Wednesday, August 15, 2012

prayer for the fight

yesterday morning i needed to pray this prayer, to have the strength to rise up with courage to face a challenge that demanded the best from me--more than i thought i had in me.  



o God

i have given myself to you as my Lord and Commander.

now is the test--
now the challenge.

i submit again to Your authority over my heart,
the floodgates of pure faith you wish to open in me.

steer my vision,
arouse my trust,
wake up my courage,
the love in me.

be Lord of my resolve,
Lord of my fear.
Lord of my words,
my demeanor,
my countenance.

Lord of my posture,
my will to give.

sharpen my eye,
quicken my intuition.
awaken my expressiveness.
open wide the doors of encouragement
and let love fly free.

strengthen my backbone.
leave no loving or protective word unsaid in me,
no act of bold support undone.

let me be fully the healer,
the advocate, protector--
eyes of love, resolve of steel,
radiating Your joy and light
and your
strong,
unconquerable
Hope.





Saturday, August 11, 2012

full text of Zulu Time Summit session 1 opener video


Hi friends,
It's a longer-than-usual post... but i hope it's rewarding :-)
You can also find this at willow creek association blog:  www.wcablog.com

zulu time

06:00 hours: 
Zulu time
the sun emerges predictably red on the horizon

start the clock on the day

and we humans
emerge from our stasis,
our sleep
and we take up the responsibility
of free will
mostly unaware that we are
inexorably

connected
one to another
in invisible pathways

jetstreams
shipping lanes
prevailing winds
genetic strains
climate patterns
tidal pulls
the mysterious inroads of prayer

connected:
when one is lost, another grieves
when one is hurt, another bleeds
06:01
this day is in our hands...

what will we do with it?
  
a visionary speaker
sparks an innovator
a design takes shape
wheels set in motion
giving birth to a movement
spreading like a flame
through a church
an enterprise
a city
sparking new ideas 
new adrenaline
walls fall and doors swing open
giving life and hope to
tens
hundreds thousands
moving mountains

feel it?—
potential
it’s everywhere

 a quiver in the atmosphere
disturbing the Pacific Rim
fears in Japan
spark prayers in Berlin

connected

a flashing light
an ambulance siren
a freakish cold spell in Lisbon
child and father under blankets
shivering by the bank on
Boulevard St Germaine
Paris
Hanover Street in Baltimore
by the convenience store
look in those eyes
movement in the ocean floor
Singapore
Bucharest
Malawi
United Nations
Children without vaccinations
09:00 hours Zulu time

leaders gather in New York
scribbled notes from a speech
pen and ink on a Moleskine,
three inspired physicians
having made a point to listen
now engage in conversation
posing the question
will these great minds be moved...
to action?

they wish to learn
they book a flight
wings lift off into the night
passport check
security
Jakarta
Rwanda
Congo Kinshasa
sworn enemies
humble themselves
before a 40 inch screen
(as praying souls in Paraguay hold their breath
on their behalf)
 ...unprecedented

they gather to learn
to heal and to hear
hands join in prayer
clearing the air
listening,
open
willing to be moved...
letting go the deepest of the wounds..
reconciling
excising the fear
brothers
for the first time...
in one hundred years

instantaneous paths of prayer
whisper synced from here to there
decisions to leave
decisions to stay
soldiers drop to their knees to pray
13:00 hours

Syria
Libya
taking up arms
alert
alarms
worldwide protests
desperate prayer requests
old regimes fall
new ones rise
sleeping churches come alive
calls to action
cyber campaigns
after the drought
comes at last...
the rain

Sao Paolo
Corcovado
statue of Christ with open hands
voiceless children
white hot sand
Chicago
Krakow
Amsterdam
commerce
drug trade
street lights
gang signs...
follow down every pathway
Palestine
Mumbai
slums of the Dalit
zoom in on Cairo
the Zabaleen
Garbage city
children’s unprotected souls and feet

one woman listens to the Voice
in the silence
and an idea
catches fire...
in the desert wind
the dry season ends....
the healing.. begins

South Asia
a church in a city that must not be named
one step away
from being found out
shut down
incarcerated
but.. for the prayers in
Des Moines...
and Bahrain

always listen..
watch the streets..
read the signs..
between the lines..

baptisms
in hiding
in tubs
in fonts
in pools
in lakes
the cleansing water
the tides
the surf..
tsunami
Tokyo
from the heat of desperation
comes... connection
Japanese youth
take up a collection
for reconstruction
digging out from under the quake
caring for those left in the wake
spending themselves for the sake
of the broken

what it takes...
is one listening ear...
wherever you are..
tuning in...
finger to the wind...
a willingness to be moved

23:59 hours: 
zulu time

the stars glow predictably white in the black night sky

some keen observers connect the dots
and see them as constellations

others of scientific mind
see them carried along with us in a vast gravitational sweep
that moves galaxies

others see each star as an unrelated...
disconnected...
individual point of light..
all on its own...
alone..
in the universe

each awake and looking human being
takes one last look at those brilliant points of light...
and drifts off to sleep

reset the clock for one more day

...what will we do with it? 

Popular Posts

Followers