The Beneficiary

By Dave Richardson

Will I ever be entitled to the knowledge that you hold?

For I thirst and I am starving in my mind,

And though I am secure within the future of my soul,

There are histories my heart has yet to find.

How did it all begin, from the void you live within?

Through eternities where none but you exist,

From an endless parallel You joined the lines of Cause and Will,

Creating life from out of the abyss.

You alone have been where time itself cannot survive,

And I long to see beyond the edge of space,

I’d like to look at Heaven through the vision in your eyes,

Or look upon the wisdom on your face.

When did you decide that it was time to cut the key,

That unlocked all the darkness to the light?

Did you breathe upon some spark floating through infinity,

To set the skies on fire in the night?

There are birds with eyes of fire lighting diamonds in the sky,

As the blaze above continues to expand,

With ever changing hues in reds and greens and blues,

In perfection from the Artist’s gentle hand.

I am mortal. Life will end, but I shall live to live again,

If I am favored whatsoever in your sight,

Give me time enough to live to enjoy the gifts you give,

And finally, let me shine within your light.

Let my shadow fly through your vast and endless sky,

That I might see the future and the past,

And when this captive life is through, I will come to realize

That my spirit and my soul are free at last.

Romans 12:2

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

By Guest Contributor Sharon Toews

What does it mean to experience “the renewal of your mind.”  Typically I have thought of this in terms of purification or beginning to desire the things of God instead of the things of this world.  I believe these are both common and valid interpretations, but I feel like I understood a fresh aspect of this verse today.

Our minds naturally function according to the rationality of this world and tangible reality.  But we are exhorted: “Do not be conformed to this world,” or, as noted in my Bible as another possible translation, “to this age.”  We are called not to be conformed to this world, this age, this blip of finiteness suspended amidst an unfathomable eternity beyond the confines of time and space and our feeble understanding of “reality.”

When we accept Christ, we are set free from previous worldly notions of what is possible, realistic, and logical.  Indeed our whole being is being renewed and reoriented, and yet there is significance in Paul’s usage of the word “mind,” rather than “soul” or “spirit.”  It is not simply a matter of emotions, or abstract faith, or believing that one day we will live eternally in heaven.  Instead the emphasis is on the transformation of our minds, that we might begin to reason within the paradigm of God’s infiniteness.

As Christians, we rejoice at answered prayer, praise God for miracles, and have faith that he will guide, and rightly so.  Yet so often we treat God’s hand of intervention or voice of guidance as the exceptions to how the universe operates.  We believe in a powerful God and love experiencing his presence, but our mind remains captive to the logic and reason and rationale of this age.  This is not to say that we leave rationality behind in pursuit of something illogical and unreasonable.  Not at all.  On the contrary, we are so permeated by a new paradigm, in which what is true and logical is a glorious new world of possibilities flowing from the power and wisdom of an unfathomable God.

How can an untransformed mind, blinded and oblivious to what God can and desires to do, be able to “discern what is the will of God”?  Our minds in this state are still ruled by our old train of thought, which we read is completely removed from God’s way of thinking (Isaiah 55:8-9).  Indeed, we will never completely know the mind of God.  In the very verses preceding this call to renew our minds we find a beautiful exultation in the infiniteness of God.  “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33) 

And so, while the depths of God remain an awe inspiring mystery, the renewed mind begins to wade in the possibilities of life lived in pursuit of such a God.  We long to live in the will of God, his “good and acceptable and perfect” will, and the transformation of our mind enables us to fathom what God has ordained for us, which beforehand would have seemed implausible.  As we begin to think and dream on a level that is illogical from the world’s perspective and take the risk of diving into the vast ocean of divine possibility, our mind is opened to perceiving the wonder of God’s will.

Waves are breaking, tides in rhythm

Vast horizons, an endless sea.

Islands, islands amid these depths

Surrounded by infinity.

The Creator's heart, strong and boundless

His redeeming hand, moving, swelling.

Hope advances, love flows freely

Washing, touching each of these shores.

The simplicity of lines
dulled to extravagance
Is the majesty of humanness.

But He has nothing to dull,
and does not progress.
His infinite Majesty far outweighs
This tragic artistry.

I could have forged my doubt into art;
fire and coal and burning
and…

hammering.
And I could have waved for help
like an intellect
compelled to sell for spirit
-coping wanderer, flame of fire-
forging fortitude;
a long stayed winter of steam
rising for clean…

air. And it was still.

and Abraham’s stars spoke –
their brightness through time
woke my appetite
lost…

Finally,

I am no poet.
I am no god.
I am a slave led into the wilderness.
And I’m glad.

The fire here is brighter.

If you would dare to live that epic narrative that is your life,

Than your task is to grasp with every last gasp of breath in your lungs for that one rung that’s hung just above what’s comfortable and comforting.

Confront the thing that’s keeping you thinking you can sit on your butt

 and watch life come to you.

‘Cus the only way to place in this race is to make yourself reach for each single inch.

It’s the difference between sitting in indifference and living with intention.

Did I mention you gotta run even when nobody’s lookin’?

That’s the way they can say you can make or break the game in the off season.

It’s the reason that most of the day is lame and mundane. That arcane fact that to act like every second is a chance catch a glimpse of the Almighty; that already you’re in a place to chase the thing you’ve seen in that scene in between your dreams and your daily routine that you know is so much more rewarding than what you’re living for.

So own the moment. ‘Cus it’s not the way they frame the shot or light the set or get you lost in the plot with a lot of complex dialog, or the stock box office cinematography, the casting, the acting, the corporate backing, or the sound track it’s the fact that

Life was made to be epic!

It’s the way we were made by a great and amazing Creator

The one who instilled in us still wills for us the thrill of adventure.

The one who can satisfy and gratify the desire I find inside my mind.

Who defines the line that guides my life and defies the lie that denies my right to live in freedom.

‘Cus his Kingdom is all about justice and just as he came to save the slave and heal the lame and cast out evil spirits in His name,

he came to take away the sinful stain of my shame.

To ransom me, reward me handsomely for doing nothing.

I’m in a place where I’m faced with grace I can’t fathom. But I’ve been bought by God and taught that while the thought that I could’ve gotten what I sought for on my own is just crazy, that maybe this is what I was made for:

To strive, to give, to breathe, to live each day as if it mattered and though beaten and battered, reach the end and know that this is life lived to the full.

To fully throw my soul into a story more holy than my own, to own a piece of history,

To know the thrill of victory,

To go for broke towards his glory,

through His story, not my own.

by Dan Coombs