Vision Quest Until You Get It!

The Emergence of my Strongest Steps

Visions are born out of necessity.

There is a sense of terrible, shaking, beckoning purpose on your horizon... or perhaps right there in your chest as you read this.

Most of us live our lives in a stale mediocre existence. We live in the flow of humanity as the fortunate cow - grunting and shuffling in and out of the corral - the same way sun up as we do sun down.

We don't think to live wildly. We don't think to listen to that fantastic challenge that calls us to greatness from inside and outside.

But call to you it does... that voice inside says "There is MORE to LIFE than this ... PLAIN EXISTENCE. And it's muffled call to you is of the grist of your purpose - grand purpose in life.

Each of us is born with a specific set of potentialities and must recognize those unique values and enhance them with all our focus and energy. We have heard of a "vision quest" of the Native Americans. I would like to relate that to the way of the ancients of the Middle East, the Hebrews. They have a way of teaching their children from the ancient scripture most thoroughly and profoundly. This is the vision quest we seek. It is one that first wishes to be "washed with the pure water of the word." It seeks to rest in God's promise the way the native american youth would rest alone in the wilderness as he sought the direction of the Great Spirit. But the promises of God in Christ Jesus are "Yes!" and "Amen!"

2nd Peter 1:19 - So we regard the words of the prophets as confirmed beyond all doubt. You're doing well by paying attention to their words. Continue to pay attention as you would to a light that shines in a dark place as you wait for day to come and the morning star to rise in your hearts.

And these core talents or gfitings in our beings will coalesce as we strengthen them into various steps... sequential endeavors profoundly predestined for us in Christ Jesus -

Epheseians 2:10 . God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do.

This is the vision for our lives. And once those steps are clear, the strongest steps for achieving that vision of destiny specifically tooled to fit our being... our loved ones, acquaintances and complete strangers will follow that birth with rapt attention... even the invisible angel beings will long to look into our lives as we walk that vision path!

1st Peter 1:11 So they (students of the Word from ages past) tried to find out what time or situation the Spirit of Christ kept referring to whenever he predicted Christ's sufferings and the glory that would follow. 12 God revealed to the prophets that the things they had spoken were not for their own benefit but for yours. What the prophets had spoken, the Holy Spirit, who was sent from heaven, has now made known to you by those who spread the Good News among you. These are things that even the angels want to look into.

Sometimes fears can hide your vision
The loss of purpose chains you down
You think I’ve forgotten all you’re dreaming of
But how could I forget the one I love
And it’s...

Not by might, not by power
But by my spirit says the lord
Not by might, not by power
But by my spirit says the lord

Before the vision can be seen, we must go through a process of LEANING!!!

Picture again that native american lad, if you will. He returns from his vision quest - alone in the wilderness for weeks - leaning upon his Source, the Creator, the Great Spirit. So does the Jewish boy who prepares for his coming-of-age - his bar-mitzvah - by casting his whole soul into the "wilderness" of the Word - until he is one with the Voice of the Lord who alone speaks Truth. And we - in our modern various pursuits (ANYTHING sincere that leaves the TV OFF and is in pursuit of Truth!) - we must come from our vision quest LEANING on GOD ALONE!

Song of Solomon 8:5 Who is this young woman coming from the wilderness with her arm around her beloved?

Once the mind has left the comfort of the old paradigm and embraced the possibility of extraordinary achievement, the question that never fails to ignite the necessary creativity and passion is; what do we need to do to get there? Pay attention to all of the ideas and methods produced during your vision-gestation period and don't prejudge them. The winning steps will emerge, and often will do so, from the unlikeliest of places... from the very mysterious space of God's vast, eternal horizon!

Ephesians 5:13 Light exposes the true character of everything 14 because light makes everything easy to see. That's why it says: "Wake up, sleeper! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." 15 So then, be very careful how you live. Don't live like foolish people but like wise people.

25 Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it. 26 He did this to make the church holy by cleansing it, washing it using water along with spoken words. 27 Then he could present it to himself as a glorious church, without any kind of stain or wrinkle--holy and without faults. 28 So husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself.

Autistics are observing more than you think!

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.

He to whom this emotion is a stranger,

who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe,

is as good as dead:

his eyes are closed."

--Albert Einstein

I was gonna write about Autism... but, altho I highly identify with autism myself, I really know so little about that aspect of me, I decided not to.

But that quote (from an Autism page) HAD to go in here!!

First Black President of the United States of America! (vlog04)

[post script - This accounts for my 4th vlog... published before I knew what vlogs were!]

Mae C. Jemison is, quite likely, going to be one of the first women to be president of the United States of America!

On this Martin Luther King Junior Day, I'd like to let her speak to you about dreams.

You have dreams to better the planet and the condition in which its people live life on it... don't let anyone tell you to stop!

1st Black President movie (vlog03)

An Atheist in a Mouse Suit

Following is my "sorta-kinda" film review of the Israeli movie, Broken Wings, by Nir Bergman -

I don't subscribe to self-delusion although I'm probably more prone to use the word, I, than the next guy.

But, seriously, self-delusion (in or out of a mouse suit) isn't only limited to atheists. I'm prone to it, actually (probably? maybe? - better to suspect I am than to ignore the possibility, wouldn't you think? especially considering the nature of self-delusion? but I digress...). And I don't want to live the separated, muffled life that such a mouse suit imposes. So I continue to search for less selfish ways to live... while maintaining a vibrant sense of self that I can liberally share.

And I'm not talking about not living in fear... that's a whole nother battle that is no longer daily fought by those who have "died to self" (1st Peter 4:1).

I'm talking about the battle to cling to life after death has shaken your hand and greeted you with its grisly "Hello." This is the battle to (once again?) regard others in the sphere of life ... life ... with childlike wonder and respect.

The character in Broken Wings, Yair, dresses in a mouse suit to "preach" the hopelessness of existance... "We're all meaningless specks of dust," he drones as he shuffles along without hope... in his complete self-absorption. He is in deep pain of loss over the recent, utterly surprising death of his father.

And it takes a moment of naked conversation with someone who probes him deeply for a shred of honesty to shake him awake from that slumber.

But don't we all need a moment of naked awareness... utterly vulnerable to our surroundings... and, much more, the people in our spheres of sight and thought?

Without these moments of repentance... moments of realization of the deep need we have of those who love us most... we are sad, shuffling mice.... nay, specks of dust!

May we all wake up to love... love for God, yes... first and mostly! But isn't that love expressed by our love for those whose rays of reflected light enter our eyes daily?

Yes, first let's take off our mouse suits so we can better see them... and hear them... and hold them.

So, check out Ephesians 5 in that light...

13 All things having their true character exposed by the Light and are made manifest; for that which makes everything manifest is Light.
14 Therefore He says, "Wake up, you who sleep, and arise up from among the dead, and the Messiah shall shine upon you."
15 Watch carefully therefore how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 For this reason don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
18 And don't be drunk with wine, because it is needless indulgence in sensual pleasures; but be filled with the Spirit,
19 speaking to each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and chanting with your heart to the Lord;
20 giving thanks at all times for all things to Him who is God and the Father in the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah,
21 submitting yourselves to one another in the reverence of Messiah Yeshua.

House of Invention

This morning I had a dream that gave me the same sense I get often when I spend time with the saints of Kansas City ("saints" defined as "average people who stumble but get up and get under the Blood of Jesus... again and again...") in their prayers and praises to the Most High. It's the sense of invention and wonder. It's that scintillating atmosphere you feel in higher institutes of learning... but without the hubris and anxiety that often attends those. It's that sense of freshness you feel when stepping off the plane or the boat in those first moments of discovery in some strange, distant land.

So I wrote this song tonight to celebrate that real thing... that I happened to dream about this morning.

House of Invention

Funny. It's mysterious and dreamlike... but real... in the House of Invention, His "House of Prayer for All Nations."

Mark 11:17 Then he taught them by saying, "Scripture says, 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,' but you have turned it into a gathering place for thieves."

The religious among us steal our souls... they steal our endurance... they are thieves of our wonder, thieves of our joy, thieves of our play, thieves of our worship, thieves of hard-earned dollars, yes, but they are also thieves of creative enterprise from our homes, thieves of our family life, thieves of our adventure... and they are thieves of our inventions.

Let us become as children and explore again, shall we? There is no place safer and more expansive than in the "house" of the Maker of the Univers... He who created us has also redeemed us... for a Kingdom of Wonders Unimaginable.

If you turned out as many inventions as Nikolai Tesla... you'd just be scratching the surface.

Creed for a Unified Life

I'm an American, yes, but also a Canadian... Although I was offered Canadian citizenship at 18 and ignorantly turned it down, my Mother was born Canadian and I lived there for 3 years growing up. Not bad, eh? And it doesn't stop there.

I'm truly a global citizen. I was raised by the famous American fighter pilot, Wayne R. Chaffer, who was awarded the medal of honor by a nation from half way round the world, Viet Nam. And during his tour of duty, i lived in 4 different countries - traveling through 15 different nations altogether. And since leaving home (is that possible if I'm really a global child?), I've travelled through 2 more - that's 17.

Not that it matters, though. In today's world ANYONE can live globally through the internet and the worldwide distribution of goods and services. I have friends from several nations and am now doing business with several outside the Americas. And (like everyone else) I'm buying a WHOLE LOT of products from "Big Red" half way around the world and some other products from yet several more. I regularly play my drums which are handmade from Nigeria, for instance.

All that to say that I'm not called to have a grid for just one small little nook in this huge planet of ours. I'm called to live as I have been raised... globally.

I need to just get used to that. I tend not to want to admit it... but I'm a citizen of the world - no political manipulation meant at all - it's just the simpe and honest fact! Tonight I spent quite some time reading posts in a forum surrounding an investment opportunity I'm interested in from Malaysia - PIPS, Inc.. It's quite an amazing global community that chats there (about some pretty interesting things, financially!) and I'm so impressed by the special scent, the rich flavor of people willing to meet different cultures in one place!

The amazing outpour of horror and soul that was wrought by last week's Indian Ocean Tsunamis is an event that, alone, has probably brought more people out of their "head-in-sand-like-ostriches" reality in recent history. In much the same way that 9-11 did, as it was a "world trade" center that was hit...

And just this week, we were visited here in my house by 2 dear friends who live in Nepal. They shared the rich, ancient, fresh, soulful flavor of Nepal.

And how does that pan out? pan-continentally!

It means I need to stay outside of the little box many put on their thinking which says "think locally."

Why limit your activism for the betterment of humanity (you ARE an activist for justice aren't you?) to just your neighborhood or city? You don't have to limit the think-realm to just that! You could be acting for just your locale but still THINKING about all people everywhere! I think the more accurate popular phrase should be said,

"Think Globally - Start ANYWHERE!"

You can make a difference right where you are, but you can make MORE of a difference if you're SENSITIZED to the many cultures of people who live on this balancing-ball with you!!!

Christopher Cross, the singer/songwriter who wrote Sailing ("takes me away to where I'm going...") also wrote,

"Open your heart until - everyone's in - it's never too late to believe - and begin."

And that's my theme song for this Creed for a Unified Life. Have a sing!