tummy blender hill bender hair dryer screaming higher, rollercoaster adrenaline. black & white abc’s absorb tea steam bathes in afternoon sunlight cat on lap, book lover dream. tall friends of brown & green lead eyes up with their branches waving in breeze fresh air canyon view flowerswild & sparkly dew, hikers paradise. board game night camaraderie around the table laugh till snort, pee—the gang’s all here. travel high flying jet to new everything exotic cuisine like cuy bright geometric patterned shawl funky music hola que tal? adventure junkie delight.
what’s your idea of fun?
have you thought of the Presence of God, as fun?
the bible says in psalm 16 that in His presence is fullness of joy. better than the most desirable & enjoyable thing imaginable, is Jesus.
God is fun.
He wants to have fun with us.
have you ever spent more than a half hour around a young child? If so you’ll know their world is quite different from ours! Their world revolves around laughter & play. Good Dads love to wrestle with their children, chase them & be the tickle monster, make blanket forts, & pretend.
a childs entire existence can be summed up into the word FUN.
so if we’re the children of God, we are waking up to playing with our Dad.
He rescues us because He delights in us (psalm 18:19)!
“Yahweh your God is in your midst, A mighty one who will save. He will be joyful over you with gladness; He will be quiet in His love; He will rejoice over you with joyful singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17
“in the wilderness you saw how Yahweh your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.’”
Deuteronomy 1:31
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John 1:12-13
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!”
Philippians 4:4
He loves to play with His kids. when we’re resting, we’re enjoying Jesus. when we’re enjoying Jesus, we’re resting. there is rest available today. it’s in the eyes of love. in the arms that carry you & the laughter—oh it’s in the laughter!
You’re not like the others. You’re not like the sand, shifting and eroding, ebbing and flowing as tide comes and leaves. or star—born, sparkle, implode. breath, comes, goes. there’s grace laced throughout Your royal robes and burning eyes, leaving no trace of former scars or lies. You love to forgive, You love to forget. You don’t count my mistakes. or look at my forsaken state of mind. but call me beloved, found, Yours… all along. this false reality—me me me—ice melting beneath, nowhere to go but sink, is taken in a blink. when You look at me.
and taken, I am. Your gaze undoing every corner and crevice of things I thought I knew. unraveled, a puddle of yarn and knelt knees. I can barely stand that You would look at me. this love, so intense. I feel like rowing away. yet I’m drawn ever sweetly, stayed. can’t make sense of this, don’t even wanna. this beckoning fits my longing like a gloved hand. here we are, together. I never knew I missed You till we met. this Sun never stops shining. this Guide never stops giving. this God never stops pursuing. i can’t get away from You, why, why would i want to? nowhere else to go. even if I leave, You love.
You don’t leave. day 693, still. the same. unchanged. unmoved. like gazing at fire licking air on crisp night, I stare, at You. You don’t get old and You’re never boring. like Christmas morning or my wedding day, how can this elation stay? yet You elaborate, showing me more, then more, somehow more love. right here, so present. how do You be this way? so unlike all the other lovers, who left, never stayed. who left me hungry, wanting. chip bags full of empty, air. staring into vacant stands. reaching for green paper to buy another new, same disappointment. an island of misery. why did no one ever tell me I could be free, for free? given everything—You.
*this is an excerpt from my book, Microwave the Moon. i hope it blesses you! Available on Amazon: https://a.co/d/040vdod
everyone is invited to The Party. & once there, everyone has presents waiting to be opened.
sadly, many choose to not accept their invitation. they don’t believe the good news of acceptance so they ignore their invitation in disbelief. of those who accept their invitation, many never open the presents given to them. some open a few presents while still leaving a pile of presents untouched. while the fewest group of all, are those who receive from the goodness of the Giver. they are of humble childlike meekness &, with simplicity, they accept the invitation to life & then go & open each gift given to them from Him.
which partygoer (or ignorer) are you?
have you accepted your party invitation or carelessly tossed it in the garbage can? to accept the free invitation to be a part of Gods family is good news! we are all invited! God says yes to us in Jesus! will we say yes to Him? He’s proposed. it’s now up to us to respond—in faith with simple agreement, or in rejection of free gift of eternal life.
if you do accept, GREAT! but it’s not a one time acceptance! there’s more He wants to give. He is the more; the more we know Him, the more beauty, more love, more everything good—More HIM—is received in us. but it is possible to receive once, twice, several more times…then stop. check your heart. how are you receiving from God *today*. not yesterday or tomorrow—today. today is the day of salvation! live one day at a time as each day has enough troubles of its own. each day is fresh mercy is fresh reception, fresh gifts given from above to be received from God to each one of us!
the gift given is not just for you.
to truly open a gift & to relish it, is to expand it—when you’re excited about something, you want to share it with others! the joy and the peace & the laughing all transfer.
likewise to ignore that present given to you, hurts those around you. if you’re grumpy, anxious, irritable, rude, it definitely drags those with you to those low levels as well.
receive well. because God Giver—the Party Himself— is worthy of praise.
God is the gift. will you receive Him today?
“Therefore let us draw near to the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
“But don’t forget this one thing, loved ones, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some consider slowness. Rather, He is being patient toward you—not wanting anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:8-9
“For we know that if the tent, our earthly home, is torn down, we have a building from God—a home not made with human hands, eternal in the heavens.” 2 Corinthians 5:1
sometimes we compare our abilities to what other people can do. maybe I can play the guitar and sing, but, not like that guy over there can, so I devalue what I have based on what he has.
this is so backwards! & sad. many people are waiting to use what God has given to them until they’re exceptionally-up-to-expectations-excellent. there’s nothing wrong with desiring excellence. but, in reality, we need to just step out in faith and do the thing. momentum begets momentum. & to practice is the way forward.
we often feel like what God has given us to share with the world is nothing special. it’s normal to me, so why would anyone else think it special?
maybe you don’t see what you have as important, when, in reality, you’re the only person on earth who can do it like you can. no one else. no one can do it like you can.
if you are funny, tell jokes & make people smile! if you can bake, make many pies! if you are a singer, sing. teachers teach, athletes train and sewers sew! just do the thing. that is how you will get better anyways—by practice! by actually engaging that unique part of the image of God in you, the beauty the goodness the special talent or skill!
whatever excuses or lies you’ve heard about why you’re not writing, not singing, not cooking, not painting, not starting a business or whatever that special ability God’s gifted to you, tell it to shut up! & instead believe—i am created on purpose, with a purpose. I am here to know and make God known. no one can reflect Him in the exact, unique way He made me to! I get to shine my own specific rainbow in earth. so I must shine! I must do the thing i’m made to do! otherwise the world will be missing a ray of light, as no one can shine the way I am created to!
so create! sing! make music & paint & build websites, landscape, & fix cars!! write books & teach children & pole vault! whatever the thing you’re given to do, your gift, do it well, for Him!
what will you do with what you’re given?
God gave you gifts and abilities and talents for a reason!
you know— we cannot trust our feelings, because even though a bungee jumper feels the free fall, they are always held and connected. so let’s live connected to Father. even when we feel the gravity, there is a Love who keeps us safe. we can feel like we’re falling, but the Lord. but the Lord is our saving line of hope.
He keeps us, leads us with cords of love
“I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. to them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.” Hosea 11:4
life can be like a bungee cord.
sometimes we stumble, but He pulls us back up. snap back! “for the one who delights in God, though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand.”(Psalms 37:24)
life can be like a bungee cord.
when we trust His way is best, we jump into faith & are found. obedience to God is all! so today take a leap faith, let it go, release. trust God to catch you as you step out on His Word! be. rest. the peace is found in waiting. & know—you are kept by cords of love.
beach carpet—hot, dry, composite of miniature shell mirrors, pebbles, & sand molecules. each tiny bit composing a yellow shore blanket. i splay on this mosaic—my own music a collage made of millions of cells, notes, dancing, making me. each atom a party room of song & redemption long—longer than my eye can see the blue waves echoing off horizon edge.
here i am.
You brought me here, a bookmark in time, a pause. a place to be—just You & me. so here we are, together, on Your island beach.
Your island beach where You take every memory every tear, each broken pottery piece shard and moonbeam shed from head hung night, You take all the mismatched & missing pieces, to make a mural masterpiece. You leave no second untouched, revisiting & redeeming all the atoms of me until the movie of my life switches genres from drama & trauma to romance—You.
You brought me here, the beach of healing. so heal me here. let us sit let us walk the water’s tip where waves splash & drip the sand dark, where sea & shore hold hands, washing, recreating the sand again & again. i submit to You my shadows, heal me here.
look at the seed—it in itself contains the potential to become the plant (even the fruit!), but it must take time. it must take air, must water, must sunshine. & if it be submitted to this process of receiving & rest, growth will grow.
submit to Design & with time, submission will multiply into growth, into gifts to give others—shade, fruit, a home. so become in the secret quiet. let the Designer take His time to make you fully Thine. discover the sweetness in trust & you will yourself become sweet.
receive the gift daily. receive rain. receive sun. receive clear goodness and the things given from above.
yield & allow Him to prune off all but what He gave—all but the seed—& you will be a pure, perfect bride of love, light—committed & consecrated, set-apart & all together lovely, for Him.
be His. & that which is planted, that which is given in you, will grow.
by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
2 Timothy 1:14
for land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, & produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.
the same water splashing as Jesus came up from his baptism is in the earth today.
the same water Naaman washed in and was healed is today a fountain still rushing. the same water parted in the Red Sea when God delivered His people from the Egyptians lives now. the water that carried Noah and his family in the ark, the water that Rebekah watered the camels with, the water Jesus washed his disciples’ feet with, the water that gushed from our Saviour’s side… still flows here—covering ocean beds, flooding river basins, flushing toilet bowls, dewing fields and watering gardens, raining plant food and washing our sins white.
about 71% of the earth is water!
our bodies are somewhere from 60-70% water (it varies person to person). of all people, newborns have the most water percentage wise (78%). this is no surprise as babies are fresh from Heaven!
the US Geological Survey says that the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. the skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are watery: 31%.
water is essential to life
it’s a vital nutrient to the life of every cell, acts first as a building material.
water regulates our internal body temperature through sweating and respiration
carbohydrates and proteins which our bodies use for food are metabolized and transported by water in the bloodstream;
this liquid assists in flushing waste mostly through urination
it acts as shock absorber for brain, spinal cord, and fetus
water creates saliva
water lubricates joints
without water we perish.
in the Bible we see it was already created:
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:2
For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God… 2 Peter 3:5
what is this beautiful mystery we call water?
Dr. Masaru Emoto, a Japanese scientist, studied how the molecular structure in water transforms when exposed to human words, thoughts, sounds and intentions. his findings point us to Jesus.
Emoto exposed water to certain words then photographed the molecules to show the word’s effect on the water:
as you can see, water is literally changed and transformed based on word. the same water from which God spoke and all things came to be, can still today be impacted by Word.
if our bodies are mostly water, what word is shaping the water of you? are your water building blocks jagged and asymmetrical and broken? or are they symmetrical snowflake mirrors, eloquent and soft, beautiful and sweet?
whose word are you receiving? God’s good word of Love or satan’s lie of evil?
the beauty of this study is that water can change. we are made of water; we can change! or rather we can allow the Word of Heaven to shape us! the Bible calls this repentance, a wild and wonderful gift.
when our hearts are fertile soil for the Word of God to make His home, when we receive what God says, allowing His Voice to shape and create anew in us, everything changes!
…the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 2:14
let the tears you’ve wept lead you to every drop of Christ’s blood and all the grace downpour raining from Heaven higher than here! there is a River. His Name is Jesus. He waits to wash you with Himself, the blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel! will you let Him wash you? all your jagged jarring spikes and broken gashes of pieces and places can be made beautiful. just let Him have you. let His eternal water touch your rivers and oceans, and all your elbows and memories will become new like when He spoke everything into existence at Day One. reborn! FreshWATER. a fountain wellspring exploding from your heart where the King Himself rests enthroned in the storeroom of snow, dew, rain, love inside you just waiting to water the world around you!
Whoever drinks of the water I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
the fact that I can change; my past is not my future because the cross is real
blood
God’s word
my ability to go out and purchase groceries
each friend
each toe
(especially the pinkie one without which I would be terribly off balance!)
roots
JESUS
opposable thumbs
that I’ve made it this far
my skin holding everything in
every morning God painting a new picture in the sky
indoor plumbing and socks
babies
the Spirit of God choosing to make me His home
dew
day and night
rocks
my neighbors
eyes remembering to blink
ecosystems’ designs
the fact that there’s still light at night (thank You for stars&moon)
pollen
medicine
the computers in our skulls
the relief from a burp
gravity preventing me from floating into oblivion
the atmosphere being the perfect way for humans
the cut on my knee daily looking less like a cut
seasons
a closet full of clothes
cells and all of science, stars and stick bugs and even the dustmites underbed
the mystery laced in all creation that draws us to our knees in wonder
healing from my soul’s once brokenness and fleshwounds
various spices
athletes, artists, musicians, teachers, mechanics, pilots, engineers, mothers, and plumbers—the diversity in gifts and the beauty of different
sunshine, warm and light, coaxing me to higher ways
today
cucumbers
truth
vision
rain
hugs
God loving to forgive
bread
life itself
God, open our eyes to see You in everything! for truly YOU ARE. a million eternal three thousand nine infinity miracles in every moment. if we only look.
how many jellyfish jig dance recitals has God choreographed, for an audience of One? how many waterfalls gush in secret, cascading down cliffside or mountain crag, hidden and glorious? how many stars He named, for none but Himself! how many ant parades He’s led, how many birds’ songs He’s composed, how many baby birds He’s coaxed out of their nest for their first time to fly, or sunrises He’s painted, storms He’s sketched. & all for Himself! we really are ignorant of all these grandiose and important daily miracles! yet God conducts it all, from His beauty for His glory. how many times has He vacuumed earth dew back up to Heaven, only for it to fall again when clouds unglue? how do lightning bugs lead dragonflies at night? how to be whale’s doula, or the tulip’s joy. daily these hidden mysteries, of wonder and awe, are created and cared for by God—from whom and for whom all things live and move and have their being. & daily these hidden mysteries escape us. yet He still does them, all for Himself.
of all God’s endless secret beauty on earth, the most amazing to me is that the evolving hairs on your head are all numbered. the tears you’ve wept, kept in His bottle. the details of you, fully known and fully loved. so let the God of detail and universe, ocean and atom, come after you. let Him hug you to life. because He lives and loves and longs for you to love Him, too.💙
Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven? Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket? Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food? Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does? Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth, when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young? Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger? Job 38
The very hairs of your head are all numbered. Matthew 10:30
You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. Psalm 56:8
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. For in Him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in Heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross. Colossians 1:15-20
God perfectly knows Himself and, being the source and author of all things, it follows that He knows all that can be known. And this He knows instantly and with a fullness of perfection that includes every possible item of knowledge concerning everything that exists or could have existed anywhere in the universe at any time in the past or that may exist in the centuries or ages yet unborn.
AW Tozer
“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.” Psalm 139:1-18 ESV