Book Segment #7

November 7, 2005

Thirty Thousand and Descending. Maybe.

I have not opened this document on my computer in almost two months. That reinforces the nagging fact that days and weeks and months are evaporating much faster than I realize. It hit me hard the other day, October 20, to be exact, when I remembered the anniversary of my father’s passing. Three years? It must only be the third year, right? “Brian, can you believe it has been four years since your father died,” my mother asked during my recent visit to Dallas. I lose track of time benchmarks more easily these days. I notice it when I reminded of events like the 9/11 attacks, the death of Princess Di, my college days, the drowning of Natalie Woods [I miss her!], the first Star Wars movie. Maybe it’s God’s way of reminding us that His eternal pocket watch is our best timepiece. . The now time zone. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that as we get older our lives are filled up with so many “things” and “demands” and “schedules” and…. We struggle to experience even a glimpsed moment of awe. Maybe that’s why so many of us long for 3 or 4 days of doing…nothing important. Just read a book and fall asleep in the worn old arms of that favorite chair. Take a long walk with nothing to figure out, but the next turn. Surrender to a quiet weekend of solitude and listening to nothing, and hearing everything. Still.

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:14

Maybe. Just maybe.

November 8, 2005

Hey, Sis. [A recent email response to a conversation with my sister in Hamden, Connecticut]

Hey sis. Love your heart ramblings. They make me smile and feel warm inside. I am glad for the progress on each of your spiritual fronts. Lean in. He will catch you. Trust that.

A “little thing” to start discovering, which might just be one of the ways God speaks to you, is by noticing pennies. Think about the pennies you see at random times, the ones most people walk past and ignore. Just a penny. Dirty. Run over. Scratched and worn. Not worth the time and effort to lean over and pick up. Have you ever passed one by? Try to think of them next time as small “kisses from God”; moments, little tidbits reminding you that God is there, not thundering onto the scene on a flaming chariot through the billowing clouds, or appearing in a burning bush, or even from behind a large curtain in OZ (“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”) -- but in the simplest and tiniest of things. Seemingly worthless, Usually unnoticed. Ignored. Just one filthy penny laying in your path.

Amazingly, I find pennies most often when struggling through an emotional issue, or at some low point, or when crying out for a moment of mercy. Like tonight, when I took a different path to walk the dogs…and there it was. Nuzzled in a wound in the pavement, blending with the grime and tar. Unnoticed, unless you were looking. And were willing to stop, bend over and pick it up .Know what? Jesus did not look for the shiny coins, the shimmering leaders showcasing their glittering images of wisdom and power. He instead sought the prostitutes, criminals, blind, weak, broken, worthless lives. He picked them up. One at a time.

The blessings are there. If you look. If you stop, If you see. And remember… pennies picked up ADD UP. Just like blessings.I have about 20 of them lined up along my dresser. Try it sometime. It makes cents!!

Love you.

Blessings -- Bro