I AM WHO I AM

I thought I would share this with you. It is from the book I am reading called searching for God knows what, by Donald Miller


And yet, to a spiritual community that offers formula in place of faith, a belief that Jesus was the son of God and God as well is more than a description of the Messenger of the gospel, it is entwined in the message itself, and the idea seems as necessary as the words he speaks. There is no question that a part of what we believe as Christians is that Jesus is in fact God. We cling to this as truth, we cling to that which we do not understand, just as love causes a man to cling to a woman, and love causes a father or a mother to connect deeply with his or her child. Indeed, as Jesus looks across the social landscape into the fear-filled eyes of the inhabitants of the lifeboat, He does not offer a formula that will help us win the game, He offers Himself.

I want to tell you without reservation that if there is any hope for you and me, for this planet set kilter in the fifteen-billion light-year expanse of endless mystery, the hope would have to be in this Man who contends He is not of us, but with us, and simply IS.

I AM WHO I AM.

John 8:7

I am sitting here with the screen blank and the cursor waiting for me to direct it's path and no words come to mind. I have been thinking a lot about what I have heard
this weekend and one piece of scripture comes to mind:

"If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

Friendship

And a youth said Speak to us of Friendship.
And he answered, saying:
Your friend is you needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap
with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek
him for peace.

When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the
"nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay."
And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to
his heart;
For without words in friendship, all thoughts, all
desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy
that is unacclaimed.
When you part from your friend you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in
his absence,as the mountain to the climber is clearer from
the plain.
And let there be no purpose in friendship save the
deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own
mystery is love not but a net cast forth: and only the
unprofitable is caught.

And let your best be for your friend.
If he must know your ebb of your tide, let him know its
flood also.
For what is your friend that you should seek him with
hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be
laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its
morning and is refreshed.


The Prophet collection
By Kahlil Gibran