Awe Inspiring

[delta-breezes]

[delta-breezes]

[idotravel]

[idiona]

[livingthroughthelimits]

~time.

Time is a curious thing. Highly regarded as a tool for organizations and communication, but rarely do you hear the expanse of what is truly consumed by time. Everything. Every thought, every religion, every discovery. Everything is driven by time. Now let me tell you why. Time, is human, formulated through the entirety of humanities brain. So if time is a formulation of human necessity, why does it control every human thought and belief. People feel the need to put time to everything. For example, Creation v. Evolution, both are intriguing and debatable ideals, and yet both are driven by the human need to put a time stamp on everything, even the ground we walk upon. If time is human, then when did the earth start living? when did the universe start producing stars and galaxies? and when will it fade? these questions are all valid, and all are the wrong question, because the word “when” assumes that everything is submissive to a single human idea, “when” implies time. We assume that time is universal because everything is born and dies at some point, and that. is measurable. One idea has driven so many to war, to death, to life. A contradiction of beliefs turns nation against nation, but as I said earlier, beliefs are all time oriented. There is unsurpassable hatred due to religious beliefs, segregating people for generations past, and generations to come. Yet again, these are simply hateful seeds of time in the hands of humans. So take the concept of time out of your brain. It’s impossible, but try, and you can glimpse the true insanity of it. I don’t really know how to think about any of my beliefs anymore if I take time out of the picture. I believe in God, but even the Bible is subject to time. So we can understand it? possibly. I know that I have felt the Holy Spirit and that the Name of Jesus has been so powerful in my life. However thats what everyone says who believes in anything larger than themselves. So where does that leave me? what is left that I believe? Do I believe that time is human, and therefore faulty? Time assumes that humans are the ultimate resolve, that we have reign over the earth. However, I have seen the earth too beautifully to assume that we reign high over it. In the end everyone should love, because love is not something we formulated, happiness isn’t and idea. Live in love, and love to live. Hatred is for the weak and miserable. In the end, why? why believe all this hateful speech, and hateful people. Love is the true core of existence. Not time. So let Love drive your actions, don’t fall prey to the misery of time.

[livingthroughthelimits]

To breathe or not to breathe

Breathe.

Can you remember at time when you couldn’t breathe? And not for lack of oxygen, but rather an attempt to contain every atom of endorphin that coursed through your veins. Afraid that if you open your mouth you might release a single molecule of the rush. The rush is worthy of life, the rush is a thriving force of nature. Nature always finds a way to make you feel small, yet simultaneously knows how to make you feel larger and more alive than life itself. She’s beautiful, every vein of rot to every silver crest of moonlit waves, she is beauty. She is everything. We were created to be one with the natural forces, to flow in sync with each and every vessel of natural enticement. I grew up in the mountains and because of this I had an experience that I would wish upon everyone. I would walk outside and feel the immediate connection between myself and the earth. A stream of single frequency energy, and I was riding along. An important part of connecting with the earth is to find, what many people refer to as, “Your Line”. You Line is your frequency with nature, over time the earth will nurture a growing connection, if you allow it to, and nature will reveal a line of understanding that is uniquely your own. Nature is here to live in harmony with you, yet now you must choose to let her.

~Suzanne

[drxgonfly]

(by Jakob Owens)

[livingthroughthelimits]

Logical Insanity

I would never have considered the term “logical” as one to describe myself, however, here I am now, hesitantly, admitting that this is the exact term I would use. I grew up enveloped in a christian community, and tried my best to live within the lines people drew for me. While I would never have admitted it, I always had questions and doubts about the faith, questions that I assumed everyone had, and since no one else was asking them, I assumed that neither should I. I realize now that, when people stop asking questions, over time, people stop having answers.

Last year I made a conscious decision to re-found my beliefs, the unanswered questions and doubts had festered too long. I went back to the basics of everything I had been taught and trained to believe. All the questions and doubts were clouding my heart and mind, simply because I didn’t truly understand the foundation that I was wholly relying on. I decided that loving people and accepting who they were, where they were without exception or expectation, was exactly how I needed to live everyday. I knew that if this faith I loved was true, I desperately needed to learn what it meant to love people without judgement. I knew that if God is Love, then living in love would point directly back to him. I spent a year starting from the bottom and slowly building my beliefs on this newly constructed foundation. Recently I realized that the questions I so long struggled with, at this point, needed to be addressed, if I truly wanted to whole heartedly enter back into the faith I had once so loved.

These questions were fundamental and conceptual Theological ones, and they terrified me. I was scared that asking these questions would incite judgement in the eyes of my peers and mentors, and I wan’t wrong to assume that. Please don’t be offended, for judgement is engrained in our nature, for better or for worse, it creates opinions, and opinions create interesting people.

I question the logical existence of God? the legitimacy of the Bible? the true power of time in humanity? the power of the mind? all valid questions, and I want to understand all of it, but I know I never will, which I should add, is incredibly annoying. In case you don’t want to read the full capacity of these questions, I will start with my current conclusion to the extent of logic.

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” Hebrews 11:1. I am not using a Bible verse due to my Christian bias, so to all those who aren’t Christian please do not disregard this definition, because its true in all cases. Faith in it’s nature is illogical and this is so hard for me, yet I have seen so many times the beauty of a convicted faith. I struggle with the “why” behind everything, and I cringe when I hear the words, “because……said so”. I realized that faith requires people to stop needing a logical explanation for everything. Religions provide an illogical conviction, and illogical faith, and illogical necessity for purpose. Illogical yet beautiful.

I believe in Christian ideals and while I know that I possess a strong conviction, there is a 100% of me that doesn’t understand WHY I believe that. It doesn’t make sense to me, but I can’t seem to logically discard this conviction. Talking myself out of this deep conviction doesn’t change anything and believe me, I have tried, but I just can’t seem to shake it. It’s illogical steadfastness makes me cringe. Having faith goes against how my mind works, but somehow it has remained, and I always come back to it. I wish I wasn’t human, I wish I didn’t need to have faith, I wish I could logically explain everything I have seen and experienced, but I can’t. As much as I despise it, I can’t change it. I haven’t figured everything out, but it has become very important to me to found a genuine and personal faith through love. No matter what you place your faith in, love is the core value of life, and if anything I hope that love may shine through all things.

[livingthroughthelimits]

Immersion: Day 11

I am currently sitting at a coffee shop in New York City in the midst of so much unacknowledged chaos. Just beginning the start of this 6 month journey. I began 11 days ago, flying into the Fort Wayne Indiana airport and meeting a single team member there, and would soon meet the rest of my team throughout the day. We were driven to the training center where we would spend the next four days in training with several other mission teams. I was a little shocked to notice that when all my team was gathered, there wasn’t a single man present. This induced slight apprehension about 9 women traveling alone across countries, but the Lord works in mysterious ways, and this was certainly mysterious to me. Each morning till late afternoon for those days, we would be in a classroom talking about Loving people through Christ and being taught to recognize cultural differences that we may encounter. Over the course of Thursday all the other mission teams had embarked from the center, and we were patiently anticipating our departure Friday morning. Friday morning came along and we began our 10 hour drive to the extravagant New York City streets, in particular, Harlem, NY. Anyone who has been a student of American history has probably heard the name Harlem mentions once or twice. Frankly, Harlem had not received the most dignified reputation in the books. There was some apprehension throughout the group, but it has all dissolved since the initial arrival. Racially, socially, and politically we were the odd ones out, but with the pure intention of loving people, these differences did not come to the surface of our everyday interactions. We began staying at the Salvation Army center in the center of Harlem, and it has been incredible so far. We spent our first weekend exploring the Big Apple, being the confused and clueless tourists that we were. Monday, day 7, we began working side by side with the Salvation Army, trying to make ourselves available to them in whatever way possible. Everyday in the mornings from 10:30-12:30 some of us are serving food in the soup kitchen, and others are outreaching and trading stories with the less fortunate people we were serving. From 2:30-6 the After School program is in session, a program that cares for children whose parents are not able to retrieve the kids from school until after work. Some of us have been doing that, and some of us have been helping out the Salvation Army Lieutenants. The After School program has been more difficult, and understandably so. It seems as if the teachers for the program are insulted that this group of women feel that they need help to do their jobs. I completely understand, and while we are trying to help in a non intrusive way, we are still trying to figure out a way to serve in a way that there is no “better than thou” miscommunication. Prayers for those relationships would be greatly appreciated. We are doing well, however there has been lots of sickness being passed around, and I pray that our immune systems will be strengthened for the rest of the upcoming 6 months out of country. We will be setting off for Jamaica one week from today, and I pray for peace and assurance for that transition. Thank you all for your prayers, they have truly made a difference for us here. I still am not fully funded, I have $1,979 to raise to complete these 6 months, if you or anyone you know would like to invest in this mission, this is the link you can follow: https://experiencemission.org/sponsor/improfile.asp?sponsoreeid=7BC234F8-4783-4F07-B208-5523C053C46F

[awkwardlystrangebutterfly]

[bukoladreamwedding]

[coolled]

[e4rthy]

Adventure | Kayla

[dsxsbx]

[reihunt]

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Trillium Lake

by: Tom Hill

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