Jim’s Blog

Jim February 27th, 2007

they say, “you are what you read”. well, i may be in trouble. anyone else on shelfari?

they also say, “you are what you eat”. right now i have a frozen pizza in the oven with about a half of bag of my own cheese added. what does that say about me?

i’ve made some pretty good progress on the next book, Wide Open Spaces. i’ve got three or so chapters pretty much done. (*note to publisher if you’re reading: it’s all in my head, i’m just on the getting it down on paper part.)

here are a few chapter titles:

Evolution of Reality: will the kingdom of God be delivered UPS?

A Beautiful Diversion: does God wear Christian tee-shirts?

A Divine Autopsy: does it matter what Jesus would do if you can’t do it?

they are working on the book cover and i’ll throw it up when i get it. thanks for your encouragement and prayers. the pizza is ready!

(photo by Peter Meade)

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Jim February 26th, 2007

What do you mean by “it is God”?

if God is real, it only stands to reason that we can experience him. when i am experiencing those deep “feelings” within me, i am experiencing God. in other words, those deep “feelings” are God within me. i put “feelings” in quotes because it may not be the best word. in any event, i think people will see i’m not talking about flighty or sentimenal human emotions.

Why, in the past, did you ‘attribute it to things outside’ yourself?

i think there are several reasons. let me quickly mention one. i more or less picked up along the way that the important thing is having right beliefs about God and so much of it for me was a head thing. along with that was the suspicion that anything i feel inside me is not valid or trustworthy. what a mess! Christ lives within me and yet i can’t trust anything inside. so, when i experienced God within i passed it off as a stunning sunset, inspirational film, beautiful piece of music, whatever…but not God.
 
Powerful how?

i was one with God – his life was my life; his love was my love; his peace was my peace; his freedom was my freedom.

(photo by andrewomerknapp)

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Jim February 24th, 2007

i was on a forum today and this question was asked:

What is the most significant (or only) power that transforms you when you experience it?

How do you experience that power?

My response was:

i have experienced a flow of spiritual life deep within me, which i feel as love, joy, peace, and freedom. the word “feel” or “feeling” even seems to cheapen a bit because it’s not just flighty human emotion. when i experience it i know this is the most real and solid world there is. honestly and strangely, for a long time i did not connect it with God and mostly attributed it to things outside myself. now i know it is God within me. whenever i experience it or live and speak from it, i feel the power of God at work in a way i haven’t anywhere else. i want to be more conscious of this dimension/life within me.
this probably sounds a little mundane, but a couple days ago i was in a conversation with someone who tends to be a very self-doubting/self-critical/apologetic sort of person. i began to feel a strong surge of compassion and love for this person from that deep place and looked them straight in the eye and spoke from those “feelings”. to be honest, i was a little startled by what i said. now i realize God was sharing his heart about this person through me – we (God and I as one) spoke. in that moment i knew something very powerful had just happenned. it was something we both experienced.

(photo by *Jerome)

• Kingdom of God
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Jim February 23rd, 2007

Dear Jim,

We encourage you to see “Amazing Grace,” Walden Media’s film about the life of abolitionist William Wilberforce, during opening weekend (Feb 23-25). Wilberforce, a British parliamentarian, battled for years against overwhelming odds to ultimately abolish the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1807.

Continuing Wilberforce’s work, International Justice Mission is honored that The Wilberforce Forum awarded Gary Haugen the 2007 William Wilberforce Award in recognition of IJM’s pioneering work to end slavery. IJM is a key partner in The Amazing Change campaign which seeks to abolish slavery today.

Wilberforce’s dream is our opportunity today, as millions of people are enslaved in our world at this very moment. We encourage you to see “Amazing Grace” and engage in the work to end slavery in our lifetime.

Sincerely,
International Justice Mission

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Jim February 23rd, 2007

at least they’re asking the right question.

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Jim February 22nd, 2007

Light Himself 

Jesus said the lamp of the body is the eye
If your eye is healthy
Your whole body will be full of light
Using a physical illustration
To communicate a higher truth 

The eye is our outlook on the world
And everything in it
The eye is how we see ourselves
And all those around us
And for our eye to be sound and healthy
We must “see” from God’s point of view 

Anything less is impaired vision! 

We are the blind Jesus came to heal
And He is lifting us into a higher realm
A higher point of view
The kingdom of heaven coming
To the little place on earth where we are! 

Just think!
To be able to see from the eternal, timeless
Viewpoint of our heavenly Father!
The One who sees all that we ask
All that we need
As being already granted! 

Jesus has been restoring our sight
Since we first met Him
He is opening our eyes to see His reality
To see Who He is
And who we are 

This earth is in turmoil
A planet filled with people spiritually blind
Groping around, bumping in to each other
Trying to feel our way
Claw our way to security and success 

Trying to see life with only physical senses
Feeding inaccurate and incomplete
Information into our brain
Knowing the information is incomplete
Knowing there has to be more 

How wonderful is the first ray of light!
Penetrating, dispelling the darkness within us!
I thank God for the tiny candle He has placed
Inside every person born on earth
A tiny candle of remembrance where we came from
Light Himself! 

Without that candle we would not recognize light
And begin to see, dimly at first
Vaguely
Our Father’s face 

We are being drawn more and more by His light
Christ Himself in our heart
Restoring
Healing our sight 

Until we see everyone and everything
From God’s viewpoint
From His time free
“It is finished!”
Complete
Perfect viewpoint 

Not one person
Not one particle of creation
Unredeemed
All made sound and whole
All in ALL 

poem by Joan Wilson 

poto by joblerone85