Author Archives: storehaufovic

What whales teach us…

27 Tuesday Dec 2016

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Father of the whales
We can’t even tend them—whales! God alone sitting with Himself far out at sea with the whales at night; each night; them breaking water’s surface in moonlight, when no one sees. How can we as humans, given so much, not be amazed and humbled immediately by them-breaking water’s seamless surface, unseen, but by God. The fact that we see them at all is a wonder and an act of evangelism on God’s part.
We have our domain, but when we really see the sea and all that happens constantly without out awareness, we know, there is much more.
But, Father watches the creatures of the deep, expressions of Himself when we are asleep. Each night, He keeps watch. Father watches the deep when we are asleep. The hump backs, break the surface of the sea and show their back to moon, in sounds unheard far out at sea, while we sleep, while we sleep…a whale song is heard somewhere.
And, Father knows each whale by name. None the same. None the same. That is enough to astound me forever, and not remain the same! To be unchanged by beholding the awareness of whale, is to be heart numb. We are to be transformed by mysteries unseen–things we cannot fully fathom!
We are not shepherds of the deep; we barely understand the seas, or ourselves, and yet, we have some tending to do there in both spaces.
 But Father sits with the whales nightly by Himself and considers their urges. Father sits alone at night with whales. And their dark unseen beauty of being. Something we may never fully know-how to tend the sea, at least with our awareness. But father sits alone at night with each whale, and knows their names.

considering the strangeness of Christmas

24 Saturday Dec 2016

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christmas
God coming into earth and dirt christmas
Jesus in animal trough christmas
muddy diaper animal smell christmas
multi-cultural all classes of people christmas
all colors and sizes and styles of wise people christmas
dirty diapered in an animal trough Jesus christmas
on the road with family christmas
mystical sky mapped christmas
strange boy God Christmas
un-usual packaged God Christmas
God using unlikely frames to enter christmas
blood and water on straw breaking christmas
out of your comfort zone christmas
unlikely muddy gloried christmas
christmas was strange christmas
salt and light christmas
weird star lit christmas
strange people in the same room christmas
Jewish boy king christmas
strangest story ever christmas
of unlikely formed Glory incarnation christmas
christmas
strangest holiday ever
strange bed-fellows
christmas
probably sukkoth christmas
probably weak vulnerable pilgrims in tents christmas
recalling our dependency christmas
Jesus as a pilgrim at birth christmas
strangest star on earth christmas;
probably with animals and what is lowly christmas
but also with royalty and earth kings christmas
probably very messy all around christmas
on the road christmas-long walk christmas
with strange men arriving christmas
weird way to change everything christmas
God’s ultimate creativity and love, christmas is.
everyone welcomed christmas!
if you’re weird enough to believe in
christmas. the greatest unlikely
holiday christmas
christ with us, within us, in our own inner animal troughs christmas
Him with us in our ugliest spaces being born, christmas
Him choosing stable over cathedral christmas
His showing up as a kid christmas
The Hope of Christmas in such a small package
baby christ who cannot walk or talk christmas
angels singing in rounds above and walking into and within christmas
animals responding to their presence christmas
Jesus probably petting them christmas
smell of incense from foreign lands christmas
mixing with animal manure christmas
strange languages and weird regal gifts christmas
the Odd God breaking into history
Christmas. Strangest holiday there is christmas
and perhaps the truest revelation of up coming down. Christmas.
Everyone still in pain christmas, lonely and breaking
bombed and shaking at christmas;
yet, nothing’s the same because
christmas….

Christmas–how bizarre! Considering the strangeness of Christmas!

24 Saturday Dec 2016

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Christmas is strange! Finding Christmas peculiar again…
 Every year I write a christmas poem. This year, thinking about the strangeness of Christmas, and how it helps to remember just how odd this story is. That ultimate God would chose to incarnate like this is weird, and maybe to rediscover the story beneath the cultural extroversion of this holiday, we need to see it as strange again (as an ultimately shocking narrative)…my favorite part has always been these multi-cultural wise men staring at stars to find the Jew boy King. That alone is weird, and feels really true to me.
  But there are lots of odd parts to the story about this hinge of history moment in space and time…
 i know many no longer believe in christmas, as I have friends from many faiths and belief systems, but you at least have to consider how strange it actually is even outside the cultural frames. It’s an Odd God story!
 So I’m focusing on the strangeness of christmas this year in order to let it enter freshly into me heart’s imagination. Also considering the multi-cultural and multi-dimensional oddity of it (“the angelic ripples”, as one monk put it). This happens again at the Resurrection, and to me the birth and resurrection are symbolically connected. I can’t think of christmas without thinking of easter!
 There are lots of angels in the story, which we focused on last year, how His birth effected the spiritual realms; but also there are many cultures of wise people (my favorites) following the skies towards some prophetic event in a tiny town. They were also from all classes of society, and I assume all ethnicities! Anyway, here is my little free verse christmas poem from this year:
christmas
God coming into earth and dirt christmas
Jesus in animal trough christmas
muddy diaper animal smell christmas
multi-cultural all classes of people christmas
all colors and sizes and styles of wise people christmas
dirty diapered in an animal trough Jesus christmas
on the road with family christmas
mystical sky mapped christmas
strange boy God Christmas
un-usual packaged God Christmas
God using unlikely frames to enter christmas
blood and water on straw breaking christmas
out of your comfort zone christmas
unlikely muddy gloried christmas
christmas was strange christmas
salt and light christmas
weird star lit christmas
strange people in the same room christmas
Jewish boy king christmas
strangest story ever christmas
of unlikely formed Glory incarnation christmas
christmas
strangest holiday ever
strange bed-fellows
christmas
probably sukkoth christmas
probably weak vulnerable pilgrims in tents christmas
recalling our dependency christmas
Jesus as a pilgrim at birth christmas
strangest star on earth christmas;
probably with animals and what is lowly christmas
but also with royalty and earth kings christmas
probably very messy all around christmas
on the road christmas-long walk christmas
with strange men arriving christmas
weird way to change everything christmas
God’s ultimate creativity and love, christmas is.
everyone welcomed christmas!
if you’re weird enough to believe in
christmas. the greatest unlikely
holiday christmas
christ with us, within us, in our own inner animal troughs christmas
Him with us in our ugliest spaces being born, christmas
Him choosing stable over cathedral christmas
His showing up as a kid christmas
The Hope of Christmas in such a small package
baby christ who cannot walk or talk christmas
angels singing in rounds above and walking into and within christmas
animals responding to their presence christmas
Jesus probably petting them christmas
smell of incense from foreign lands christmas
mixing with animal manure christmas
strange languages and weird regal gifts christmas
the Odd God breaking into history
Christmas. Strangest holiday there is christmas
and perhaps the truest revelation of up coming down. Christmas.
Everyone still in pain christmas, lonely and breaking
bombed and shaking at christmas;
yet, nothings the same because
christmas….

More about in the inner challenge of counseling….

23 Friday Dec 2016

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More on counseling well:
  Grabbing versus receiving. Giving counsel in the right ways…
When we get to a level of spiritual parenting, we have many decisions to make. Wisdom is to know that often we will get empathetic insight, but not yet have the inner tools or wisdom and love available for the other to really bless them.
 Also, there is this key issue of whether a person is ready for spiritual parenting or healing. Jesus asked the lame man: “Do you want to be healed? This is the first core question. Are you actually thirsty or just complaining about the lack of water? Or your own inability to get to the waters while their stirring? This man had to overcome 38 years of victimization–felling like he could never get there fast enough.
 Then, Jesus just comes up directly and ask him, are you really ready to be healed. Implying, are you willing to change, not just your body and situation, but your heart! At the end of this tale, Jesus challenges him to change his lifestyle. Now that your physical healing has come, are you willing to change your inner spiritual life! Jesus was always so thorough in his healing process.
  This story of course has so much to teach—not only does the man have to overcome a victimzation mentality in order to say yes to Jesus; he also is told that he needs to change his lifestyle at the end of the story. Good healing story. Being able to discern if a person really wants or is ready to be healed is one aspect; the other, is do we ourselves really want to be healed, and be willing to change our lifestyles. Lots there.
  Often, people need more plowing, before the seeds they need can be planted.  To break down the blocks, or find the good soil behind and within them. Jesus was clear with the lame man at that healing pool (Bethesda)—“Do you really want to be healed?” was His first question. And the man himself had to overcome years of victimization to say yes! Years of not feeling like he was fast enough to get to the pools of healing. Jesus also offered Him a new way, which didn’t require the pools–a more direct way–stand up and walk! It was a risk on the man’s part, and he went for it. Then told others, and lastly Jesus challenged him to change his lifestyle. That is the pattern of healing, contained in this one story from St John!
 Do you really want healing is always the first question. Then are you willing to overcome your experience to believe that it’s possible, then are you willing to stand and change your lifestyle. Nothing has changed in the healing process. And Jesus offers a higher way than the angelically stirred waters. He offers direct contact, and a challenge to overcome our lack of faith based on experience. Now, there is both overcoming the lame man’s blocks in this story, and planting new seeds of life! That is always the case with God’s healing. He both plows and plants! Not each of us is able to do both for another person, but both are necessary.
  If we want to both plow and plant, then we need more equipment ourselves. To plow is unique from planting. Of course, St Paul did both, but not everyone is as gifted.
 It is good to be very aware of our own issues as well—how much of me needs validation through this helping of another, and what are my particular blocks around blessings them. All these have to be constantly questioned in order to really help someone.
  So I usually in prayer get insights, then feel love for a person, and then ask for His tone or orientation to deliver what He is telling them. I think He gives all of these—insight into another’s problems is not enough; we also need love, and then orientation to how God is blessings them. Then, also they have to be willing to ask for help and sit under it.
  Insights, again, are not enough. I can get insights over ten people a day, but not be called to help them. Sometimes, I just release that in prayer, and thank Jesus that He is so thorough. Other times, He will give me more to seed or plant in that person or situation. It is wisdom to discern my part in another’s healing journey. If any.
In short, you have to have insight from prayer, love for the other person, and knowing what your role is in the situation. That last one would include knowing your own wounds and weaknesses, and making sure you are not doing it for yourself, or your own needs.
  If I have wounds around a need for validation, or I have a self judgement about not being available to others for instance, that can cause me to “soul” things into place—in that space comes manipulations and witchcraft-or manipulating things into place.  So, I must be very clear about myself in the situation as well. Why do I want to help this person, and what does it bring up in me. These are basics to mature counseling.
 I myself often see into people deeply, that does not mean I am the one meant to help them. And if I do feel led to do so, it needs to be for the right heart reasons. It should be a place of meeting God, for instance; so that I too am growing through the relationship.
There are many levels of awareness required to good counseling and spiritual parenting.     And we must be very humble to collaborate with Christ in this area. I’m learning it slowly and surely myself. God is always working on each of us at the same time!
 There is something about us being aware of why we are helping another, and then how He is helping them through us and our gifts. That keeps it about getting to know and love and be formed by God. And less about our own gifts, or other’s needs.
Counseling others must become a part of getting to know and love and be formed by our God, of it really helps no one. Counseling others must become part of our spirituality, or it really isn’t useful.

20 Tuesday Dec 2016

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Saw this sign recently in Antwerp and thought about how to use bridges well-in ourselves, our cities and nations.
 All architecture is symbolic, and can be used for good or bad art and living.
  Historically, bridges are like gates—they can be places of blessing or places of curses, but, they also have this symbol of fluidity running beneath them (whatever happens on the bridge gets communicated outwards to the surrounding villages and towns through our rivers or words, and in our case, into entire other nations-ie what happens on our bridges, gets planted as seeds into the water and carried into the fields surrounding us); so that either way, they symbolize and carry out messages to others. Places of connection, much like blood in a human body, matter and reveal and determine the heart in many ways.
 The internet is also a type of bridge to be tended in Wisdom and with Love, as well as many other metaphors, but we still have to use it as loving kind humans. Bridges can be places we collectively block crossing to one another, or open up to allow welcomed conversational mutually healing entry-even express the pageantry of welcome to one another. It is good to see you again cousin etc…
 I love bridges as symbols and their potential for good in the human family. New mediums, but the same ethics apply to each medium. Let’s use this information bridge for good. Historically, people, cities and even nations, are judged on how we used our bridges and gates—who and how we let people in. Even in our own lives.
 May we use our bridges and gates well in our times. It has been said that Wisdom dwells at the rivers rims and ridges—the place of communication between, the edges between cultures and spaces, and the high places, places where we meet what we worship. Let us meet Wisdom in all three spaces, and thus, pour forth in love towards one another!
 Let’s be bridges of reconciliation! Blessers from above and into the waters of our cities! That’s what we will be remembered for. I think we will be held accountable for how we used our rivers, bridges, and boundaries, and they reveal our heart, as people, cities and nations.
 When I am a reading city, I often look at how they are currently using their bridges, gates (entry points, could be train stations or airports), and rivers to determine their spiritual health. The same is true with us—was I welcoming today, did I get to place where I saw it all from Above, and did I communicate what I saw in love to others around me. These to me are basic questions of daily life.
 Let’s use our bridges well, and be good bridges, so our rivers carry their messages out into the good soil of one another’s hearts.

Bridges…

20 Tuesday Dec 2016

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Why bridges still matter: what’s heard on the water communicates into the fields. What we communicate and symbolize, goes into the soil of the heart. Each of us, within ourselves, has bridges, rivers and fields. Thinking today about how we use our bridges.
 Saw this sign recently in Antwerp and thought about how to use bridges well.
 All architecture is symbolic, and can be used for good or bad art and living.
  Historically, bridges are like gates—they can be places of blessing or places of curses, but, they also have this symbol of fluidity running beneath them (whatever happens on the bridge gets communicated outwards to the surrounding villages and towns, and in our case, entire other nations-ie what happens on our bridges, gets planted as seeds into the water and carried into the fields surrounding); so that either way, they symbolize and carry out messages to others. Places of connection, much like blood in a human body.
 The internet is also a bridge to be tended in Wisdom and with Love, as well as many other metaphors, but we still have to use it as loving kind humans. Bridges can be places we collectively block crossing to one another, or open up to allow welcomed conversational mutually healing entry-even express the pageantry of welcome to one another. It is good to see you again cousin etc…
 I love bridges as symbols and their potential for good in the human family. New mediums, but the same ethics apply. Let’s use this information bridge for good. Historically, people, cities and even nations, are judged on how we used our bridges and gates—who and how we let people in. Even in our own lives.
 May we use our bridges and gates well in our times. It has ben said that Wisdom dwells at the rivers rims and ridges—the place of communication between, the edges between cultures and spaces, and the high places, places where we meet what we worship. Let us meet Wisdom in all three spaces, and thus, pour froth in love towards one another!
 Let’s be bridges of reconciliation! Blessers above the waters of our cities! That’s what we will be remembered for. I think we will be held accountable for how we used our rivers, bridges, and boundaries, and they reveal our heart, as people, cities and nations.
 When I am reading city, I often look at how they are currently using their bridges, gates, and rivers to determine their spiritual health. The same as true with us—was I welcoming today, did I get to place where I saw it all from Above, and did I communicate what I saw in love to others around me. These to me are basic questions of daily life.
 Let’s use our bridges well, and be good bridges, so our rivers carry their messages out into the good soil of one another’s hearts.

The Day!

16 Friday Dec 2016

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Finding The Day:
  When I was a kid, my mom would often wake me up with this verse: “This is the day which the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.”
 But it didn’t always feel like the day of the Lord to me. I never loved early mornings which school required, I was an artist, and even then, stayed up late at night. It took me many years, to realize that we actually had to find and faith our way into “the day of the Lord.” To actively position ourselves towards the Day of The Lord.
  It’s certainly there, but takes a little work on our part to find it, and live in and from it daily. Yet, it is still my practice to find “that Day, each day, in my days.”
  Finding the Lord’s Day within our days is a spiritual practice. Everyday. This is the Day that the Lord has made, i will first find it, and enter into it, and then find myself rejoicing in it! It is a spiritual discipline to find the Lord’s Day everyday.
 To pray our way into The Day, to turn towards it, makes ours meaningful! And the Day is always in our midst, but sometimes we must discipline ourselves to find its already dawning. Spirituality is not passive, and we can choose to accept our own version of each day, but there is another Day just behind the curtain, which helps our’s shine. Try to find the backdrop which puts our own days in spiritual relief that’s the practice. So that our daily lives become an active part of our spiritualities.
 I think we wake up near the Day, or even in the midst of The Day, but have a part in actively placing ourselves in an orientation to enter into that Day experientially or existentially. When we do, our own hours and activities are contextualized in a long stream of meaningful days. I’m still thankful for my mom telling me The Day was indeed there; but have had to learn how to find it each day.
 Hope that you are finding The Day, within your days, today friends! And then, rejoicing in it!

More on spiritual counsel

15 Thursday Dec 2016

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More on counseling…
 Often when i meet someone, i can sense them as both younger and much older than they currently are. It helps to visualize their whole narrative or trajectory (in both directions), in order to bless their present situation. It’s helpful to do that for ourselves as well!
 I never see people as only in their current situation, but as part of a longer story, worth interpreting and helping to be pronounced. There are seasonal challenges, but also often, having to go back and edit (heal, grieve, forgive, fill in) a previous chapter.
 Sometimes if someone is stuck, it is also giving a vision of future chapters in their lives. I like counseling, in that it is piecing together a person’s whole story, and trying to help them live it well. We have to see ourselves as a whole story, that always contextualizes our current difficulties. I think this is true for cities and nation’s as well.
 This might seem simple, it probably is, but it works.

On spiritual counseling

15 Thursday Dec 2016

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Meeting God in the holiday blues:
  Been counseling some this week, as people often get bluesy and even depressed, around Christmas. I’ve found, i can’t really help anyone if i don’t get into a prayer stream for them, sort of overhear Jesus’s specific prayers, and their tone. Tone matters, so you get the heart. Turns out Jesus is praying for everyone. Often, it’s mostly about tuning into that prayer, and joining in it for the other person.
  Yesterday, a fellow was suffering holiday depression having recently found out he had cancer. He hadn’t even told his wife yet, and he didn’t want to overwhelm her. I mostly just sat there with him and listened. Then I felt real comfort soak down over the table, and he just cried for a while.
  He is a musical composer, so he started humming all this old late baroque music—it was so soothing (like overhearing God’s comfort music, or healing soundtrack, for someone; and, it was so specifically catered to this man; the tone of his particular comforting!), like David playing music for Saul in the bible—first music therapist!
  Anyway, the ministry of presence always blesses, especially around holidays. Life is meaningful even in suffering. Afterwards, i was once again impressed by God’s specific, not just generalized, care for each of us. I guess that’s how counseling brings you closer to God.
 Counseling like anything else, has to become part of your spirituality for it to be very  useful to others or yourself.

In times like these…

11 Sunday Dec 2016

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  In times like Daniel’s and Jeremiah’s the rabbi’s and prophets had to write it all down. The temple was gone, many of the rituals lost; so the prophets and priest had to create the talmud. The babylonian talmud is the the result.
 If there are parallels to now, we see a time of great global confusion, and are challenged to write out the truths from God’s Voice again. You see this happening now. It is a time to write a new talmud—a global talmud, so that all the peoples can hear the truths of God, and remember who they are.
Times like ours, require us to write from God’s Voice, and to see what The Father is doing—to, like Daniel, “fix our gazes to gain understanding.”