Loving me some Oswald today, January 29...

"Who art thou, Lord?"  Acts 26:15
The Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand."
There is no escape when Our Lord speaks, He always comes with an arrestment of the understanding.  Has the voice of God come to you directly?  If he has, you cannot mistake the intimate insistence with which it has spoken to you in the language you know best, not through your ears, but through your circumstances.


God has to destroy our determined confidence in our own convictions.  'I know this is what I should do' and suddenly the voice of God speaks in a way that overwhelms us by revealing the depths of our ignorance.  We have shown our ignorance of Him in the very way we determined to serve Him.  We serve Jesus in a spirit that is NOT His, we hurt Him by our advocacy for Him, we push His claims in the spirit of the devil.  Our words sound all right, but our spirit is that of an enemy.  'He rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.'


Have I been persecuting Jesus by a zealous determination to serve Him in my own way?  If I feel I have done my duty and yet have hurt Him in doing it, I may be sure it was not my duty, because it has not fostered the meek and quiet spirit, but the spirit of self-satisfaction.  We imagine that whatever is unpleasant is our duty!  Is that anything like the spirit of our Lord, 'I delight to do Thy will, O my God.'


Thank you 
Mr. Chambers 
Thank you.

Two posts in a row sorry...don't always have internet in this lovely place I call home!

Here:  Meditation and inner peace are highly valued while living a busy and chaotic life is highly valued in the West (or considered a life of success).

Here: Servant hood, silence, and simplicity are valued.  Whereas leadership and individualism and passion are valued in the West  

I find myself strongly drawn to these principles and wonder if it is because this is the first time that I have been exposed to them.  Hearing an idea versus actually seeing it in practice is huge.  Maybe before … sure the concepts sounded good, but who is really going to live like that unless they are forced to?  Which brings me to my next thought – is there value in simplicity?  Or is that just a noble-sounding idea?

“The call to simplicity and freedom is a reminder that our worth comes not from the amount of our involvements, achievements, or possessions, but from the depth and care which we bring to each moment, place, and person in our lives.”  Richard A. Bower

I find there is so much freedom in simplicity.  There is something almost liberating about not being reliant upon a bunch of appliances and conveniences for everything. 

I think it’s highly amusing that people would say that don’t have time to live without all of their modern conveniences.  That is ridiculous. 

The majority of people I know here gets up at 5 a.m. and stays up late.  Outside of working everyday, attending school, everyone washes all of their clothes and cooks all meals without any appliances except ‘camp stoves.’  Remember, this is a different experience than when you are living in a place where people have disposable diapers and other things (unmentionable) that save us hours of washing and cleaning.  Sorry for bringing it up but otherwise you don’t realize how good you have it!  Imagine having 6 kids and not having diapers and wipes and diaper bags…haha!

There isn’t the option of having a washing machine, a dryer, a dishwasher, an oven, a microwave, much less a steamer, a rice cooker, a bread maker of a coffeepot (for the average population)!  Yet in general the people are impeccably clean, constantly washing clothes, showering at least twice a day, sweeping and mopping more than once a day.  I became frustrated with these things in the beginning.  I still get annoyed once in awhile, but I only have to open my eyes and see the world around me and the frustration immediately drains away. 

The point…there is time.  To do all of these things.  To think you don’t have time is just something society told you. 

And there is still:

TIME to always have a conversation (even if it's mostly gestures!),

ENOUGH to always share your food with everyone around you,

SMILES even when you are not feeling well or will have to stay up all night doing homework

I am happy to not have a car, to not have ‘modern’ conveniences, to not have fast food, to not have much.  So for me simplicity is invaluable, and it is the ultimate freedom. 

As always, I do not claim this to be the Truth, it’s just what I am trying to wrap my little brain (or is it my heart) around right now and wanted to share.

Greatness lies not in trying to be somebody but in trying to help somebody.—Unknown

I was recently watching this show and one of the characters temporarily left the show to go ‘find herself.’  Being in another culture and viewing this from the ‘outside’ I realized what an interesting philosophy that is.  I think in Eastern societies to truly find yourself is to find peace within yourself by living in harmony with people, God, and nature around you.  It is not something that happens when you chase dreams, adventures, education, relationships, fun locations.  It happens each day while you are living and breathing.  Every day, every choice that you make, every response to each person or situation is not only a result of who you are but shapes you into who you will be in the future – your true self.  There is not a magic formula we can use to find ourselves.  We can’t go searching for something to fill us up.  We create ourselves, God did His good work.  Now the choices we make are up to us.  Who and what you surround yourself with is who you will become.

2012 - A year of Hope

May this be a year full of health, of hope, and of happiness.
May this be the year you find peace within yourself and see the peace and beauty surrounding you.

May this be the year that we fight for freedom and for justice.

May this be a year of transformation.

May this be a year of living for others rather than ourselves.

May this be a year of smiles and laughter, of tears and of joy.

May this be a year of courage and of strength.

May this be a year of change.

May this be the year that you and I step forward and turn the page ourselves rather than waiting for someone else to turn it for us.  Whether that be another person, a job, or God; we must stop waiting and stop blaming.  Don’t wait for someone else, just put one foot forward and go.  

Especially don't blame the one who equipped us with legs and with brains to USE.

May this be the year that you and I give our best…

Not the cheap canned food that you were never going to eat anyway. 

Not that old coat from five winters ago. 

Not what is left after paying numerous bills and making sure everything we want or need is taken care of. 

We must give our best FIRST.  Or we don’t actually give at all.

May each of us have our hearts broken, whether for ourselves or for another.

May we rise up through the heartbreak stronger and more steadfast than before.  May we find, in our own pain, a courage that is unbreakable, a courage that prevails through fire and through oceans and through wars.

May we find the audacity to change the world, one smile, one whisper, one faltering step at a time.

Don’t wait for the world to come to you.  Don’t wait for the broken to show up at your doorstep.  Don’t expect you the story of your life to write itself.  Because if you do, you are going to wake up tomorrow and be 86.  You are going to wonder, where am I and what happened to my life?  What did I accomplish?  What am I leaving behind?

All it takes is one.

Let's make this year a good one.