"Functioning..................................."

“In a sense, we come today like salesmen, with a product that’s free for the taking, and some of you perhaps having already sampled the product in one way or another. There are so many knock-offs out there, though, that where I must begin is with questions: Who is God? What is God? Do you even believe in such possibility? What good is religion, any religion, in the first place? Why Jesus above all others?.... If some seem to have settled for theologies, manipulating words, shaping individual totems, claiming power and prosperity, assigning grace and glory as if they were ours to give, truth remains a belly connection, a point within where this life and the next are made one, a place where all that I am surrenders unto Him, only Jesus spanning the gap.”

It’s early Saturday morning here and discovering that an extra church added to the Youth Detention Center schedule has my group’s visit now “on deck” for tomorrow has my spirit plumbing, again, the depths of His Spirit, rehashing what was shared Wednesday with the men at the mission. It’s not that the same verse in Romans concerning our “mortal” bodies being “quickened” by the Holy Ghost can’t reach these kids, the same mental notes utilized for the old unable to speak to these in their teens. It’s this clay vessel that has to be careful, the message coming forth, not out of my own head, but “fresh”, in a flow He gives if I’ll not let the water become stagnant. That applies to any believer, though, “ministry” more than preaching, teaching Sunday school, praying with the sick, singing in the choir. “Faith” is a risen Savior, alive in me, not a doctrinal credo confessed, nor an elevated moment in which one grabs the brass ring, achieving some hope granted from Heaven. If it works correctly, authority is not brazen, love is not boastful, and the mystery is solved only in an encounter shared. Witness occurs as He opens the doors. When and where are His to determine, our only part in this being to “stir up the gift that is within us” and take the next step. It doesn’t take a degree, just a decision to “pick up one’s cross” and follow……