Monthly Archives: January 2010

This is kingdomtravelin’s 1000th post. I write it on a snowy day in the ‘ville.

I call this pic ‘path in the snow’ and enjoy pondering its meaning. I always think of Isaiah’s reminder in chapter one that our sins be white as snow. This pic was taken up on the neighborhood nature trail which is a favorite place for me to find solitude. The meaning of the path itself is not lost to me either, it reminds me that I am ever on a journey…

Upon further reflection, I realize that as I travel the path, I act like a human and do and think in ways that displease He who gives me life, so the snow falls afresh with His forgiveness… I have this pic as the background on my handheld because its nice to look at and its a good reminder of His forgiveness on the journey…

Isaiah has few more powerful words than those packed into 1:17-18…

17 learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.

18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool. (ESV)

a path in the snow

that reminds me of a journey of forgiveness

which is needed because of the muddy soul that I am

but the mud is red from the blood shed by my words

that hurt and stab

the twisting knife of my sin

but the snow of Forgiveness just keeps falling

and falling

from the Forgiver

the Lover of my soul who walks

beside me and never leaves me

even when I pick up the knife of words

in speech and thought

and prayer

Help me oh Forgiver and stay with me

cover my head, my shoulders with your snow

cover the scarlet that I am

with wool as I walk

the path in the snow…

Covered with wool, help me bring justice

to my own heart

with hands

let me work

not just pray

let me

go

to bring justice

to the oppressed

I am reading the words of Jesus these days…

As part of my own process of abiding in Him, I am dwelling on the words of Jesus (thanks be to God for the red letter Bible, right?)

I ran across this the other day… check it out:

9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God) [1]— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” (Mark 7:9-13, ESV)

I thought to myself, when Jesus said this to the Pharisees and scribes, he was saying to them (I think), you are building your own kingdom, not my Father’s…

There is an awful lot of kingdom building going on out there in the name of The Kingdom… there is a lot being done in the name of The Kingdom that is based on a lot of words of people, not so much the words of Jesus…

Dwell on the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles so you can discern the words of people who are teachers and apostles…

are you abiding in HIM or them?

in speaking with a friend recently, I was allowed into the mind of a parent of a child astray…

it wasn’t that this person’s child was into, what most would term, immoral behavior, it was their expression of sadness at their child’s world-view which reflected a greater importance of material over relationship…

Sweet Anna and I (at the recommendation of Princess Irene) went to see ‘Leap Year’ last night. I discovered the theme there too…

material was being placed over relationship…

and when the moment came to really discover what was important, there was disappointment about the choices made by one who should have cared more about relationship, about person, than about the material possession, about success…

as I spoke with my friend, I realized that this parent was more sad than mad… there was a bit of anger mixed in with the sadness, but it was mostly sadness at the priorities…

I thought of the Prodigal Son’s father. He stood on the road waiting and watching, I bet he was sad too… but hopeful… that his child would return from his waywardness (in this case caring more about success and stuff than relationships)… that the son would come back home…

In this story Jesus told, the father in the story represents God the Father… who, I bet, looks at our hearts and our decisions with more sadness than anger…

my friend’s adult child should know better and put relationship and people over material and success…

I should too.

What about you?

I hope you can hang for the full 8 min 33 seconds, and if you do, you may not get it… your reaction may not be that of the audience (me included)… but I post this because SO MUCH of this depicts life over much of Europe last century in Krakow, Sarajevo, Kyiv, Kerch, Vukovar, Budapest, on and on the list could go…

be sure you have good speakers or headphones, the music is very important…

thanks Anne

Since none of the 18 (no, that is not a typo – there were 18 candidate) candidates for prez won today, (according to exit polls) there will be a run off in February. The top two seem to be Viktor Yanukovych with something over 30% of the vote and Yulia Tymoshenko with something over 25% of the vote. That they only accounted for fifty-five-ish percent of the vote shows me that the pundants and my conversations with friends are right, Ukrainians are not happy with their politicians. Forty-five percent of the vote went for a variety of up-start candidates. We, of course, are waiting for a real vote count and for the official notice. We are also praying as we said yesterday for justice, for a government that works for the people’s well being and for peace.

On Sunday the 17th of Jan Ukrainians will go to the polls (probably in underwhelming numbers – cuz they are sick of the corruption) to elect a new president.
Five years ago the Orange Revolution captured to imagination and fueled the hopes of something more that half of Ukraine and many of us who love Ukrainians.
That election got a lot more press and when it appeared to be messed up, their high court was involved (sound familiar?) and then there was a new president who leaned toward “the West.”
He and his Prime Minister (who is running for prez) were in and out of love politically and she would snuggle (again I speak politically not literally) up to the prez, and then the guy he beat, and sometimes it seemed she was snuggling with Putin… its such a stinking mess.
So, as I talk to my friends from time to time, they seem to be pretty disinterested. read more
Here’s what I said in a tweet earlier today:

“Pray for Ukraine elections tomorrow: for fairness, for a clear winner, for peace and justice to result for the people”