You. . .

This is dedicated to C.H. Banks, a poet.

Louder than my voice, You have spoken in me
Deeper than my longing, You have sprung eternal
Beyond my foresight, You are prophesying to me
After all my reason, You are unimaginable (and speaking unimaginable things)

Before my expectation, You've exceeded what is conceivable
In the most secret place, You consume me completely
And deep calls out to deep

Above a kingdom's reach, Your reign overcomes
Beneath the meaning of existence, Your laws dictate reality
At the moment of seeking, You have sought and found
Greater than my strength, You uphold the infinite (and I within it more carefully)

In the fulfillment of time, You are waiting
With the wisdom of the ages, Your ways are everlasting
And deep calls out to deep, whispering your fullness:

"If there is faith, You are believed."
"If there is hope, You are looked upon."
"If there is love, You are reflected."

Failure to Launch. . .

I always caution the new enthusiastic believer to take time to fall in Love with the Living Christ, to literally be "selfish" with that time. You only get one chance to fall in love with Him (IMHO), and that's at the beginning of the relationship. Allow me to elaborate. I know there are open objections to this train of thought, mostly leaning on the side of "what do you mean 'one chance', anyone can fall in love with jesus at any time?" True, anyone can fall in love with Him anytime, but there is something special at the beginning of a relationship where you get to be lost in someone else's life. That singular instant doesn't last forever, soon there comes relational difficulties, frustrations, obligations, maintenance, and endless distractions. He spent three years face to face with the disciples showing them how to live in God relationaly and not religiously. He allowed them to make mistakes and forgave them and built them up, just like falling in love. Out of that simple devotion came the most powerful change the world has ever seen, the creation of romantisicm falls on the shoulders of the christian church. Look for romance for the sake of romance in history before Christ; you can literally count the epic romances on one hand, but soon after the Christos it becomes the central theme of all story. It's because up until then God was trying to groom a child but In Christ he woos a bride. The response to that wooing changes the world.

Take the time, before ministry, before obligation, before failure, to just love Him. If His purposes and example revolve around relationship and the building of that relationship we MUST commit to that development, not the act of service but the reality of falling in love.