Pumpkin' Pie

10-9-06

I am at Riverstop again. This may be one of my last moments in this coffee shop. Sipping on a creamed up cup of quarter “caff” coffee I reflect on the many moments that I have spent here. Transition is knocking on my door. I am already half way through the door but still cannot see fully what is on the other side. I am moving to Pittsburgh and will be much closer to my family. I have seen this change coming for about 6 months but am amazed that it is here. So many things have happened in these last months and have drastically changed how my time is spent. The lovely woman that I am dating is a joy and blessing to my life and will be accompanying me on this adventure. So, with all of that being said, my thoughts run to pumpkins.

Pumpkins, they come in many shapes and sizes. They are usually orange on the outside with grooves running vertically. They are turning out in great numbers at this time of year and have many purposes. I enjoy taking out their seeds and baking them with salt. I also enjoy allowing my grandmother to bake me; yes I allow her, pumpkin pies. These two things alone are enough of a purpose for me to know they are valuable but yet I want to know what else they do. They could be good for a very difficult game of bowling. They are used to make very ugly face and then lit up with a candle. I am amazed at how many different things pumpkins can be used for. A couple of the strange uses are things like skin care and candle holders.

I began to realize that humans love to find purpose in things. Finding purpose is a gift that people possess and must decide if they want to use. I have also realized that we are rarely satisfied with figuring out one purpose. I just recently spoke to a chemist that worked two years on figure out another use of an orange peel. There are times that finding new purposes can be beneficial and other times that it can be detrimental to the main purpose. When we start finding new purposes many times we forget about the old ones and do not find them meaningful any longer. If pumpkins started being worn as hats then we would stop cutting faces in them because it would ruin the hat. This is an extremely bizarre example of what the Body of Christ may be doing.

I enjoy learning about what the Body is suppose to be doing. I enjoy learning about the purposes of life for a Christian but I am seeing how rediscovering our original purpose is largely due to the fact that we forgot it in the first place. Being in the midst of a major transition I am seeing how many “discoveries” are not really discoveries at all. Rediscoveries can only happen when we no longer remember our original purpose. We were created to respond to God. This involves a relationship with Him. Worship and rejection are the only two options. Things become simple again when we remember that we have a decision to make in how we respond to God. I think we need to get back to the core. Pretty things can be made with a pumpkin shell but the core is what is important; without the core…the shell is dead.

emBODYing Candles...

8-8-06

I am at Riverstop Café with my third cup of Columbian“half caff.”

I found the picture that is posted below and began to think about candles. Candles start our looking pretty nice; clean edges, colorful, cool shapes. Candles have a purpose though that is concealed within them. They are able to emit light. When the lights go out in your house if you don’t have a flash light then you can use candles. Candles can also be used to create mood lighting for various occasions. The problem is that a candle changes shape when it does what it’s suppose to. A candle begins to round out in some places, drip onto other things, and shrink in size. The life of a candle ends when its purpose runs out. The wick that is placed within the candle must be lit and then it will serve its purpose until the wick is used up.

I liken this to our lives as humans. We start out with soft skin, no bruises, and different shapes and colors. As life goes on we become more banged up and appear less beautiful to our own eyes. I can only imagine a candle looking at itself as it was burning. If it did not realize its purpose then it would be like…”Aw look…that’s sagging now.” or “I can’t control this liquid running down me.” Sound anything like what we experience as we get older?

So we have this purpose…what if we never are never lit? Our bodies still wear away but it is like a candle on a grater. The wick is sliced shorter with every pass and our bodies will continue to wither away. If we are never lit then we will get to the end of our life without ever having served our purpose.

If we have a purpose placed within us then we must recognize it so that we are able to be intentional about our lives. We need to realize that we were created to be light in the darkness. We need to see that our light is not our own but we are given light and we are created to hold light. We are able to have the God of the universe light us up. As we recognize our purpose we will start to see the wearing of our bodies as evidence that we are doing what we were created to do. We will then see the beauty of what is happening.

Light in darkness

Press On...

Intrigued?!?!

7-18-06

Brian McLaren states that “clarity is sometimes overrated and that intrigue is correspondingly undervalued.” Ok… I’m intrigued.

What does he mean when he says this? I like clarity. I like to “see clearly the rain is gone.” I like to see the bottom of the pool when I swim so I know what I am swimming in. I like to see clearly as I drive down the road so I don’t run in to anything. Clarity is overrated…how do we rate clarity? I can see how we rate clarity pretty high on the scale. Ok, I agree that it has a high rating. What about intrigue being undervalued. I find that intrigue is used to draw us in. I am intrigued as to what he is meaning so I am drawn into the conversation. I want to know more about what he means. Intrigue is used to draw us in but then we abandon intrigue in the search for clarity. So we have a minimal use of intrigue and an intense desire for clarity.

What is clarity? Seeing something clearly, understanding, having something figured out. In our relationship with the LORD we want to see Him clearly, understand Him…figure Him out? Can we figure God out? Can we really see Him clearly in the state of decay that we are in? Our bodies are in a state of decay while our spirits are in a relationship with Him. Ok, back to intrigue, I am intrigued by Him. My intrigue draws me in. If I am constantly intrigued does that mean I will be constantly drawn in? Maybe we really do undervalue intrigue. If I was intrigued by the LORD more often wouldn’t that be the key to more clarity? I said that clarity is seeing Him clearly, understanding Him, trying to figure Him out. We want to have the clarity, but we overrate it. We see the value in the end, not the process. The process is what takes us to the end. We can not find the clarity we desire without being intrigued. Where does this intrigue come from? Can we make this intrigue come from ourselves? When I am intrigued by something it is that thing that intrigues me. I do intrigue that thing. God must intrigue us. The relationship begins with Him. The pursuit begins with Him.

I agree with Brian in that “clarity is sometimes overrated and that intrigue is correspondingly undervalued.” When we enter into the relationship with the One that brings clarity we will receive it…but the clarity is not the point…the point is the relationship.