Tuesday, April 01, 2008

There's A Race of Men That Don't Fit In

“He is no fool who gives what he can not keep to gain what he can not lose.”-Jim Elliot

“The wind is wild. I’ve never felt such blowing. Just returned from the flying bridge where I was able to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time-literally lean on the wind.”

“Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.”-The Prophet Isaiah


*****************************************************************

Face set like flint, face to the wind. Not the way I feel lately. I’ve been praying a lot for vision and direction. I feel like I’m floundering---when what I want is something that grips my vision; grasps hold of me and pulls me forward.

Hundreds of different thoughts race through my mind. I lack discipline. I need to be soaking up scripture. Piper says he’s read through the letters of Paul hundreds of times. I’m not even close to that. Being saturated in scripture would help. Hell, spending a consistent 5 minutes a day in scripture would help.

Feeling as though there is a huge chasm fixed between what I want to be and who I am. A chasm larger than the one between Lazarus and the beggar. Huge.
I think that is where the cycling fits in. And Robert Service.
“If they just went straight they might go far;
They are strong and brave and true;
But they’re always tired of the things that are,
And they want the strange and new.
They say: ‘Could I find my proper groove, What a deep mark I would make!’
So they chop and change, and each fresh move, is only a fresh mistake.”

Today I’m thinking I need to make more time for thinking, praying, soaking and saturating, from that will flow vision and direction.

“ Give me the scorn of the stars and a peak defiant;
Wail of the pines and a wind with the shout of a giant;
Night and a trail unknown and a heart reliant.

Give me to live and love in the old, bold fashion;
A soldier’s billet at night and a soldier’s ration;
A heart that leaps to the fight with a soldier’s passion.”

1 comment:

Robert said...

Some great reflective writing. It's therapeutic. The 5 minutes a day would be a great start. For you and me both. And if I hear you right, the cycling is great for meditation. Once you get the scripture in, meditating on it over a prolonged period, such as what cycling offers, is beneficial.