a moment

I will not die an unlived life

call moment

Calls are essentially questions.
They aren't questions you necessarily need to answer outright;
they are questions to which you need to respond,
expose yourself,
and kneel before.
You don't want an answer you can put in a box and set on a shelf.
You want a question that will become a chariot to carry you across the breadth of your life."
Gregg Levoy

thought moment

I want to know God's thoughts...

all the rest are details

Albert Einstein

liar moments

Theodore Dalrymple:

"In my study of communist societies,
I came to the conclusion
that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade,
or convince,
nor to inform,
but to humiliate;
and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better.
When people are focused to remain silent when they are told the most obvious lies,
or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves,
they lose once and for all their sense of probity.
(Probity: the quality of having strong moral principles; honesty and decency)
To assent to the obvious lies is to cooperate with evil,
and in some small way to become evil oneself.
A person’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded,
and even destroyed.
A society of emasculated liars is easy to control."

finished moment

when your story is finished,

how will you be remembered

Joey moment

While pastoring, one day a person named Joey slipped into a back pew - I later found out that Joey was a drug addict living a lifestyle that included thieving, selling drugs and living in a drug induced high, his world a network of young men and women whose world from dawn until late into the night was the pursuit of getting high. He continued to come back week after week, eventually asking for baptism. He sent out invitations to his family and the network that read simply

"You are invited to Joey's funeral and resurrection on Sunday night."

They came, curious and confused.

Joey stood by the baptismal water and said

"Goodbye.

I am leaving the world that all of us know for real life in Jesus

You will see me around and we will talk

and I hope I will continue to be your friend.

But the Joey you have known has died and in a few minutes will be buried.

The man you will be talking to is somebody who has risen from the dead

and for the first time in his life is really alive.

And seeing as he is dead,

Joey will not be selling drugs any more

and will not be joining you to shoot up or be at parties."

M. Smith

hush moment

held in a hug of holy hush

the land simply lay there

like Adam awaiting his first breath

the air heavy in pregnant anticipation

hovered over the perfectly stilled waters

quietly slipping the kayak into the lake

and gently easing out from shore

it was wonder-filled to be one with it all

suddenly

in absolute silence

rain started falling

like giant oval tears from heaven

each drop partly embraced by the lake

partly bouncing back up

reaching for its place of birth

and the hush only deepend

how could all this water fall

without a sound

only when lightening began to rip the sky

did I head back