In the bleak mid-winter... thinking about Jimmy Fraser

Woke up this morning thinking about my friend Jimmy Fraser... I miss him. Not sure why the snow makes me think about him, except it came to mind how a couple times when we were building the Fraser house we couldn't get down the driveway because of the drifting snow. One time we got the "Ol' red ford pickup" so stuck we had to borrow a tractor and get it out and then spend three hours plowing snow so we could get material a quarter mile down the drive and into the house to work.

I also had to smile at Jimmy this morning because when I got to the church parking lot the City of ML... thank you so much... had plowed about a two foot high burm of snow into our driveway. I wasn't quite sure what to do... I thought about going home, but then I had another idea. I backed up across the street (four lanes) and just hit the gas and plowed through! Snow washed up over the hood and windshield of the car so that I couldn't see a thing! It was so much fun I did if two more times each way. It made me smile and think of Jimmy because he always laughed at me having a "Volvo". I love Volvo's. I started wanting a Volvo station wagon because I saw so many in Europe - and I have a distant relative in Sweden who works for Volvo. I don't think Jimmy would ever have owned a Volvo, but I know he enjoyed giving me a hard time about having one. When I got my second Volvo station wagon I think he considered me a bit of lost cause. He never saw me driving it without giving me a hard time about it. I actually half got the second one so Jimmy could give me a hard time about it! I think he would have loved me plowing through the burm into our parking lot with it. I could have bragged about it and he would have smiled and not said much... but he would have said something - of that I'm sure. The thing is, I'm just not sure you can really plow snow with a Ford Taurus... or a Buick La Sabre... but all day long in the Volvo!! I might just buy a plow for the front!

The thing is, Jimmy can't give me a hard time now... at least not that I can hear because he"s gone on into the hands of our Father... mine and his. Knowing that he's there and not somewhere else is helpful and a comfort... but it doesn't end how I miss seeing and talking to him here. My mom's there too... and Bill Stout... and Stella and Myrtle and Patrick Knesek... and many others. Sometime I'll be there too, unless the end of all things comes before this frail body gets ultimately tired and expires. I don't know if our presence with the Father between death and resurrection will be a waking presence or a restful sleep - and I don't really care either way. If it's a waking presence then I'm sure Jimmy is smiling now... if it's a restful sleep then he deserved it... he was a hard worker.

Whenever the first snow comes and blankets my world with a white covering I turn to the James Taylor version of "In the Bleak Midwinter." It's my favorite arrangement of that old hymn. I think winter is a perfect picture of death in so many ways. Everything is dormant and waiting for the Spring. Nothing is growing, blooming, or bearing fruit - but all creation is waiting during winter, preparing, gathering strength, and getting ready for a new season of growing - getting ready to Spring to new life when the warmth of the sun breaks out and thaws the winter, warms the ground, and the snow melts watering the dormant seeds in the ground causing them to burst forth into new life. I just can't help but think that God gives us winter so that we can look forward to Spring and remember that there will be a new day when the sun will shine and life will burst forth again.

The sun's coming... and the Son too... and someday, who knows how far away, the Son will burst forth and winter and death will be forever ended... in contrast to the days of Narnia when it was always winter and never Christmas we will live when and where it is always Christmas and never winter. If Christmas and Advent reminds us of nothing else I hope it reminds us that HE IS COMING!!

Who's coming? The Messiah - coming for His people; What's His Name? Jesus, Messiah, Emmanuel, God with us, Prince of Peace! What'll he be like? Shining, love, grace, mercy, peace, judgment, King! What's he coming to do? Save his people, rescue, give life, take away pain, suffering, death, weeping, and sorrow.



In the bleak midwinter? What a delightful reminder of the coming Spring.

Jesus is____________.

Study break in Kirkland... sitting in a Starbucks alone surrounded by people. I sometimes think I can be most alone when surrounded by people, I like it. The sights, sounds, smells, uniqueness of people - God is so creative that sometimes it just catches me off guard. In the misdst of all this I look out the window and notice a bumper sticker on the back of a Kia sitting across the lot. Not sure why it intrigued me, except perhaps the simplicity of it. Solid black bumper sticker with these few stark white words...

Jesus is ___________.

It might also have caught my attention because I was just reading in my Solo NT the words of Jesus as Eugene Peterson paraphrases them...

Matthew 11:28-30, "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Tired? (Yep)
Worn out? (I don't know for sure... maybe)
Burned out on religion? (not very religious I'm afraid so I'm avoiding that one!)
Come to me... (so cool that he came to me so that I could come to him)
Get away with me and you'll recover your life... (why don't I do that more?)
I'll show you how to take a real rest... (this might be more important than prayer... not sure)
Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it... (he was best at it)
Learn the unforced rhythms of grace... (I think I've lost time & rhythm lately)
I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you... (thank you... that is grace in essence perhaps!)
Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly... (deep breathing and deep laughter -why do we take ourselves so seriously)

Jesus is____________. Life, grace, rest, irreligious to the point of being hated by the religious, the way, shepherd, friend... I think he would like me even in the times when I am most unlikable... knowing that at this moment is even better than this cup of coffee.

Anybody out there?

I haven't posted in a million years. Wonder if anyone would notice if I did. I'd like to get back to it... seems like life has pushed me away from it and I need to get back at it! I always enjoy blogging when I do.

Word of God Speak.

I've been challenged over the past month as I've been reading again A.W. Tozer's, The Pursuit of God . I was awakened a bit by the chapter "The Speaking Voice" in which Tozer reminds us that God is speaking. This is a helpful insight as I've been going through the "Seven Realities of Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. 1)God is at Work. 2)God is interested in a loving relationship with me that is real and personal. 3)God is inviting me to join Him in His work. 4)God will tell me, by the Holy Spirit, through church, scripture, others, and experiences what work he has for me to do. 5)Hearing His word and call will lead to a crisis of belief that will require a step of faith. 6)Following hard after Him in what He's called me to do will require an adjustment to the way I'm currently living - i.e. I am already using up all my resources on other things... time, money, energy, gifts, and creativity. 7)When I obey and engage God will show Himself to me in a way that I will experience His presence.

It seems like Tozer hits me well on the head when he reminds me what I may believe - though I may not articulate it - but my belief system is exposed in my daily behavior, when he writes, "I believe that much of our religious unbelief is due to a wrong conception of and a wrong feeling for the scriptures of Truth. A silent God began to speak in a book and when the book was finished lapsed back into silence again forever. Now we read the book as the record of what God said when He was for a brief time in a speaking mood." Do I believe God is still speaking... not talking about continuing revelation from the sense of Him continuing to inspire scripture... but does He desire an interactive relationship with me that involves hearing and speaking... real communication. If I see the Bible as a book for devotionals, or read a bit here and there to boost me along for the day, then I may not be immersed enough in the word for the Spirit of God to communicate clearly to me. It's not his ability to speak that's the problem, but the set of ears which I've chosen to use in the work of listening.

I wonder how often we open the scripture and say to ourselves if no one else... "Word of God speak for your servant is listening!" Tozer goes on to say, "If you would follow on to know the Lord, come at once to the open Bible expecting it to speak to you. Do not come with the notion that it is a thing which you may push around at your convenience. It is more than a thing, it is a voice, a word, the very Word of the living God." It seems to me that we have been trained to read the Bible a certain way, and perhaps not a very good way. It is to open to "find something" and perhaps in many cases something we're "looking for." That is to say, we've gone looking to find something specific, and I suspect that in many cases we find just that. But in going looking for something specific we cut off from our sight the thing that He might be saying. You've had conversations like that haven't you? I have. The conversation that, while the other person is speaking you've already got in mind what you're going to say next... so you're not really listening as much as waiting for you turn to talk next. No communication really happens... just talking and talking - not talking and listening. Would I like to "find God" that is to say in the context, hear His voice in a real and tangible way? Take a look at another snippet from Tozer, "Why do some persons "find" God in a way that others do not? Why does God manifest His Presence to some and let multitudes of others struggle along in the half-light of imperfect Christian experience? Of course the Will of God is the same for all. He has no favorites within His household. All He has ever done for any of His children He will do for all of His children. The difference lies not with God but with us. He's speaking, wanting us to hear, WANTING us to hear, and we, with the noise and clamor miss His voice. Dallas Willard in his book, Hearing God says, "The primary subjective way that God still speaks to us is in the quiet, still, voice. I/we should pray and then be silent in order for Him to speak.

Lord, teach me to listen. The times in which I live are noisy and my ears are full of the noise and exhausted with the million raucous sounds which continually pound into my head from a thousand different directions. Help me to have the spirit of the boy Samuel when he said to You, "Speak for they servant is listening and hearing." Let me get used to the sound of Your Voice, so that its tones may be familiar when the sounds of earth die away and the only sound will be the beautiful music of Your speaking Voice. AMEN.

I'd love to hear the ways that you sense God is speaking to you... moving you... through word, church, song, others, or circumstances. Just post a comment. JJR

Remember... remember... remember... why we're here.

Ok, it's been a while since I blogged. I have good intentions, but it's seems I just don't make the time. There's never enough time, so it has to be made! In any case, at least as I'm going to Croatia and back... and while I'm there... there will be enough alone time to put down some thoughts.

Got to Spokane early for my flight, I was happy about that, I don't like to be rushed. They asked me if I wanted to go standby on an earlier flight. I said yes, if they were sure I could get on. They said there were 90 free seats... "you're gonna get on!" I got on, had a row to myself... beautiful!!!... then the plane started to fill up. I was hoping for a quiet time to Seattle so I could read. Then... then... then.... a guy moves up from the back and takes a seat in MY ROW... you know what I'm saying... MY ROW! Had to put my feet down. Still had room... then he started talking. The thing is, I'm a friendly guy, but I wanted quiet... rest... peace. He never stopped. He even waited when everyone was disembarking. It wasn't a big problem, I was an hour early, no hurry... it's just that I wanted quiet... peace - you've been there I'm sure.

I was a little annoyed for a bit... then I started to remember that Jesus talked at times about entertaining unique guests. So I settled into listening, nodding my head. Put my book down... ate my pretzels... listened.

Turned out that he and his wife were up in my neighborhood because they were checking out private boarding schools for their son who has gone a fair distance off the path it seems. He got a little choked up at one point... told me that it was expensive, and after all, if his kid had cancer he'd pay whatever he had to in order to help him.

Well, it humbled me, and it was a good reminder to begin this trip. We're here for others... it's called community even when the neighbors are from someplace far away... and my time here isn't my own. It was good to remember why I'm here.