God... All talk?

I think everyone is familiar with the type of person that loves to talk... and talk... and TALK.

Well, the next time you roll your eyes (in your mind) with a patronizing smile on your face while listening to a talker.  Be reminded that God is a talker that doesn't shut up.

Think about it... When you read the creation story in Genesis its like God made stuff just to talk too.  And of ALL that he created the only things made in him image can talk.  Trees can't do it, birds can't do it, bees can't do it.. not cat, nor dog or fleas.

But look at the power of spoken word... it has the ability to inspire, instruct  and guide.  It can build relationships and set boundaries.  It can summon help or call for trouble.  Even muzzled in silence our ability to speak, speaks loudly.

So what is our responsibility with this Godly trait?  I say it is to be like God and talk, and talk, and talk.  But if we really talk like God taks, we should have a lot to show for all the talking... just like our God does.

What is old is new... again.

The Bible is such an awesome and beautiful tool with rich application for understanding and relating to our God and with one another.  But we must not forget that God existed before written scripture and that the God of Abraham still wants to commune with us.
Is this admonishment an attempt to deemphasize scripture?  NO!  Not at all, but it is a reminder that the letter alone kills but the spirit makes alive.  Be reminded that within biblical text we are challenged to be living epistles read of men.  Jesus Christ who was the living word has past the Christness on to us, calling for us to rise up to live as God's word made flesh.
Legalism calls this relationship obedience to commands but those in love with God call it the joy that is our strength, our reasonable service, our meat and our renewing.
To learn how much God loves us and to fulfill his loving wishes for us, is to become the heros mentioned in Hebrews 11.  We become the new "men of old" earning a good report and are the NEW New Testament.

LOVE WINS by Rob Bell

Just finished the book Love Wins.  I highly recommend it for those who feel a call to Connectionism.  The book challenges fundamentalist perspective that seeks to take the letter of the Bible literally rather than studying it as inspired writings offered to inspire living.

I believe this book is the alarm to awaken the Connectionism movement and to stir Huemanity Unlimited.  But the heart of both is that we can't do it alone.  We need people like you.

Let's change the world by offering everyone who wants to accept Jesus Christ the reason too.

So read the book and pray... what do you hear the Spirit speaking to your heart as you read this... PLEASE SHARE.

Faith like Evolution

Faith, like evolution, is the opportunity to transform what you are into who you choose to be.

Zero Sum Heart

Forgive us our debts and we forgive our debtors...
Simple phrase but a serious challenge.


Rather than a fiscal ideology, consider it a challenge to your heart.
Owe nothing even as you free those that owe you.

I've learned to lend only what I can afford to give so when I walk away there is no measure for resentment as the recipient of that trust proves their character. And When I have a debt that I cannot pay, I've learned not to run and hide but rather ask pardon... Or better yet ask how to make amends...

But the whole forgive even as I receive forgiveness is a zero sum challenge that is most important in process of loving God and my nieghbor as myself. It also extremely impactful to building healthy family relationships and sustaining connection.

Waiting on an apology can leave a wound in your soul unhealed and septic when all it would take for healing is to let it go and let what they owe go to zero.
Dreams that have been buried can be resurrected when the balance of fear or disappointment deposited by failure are withdrawn.
Everything that your loved one isn't but should be...
All that you should be but are not...
Leave it all to the thief of night and wake up with full account of grace and mercy to live as you choose while you free others to be who they choose.

time?

Is it time yet.... ?

Time for a faith system for people who have issues and aren't afraid to admit it?

Connectionism is waiting.

Waiting for you to refuse to be afraid of change
and to find the courage to
turn from the idols of what was, modeled by the traditions and instructions given by God, like Manna... for its day
to sustain people who trusted Him
people dependent so much on His provision that they dare not hold on to what he gave yesterday

Time for fresh bread?

Connectionism...?
Let the ancient question ring once again... "What is it?"

Honorable Truth

If you are reading this chances are you are old enough to have experienced tragic hate and conflict that religion can produce.
You may be jaded by all the inconsistencies or indoctrinated to the point that even the most obvious doctrinal contradictions make sense to you without question.

But if you are sane and humble enough to admit it, you probably believe there is either more... or nothing more to what humanity has debated for thousands of years....
God?  No God?  Which God?  Why God?  What God?

Could this age old debate be resolved with a honest attempt at answering "what for...?"

Believing in God is for what?  God existing is for for what?  Humanity seeking connection to God is for what?  Equating God to LOVE is for what?

Ummm prolly not going to resolve the addiction to friction over the fact and fiction of God.  But there is truth worth noting... honorable truth:

We are connected and it may be for a reason. We are more alike than different and that may be for a reason.  We have untapped potential, probably for a reason.  You are reading this... yep, for some reason.

Maybe the reason is what God is for.
Maybe the reason is to prove that God is for you.

Faithful Skeptic

Am I supposed to believe a faith system based on a God that makes all things new should change so little?
Am I supposed to believe that those that have "found God" have no need of searching?

Am I supposed to believe the gospel of a victorious savior is intended to leave me in constant need of rescue or saved?

Am I supposed to believe that I should be doing more of what could never be enough?

Am I supposed to believe that requirements forever fulfilled still obligate me?

Am I supposed to believe in a perfect creator that makes messed up stuff?

I believe but help my unbelief...

Spiritual Technology

Skepticism and debates about the value and validity of biblical scripture are prevalent and seem to be becoming increasingly popular.  Our hope is that we can cause a fresh perspective of the Bible to reveal a universal relevance without compromise of the Christ message.

Just like scientific theory that is based on studies and historical human accounts, it's time for mankind to tap into the Bible's accounts of the potential for "spiritual technology".  More than mysticism, magic and mystery; the isness of God exists to be known, related with and connected too.  But according to the account in scripture, if God is the same as in the beginning, His primary goal is the provision for His children - you and me.  Like every parent created in the image of God, the parental instinct is a reflection of what spiritual technology should produce: NATURAL and SUPERNATURAL PROVISION for every need in the human experience.

Peace for fear, healing for sickness, hope of despair, joy for sorrow, eternal life for death...etc

But the process of developing the spiritual technology necessary to produce these results seems to require: humility, hunger and confidence in a promise from God.   

The following is a great example of a scriptural precedent for tapping into supernatural provision.  

Deuteronomy 8:3-4 (New International Version, ©2011)

³ He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. ⁴ Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.

Matthew 4:4 (New International Version, ©2011)

 ⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’^[a]”

Do you value the eternal?

Everything we see fades. Everything that we see is subject to decay... corrosion and the destruction of time.  But the invisible can live forever... love, hate, affirmations, encouragement discouragement, and faith are concepts that live beyond us as a human legacy.

 How often do material and unimportant urgencies keep you from investing in eternal things?  What kind of legacy are you building?