Love II

Fear is a vacuum,
it catches you,
like a black hole,
until you are trapped in 
dank, clammy, darkness.
Love is an ocean,
pure,
waters that wash,
and refresh,
trust is a waterfall,
each drop,
enlivened with
hope, love and life.
Swim in the ocean,
be drenched under the waterfall,
let the dark be swept away
by the fierce torrent...
the love that knows no enemy,
the love that swallows the darkness
the love that endures
above and beyond..
be soaked to the core.

Love

Love triumphs.
Love overcomes
And overwhelms.
Love is a torrent,
Uncontainable,
Like an afternoon deluge,
Love falls and flows
Until all is drenched 
And refreshed.
Love is more than loving,
Love is living,
Love is alive.
Love is so pure,
So powerful
That God himself
Has chosen it
To define all that he is.

Birth

A petrified young teenage girl.
Her frantic husband hammering on
The door to the inn. 
The innkeeper,
A blood relative,
His wife, 
Their guests,
Blood relatives,
All in Bethlehem
For the census.
They turn their backs,
Nazareth never believed,
Nor would they.
Alone,
A young man,
Clumsily delivers his firstborn.
God's first utterance to mankind
Is the plaintive,
fearful cry of the newborn
As Joseph cuts the cord
And heaven holds it's breath
As the Saviour of mankind
Takes his first.
God,
Helpless,
Dependent
On a novice
Attempting to breast feed,
As the party in the Inn,
Smugly gossip about
The scandal in the stable.
God certainly has a strange way
Of introducing himself!
Don't miss the miracle
Of the unexpected
And unrecognisable.

Hope

Today,

let the dawn greet you with hope,

let the sunrise bring the promise and assurance

that this is a new day,

that hope greets you

in your first thought upon waking

to the last thought of the night.

May love wrap you in the eternal peace

that comes from knowing and being known,

and,

above all things,

may you hear the songs,

the whispers,

the gentle voice

calling you,

beyond your fears.

Christmas 2013

When Mary heard those world shattering words from the angel, it was not simply good news. It was a death sentence. Pregnancy outside of marriage was punishable by stoning. No wonder Mary ran away to the Judean Hills and Joseph needed an angelic visitation. Yet, that word became flesh in Mary and God protected her and her baby until that fateful night, alone in a smelly and putrid stable when she had to bear down on the head of the promise. Jesus was born into disease ridden filth. The stench from the animals, their urine and excreta would have been overwhelming for this petrified teenage mother. There was no midwife even though Bethlehem was full of Joseph's relatives, being the night of the census. Jesus was Mary's word made flesh and yet, she waited patiently for thirty years before anything "Godly" occurred at the hand of her son, the promise. Three years later, after miracle after miracle, multitude after multitude, Mary watch her promise, this "word" from the lips of an angel, her God given dream, this miracle from God, she watched it all die. When they took the lifeless body, broken, battered and bleeding from the cross, what was going through Mary's heart? What crisis of faith did she have to endure? For three days Mary must have besieged heaven with one question..why?
We know the rest.. and now, two thousand years later we celebrate the greatest story even known to mankind, a story that has endured, a living word, in the hearts of billions throughout the ages.
However, like you, like me, God planted an impossible word in a teenage girl's heart that had to be tested in the crucible of fire. We do not know Mary's struggles, but we can be assured that she was tested beyond her ability to believe. God broke through and Mary saw the overwhelming fulfilment of all that she had heard.
What is burning in your heart? What word has God planted deep inside your hopes and dreams. The Christmas story shows us that He is true to His word. I have seen that in my own life this year in the most extraordinary and yet glorious way. As you celebrate Christmas this year, be encouraged that His word in us is made flesh. He is faithful and trustworthy. Thank God for the Marys and Josephs of this world. You and I are one of them.
Merry Christmas from just another "pregnant" believer.
Geoff.

An Awakening

Waking
Must become an
Awakening. 
Seeing
Must become
Perception. 
Hearing
Listening,
Listening,
Loving,
And loving
Living.

Your breath in me

You are sweeping me up

And carrying me away

dissolving my shame

In your ocean of grace

Lifting me up

Far above and beyond

And all I am

And will be 

Is by your breath in me. 

You have shown me the scars

That you bear in the love

So furious, so pure

So eternal and divine

holding my heart

Encircling my life

And that I am

And will be

Is by your breath in me. 

And all I am

And will be

Is so much more than before

All I am

And will be

Became life in me and more. 

Every word that you've spoken

Over what was shattered

What was broken 

I  am whole, I am healed

By your breath, breathed in me. 

Unalterable

When I look down,
When my soul sinks
When fears rob me
Stealing my hope and peace
There is only such a tiny distance to the dust,
The road beneath my feet. 
However,
When I look up,
I can peer into eternity,
I can lift my eyes to the heavens,
I can explore the endless universe
And see the pattern, the plan
The genius of the One
Who know me,
Loves me
And brings me
Unalterable hope and peace.

One word

Today,
I am more alive,
Graced,
And loved. 
Tomorrow
Calls me
With answered prayers
And the most wondrous hopes. 
The music is sweeter 
The songs deeper
And just one word
Changed everything.

Trust

When you hear the gentle whisper,
sweet words of faith and promise,
Let them grow arms to hold you,
wings to soar,
faith to hope,
Love to live.
Above all
Let them beat strong 
And true
within your heart.

Shelter from the storm

There is a safe place,
Set aside from the noise
And the pace of life. 
A place where we can shelter,
Even in the midst of the storm. 
When the heavens open
With thunder, lightning and the fury
Of the tempest,
There will always remain,
That safe place,
Where I can find comfort and peace.
Sometimes I find myself
Resting there,
Breathless and scared,
Other times
It seems too far,
Obscured by my human heart
Beyond the grip and reach of my faith.
But,
I know,
I have known
And always will...
There is a place,
And it is reserved for me.

Reconciliation demands a price.
Grace must triumph over bitterness, grief and the very human desire for justification and revenge.
Love compels us to forgive and restore
beyond our hurts,
our injures,
and cruel injustices.
We are joined not by our rights,
our triumphs and successes.
We are not ennobled by enforcing our beliefs.
We are knit together as we take our failures,
holding hands with those who have hurt and betrayed us,
recognising our responsibility to change our own hearts
long before we demand the same of others.
It may be a lonely road,
sometimes humiliatingly powerless,
but,
each footstep is marked
by an abiding proclamation
to love.

Let our prayer be
That we would be courageous.
That walking on the stormy seas
Is a far greater choice
Than staying in the boat. 
Yes,
The wind may blow,
The seas roar,
But we are safer 
Walking in trust
And faith,
Than rowing with our fears.
We hear his voice
As he calls us
To stand,
Step out,
And rise above
All that has held us back.
Let us all live
With the salty spray in our faces
And the wild waters under our feet.