Monking at work?

Tomorrow i head back to work to give it a try in a different frame of mind. I'm thankful for this short sabbatical and thankful for the grace that follows me daily. I take comfort knowing I do not go back alone, but I go back in the communion of Christ. He goes before me, he is beside me and his grace follows me every step I take. Stress and anxiety are not Kingdom qualities, peace in Christ and His sufficiency is. Work however is a part of our life in this earthly realm, but it is to be done in communion with Christ, not according to our own selfish ambitions. There are many things at work that I cannot control, but my internal world, the world of my soul belongs to God and I want to remain in communion with Him there. I largely am just moving on in faith, no promises, no guarantees, just faith in the One who doesn't let me go. This job may or may not work out, but this I know, I will reign in God's Kingdom forever. That's a good thought.

Time to give monking in the real world another try.

Stop and notice the Kingdom around you today.

peace,

2 week Sabbatical update

By far my highlight was spending a couple nights here: Bethany Springs Hermitage
I highly recommend it, a one person hermit's cabin with everything you need. I sought solitude, quiet and the beauty of God's Creation and got it all. I walked, I prayed, I worshipped, I healed up some, I learned, I listened, I longed, I wept, I dreamed, I blessed, I got blessed . . . in short I loved it. For an extrovert like me, 2 nights was my limit by myself but I'm looking forward to another time like it in the future.

The facility was a part of The Merton Institute for Contemplative Living Contemplative living is something that I'm working on and is my learning edge coming out of this sabbatical. I am learning the discipline of "going monk" to protect my inner world if the external world is nothing but a storm. But that inner world is a garden that needs daily and even hourly tending, its not just for weekend or quarterly work days. The weeds are sneaky, gotta look for them daily and take them out by the root. Jesus did this well, this is how he slept on the boat during the storms. I want some more of that action.

Meditation is a matter of finding that inner "happy place", I found one at the Abbey of Gethsemani. Abbey
This place was beautiful and peaceful. It was what the Celts called a "thin space". A portal to the eternal space where God reigns, it was a land prayed over 7 times daily for over 150 years, the glory of God was a hushing peace to my heart. I sensed this same kind of presence in 2 other places on earth, 1) Northumbria Community, the ancient Celtic monastery in northern England and 2) the western wall of Herod's Temple in Jerusalem (wailing wall) The moment i stepped onto this land at the Abbey i was immediately reminded of those 2 places on earth. I will blog more on the monks life hopefully tomorrow and what I'm learning.

For now, I'm off to pursue some more monking in the real world.

peace to you,

2 week leave

my 2 week leave from work has just started, i'm ready to relax and listen I think. not sure how much i'll blog, trying to unplug. we'll see how long that lasts :)

Theophostic Prayer

Glenn and Cathy Johnson from Veritas Church and a part of my spiritual family came over last night and with Nicki led me through a intense few hours of theophostic prayer to get at the root of some of these painful and core lies that had me all tied up inside. All I can say is "holy maccaroni, batman!" It was an amazing healing experience. Healing memories guided by the Spirit of Christ. I have had healing visions for a few years that I had no idea were just keys unlocking deep places of anger, betrayal and disappointments and the hold they had over me.

These memories remain places for me that I can go to and see a revealed Christ, one who has never left me alone. There seems to be a real identity shift within me and I still have some depths to explore, but I'm looking forward to taking this new outlook for a spin.

I'm off to a night of extended worship and prayer with Ordinary Community Church tonight, let's get this party started.

theophostic prayer

peace to my journeyers out there,