Ask yourself!

I wanted to share this song with everyone. I find myself driving fast each time I listen but I also enjoy the lyrics.

Artist: MxPx
Song: Sometimes You have to Ask Yourself

Never quite just knew how to get it through
The utilitarian sloganeerian minds
And its time to stand up and redefine the lines
right now

Compartmentalizing, isn't realizing
Because it's not affecting change in the real world
So get on with your life and get over mine
There's only one world and there's many different tastes

So enjoy, don't employ your state
Common goals, communicate to contemplate
The way things are and why
Don't pawn the status quo problems off on the other guy

Your a celebrity in your own world
Catch phrases only catching cobb webs
Spiritualized capital gain and wealth
Isn't the means to the end, isn't the end itself

Manifest individually
Manifest a sense of reality
Because it's non exclusive
Don't be so elusively blind
Things are never what they seem
You don't know what you'll find
Right now!

Fatter Homes Pricing Out Poor

Forbes.com: Fatter Homes Pricing Out Poor

No Spiritual Face Value here but definately some eye opening statistics.

A full-time worker making the federal minimum wage could afford a typical one-bedroom apartment in just four of the nation's 3066 counties, the coalition said.

The Journey of a Prodigal

As I began each book I look for nuggets that tell me "press on, this one is going to be good" or "this one wasn't really worth the money". This past week I picked up a book by a man who lived over 1000 years ago. I hestitated at the price but something within pushed me forward even with a mark up beyond the cover price. I wondered if I would be able to comprehend his thoughts and style of language since so much has changed since he physically lived on this earth, but I decided to take the journey. What follows is from the introduction of the book.


I sat in Misha's, a coffee house in Old Town, and began to read a very eloquent introduction to this man Bernard. The introductory writer is obviously a well read and scholarly man but besides that a spirit led man who brings forth truth through his interpretation of Bernard's writing.

Within the first few pages I came across this quote:

On the path leading back to God, the point of departure is humility and the point of destination is love. Both are a question of experience, then a matter of reflection, and at length become motivating principles put into practice. (Bernard)

Immediately the Lord brought to mind the prodigal. He reminded me of His point of departure back to the Father. A point that most would deem beneath themselves. A place of filth and stench. A place that would almost be embarrassing to mention in our culture given the often heard question of "So, where do you work?".

This man had reached the depths of humiliation and had come to this conclusion through the relentless inner working of the Spirit. He found himself lower than his father's slaves, dirty, broke and in need of mercy and grace. He found himself being led into humility. Bernard said,

Only the touch of the Holy Spirit teaches, and it is learned by experience alone. Let those who have experienced it enjoy it; let those who have not, burn with desire, not so much to know it as to experience it. (Bernard)

The prodigal had to learn humility the hard way. He had to go through so much to understand what the spirit's touch was like. He had to be brought to the end of his philosophy of life. His arrogance and pride had led him to a disgraceful act against his father. This act was followed by more acts of debauchery that even today bring forth condemnation from our society. A life that brings back memories of a quote I used as my "senior quote" for the year book:

Ain't no wrong now, ain't no right. Only pleasure and pain.(Jane's Addiction)

No right, no wrong, only pleasure and pain will follow me and my actions. No one will condem me! No one will praise me! But I will do what pleases me no matter the outcome! If it means DUI, overdose, a child out of wedlock or even death, I care not because it is all ultimately for my pleasure. This world will not restrain me from releasing the anger and pain within! It will only be used by me to bring about some form of self healing/gratification. But oh how far we prodigals must go to see the end of ourselves and find our grand schemes waisting away in the pig sty!

It truly is the experience that we must have to know the Lord. He knows best the way to teach us. Even if that means he watches us sink deep into depression and addiction. He knows the workings of our inner ears and eyes in ways that only he could. He instructs his spirit to teach, once the ears and eyes have been tuned. Teaching in a way that burns within. Teaching truth with such piercing accuracy that at our point of despair and delusion we run back to him for refuge.

All along the way the prodigal finds himself in active contemplation of the reception as well as looking back at what has transpired over the past few years. What will be said? Man i have screwed up! If only I can serve as a slave I will be better off. My brother is never going to let me live this down! I wonder if any of the old crew is still around? What will happen when he/she comes around? Did I really treat them that way? Will my family still love me?

This experience in humility with the Spirit leaves the prodigal with an expectation of experiences to come. If the spirit broke into his life in such dramatic fashion why would he not contiue to do so as he continues the journey home. Jean states:

The Experience is the culimnating point in the Christian life to which all the soul's progress must tend. As we grow in grace and learn to trust in the Lord, our experience of love increases until we come to feel God's kiss on the mouth. In the early stages of conversion, we approach the feet of the Lord; later we reach his hands; the kiss on the mouth is an experience reserved for those who have achieved perfection. (Jean Leclercq)

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rembrandt/1660/return-prodigal-son.jpg

Just imagine that as the prodigal returns and sees his father waiting for him, he drops and plants his face to the ground. The work of the spirit has brought the prodigal to the point of humility and an expression of love is flowing from his heart. Coming expecting nothing and having only a desire to be received and loved once again. He sits weeping as the Father runs to greet him.

The prodigal remains in this position for a few minutes and then he feels the presence of someone grabbing him under the arm in a way that expresses tenderness and compassion. His father is bending to help him from his humble place fully knowing that his child has returned not only in the physical sense but also with his heart.

As the prodigal lifts from the ground he is then grasped by the father with both hands on his arms. His face is still facing the ground but the warmth that the spirit is ushering in says 'It's ok my son, you are forgiven.' It's as if the spirit is lifting his chin to look into his father's eyes again. As his face lifts the father's hands reach out to graps his face. His palms touch the son's cheeks as his fingers lay on the side of his head. The father leans forward and kisses the son to show full the acceptance this son has been freely given.

The kiss is a sign of honor and intimacy. The prodigal has been perfected in his father's action. His heart is new, he can live free now. Free from the vices of the world. Free to serve without expectation. Free to love as his father has loved him. No hindrances because he has reached humble perfection in his father.

The prodigal has recognized his need and has found himself led into humility which has ultimately brought him to the point of Grace. Jean shares:

Man's end is to recognize truth, which is God. To do this he must be aware that his relationship with God is based on need. The obstacle to the relationship is pride; the remedy is humility. Grace is the condition for meeting God in Christ. The result is the esteem man places on his dignity, rediscovered in God's image. While self-ignorance and pride lessen man's worth, humility, which recognizes man's need as well as his capacity for God, reveals man to himself. In this way, he emerges from himself and ascends; he grows and reaches new dimensions of love, both for God and for neighbor. (Jean Leclercq)

So this Grace has allowed the prodigal to see himself as the Father sees him. He has a glimpse of the value he represents to the father. His heart is expanding. His capacity to love is expanding as well. Loving God, neighbor and himself is something new and enjoyable. It's a place that only the embraced beloved can be and is a place that he wants to remain. The Father has spoken, yet not with words but in ways that wash over the prodigal leaving him in a state of veneration.

Bernard shares that God

touches and excites the heart, communicating his love without saying much, for his effects speak of his presence. (Bernard)

his presence is what the prodigal had and still desires. He presses on seeking that experience of truth and love knowing that somewhere in the now God will show up and speak with his 'presence'. A presence that speaks only love and joy for the beloved.

If you read the Gospels, the Religious Right is most often wrong

Fredericksburg.com - If you read the Gospels, the Religious Right is most often wrong

I found this article pretty sharp edged. Amazing how the secular press views and digs to interpret even the religious culture that surrounds it. So given, the idea Rick throws out what is it that we can do to show we are the body?

Sell all we have? Live on Less so we can give more? How do we hold ourselves and institutions accountable with the finances and wealth God has so blessed with here in America?

Sojourning,
Robb

"The OLD CROSS and the NEW"-by A.W. Tozer.

"The OLD CROSS and the NEW"-by A.W. Tozer.

All unannounced and mostly undetected there has come in modern times a new cross into popular evangelical circles. It is like the old cross, but different: the likenesses are superficial; the differences, fundamental.

From this new cross has sprung a new philosophy of the Christian life, and from that new philosophy has come a new evangelical technique - a new type of meeting and a new kind of preaching. This new evangelism employs the same language as the old, but its content is not the same and its emphasis not as before.

The old cross would have no truck with the world. For Adam's proud flesh it meant the end of the journey. It carried into effect the sentence imposed by the law of Sinai. The new cross is not opposed to the human race; rather, it is a friendly pal and, if understood aright, it is the source of oceans of good clean fun and innocent enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference. His lifemotivation is unchanged; he still lives for his own pleasure, only now he takes delight in singing choruses and watching religious movies instead of singing bawdy songs and drinking hard liquor. The accent is still on enjoyment, though the fun is now on a higher plane morally if not intellectually.


The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life before a new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities. He seeks to key into public interest by showing that Christianity makes no unpleasant demands; rather, it offers the same thing the world does, only on a higher level. Whatever the sin-mad world happens to be clamoring after at the moment is cleverly shown to be the very thing the gospel offers, only the religious product is better. The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To the self-assertive it says, "Come and assert yourself for Christ." To the egotist it says, "Come and do your boasting in the Lord." To the thrill-seeker it says, "Come and enjoy the thrill of Christianfellowship." The Christian message is slanted in the direction of the current vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public.

The philosophy back of this kind of thing may be sincere but its sincerity does not save it from being false. It is false because it is blind. It misses completely the whole meaning of the cross.

The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good-by to his friends. He was not coming back. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more.

The race of Adam is under death sentence. There is no commutation and no escape. God cannot approve any of the fruits of sin, however innocent they may appear or beautiful to the eyes of men. God salvages the individual by liquidating him and then raising him again to newness of life.

That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways of God and the ways of men is false to the Bible and cruel to the souls of its hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the world, it intersects it. In coming to Christ we do not bring our old life up onto a higher plane; we leave it at the cross. The corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die.

We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum.

God offers life, but not an improved old life. The life He offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of the cross. Whoever would possess it must pass under the rod. He must repudiate himself and concur in God's just sentence against him. What does this mean to the individual, the condemned man who would find life in Christ Jesus? How can this theology be translated into life? Simply, he must repent and believe. He must forsake his sins and then go on to forsake himself. Let him cover nothing, defend nothing, excuse nothing. Let him not seek to make terms with God, but let him bow his head before the stroke of God's stern displeasure and acknowledge himself worthy to die.

Having done this let him gaze with simple trust upon the risen Saviour, and from Him will come life and rebirth and cleansing and power. The cross that ended the earthly life of Jesus now puts an end to the sinner; and the power that raised Christ from the dead now raises him to a new life along with Christ.

To any who may object to this or count it merely a narrow and private view of truth, let me say God has set His hallmark of approval upon this message from Paul's day to the present. Whether stated in these exact words or not, this has been the content of all preaching that has brought life and power to the worldthrough the centuries. The mystics, the reformers, the revivalists have put their emphasis here, and signs and wonders and mighty operations of the Holy Ghost gave witness to God's approval. Dare we, the heirs of such a legacy of power, tamper with the truth?

Dare we with our stubby pencils erase the lines of the blueprint or alter the pattern shown us in the Mount? May God forbid. Let us preach the old cross and we will know the old power.

Welcome!

The idea of this blog has been growing for some time now and finally we have a place to share our hearts and minds with each other. Hopefully this blog will make it easy for each of us to read at our own leisure instead of being confined to the sometimes limiting values of email.

The name of the blog is a synonym for the word sojourn, which is a word I have been embracing lately. Webster shares with us that tarriance is a variation of tarry.

1tar·ry
Pronunciation: 'tar-E
Function: intransitive verbInflected
Form(s): tar·ried; tar·ry·ing
Etymology: Middle English tarien
1b: to linger in expectation : WAIT

So i hope the journey goes well for us. Just 2 rules here:

1. Honor the Lord with all that you do. (1 Cor. 10:31)
2. Think more of the other than yourself. (Romans 12:1-5)

Sojourning,
Robb