Feast on a Fall Cleaning

"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." Mark 2:27, 28

I haven’t been blogging for a while – mainly because I’ve just been too busy. I have more on my plate than an uncle at a potluck family reunion. You know the one – he heads up the (adult) line and has this unwritten competition (of which no one else is aware) to see how much food he can stack on his styrofoam tray, and then glows in the jabs he gets from the by-standers as he parades by headed to his own personal feast-dome. Well, I’m not THAT proud of my plate, or all that is piled thereon, but like Uncle Feasty I’ve got to eat it a bite at a time.


You might say I’ve been enjoying a bit of a Sabbath from the writing. In this blog, I have always tried to be real and naked (see honest and transparent) about my own shortcomings and sins so that the reader might relate and appropriate. I scribble thoughts in search of a nugget that might heal. I try to do so in a way that is non-judgmental yet challenging.

16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:16,17

I love eating and drinking with sinners – the broken, the rejected, the hurting, and the frustrated. I do because I am honestly one of them. I still have much in me that needs to be fixed. It’s a journey that sometimes seems futile and frustrating. Yet will I praise Him. I was created for that. So were you. Keep walking. Keep the faith. Surrender.

So I write again after a lengthy hiatus. It is interesting that I am doing so again on “Labor Day” – you know – the day we celebrate “Labor” by not working. Oh how I could wax eloquent on that subject for a while, but I’m giving that a rest today too.

I was sitting on my back porch haven this morning, enjoying the cool breeze, and I began to read and pray. I felt impressed to read the gospel of Mark again. I love Mark because he gets right to business – no long narratives about lineage, or begets, or angelic hosts, but he gets right to it.

(Paraphrasing) “Isaiah said it. John did it. People responded. Jesus completed it. Jesus went to the desert. The devil was there. Jesus was tempted. Wild animals and Angels were also there. John went to prison. Jesus returned. Jesus preached. Jesus was willing. People were healed.

I know that is an over simplification of chapter 1, but I think some simplicity is what is needed in me right now – pare back the minutia for a while. Stop picking the weeds, but fertilize the grass. As your soil gets healthy, your soul will too. It’s pretty fundamental stuff. Read and pray. Read and pray. Read and pray.

My wife Alicesun – the nutritionist – keeps reminding me that good stuff going in produces good results. I need more of Him in me to manage my affairs, order my life, and reignite the hope that lies within us who are the Redeemed. Oh yes – Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so. It is so! It is well – even when it’s not.

We’ve sort of had the Autumn version of “spring cleaning” around our house this weekend. Stuff everywhere, out-of-place, staged to store or remove, and it all was set into motion in the middle of the night Friday night with a sick dog. Negotiating poop is not fun; it does not allow for inaction. It became the catalyst for a deep cleanse.

Now - about the sick, the sinners, the broken. As I was reading in chapter 1, verse 41 jumped out at me – again. 41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!"

I truly believe this is the most difficult revelation for humanity to grasp. Whatever your need, whatever your righteous desire, He is willing to provide. Our problem is that the receiver has so much static, so much interference, so much noise, that we can’t hear the answer – I am willing. The Great I Am is able and willing. Grasp that nugget of truth right there and let it take root. Be cleansed. Be well. Be whole.

Your Father sends his love.