group of three boys came upon said bird body. I knew young boys and dead bird were not going to be a pretty sight. Sure enough, as mosts kids will do, they began to poke and kick the bird body. I prayed that God would do something because a stranger parked at a school telling kids what to do never ends well. All of a sudden a seagull flies in and swoops down and picks up the bird body and off he goes. The boys were amazed and so was I even though I asked and God answered. It’s as simple as that Dear Readers.

There. I pray the best for all of you.

Enjoy!

Cate B

A Little Help From My Friends

Like a good many bloggers I have taken quite a long break from writing. No excuses, just haven’t felt it. I’m back now. And to start off my “backness” I am posting this piece written on FaceBook by my close Friend, Ann. I will write a followup on my next post. There is a lot swirling in my mind and fingers about this beautifully written truth.

Enjoy.

Cate B

Ann Lehman

17 July 2021  · 

If you grew up “plain” like I did, you know that there were many forbidden colors. In our world, colors were not all created by God. There were many worldly, sinful colors. And very few holy colors. There was an extreme black and white view of God and scripture. The following is a verbal processing, if you will, of the dismantling of that system for me. It’s an unapologetic declaration of freedom. And I’m letting that freedom ring for whoever else needs to hear it.

All of my life I have been told

There’s a left and a right.

There’s a black and a white.

No brilliant colors, no gray.

Not all colors are equal.

Not all colors are legal.

And wearing all the colors

Is what the ungodly do.

Surely the color scarlet

Is the symbol of the harlot.

And purple mocks Jesus

The way the soldiers did.

White is only for Sundays

On the only days we are pure.

Only the dark, the somber,

The muted, the plain

Only these evidence the humility

Required from Gods chosen.

Wearing light, bright colors,

Surely show hearts, full

Of deadly pride and poison.

I tried to wear them

These black and white lenses

That religion required.

But they tripped me up.

I fell flat on my face

In the filthy muck

Of suffocating shame

Of never measuring up.

They blinded my eyes

To the crimson scandal

Of GRACE that flows wild

Over the black and white

And changes it all

To rainbows of living color.

There’s black and white, true.

No denying.

But there’s a million more hues

Created by the One who spoke

The universe into motion.

Exuberantly breathed to life

Every color under the sun

And declared in full confidence:

IT IS GOOD!

So why should I try

To paint over it all

With black and white

And distort the glory

And living colors

Of the greatest love story?

Religion, take back your distorted lenses!

I don’t need them anymore.

Love healed these blind eyes

Now I see GRACE, a scarlet tide

Now I live found in full color.

In breathtaking, swirling hues of

Extravagant Love that lives

And breathes and flows

Alive and well and restoring

The black places of my soul

Where religion stole

Color, beauty, and innocence.

So let the River flow

Until it is all returned

To the way You intended.

The Subject of Faith

faith |fāθ|
noun
1 complete trust or confidence in someone or something : this restores one’s faith in politicians.
2 strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.
• a system of religious belief : the Christian faith.
• a strongly held belief or theory : the faith that life will expand until it fills the universe.

Faith.  This word has so many meanings and is attached to so many things.  For me it has multiple meanings and I want to clarify one of them here.

Religion.  I hate that word because it is so misused.  Many will say of me that my religion is Christianity.  Or non-denominational or for some is Catholicism or Presbyterian.  I beg to differ.  For me it is a relationship.  I don’t like being categorized as a “born again” Christian – even though I am.  But that phrase also means so many different things to people.  A word is a word with a definition but in life and experiences those words can mean different things.  Many people I have met over the years react negatively to a persons response to what religion are you?  If I say Christian then some just do not like that because they were hurt by a Christian or by a Christian church.  That can go for any belief.  They assume I’m republican.  Haha.  Give me a break.

Truth is, we’ve all been hurt by someone or some group at least once in our lifetime.  I married a pastor and we together have pastored in various locations.  I’m sure we have hurt people out of our ignorance and immaturity.  Out of our religion.

I just know that over the years my beliefs have changed and my theology has changed.  I’ve found that the older I get the less I know.  It’s come down to this:  I know God sent His only son to live on this earth, to be born as a man and He sacrificed Him on the cross so that through His death and resurrection I can have eternal life.  I know because of that I know a God who fully understands what it’s like to be a human and all that entails.  Do I fully understand all that?  No.  But by faith I believe it.  I have seen unbelievable things happen in my life and our family and friends to know without a doubt that God is very real.  Do we go through hard times?  Yes.  Read my Prisoner of Hope series https://wingedprisms.com/2012/07/22/our-darkest-day/

So, my faith?  I am a lover of God the Father, his son Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit.  They are my friends.  I will gladly keep company with them.  They are amazing.

Enjoy!

cate b

 

Kiss Me

Did you know that the Greek word proskuneo means to kiss (like a dog licking his master’s hand), to do reverence to, adore, etc.?  It originally carried with it the idea of subjects falling down to kiss the ground before a king or kiss their feet.

When I worship God I like to think of this.  He is definitely worthy.  There is a song by Sixpence None the Richer that I think of my God when I hear it.  Come on, bear with me and use a mature mind.  Nothing “sexual” about it.  Simply paying adoration and reverence to a God who is closer than a brother – a real friend AND a king.

Sixpence None The Richer – Kiss Me

Kiss me out of the bearded barley
Nightly, beside the green, green grass
Swing, swing, swing the spinning step
You wear those shoes and I will wear that dress.

[Chorus:]
Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight
Lead me out on the moonlit floor
Lift your open hand
Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance
Silver moon’s sparkling
So kiss me

Kiss me down by the broken tree house
Swing me upon its hanging tire
Bring, bring, bring your flowered hat
We’ll take the trail marked on your father’s map

I like to think of the “We’ll take the trail marked on your father’s map” as me and Jesus and God the father’s map.  A journey through life.

I hope the reader doesn’t take offense by what I say here today.  It’s not about religion, but a relationship with The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit.  That’s what He wants.

Just something for you to ponder. 🙂

cb

 

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