Well, it’s already September 11 here where I’m at, and I’m still feeling the effects of the coffee I had a little too late in the day. That, or I’m at least trying to make sure that I squeeze all the thoughts I have inside of me while I have the chance.
First of all, I want to take this time to remember what happened, oh, 21 years ago. I remember, it was the evening of September 11 here, and I was still in college but was out drinking. I came home, tipsy and trying to avoid my parents smelling the alcohol off me, when everyone in the residence was watching TV – something had happened in New York. It’s been so long since that time, and a lot has changed ever since… But I suppose, even in the face of sudden, devastating crisis, the fact that we’re still existing as a species even after we’ve suffered all this brokenness and consequence of sin – well, it could speak of our resilience, but I’d rather sing: All my life, He has been faithful. Yes, even in all that’s happened, all that’s going on, and all that’s about to happen, He has been, is, and will be so, so good.
I say a little prayer to our brothers and sisters who have been feeling the repercussions of what happened that day. May they find peace and comfort in Christ. And while I’m praying, I do pray for the continued safety of my brother and his family, and everyone in the California area under threat of wildfires. I could keep going, but I’ll keep it to these two points for now.
I also want to take this time to share that I’m intending to go back to when I started this whole initiative of writing a thousand words a day. We’re up to less than a hundred 1000 word-sets to finish, and I must say, I haven’t been faithful to the original calling – Obviously, I haven’t been writing 1000 a day, more like 3000 or 2000 word articles at a time, irregularly. I’m sure some of it is personal preference, but I do want to share that I am very aware of how I’m ‘cheating’ the system with my overuse of fillers and adding additional details to the point that the embellishment I’ve been doing may already be insulting to the folks who bother to write this chicken scratch.
To that note, I may begin an initiative of ‘scrubbing’ what I’ve began to write, and if I go below the 1000 word quota, then so be it. I’ve been saying that I like to write to clarify, and it doesn’t have to mean that I involve you, my dear readers, in seeing too much of my process of unloading and freeing mental space.
Besides, we’re approaching the fourth quarter of this year, and I’d like to see a little bit of what was on my mind as this year progressed.
Let me assure one and all, I haven’t forgotten about my obligation to write my thoughts on what was on that old, framed, Declaration of Faith I wrote about at the beginning of this month. I know I’m halfway through, and I intend to finish my coverage of the said Declaration way before the month ends – simply because I do want to share what I have in mind to my congregation, and in clarity, of course.
Speaking of what I intend to share, of course I have the opportunity to share on my clarified thoughts on the Holy Communion in our quick worship service later this afternoon. Next Sunday, the 18th, I’m preparing an article on our Vision in the church – or, at least in the service I’m given authority over. I intend to accomplish this, again, by adhering to a suggestion that Pastor Joedy shared on visions, as he was talking about the Book of Nehemiah – that is, to write and ponder, and to ponder and write on our past (hindsight, what’s been going on), our present (insight, what’s happening right now), and our future (foresight, where we intend to go). I agree that we need to seriously consider the past and present to have a feasible picture of our future.
I’m intending to do this also for an upcoming business I’m planning to start off with a choice group of individuals. I’ll be quiet about the details for now, only because I do want to put my hindsight and insights on paper (not necessarily in a public post), in an attempt to construct a substantial foresight. Also going to do this with my venture of visual arts – it started with photography, but over the past couple of years I’ve seen the potential in literally creating entire worlds and subsequent landscapes and other imagined scenes, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence.
On that note I’d like to share that I’m looking at changing the overall branding of my said venture – the current name, ‘Omniscapes’? Well, I’ll admit that it was pretty rushed, and I’ll explain a little more about that as I think and write about my hindsight on this particular matter. Part of the branding is going to include my writing in a dedicated domain… updated name is coming soon, if I DO decide on doing a complete re-naming.
So far, that’s a list of my intentions to keep praying, and to do some verbal housecleaning, and also to clarify my vision on my upcoming and/or current ventures.
I’m also putting some serious thought into what else my ministry team could do, beyond traditional worship services and equally traditional attempts to minister by way of evangelizing. I’ve learned that the online approach is more effective – even if the pandemic has all but died out, I believe a good number of people have adjusted by way of watching and worshipping online, and I don’t think they’re going to go back to face-to-face any time soon.
But my thoughts aren’t just in going beyond hosting traditional services. No, as I’ve mentioned in the article I wrote for yesterday, I want us to explore the possibility of changing the entire format of the service to be one communal meal where we celebrate Jesus becoming sin by way of remembering Him as we eat, just as we would celebrate our becoming righteous by way of remembering His blood as we drink. And it’s not like we need to pause and do this entire rite or ministry of communion in all seriousness – no, and I’ve been saying this all week, we respect our Creator by coming as we are, putting no hope in ourselves but all our faith in the Author and Finisher of our Faith, no less than Jesus Christ.
We’d have a communal meal or we may want to encourage communing in the name of Jesus; We’d be hosting a space where we eat and drink, in remembrance of Christ. I thought of an office first but a kitchen and a serving area as our base of Operations should fit the bill nicely.
Sorry, that’s all I have in my mind so far. I do have all this in some way or form on Evernote, but it does help to put all of this in the real world, just so that anything that needs further analysis or consideration would be dealt with immediately, especially as we move, and move in freedom.
Friends, that’s all I have for now. I’m feeling the caffeine fading as the sleepiness is kicking in. Not sure if you got anything from this, but till next post, do be blessed. You are loved by God, and the proof of this is Christ’s death and resurrection.
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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