I just discovered two blog postings that were just sitting there as drafts, never having been shared. 'The simple things' as well as my thoughts on Jackie Pullinger are postings from my time in Kona, HI 2011.

The Simple things

I love to be challenged in how I see the world....to not be separated from the Truth, to walk humbly and pursue a love for justice. I believe God has had much mercy on my life and today I discovered a huge gift of communion presented to me. There are a few words that root from a well known late Middle English word: Common. Communion, Community, and Communication which I discovered were very integral to my day and caused me to stop and ponder often....I saw a thread that tied them all together...in Common! What does it mean to partake in Communion? To share intimate thoughts on a mental, emotional or spiritual level is what the dictionary says. I think there is a grace that is needed to enter into this exchange which transcends one's own agenda, and calls for one to lay down and become humble. This is not an easy process if your mind is flying all of the time with ideas, imaginations, quandaries, to just pause and listen to someone else's world. You did that for me today and for this I am grateful.

Reflections on Miss Jackie Pullinger who graced us here with her presence this past week. She spoke at the community meeting and everyone pretty much got rocked by her beautiful simplicity of faith.

The time of singing was anointed and primed by an invitation for the children to come and be part of what was happening. They later were invited to come and lay their hands on the sick that they may be healed. She said that God reveals himself through his people and he always has a word for us, so we must expect this because he is a communicating God. We must ask, seek, knock.

Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus is the exact representation of God.
She said that she is so astounded by how people responded to Jesus in the Bible with desperation and a knowing that he had exactly what they needed. The examples were the man who said, 'Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!' The woman who came and said, 'if only I could touch him...' The ten lepers who were healed and the last one who came back to him with a heart of thanks.

Ephesians 1:17 says that we would 'know' him...this is 'Yada,' which means to know someone in the most intimate way. He knows everything about us and yet he still loves us. She then told a story about her dialogue with God, beginning by calling him father. She then hears him speak to her how beautiful she is. She goes back and forth with him about how she wants to talk about work and he just tells her over and over how beautiful she is. She said that God is 'OTT'=over the top about how beautiful she is.

2 Corinthians 3 is talking about the veil being taken away. The wonder of his glory is to be revealed through you and me; we are but earthen vessels (2 Cor. 4:7). We are not on earth to get more holy but to tell others about what we know of him.

Then she spoke about Kindness!!!!!! She said that kindness gives us permission to do miracles. This is an amazing thing when we interact with others in simple kindness.

Hearing the stories of the miraculous things that God can do when we just are kind and believe him to work when she was a missionary in China was amazing. I was inspired to