Worthiness

 thou hast appointed repentance unto me that am a sinner: for I have sinned above the number of the sands of the sea. My transgressions, O Lord, are multiplied: my transgressions are multiplied, and I am not worthy to behold and see the height of heaven for the multitude of mine iniquities.--from the Prayer of Manessah

I am not worthy when I consider all things, nor can I gain worthiness.  Too often works theology sways believers into being or trying to be something they are not.  God designed each one of His people to have different traits, talents and characteristics that would teach each one tolerance, acceptance and love. None are worthy, none can achieve worthiness,  but as a gift God does not look on us but on His son, His ideal creation is our stand-in.  Serving not our sins, for that He has already paid the price, but He stands in radiant holiness beyond compare before God on our behalf.  God sees the radiant holiness of Jesus, not the suffering sinfulness of man deserving death.  God sees His creation prepared for eternity, washed clean of the concept of sin, full of glory, abounding in grace.  This is how God sees you.

presence of God

believing God is omnipresent does not satisfy my ned for His presence. Long have the stories of Christ's return enthralled my curiosities, but few have been the insertions of the spirit's indwelling now. God is present now! too long has the Holy Spirit been tied to some revivalist of pentecostal religious experience; taking up snakes, tongues, healings, prophecies, etc.; the spirit is here, now! It is the power of God working the everyday aspect of life, breathing in and out in the presence of the sinful nature of man, the overwhelming phrase that bring confusion is, "sin cannot exist in the presence of God." Unfortunately, this statement is post knowledge propaganda. God planted two trees in a garden one time, two conceptual trees, one the concept of life thrived in its fruit the other tree the concept of good and evil thrived. these concepts are highly debated in the world, what is life, what constitutes existence, what is right, what is wrong? there are no concretes in the evaluation of fruits, yet the search for concretes in the evaluation remains the pinnacle of religions. Where then is God? We say he created all things, yet we limit His involvement when it comes to the things we have deemed unholy. "Do not call unclean what I have called cleaned!" "it is good!" The latter statement of Gods creation remark trumps out the concept of evil, that is unless God was not truthful in His evaluation of His work. How were we to quantify good without an evaluation of good? we needed the knowledge, we wanted the knowledge as much as we wanted to know the antithesis of life. God is here. He has not left us, nor does He cause bad things to happen to us. Viewing things as bad, evil, unrighteous; being critical of the critical illness we find in the antithesis of life is denying the presence and truthfulness of God. "It is good!" all things happen for a purpose, seeking God, evaluating God, getting to know God. He is here! His power (spirit) is with us. "It is Good!" the turning of the tides, the shifting of the earth's crust, changing of the climate. "It is Good!" because, "It is God!" He is here.

Gravedigger

there is no need for any circumstance to shape your life in the negative manner. any situation can be overcome with diligence and formality of purpose by which we have not only been created to achieve, but have also been given definite guidance on how to achieve success in these processes.  any obstacle in the way of man can be given over to experience; it either will be experience or regret. the what ifs of the mid life crisis are paving stones toward the grave.  we lift shovels full of regret from the grave getting deeper as to say when we are finally there all will see the path we took, all will know how deep we dug.  A certain Dave Matthews song comes to mind every time i consider the grave and here it is fitting to say "Gravedigger, when you dig my grave make it shallow so that I can feel the  rain."  We dig our own graves as certain as we build our own empires.  What we leave behind can be viewed in those two aspects; have we dug deep and all our dreams lay down with us, or have we barely scratched the surface of the grave and spent our time and energy building something, some monument that points others toward greater achievements than we ever dreamed.