Draw us in Jesus

This is a result from a darkroom of two negatives from black and white film, one placed right on top of the other developed into an 8x10 photograph.

It makes me think of how complex God, our Father, is. There is so much to Him as He draws us inward to experience His glory. There are so many facets to His character. We will never fully understand or know everything there is to know until the day we see Him face to face, but there is something so interesting and intriguing about the knowledge of Jesus that keeps us coming back for more.

I pray that for each of us, just as this picture for me keeps me searching for new things to see, that we search for Jesus in our lives daily to discover and learn new things about Him through as many different venues as possible. Then, while being drawn to Him, we will see and can experience growth, truth, peace, and ultimately His glory in everything that surrounds us.

Thank you God for thoughts, words, creativity, nature, relationships (family, friends, and in-love ones, personal one with You), recreation and leisure, work, the church, a Savior, and anything and everything else that characterizes the life you have freely given us. Really, much thanks is being offered up...

They say it's your birthday!

Hi everyone! I can't be there tomorrow, but wanted to make sure to shout out to Chris on his birthday. HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!

I am thankful for each one of you everyday, as well as on the celebration day of your birth!
Much love. Maddie

Matthew 9:37-38
Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

We should be laborers ourselves and pray for more to come along side us to work together for God while we are on this earth. God has given us so much to work with and work for. There are so many people that we come in contact with during our lives that are thirsty for what WE can share with them...JESUS!

A picture of freedom

After last night's consistent theme of people sharing insecurity or lack of freedom from something, I thought I would share this moment I had with Jesus the other day. As I tried to write in my journal and read my Bible, He instead asked me to rest and come away with him. He gave me a beautiful picture/prayer of what He meant by coming away with him, so here it is. I hope this resonates with you as much as it did with me:

"I would love to run in a field with you, Jesus. Barefoot, sunny, warm. Exploring, playing, laughing, twirling, looking at clouds together, climbing trees...soaking in everything you created, cuddling up to Your comfort, resting in Your goodness. Basking in Your glory, spinning around in Your creation, tasting Your creativity, listening to Your angels' sweet song. Being completely enveloped in Your perfect, unfailing love. You begin to show me the entirety of the wonder and beauty of being Your child...the white, pure, dazzling perfection You intended me to be. A beautiful white gown, Lord, blowing in Your wind. A graceful, silk veil held up with flowers in my hair--exotic, intoxicatingly fragrant flowers that send sensational tingles throughout my soul every time I breathe in.

It is all I can do to stay calm as I walk toward my groom, wrapped in the Presence of my King, my Father, the deepest connection to my inner being, my soul, my free and glorious spirit. I can't contain my excitement and tear across the field, veil flying off, flowers gently coming loose. I jump into your arms, Jesus, flowers breaking free from my hair and gently landing beside us, immediately springing up new ones. An explosion of color radiates across Your entire Kingdom. I'm HOME, Father! Wrapped in the arms of Christ, of MY Christ! My Savior!

Lord, can you take me to this place? I long for it with my inmost being. My spirit yearns for it, my heart craves it, my apathy invites it. Show me now, Jesus, how to be there, how to stay there. How do I trust you? Why do I fear? Your love is so perfect, Father. Your perfect love drives out ALL fear. Jesus, Father, Yeshua, my best friend...I want to receive Your love fully. Help me to receive it, embrace it, allow it to drive out my fear-driven doubts that plague my days.

I expect the day that there is no more fear, the day joy rings throughout all nations, throughout each individual's deepest part of their soul. I expect it fully and joyfully. I eagerly await that day, my King. Let this picture, let this Holy Presence, settle into my bones. May your words pierce me and Your creation leap in front of me to direct my focus on You and ward off all distraction. May I do every mundane action of each day, each week, with joy and passion. May I delight in serving You with these actions-for with You-nothing is mundane! You radiate nothing but deep, rich goodness throughout my soul. May it shine for all to see, every day, every hour, every conversation, every smile, every hug, every laugh. May your beautiful Presence entice those who don't know You. The greatest part is, God, all I have to do is watch- You will do it all through me. I expect it eagerly and faithfully."

May you move where the Spirit guides and may your face and your spirit never stop radiating joy.

:)

“The Mind is its own place, it can make a heaven out of hell and a hell out of heaven”
John Milton

“So, as the Holy Spirit says:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the desert”
Hebrews 3:7-8

Time--to walk on water
Nicotine, Alcohol, Caffeine and Lust
one Hell of an anti-drug;
Frozen hands on splintering beams
clinging to what is good— and hating what is evil?

Evil; not within themselves,
but in the stead of water…so
alive and overflowing these cisterns
of brokenness, emptiness
loneliness…

…This deep yearning to be known
within a prison of the unknown
feeding off of what never has and never will be known
in light of what will soon be known--

The clamoring of this steadfast invasion, waiting
and unable to hear beyond the bewilderment,
beyond good and evil—and into an oblivion
of what has been, what is, and what will be

Parched throat and hands trembling,
in front of a throne that is closer than my pulse and
further away than the scattered stars above
too callous to understand what has
been given and continues to be given in spite of me

My storm calmer, my romancer, my shepherd…
his soft whisper, his harmony,
his beaconing--the man
with the holes in his wrists:
“I know you…and I love you. Just a few more steps friend …”

"Come on and Trust"

So this is a drawing from my journal showing Peter not trusting Jesus when they are out on the water, you know when Jesus was walking on water. I drew it during a church service within the last few months, and they were talking about putting your trust and faith in Jesus completely, with no reservations. We have been hinting around at struggling with this type of thing during our house church moments, and I was also thinking that it went along well with The Dirt and the Flood's song "Come on and Trust." So, I am gonna give the lyrics here:

-Come on and Trust-

O you of little faith
Christ says to Peter looking straight at me
Why don't you act like you say
And stop trusting in ordinary things
Its been your biggest mistake
And you want revival want amazing
But you must trust in this name
It's all you got anyways

Come on and trust

Do you remember my name
I am Emanuel Lord of Lords
You are my hands and my feet
To tell the nations I am worthy
But do you really believe
That I wouldn't do greater than these
Miracles you see
You've got a Spirit of power, not…of…

Come on and trust
Take my hand and trust me
Come on and trust
Take his hand and trust him

You know you're overcome with fear
When all the promises have left your ear
And all you think about is what you will do with your years

Come on and trust

The Garden

So, for those of you who went to The Dirt & The Flood opening the other night, you heard Knox speak of the CD title and what a garden means. This poem does not exactly parallel with Knox's description, however it was the poem in my devotion for the day of the concert, as well as the beginning of February's devotions. Yes, God connects everything.

I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses;
And the voice I hear, ringing on my ear,
The son of God discloses;

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own.
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

C. Austin Miles (1868-1946)

Chris' "Awful" poem...

I actually thought it was pretty good Chris! :-P...well...at least what it's trying to say overall ha!

Light of the World

By: Chris Ragon

My friend you see I have to go

And leave you here this night

You know dear friend I love you so

But that won’t stop this fight

Our land you see is overrun

By evil known as sin

And when I show the world the way

Your life can then begin

It does not kill with sheer brute force

By burning down your town

It’s much too crafty for all that

It wants to steal your crown

My friend you see I have to go

And leave you here this night

You know dear friend I love you so

But that won’t stop this fight

While most accept this awful fate

By which they are consumed

At first it feels so right and good

But truly they are doomed

The darkness takes you from my light

To which you all are drawn

Without this light you will be lost

Then truly hope is gone

My friend you see I have to go

And leave you here this night

You know dear friend I love you so

But that won’t stop this fight

And with my light you all will fight

To show the world the way

There is no way that you can fail

It strengthens you this day

The light will use all that you have

To pierce right through the dark

For it will run away with fear

And gone its crimson mark

My friend you see I have to go

And leave you here this night

You know dear friend I love you so

But that won’t stop this fight

~Chris Ragon

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.

Listen to carrion -- put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go.

Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

~Wendell Berry