Amanda's Birthday Poem!

After the CAVE

Every step I've taken,
every hill I've climbed,
every time I stumbled,
each way I pursued,
seeking truth and life
All the views I've studied,
and every perspective gained,
through the valleys I trudged
to the summits I reached,
Swamps I almost got stuck in,
sloughs of despond that threatened to hold me
every painful path, broken dream, false summit,
perplexing fork in the road,
and times when there was not a trail to follow,
only a scramble through the Brush,
every winding of the Road,
peaceful wayside rest, treacherous ascent,
have ALL led me to the Place
where I am Right Now,
and IT IS GOOD!
It is well with my soul.

- MNL 11/13/2015

Just Checking In

I should have known.  Anything that claims it will teach you in "one easy lesson" won't be that easy.  At least not for me.
There were two handy dandy tutorials for setting up a blogsite.  One said "in only twenty minutes" and the other "in less than eight minutes."
Well, here I am, after investing about a half hour last night, and then over an hour this morning.  I guess that's not too bad.
I hope to be here every morning.  You don't need to get up as early as me.  I hope to share a few ideas with you as my body wakes up and my mind catches up.  C.S. Lewis was once described as "A Mind Awake."  That's something I aspire to.  This blog will be an attempt to connect with other awake minds, or perhaps those who, like me, are just waking up.
With respect to setting up a site, I've heard it said that "the worthwhile things are seldom easy, and the easy things are seldom worthwhile!"  I guess that's true of blogging too.

*Check out my new Blog on Wordpress: "Matt Lundquist - Waking Up my Mind"

God in my Coffee - cont.

Something went wrong with the screen on my I-pad and I couldn't scroll down to finish this entry.
I'm sure you're all wondering why it was titled "God in my Coffee."
Well, you see, after I got through the morning and got past the feelings and the lack of feelings (numbness?) and the mental tangent about "if I were a car . . ." - did you know that a tangent is the place where a line intersects a circle at only one point!?
Well after all that, I made it to Starbucks and ordered a short, bold, drip and they had to do a "pour over" ( is that T.M.I.?) and I took the lid off and smelled it and tasted it, because I always do that to test the aroma and flavor before masking all its imperfections with cream (now that's T.M.I.!), then, at that very moment, God met me and came to me and crawled up into my nostrils through the smell of the coffee!  And then I realized that He was there all along and waiting to be recognized and all it took was that familiar aroma - you know how our sense of smell is the strongest connection to certain memories?  Well in that moment I made a connection with all of the good things in my life and realized that God is good and the source of all that's good because "Every good and perfect gift comes from above . . . from the Father of Lights" and I'm sure that applies to coffee as well, whether it's Starbucks or Tully's or Peet's.  And that's my story because that's what happened to me.  He snuck up on me and surprised me when I least expected it - only now I'm going to be expecting it more and even looking for it!  And you should too.

God in my Coffee

My 10 a.m. appointment was canceled but I came to Starbucks anyway.  It's  been that kind of morning.  Not that things were really going wrong, I just didn't feel right.

I know we're not supposed to live by our feelings (I told this to my wife once early on in our marriage, now this "life altering truth" has come back to haunt me.)  After I awoke early (5:30) and attempted to pray for my family and the rest of the world, I lay back down to "soak."

My mind was fully awake and trying to get a head start on the day without waiting for my body to catch up.  Considering what was involved in getting up to face the day, my soul launched a counter-offensive, "We need some more 'down time' here, we're not ready for this, 'God loves me!  Cast all your care upon Him, He cares for you!  Hold me Jesus!'"

Funny thing, as long as I'm laying there, mind racing, I can have these conversations with myself (hence the use of the "royal we" in describing what we said to ourself, ourselves?)  But the feelings don't always settle out by telling myself to relax, by quoting scripture to myself, even by praying and crying out to God.  (I first discovered this during my 3 year bout with depression, when anxiety was a real problem.  I get some temporary relief but then the slow ride up takes the little car "over the top" just like an amusement park ride and down I go, hanging on for dear life.  Only I'm not amused.

There's only one thing to do.  Get up.  But why would I want to do that?  Because I've learned from experience that when I take action, the feelings come in line.  So I rise, put the coffee on, get dressed, and start to put out the breakfast.  It's amazing.  I'm starting to feel better about this day.

So what's up with these feelings?  I'm thinking that if I were a car, feelings would not be the engine, the fuel, the wheels, or the gas pedal, not even the leather seats.  (Don't ask me where the brakes are, I've been looking all over and just haven't found them yet!)  No, I think feelings are more like the guages.  They don't make the thing go or even tell me where to go, but if I pay attention to them, they can really help me with my driving.

What in the world does that mean?  If my speedo says I'm doing 90 mph I may want to think about letting up on the accelerator  (no one in their right mind would set the cruise control that high!)  Or if my fuel guage is on empty I know it's time to stop for gas.  And when the temperature guage registers on the "Hot" side I better look into what's wrong with my cooling system.

Back to my morning - I took my wife her morning coffee and went to wake up the boys.  Then we eventually gathered at the kitchen table for breakfast and family worship.  I apologized to Gramma for ignoring her at dinner last night while reading e-mails on the laptop.  Then we pray and I read while they eat.  It's a pretty exciting passage in Luke 4 when Jesus reads from Isaiah and announces in the synagogue that he has come to set the captives free.  But again I'm not feeling it.  All I can think of is the Justice Conference in February and how are we going to cover our bases here while we travel to So Cal for a week!

After reciting James 1 (more challenge than comfort here) and singing the "triple holy song" I close in prayer.  What's missing?  I tune the guitars and help the boys load up so they can go to "Worship class" and their other home-school co-op activities.  Soren needs help converting fractions to repeating decimals and the car needs to be warmed up and scraped of its ice.  Somewhere in there I failed to validate someone's feelings.  That was a BIG mistake and now I'm feeling it.  But it's nice to know where those are coming from, unlike the ones that float around like dark clouds, waiting to dump on me.

Suddenly "Hope Springs Eternal in the Human Breast."  I am, after all is said and done, an incurable optimist.  I see what I did wrong, I understand what I could have done differently, maybe I can do better next time!  It's not about the salt in the cookies.  That's a relief.  Like Soren said, "That's a funny thing to argue about."  (He's pretty sharp, maybe he'll do better than his Dad, though I sometimes  see some scary similarites.

e

Thoughts on Carl Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot”

http://www.upworthy.com/the-single-most-mind-altering-photograph-humanity-has-ever-taken

It's amazing that an atheist like Carl Sagan can draw so much inspiration here.
I think of David in Psalm 19 - "The Heavens declare the Glory of God!"

But for the Naturalist Nature or the Cosmos must take God's place, assuming the attributes of deity.
And in many ways this Great Reality -
 that we are so small and yet Human Life on this planet is so unique and significant -
serves a similar purpose as does an awareness of God.

The word "Perspective" is "spot on" here. (As the Brits would say.)
There's always something to bring my life, my problems, my suffering into a context
which both dwarves them by proportions, and at the same time reminds that small things are still meaningful.

Significance is never measured by size, but by impact or influence, like that "baby in the manger!"

The "pale Blue Dot" image and commentary would itself be brought into perspective
by a journey into the cells and molecules and atoms that make up this world,
and a consideration of their minuscule proportions, as well as their inordinate complexity and importance.

What I Learned on the Road to Mexico

It's impossible to say just how much these trips to Mexico have meant to me.  

Since 1986 there were only 4 years when I didn't spend either Spring Break or Christmas break on a 2500 mile road trip "south of the border" to work, to learn, to grow.  

We did this for the chance to commune with God and others while serving across political borders, socio-economic boundaries, and cultural lines. 

If I could fully describe it, then you wouldn't have to go and experience it for yourself.  But you do.

But if I didn't try to describe it I wouldn't be a writer.  My "inner wordsmith" would keep battering my heart from the inside out for a chance to express the inexpressible.

Stories and poems must have the chance to do their work until you're called away from your life "up here" and drawn out and into the life "down there."

Only then will you take your place around the campfire after a day of manual labor, afraid to lick your blistered thumb for fear of the taste of wet wipes and hand sanitizer.

The heat and light from the fire attract the newbie "missionaries" who've just finished their campstove meal of tuna casserole, the only known recipe to incorporate 4 food groups with only 5 ingredients!

But the warmth of the fire is soon dwarfed by the intense passion of hearts united in praise and worship.  

The songbooks viewed by headlamp and the guitarists feeling their way through the chord changes with eyes closed to keep out the smoke.

The illumination is of another kind as each one shares of today's "God-sightings," amazing "coincidences" that appear as if they were planned.

Others speak of "Hearing God's Voice," knowing He spoke and remembering how clearly His point was made.

As Group Leader the opportunity to bring "The Talk" feels like on big "teachable moment."

Scripture comes alive as I talk not about "you should" or "you ought" but "this is what we've been living on this trip.

Themes of servanthood, sacrifice, changed values are viewed through eyes that have just seen Jesus in the face of a child.

Renewed purpose and clearer focus are applied to hearts that felt "at home" building a home for strangers in a foreign country.

"We left our warm houses and soft beds to sleep on the ground in tents for a few days.

So that Jose' and Maria and their family can have a dry place to lay their heads in days to come."

"We left the paved roads and smooth highway to bounce along through dirt and mudholes in search of real treasure.  

And we have found it - here among the community of the less advantaged."