- How We Get Paid
Two things seem disconnected
But are inseparably bound,
Your creative work
And your means of livelihood.
The first is the way you serve the world,
And the second is the way
The world repays you
For your generosity.
E454 - 0m - May 16, 2024 - He Walks Away in Silence
He walks away in silence.
He does not say a word at leaving.
And ruin follows in His wake,
Precious ruin.
And it will claim all those
Who wanted Him in the first place.
E453 - 0m - May 15, 2024 - The Dome of Heaven
To refuse to be a victim
And to refuse to victimize,
It is a mystery for the man
Who finds that he is worn out in the fighting.
And how is it done? By walking away,
And by not needing the things that they provide.
Can you find safety without the need to enforce any laws?
And can you find freedom without the need for an army?
I have. And it follows me like the dome of heaven.
E452 - 0m - May 14, 2024 - Going Away to War
He’s going away to war
And I am walking away from war.
And that’s ok. Good men go to war.
Me too. I war within myself
For the principles
That will free me from the need to go to war.
It is the last frontier,
It is the war
That, when men, finally, are willing to fight it,
Will end all wars.
E451 - 0m - May 13, 2024 - For One Night
I stop for the night and park
In the middle of a grassy field
Beside a stream. And nobody sees.
Or at least nobody notices.
And it feels as if it was made just for me,
Just for this night. I am amazed at the way
The world opens up for heaven
When we believe and keep moving on
Toward the thing we know is right.
E450 - 0m - May 12, 2024 - The Poem I Didn't Publish
I wrote a poem the other day
That was full of worldly wisdom.
It was advice for how to prosper
In this world so wily and unpredictable.
But after I did, I felt discouraged and tired.
I put the poem away and broke with my own advice.
I decided that perhaps better advice
Would be to follow Jesus
Out of the world
And into the road of sacrifice
That leads to renunciation.
And I know that many of you,
Perhaps the very ones
That I want to reach
Will turn away upon hearing that
Because you think I mean to get the old religion.
But that’s not the case at all.
E449 - 0m - May 11, 2024 - Available
Christ, just like Silence and Truth,
Is available to each irrespective
Of religion or lack thereof.
So that He can be had
For the reach.
E448 - 0m - May 10, 2024 - The Spirit of Christ
Christ may be the only way that the world will change.
It is not the idea of Christ, but the very Spirit of Christ that changes.
It enters into the heart and offers new choices
When it appears that war is the only way.
And it seems to me that it is found most readily
In the experience of total silence
And the hearing of genuine praise.
E447 - 0m - May 10, 2024 - I'll Remember Next Time
I took home a baby bird that I found on the ground.
Because I forgot all of the things they told me
When I was a boy at school,
Like don’t take home baby birds. Look for a nest.
It’s mother can take care of it better than you can.
Oops. But now it’s here.
It cheeps in my living quarters.
Tried to feed it. No luck yet. And I think to myself,
I am not good at this. I should have remembered what I learned.
Later today, I’ll go back and look for a nest
In the hopes that the mother is not far away.
And I don’t know what to say about it
Now that I’m the one in charge,
Other than, I’ll remember next time.
E446 - 0m - May 8, 2024 - Better Than Letters
When Christ reigns, it makes things personal.
When the letters rule, it's one size fits all,
And who wants that?
E445 - 0m - May 7, 2024 - Obedience
Far more than obedience to the creed
Is obedience to the still small voice.
E444 - 0m - May 6, 2024 - Don't Move Around Too Much
Don’t move around too much.
And be careful not to be lured
By that which costs too much
Of your precious time and means,
Especially by that which invites to MORE
When MORE is obviously too much
Or comes laden with complexities and waste.
E443 - 0m - May 5, 2024 - Without Reaching Out for More
Right here, without reaching out for more,
Except in the listening for
The next word
That leads on to the New and more abundant Life
Where everything is provided right here
And without reaching out for more.
E442 - 0m - May 4, 2024 - Choosing Not to Fight
Looking back in the rearview mirror of life,
I see the past diminish out of sight.
And looking into the future
Of the promise that’s decreed,
I see the hope of restoration of all that
Which I have lost in choosing not to fight.
E441 - 0m - May 3, 2024 - Slippery
“I ordain that it be slippery for 100 years,” he said.
And then I woke up from the dream.
For a long time, I mourned
Over this decree.
But now, I see
That it is a relief to know
That it will roll out in waves.
So that, I can notice my progress and say
Not bad for the first five years. Let’s see
If I can hold on to the new life
For a little longer next time.
And all of it so that
My children’s children’s children
May enter in to go not out forever.
E440 - 0m - May 2, 2024 - Sixteen
He’s only sixteen,
And completely unprepared for life.
So was I. I had no idea what it was like.
But that’s ok. He’ll live it anyway. And so have I.
Surely he’ll break up and flounder.
And maybe he’ll get “right”.
I don’t know if I’ve ever done that.
But that’s ok. I live it anyway.
And he will too.
And it is the best we have to give.
And when we love each other, that’s still something.
E439 - 0m - Apr 30, 2024 - Where Do They Land?
Hot air balloons hovering over the city.
I wonder where they land.
Somewhere. And I don’t understand
How they do that. But they do.
I am like a balloon
Now that I think about it.
E438 - 0m - Apr 30, 2024 - Private Property
It's private property, they say.
That’s right for now. For now,
It’s in your power to endlessly seek gain
Without a thought of those who have no place.
But the tables are about to turn everlastingly
In the favor of those whose home
Is not of this world.
E437 - 0m - Apr 28, 2024 - The Meaning of Work Harder
I always thought, when people said “work harder”
That they meant to work faster,
To be more busy,
More rushed.
Hustle is the word that comes to mind.
And I’ve never been good at that.
I struggle to sustain it
Since it so often comes with a kind of anxiety
As if I am making up for an inherent deficit.
But I have found a new meaning for “work harder”:
Work more consistently, without stopping, overthinking, or getting distracted
As long as it takes, until the project is completed.
I find this definition to be far more useful.
It is extremely effective for getting things done
And much more peaceful than what I thought they meant.
E436 - 0m - Apr 27, 2024 - Reno
I once heard that strangers who wandered into Sodom
Were robbed, beaten, sometimes raped, and then cast out.
I'm not sure if that's completely true, but if so,
No wonder such a city met with fire from the skies.
I once heard from a homeless person
That the hardest city to survive in
Was the second-largest city
In the state that makes its living
From gambling and prostitution.
Lure them in, take their virtue and their money,
Leave them broken, then spit them out,
Chase them away, from the sight of those
Who make their living on the process.
And I can't help but think that fire waits
To pour itself down on such a place.
E435 - 0m - Apr 26, 2024