Just dwell on this for a while…

God is closer to you than your own skin.

The Crowd vs The Individual

It’s amazing how much we are geared to “reach the masses.”

“Drive more people to your blog!”
“How to quadruple your reach using social media!”
“Get your song/book published!”
“Learn the right strategy to attract more people to your platform!”

It’s how we view our world… that we must win over the masses; we must influence, entertain, impress… lots and lots of people.

But if we change our vista… if we adjust our paradigm… if we reevaluate our priorities, we’ll probably find that influencing the masses isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Think of all the celebrities on anti-depressants.

What we all long for are deep, satisfying relationships. We can’t get those from a crowd. We can’t even get them IN a crowd! Jesus’ most life-changing miracles were those that happened to ONE person. He walked from town to town to encounter one person at a time.

Why is “notoriety” society’s measurement of success? Is a person a failure if they aren’t “known” by many? And if we gear our message to “the many,” what kind of message will it be? Frankly I don’t want a ministry that “reaches many,” because that’s like having a one-sided conversation. But that’s how performing artists are geared. We get on stage. We perform for audiences. We sell CD’s. We go home. Alone.

That’s why I’m so glad I became a roster artist with Incubator Creative Group. They are helping me focus on “the one” rather than “the masses.”  Relationship. It’s all about relationship.

Physical and Spiritual Auto-Immune Disorders

I was thinking about auto-immune diseases today. They seem to be rampant in our world. Everything from Rheumatoid Arthritis to Lupus to Alopecia. It seems like almost everything is an auto-immune disorder. An auto-immune disorder happens when your body is fighting especially hard against something that doesn’t belong there… like toxins, cancers, bad bacteria, etc., and in fighting so hard, it starts to fight against healthy cells… Your body begins fighting itself.

But that isn’t the nature of the body, is it? The body is perfectly formed to live. Every cell has a purpose, and when the body is properly nourished, it’s an amazing machine! It’s programmed to protect itself, to heal itself. But because of foreign invaders, the body kicks into overdrive like a warrior whose adrenaline won’t stop pumping. It’s like our body morphs from Dr. Bruce Banner to the Incredible Hulk… destructive and out of control.

Now let’s think about that in a spiritual way. We Christians are taught to believe we’re in a battle against the Enemy, and I’m not debating that. I believe such a force exists that is bent on destruction, that even though it is defeated and will never win… it keeps on fighting. But when we focus on the battle instead of focusing on resting in our Creator… that’s when we begin to turn on ourselves.

Maybe you’ve heard that joke about the two baptists on a bridge. One of them is about to jump off, and the other one says “don’t do it!” He asks if he’s a Christian… then what denomination… They whittle it down to about 10 different sects within the denomination. “Northern Conservative or Northern Liberal?” “Me too!”

Then “Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?’

‘Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.’

‘Die, heretic!’ And he pushes him over.

Yep. That’s us. We look for the least thing that is different about us, and attack it. Why? Because we’re dead-set on battle. And I don’t deny that there’s a battle. What I question is the way we go about fighting.

What if… we fight by loving?
What if… we fight by seeing Christ in all people?
What if… we fight by “turning the other cheek”?
What if… we rest and abide in our Creator rather than work ourselves into a frenzy?
What if… we don’t have to prove ourselves to anyone?
What if… we don’t have to even prove ourselves to God?
What if… He loves us already?
What if… He accepts us already?
What if… He already died for us and rose again?
What if… We are in union with him?
What if… We are the New Man, the New Creation…. already… and don’t need to strive to become that? I mean wasn’t that already accomplished for us by One Man? And isn’t it evident that we can’t do it ourselves?
What if… we give up trying?
What if… we give up fighting?
What if… we simply rest in our Passover Sabbath: Jesus Christ?

Every time we feel our hackles go up because someone says something “unbiblical” or “heretical” …. that’s our spiritual immune system going into overdrive. What exactly are we protecting when we feel the need to throw Bible verses at someone? I’ve heard of the Sword of the Spirit…. but honestly, I don’t think that’s how it works!

Every time we think about another person in terms of their beliefs instead of in terms of their humanity… we’re seeing them as a foreign invader, not a part of the body.

I think it would be much easier if we just loved them.

Always Here

My living room has big, tall windows across the back that I can look out of while I sit in my chair. There are no window coverings, because we wanted to be able to see every inch of landscape visible. It’s a peaceful, bucolic scene when the trees are full of leaves. In the early summer, we watch hundreds of fireflies light up our back yard.

But sometimes, like now when the trees are bare, the lights from businesses on the nearest street shine in my eyes.

Sometimes I imagine myself with a BB gun. Just sayin.

This morning, I started my writing time at 5am. I sat in my usual place, looked out the windows at the shadows of trees in the dark… saw some of the usual streetlights, and then … way up high… a really bright light.

Wow. Who put that light up in the trees just on the other side of the creek?

Oh. That’s the moon.

God did that.

It’s completely round and so bright it could be a spotlight.

A brilliant moon that’s there for me to see whenever I choose to look. Whenever I decide to get up early enough at the right time of year, God’s gift is hanging there in the sky for me to see it.  God doesn’t wait to find out if I’m going to look out the window, and then put a moon there for me. “Oh, you’re up, looking out the window! Here … let me go get a moon for you!”

It’s simply always here.

He is simply always here…

Providing light, comfort, joy… providing a way to see things His way.

Around 6am, the moon had fallen into a hidden place behind my door frame. I had to lean over and then twist my neck down to an awkward position to see it. I could tell it was there, but it was obscured by the beam that crosses my deck.

But now, at 6:55… there it is in all its glory shining in at eye level in the next window over.  It looks like a hot air balloon landing half a mile away. Huge.

I run to get my camera… the one with all the special settings that I don’t know how to use. I want you to see just how amazing this moon is, staring at me through my window like a bird that’s landed on my windowsill, come to sing me a song.

It’s dark in my house. The indoor fountain is giving off a little light, but other than that, there are just some silhouettes of the everyday clutter. It’s nice that I can’t see all the clutter… that all I can see is the moon and the tiny bit of sky that’s getting lighter and lighter.

Hurry. Take the picture before it gets too light.

I have to make quite a few setting changes on the camera to get the photo to look anything at all like what I see with my naked eye. Even without the flash, the camera keeps lighting up the room, showing my clutter. Try changing this setting. Now this setting. Hurry.

Of course, even in the best photo, the moon looks like the head of a pin … not like the giant, glowing serving platter I’m trying to capture.

But it’s the best I can do.

And the moon…. It’s doing the best it can do, reflecting the light of the sun.

Now it’s 7:10, and the sky is blue. I can see everything outside … the ugly yellow house behind us, the clutter on my deck, the naked winter trees, the rooftops of the business behind the creek… the one the moon is trying to hide behind.

Now it’s 7:17, and the moon is “gone.” Streaks of pink are showing up in the sky, like freshly painted watercolor. They are the gift of the moment. I did nothing to deserve them or the moon… my very own moon that came to visit… because it was always there. Because God is always here.

Be Thou My Vision

I love creating and “performing” soaking prayer sessions. Because “soaking prayer” has so many different forms, sometimes I like to call my creations “listening prayer.” It is a form of contemplative prayer, when you are bathed in prayer, scripture, and song.—a relaxing, meditative time to spend with your Creator, listening to whatever HE has for you to hear. This type of presentation lends itself to my style of music… contemplative and prayerful.

I usually use a mix of my own original songs, well-known hymns, contemporary praise songs, and instrumentals… some pre-recorded, and some live.

Here’s an excerpt from one of my recent soaking prayer presentations (recorded live, so it’s not a perfect recording)–my version of that beloved hymn “Be Thou My Vision.” This is my constant prayer… to see with His eyes and feel with His heart: https://soundcloud.com/jackie-doss/be-thou-my-vision-live-1

Sound Cloud

I posted a couple of my original songs on SoundCloud. Take a listen if you’d like. I appreciate your feedback. These are both “works in progress,” kinda like me. 🙂

https://soundcloud.com/#jackie-doss

A Thing

When I thought I was going to die of melanoma, I found myself mourning the person I could have been. I kept asking God, “What significant thing am I supposed to do? I know I was put here for a purpose. Show it to me, before it’s too late!”

One of my favorite TV shows at the time was “Joan of Arcadia,” about a teenager who saw God in the form of different people. He usually had a task for her to blindly oblige to, despite her protests. The episode that awakened me was one in which Joan wanted “a thing,” a thing that made her special. Her boyfriend had art. Her brother had science. Everyone she knew seemed to be good at something. And she wanted that special thing that made her stand out.

God told her to work on the yearbook, so she took that as “This is it! This is my THING! I’m going to excel at it. People will notice me! I’ll be Joan of the photographer!” Her stint at the yearbook turned out to be one disappointment after another. She was assigned to taking out the trash.

Then, in the trash, she found a poem that her friend wrote. She made copies of it and littered the campus with it, so that her friend’s poem could be read by everyone. The poem was anonymously written, and her deed was anonymously performed. But it showed her friend how much she cared for her, and it enlightened the whole school.

That, as it turned out, was her thing… a small deed for that moment. I realized that I no longer had to strive for “a thing,” or regret that I never had one. I realized that living purposefully in each moment, appreciating others, showing them love, speaking truth into their lives, just being there when needed by them… that is the essence of everyone’s “big thing.” Everyone’s big thing is a lot of little things. It’s living in the moment. Living each and every moment as a Christ follower.

Our obscurity is our biggest blessing, and can be a multitude of blessings to the world.

Samson Was a Scrawny Fella

I am fairly certain that Samson of the book of Judges was a short and scrawny fella. Why else would the Philistines insist on finding out where his strength came from? If he were a big, muscular guy, there would be no “secret” to his powerful might.

Of course, we know the secret was the Spirit of God. Samson knew it too. He “stirred himself up” before fighting. And even after Delilah cut his hair, he thought that all he had to do was stir up his spirit, and he’d have all the mojo he needed.

Samson had been dedicated to God since his birth, and he made an oath to God about never cutting his hair. He took for granted that when he needed God to “show up,” all he had to do was “show up” himself! He didn’t even have to keep himself holy or righteous. He just showed up, because he knew that God never fails.

Even when Samson made a stupid mistake (okay, Samson made lots of stupid mistakes, but when he made his fatal mistake….) and the spirit of God left him, he still performed his duty. Unfortunately, he was a victim of his own strength because of the circumstances he created for himself. But God accomplished his will through Samson.

So, let’s say you’re Samson. I know, I know…. You haven’t made nearly as many mistakes, but bear with me. Say that from the time you were very young, you dedicated yourself to God to be used by him. Throughout your life, you accomplished things that you knew were because God was with you. Your life was saved when you boldly came against an armed robber without fear. You beat up a large group of bullies who were terrorizing a young boy. You knew that all you had to do was step out in defense of people who depended on you, and God would enable you to win.

Feels pretty good, doesn’t it? Imagining yourself as a hero… that nothing evil can stand against you… that it doesn’t really matter what you do, because God will always win. The only requirement is that you show up… and you keep your oath.

Now I ask you: Do you have any reason to believe that that is NOT the case right now in your life? I mean, Biblically speaking… is there any reason to think that God will not do what He says he will do? Samson believed it, even though he was a screw-up. Why should we believe any less, when we have so much more reason to believe? Samson’s power was transient. Ours is constant. Ours is a permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Ours is a promise that God will never leave nor forsake us, that He will be with us until the end of the age. That’s the “lo” part of the great commission. But the first part is the “go” part. We’re actually supposed to DO something with the powerful might that dwells in us.

Each of us is a “scrawny fella” like Samson who, despite our failings, can do the will of God simply by “showing up.” Because wherever you go, there you are. And there is the Spirit of God.

Doing Small in a Big Way

It’s been nearly a year since I posted on this blog, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing things! The most significant thing I have done is become a roster artist with Incubator Creative Group. They are now my partners in music ministry, and I am so excited! I’m very blessed to have found Incubator, and I’m looking forward to using my music and other creative gifts to inspire and motivate my ministry family, as well as speak Truth into their lives.

With Incubator’s help, I will be able to turn my music ministry into a full-time vocation rather than a hobby.  Incubator is famous for “doing small in a big way,” which is right up my alley! I don’t want stardom or a busy travel schedule. But I DO want to use my gifts to the glory of God. Using Incubator’s entrepreneurial model, I will be able to do MORE of the things I do best, as well as stretch myself out of my comfort zone in order to serve Christ more fully.

Incubator will help me “stay on task” when it comes to creating “ministry content” for my ministry family. And along the way, they will help me improve my skills and abilities. Most importantly, they are helping me do the “heart” work that is necessary to reach out to a broken world… one person at a time.

If you’d like to know more about my ministry adventure, I’d love to fill you in! Send me an e-mail at jackiedoss at gmail.com.

The Dust and the Divine

I want to thank my dear, dear friends at Westwind Christian Church in Keller, TX for welcoming me so warmly on December 12. By offering me your attention and love, you’ve enabled me to come a step closer to a ministry that I have been wanting to develop for so long… public speaking combined with praise and worship. Thank you so much for being there for me during my worst trials …and my great joys.

Because I can’t post videos on this blog, I will post a link to Sunday’s “message in song.” The video is in three parts, so there are three links below, but you can link to the second and third from the first one.

• Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX2P6UmVA8M&feature=player_embedded
• Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMWiQ7pR388&feature=related
• Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3djYaTOYRIs&feature=related