MetroMonk

In this place and in your presence I have experienced many things. Joy, peace, love, tears, sadness, frustration, fright, dread, terror, burden, anger, intense fury, confusion, boredom, enlightenment, wonder, inspiration, dissapointment, anticipation, solace, anxiety, heartbreak, total loss, peace, comfort, counsel, confrontation, your voice, correction, your hand, your spirit, loneliness, your holiness, your grandeur, the voices of the angels in chorus singing, depression.  There are good days and there are bad ones.  Through plenty and want, Sick and good health, Summer and winter, Rain or shine, All things change.  This life is cruel And it can do quite a number on you.  Through it all My coffee is warm  And you are with me. 

I give myself to the Lord. I give myself to the Lord,  Not because he needs it, But because I do. I need the Lord. I need him, I need to see like him, He restores my sight, vision and perception. I need to feel like him, He gives me peace, patience and mercy. I need to love like him. I need to hear the things he only he can open my ears to. I need him to feel right. Life seems out of rhythm without my Lord. He is the most important part of my day, He is always the most important part of my day. All time passes by too fast when I am with my Lord. I must get back to the conversations we have day after day after day.  There is something new everyday.  It may not be exciting, but it is new.  It may be harsh or too revealing, It may be fresh, but never stale. The Lord is living and his word is always relevant.  Oh, the newness people could have if they made the Lord a commitment in their lives, daily. What would happen? What could happe...

God is with us. I have a lot of things going on right now. It's exciting, but I need help with all of them.  As I was sitting, drinking my coffee and praying I asked the Lord to be with me. I stopped, listened, and heard him say, "I am."  He told me that he already was with me and that he always has been. He had never left. He told me to remember the name "Immanuel," which means "God with us." I was like, "oh yeah." It was a powerful moment. So I wrote it on a napkin and am sharing with y'all to remind you with the very thing that God reminded me with- God is with you. It's not a maybe if he is or maybe he (or she- I know how some of you are about that :)) is not. The Lord is here. The Lord is here. The Lord is here. The Lord is with you. Know it. Feel it. Embrace it. Awake to that reality and may you come more and alive with the weight of that reality.  May the peace of the Lord be with you. 

Nothing is worse than sitting through a long-winded sermon. It's agony. It's labor. I prefer my sermons (that I'm sitting through) to be short and concise. If the sermon breaks the 20min. marker then consider me tuned out. I get twitchy at 15min, but at 20....chances are my attention has left the building. Get to the point! I am a tweeter [If you don't know what that is then at this moment just go ahead and click to another site. Thanks for stopping by], and I am not the only one. There are currently  500 million  Twitter users. I could go on and on with statistics on the very large numbers of people on social media. I'm sure you get that already. If you don't, just do a web search on "social media by the numbers" or something like that. You'll find all kinds of stuff.  The numbers are huge. So preachers, my encouragement to you is to take advantage of this. I don't know any preacher who thinks their words aren't worth a darn liste...

This is a picture of grass with weeds in it. That's crabgrass in the picture. This isn't a picture from my lawn, but my yard does have weeds in it. Some weeds more easily removed than others. Crabgrass is fairly easy to kill off, but some put up a great fight to stay alive. My yard has has the fighting kind. My North Carolina lawn has wonderful fescue with some bermuda sprinkles around randomly and fighting weeds. I don't know what kind they are...I'm still learning my NC "weedology." My life right now is like my lawn, it has weeds. The fighting kind.   So let me get real and make a transition from a real tangible example to a more spiritually one. Let's call my "weeds" sin. No, scratch that. My weeds are more like demons- spiritual demons. They don't leave me alone. They always call out and persecute me. It's very much like hearing voices, but there is another I hear too. That other voice is the voice of Christ. I am always hea...

Scripture this week includes: Acts 9:36-43 Ps. 23 Rev. 7:9-17 Jn. 10:22-30 May the peace our Lord be with you.

May the peace of The Lord be with you.

Empty Space by  Ann Hamilton Can God meet you in the wilderness? Is God out in the desert places? Does God even prepare a table in the wilderness? Sure, maybe, I just never want to wait around long enough to find out. “The Desert” for the the Christian used to mean a literal desert, like the desert where the ancient Hebrew people had to wander.  Today, “desert” has taken on a more figurative meaning. What does a “spiritual desert” mean to you? I know that there are different meanings and interpretations for every single person out there. Sometimes “a desert place” can mean a time period of waiting, other times a literal geographic place of unfamiliarity, even other times it can mean a feeling of being lost - having no idea where to go or how to survive. I can relate to all of those scenarios. I feel like I’m in a desert now, but this time it’s different. It’s longer; it feels more intense; I have no direction, no support; I feel totally alone with no clue how to get ou...

Image not my own I don't know if being drunk makes life better. There are a lot of people that believe this. Being drunk can certainly make a night more fun, but it can also ruin things. I know there are a lot of recovering substance abusers who would agree that the above image is a lie. Read today's scripture: Luke 21:25-36 2 Peter 3:10-13 There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. On the earth, there will be dismay among the nations in their confusion over the roaring of the sea and surging waves. The planets and other heavenly bodies will be shaken, causing people to faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world. Then they will see the Human One coming on a cloud with power and great splendor. Now when these things happen, stand up straight and raise your heads because your redemption is near. Jesus told them a parable. "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that ...

Father help me,   I'm torn,     So torn, The beauty of this world   & You. Hopeless wanderer,   I'm a hopeless wanderer, But you know this,   You know,     You know me. You know all of me,   Father of lights     you know me. I love that,   It's freeing. I don't want anyone to see,   but with you it's different. I feel you,   you fill me.     Fill me more.     Fill me again.     Fill me.     Fill me up. Turn my loneliness to solitude,   My hostility to hospitality, Set my ever wandering eyes   to a gaze, Turn my curiosity to contentment, Turn my usefulness to useful. I have gifts too, I have value too, I have worth, Lord help me,   Use me,     Help. You are the Lord, You are the Lord- Amen! Tweet