a modern day foot washing

Read all of John 13 to get the full picture...

Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. (John 13:1b)

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” (John 13:9-10)

“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. (John 13:13-14)

"Slaves are not greater than their master, nor messenger more important then the one who sends the message." (John 13:16)

 Foot washing... What might a modern day version of foot washing be?

Jesus was spending the last intimate moments on his "death bed" with the 12 men that had been through it all with him. He stoops down to wash their feet. He stoops down, and with all of the authority given him, knowing his fate shares a very important part of kingdom success with them. Pouring out the last beautiful anointed words they will hear from his contained in human form lips, he demonstrates how to wash feet... a job of a servant... a job of the lowest position.

He washes our feet. As all of creation awaits, and has been waiting since the fall of man for this place in time... time takes a pause, angels breathless as their master stoops down to wash my feet. To was your feet.

Simon wants to be bathed, and Jesus reminds him that the clean need not bath all over, but just the portion that is the dirtiest, just the feet... feet that carry, feet that stop. Feet that guide and lead, crack and bleed, heal and run. Feet that are set on a path, and kept safe. Just the feet.

"...you should also wash one another's feet..." (just the feet)

Feet. I wonder if a modern day version of foot washing is motive questioning. As I am questioned, truth washes over and through my being and I am convicted, or affirmed in the direction my motive will carry me. The one washing through questions serves the one being questioned. It is not a challenge, it is not a fight, it is a gentle washing, allowing the Holy Spirit like water to wash away impurities of selfish motives as our feet once again are made clean.

And we can do this for one another.

Motives from the start will come out in the end. They either are clean and remain clean by the cleansing waters of conviction, or become muddied by a world that thrives to steal kill and destroy all that is good, pure and right.

Allow others to wash your feet. Allow the Holy Spirit to search you and know you. Jesus asked us to do this for one another, in Him. As painful as it may be at the time, if you allow it, God will receive the glory, and you will be found pure of heart, ready to have your feet carry you to the next place God has planned.

A legacy forgotten... a stroy retold.

"Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm;  the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country;  what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord brought lasting ruin on them..."
Deuteronomy 11:2-4

Stories. Stories of deliverance, stories of disobedience and defeat... With stories we bring to life, paint a verbal picture of a place in time that something important happened. Stories also can remind us who we are, and why we do what we do.

This was done in the old testament regularly. The people heard time and time again how God had saved their great great grandparents from EGYPT... and what a fantastic story it is! The women would tell of  Moses's mom and the basket in which she placed their one day great leader. Then the moment of all moments, when the hand of God had written out those commands, history breathing a blessing onto a rebellious and stubborn nation. A covenant made, a forever future chosen.

Generations would enjoy the protection and providence of God based on the truth in the stories passed down from generation to generation. But stories, the spoken word, ceased to be told. Youth grew, grandparents died, and the nation of Israel would forget... Surrounding nations would crowd in and the spoken word, their legacy, the legacy chosen for them before the foundations of the world would be forgotten. Time and time again, like a children's fable lost in the back of a dusty library, the word of God would be forgotten.

Are we telling the compelling truths to our children about God and our history? Are we telling stories that widen the small eyes of a child, and truly make Jesus out to be their superhero? Or has your imagination taken a back seat and been subdued by daytime streaming drama and prime time pseudo porn?

Have you known what it is like to run through the middle of raging waters on dry ground while the enemy pursued? Or stood on a mountain when fire rained down from the heavens? Eaten beautiful snow like bread every morning, and watched water gush from a rock in the middle of the dessert?

Have you played in the mud that healed a man born blind, held the hand of a child once dead? Did you feel the ground shake as tears poured from the heavens, or seen the place where He laid in a tomb now empty?

And what about you? What about the story written in your life not on paper or stone? What about your story bears truth to these wonderful miracles?

My Grandfather having the right set of gifts in a war camp to sneak food at night; not only to feed himself, but feed the men that toiled with him day to day...

My life being a miracle after my parents believed God was greater than a diagnosis not to have "normal children"... named Johanna Eva because I truly was to them God's gracious gift of life.

"It is time to share your burdens" a wedding plan in motion between their father and I... as God knew the family I came from would soon fall apart, and nearly break my heart.

Stories. Stories of deliverance, stories of disobedience and defeat... With stories we bring to life, paint a verbal picture of a place in time that something important happened.

Have we allowed this culture to crowd in to the point of no return? Will your grandchildren remember Gods providence of a survived great grandfather through the war, or the healing power of a God who gives good gifts to parents that seek His face, and renews all things in His time?

Paint for your children a picture that is true to the faithfulness of the one who dwells richly in them. Daily let them taste and see that the Lord is good. Let us together, raise a generation that knows who they are, where they came from, and why they believe what they believe. It takes a village, no it takes a body, a bride, the bride of Christ to raise a child.

Father let us be a people that remembers your great faithfulness. Give us words and pictures to tell our children of the wonders you have done, and will continue to do into eternity. Let not the world crowd us out of tasting, seeing, believing and experiencing your goodness, for you are good. We Praise you and thank you for all that you are yesterday, today, and forever. Amen.

Your Master Plan

Sometimes your word doesn't feel like it's enough.

I want so much more of you.

then you show me...

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.

The Word became spirit and made His dwelling in us.

You knew.

Your word now living, breathing, illumination, beckoning. Convicting, forgiving, revealing.

placed in every man and woman, child and infant

your word, the truth, the light

The light shines in the darkness

and the darkness does not recognise it.

You knew.

To some the smell of death, to others life giving.

Life changing, life healing, life eternal.

Your word, flesh; among... your word, spirit; in

And now you have your way in me.

As you wrap your word, Holy Spirit and place in us a light that will not be put out. A light that will shine brighter as times become darker, as the chasm between life and death widens. Times try to run from its maker as you allow every detail in your judgment, your grace, your mater plan.

Master plan. Master, planed.

already gone before,

standing behind,

and walking with us through.

You engulf all of time, and enter in, with me here, now. Scaling down, and back not becoming less, but to be more in me, when it is really all about you.

Your word is enough, more than enough. All of you overwhelms me, surrounds me, becomes me as the light shines in this once dark place; and I have recognised it, not just once, but in every moment as you renew every cell in my being with your life giving word. your spirit, your self.

You know... and in my limited understanding of an unlimited You, you are.

You word will always be and no words could express even as you created our words, there are none to express You. YOU ARE, and I am... hidden in the one and only I AM.

Your Word, is you, and it is more than enough.

connections...

Have you ever had a connection, one that feels deeper, eternal... you wonder if the Father sighs at two finding one together... They push, they rest, they endure all you throw at them and you do the same for them, in the power of the Spirit... Like the Father Himself, for a moment tore every barrier of fear and lack of yourself from your mind and put into your heart another... No library of wrongs, or overdue books lurking, no bank deposits and withdraws to come... just complete freedom with caution thrown to the wind the mutual payback exploring what it is to be another... different from you and yet recognizable still as in a mirror, a dimly lit mirror in which we one day will see and know all things not yet known to man. To know and be fully known. To choose to be known and fully know...

There is no fear in love... love is not hidden... love is not something... it is not given or taken... it is someone of free will, of understanding far greater than our minute human minds could fathom. Love is active, as is truth and all things eternal. Love without truth is not love.

And in truth it is impossible to be fully loved and fully known by any person. Even the deepest places of our hearts are hidden to self... as the Spirit searches He finds and all things may be brought to light. No Spirit, no light... no being known, no truth, no fear... no love.

Why we were made... to love and be loved... in the Father, in the Son, through the Holy Spirit.


Have you ever lost a connection. One from fear, one from potential damage to a journey you had once been on... that is no longer. One that drained every bit of love you could squeeze from your parched heart... one that you could mourn the rest of your existence, in search for such a love as this again? Could such a closeness ever be known, ever be shared, ever tie your heart up again? Questionable dependence, needed affirmation, always holding onto what has slipped from hands weakened with the clutch of desperation spilling over... over the edge of where you thought your trust would never return.

Trust in someone that does not exist, because no man is trustworthy. Only the holder, inventor, edge of your end, fallen over and caught you in the end can be trusted. The one that looks with you in a mirror, created your reflection and the mirror, the holder of all things beyond, seen in the shadows, working in the deepest parts of you that you search for... He is the one to be trusted.

...He makes something, something from nothing, not from things already known, but of things unknown, not yet created until his breath of life breaths a word, and in the beginning, He is. He makes with a thought, that can only be a thought to our words, but spans the ends of the beginning and the end... a thought known to us, but something different to Him. Complexities made simple as He holds all things and spins such beauty with his very existence..in hands that are only words to Him.

His existence given to man, living in each who asks. He can be trusted.

And as you see his existence in others, you will recognize His voice in each. As you hear and recognize that voice you can trust in the hand holder of all things... the breather of new, never been before life. When you find you are given your trust spot again, trusting others is the simple act of trusting in Him.

Trust him in having a connection, trust him in the loss. In time, as He meets you at the end, outside of time you will see... it is all the same. loss is gain... in his loss you were to gain... and always will. He is to be trusted and connections are given and taken away, for He will receive the glory either way.

Waves...

At North point beach...

"In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world..." - Jesus Christ The crying could not be confused for anything but what it was; complete and total irrational fear. As we stood in ankle deep water, filled with terror, clinging to me as if I was her last life support. In gentle calming tones, I talked her down... "...the waves all have a breaking point. They only get so high then they have to fall over themselves. Every wave does this... this one, and that one... just hold my hand, don't let go, and if they get too high, I can pick you up, and carry you..." And then HIS voice catches me off guard, and rings so true in my spirit... "...and so it is with the troubles of life..." In fear we often give up and never allow ourselves to see the wave cap, break and experience the ride that follows. Every wave has a breaking point. God has given each of us a depth of faith in amidst the waves. For some, ankle deep is where He has asked them to be, for others treading water. Movement to deeper water requires love, trust, obedience... never letting go of our fathers hand as he speaks in gentle calming tones... "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world..." For the rest of our time she played in ankle deep water's, holding my hand... but my prayer is that one day she will be given the desire for deeper waters, cling to the Fathers hand, and tread water with the Saints for His glory... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mAvt3CxEQM

Balance and Seasons

"There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:"
-King Solomon

Balance. That is what the world is after. 

Seasons. This is what I am after.

Balance says, you must do all things all the time and keep them all in the air to be equally as important.

Seasons says, this is what you have been given, have grace for the things you cannot do.

Balance says, all of these pressures are on you, and it is your job to keep each of these pressures equally as important all of the time. 

Seasons says, you are to focus on a few things that has been given to you, and do them well.

Balance says, do all that you can do as it comes at you.


Seasons says, all that I give you will not overwhelm.

Balance says, you are greatest when you can do all of these things with the equal amount of skill in the equal amount of time all the time.

Seasons says, you are greatest when you are at your worst and call out for MY help to do them together.

Balance says, when you drop everything you have been keeping up in the air, I will tell you to reset and start over to do the same thing over and over and over and over again.

Seasons says, when you drop everything, rest, learn, heal, for this too is a season. There is nothing you can do that hasn't already been planned for you.

Balance says, do all of this all at the same time...
  be born and die,
  plant and uproot,
3   kill and heal,
  tear down, build,
4   weep and laugh,
  mourn and dance,
5   scatter stones and gather them,
  embrace and refrain from embracing,
6   search and give up,
  keep and throw away,
7   tear and mend,
  be silent and speak,
8   love and hate,
  war and peace...
all at the same time with equal amount of intensity and importance all the time.

Seasons says, 
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens,
    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

Balance says, Its not easy, it is inevitable that you will try your whole life to achieve me...but in the end with all of your hard work, you may find self fulfillment.

Seasons says, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.


Replace Seasons with Jesus.

(Inspired from a question I had asked Carey Niewhof, thank you)