Phantom of the Opera

Carellyn is listening to the sound track from The Phantom of the Opera in her room. I can hear the phantom calling out to Christine and I wonder...
What phantom is haunting the shadowy places of the opera house that is Christa?
What is waiting for me to step down off of my stage?
Phantom! Step out of the darkness. Phantom step into the light and been seen for what you really are; a wounded being needing to be loved. Step out and be healed.

I recall what I know about God from scripture...
He knows all about me
" you have looked deep into my heart, Lord, and you know all about me" Psalm 139:1
There is nowhere I can go that God is not
"Where could I go to escape from your Spirit or from your sight" Psalm139:7
there is no darkness in me God cannot get to.
" But you see in the dark because daylight and dark are the same to you" Psalm139:12

so I pray, Lord, "Look deep into my heart, God, and find out everything I am thinking. Don't let me follow evil ways, but lead me in the way that time has proven true." Psalm 139:23-24.

In the end, the Phantom of the Opera could not remain in the darkness either. The blazing light of a tremendous fire destroyed every dark place he sought to hide and was the catalyst for Christine, whom he loved so passionately, being set free.

Let it be so with us.

beautiful bones

Bones! I have read that from dust I came and to dust I shall return, but I know the pharaohs of Egypt did not believe that. They had every intention of taking their beautiful bones with them into the afterlife. In life, multiple wives caressed them, religious leaders blessed them and enemies stressed them. In death embalmers dressed them and I... viewed them in a museum, 3000 plus year after the fact. The bones of the pharaohs still held the muscle and sinew and hair together, still held their shape beneath linen wrappings and masks made of solid gold. Lovely
bones.

Bones! What framework that holds my muscle, hair, flesh and...fat together! They hold my shape beneath cotton t-shirt and shorts and leather sandals. I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

When I die my bones will not be dressed in linen wrappings, my head and shoulders not covered in a mask of solid gold. Most likely they will be burned and become like the dust Adam was formed from, but my soul...the part of me that will return to the one who owns it will shine brighter than gold.

Until then I will delight in these lovely bones.

Down from the mountain top

Down from the Mountain top of Presbyterian Youth Triennium...

I imagine that Peter, James and John had a pretty clear idea of what they wanted to do with their lives when they were on the mountian top with Jesus, Moses and Elijah. (What a fellowship of believers!!) they wanted to build an alter of worship, stay up there all the time, remain "high" in the Lord.

I can totally relate! Having just come home from PYT, a gathering of 5-6K Presbyterian youth and adult leaders at Purdue University. In that setting of high energy, higher education and intense worship, it was so easy for me to imagine myself enrolling fulltime at a seminary, becoming a youth minister and just staying "high" in the Lord.

But... (there is that word)

Just as it was for Peter, James and John, Jesus has not created me to remain in that high and lofty place of imagination. The disciples were led down off the mountain to "multitudes" of hungry people. Hungry for food? Yes. Hungry for direction? Hope? Healing? Yes, yes, yes! The God they were called to serve lead them down from the mountain and into the place where the would live out their calling. And He gifted them, prepared them, filled them for that work.

And am I any different? No. God invites me to join Him on the mountain top, to worship with other believers, to bask in His Glory, to fill my eyes with the wonder of all God has made and I know God has a plan for me in all of it. It is the times of intense worship that I recognize I am being prepared for His calling...down off the mountain top.

The Best Laid Plans

The best laid plans...... are best left to God, us mice and men "miss it".

OK, so here is what we had planned for today: Go to church and pick up Carey from the midhigh youth overnight. Catch the BlueLine (metro train) and go the the Oregon Zoo in Portland.

AND here's what happened: Holly cried, "Daddy, please let me go to Sunday school. I want to learn there!" So, Doug changed his clothes and we went to church.

Doug and I sat together in worship and were filled with the Spirit. We both realized how much we needed to be there. Just last night Doug told me how much he missed taking communion (we hadn't celebrated the Lord's Supper since before we left). God brought us to the place we needed to be to receive that blessing. Praise be to God!

It was a good morning, and a day of rest.We did not get on the BlueLine and go to the zoo. As it turned out, Carey hadn't slept at all (I'm not suprised) and she really needed to just go home and sleep. So we went home, had the frito pie we had been craving, watched TV, took naps, and went to eat out. Just what we needed!

The best laid plans really are laid by the Master Planner!

In the Creator's hands

" through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that had been made"

John 1:3

This past week (weeks) we have been busy making costumes. We wanted to make them with things we had here at home, so we used newspapers and flour paste to make paper mache masks, cardboard and eggcartons to make dragon and warrior outfits, and lots of paint and hot glue to put them all together. The kitchen has been a disaster, but the creative juices were flowing, so we left it a mess. They turned out FANTASTIC! We walked around the neighborhood last night and basked in the glow of jack-o-lanterns and praise for what a great job we had done on our costumes. And afterward we rested......and PIGGED out on the kid's unwanted Twizzlers.

ONE thing came to mind after this experience:

God is an awesome creator!

1. We made things out of a few recyclables and they are good for a night or two. He made all things and they are GOOD for always.

2. We made things that cover up our outsides, so we can pretend to be something we're not. He made us from the inside out and knows who we really ARE!

3. We rested, then overindulged. He rested and blessed.

I am writing this down not so much as to highlight that our ways are not His ways, but because I have seen a glimpse of what it means to be created in His image. We have the desire to create something that brings us joy. And we have Him to thank for that....and the chocolate candy bars. We can't forget to thank Him for those either.

What would Sarai have packed?

I am headed back to NM's big sky and loved ones later today, so I have been busy packing bags in preparation. I thought of Abram and Sarai (not yet Abraham and Sarah) and their journey. I wondered what Sarai would have packed in anticipation. Probably much more than I!! But then the camel caravan didn't have a one bag 50lb limit. Silliness. It's just fun to think about. What if they did?

What kind of life?

This morning as I was picking up and starting the laundry, I cranked up the music on the stereo. I had put on a few of my favorite CDs to keep me motivated: Jeremy Camp, Casting Crowns, and Stephen Curtis Chapman. I know the words, so its easy to sing along without really hearing the song. But at one point the words entered my thought, "these are the signs of life..."
Breathing? Heart beat? Brain waves? Eating and growing? No, I decided. There is definitely more to life than that.

When I sat down to spend time in the Word this morning, I felt I needed to search a deeper meaning of the word "life". I looked the word up in my concordance and found Luke 12:22,23.
" Do not worry about your life...Life is more that food, and the body is more than clothing" I noticed that the word "life" was in there twice and wondered if it might have two different meanings in the original Greek, so I looked that up, too.

Well one thing led to another and I found out that in the Greek language there is more than one word that is translated as "life". There is the word, "psuche" which can be translated as "soul"; it means that immaterial part of us that makes us living beings. And there is the word,"bios" which is our physical life, the breathing, beating, thinking part of us. And yet another, "zoe", which is life in the spirit; spirit is that within us that allows us to commuicate with God. Jesus speaks of this "life" in John 6:63, " ...the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life."

What kind of life do I want to be living? Bios? merely walking around, breathing? OR Zoe? being alive in my spirit! Walking with God, having the breath of life! This is what Jesus wants for me, too.