God, Teach me how to walk barefoot!

Tom Crow just sent me a little devotional thought by David Jeremiah on weakness, using:

He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. 
Isaiah 40:29 

 There is no doubt that when I am weak and helpless, I depend on God more and His Strength is always there for me. I like  David's secondary scripture even more, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10:

The Thorn in the Flesh

7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me,“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

From day to day in my new life in Costa Rica, I feel weak, unable to communicate, unable to get even some basic things accomplished, then I breathe deeply, say "What? Me worry?" and then turn it over to God and live by faith.

All my life I have tried to be organized, plan ahead, and accomplish many lofty goals. Most of my plans have never been completed, but God has blessed me with serendipities that I would never have thought of! As I responded back to Tom:

The American culture seems to teach us to not admit weaknesses or faults but rather lift ourselves by our own boot straps while God wants to teach us how to walk barefoot. :-) No scripture reference for that Charlieism. But I do enjoy walking in sandals!   :-)

"When I am weak, then I am strong."
2 Cor. 12:10

  

Avoid Stress? I'm choosing to Simplify Life!

Today's "Message of the Week" in The Tennessean by Ray Waddle uses the lives and focuses of the various Saints honored today on All Saints Day and sums it up by saying they all depend on confidence in something bigger and more enduring than our ever-demanding inbox! For me stress is avoided mostly by putting my dependence on God, my higher power; and also by trying to keep life simple.

My move to Costa Rica is partly for this reason and I pray I will keep it simple there (one can overload/overstress anywhere). Today's post in my Moving to Costa Rica Blog talks about this briefly as I mention re-discovering Richard Foster's book Freedom of Simplicity which I just loaded on my Kindle Fire. The current act of getting rid of all the many years of accumulated stuff is freeing and adding simplicity before I even move! Then when I get there, I am not going to get a car, choosing rather to walk, ride a bike, and use public transportation. I can hardly wait! I feel stress leaving my body already. Life will turn to relating to a new community and focusing on nature with my cameras, which is summed up in "loving God and loving people" all around me. That is life! Pura Vida!

We Need to Find God

I just posted the following quote on my website after finding it in Nature Photographer magazine! Though the moon photo is mine.

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.

Mother Teresa

Some things only come through God's Spirit

“This is God’s Message to Zerubbabel: ‘You can’t force these things. They only come about through my Spirit,’ says God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

Zechariah 4:6 THE MESSAGE

I’m sticking around to see what God will do.

Micah 7:7

The Message (MSG)

7 But me, I’m not giving up.
    I’m sticking around to see what God will do.
I’m waiting for God to make things right.
    I’m counting on God to listen to me.

Every person I meet has to do with God.

I just started reading Zephaniah in my morning reads through THE MESSAGE translation by Eugene Peterson and as in most of his book introductions, he has a powerful message or book summary. Read this exert from his brilliant introduction to Zephaniah that I know I need to be reminded of daily: 

 Because the root of the solid spiritual life is embedded in a relationship between people and God, it is easy to develop the misunderstanding that my spiritual life is something personal between God and me – a private thing to be nurtured by prayers and singing, spiritual readings that comfort and inspire, and worship with like-minded friends. If we think this way for very long, we will assume that the way we treat people we don’t like or who don’t like us has nothing to do with God.

That’s when the prophets step in and interrupt us, insisting, “Everything you do or think or feel has to do with God. Every person you meet has to do with God.” We live in a vast world of interconnectedness, and the consequences have consequences, either in things or in people – and all the consequences come together in God. The biblical phrase for the coming together of the consequences is Judgment Day.

We can’t be reminded too often or too forcefully of this reckoning. Zephaniah’s voice in the choir of prophets sustains the intensity, the urgency.

After loving God, Jesus says the most important thing we do is love people. God help me to see you in everyone I meet today, even people who are not kind to me or whom I don't like.

"On the inside where God is making new life . . ."

Thanks to Rus Roach for calling attention to this verse on the working of HIS SPIRIT:

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

The Message (MSG)

16-18 So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

After posting this, I was prompting someone to see the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Looking at the trailer again, I joyfully heard the Indian saying "Everything will be better in the end. If it is not yet better, then it is not yet the end!"  :-)  That is more than optimism, that is to me a Christian attitude.  

Hoping is a Good Thing!

It’s a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God

19-21 I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
    the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
    the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there’s one other thing I remember,
    and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:

22-24 God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
    his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
    How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
    He’s all I’ve got left.

25-27 God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
    to the woman who diligently seeks.
It’s a good thing to quietly hope,
    quietly hope for help from God.
It’s a good thing when you’re young
    to stick it out through the hard times.

28-30 When life is heavy and hard to take,
    go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:
    Wait for hope to appear.
Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face.
    The “worst” is never the worst.

31-33 Why? Because the Master won’t ever
    walk out and fail to return.
If he works severely, he also works tenderly.
    His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
He takes no pleasure in making life hard,
    in throwing roadblocks in the way:

Lamentations 3:19-33 THE MESSAGE

I used this passage to help describe my life during the decade of 1988 to 1999, the darkest days of my life. It is indeed a good think to hope for help from God! Help finally came for me and it can for you too!

"Forces concealed in quiet people and plants."

I'm towards the end of reading the Old Testament in The Message version which has given me the most meaning and understanding I have ever gotten from reading the Old Testament. Eugene Peterson has written an overview/introduction to each book of the Bible and they are each brilliant! In his introduction to Nahum he writes:

Larger-than-life figures appear on this stage from time to time, swaggering about, brandishing weapons and money, terrorizing and bullying. The figures are not, as they suppose themselves to be, at the center of the stage--not, in fact anywhere near the center. . . The danger is that the noise of these pretenders to power will distract us from what is going on quietly at the center of the stage in the person and action of God. God's characteristic way of working is in quietness and through prayer. "I speak," says poet George Meredith, "of the unremarked forces that split the heart and make the pavement toss-- forces concealed in quiet people and plants." If we are conditioned to respond to noise and size, we will miss God's word and action. 

This is indeed what happened in the narrative of Nahum and I deeply believe is happening in our world today. Let's yearn for the "forces concealed in quiet people and plants." This is where HIS SPIRIT is at work today. Join me in seeking it.

A Secret Discerned

Joe Mangano has invited me to attend a writers' group here at McKendree Village tomorrow. Their assignment is to write a short story or other writing on an attitude you changed that improved your life. As a visitor or first time attender, I do not have to bring a writing. But I want to and this is it. I started out writing about how positive thinking was the attitude that changed my life but ended up focusing on yielding my life to God. If I get serious about this writing stuff, I might re-write and maybe make two poems, one on positive thinking and one on letting God take charge. But then, it was my reliance on God that gave me the positive thinking in youth, so maybe this is okay. We'll see!  Or maybe I should stick with prose!  :-)   Here's the May 10 draft:

A Secret Discerned

A teen boy who was poor and shy,

Though in life, determined to try!

No success in sports, fame or girl,

I added activities, living in a whirl!

Mom gave me a nice new book,

Norman Vincent Peale’s ideas I took.

Bible verses and fun stories he told,

As I was learning in life to be bold.

“Change your thoughts - you change your world.”

As my petulant young life unfurled!

“This is the day the Lord hath made . . .”

A simple thought I carefully weighed.

God’s in charge, not me I learned;

That’s the secret I discerned.

Live simple and give much,

Scatter sunshine, love and such.

Words learned when I was young,

For a lifetime on my tongue!

Let go and let God have His way!

This attitude must not sway!

Charlie Doggett

May 10, 2013

Blue Like Jazz

I just watched the movie version of the book, Blue Like Jazz, from Netflix. Wow! It's a very honest and sincere movie about college students struggling with who God is or whether he even exists. It's about a 19 year old conservative Christian boy (Southern Baptist) student in a Texas junior college who transfers to the most Godless campus possible in rebellion against the hypocrisy he has grown up with. Even he was surprised by the outcome. Messy but very inspiring!

Though this book and movie was written for twentysomething and thirtysomething postmodern Christians, it's a great watch for all with some pretty meaningful conclusions. I liked it even though it was not at all like my experience on a Godless college campus in 1958-60. I was touched by how God can and does work in surprising ways to make himself known.  Available on Netflix.  with good description there.