rachman-unprecedented: February 2007

The Clothes We Wear

We dress ourselves in the words we speak, in the things we do. But one suit we wear has a life of its own. It is sewn together not of fabric, but of words and images and sounds. Nobody else can see them, no one else knows for sure what they are up to; but you hear them day and night, chattering, buzzing, playing their games in the courtyard of your mind. Leave your thoughts to play on their own and they will take you for a ride to places you never wanted to see. Grab the reins, master them, direct them, flex your mind and they will follow. Provide them a script and they will play along. But do something, because, after all, you are dressed up within them.

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~ dancer from Peru

~ wisdom from the web: http://www.chabad.org

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The Bible: Getting to Know You!

How do friendships get started? Usually with a little bit of small talk. From there, over time, the conversations can get a bit deeper. Some get too deep too fast. Others may never get deep at all and there are some folks who really prefer it that way. Everyone should rightfully be allowed to be different, but everyone has to communicate at some level in order to know others and then by them be known.

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I was talking to a fellow the other day who was quite a "name-dropper." I heard how well he knew his neighbors, Julia Roberts and Donald Rumsfeld for example. It was true, I'm sure, or else he could have come up with bigger and better names than that. Now that I think about it, an old friend of mine used to talk all the time about the people with whom he had dined, drunk, and slept. The list was pretty impressive as I recall. He was even in line to the throne of England, or so he said, but he admitted that about 64 people would have to come to an early demise for his dreams to ever be realized. The point is that everyone wants to be connected to other people. If the other people are important "others," well that never seems to hurt either.

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So what was God's idea in giving us a Bible? The title of this post is about the Bible, remember? Was the Bible a set of rules? Yes, that was a part. Was it an instruction manual for life? Yes, that is true as well. Was it just ancient nonsense as some think? Or was it Holy Writ? Both really. One definition of holy writ would be "the writing derived from a divine power." And the Bible definitely speaks about some of the ancient nonsense that has gone on before us. What's the Bible really all about? In one man's opinion, okay, this man specifically. Me. I think that the Bible is mostly just God talking about Himself. Talking to us, if we will listen, and giving us a chance to get to know Him a little better. That's how everyone gets to know the people around them. By talking to them. Who doesn't want to know and be known by those we really care about. If we are made in God's image, we should not be surprised that God also wants to be known by those He really cares about. By us. You and me.

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If God really wants to be known by those people He created, why doesn't He just come down here and make Himself known to us? H-e-l-l-o! He did just that. But that was 2000 years ago. Are we so egotistical that we think He has to do it every day? That's why He wrote that book. To give us a clue! Get a clue. Read the book. Get to know Him. He is the most important "other" you will ever meet.

“Be still, and know that I am God!” Psalm
46:10

...you will grow as you learn to know God better
and better.
Colossians 1:10 (NLT)

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~ rachman

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The Power of One!

Anyone who thinks that one "small insignificant" person can't accomplish great things and move other people to action, has never spent the night in a tent with one small mosquito.

One lone individual, and God, can change himself, his family, his neighborhood, his city, his nation, and his world.

~ rachman
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How Big is Your Faith?

I've been told that every spiritual journey will include a natural journey. And the natural will always come before the spiritual. That is to say, that we have to take the first steps in the natural before the spiritual steps can take place.

1 Corinthians 15:46 (NIV) The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.

This verse is referring to the first and last Adam, but since God has put us (a spiritual being) in this natural universe (a physical body inhabiting a celestial sphere), we have to start any spiritual walk by using our physical legs.

I was looking for the steps I needed to take in this new year, when I heard a young man, one of my mentors, say just what I was needing to hear. To have great faith I will have to do some things in the natural. He gave me a simple plan. The way he put it, first all I need to do is increase my Word intake. To put it another way, I need to get more of the Word of God into my inner man. Wait this is not simple; this is hard. This takes time. This takes effort. Oh, all right, it isn't backbreaking work, but it means not watching as many "Lost" episodes. Good grief!

Next he said I need to increase my prayer life. All I have to do, he said, is return God's words to Him. Pray what I see in the Bible in other words. Crikey! More time. There goes "Criminal Minds" and "NCIS."

I thought he was finished when he came up with one thing more to make a little triad (these guys love three's). Again in his words, I need to increase my "love walk." He said I wasn't just building (living) for me, I was living (building) for others. Well finally something that doesn't require me to give up my life. All I have to do is love that jerk upstairs who plays his stereo too loud. Or maybe that inconsiderate boob who always tries to get my parking place. What about those guys across the hall who look weird. Then there's the smelly guy at work who thinks all the customers are his. Okay this may be harder than I thought.

To have great faith:

increase your word intake
increase your prayer life
increase your love walk

These are not goals as such. If I tried to quantify the first two parts, I would just turn them into rituals and never get anywhere. As for the third part, I know of no logically way that I could measure it. So they will have to become priorities. My top three priorities. I knew this year would have some great challenges, but I forgot that challenges are not always easy to deal with.

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~rachman

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rachman-unprecedented

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Wednesday, February 28, 2007

The Clothes We Wear

Monday, February 26, 2007

The Bible: Getting to Know You!

Sunday, February 18, 2007

The Power of One!

Sunday, February 11, 2007

How Big is Your Faith?