Beautiful yellow, bright as the Sun, these precious petals belong to one. From one mother to another may the gift of daisies be passed down to your babies and so loved by you.
me

tannertan36

PR's Tumblrdome
AnasAbdin
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
One Nice Bug Per Day
trying on a metaphor

Origami Around

Love Begins
will byers stan first human second
ojovivo
occasionally subtle

#extradirty

JBB: An Artblog!
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open

pixel skylines
sheepfilms
wallacepolsom
Claire Keane

Andulka
DEAR READER
seen from Malaysia
seen from Ukraine
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from Malaysia
seen from Germany
seen from Oman
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from Brazil
seen from Netherlands

seen from United States

seen from United Kingdom

seen from United States

seen from Malaysia

seen from United States

seen from United States
@dogger20
Beautiful yellow, bright as the Sun, these precious petals belong to one. From one mother to another may the gift of daisies be passed down to your babies and so loved by you.
me
Christ the bread, Christ the cup, lord I feel like giving up. The pain, the sorrow, and the memories are too great a burden to continue living like this. Oh that You would strengthen me for the road ahead, for it is dark, lonely and full of death. Demons ‘round every corner delight in the games that have no border. The darkness surrounds and attempts to drown out the light, but light, however small the scale, has the innate power to prevail. See, it is the photons in motion causing the commotion, piercing the most dense areas of darkness. From the crying out in the garden to the modern day wailing in the streets, may the smallest of photons that penetrated Your darkness find its way to me.
God cannot be known. God can only be loved. And that becomes a kind of knowing.
What did Rumi see in 1237 AD? Was it me? Was it you? Was it the land by the sea? Yes, to all three. He did see everything that will be. To lie in those pastures is to be awakened to the see. The see that which captures the you and the me that make the we. We can see because of we for if not for we than we are blind, can you see? Rumi taught us a way to see, a way that is unlike anything we’ve perceived. What does it take, to see the ways of Rumi? An open heart, an open mind and together you will be at the place of mercy for it is through mercy that we begin to see.
You think you know, but you don't. You won't know unless you ask. If you don't ask than the conclusions you draw are based on ignorance. Ignorance is what starts wars.
"Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever." ~ 1Thessalonians 4:17 #lofifilter #summer2016 #camassunset
"They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your wonders. From where the sun rises to where it sets, You inspire shouts of joy" ~ Psalm 65:8 #camassunset #summer2016 #lofifilter
HOW IS THIS 6 SECONDS THOUGH
Jojo’s BIzarre Adventure: Part VI- Stone Ocean
Parody Sums Up Why Christian Music Shouldn't Just Make You Feel Good
Politically agnostic, prognosticator caustic, loud as I am. Push comes to shove, I come as a dove, offering peace to lend a hand. No one is innocent, no not one. But innocence becomes innocent when the body meets the soul. God is not far, soon you will see, embrace your doubts, your pain, your loss for there all of you will be.
Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.
Rainer Maria Rilke
#moneyshot
I wish all people had this mentality.
I get the feeling that the #34 is somehow mysteriously connected to the numerology phenomenon on the TV show #Lost
Peace is like playing fetch with your dog. For that brief moment in time, life's stresses, anxieties and worries are suspended by simply throwing a ball. #Peace #Dogs #Fetch #CamasWA #Serenity
No Business Here (#1)
I was at the gym recently working off the flab and I ran into a friend who still attends the church I left in 2013. (A little back story of the friend. He is a very successful business man and has worked his way into a comfortable life in the field of sales [think Tony Robbins whimsical lifestyle]. Missionary kid. Very nice and extremely giving. He and his wife are the quintessential “Ken & Barbie”.)
We quickly caught up and then he asked that fateful question: “Are you planning on coming back to the church?” I smiled, thought of my real answer which was “Hell No!”, but delivered a respectful “No”. He probed and I allowed. I shared that I have moved on from churches like the one I was on staff at. I offered up an analogy that has helped me to explain how I feel about Fundamental Evangelical Churches. I called it the “Cruise” church experience. Where the pastor is the Captain and the assisting ministers run around and serve the members by: “refilling mai tais”, “fanning them as they relax in the Sun”, and assuming the role of a Bellhop. The Captain (Pastor) keeps the constituents coming back for more because he repeatedly reinforces what the people want/have to believe. Sermons/Messages are tailored to this approach and people (tithe/offering believing people), in return, give of their monies to support the church (cruiseliner).
This image, if you haven’t already felt the tone of this blog post, is of course embedded in cynicism and hurt from my experience. Maybe one day I will imagine a positive image, but for now let’s continue. So, back to my convo with my friend. When I released this image into the Universe (Fundies LOVE statements like that) his immediate response was, “I know there is bullshit in the church. Believe me, I grew up a missionary kid.” or something to that extent. I told him the bullshit I am not able to “put up with” is the business approach to church leadership, especially in the area of finances. I quipped, “When the church leadership knows who tithes/gives what, then it’s game over.” You cannot minister impartially any more. As a pastor in a church where you fundraise to support building fees, salaries, bills, etc.. your very livelihood depends on getting people to give (another way of saying it is “inviting people to give”) and keeping the regular givers happy. When you know who the “heavy hitters” are and what they tithe/give, and you are aware of your desperate need to raise funds and how your “vision” of the church can grow, then the biggest temptation is to cater to their needs more than others; to offer them more leverage than people who give less or none at all. If you lose them you lose staff, or even worse yet, the building (that which you gave your life to build and sustain in the name of God) and/or your salary. In addition to knowing who tithes/gives what, the fact that there is absolutely ZERO accountability with that kind of information perpetuates the pastor/church leaders in the environment of absolute power. A very dangerous, yet easily excused and justified (sometimes with laughter) approach to pastoral ministry.
After my quip I said I am looking for a community of believers and church leadership with more equality/impartiality than that. He quickly seemed shocked then jokingly said “you’re not going communism on me, are you?” (At this point I realize that I have just polarized the convo). I told him that it’s not what I was saying, but that monetary giving in the form of tithes/offerings should not be equal to a persons voice/influence/leverage as a member of the church (ex. if I give 10% of my tithe which translates to $500/month and another person gives 10% of their tithe which translates to $5,000/month, common Christian Church leadership philosophy/thought says the person giving more “gets” more weight/leverage into ministry options. If I give more there is an expectation that I have preferential treatment into the decision making for church vision/direction.
As we were talking about this I recalled the Parable of the widow. She gave a fraction of a penny as an offering to the tabernacle and Jesus said that she gave more out of her desperation/poverty than any “heavy hitters” gave out of their abundance. So my friend attempted to use a business analogy tailored to my current occupation. He said, if a person only bought 1 remodel from you and I bought 10 remodels a month, who would you offer more weight to/leverage/voice? I smiled and replied, in the world of business that is a foundational principle that you don’t want to violate because it obviously translates to more money and affirms the partnership. That form of principle has no business in the church. He respectfully disagreed and informed me of his years of experience in sales and offered to meet with me to compare sales notes. We both recognized this conversation was ending and we needed to get back to our workout.
Therein lies the angst I have in my experience of church, the amount of “business” principles/philosophy/bullshit/values,etc.. that has tainted church culture.