The Prayers in my Sweat

What do you do to overcome your weaknesses?

In my case, my weaknesses overcome my strengths, although my strengths may overcome another's strengths. In my case, I learn to fight. I search inside of myself and find anger and release, then repeat. It is amazing the way anger manages to hold on to you like it is trying to survive a fall from a cliff. Happiness is easily forgotten. Blessings are easily forgotten. Accomplishments are easily forgotten. Anger stays for the long haul. Why?

So I run it out. I have explored in my life many more unhealthy ways of alleviating the ache in my heart, but running was the first to be productive. I need to believe I am stronger than the things I cannot control. God has always assured that with Him I am, but the utter humanity in us desires to see it with experience.

So I ran once. Then I ran again, and again, and again, and again, and again. I ran until I felt better and my fists were no longer clinched. I ran until I was too exhausted to display anger in my life. I ran until my chest expanded and air filled my lungs in their entirety. I experienced what God promised me. I could do anything with Him. He gives me strength. I run because I have to purge and scream and hate and fire and break down. Then I breathe and thank God for the strength to overcome my flesh and release to Him my fear and anger. See, I see running as a form of prayer. For some, our words alone are our prayers. For others, our tears alone. For me, my words are only a small part of the communication I need. I need to feel it. I need to feel the exhaustion that requires God to hold me up. My sweat is prayer.

When God says to give Him your troubles, this is the only way I have been able to interpret that in a way I can understand. I give it to Him though my suffering and ability to prevail.






Sing.
Migrate.



 Thanks for reading...Z

Changing Lanes

There is this one day that you are driving in this one direction. You are completely sure you are headed in the right direction to your destination, despite that little voice inside that tells you "No!" Your eyes are basically closed, blocking out the lines in the road that pass beneath your tires in rhythmic form. They play a song that reminds you of your childhood, laying in the back seat on your way home from a meaningless Bible school.

You wake up. You didn't know you were sleeping. You instinctively turn your car around because despite your evidence, this is not the right direction. This path is easy and the road is clear.

Your path is full of bumps and pot holes that threaten to take off your tires. You know that if the road is clear, you're going the wrong way. The Bible says: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18). 

The road to real life in Christ will be filled with pot holes and flat tires. This has always been the way of God. If it seems like something everything wants to believe, it's probably not God. 








Sing.
Migrate.







Thanks for reading...Z

Dreams

A child cries and dreams about nothing. It doesn't even know the reason it cries. A person is different from the next. Some babies cry for different reasons. But still, there isn't a living thing that does not cry. Crying is prayer. If no speech is available, the Spirit of God cries and prays for us. This is God.

But who are we? We are a people that is far from anything resembling God. We are a people that are crying for what we believe is right and just. We base this off of the 35 minutes we spent feeding the homeless or praying for the poor. The rest of the time, the homeless remain exactly what they are...homeless.

What does this mean? I don't know. Should we give? I don't know. But what I do know is that they should never be ignored.

Today I was running in Detroit with a friend.  We were expecting the worst as we sweated through Cass Corridor to downtown Detroit. Instead, we got normal people, who thew up a fists as we ran, symbolizing their approval. We had community. One guy even ran with us for 10 seconds.

People need love above all things. We need to give love above all things. It's a perfect match.




Sing.
Migrate.



 Thanks for reading...Z

I miss you like crazy, but I can't mourn you forever. I will always miss you and be sad, but I cannot be shut down. You are permanently gone from my physical life, but there is so much that isn't. I'm going to go to them.









Sing.
Migrate.




 Thanks for reading...Z

Hiding in the Garden of Eden

The same David that slayed the Great Goliath, is the same David that murdered a man over the lust for his wife. This great man, who won the respect and admiration of an entire nation, found a way to corrupt himself and fall into the dark pit of sin. David was a real person. It's hard to see the person inside of these huge Bible stories, but in David's case, it's not so hard. He made human mistakes that granted him very human consequences. The point is; How did He get from one to the other: hero to villain. There is a saying that, "Every hero, within a given amount of time will become the villain." I hate that this is mostly true, but the humanity is consistent. People mess up because we are people, no matter what title we achieve. The Pope is still some guy and the person that takes your order is still some guy...no difference. People are people that make equal mistakes.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were naked, really could be seen also as a metaphor for purity and innocence. Adam and Eve mess up for the first time in all of history and the world changes instantly. Adam begins to panic and run. They hide from God. They cover themselves, which only covers their innocence. From there, God makes it more difficult to obey Him. God curses disobedience. God is perfect and cannot live in imperfection.

So God sends Jesus, the Messiah. The Savior of our sin and imperfection. He dies and raises again with our disobedience all over Himself.

Now we still sin. God still requires perfection. Jesus paid for our sin. We are perfect. We stand before God in perfection.

Why is it then, that we continue to look for fig leaves when we sin? We run and try to hide, pretending to ourselves that we are invisible from our Maker. We think as if we are in that garden, hiding from a walking God. We are in the world. hiding from an ever present God. He has always seen and been present in everything. We cannot hide. Hiding leads to more sin and mistakes. Coming clean leads back to life.








Sing.
Migrate.





 Thanks for reading...Z