FRT

So darn busy.....and I lost my phone last weekend. booo. So if you tried to call or text and got word I am not accepting calls, now you know why. An upgrade is "in the mail."
Here's my Friday Random Ten
1- Somewhere Beyond the Sea - Bobby Darin
2- Military Wives - The Decemberists
3- That's It For The Other One - Dark Star Orchestra
4- Big River - The Grateful Dead
5- Guelah Papyrus - Phish
6- Sultans of Swing - Agents of Good Roots
7- Pedestal - Portishead
8- When I Grow Up - Michelle Shocked
9- Mr. Soul - Neil Young
10- Anchorage - Michelle Shocked
I'd love to see what your player has in mind....

Psalm 46:10

Be still and know that I am God.
You don't often find me laying out specific "preaching" here. I don't climb on the soapbox (mostly cuz wake is already on it ;-P ) alot. But this past week, as I struggle with the question of justice in Lebanon, terrorists determined to do harm to the Western way of life and what my role in advocating for peace is, this old favorite verse kept coming to me.
And I didn't hear it the way I used to hear those words as a child, changing God for Mom or Dad. I hated that answer - "Because I am your mother, that's why." I hated to be told to "be still" just as much, because that meant not getting to do what it was I wanted to - whether it be squirm or fidget or move around in a moving car. I heard it quite differently this week and thought to post it.
First, I heard it with a different tempo and rhythm that usual. Almost like 3 sentences.
Be.
Still.
Know that I am God.
Be. Just my very existence is nothing I caused. It came from somewhere else. It doesn't matter if you are an agnostic, atheist or Fundamentalist right-wing-nut, you probably agree with that statement. And part of what I have been hearing this week is that simple word - be.
Take the life you have been given with grace and thankfulness for the breath you take. Some of us have easy lives (relatively speaking). Some are more difficult. Some seem cruel. But we are all created with a purpose and so, be. Be that purpose. Be, Kurt. This is what I heard.
Still. Dictionary.com defines the word (in its adverb form)as "at the present time." For me, when coupled with the feeling of "be" described above, it astounds me. If you knew me then...
25 years old was not a strong probability when I was 18, 19 or 20. Drugs, bad judgement and plain old stupidity had relatives wondering when they were going to get the call. If the phone rang on a Friday or Saturday night and it was me calling home, as soon as he heard my voice, my father would ask what hospital. I am sure my mother was harboring darker thoughts than that and wondering if they could afford the cost for the lawyer. So "still" is special to me at 47.
It also reinforces the idea of living for now. The definition is "at the present time," not "now and in the future."
Know that I am God
Our niece and her husband were over today; they are moving out of Texas to Spokane, WA this week. We hosted a family gathering for them and us, to say goodbye and good luck. Their 19 month daughter was with them. She is talking up a storm and they spent a good deal of time with her, teaching her counting and names and words. Pretty soon Lily will "know" how to count and pronounce many words. Our names will not be mysteries to her - I will be "Uncle Kurt" because she knows it.
Have you ever gone to sleep with a question in your mind, whether it is a problem at work, or who starred in that movei, or what the name of that song was, and when you woke up, you had it. You knew. How did you know? Don't know that one, but you KNEW the answer you sought.
And that is how I am hearing the end of that passage. Just know. No teaching required. Just know.
I'm not sure I did a good job explaining this, but I really wanted to share it. Thanks for reading this far. I hope you have peace today.