You Are More Real

[Image via Pinterest ]

Today I woke up, opened the door and walked out
Got to half of the day before I remembered you
You are not real

Today I woke up with a thought of you.
In my mind were questions of who you are
At the end of the day, a friend asked a question if you cared of the matters of men, of the pain millions lived in in our world, if our personal individual stories matters to you,
I asked the same in silence explaining crammed theologies
Are you real?

Today I sat down in the park near the office
My heart was broken was all I could remember, and somehow you came
like a miracle you reassured me of peace and a future synonymous to a dream
You are real.
The alarm went off at 5:00am
I got out of bed at 6:30am
I said a prayer in the shower

Read the rest over here at The Bible Dude's Place

I'm a Liar [A Guest Post by Cara Sexton]

Today I'm excited to have over here @ 'The Voice' Cara Sexton who blogs at Whimsy Smitten (a blog I personally love to read). Bold believer in Christ, wife and mother of three, Cara writes with so much authority you could feel it jump right out of the page and I must say, I love the transparency, authenticity and grace her writing brings with every word. Visit her blog Whimsy Smitten and you can also follow her on twitter @WhimsySmitten

 [Image via Pinterest]

I'm a Christian.

And I'm a liar.

Serious lies. Major. Compulsive.

I say I love the Lord with all my heart, soul, and mind, but I check Facebook each morning before checking into the Word of God to get a fix of what's really most important in my heart.

I say my kids are the most important thing on this earth to me, but I shoo them off of me so I can concentrate on writing an email.

I say I'm for human rights but I shop at big-box stores that support child labor and don't think hard about buying cheap coffee and cheap clothing that exploits the workers involved in the manufacturing process.

I say I write as ministry, to communicate what the Lord puts on my heart, but I have paid advertising on my blog so I can get a little something for my effort.

I say I'm part of the church body, but shy away from serving in ways that aren't "my gift."

I say I'm open-minded and respect all people, but I avoid lengthy discussions with the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons that come to my door. I smile and nod in the name of faith instead of listening and sharing and praying. I speak out against what I don't believe in rather than striving to understand all sides in mutual respect and humanity.

I say I believe in the power of prayer but drive my sick kid to the doctor and fill a prescription before I think to utter a word.

I am increasingly aware of the difference between faith in word and deed. I'm a writer. It's easy for me to wax poetic about the beautiful redemption of Christ but walk through life as though I don't believe it at all.

It's easier to use grace as a bandage to cover over the evil that so easily takes root in my heart, rather than taking a scalpel to it. Scalpels are more painful than bandages, but bandages don't heal the root of infection.

So what can be done?

I can use the scalpel to cut away one lie at a time. I can bring my choices before the Lord and cut out hypocrisy. I can remove advertising from my blog for things that are financially motivated rather than mission-ally motivated. I can pick up my Bible before my laptop, even when I don't feel like it. I can go with less excess to make more humane spending choices. I can listen when I disagree, breathe when I'd rather yell, pray when I'd rather control. It's one small, hard choice after another. It's one uncomfortable step at a time and we don't take the steps to be right but to be holy, to give the world a glimpse at the way He does it. Jesus does not divide; He unites. He does not injure; He heals.

Do I?

The Grandfather Paradox [A Guest Post by Seye Kuyinu]

Today I'm excited to have over at 'The Voice' my buddy, Seye Kuyinu whose blog I have always admired and whose heart [I know] is large enough to take in the world. He is a Poet, Music maker, Designer and a Professional techie. Seye's words have spoken to me in deep ways for many years and today it's a privilege to present them to you.

[Image via Pinterest]

Warning: This article is about how you read this very  article yesterday without knowing. This article is also about you reading this article while forgetting that you read it yesterday. And I will explain how.

For some reason, I stumbled upon a link that took me to a Wikipedia page that describes what is known as the Grandfather Paradox. Okay here it is(*rolls eyes*): According to Wikipedia(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_paradox),  The Grandfather Paradox is this-  suppose a man traveled back in time and killed his biological grandfather before the latter met the traveler's grandmother. As a result, one of the traveler's parents (and by extension the traveler himself) would never have been conceived. This would imply that he could not have traveled back in time after all, which means the grandfather would still be alive, and the traveler would have been conceived allowing him to travel back in time and kill his grandfather. Thus each possibility seems to imply its own negation, a type of logical paradox.

If I had more androgen(the hormone that gives ladies the feminine character), I would have rolled my eyes more. Like seriously, why do people bother themselves with baseless thinking?

I didn't know I myself would be caught in this thinking because for more than a week I kept playing the different scenarios in my head, occasionally wanting to imagine myself fighting my great grandfather for land. Or maybe his wife. Soon,  it sounded like something I could fix up and write a poem about. In fact, it occurred to me that many novels(and movies by extension) have taken the inspiration that comes from this theory. Let's start with Denzel Washington's De Javu. Or even the highly grossing Inception.  Even Michael Crichton wrote a novel called Timeline.  He had this idea in play.

Like many of things I encounter each day, I find a way to relate lessons or scenario back to God, my relationship with him and spirituality in general.  I have gone past the phase in my life where thinking about how God came to be doesn't matter the least to me. If the Big Bang was true- matter colliding causing a big bang- how did matter start? Who created matter? Was there another bang that created it. Would it be possible for me to go back in time to become God? Silly question. 

Sometimes we need to remember that TIME is as physical as the wind. Not seen but so much there. God created TIME and when he did he made it govern a part of existence. He lived before time was created. But here is where I am going: the great book that I have so come to love, tells me that God knew me before I was born. He knew my action on this particular day even before the world began (Okay so if God knew me before I was born, he probably knows that I made a mistake with the last sentence.) If he did, he must have charted a course for my life. If he charted a course for my life and he's not controlling  me like a marionette, would I still fall through with his plans?

Okay let me rephrase. If the Bible says His thoughts toward me are not of evil but are of good to bring me to an expected end, will I actually end good?

We need to once in a while stop and think about who God is. Yes, we think about him as the All-in-All, the Omnipresent, we think of him as God-the-God. But God is huger than our small, fickle minds can ever conceive.  God is BIGGER than TIME. He can change time. He can MOULD time with his bare hands. But he did that before. Wasn't it him that made time? Wasn't it God who with the command of Joshua stopped the sun and the moon for a day? The consequence: the leap year. God is big! God is bigger than whatever our minds can  consider thinking. Even the Bible mentioned at one point, 'To him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can THINK or ask'. Gosh! Thinking about this blows my mind all the time!

So talking in the context of TIME, it has not been proven yet that we can go back in time. The Grandfather Paradox also concludes with the negatives and possibilities of a future past that can never be altered.  The Bible exposes us to what God teaches us about the past. God, through written scriptures, tells us that ALL IS OURS. In 1 Cor 3:21, he says 'all is yours,… whether the present or the future'. Notice how he doesn't add the past. This is just so beautiful. This present second is mine! The future I don't see in my grip is mine. I can make of it whatever I want. 

So for me, I am well aware of what God has given me and you… his Grace. God looked into the future and came back to the present just to tell me that he's the one that's able to keep me from falling (Jude 1:24). That fact has definitely added a bounce to my walk. It means I can walk freely, resting on his grace. That Grace means a whole lot to me. And like Paul had once mentioned, I should forget about the past and trudge forward.  I can forget about my past mistakes, accomplishments and accolades and just move on. In his own words: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal..(Phillipians 3:13). That future!

If you read this article from the beginning to the end, or you are just seeing this portion, it was arranged years before you were born, by some 'divine scheme' for you to read this.

The Handwritten [A Guest Post At The Michael Perkins Blog]

[Image by Seventytree]

Today, I have the great privilege and honor to write at The Handwritten, one of the most unique and artistic blogs I've ever come across run by Michael Perkins.

Please also  download Michael's Handwritten book titled  Starting Over : A Manifesto on Being Yourself , a very succinct handwritten book but packed with truths. Michael hand writes volumes in a few words, and he has also encouraged and inspired me to do the same. 

This post is exclusive and you can't read it any where else. So today all roads lead to The Handwritten. Go go go go.

 Click here to view my guest post

On Finding Rings And God In The Small [An Interview With Sheila Lagrand]

[Image by Shawn Hoke] 

Remember Sheila from last week? Our Guest from GodSpotting With Sheila. Please take some time (if you haven't) to read the awesome story she shared with us over here at 'The voice' 2 weeks back. That said, I had the privilege to chat with Sheila (thanks to the miracle of the internet). You don't want to miss this. Read on.

The Voice:  The beauty of your story is its realness it happened to you. It isn’t fiction but did you ever pinch yourself finding the ring? Like ‘someone please wake me up, is this real?’

Sheila:  Yes! After I found it, I probably snuck up on my jewelry box every day for at least a week, peeking to see if the ring was really there.

The Voice: So why story telling? Why do you choose to communicate God to your world in one of the most vulnerable ways?

Sheila: That's a good question. People who will turn away from a sermon will listen to a story, won't they? I've discovered a little niche among my readers: people who've left the church, or lost their faith, seem to feel safe with what I have to say. I'm thrilled to serve people in that predicament.

And I am not qualified to preach. But we're all qualified to tell our stories, no?

The Voice: Wow! I loved that "we are not qualified to preach. But we're all qualified to tell our stories". In your story, you talked about finding a ring which some might count as trivial in the midst of a 'horrible' year. What has really helped you embraced the little things in life over time. I mean, we all want the next BIG thing.

Sheila: Hmm. I think perhaps the older we get--I'm 53 now--the less we crave the next BIG thing. And for me personally, contentment, being satisfied with the small servings, is a big part of my walk with Christ.

I should add that 2006 wasn't all bad. My grandson Cadence was born that year

The Voice: Tell us a bit more about your cousin and how she fits more into the ring story. From how I read your story, I perceived God was telling you more about 'finding' her than finding the ring. What do you have to say about this?

Sheila: Hmm. She died in 2000, six and a half years before the ring resurfaced. She was 32 years old. She left a little girl behind (who, by the way, is doing AWESOMELY well. I was reunited with her in 2010. She's about to begin university and she's a terrific student. Her father has done a good job raising her). I see the story more as a Romans 8:28 thing...the ring coming back was some small good pulled from the tragedy of her death. The tragedy of her life, maybe.

The Voice: Do you really believe God isn't in the business of parting Red seas anymore?

Sheila: Mmm, what I said was, "He doesn't part the Red Sea any more." I didn't say He's out of that business...fine point, I know. Perhaps I should have said, "He hasn't parted the Red Sea lately."

The Voice: You are an anthropologist (which is science based) by profession, and also a person of faith. Please tell us a bit about where this diagrams (science and faith) overlap and contradict in the scheme of things. Or do they ever contradict each other?

Sheila: I'm an anthropologist by training, but my employment is not in that field. In terms of contradiction...this is surely too simplistic, but it's always worked for me. God created the universe. Science is about understanding that natural world. God is essentially supernatural. So for me, I think of faith and reason (or faith and science, if you prefer) as being concerned with different orders of things--natural and supernatural.


The Voice:  'Miracles still happen, even in small ways we overlook' that one thing that keeps occurring to me as I read and re-read your story. But how are we as a society (even in the church) aren't poised for the miraculous. What part do we really have to play in seeing God move in our generation just like he did in Moses'

Sheila: I suppose it would be a cop-out to just say "Jeremiah 29:11," wouldn't it? But I really think that's it. We need to seek.


The Voice: What would you have to say to the younger generation, a generation fascinated with the BIG, we don't want to wait, I mean all these cute inventions (ranging from the microwave to the TiVo points to that) and we are also one quick to analyze everything that happens as quick as possible. What advice would you give to us?

Sheila: I think that fascination with the BIG is a condition of youth, rather than a characteristic unique to the current younger generation. So no advice is needed...age "cures" this condition, if in fact it needs curing.

The Voice: So what book are you currently reading

Sheila: I'm reading the Holy Bible (I read through it once a year; this year I'm reading the ESV).

The Voice: Thanks Sheila, It's a privilege having you over here. Looking forward to have you here again. :)

Sheila: The Privilege is all mine


Connect with Sheila : Facebook - Blog

The Satisfaction of Small Servings [A Guest Post by Sheila Seiler Lagrand]

Today I'm excited to have Sheila Seiler Lagrand, Ph.D., wife, mother and grand mother. Sheila is a contributing writer at the Bibledude's Place where I'm also a contributor. She blogs frequently at Godspotting with Sheila.

[Image by Rayani Melo]

2006 was a horrible, rotten year. As the holidays rolled around, I was relieved to be leaving that year behind me. For Christmas, the man I later married gave me a new jewelry box, a lovely replacement for the collection of plastic compartmented trays I’d been using to keep my treasures.
I sat on the floor and transferred my baubles from their makeshift storage containers into the beautiful wooden box, fitted with proper drawers, a velvet lining, and rolls to hold rings. It felt peaceful, neatly arranging my things at the end of this year that had brought so much upheaval and displacement. Rich watched me. I knew the look on his face: satisfaction that his gift had brought me joy.
Then I burst into tears. “What’s wrong?” he asked me, with that panicky voice men get when women start to cry.
I held up a small, thin, worn gold band. “This,” I blubbered, unable to push more words through my sobs. He came to me, wrapped his strong arms around me, gently pressed my head to his shoulder. I cried until I’d used up all my tears.
Then I explained. “This was my grandma’s wedding ring,” I began. “’Pa gave it to me after she died.” I took a deep breath, reached for a tissue, blew my nose. “When my cousin got married—Marcie, the one who died—I gave it to her to use. I never saw it again.
“I have no idea how it got back into my jewelry collection. I was sure it had been sold.”
My cousin, my beautiful, precious, cousin, the youngest of us all, had died of a drug overdose. And junkies don’t keep gold rings. They sell them.
They sell everything.
Since that Christmas, I’ve struggled to remember the occasion when that ring was returned to me. My conclusion is that it wasn’t.  I am convicted:
The ring’s reappearance is miraculous.
It was revealed to me at bottom of a long, rocky, downhill slide—just when I needed to see that beauty could be restored, that things (people?) that appeared forever lost might be recovered.
Maybe God doesn’t part the Red Sea any more, but He still works miracles.
I should know. I have one in my jewelry box.

"For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,  God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will."

Hebrews 2:1-4 (NASB)

IM ( A CHANGE IN THE MAKING :)

Status- He’s carving out a place in me, that I may contain His glory

- I love the status

- ! !

- He! True

Yes bro -

He’s carving it out - 

And it’s not easy for me to take -

But His Will will be done - 

-          Hey you aren’t alone

-          Same here

-          These past few days have just been like I’m walking on rubber feet

-          You know the feeling?

-          Numb!

-          I can’t just feel my face

-          I’m screaming ‘What’s up Lord’

-          He’s Whispering ‘I’m changing you, son’

-          It’s in times like this deep holiness is wrought

Wow dats deep!-

I feel like . . . he wants to change me-

But I’m adhering to my opinions and emotions too much-

In certain areas and stuff-

And I need to realize dat God’s word prevails-

I’ll get there anyway-

-          Yeah God’s word prevails

-          God’s word must be the absolute

-          And that just rocks our boat

-          You know

-          :D

-          We want it our way but he wants it His way

-          He wants it His way cause our way would hurt the beloved

-          The one he left his throne and crown to come save

-          Us

Yup-

Yes Bro-

-          Yeah

-          Our hope – we will one day be like him

-          That gets me dancing

-          \=D/

Dis is somthin my friend jst sent me-

-          Oh! Would go through it in a min

Ok, its nt long at all-

I read a scripture and thought to share it with you. Its Proverbs 12:14 and declares that the work of a man’s hand shall come back to him as a harvest. Meaning, as you sow and invest your time and effort into what you want to achieve, in due season your efforts shall pay off and it shall bring rewards. So don’t give up and just be patient knowing that what you put in, shall surely come back to you. Why? Because God said so. God bless-

-         Hmmmm

-          True

-          So true!

Yup-

-          We shouldn’t lose heart at all

Yup-

P.S.- A big 'THANK YOU' to my friend  Rotimi whom I had this conversation via (Black Berry Messenger) with on one of those ‘cold nights’ of the soul. The blue boxes are for his words and the yellow for mine. I recall him replying me after I proposed to share this on my blog ‘This could bless someone’ and I hope God uses it to do exactly that and more. I hope this refreshes a weary traveller on a journey to a place ordinary eyes can’t behold. I hope a soldier finds renewed zeal to stand in his or her liberty.
In the making of beautiful, there’s something called ‘process’. When we go through process we make  progress. Never lose heart. You are a change in the making.

P.S. Rotimi writes for Yada (which I also write for) and also runs a fashion blog. You can check him out on Thinks I Like . Get ready for a surprise, this guy is a box of creativity on a whole new level J

 Till later, always remember
U R LUVED