"We cannot Wait.
We've seen mothers bury sons.
And we're begging You to come.
When the poor are thrown aside,
The sick are left to die,
We need Your grace oh God.
God come.
Your Kingdom come."
Music by The Robbie Seay Band.
Courtesy of The Work of the People.
Just in case you somehow haven't seen this yet :-)
You can find out more about the Advent Conspiracy on the [AC] website.
Also, for a limited time I will be donating a portion of proceeds from sales of my photographic prints to Living Water Intl. as part of the Advent Conspiracy. Details are on my photography website.
I stand by the door.
I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out,
The door is the most important door in the world-
It is the door through which people walk when they find God.
There's no use my going way inside, and staying there,
When so many are still outside and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where a door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like blind people,
With outstretched, groping hands.
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,
Yet they never find it ...
So I stand by the door.
The most tremendous thing in the world
Is for people to find that door--the door to God.
The most important thing any person can do
Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands,
And put it on the latch--the latch that only clicks
And opens to the person's own touch.
People die outside that door, as starving beggars die
On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter--
Die for want of what is within their grasp.
They live, on the other side of it--live because they have not found it.
Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it,
And open it, and walk in, and find Him ...
So I stand by the door.
Go in, great saints, go all the way in--
Go way down into the cavernous cellars,
And way up into the spacious attics--
It is a vast roomy house, this house where God is.
Go into the deepest of hidden casements,
Of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood.
Some must inhabit those inner rooms.
And know the depths and heights of God,
And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is.
Sometimes I take a deeper look in,
Sometimes venture in a little farther;
But my place seems closer to the opening ...
So I stand by the door.
There is another reason why I stand there.
Some people get part way in and become afraid
Lest God and the zeal of His house devour them
For God is so very great, and asks all of us.
And these people feel a cosmic claustrophobia,
And want to get out. "Let me out!" they cry,
And the people way inside only terrify, them more.
Somebody must be by the door to tell them that they are spoiled
For the old life, they have seen too much:
Once taste God, and nothing but God will do any more.
Somebody must be watching for the frightened
Who seek to sneak out just where they came in,
To tell them how much better it is inside.
The people too far in do not see how near these are
To leaving--preoccupied with the wonder of it all.
Somebody must watch for those who have entered the door,
But would like to run away. So for them, too,
I stand by the door.
I admire the people who go way in.
But I wish they would not forget how it was
Before they got in. Then they would be able to help
The people who have not, yet even found the door,
Or the people who want to run away again from God,
You can go in too deeply, and stay in too long,
And forget the people outside the door.
As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place,
Near enough to God to hear Him, and know He is there,
But not so far from people as not to hear them,
And remember they are there, too.
Where? Outside the door--
Thousands of them, millions of them.
But--more important for me--
One of them, two of them, ten of them,
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch.
So I shall stand by the door and wait
For those who seek it.
"I had rather be a door-keeper ..."
So I stand by the door.
I Stand by the Door
by Sam Shoemaker
Sam Shoemaker, founder of Faith At Work at Calvary Episcopal Church in New York City, in 1926, was also one of the spiritual leaders who helped draft the 12 Steps of A.A.
Obtained from the Faith at Work website.
As we leave this place, may grace meet us in in the places we are and make us uncomfortable there. May love reach out to us and make us long for more than the satisfaction of our cravings and our comfort, to help us reach out to those in bondage, the lost, the suffering & oppressed. May God's presence draw us close to reveal our brokeness in His light and bring us to restoration and healing.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you now & always. Amen.
Some places in Houston that help the homeless, if you'd like to lend a hand:
* Bread of Life - breadoflifeinc.org
* Star of Hope Mission - www.sohmission.org
* Coalition for the Homeless, Houston - www.homelesshouston.org
For those of you not in Houston, I'm sure you can find places in your city as well.
Okay, so I decided to upgrade the blog a couple of months ago ... back in February or March ... feels so long ago now. Anyway the upgrade started and then things broke and I finally have the blog engine going again. It is still on Movable Type, albeit version 4.2. The plan is to keep the old design for now and slowly fold in the new features so as not to break anything.
Let me know if you spot any quirks ... some of the text characters went funny during the database restoration/migration stuff.
Grace & peace,
Deji.