Where the road leads next

I am not sure where I stand with all of this, but watching it I had to ask the question; why so much security, and who are these people?

Watch the full movie here. "ENDGAME - Blueprint for Global Enslavement"

In a never ending goal to completely confuse myself about all things cultural, I grabbed a book in the library about religion. I only read the preface, so I can't recall the author, but I agreed with everything she had to say.

I figured if I could agree with the preface, why ruin it by diving into the 600 pages of her actual writing.

I know, but hey at least I am starting to read.

Anyway, as near as I can tell her motivation for the book was to save the world from eminent destruction. Did I mention I read the last 2 pages as well? Well I did. Her premise is that 1000 - 200 BC was a time when religion changed from actually killing stuff for God to figuratively killing ourselves for God. It may not be that simple, but that is what I think she was telling us, and like I said before, why would I ruin it for myself.

Even if she arrives at another conclusion, my conclusion is based on the fact that I agree with it and it lines up with my theology and world view.

One of the things she stated was that people used to get their state of nirvana, religious shivers, transcendental state of being because of the group conscience. Essentially, the effect of being around other like minded skulls of mush makes our mush resonate and not feel so stinking alone and vulnerable. Therefore, my quorum of like minded individuals that think the moon is god, would from time to time work ourselves up into a frenzy and kill your like minded group that think the sun is god. In fact, the act of killing you for our moon god actually makes us feel even better about our collective. Stupid sun people.

Apparently all that changed (mostly) during said time of enlightenment. I could actually research this, but I am having too much fun making my own sense of 6 pages of forward and 2 pages of conclusion. See how dangerous reading can be.

The deal is, I agree that most major religions feel that the way to God is self sacrifice. Jesus exemplified this and was the primary reason He came. "The Way" is simply to love God and love your neighbor the same way you love yourself. The authors assertion is that unless we get back to that thinking (she mentioned nothing about Jesus mind you, at least what I read) we will all revert back to killing each other to appease our blood lust for our particular resonate self identity thingy. A good example of this is sports. A better example is the war on terror.

But I digress.

The thing that really jumped out at me was the concept of God back then and the concept of God today. If you were to ask Buddha or the monotheistic Jews or a Hindu IF there is a God, the answer would be you are asking the wrong question. The question would never be if, but what are you doing to please him.

That is incredibly profound.

It got me thinking about Jesus Christ and the fact that He wasn't on the earth trying to convince people to believe in a God. He came to show God's people the true nature of a God they already had familiarity with. Everyone in the Jewish religion believed there was a God during the time of Christ. Jesus claiming He was God sort of threw them for a loop. Not to be outdone, they killed him. Take that God! I am sure there were exceptions outside of Judaism, but the question of "if" would have not been the first thing on the minds of most people. Other religions still believed in polytheism and even the Romans had a concept of God and left the matter to the Jews. Heck even pagans worshiped a form of God. It may have been a chicken, but it was a chicken with power!

You know what? The post modern world has no such fundamental grounding. In fact, I dare say that conventional wisdom is that there is no God.

We have gone from believing the sun was god and trying to please god by killing his creation, to self awareness and enlightenment, to self sacrifice and service, and now somehow we find ourselves all the way back to atheism. What is worse is that we are right back at "group nirvana" where the highest form of religion is conformity and association with other skulls of mush.

I personally think this new religion is government, but that is for another post.

For me, it makes sense why it is so difficult to get people to change their lives for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They simply don't believe there is a God! How can they ever believe in His Son? It is like asking me to have a relationship with a dead friend. He may have been "real" but if I can't make the physical connection how much of a relationship can I really have? If we ask people to make a spiritual connection to Jesus while ignoring the fact they may have no concept of the spiritual attributes of God, how successful can they be?

Its like a cell phone with no service.

There is so much more to this, but I wanted to get it down somewhere before it was sucked away.

Speaking of cell phones, is it just me or have you noticed that everyone seems to have those things permanently stuck to them?

I wonder when we will start the Sprint and AT&T holy war?

For my regular readers, or reader as it may be. :)

You may have noticed that every so often Davie gets all, you know "in his head" on a post or two.

I feel an explanation is in order.

I am a very complicated dude. For one, I am predominantly "right brained". Basically, I think like a girl. I look like a man, but I sing like a girl, look at the world like a girl, have emotions like a girl, and generally obsess and worry like a girl.

I know - I am 6 foot 2, 250 pounds, built like a middle linebacker in the NFL and think the sky is pretty. I play all sports well, can rebuild cars and put up walls, need to shave twice a day, good looking, coordinated and athletic, and feel bad if I kill a bug.

If that wasn't enough, I am a First Tenor. An actual can hit a high C full voice and live up there tenor. I sang alto in Jr. High and for fun I would sing soprano. Even to this day I tend to sing songs much too high for a guy that looks like me. I think it is funny now but I used to hate it.

And just to make all that more interesting, I am highly prophetic when it comes to spiritual things. I used to be able to hear people think. I am not making it up - it was awful. In High School I had few real friends, and would scare the hell out of any girl I dated because I was so intense. This behavior and insight meant my fist girlfriend was my wife.

To top it all off I had some traumatic events in my childhood that I am working through. Some of them I have come to terms with like the alcoholism in our family, others like physical abuse and emotional pain I am still trying to uncover.

So from time to time all this emotional stuff lines up and you will read some very different posts about church stuff and other things. These are mostly just me letting off steam about the condition of the world and the Church as I see it. I don't know why I feel the way I do about that stuff, it is just something God has added to the mix of me. There is a rich history of prophetic people being a touch crazy. The bottom line is prophetic people have this deep urge to express to people what we feel, and getting the message out can be a bit overwhelming for everyone.

So I blog.

And talk with my friends who get tired of hearing about what needs to change until I am proven wrong or things change. The frustrating thing is that some of the changes can be 2-3 years down the road. Thankfully, once I get it off my chest I am not like the spoiled 6 year old that wants ice cream in Wal-Mart. I am quick to point out the signs along the way however, which is just about as annoying.

No one likes a know-it-all but sometimes I just know. Sorry - deal with it.

So that is a little insight into Davie, and why the title of my blog is what it is. I am on a journey and most days it is a wonderful unexpected winding road. I may have rest stops along the way, a side road or two and even some back tracking, but life is so much better living it in the skin you are in.

The way I am made, what choice do I really have? I sing like an angel, I know too much to be normal, I can do too many things to just sit idle, I am too emotional and in touch with my creator not to care, and too stinking tall to just blend in.

I am a "worship leader".

It seems once that title is bestowed on a person, everything that was and is to come is all about being a "worship leader".

When people ask me what I do I rarely if ever respond that I am a "worship leader". It could be that I just started leading recently and just volunteer. I think if the title actually defined an office in the church I may use it, but I am not sure I should. To be honest, I have always been afraid of the title. One of the first recorded acts of worship was when Abraham took Isaac up to the mountain to worship God. He took Isaac up there with the full knowledge he was going to kill him! Nope, my response to the "do" question is that I work at a print shop and run a small marketing company. If they press me further I can narrow it down to specifics, but my first response is hardly ever telling someone I am a leader, let alone a "worship leader".

I don't think we get to tell people we are leaders. A self imposed title of leader is tyrannical thinking in my book. If I have to tell you I am a leader - I probably ain't one. To tell someone I am a "worship leader" smacks of pride. It is like telling someone I am the best husband in the world without ever letting you interview my wife. I may be the best, but without a bit of proof the title is meaningless.

I have noticed that the "worship leader" title has an uncanny ability to make those called just about unbearable to be around. Almost without fail, the more you hear a "worship leader" telling you about their gift, the more you can count on them doing nothing that lives outside their idea of that gift. For some, it is the ultimate calling and everything in life must lineup to it.

I have known many "worship leaders" in my lifetime, and I can pick them out the minute I meet a new one. If I don't pick it out right away, I will be sure to be told all the ways they are great. I get to hear how long they have been leading, who they know, how God shows up when they, what God did after they, how difficult it is to be, when the next time they get to, how they have this great new, and so on. It is actually quite comical, and I have come to the conclusion that they are all somehow cut from the same cloth.

It is a big velvety flowing swirling melodic cloth with big voices and big hair and affected facial expressions and zeal. It really is an amazing thing to behold, and I too can get caught up in the experience of it all if I am not careful.

See, my fear is that "worship leading" can so easily turn into nothing but entertainment. Worship in the modern church is tied to music, and music is big business outside the church. Everyone that comes into church has a point of reference of what music should look and sound like. Since worship is music, it had better be big, have a good beat, some pretty people on stage and electric guitars and drums. Ask a "worship leader" if they mind having the lights off when they lead, or if they can lead without instruments. Impossible.

I think I am going to stay as far away as I can from the title of "worship leader". As I recall the goal is to be called a servant.

Now that is a title worth striving for.

I hesitate to post about this.

The simple reason is that posting about religion is an exercise in futility. Most people that know of what I speak are already turned off to the institution of the church, so this is a case of preaching to the choir.

This is the oldest Gothic church in the US. I took this picture last year while on a sabbatical after the loss of our pregnancy. This church is basically a museum now. In fact I had to go to the gift shop and request they open it.

Let that sink in a bit.

This church witnessed and housed soldiers of the Revolutionary and Civil War. It was actually used as a stable for one of those occupations, a telling condition of the state of a country during war.

Which brings me to my point.

Somewhere along the way we have lost sight of who we are supposed to be as the church. We are the peace makers. The earth groans waiting for us to bring peace to the earth. The earth literally waits in agony for the return of the princes and princesses of peace. I know that sounds spiritual and dramatic, but take look around at the unrest of storms and earthquakes and hurricanes and global warming and war. The earth is in agony and even if you dismiss the spiritual, Al Gore has pointed out that we are responsible for the condition of the planet.

I think he is absolutely correct that we are responsible, but the solution is not in government policy, it is in the church rising up and doing what it right.

The condition of the world is the fault of the sons and daughters of God. God has given us dominion over this place, and we messed it up. We keep messing it up by killing our brothers and sisters. We keep messing it up by separating fathers from sons and mothers from daughters. We have blood on our hands and blood in our gas tanks and blood on our iPhones. We have blood in our wombs and blood on the House and Senate floor and blood in the Oval Office and knee deep in the Supreme Court.

And we sit asleep and lock our churches and fill our marquees with marketing slogans of what God can do as our world spins out of control. We segregate ourselves Sunday morning by doctrine and color and culture and teach our people to rely on the pulpit instead of the Father. We preach about peace and vote for war. We endure the sanctuary and revel in the stadium. We celebrate the institution of our fathers while losing the heart of our sons. We pray for the purity of our own daughters while willingly watching the degradation of another's. We call bondage freedom and restraint stifling as the poor die alone, the orphans sleep unwanted, the oppressed cry out for justice and the widows weep in utter loneliness.

And we sit asleep, acutely aware that as we slumber the authority we once had is being drained away. Drop by drop, year after year, generation after generation. Until all that will be left is the shell of what could have been as the earth groans in agony waiting for the sons and daughters of peace.

Wake-up Sons and Daughter's of God, let's restore the Church, let's start at home.

Monday evening I had to run into work and restart a Citrix server I broke from home. My wife and I took the opportunity to steal away from the kids, and found ourselves alone in my office.

Yes, the thought did run through my mind, and no it didn't happen.

As an aside, I think most men love the idea of anything intimate outside of the bedroom. The fact is we usually think about sex all day at work anyway so it seems a perfect fit to bring the fantasy world into reality. The best part is that it is perfectly "legal" and moral to fantasize about you and your wife role playing at the office. But I digress.

No, this trip was not about being physical at work, it was about being spiritual.

As we were all alone in the office, had to run around the shop and restart ICA terminals, Julie suggested we pray. Honestly, I was still thinking about other things, but the idea stuck so we did.

Walking from department to department we simply prayed for peace and prosperity and for specific people as I told her who worked where. It was nice. It didn't even seem that strange to be praying in the building.

10 minutes later we were done, lights out, doors locked, and on our way home.

I was installing a scanner in our pre-press department today and a strange thing occurred, I started a very deep conversation about God with a former LDS. He actually initiated it by saying that everything was about money - even religion. He shared about his experience as a missionary for his church, and how he hated it. How he was forced to say things he didn't believe in, and how there is no truth.

He is really struggling, and all I could tell him was that he was right. For most people it is about money, but that is a lie. The world tells us our worth is found in our bank accounts, while God tells us our value is as a son and daughter.

I am not sure I made any impact, but it was amazing that we were discussing religion, Mormonism, Catholicism, and Christianity at work.

I wonder how that happened?