Do it. And do it this way. *motions to a diagram*
How about if…
Do it as I said. *points to diagram*
But why?
Just do it. It’s how we’ve always done it. *shoves diagram closer*

We get so caught up in the rituals, schedules, and details that we lose sight of the actual purpose, the function, the meaning.

We become maintenance workers and enforcers, keeping things running smoothly (more Big Pharma please and quicker, cheaper food!), we forget that we’re here to live and to live abundantly, to love and to love fearlessly, to be a light and to shine brightly.

Do we want our children to have good moral character and virtues or merely recite facts and pass standardize tests? What is school actually for? Are our children “better off” for attending?

What is church actually for? Are we “better off” for attending?

08/20/24

Free, Be Free
That’s what they say as they tighten the chains
Fun, you go have fun
As they turn and walk away
Self Self, Be yourself
As long as you’re like me
Self Self, Love yourself
Tell me, what does that mean
Time, there goes the time
Rolling into me
Stand up, Turn around
Slam door, Feet on ground
I’m on my own
You’re nowhere to be found
Your home is your home now

I wrote these lyrics sitting on the steps of the building formerly known as Calvary Chapel in Chico, California (now MOMA). I am fourteen. Soon, I will graduate Chico High School two years early and look forward to leaving a house of hypocrisy. Wanting structure and purpose. Having neither. I searched for more, for meaning.

People claimed to have the answers. Unlike the book “Are you My Mother?”, people kept claiming to be the thing I was looking for, to have the solution to the problem that life seemed to be posing. Sex, Drugs, Alcohol, Money, Tarot, Buddhism, Philosophy, Astrology. Turns out, they were looking, too. Only they settled on the quick fixes that quickly fixed nothing at all but merely helped to pass the time quickly affixing additional problem on top of problem burying the solution even deeper inside of myself where it was the whole time.

Somewhere along the line… the line itself blurred. The search became settlement. God became god became gods became sin became death which, by another name, is a life not worth living. A life of affliction and pain. A life of addiction and shame. The pit, the muck, the mire, darkness, Sheol if only by another name. Chico. So I ran. Straight to Portland, Oregon. That’s like… Sodom meet Gomorrah. Let me translate yet again: it was not better. And further translation: I… was still me.

Spiritual abandonment begets physical and mental breakdown. Have you noticed? One can hardly blame those on the run. Especially… if you yourself have been running.

By all means, 
Run to the hills.
Run for your life. (Thank you, Iron Maiden)
But by all ways and means: Run straight to God.

And when you find Him, when He finds you, when you abide in Him and He in you… tell the others. To run to the hills.

And you don’t have to “Do it. And do it this way.” as some may say (and if you think you’re quoting scripture… you’ve misunderstood it. Period.) You, with a pure heart, can go straight to God through prayer and ask Him to show me the path, teach me Your ways and lead me in Truth. Psalm 25:4 And BOOM! He will. Life. Love. And Light. Amen.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

…dwellest not in temples made with hands Acts 17:24

He had made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth… That they should seek the Lord, of haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. For in Him we live, and move, and have our being… For we are also his offspring… God has overlooked the times of our ignorance, but now He demands that all people everywhere repent… Acts 17:26–17:30