I tread the lush green pastures of God’s provision. He calls me to His mountains and teaches me how to make the wild waters run still so others can drink. I had no ambition to do any of this, but the Lord would not allow me to choose anything else. Bondage? Call it what you will, but anything else would be madness and my life would be wasted on things that don’t matter.
The whole idea is that I sing His glories and hike openly to these places. Some few decide it sounds like the True Shepherd of Souls and decide to walk alongside. If they are sheep, it is only so that they may by God’s mercy become shepherds themselves. We seek to bring His justice to life.
Yeah, I could blather like that for pages and maybe it would call to you. I can’t drag you to those green pastures in the mountains of God and I can’t stick your face in the still waters. Could I do so, it wouldn’t gain anyone divine justice and life. You have to hear the voice of God in the things I write or the words simply represent virtual noise.
You want scientific proof? It’s limited, but it’s a start. Because the research builds on the false foundation of Western scientific assumptions, the websites that offer the bulk of this very real proof don’t really know what to do with it. One or two will offer a stack of books and courses (at premium prices) for a very poor rendition of how to use the science.
For a full understanding, we have to reach back into far earlier civilizations and their vast lore of obscure wisdom. Sure, I hold the Bible as the central anchor point for all of this, but God never hid it from the rest of the world (Romans 2:13-16). People far from the land of the Bible understood instinctively that the heart was far higher than the intellect and paid attention. Without knowing God by name (at least, no names that we would recognize), they still managed to sense His Person and sought to discern His character in the world around them. Thus, that I might have some affinity for elements of Native American culture and religious talk is a testimony to God’s mercy, not my departure from some imaginary orthodoxy designed by modern day Pharisees.
So I continue to recommend highly the blog posts of my dear co-worker in this ministry, Sister Wildcumber. The lady there is my sister and the Mama Elder of our online parish. Yeah, she has a more common birth name and a married name, but what difference does it make? Unless you live where she does, let’s take full advantage of this medium to strip away all our false dependencies on structures that serve only to hinder our spirituality. Know us by our words and by the Spirit that witnesses to these words. Otherwise, we are rightly nobodies to you. We call only to those who hear.
So tell me: What would it take for you to believe the message? How can we help you find the Lord of Creation in these things? We walk on this earth a short time, but I assure you some of us experience far more of it on levels most folks can’t imagine. It’s not magic; it’s miracle. We hear the voice of God singing from the very elements of nature. Rocks on the ground tell me of His greatness in their own unique voice. The greenery calls to me as I ride past on my bicycle and my heart rejoices with them.
You can be a part of our nutty, almost alien experience with God, but only if it calls to you.
Amen Brother. You’re nailing what I’m talking about in my blog currently when you say “Without knowing God by name (at least, no names that we would recognize), they still managed to sense His Person and sought to discern His character in the world around them”
And how could they not? When you live as a *participant* in Creation, He’s kind of hard to miss!
About that Sister Wildcucumber thing .. When I needed a handle for posts when I started my blog, wildcucumber, being my favourite plant in the whole wild world, came off the top of my head. *You* added the Sister part 🙂
And you know what? I like it. I know it’s hokey but I like it.
We cannot afford to take ourselves too seriously, so a heavy seasoning with hokey is about right. His love between us is what matters.
Thank you for this post! God bless you!
The religious of Jesus’ day missed it, even though he was standing before them in the flesh. Today, most in the churches are also missing Christ in us and the world; and even though it is hidden in most people and blazingly beautiful in all God’s creation, we can see it with the eyes of our circumcised heart in him and call it forth! “Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; for although they knew God (the religious elite and the elite they play the harlot with and the innocent sheep who are in their flocks) they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise they became fools, and exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or animals. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to dishonoring of their bodies…exchanged the truth for lies, and worship the creation rather than the Creator” Romans 1:20-25.