Heaven's In Your Hair

Finding heaven in unlikely places

unlikely spaces

like the hair that fits faces

the way she rocks the kaleidoscope shoelaces

but me

I found my heaven in your hair

the twisting curls that always lead my fingers there

I just want to let them play

until my longings go away

the follicles sooth the pain of whatever past shame remains

I have found heaven in a sister's head

who would have ever figured that?

Gentleman Class

Being a gentleman is rather easy, I believe. Treat women like they deserve by virtue of them being daughters of the Lord, walk them to thier cars at night, talk to them like you would want some one to talk to your mother. When you approach them, ask them their name first then start a small conversation, make her laugh. You'd be surprised how well actual conversation works to loosen women up. Now, if you get a date with her, be sure you open her car door for her and pay for what ever you do, if it is monetarily possible. This is the main thing women look at fellas: how you treat your female friends. If you treat them like your sisters, chances are women are much more apt to want to date/be seen in public with you. Being gentle doesn't mean you are weak though fellas, please don't lose that part of it. If she wants you to do something that does not line up with what you believe, check her on it. Yet check her with a gentle spirit of correction. You see being a gentleman is not the hardest thing in the world to do fellas. What you must be willing to do is serve others before you serve yourself. Be sure that you honor women and others first. The key to gentlemanly behaviour is ensuring that you have a servant's mindset. Class Dismissed for today.

The Standard

What are healthy standards? People say that those who want a lot have "high standards" but is that really a bad thing? God has high standards. He desires that we be perfect and holy, but we desire that we be imperfect and compromise what He requires us to be in the interest of being "cool" and "acceptable". Funny how we don't want God to fade on His standards but we fade on ours and rather eaisly at that. As a man, my standards are simple. I only want to be like Christ. As a man, I have standards that anyone that I'd be thinking of pursuing must have. They must desire to be like Christ. See how this works? our standards are not to be superficial, but they must be no more than we are willing to be ourselves. Otherwise you have forayed into that hypocritical zone. No one wants a hypocrite. I say that to say this: Where are the standards? Where is the pressure to conform to an image of Christ? Where are the Fathers, the men who would teach the younger generation how to be like Christ? Where are the Mothers, the women who would teach the younger generation to say with conviction, If I perish for the sake of Christ, I perish? Looking at the standards which have been bent and honestly broken so much over the years, one comes to wonder, where are the standards at? Homosexuality is commonplace and even accepted in the church. There are men in the church who sleep with married women in the church, vice-versa. There is more evil in the church than there is outside of the walls. One reason and one reason only, there aren't any standards based on Christ. Fix your standard on Christ and it will not be shaken or moved. Make Christ's approval your standard.

Lost?

I hear a lot of people say that the sisters should be "lost" in Christ. Let us look up the word lost.
no longer possessed or retained: lost friends.
2.
no longer to be found: lost articles.
3.
having gone astray or missed the way; bewildered as to place, direction, etc.: lost children.
4.
not used to good purpose, as opportunities, time, or labor; wasted: a lost advantage.
5.
being something that someone has failed to win: a lost prize.
6.
ending in or attended with defeat: a lost battle.
7.
destroyed or ruined: lost ships.
8.
preoccupied; rapt: He seems lost in thought.
9.
distracted; distraught; desperate; hopeless:

In this light, I believe the more accurate statement should be grounded in Christ. When lost in Christ what do you have to hold to? I prefer that she is grounded in Christ as opposed to being lost. Again let us look up the term grounded.
the solid surface of the earth; firm or dry land: to fall to the ground.
2.
earth or soil: stony ground.
3.
land having an indicated character: rising ground.
4.
Often, grounds. a tract of land appropriated to a special use: picnic grounds; a hunting ground.
5.
Often, grounds. the foundation or basis on which a belief or action rests; reason or cause: grounds for dismissal.
6.
subject for discussion; topic: Sex education is forbidden ground in some school curricula.
7.
rational or factual support for one's position or attitude, as in a debate or argument: on firm ground; on shaky ground.
For our purposes let us focus on the fifth definition, there ought to be a foundation of Christ that has been laid down that you can firmly stand on as opposed to not really knowing where you are in Christ. I say this because if you are lost in Christ, do you know where to stand? Being grounded in Christ allows you to truly understand where to stand and why to stand. I don't care if you agree or disagree with what I say, I just ask you to think about what it means to truly be grounded and sustained by Christ and what it means to say you are lost in Christ. Just keeping it real.

Musings of Manhood

It's funny how when a man doesn't have a job he tends to question his own worth, his own manhood. I suppose that may be due to how we are taught from pretty much as soon as we can walk, talk and understand things that men work and when men don't work they are labeled things like lazy and sorry. It'd be nice to be defined by the quality of your life and the quallity of your heart but unfortunately, this is not so. We as people tend to refer to these shortcuts called lablels to define us. It should not be so. A man ought to be defined by his faith and his works of faith less by things that are so tangible, so replaceable. My issue with this present society is that a man who has a little piece of job is somehow regarded as more than a man with no job yet his walk with the Lord doesn't enter into the equation of manhood. How can you define manhood without an accurate depiction of what a man is? In my mind I see Jesus as the ultimate definition of manhood and masculinity and no one questioned Jesus. But this present generation will not take into account a person's heart until they can see something physical first. I wonder how they plan on pursuing ministry because the goal is to reach hearts without a promise of anything else. Perhaps what perplexes me most is the fact that people always say that the ones who give the most have the biggest hearts, when in reality they just have the deepest pockets. A true heart gives you deep service, but you can't take service to the bank can you? This is the issue with this generation. They always seek after something they can see and touch and taste. They extend that to manhood they extend that to womanhood but it doesn't measure your ability to follow Christ. That is the real definition. Be defined by how you follow Christ, not the ways of the world.

Ties

Honestly what ties you to Earth? Let me ask it like this, what would keep you from being satisfied when you die? I would have to echo John Wooden the famous collegiate basketball coach when he was asked in an interview "Are you afraid to die?" Mr Wooden replied "No. Why would I be afraid to die? It's the most wonderful thing that could happen to me." That is serious battle hardened faith. Coupled with the astute realization that there was no treasure to be had on Earth that would warrant competition with the treasure to be had in Heaven. Namely fellowship with God and Christ being able to see Him and the price He paid for our redemption's sake. Nothing should keep us from being able to lay this life down eagerly and expectantly when we leave. For this reason I have no understanding of sadness when people die for that is why they were born. We cannot live here forever, we weren't designed to do so. Although early exits do tend to catch us offguard there is comfort in knowing that the dearly departed had a walk with God. I worry more for those whom we do not know about recieving Christ as their Lord and Saviour than I do for the dead. To be honest about it, I would have to take the same route as Lecrae here, if they die without hearing the gospel, I hold myself fully responsible. Not that I give them scripture and a sermon, but that I make them aware of the reality that there is nothing they can do, nowhere that they can go, nothing that can be thought that can effectively excommunicate them from Christ. I have a responsibilty to make Him known and if I shirk that responsibility, thier blood is on my hands. Yet the question I must ask of all of us is what is going to keep us from bringing as many people to the table as we can? Why be satisfied with only bringing ourselves? Jesus has illustrated in many of His parables that we are to be outwardly minded, meaning that we be not selfish with salvation, but we share this true wealth. It is the only thing we recieve on Earth that we can take with us when we die. Salvation is true wealth, not money, not abundance of things. Salvation. With this in mind the only thing that we should truly be tied to on Earth is seeking salvation. Not for our benefits but for thiers so that as a byproduct when we do die, we can do so with a clear consciousness that we have done what the Lord wills. We can then die free.

3rd Person

There are 3 people in every relationship. You, the other person, and Jesus. If the two of you aren't pushing each other closer to Jesus, then I really feel like you have lost sight of the principle that all is done to glorify God. Even in our relationships be it with a significant other your parents or even your Pastor. I'm like this with it if you value Christ above all else your line of thinking goes how can I give God the glory that He deserves. Honestly if we are afraid of human failure we will definitely fail but if we place all of our confidence in Christ there will be no failure to be had. Problem is we've started trusting our own plans rather than the Master's hand. Another thing I've noticed is our disfigurement of love. We have become so used to the overglamourized societal notion that it has become that we ignore its reality. Love is not physical but spiritual in its nature. For if it was physical God would not Love because God is spirit and cannot deal in physical things. Which is why He requires us to worship in Spirit and truth. But back to misdefined love again. People have been conditioned to accept physicality as an acceptable communication of love when in reality it may be nothing more than dressed up lust. Love is always a consistent action backed up by consistent choices to express it in the most pure fashion possible. Love requires us esteeming the other person as Christ esteemed us. Not that we should ignore glaring inconsistencies with God's heart and Word but we should tell them where the Spirit leads us to correct them, present it in a biblical context and if they will not hear you, pray for them. Not that God would convict them but that God would grow them in their walk. The thing that has happened to us is we have forgotten that love is of God and to properly love we must be in God. However we are not to hold these things above God. That part gets hard sometimes but if you love God enough honestly you can place your will on the backburner and follow God's. As for me I desire a family you know the whole wife 2.5 kids(or more you never know) nice house nice neighborhood thing that is what I want out of life pretty much point blank period that is my greatest desire. I care much less for the things of life than I do the things of life that actually matter. However even if what I desire does not come to fruition, God is no less worthy of praise honor and glory. Once we put everything in it's proper perspective that is, subject to Christ and His desire and will for our lives it is then that things start to "fall together" for us. Just some random thoughts I had....hope you enjoyed going thru my head for a little bit.