In Yoke

“A time is coming when people will go mad, and when they meet someone who is not mad, they will turn to him and say, “You are out of your mind”, just because he is not like them.” ~Abba Anthony In our churches and in our little mini cosmos that is Central Texas, this insight seems to be ever true. It is quite profound how what appears in the “world’s” eyes to be madness is actually eternal truth. The prophet Jeremiah states: "For my people are foolish ;they know me not;they are stupid children;they have no understanding. They are 'wise'—in doing evil! But how to do good they know not." May I be anchored in the truth of the Good News, and be ever migrating towards the One who holds all truth and all life in his power.

Imagine walking into a dark room. We will put our hands in front of us, afraid that we will bump into the furniture, or slip on the rug. We walk very slowly and deliberately, knowing that we don't know what lies directly ahead of us. ...making our way into the darkness of the future...This is very much what God calls us to do on this journey of faith we call our lives.  [excerpted from "The Great Themes of Scripture"-Fr. Richard Rohr] This is not easy, because everything we are taught in this world says that we can have our pathway illuminated in front of us. This is a very present foundational teaching underscoring our Western civilized world. Since I was old enough to make my way in this American influenced, capitalistic, free enterprise world,( for me it was in 1972 when I was 18, and moved to Waco to go to work the summer before I went to college at Baylor) I became attached to working on doing everything to assure that my way ahead would be "well lit".  I ...

"It is I, do not be afraid." John 6:20. Christ is the Great "I am". He reassures Peter and the disciples who are shivering in fear in the boat on the sea as he approaches on the water. They are overwhelmed by the circumstance of the storm, raging all around them. In this state of fear, they are shocked by the apparition they see in the maelstrom--an image of a man walking on the raging waves! As an entrepreneur, dependent on the whims of clients and new business, I live in what to me is sometimes a storm of uncertainty. Life's circumstances seem to me to be engulfing my fearfilled self. For me, I am in a state of doubt and anguish. The three basic needs of life seem to be out of my ability to achieve--1.power and control, 2.security and survival, 3.esteem and affection. The present storm is washing away my sense of security and survival: I can hear my small self/"ego" saying--"you are not going to make it!", or it is threatening my own abil...