YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ACTUALLY GET UP AND WALK

You see what happens when you actually get up and walk. I did today.

John 5 vs 8 tells the story of one wanting someone to do something miraculous for them. A man unable to walk wanted to walk but no one ever helped him. His disability not only affected his body but also his mind. He made excuses for not being able to help himself. Jesus simply said, "GET UP AND WALK." In response to the spoken word of Jesus, he immediately got up and walked.

This morning after my prayer time, I heard the prompt, “Get up and walk.” I did not want to go walk that early in the dark and cold. The next thing I heard was, “You have a five minute window to get going.” 

After explaining to Bonnie what was happening; I got up, dressed, and took off. I even went the opposite direction of my usual path.

After walking a half-mile, I stopped to pray and meditate at a fountain flowing red. I made a video of it. Next stop was a half-mile later to make a note to myself. I am enjoying being out. I love to walk.

Today, I walked with expectation of an experience. I do not know whether in the sky, on the ground or in myself.

You see what happens when you actually get up and walk. A quarter mile later, I feel a bit frustrated. I speak out loud saying, “OK, I am out here.”

The next thing I see is what I believe is a slow walking elderly woman that I will need to pass. I announce I am coming by on her left.

She said, “I know. I have been listening to your footsteps.”

I told her, “I did not want to risk scaring you.”

She said, “I am not scared. Recently, a 19-year-old boy attempted to sexually assault me. Police arrested for protecting myself as the young man wished he had left me alone. Police quickly released me with no charges after they got the complete story.”

My mind is a buzz. This woman is why I am out here. I shared with her my work of creating film that deals with the sexual assault men have committed on women and children for the past 100,000 years.

Next, I asked if I could walk with her for a couple of minutes to talk.  She said yes because she did not really like walking alone in the dark.

“Are you ready to tell you story on video?” I asked.

“If it will help other women, I will be pleased to tell my story,” she said.

I now learn my new friend is a survivor of pastoral sexual abuse as a child when 9 years old and sexual assault as a teen resulting in the birth of her first child. My heart never ceases to break when hearing the record of these kinds of events.

It wound up she was walking to the neighborhood where I live to meet a friend to go to work. We made a plan to see each other after she gets off work this afternoon to talk further.

This is the takeaway. Listen to the still voice that speaks to you. I cannot make that logical. I am acutely aware of what I would have missed if I had not followed its inspiring direction.

I got my first couple of miles walk in for the day. I met a woman soul I needed to meet with a story to tell. I cannot tell you who was there for whom. Whether I was there for her or she was there for me is not nearly as relevant as the fact we met because I got up off my comfortable warm bed with my wife and walked.

When the still voice prompts you to get up and walk, by all means, get up and walk. We met again after she got off work. We talked and made an agreement to work together.

What made this moment even more interesting, I have been searching for an indigenous woman for Project I'm Alive. The search is over, A Cherokee Woman has come because I got up and walked. You see what happens when you actually get up and walk.

Why MEDITATION Remarkable Creating Valuable Clarity of Heart

Why meditation remarkable creating valuable clarity of heart rests in the care of the soul. Part Five of the series, Six Primary Components of Christian Spirituality, establishes the practice of meditation as the way of the soul to maintain perspective, passion, and purpose in Christian Living. 

Christian meditation is a form of prayer in which a structured attempt is made to become aware of and reflect upon the revelations of God. The word meditation comes from the Latin word (meditārī), which has a range of meanings including to reflect on the presence of the divine.

I deepen my experience of God through prayer, meditation, and forgiveness.

~Marianne Williamson

The Psalmist David in Psalms 1 vss 1 -2 reveals the dependence the Psalmist places on his meditation. 1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

People across the world from developing nations to first world nations experience concerns of security like no other time in human history. Actual terrorist activity and the threat of terrorism haunts the thoughts of many across the global community.

Add to this the threat of global warming, poverty and all its spin off negatives of sickness, disease, illiteracy, homelessness, malnutrition, et. al.  Dr. Leonard Sweet, Former Professor and President of the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio reports the era we live in reveals the terra is no longer firma. Terra Firma  is Latin for solid earth or solid ground is not secure and longer solid. Earthquakes are the quintessential validation the terra is longer firma. 

Meditation accepts that Christians can be in the world but not of the world. None of us are from Planet Earth but we have this activity that does not try to keep up with the Joneses, dress in latest fashions or represent oneself in a showy way of the ego.

Meditation is the most secure form of trust in the universe. It is an action representing by literally doing nothing but positioning oneself to leave all things physical and the perception of them behind.

Meditation happens by intention to sit in conscious rest. Perspectives require intentionally being alone to quiet the body and quiet the mind. Following the breath controls body rhythms. It slows the heart rate and the racing of the mind.

The objective is to surrender thought to become calm quiet and still sitting in a humble quietness. Quieting the noise of the mind, experience of energy begins and health conditions are positively affected. Blood pressure lowers as calm increases. Internal listening begins. 

Moments of enlightened intuition can follow. The abundance of calm experience affords a clarity of heart and purpose. 

It is for this reason, the Psalmist can comfortably say in Psalm 19:14, "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer."

To be clear, one must step away from external activity of life from time to time to maintain personal objectivity and order for living. Meditation provides the pathway.

To begin, do these things. 1. Find a quiet time and a space where you can be alone to center in the energy of your own thoughts. 2. Instruct your mind and your body to become calm quiet and still. 3. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth slowly.  4. Experience the slowing down of your racing mind and physical sensations. 5. Listen to the calm of your inner person, the real you, your soul. 6. Sit in the experience until you must re - engage the outside world. 7. Re - engage the outside world with a better you, not as a detached person but  fully conscious fully engaged one.

Christians living and following Jesus' life as our model, must like Jesus find ourselves up early to meditate and to pray to achieve the perspective of the Psalmist, our delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law do we meditate day and night. This is the why meditation is  remarkable in creating valuable clarity of heart. Herein lies the care of the soul.