Tag Archives: ugly duckling

A Nom de Plume-Who Am I?

dronesofheaven

Who are you? No, really who are you? (Sounds like Bill Cosby’s Noah.)

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised by the number of requests I received of my blog and articles and some of the unusual places they ended up. (Ironically, none of them are “Christian” in nature which is fine with me, just interesting.)

But in the midst of it, I received a question about “pen names” or a nom de plume. I had never considered it to be frank. Not that I really am now. (I have done “roving reporter” type stuff never using my name or anything.) Continue reading A Nom de Plume-Who Am I?

Finding The Value Often Gets Rid Of The Zombies

liesI woke up this morning walking around a store. Not just any store but a store that had opened on Christmas Day. The sellers were not very interested.  They had invited me in to help them make some decisions, perhaps even to acquire them.

This was not my first dream of this store or one very similar. Maybe it is how I am wired (Or unwired.) but I like space. I like choice. I like selection. (I have tried selling in niche circumstance but over all I like the broad spectrum approach.)

So here I was in this small store with all these little “nice” pieces but nothing that really excited me. It was pretty. It would look nice in homes or offices. But to me it was chachka.  I walked towards the back and as I got towards the back of the store, I got excited. There was more there! A lot more. I offered to purchase from them and did then I went to the back.

Now these men tried to talk me out of it. That “stuff” back there has not value. They wanted me to look at the glittering glass and beautiful pieces.  (I love glass, but it has to wow me.)

Three stories came to my mind as I thought about this dream.

  1. One was the story of Cinderella and how she was treated. But that all changed. Her value became known and was seen in the eyes of another. (For someone here you have “done it all right” but have not been noticed. But God has His eye on you. Soon you will be the Cinderella story.)
  2. The second was how Samuel approached Jesse to see His sons, directed there by the Lord. Only when he said “do you have another so” did they go retrieve David from the fields. (You have felt that people did not recognize your value or your gift. The key to your coming success is to not be bitter but to be better. Hone your gift and watch.) (Proverbs 18:16)
  3. And the third was the story of the ugly duckling who one day grew into a beautiful swan. (Never judge your life by a day.)

I walked in that back room and it was huge. A long line of chairs and couches and places of rest were visible. My mind spun as I thought how to get people back here. To the place of comfort. The place of rest. The place of quiet. The place hidden from view.

This morning I thought about lost objects. I have misplaced keys and wallets and such. People always ask “where was the last place you saw it?” Most likely if I knew that I would know where it is! And then I thought people are running around, looking for an old man that was killed on a cross with a Savior who made you His “carbon copy.” He put His nature in you!

So stop looking for the dead!

And once we get beyond all the chachka, the stuff that may have value but is really just window dressing we come to the true meaning of “being in Him.” His rest! His place of intimacy and love.

All the things that so many have embraced as God have just made it hard for those who have not “looked” like that.

The intrinsic value of a person is not found in the externals but what is on the inside. (And yet from the place on the inside comes that which is His expression through you to the outside.)

I suggested to someone the other day that maybe they consider being a model. Immediately I was given all the reasons that they could not do that. Most had to do with their evaluation of what is real. When our “inside” is understood and accepted the outside is just an external view of the goodness inside. (By the way-she is a beautiful young lady.)

In the store the men thought work hard, keep it “looking” good and keep it small. I walked in and I saw rest, expanse and intimacy. (In one of my jewelry stores I ran ads that poo-pooed the glass cases that kept people from the touch and feel of the jewelry.) God wants to be seen, touched, enjoyed.

zombiesWe have made churches that remind me of mortuaries. People who act like zombies. And families that walk around like the Stepford wives.

Real church sometimes is real messy because it involves real people.

So this holiday season He bids you, “come unto me all of you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest. My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

 

Keeping It Real – Who You Are

Pop and Gunter holding me
Pop and Gunter holding me

Last night I had a dream about being a spy. I thought to myself that I seem to have a lot of spy dreams like that. About being a spy or being in enemy territories. I wondered why. I thought perhaps being a spy is a way of reaching people. But Jesus was not a spy. He was a man of no reputation. People often did not even know who He was. He had to tell the soldiers who He was in the garden. (So maybe it is not about being a spy but hidden in Him.)

As I meditated more and more upon this thought, I thought of who I “really am” or more importantly who I “belong” to. Continue reading Keeping It Real – Who You Are

Five Senses – Five Transmitters – A New Processor

Hitting the target
A word for today.

Our Senses

This morning I thought about how I sense God’s presence. And what I hear others to process through to determine “His presence.”. So much of what we try to accomplish is without our “God filter” or the understanding that comes from a renewed mind.

Years ago as I “pastored” a church fellowship, I heard people say when confronted with a task or situation, “I am waiting until I feel lead.” So true to my “pastoral nature” I brought a large chunk of lead from a rock and mineral store and when they would say something like that I would push it towards them, suggest “they feel lead” and get on with their life. But when people operate by their 5 natural senses, this process is more than just funny, it is actually prophetic in nature. Satisfy the sensory need and the body can follow. Continue reading Five Senses – Five Transmitters – A New Processor