Randomness

As I clean my room, I find more and more little things I have collected over the years- words of wisdom, poems, stories, notes, insights, etc. Instead of keeping them all on random pieces of paper, I will type them up here:
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It is not you who shape God
It is God who shapes you.
If then you are the work of God,
Await the hand of the Artist
Who does all things in due season.

Offer the Potter your heart,
Soft and tractable,
And keep the form in which
The Artist fashioned you.

Let your clay be moist,
Lest you grow hard and lose
The imprint of the Potter's fingers.

-Irenaeus
2nd century Theologian
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Colors of Christ:
Black=sin Romans 3:23
Blue=water/spirit Baptism Ephesians 4:5 Romans 8:9
Red= Christ's blood Romans 5:8-9
White= prayer of repentance for cleansing Pslam 51:1-2
Green= Christian Growth Colossians 1:10
Gold= eternal life John 3:16
Cystal= Rainbow of Christ's Life [and your time together as a cabin group (etc)]

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Quotes from the DaVinci Code

The spiked cilice belt that he wore around his thigh cut into his flesh and yet his soul sang with satisfaction of service to the Lord. Pain is good. (27)

Langdon was feeling anything but fortunate and coincidence was a concept he did not entirely trust. As someone who had spent his life exploring the hidden interconnectivity of disparate emblems and ideologies, Langdon viewed the world as a web of profoundly intertwined histories and events. The connections may be invisible, but they are always there, buried just beneath the surface. (32)

Nobody could deny the snornmous good the modern church did in todays troubled world, and yet the churchhad a deceitful and violent history. ("so dark the con of man...") (173)

People structure and direction from the church, not coddling and indulgence. (207)

What was the rationale for fusing science and faith? Unbiased science could not possibly be performed by a man who possessed faith in God. Nor did faith have any need for physical confirmation of its beliefs. (207)

He thinks a cathedral's entrance represents a woman's... The examiner nodded. "Complete with receding labial ridges and a nice little cinquefoil clitoris above the doorway." He sighed. "Kind of makes you want to go back to church." (430/ch79)

Every faith in the world is based on fabrication. That is the definition of faith- acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove. Every religion describes God through metaphor, allegory, and exaggeration, from the early Egyptians through modern Sunday School. Metaphors are a way to help our mind process the unprocessible. The problems arise when we begin to believe literally in our own metaphors.

-Those who truely understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical.
-Religious allegory has become a part of the fabric of reality. And living in that reality helps millions of people cope and be better people.
-But it appears their reality is false.
-No more false than that of a mathematical cryptographer who believes in the imaginary number "i" because it helps her break codes.

It is the mystery and wonderment that serve our souls not the grail itself. The beauty of the grail lies in her ethereal nature.

to google/research: golden ratio- male/female, Fibonacci, priory of sion, sangreal, DaVinci's last supper, opus dei, holy grail, Hieros Ganos, Job 38:11, Jesus and Mary married with child, Gospel of Mary Magdalene, cover up the sacredness of women, life out of balance- Koyanisquatsi
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Sermon Series:Metamorphosis
1: It's morphing time Romans 12:1-2
2: There's no condemnation Romans 8:1-4
3: Finishing how you started Romans 8:1-6
4: Why and how we walk according to the spirit Romans 8:18

-not because you have to, because you want to
do not run relationships that way- with checklist of rules and rituals and practices
I can't but you can.
Don't get in the car and let God drive.
FOllow him and do the work to follow him with his as a guide.

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Devotions I used at camp:
mon: God has a plan for you. Jeremiah 1:5
tues: God is loving. Matthew 5:45
wed: God cares for you. Matthew 10:29
thurs: God made everyone beautiful Acts 17:26
fri: God is with you and protects you. Isaiah 43:2
sat: God is understanding. 1 Peter 5:7
sun: God is your best friend. Isaiah 41:10/ John 15:15
mon: God knows what's best for you.
tues: God speaks to you.
wed: God gives grace! Ephesians 2:8
thurs: so THANK GOD!

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see the awe and wonder in the world.

1. take unusual paths/surprise
embrace the unexplained and unexpected
immobile vs. new experience
unchanged opinions/ beyond the obvious
born again, get out of rut
captured by monotony/habit
the familiar has a hold on us. lifeless vs sense of wonder

2. walk slowly not is haste. take time tolook at things and love the world. rushing/getting through is not living through. ruined by blind haste. hurrying and consuming society

3. walk to the outside (our carefully restrained responses , narrow self image)
commericialization, profits, things
find treasure of God, spirituality, walk toward the mystery

4. walk to the spirit of thankfulness and gratitude. what is positive in a bad situation. what are you thankful for?

tak us out of our crippled situation into new wonder

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In the movie, the coach was trying to get the team to realize that they couldn't win the game and beat the Russians on their own. The Russians were professionals- hockey was their life and the coach knew that the U.S. team of college players needed to work really hard together and be a team to win. Each of the players alone did not have enough talent to win. They needed a good goalie, a good offense, and a good defense. One player couldn't do it all- they had to be a team. In the beginning, each of the players identified with their own college team and thought of themselves as individuals and not as a team. Finally, Mike Arouszione realized that he was on the United States team and after that the team began to work together. They ended up accomplishing their goal by beating the Russians and getting the gold medal in the Olympics that year.
We are all on a team too, and we have to work together to win. We are on God's team- we are all parts of the body of Christ, and in order for that body to work, we need to work together. In 1st Corinthians, Paul says that each of us have different gifts. SOme of us are teachers, doctors, some have faith, wisdom or knowledge, just like somemembers of the hockey team are good goalies, offensive or defensive players. Paul writes (1 cor 12:12) Paul was saying that we are all members of the body of Christ and we each should use our special gifts for God's will. But we must work together as a team.