"Centered............"

We return to the Youth Detention Center this Sunday, but the group will be a bit larger on this visit and if I share at all, it will need to be short. The emphasis, however, is always on the Holy Ghost, each of us fully understanding that this is His ministry, not ours, these kids needing water that flows from His fountain, not ours. My thoughts are yet on “life”, Wednesday’s meal served at the rescue mission still cooking within me. Placed in the hands of the Master Chef, “leftovers” can feed the hungry, steak and potatoes turned into a cheeseburger deluxe with fries. Our congregation’s “mileage already covered” is the biggest factor here; but, in truth, the soul inside the package is eternal, a man’s spirit aware early on in this journey that there is a void in his existence… Yesterday afternoon I read a woman’s explanation of time, in the sense of it not being “a healing balm to all wounds”, but merely extending to us “space”. She is on staff within the framework of a Presbyterian church, at times bringing forth the sermon; but, above all, she’s a mother who is yet dealing with the tragedy of her son committing suicide a few years ago and her description of dealing with such hurt, likening it unto “taking all of your pieces and lying them out on a battered bench after a day at the beach, rearranging them into new patterns” spoke to me. While the flow contains us, our progress within it being “upstream” and our continual challenge being to keep ourselves “above water” in spite of whatever comes “downstream” against us, surely there are those moment when all of us question if there’s any rhyme or reason to any of it. Our stories no doubt vary in many ways. That inner scenario, however, is common to mankind, a condition initiated in Eden and remedied at Golgotha, His resurrection transforming a stagnant pool into a well that never will run dry. That’s more than a message. That is a tangible reality that confirms itself!......