Category: Blog Article

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The puppet man was in Redding and I never thought I’d find myself saying this with my own lips but……”I scored tickets to see a ventriloquist!” Even typing such a sentence makes me shudder as it seems such a long way from my rock concert bragging. Having seen Terry Fator however, my voice is now shouting to anyone in hearing distance, “Have you seen this guy yet? NO? Are you crazy? He’s fantastic!”

The man is not only funny but truly an amazing singer both with and without the puppet voices. What’s even better is how generous he is with his time and star factor. He honestly gets it that the public who pays to see him wants to take these memories with them so he doesn’t mind us blazing away with our cameras.

His range is “everything” so it doesn’t seem like any genre is off limits; country, hip-hop, soul, pop, jazz, rock. You name it the guy can make it not only work but you may well want his recordings of these cover songs. After he’s made a fan out of you with laughter and enjoyment he finally reveals what’s really lurking deep in his heart, compassion. His sister suffers physically but she makes puppet socks by hand so each one sold goes to her care. He put out a cd of music he wrote and every penny is to go to a research endeavor for disease cures.

It’s about time a “good guy” got to have a voice in our entertainment world.

The musicians who can captivate your attention while not really playing a structured song are the truly talented. They are the story tellers. I long for the story tellers of our new generation. Not the ones who can repeat, “slap that b**%$ up” but I am talking of the real story tellers who strike the chords of our hearts. The minstrels who strum the hope within our very hearts.

Eph 5:19  Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord

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I run and I run but I just can’t seem to leave myself behind. I long to have my soul’s behavior catch up to my heart. It would seem the longer I am in this light of hope the more I seem hopeless. Slowly I am learning how much at odds are my soul and my spirit.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

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“I don’t need you! I can make it without you so there’s the door!”

Honest confession time….I spoke these words to someone I professed to love. Although it wasn’t anytime recent, the words still haunt me in a way I can’t describe. I wonder now how such words could have come out of my mouth?

The absoluteness of my screamed words would not to be as clear cut as I might have thought. I did walk away from this person but I really couldn’t make it without them. Now on the surface this may sound like a needy thing but it was far from what it looked to be. It took many, many years to come full circle in understanding.

I found ways not to need this person and even drew myself into such a pit of independence I nearly drowned in the quicksand of “self”. Around the quicksand I managed to build the “impenetrable” fortress of solitude. All the while I was dying of loneliness and lack of hope.

Years later as my heart has been softened by my heavenly Father, I was stunned to notice that the very person “I didn’t need” was back in my life. We have come full circle and found a place to admit we need each other. Not because our feisty personalities have become dormant but because we have seen “unity and love” to be who we were always meant to be.

Rom 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose.

I have a passion burning a fire within me and that is to live as people who care about one another and their condition. November 1st will be the Love 360 event. May we see the love pour out over this city in such a way it never leaves!

1 John 3:17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFWppc83jjk

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Our senses are being overloaded by the needs of so many attentions again. There is Texas trying to recover from the beat down “Hurricane Ike” just gave it, Wallstreet is reacting to some major bankruptcy notices, we have political forums battling back and forth, and of course there is our own more perceptible daily needs.

The kid who needs to get to school, car needs some work, job is calling for more overtime (if we are lucky), and here we are trying to balance it all. How do we fit the Lord’s time into this absorption scenario?

Well that’s the key isn’t it? The more distracted we are with our own situation then the less time we can spend pursuing our higher calling. What a masterful lie that one is! How many of us become discouraged by the voices of busyness surrounding us? Let’s not become discouraged in our true calling to rebuild the body of Christ into the unity for which we are called.

Ezra 4:4 Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.

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I love to read about history but this is not so that I can declare myself an expert of any kind but rather so I can understand myself better. The cliché “you can only know where you are going by knowing where you’ve been” is an actual truth for me.

I love my family very much and each of them know this. We have been able to speak openly of our skeletons which helps us heal and mend our relationships. At the end of the day it’s not our dwelling in the past that propels us into our destiny but it’s letting go of those things that hurt and welcoming love into our lives.

For me, learning to welcome love was fraught with much distrust. I had a habit of looking at anyone who was nice to me with suspicion. I kept looking for the angle. What did they want from me and what was it going to cost? Truly I was damaged goods. I needed help and it wasn’t until I was completely desperate that I could be open enough to ask for it.

Recently I was reminded that I am reading the greatest history book there is. Someone pointed out our bible is “His story”. By filling my heart with His love I no longer care what is wanted from me, I simply give all that I have.

1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.

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It’s late at night, but you need gas; spotting a late night convenience store you head towards it. Although it seems kind of empty, even remote of other businesses, your gas gauge is telling you not to pass it by. Pulling up to the pumps you notice the sign saying “ATM out of order, Pay Inside.” Inwardly you groan at this further inconvenience but have no choice unless you want to walk home on a deserted highway.

Going inside the small store you are just glad this station isn’t one of the more modern designs with the impersonal “bullet proofing” booth, until you offer your currency to the sleepy man behind the counter who doesn’t even bother to look up from his magazine. Perhaps the bullet proof booth might have offered a more personable touch?

Turning to exit the store you notice a damaged pickup truck pulling up to the pumps right next to your car. Out of the cab climbs a man who doesn’t seem remotely friendly and he’s wearing about a thousand tattoos. When he reads the “ATM” sign he gets frustrated enough to spew forth a string of curse words you haven’t heard since that “bull rodeo” someone talked you into going to.

About now your mind is running the avenues for escape. Is your cell phone charged? Will the sleepy guy wake up in case of emergencies? Are those tattoos dangerous?

Isn’t it funny how fast our minds run to “regular channels” of reaction? Being a woman living in today’s world can be scary. I can’t speak for all men but my information is that they are wondering too about the “frustrated guy”. Our radars kick on, getting ready to run from the gun or robbery and dare I say it, rapist?

Yes we need to be wary but we shouldn’t be living in fear! How can anyone show the love of Christ if they are too busy planning the escape route from the “scary looking” dude?

I don’t propose we put ourselves in harm’s way, I merely suggest those who need hope the most may scare us because they are simply “different” than us. Run as fast as you can, but not from different looking persons; rather run from the fear that others are different from us!

1 John 4:18   There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

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Calloused and bruised
dazed and confused
My Spirit is left wanting something more
Than my selfish hopes
and my selfish dreams
I’m lying with my face down to the floor
I’m crying out for more (crying out for more)

Give me Words to speak
Don’t let my Spirit sleep
Cause I can’t think of anything worth saying
But I know that I owe You my life
So give me Words to speak
Don’t let my Spirit sleep

Every night, every day
I find that I have nothing left to say
So I stand here in silence awaiting Your guidance
I’m wanting only Your voice to be heard
Let them be Your Words
Let them be Your words

I just don’t understand this life that I’ve been living
I just don’t understand
I just don’t understand these lies I’ve been believing
I just don’t understand

I know that I owe you my life
Owe my life
Owe my life

Lyrics by Aaron Shust