Thought for the Day

Here's a simple thought for the day: If Brother Lawrence, author of the classic Practicing the Presence of God, was able to find God's presence in washing the dishes, can garbage men find God in trash cans?

Waging War on the Political Spirit

I am really beginning to believe that God's Kingdom not only will fulfill all spiritual needs of a community but will also touch every social part of a community. I see that the Bible defines true religion as feeding the poor and taking care of the widows and orphans, which are social areas of concern. Unfortunately, most Christians that I know are more concerned with spiritual methods such as prayer, reading the Bible, going to church, etc.; they leave the social issues to politicians. But when politicians give God credit for their wisdom, they are criticized for having a political spirit and using the church for political aide. There is simply a realm of politics in every part of life that we have to deal with. Social issues shouldn't be handed over to the federal government to take care of, these tasks need to be taken up as a Kingdom Mandate to break through and change our communities in the name of Jesus.

Dream: School Parking Permits

Last night's dream stood out a lot; it had many symbols that could be interpreted various ways.

Everything began at my parents’ house in McKeesport. I was getting ready to go to school at McKeesport Area High School. My plans were to drive down to the school and park on campus, but I did not yet receive a parking permit that would enable me to leave my car unattended on school property. I would have to go early and talk to the principal for permission to park on campus.

I drove my champagne Buick and parked in the student parking lot. I went to the trunk to get my supplies, which happened to be two tripods with accessories attached to them. On the top of one tripod was a video camera; on top of the second was a portable handset phone. I went in to the school looking for the principal, Mr. Catalina who is not the principal now; He wasn't in the first room I looked in but he was in the second office.

When I talked to his secretary in the first room, she told me that there was no one to preach at the morning session in the auditorium. I was trying to hint to her that I would be interested in speaking this morning. Needless to say, she did not bite on my leadings and directed me to the second office where the principal was. When I found him, he was preparing to preach in the auditorium. His sermon was on Inspector Gadget! He asked me what I thought to which I responded that I could sense God in his message.

I asked him for a parking permit, which he obliged, and tried to run out to my car to place in on the windshield. The time on the pass was 8:03. I was still wielding these bulky tripods with camera and phone attachments through the crowded hallway. It was taking forever to get back to my car and I knew I was going to be late for class if I did not hurry. I tried to kick it up a notch but I kept being stopped by fellow classmates. I do not recognize any of them in hindsight, but in the dream I knew them all. Many of them asked me if I would meet with them to help them with their problems, or to pray for revival to break out in the school, or even to prayer walk in the community with them!

After being stopped many times, I noticed that both my camera and my phone had fallen off the top of the tripod. I quickly turned around in order to retrieve them from the floor. The video camera was right behind me, but I did not see the phone. I took about 20 or so steps back to see that some bullies had got the phone and we tossing it around to each other to keep it out of my reach. One of them threw it in the garbage can that was full of nasty food and some gross liquid. I dug through the garbage to get the phone; it was covered in gross water and I knew that it was broken. I then hurried along to reach my car and put everything away.

The next thing I knew I was explaining my days events to my wife. When I got to the part about the phone I was very distraught because the phone was broken. He response to me was a simple faith filled "don't worry; you're on Eagle's wings." At this point I awoke and felt the presence of God in my bedroom.

The Power of Naivety

I used to blog a lot; I did it before it was cool. Actually, I did it before it was called blogging. I have always been on the edge of technology. I learned all of this from my late Grandfather who challenged me to continue to look for the new things of tomorrow and capitalize on them today. I remember when I first learned that lesson, too;

When I was younger I played with Lego building blocks. I had lots of legos and I would build various objects, castles, spaceships, etc. My imagination would run as I sat in this little world that was falling apart as I built objects to make it better. I liked constructing so much that for much of my childhood I felt that I was going to grow up and design large buildings that changed the world.

My world was a world full of brick people; a world full of fantasy and futuristic creations. I am happy that robotic engineering has come as far as it has, but we are still a far cry from where my imagination was at the time. I would make these great robotic creations that defied every form of logic, science and contemporary engineer knew to make. I would create a world full of catapults, castles, and dragons to slay. I would pridefully show my creations to my family who would ooo and aww over my naivety/creativity combo. My pap once told me to invent creations that would change the world.

As I grew up I put my legos aside and went into more serious creative ways to sculpt the future of mankind. I taught myself web design, computer programming, computer construction, and various other geeky tasks that are steaming forward technologically.

I also planted a Church; The Church is God's invention to change the world and bring His Kingdom to Earth.

Most people think the Church is an old idea; not me! I believe that Church was supposed to be something relevantly fresh that invaded toward changing everything wrong in the world. If Church did was it was supposed to, we would have no need for governmental programs: the poor would be rich, the naked would be clothes, the oppressed would be freed, the hurting would be consoled, the sick would be healed, even the dead would be raised;

Jesus said that His Church would invade even the gates of Hell. Perhaps today's church needs a little innovation and some creativity to change its thought process. Maybe if we gave those with the naivety/creativity combo a chance to lead, they'd change the world too.