Carrying Christ farther....

<sup>So,
Which biblical character would you most like to meet? Jesus is a given. Maybe Paul? Peter? The Mary's? All good choices.


But check it!


1 (A)</sup>When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at ^(B)the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

How about the owner of the donkey!!?!?!?!

I know, I'm weird... It's not the first time I've heard that. LOL

But honestly I've got questions...

• How does this dude know that Jesus needs HIS donkey?
• He didn't mind having HIS donkey taken? And used?
• When it all played out and he witnessed the whole breakdown, how did he  feel?
• Was he proud, surprised, afraid? What?!!??!?

We don't know the owner of the donkey's name, but we do know that all four gospels tell the story of an anonymous donkey owner and his donkey which ultimately carry Jesus into the city of Jerusalem to begin the end his public ministry, and to ultimately set the timer on the greatest gift humanity will ever receive.

God dying for us....

Have you ever felt like there was something you had that God wanted you to give, but you didn't give it? And even worse, you ultimately find out that by not giving it, you missed an awesome opportunity to make a difference in somebodies life?

God I've been there.

Or have you ever known God wanted something from you, but you don't give out of selfishness because you feel like you have a right to keep it?

Or those RARE occurrences where you hear God's voice, and you act.. You feel so humbled that God used you to help someone out.

I guess for me, I wonder whether or not my small, individual acts really make all that much of a difference.

But that's the thing... We all have a "donkey". We all have something that if we obediently gave it to God, we could carry Christ farther....

What's your "donkey"? Is it your time? Your talent? Maybe your giving? What are you holding on to, that if you gave it, Christ gets farther. Maybe in you neighborhood? Work? Maybe He simply gets carried farther into one more home. Maybe even into one more heart...

Christ wants to mount your donkey to be carried farther.

The bible is full of small acts that are given to a BIG God to produce tremendous results.

• Rahab's rope
• Paul's Bucket
• A lad's lunch
• Sampson's jawbone
• David's sling

It seems like nothing. But when you give it to God, He makes a masterpiece out of your small act of obedience.

I bet the owner didn't know that giving his donkey was prophecy being fulfilled..

Zachariah 9:9

^{9 (N)}Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your ^(O)king is coming to you;
He is ^[g](P)just and ^(Q)endowed with salvation,
^(R)Humble, and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a ^(S)colt, the ^[h]foal of a donkey.

Man.. The nameless owner's donkey carried GOD into a city.

Our "donkey" can do the same. Give it... The Lord has need of it

It grows like crazy!!!!

So the parable is simple. St Luke 13: 18-19.

¹⁸Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?
   ¹⁹It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.

To truly understand this, you have to understand what's going on at this point in the world. Rome. Rome is what's going on. The kingdom that spans the world. How did they execute this world dominance you might ask? The roman army would come into a city and erect a statue of Caesar. They would then ask you to bow down and worship the statue. If you refused, you were massacred. Men, women, and even children were massacred for refusing to acknowledge Caesar as God.

The Roman Army would also strike fear in the hearts of people by impaling those who refused to bow on poles within the city. And as if that were not enough, they taxed the people astronomical prices to maintain the strength of the army. History records the the average family was taxed 90% of their income!

 This was the kingdom that oppressed the Jewish people at this time. They were angry, scared, and READY for change. Jesus knowing this, comes on the scene and says "repent, for the KINGDOM of God is at hand". He knew the Roman kingdom was ruling with an iron fist, but He also knew what the mentioning of another kingdom would do for the people. He was starting a revolution!

So he's got the people in an uproar! They want to know what the next move is and when is this kingdom coming to rid us of  roman supremacy. Christ goes a step farther! He says, not only is the kingdom near, I'm going to tell you what the kingdom looks like!!!!

Oh snap! Now the people are jacked! Spit it out Jesus! What's this thing gonna look like!!!

Jesus, (who always had a flare for the dramatic) tells them the kingdom of God, is like--- (wait for it)

A grain of a mustard seed!!!!!!

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I bet the the people were utterly confused, upset and let down... Wait a minute Jesus... Really?

You've got us ready to fight... We're ready to go to war for this new kingdom that will rid us of the Roman empire and the thing you compare this great revolution to is a grain of a mustard seed being planted in a garden????

Try again Jesus.....

Right?????

Wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What makes this parable so amazing is that at that time, under the law it was ILLEGAL to grow mustard's. Yeah... That's right... Against the LAW! Would you like to know why????

Because when a mustard seed is planted, it begins to grow, but it turns into a vine-like weed that grows uncontrollably! If there are flowers in the garden, the mustard vine will overtake the flower. If there are tomatoes in the garden, they won't survive. The mustard weed over takes it. The mustard was outlawed because it could not be regulated!!!!

I bet the people wondered... Why would this man tell us the kingdom of God is like a forbidden seed, and illegal seed!!! Because the Kingdom, like the mustard seed starts small. But if you plant it... It grows like CRAZY!!!!

The mustard seed of its self is small, and forgettable.. But when you plant it......  It grows to overtake anything that gets in it's way. Jesus says the Kingdom of God is just like that....

I wonder... Have you planted the seed yet in your "garden"? I.E. your neighborhood, job, and family? Here is what we know... The bible can't lie. We know that. If we plant it, it will grow. For some reason, I think people think the revolution no longer exists... Why? Because Christ is no longer here physically?

His death and resurrection only strengthens our cause! What other God can claim to have lived, died, and come back! The revolution lives on. It's ours to carry on. If we are ambassadors of Christ, we carry what He left behind. He left behind a revolution.

Have you heard about it? Apparently it's like a grain of a mustard seed that gets planted in a garden....

But once it's planted.... It grows... LIKE CRAZY!

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. St. John 12:32

Poem: When music sounds....

The power to give joy, the ability to revert me back to my days as a boy.

I get stuck in it's symphonic lore, when it's lyrics explore,

me....

The life of the lived bore me but hearing the same life drawn out on keys? Please... It- moves me,
It is sound's movie. It's motion, it's commotion, it's events, it's news. It's rythym, it's blues. It soothes away the most chaotic of days...

It rekindles the best and worst of times in waves... It digs graves. Gospel speaks on the Ancient of Days, yet Negro Sprituals groan out the sermons of slaves..

We use this phenomenon to wake up, we've used certain songs as the soundtrack to our breakups.

Such power. Such matter. It's clamor provokes the movement of my limbs, gems frantically jump off lobes around the globe when that one jam probes...

Hope floats off treble clefs, it brings nieces and nephs to one paradym, the soul train line!

It gives the deliberation that a love lives, a love will survive, a love will die. In love will I- live.

I'm not married to music, but I'm definately a live in... I give in, to it.

Come on, we run on tracks listening to tracks we swear make us faster.

We comment on music constantly, both the good and the diasater,

and we wonder what will live on past the... Recurrance of time? Alicia Keys chimes, Jay- Z lines...

Where were you when you first heard we are the world? New Edition's issue with a relationships weather,

Or Al Green's insistance on staying together.

Big's sinister stories or hearing minister, Shekinah Glory, for the first time... From Zap to Marvin Sapp, Chris Brown to Casting Crowns....

I am at my best when I hear....

The music sound......

Redlines...

Looking for God in EVERYTHING....

You know,


When I think about it, it's pretty easy to find God when I'm in tough situations with regard to my walk with Christ. I'm hurting, I'm in need, I reach out, and there He is. I see Him. I am seen of Him. I love it. But what about searching for God among the small, daily, and even mundane things that we've come so accustomed to managing, we haven't "looked" for God in those things in quite some time.


God I'm guilty.


I'm talking beyond family, and church... I've got to gain a manic desire to see Him in EVERYTHING. Where do we miss Gods presence?


In people...   (Matthew 25:31-46)


 ³¹When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
   ³²And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
   ³³And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
   ³⁴Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
   ³⁵For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
   ³⁶Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
   ³⁷Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
   ³⁸When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
   ³⁹Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
   ⁴⁰And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
   ⁴¹Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
   ⁴²For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
   ⁴³I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
   ⁴⁴Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
   ⁴⁵Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
   ⁴⁶And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.


Finding God is not so difficult. If I look hard enough, I will see Him in people. Where else have I missed God? If the scripture is right, some of us have missed God....


In Christ... (St. John 14:6-9)


 ⁶Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
   ⁷If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
   ⁸Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
   ⁹Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?


Some of us desperately look for God, but don't realize that you find Him in Jesus Christ...


Check this out! Acts 17: 24-28


²⁴God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
   ²⁵Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
   ²⁶And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
   ²⁷That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
   ²⁸For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.


This is awesome. Paul is saying God created everything, and everything consists of God. God decided before the foundation of the world when nations should rise and fall. God also designed a very specific area to be inhabited by a specific people.


God is stupid awesome! Why did He do all this? What's the intricate plan behind God being so meticulous in His creation? Take a look at verse 27...


God wants us to look for Him. He wants us to search for Him. In everything. He made us to look for Him...


What happens when we look for God in our jobs, our conversation, and our behavior????


Our dress attire, our daily itinerary... God is waiting for us to look for Him in everything. He illustrates His might to show us that looking anywhere else is futile. Our everything is found in God.


Lord, I don't mind looking for you... Help me to see you...

I can't explain it....

It's unlike anything I can describe
When the pen dances, and tells what's inside

Like an unforgettable ride
Twists, turns letting off an unforgettable vibe

At times it's hard to tell it
Speakin the truth and you can't repel it

It's like a zone of some sort
When my words contort

And dismount feelings concerning dealings of the heart
Who only seeks his own part

But I let it dominate
And it's then I learn to concentrate

And poetry begins
And the world spins....

I formulate calculations of life-long frustrations
Mishaps and setbacks
The heart adds and subtracts

Experiences...

Moments both beholden and stolen
But then it freezes
Because it capsulizes these moments as it pleases

Unforgivable is this ink black
Which refuses to take it back

You can die off the words you spoke
But those same words become immortalized when it's wrote

I'm barely woke!

But I'm obeying a poet
Who's flowin and he know it

The pen brings confidence amid
A soul that is usually timid

The pen brings stranger's hearts kindred

So explain that!

Only I know where the pain is at

Either I suffer the pain involved
Or I suffer the pain revolved

I can't write without pain
Because I understand for growth, it takes rain.

This is insane!

I keep goin people what!
I'm just tryin to masterpiece my gut

Continuing drastically
Is the Spirit involved? It has to be!

You say God aint in all that
But God knows of myself I couldn't write all that

And despite all that

I understand this to be a gift-

Whether used right or wrong
This is how I choose to belong

This is an exclusive club, I exist in a plight
To make every man,women, and child believe what I write

This is me at my finest
If I was on play, then you would rewind this
But my humility, keeps me behind all this..

I'm just a lucky soul
That found out writing helps keep the spirit whole

WRITE IT!

Whether it's talks of peace or scrap
Whether it's poetry or rap

Whether it's flamboyant or plain
Whether it's me or my man Cane.

Zone out. Write your heart...

And let the poetry explain....

-Redlines

The pain that great expectation can give.... Fighting Irish Lamentations

To know that my mouth for yet another year must remain closed due to the egg we layed in Ann Arbor literally sickens me. We (ND if you didn't know) continue to kill ourselves with red zone turnovers. Our cornerbacks (specifically Gary Gray) have an inability to locate the ball while in the air. This is a very elementary aspect of being a defensive back. When you see the receiver looking up for the ball, YOU LOOK UP FOR THE BALL!!!!

Ugh.

Last in the nation in turnover margin... Five turnovers a game. Only a crazy person would expect to win games when you are literally giving the ball back to your opponent 5 times a game. Brian Kelly says: "We have a chance to be a good team".

Hey BK, I'd settle for a disciplined one....

The one quote that continues to resonate with me that Mr. Kelly said continues to ring in my ear daily. The same quote haunts me at night....

"We cannot begin to win games until we learn how to stop losing them".

USF didn't beat us.. UM did not beat us... We beat our selves. That is a most difficult pill to swallow....

The blessing behind rejection.....

So,

 I was thinking. What are the major challenges that I have behind sharing my faith with whomever? What locks us up as believers from sharing the greatest story ever told? Well, it's a number of things for me. I want to focus on the primary reason for me, and possibly you!

Rejection.

I fear the rejection. Most Christians are really passionate about Christ, and want to share Him with the world. But happens when you go to share Him, and you're totally shot down? Possibly mocked? Even ridiculed?? The best thing for me was realizing that I had to change the way I thought. What if my thoughts regarding rejection are totally different from God's reaction to my being rejected?

Well......

They are!!!!!!  Check it out!

"If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified." I Peter 4:14

Whoa... You mean when I'm rejected, when I'm condemned, and when I'm turned away my appropriate response should be happiness?!?!!?

Yes.

We've looked at this the wrong way. We can't get wrapped up in the "results". The mere fact that you gave Christ, He is glorified. Even if the hearer does not share that same sentiment.

This turns witnessing on it's ear! So even when I seemingly lose through rejection, I actually win???

I think it's safe to say that we all want the Glory of God resting on us. Right? Well some of that Glory comes through rejection.....

Check this out as well!

22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.

²³Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

St. Luke 6:22-23...

OK hold up.... So...

Rejection =

• Happiness
• The Glory of God resting on me
• Glorification of Christ
• A heavenly reward

Do you see how different God's thoughts are from ours? Every rejection I've ever experienced in my life as been hurtful, depressing, emotionally and mentally draining, etc...

This is when I'm the subject matter... But when you are rejected for sharing the love of Christ... You should literally leap for joy!

So when you share your faith, there is only good that can come from it. We can take the fear that Satan gives us in rejection and now know that God blesses us, and anoints us when we are rejected.

It appears that all the excuses we've built in to our hearts and minds have been taken away. God only gives us a winning situation in sharing our faith.

Hey God?  I really needed to know that...       Thank you.