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| The Cokebook Entries
I wish for God to be in control of my writings....The entries throughout that don't reflect that are representative of me trying to take control, but failing miserably (or... appearing to do so...).... (And times of pain and suffering, whether current or revisited... that skew my representation of the situation that I'm actually in... C.S. Lewis puts it appropriately when he mentions that any man may be mistaken as to the situation he may truly belong to.... and it can indeed be a comforting thought)
May we all keep in mind that these are thoughts and stories, in some ways temporary, in response to other thoughts or inspirations or situations, varius stimuli, and may change as time passes. If they weren't (temporary), they would become something else entirely(than thoughts)...
I also want to make note the dichotomy of the entries that appear here... But I can rightly justify them as the result of a completely incomplete human person. On the one hand, they can be poignant, and on the other, simple. They can come across intelligent or hard to follow... perhaps both at times. Such is it to be human, to possess real gripping emotion that eaks out in sweet verse, or heartache, wrenching words simple and yet meaningful. I hope to make no apologies unless otherwise required, for I am, prone to such tendencies as being man allows.
Thanks to you, friends, for your constant inspirations... and to God of course for inspiration, but also for putting you all into my life, and for the role he plays in this as it all unfolds, as healing and memory all sort of wrap it's way into this story of my life, intricately told out in literature and poema. I love you all, (half as well as I should like, and less than half as much as you deserve *winks*) (but that is always increasing and decreasing, Thanks be to God) Rob 'The Cokebook Writer' (if I don't have a cocacola and my notebook with me... it's an odd day... )
P.S. This will always lead the page, other entries will go underneath.
P.S.S. Check out the Inklings' Seed(Issue 4 is out... You can email me at Flynwyr@aim.com if you want to see it or the old issues, if you have ideas for the new site, or if you have ways you'd like to contribute to future publications... We're also planning on having a temporary website up very soon, in which you can find all the old goodies and lots more! Also, if you'd like to support us in getting our own domain... let me know! God Bless!)
(and contribute, we inklings are always looking for stories of how God is affecting your life... it doesn't have to be a great piece of work... just with and of God, or giving the impression there of, is great... Doesn't matter who you are or where you're from... )
P.S.S.S. Unless I make quote or reference to someone else in these entries.... They are in fact of my hand... and not of another, though they may reak of similar thought and similar story. Ideas, by this time, are hardly ever original... Was there ever another who did not experience love? Who did not experience pain or hardship? Who did not experience struggles, trials? These stories we tell are much the same, but characterized in our own pen in our own hand... if pen or hand are even how we wish to define them. As writer.. I give some credit to those whom I take heed to, but do not discredit myself to put my name along each and every entry that I have written. They are mine, unless I tell you otherwise, and I shall hope that to be sufficient. That being said, I wish to give full credit to God, who has given all, that I would be uncapable of anything if not for his careful hand. | | |
| Sort of along this war theme... Guys.. we're in a war... the devil is trying to take us down with him, because he's already lost... Something cool someone reminded me of is that Satan has already lost. He was kicked out of heaven, and then couldn't battle awhile until we came along. So he works to corrupt us. But then Jesus came, and saved us, which left him defeated again. When Jesus comes again, he's done for. Until then, though, he fights with what he has left. Does he want us? No... we are little... we are insignificant. But, he wants to hurt God. We sign up daily to fight on God's side, to accept God and His will for our lives. This makes us satan's enemy. He doesn't want us because we are strong, or because we can hurt him, he simply wants to tear us away from God, to break God's heart. And he will do whatever he can to make us fall asleep, to lower our guard, to turn away from God, to reject God. Look around! Look at the smut on television! Look at the luxuries we over indulge in! Look at our spending, our selfishness, our pridefulness, our desire not to follow God's commandments but our own! This is satan in our lives. Not that we choose him but that we reject our Lord. We are guilty. We have much to repent for. We have much to learn. But...Our battle is already won... Jesus has already won it for us. It is now then our job to join the battle, and not let ourselves be torn away from God, and not let satan take any more souls from God, but to help lead more souls to God.
Here's a little piece of poetry asking us to wake up... I find it largely to be inspired by scripture...
Wake up, Oh Israel
Wake up, oh Israel! Why have you fallen asleep? Has it become so difficult to remain awake? The enemy approaches, and yet still you slumber? Stay awake with me awhile. Let peace come to your weary souls.
Sound your trumpets! Lift your voices! Do anything you can not to idle. Sharpen your swords! The enemy is upon you, he comes to strike your heel. Be ready, do not falter, do not give him footing. Trust the Lord in word and in deed, and find rest.
Wake up, oh Israel! Why have you fallen asleep? Why do you share your enemies' ways? Why do you sleep in his beds? Why do you speak his language? His tongue is deceit. He speaks profanity against our Lord. His words are meaningless, his promises empty. With pride and contempt and fear he will bring you ruin.
Raise the banner! The Lord is nigh! Salvation is here! His kingdom has come! Victory has He gained for us! Darkness flees before the coming light. Fear not, for God is with you!
Wake up, oh Israel! Why have you fallen asleep? The enemy wages war upon you because you are God's. His battle has been lost. He no longer fights for victory but for destruction The wretched one is miserable, he longs for company Will you choose to reside with him? Reject not your God, but submit yourself to Him and unto His judgement and His yoke
Wake up, oh Israel Do you not know that those without a sword may still die by one?
Raise your voices! Lift your hearts! Heaven, rejoice! Earth, be glad! All creation sing praises to the Lord! Hosannah in the Highest. Holy is the Lord! Turn your eyes to heaven and behold His kingdom. It lives in you! Wake up, oh Israel, and watch it come in glory!
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| Christmas Wishes
Good friends, Alas, I have no more gifts to give No more good things for you Presents are wrapped Cards are sent But to you who remain, I have nothing left
Yet each of you deserves something special Some trinket of value for the very special someone that you are Alas I say again, for I have naught But for each of you, I do have a special wish I say a special prayer I pray that each of you are remembered by all who hold you especially dear, As I remember you now. I pray that each of you may find your special smile, The kind I think of as I think of you. I pray that each of you receive in joy and peace the gifts I fail to bring And most of all I pray that each of you remember the special joy that this holy season brings, and especially remember our special infant King.
Merry Christmas to all of you, With hope of blessings of good tidings and great joy, God Bless you through Christ our Lord, Rob Willett | | |
| Thoughts of Imagination and Faith and Knights and such...
First a quote from "Kingdom of Heaven"(ironically not a very good Christian theme... as they are portrayed somewhat cowardly) and some thoughts attached... ' "Who are you? Will you change the world? Does making a man a knight make him a better fighter?" "Yes" ' A man who is a knight fights for something more than himself. He fights for a cause, a reason, a people. He no longer fights only for himself, for his own survival. As such, he now may draw strength not only from himself, but from others, and if he wishes, from God. If one fights for God, God strengthens him. If he fights for God and for others, God strengthens him through Himself and through others. By fighting for ideas and pursuits, the longing to see their completion will provide a strength beyond a selfish will. And if one fights for heaven, they may draw all their strength from heaven and Him above until they reach it.
Next, with that somewhat in mind.... Imagination. If I have not imagination... I begin to lose faith. If I cannot imagine, I being to lose hope. Without these.... I cannot love.
Our imaginations are crucial! We cannot know God without them. If we cannot look at our world, and imagine something has created it, we are meant only to exist, and to die... all point to living any which way has lost its meaning. If there is no creator, no heaven, it will matter not if we are good or evil. But as long as we can imagine... there is hope for us. For if we may ask why, we we can ask what, where, and how, we may find some sense of purpose. Where does the tree come from? Where does the seed come from? Where does the earth come from? Where do atoms come from? Where do electrons and protons come from? Where do their composing parts come from? And so on and so forth... on and on we go... until eventually there is only one real answer, or a great many intangible ones that lead us absolutely nowhere. Listen to a child. Let them ask why long enough and eventually you will have to tell them one of three things. 1.) I don't know. 2.) Stop asking (and we should never tell them this, unless we wish for their utter ruin), or 3.) Because that is the way God decided it should be. These seem to be the only three answers that will satisfy a child, and the very ones they need to hear, and learn more about. They become both the child's and our own tool for learning more. We simply must break everything down to its simplest root. Once there, we may build up. Nothing is necessary without either not knowing, or admitting there is a creator who does, who gives it a meaning, of whom we may ask. No field of science, no musical ensemble, no piece of writing, no task or toil, no life itself can find its meaning without such an imagination. I find this especially true when I try to search through my own faith. If I am not willing to let my imagination in, I can find no purpose for it. It is the air I breathe. Why? Why...why...why? If I cannot ask these questions, I cannot find my answers, and, as such... I become lost in a monotonous toil of every day survival. Pointlessness and despair abound. I ask now, is it so hard to imagine a God in control of all things? If I do not ask any questions, then yes... it is quite impossible. But then, I have limited myself and everything I do. I will understand nothing unless someone tells it to me. And if they only tell me, I will only do what they have told me, and will never know otherwise... And then I will not be myself persay, but a copy of the one who has told me. Now... this is good and fine if my master is a good sort, who has asked all the right questions... but say they're not? What if they are evil, or have themselves simply not asked? By following their examples... I am only evil myself, or else ignorant. We must always ask, so that we may always learn, and from that, grow to understand it all the more. And when we understand more, learn more, imagine more, we see more. We appreciate more. We believe more. The best truths in life finally reveal themselves. Not because they were never there before, but because we never asked. Things that seemed impossible become possible because we may now conceivably imagine them. If, in my mind, I have asked enough questions to find something possible, I can then believe in it, until it becomes refutable. In that case, I ask more questions, until it is then impossible, or nearer to reality. If I cannot ask whether the task before me is able to be completed or overcome, how may I overcome it, except by sheer luck? But if I ask, and try to overcome it, I find the obstacle was not so difficult to defeat. The same goes with faith. If I refuse the possibility by refusing to ask the right questions, I will never find God. But, if I ask, and ask, I find He is most certainly a possibility. And if I can concede this, I may find Him to be more real than I had ever imagined. And if I find Him real, I can concede that perhaps He is a creature greater than myself. And if I can concede this, I may find Him to be capable of doing everything I can do. And, if I stretch a bit further, since He made me, He can do more than I can do, and He can do that which others can do as well. And if He made them, He can do more still. Soon, nothing is impossible to Him, and I may entrust myself to that. He can be God. He can be Man. He can be Spirit. He can strengthen me. He can answer my prayers. He can dwell in me. He can provide. He can appear. He can exist. He can make Himself known. And I can begin to know Him. I can begin to see Him more and more. I can relate to Him more and more. I can become a Christian, really and truly, because I can fathom Him. But still further fathoming, and I will find Him completely incomprehensible! Not because I cannot imagine Him, but because I cannot understand how Someone could be so good, could allow such a thing as creation, how He could fathom it. How everything can be at once so mysterious and so perfect. Now further. If I may conceive these things... I may begin to concede that this God is made of impossible love. I may concede that He loves what He has made, even something so impossibly wretched as myself. Once I realize this, I too may love myself, from my love of Him. Once I love Him, I love myself, and once myself, then all things. Does it get easier to actually do? Not at first, perhaps... but gradually more and more so... Then after I love, I must act. I must pray, worship, honor, kneel, respect, know, and love. And these things become real. And I must make them active in my life. I must be the creation my creator has all this time made me, intended me to be. Evil and fear can no longer reside in me, because of the love living inside me. And as such, I must effort to keep it from entering. I must learn again to ask. This time: How. How can I accomplish such a thing as a good creation? And then I find I cannot. Evil prevents me by my nature. But there is some more imagination, and I find my hope in Christ, and He may finally save me. I can see that God can become Man, and I must again learn to honor Him. I must believe something is actually happening, rather than something that is said to be. I must believe that I am no longer purely myself, but also God living within me, that He has saved me, that there is hope for me. That when I pray, He listens, that when I live, He is king. I must learn to realize this -now-. I must train myself to this -now-. or else what will I do when I'm before Him in His full presence? I will consider myself rather a proud fool. But, this opens up the chance for more grace. This opens up the very institutions He has left for us. Because I have imagination, I can bow before God Himself. I can ask God Himself. I can receive God Himself. I can have mercy. And once I can do all these things, once I have all these impossible things living inside of me. Once I have this love... I can share it. I can love others with it, and then teach them of this same love, because I desire them to know it, to experience it, to share in my family, with my family, with God, with Jesus, with Spirit, with Love. And I can conceive, that those trying to explain this to me are of the same family, and that those before them, and those before them. And then I may find hope to share family and love with all of them, and all to come. Love for all springs forth. Faith, hope, and love, become more than ideas, but rather life changing... All due to a healthy imagination... And of course, where does this imagination come from? From God. | | |
| (and even we may relate)
The Cry of Israel
I am worm Crawling in the dirt Writhing in my attempts The ground has hardened itself against me It allows no place to bury myself The vegetation grows scarce There is nowhere to flee from the wingéd beast
I am maggots Parisitic I try to feed On the decay of the world My legs have failed under me, Indeed I have none I can find no host in which I may sustain myself They wander far beyond my reach There is no way to flee from the wingéd beast
There is no aid There is no water There is only desert Only a future of the pangs of hunger Only dry parched throats, parched lands The beasts gather round, waiting to feed upon my remains There is no rescue
But lo, A voice crying in the desert Not the prophet I have heard Not the priest nor king No, it is the Lord The Lord Himself provides His host He Himself speaks "Little worm, fearful maggots, Fear not, I have gathered you, Bird and beast have not struck your head, By your right I lead you from your toil, I open the ground so that waters may flow forth, Even from the sands I have rescued you, I cast strong fortress among them, In places where none before could dwell. Even trees and vegetation arise. Legs you shall have to stand upon, But not just so, For also you shall be prepared for battle Your greatest foes you shall cast aside when I have finished my work with you. You will cry my name in those times And all will know Me. All will see who has given you such things. All will see what the hand of the Lord has made what the Holy One has created.
The Kingdom is at hand."
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