January 31, 2007

Joel Akin

 Lets pray and see

 Well, if life were built up and then dashed, not against a stone, but with spice, what would we chose? How about oregano? Oregano is least on my list but recently I saw it in Lucky Vitamins mixed with olive oil.

 Olive oil is on my list and so is oregano. But not the kind I know. The kind I see. Lets think of a spice that Jesus might have had. What would it be? How about olive oil with oregano? Well, it could be. Lets say he had pizza with olive oil and oregano. Sounds good. But what if Jesus liked simple things when he came to earth? What if he hated the complexity and so simplicity were the answer to heaven? So when we got there they would have simple foods and we would all eat like Daniel?
 If so mom and sis and perhaps my father would fit in. But if I think about it I don't worry. Why? Lets just say that people think God made food to be simple. He did. But he made man to think complex. And so women may stick with salad for an eternal but me? I think I'll try a lot of things that God made because as he put it they were created for food.

 Now if God made food to be exotic then why is it that someone said we eat 25 types of food? And that is basically our meal? I know I can think of two major meat groups. Beef and chicken. And on occasion turkey or bison or some kind of seafood. Of that perhaps half a dozen come to mind.

 What then do we do when God tells us that all seafood is good for us? And we are shown how to cook it? Or seal it up and then cook it. Or eat it raw? If there are a million things in the sea to eat why then are there so few things in our diet?

 Lets also ask if Jesus wanted it simple on earth did he go simple because it was hard to find simple things? Maybe not. God would provide for us as our need was met.

 Lets also think of what it was like for those on earth. Finding food was difficult and nearly impossible. We struggle today with food supply. We often take it for granted but we don't have an efficient system. We have to truck food in from long distances. Here in Canada we have big grocery stores but they have a long food chain. And if it breaks, as it did with oranges, then they have to call everywhere to find a supply. And that means we get the work of men who work hard for us to eat at a price we can afford.

 There are men, like my brother, who works hard day and night without a lot of thanks. He is perhaps one of the wisest men in Calgary when it comes to starting a food chain. He has been in Safeway since the early 80's and even now works for them still. They have him working on the night crew putting up shelves and putting up food and stocking shelves and running supply and helping men in training and helping them so they understand what he knows. They pay him but not as well as they could. They suffer him because he is of the old wage. Which means they stick with him because he is wise.

 Yet if they failed to find a home for him there is always one who wants his help. That isn't just me but my father. God has said to me that he is perhaps one of the most loving men he knows. He didn't add anything but I know it is difficult for him to express what is inside. When he testifies, which probably isn't often in the church he goes to, he speaks with love. And he speaks with a heart that cries out. And a crying heart isn't one that we see often. Many men don't want it. They don't want the sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. But I see it in him even when he finds it hard to express what he truly wants to say.

 My brother is wise in many ways. He is wise in the way of food and of service. He cares for people and has built a reputation of help at his church. He gives with the Dreams and with the center. He created the enterprise of putt and has the push to make it happen. He and sometimes I, love to go garage saling together. We've purchased putters from sales and he puts them in his garage. And there he keeps them as a part of his life. And when he arrived in Calgary it was that putter which became the story of his help. And he carried it to the church he attends and they created a putting course indoors. For those who wanted it to be part of the dream.

 A dreamer? Maybe not as much as me but a brother that I love. I care for him much and I know God has much in store for him. He cares for people with a depth that is hard to express. Caring takes time and caring isn't something that comes in a night. It is built from enterprise and from solution. And solution is part of the salt and part of the dream and part of the hope. God set a course towards him that he might be part of the solution for the future.

 There are things in store for my brother that are of God. God isn't going to burden him down with pain or sorrow. That isn't the way of the Lord. God wants him to be used in Eden.

 That divide is time and time is part of the quest I have to find it. I know God is going to bring me there, just as He did in my dream but getting there is only part of it.

 The other part is finding someone to help operate it. Operating Eden is like operating a grocery store. But who do you find? After all it is about trust and trust is about helping those who are of God, find a home..