Never Sleeps

While a pastor on the Fort Berthold Reservation I was honored with the Indian name, "NeverSleeps". It was primarily because I was often responding to particular needs in the middle of the night.

Even more relevant, the Lord Himself, Maker of all, "Never Sleeps".

Surely you know.
Surely you have heard.
The Lord is the God who lives forever,
who created all the world.
He does not become tired or need to rest.
No one can understand how great his wisdom is.

Isaiah 40:28

Welcome to every reader. I am a simple follower of Jesus. He is perfect, I often fall short.

Showing posts with label communication. Show all posts
Showing posts with label communication. Show all posts

Monday, December 22, 2014

See the Words

See the Words

(“Lord, in the morning you hear my voice. In the morning I lay it all out before you.  Then I wait expectantly.” Psalm 5:3)

What if we could see the words, the syllables come rushing
like pellets from an air gun. What if their velocity measured
the force, the love, the grace, the clear-throated and the hoarse.
And, what if their colors measured a story’s truth, like halo’s
shine, like glory’s arc of purity. And false words fell under
the weight of colors so dark there remained little brightness
to measure at all.

Imagine each syllable of every word, each syllable’s letter
flying above a crowd of mouths intersecting and reflecting until
all we have seen is as much joy as a flock of monarchs spiraling
in joyful colors and buzz. Or, depending on what you had heard,
what you observed,
the flight is as annoying as a swarm of mosquitoes in high-pitched
drone?

We would see no better than we hear, even though the words appear
color-coded and hover eye-level. We might still dissect the syllables
in our insistence that each hue has an exact correlation and my
reaction
equals (without fraction)
the speaker’s meaning, as if a caption was written
in italics and English and definitions’ shades remain
unchanged over the arch of the sun, over the length of
the days.


But to You, Yahweh, I come with naked sounds in
the morning. By later I may have adorned my words better,
but waking is black and white first copy, my heart’s first
grunt and sometimes song. It is so unrehearsed, but You-
the-
Word
know the first sound from my mouth; tone and emotion,
shorter and longer, that I do not wonder if you mistook
my colors
for someone else’s better requests.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Quiet Wisdom

“Who in your community is understanding and wise? Let his example, which is marked by wisdom and gentleness, blaze a trail for others.” James 3:13

I recently enjoyed lunch with a good friend. As topic flowed into topic the name of a well known Christian leader came up. My friend expressed concern that this leader had become somewhat arrogant in the last few years. Not having followed his ministry recently, I did a bit of research and I now think I understand what she meant. There are ripples of harshness that run through even his public materials.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Without Knocking


“And this is the confidence we have resting on Him, that if we petition anything in agreement with His will, He hears us.” 1 John 5:14

Communication is the key to most important relationships. Most family counselors and books about marriage focus on communication. Knowing how and when to say the important things are crucial to relationship growth. And, giving time to honestly listen to each other is equally essential.