... A Little Closer to Home: July 2018

Thursday, July 05, 2018

In my experience, the Kingdom of God is a condition of our hearts. It is not a political reality where we enact rules and laws to promote certain behavior and limit others. It is my belief the kingdom of God is found by the opening of one’s life to a God who loves unconditionally and completely. The Kingdom is not found through toeing the line and being found right, or perfect in our doctrine or practice, because this kingdom is not like others which are man-made. This new kingdom is without blemish. It yields non-stop with patience, love, hope and joy. This kingdom of God, which is found in the heart of the one who is willing to follow Christ into the difficult places to love, requires Jesus Christ at the center, at the very core, to teach and instruct the student into the ways of compassion and wisdom.

Hate speech, which has become pervasive and accepted as normal in our culture, is not allowed in the Kingdom of God. To speak with vengeance toward another, to blame and cause another to stumble through the uttering of words is hate speech, regardless of our righteous positon or level of competence on the topic.

Actions which are used to cause others pain are not allowed in the Kingdom of God. Hands to oneself please, children of God. We should have learned this lesson as a child, yet it appears we did not. Parents are pleased when children make good choices. God is no less a good parent in this. Again, the disposition of the heart is the key.

The Kingdom of God feasts upon true religion, a warming of the heart toward God and one another, instead of a reliance upon creeds or conventions to provide security or positon. The Kingdom of God is so pure, so holy, that we cannot defile or cause the kingdom to fail. It is without equal, nothing can come alongside the kingdom to overshadow or rival the Spirit. It needs no protection from our kind. Rather all we can do is to offer ourselves, just as we are, to be transformed and redefined into a new and whole person.

A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean.” Mark 1:40-41 NRSV

The Big Picture

The picture above is Denali (the local name meaning "the big one") or Mt McKinley for us in the lower 48 states. I took this shot June 2007 on our trip to Alaska. We were 35 miles from the mountian and 60 miles in from the lodge in Denali National Park and our bus broke down. We had just encountered bears along side the bus less than a mile a way at the time.

A few days later I found a outfitter service in Talkeetna and flew up up to 12,000 ft around Denali. Worth every penny of the $200.

A good book on Denali is, "To the Top of Denali" by Sherwonit. Here is a quote, "On the mountian, you have to consciously make yourself eat, drink, and even breathe ... What comes naturally down here, you have to force yourself to do up there. If you don't, you'll never reach the summit."

I think these are good words for both mountian climbing and ministry.