After worrying whether he should or not, Tom called his father telling him that he saw the ghostlike presence of Aunt Janet after his classes that afternoon.
“She said she was sorry, but she didn’t say what for,” Tom added.
“What did you say?”
“I told her it was OK and then she vanished.”
Tom didn’t believe in ghosts, nor did his father, but he felt obligated to pass on this message not understanding what actually alienated his father from Aunt Janet over a decade ago. He was relieved when he heard his father say, “I’m glad you told her that.”
Then came a tap upon the cheek. “Awake! Recall what you were taught. The lying folk will all be caught. The earth is for the just and meek.”
Did I forget what I should seek? The fingers aiming everywhere spit words like buckshot in the air. The noise is great. I cannot hear if that’s a friend who’s coming near or folly dancing to a dare.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “cheek” once more to be used in an A line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s Décima Poetry Challenge. I was thinking of Matthew 24, especially verse 4: “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.”
I submitted the following nonsense poem to Chel Owen’s A Mused Poetry Contest. The contest theme is “a silly poem about an unusual eccentricity”. It is still open for those who want to enter.
Moon Dancing
The night sky is clear and the full moon is bright. It’s nutty I know but I’ll dance in its light. The moon doesn’t care. “Yes, I do.” Well, so what? “You’re nutty enough.” No, I ain’t. “You’re a nut.”
Blue Ridge Parkway Near Laurel Springs, North Carolina
It is not merely that I can know them by the way they express, or don’t, the fruits of the Holy Spirit, but I can know myself by the way I express those fruits as well.
These fruits do not come from consuming therapies, taking drugs or following self-help programs to not behave badly. They are not my fruits, but the fruits of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
There is nothing easier than expressing them in stillness. There is nothing harder than giving up the addiction to my own spoiled fruits since faithlessness suggests that’s all there is.
Weekly Bible Readings:Genesis (Audio: King James Version read by Alexander Scourby) Commentary: David Pawson, Genesis Part 3 of 7 and Part 4 of 7, Unlocking the Bible
The victory is God’s we know. Before that there is much to do. Some details haven’t been worked through. True. Tragedies will come and go and cancers ever want to grow and dragons want a bit of fun. They’ll run their mouths. Their lies will stun like fists that crush into a cheek confounding those who try to speak, but lies will end and then they’re done.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “cheek” to be used in a D line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s Décima Poetry Challenge. The idea of assured victory in the midst of tribulation comes from Revelation.
Saul consented to the stoning of Stephen outside of Jerusalem. Little did he realize that years later he himself would be stoned in Lystra, stoned to death so his enemies thought. And perhaps it was to death, but after being dragged out of town and left for dead by men who supposedly knew what they were doing, he would stand up.
On his way to Damascus, Saul once again was up to no good. This time the Lord Himself knocked him down, or rather, he fell down unaccustomed to the blinding light. When his blindness left, so too did his powerful delusion.
Denise offers the prompt word “powerful” for this week’s Six Sentence Stories. The story is a recounting of some events from Acts 6-9,14.
Dale offers the “freestyle” theme this week for the Cosmic Photo Challenge which means post anything you want. These were taken at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
I used to find Plotinus, a 3rd century Platonist, interesting. His idea of the One suggested a kind of naturalistic or pantheistic spirituality. To the extent I understood any of this, the One was like a force field having the attributes philosophers might assign to a deity.
Little of this is attractive to me today, but that earlier exposure has kept me wary of Platonic or even Aristotelian influences. When I hear discussions of God that do not lead to repentance, salvation or a personal relationship with Jesus grounded in the special revelation of the Bible I wonder if there aren’t hidden presuppositions underlying the arguments that might be coming from ancient Greek, rather than Jewish or Christian, sources.
I’ve noticed these hidden ideas within various Christian traditions going back to Augustine or earlier. Some of them are fine, but it’s easy to forget that even the acceptable ones are cultural additions. So, I try to distinguish what is in the Bible from what is outside trying to get in. Then I put scripture over tradition should a conflict arise between the Word of God and that other stuff.
For those who wish more information on this especially as it pertains to questionable Greek cultural influence, see David Pawson’s lecture on “de-Greecing” the church:
Weekly Bible Readings:Genesis (Audio: King James Version read by Alexander Scourby) Commentary: David Pawson, Genesis Part 1 of 7 and Part 2 of 7, Unlocking the Bible
Bernard’s confidence returned as he began drinking the last can of his six-pack. He was ready to point out every nit that needed picking from the members of a social networking community he frequented.
In righteous rivalry he led his own charge condemning the “freaks, flakes and morons” to fiery hells that he himself didn’t believe in. They knew he was drunk.
Eventually his demons, unforgiving accusers themselves, led tired Bernard to bed one last time. As a reward for his long service, they prepared terrifying dreams.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 