Foreshock
Rumblings are more felt than heard
and certainly never seen.
They come to you through the soles of your feet
into the depth of your soul.
Only then do they open the eyes of your heart.
They speak of a shift that is about to take place.
-----Kembr, The Perils of Ayden
1 Samuel 13:22-14:23
Rumblings are more felt than heard
and certainly never seen.
They come to you through the soles of your feet
into the depth of your soul.
Only then do they open the eyes of your heart.
They speak of a shift that is about to take place.
-----Kembr, The Perils of Ayden
1 Samuel 13:22-14:23
Ayden felt still the tyro when Maven gave him his first choice.
Shouldn't first he practice on decisions of little weight?
Why would someone as wise as the Maven entrust him with so great a gift?
Was it really true that the riches of all men and kingdoms rested in him? That the good of all stood hanging in the balance?
And how could all of time be bound to one moment?
Even so he could not decline this invitation. This choice was not his to make. His birthright brought both privilege and responsibility.
The journey chose him, but the adventure was his to choose.
To choose is to know the pleasure of freedom, or is it the freedom of pleasure?
------Entry 203/The Perils of Ayden
Shouldn't first he practice on decisions of little weight?
Why would someone as wise as the Maven entrust him with so great a gift?
Was it really true that the riches of all men and kingdoms rested in him? That the good of all stood hanging in the balance?
And how could all of time be bound to one moment?
Even so he could not decline this invitation. This choice was not his to make. His birthright brought both privilege and responsibility.
The journey chose him, but the adventure was his to choose.
To choose is to know the pleasure of freedom, or is it the freedom of pleasure?
------Entry 203/The Perils of Ayden
ChoicEs
Choose to live
[Deuteronomy 30:11-14]
[Joshua 6:25]
[Numbers 13:26-33]
Epicenter
Do not stand in the center if you do not wish to be shaken.
There is always danger when the movement comes.
Its force is most powerful underneath the surface,
then breaks through the hardest of ground.
Epic change moves from the inside out.
-----Ayden, The Perils of Ayden
Choose to live
- Don't sleep through your dreams
- Somehow we all know that to play it safe is to lose the game
- However mundane a moment may appear, the miraculous may wait to be unwrapped within it.
- Moments move in a timely manner, and time waits for no one.
- When you seize a divine moment, you instigate an atomic reaction. You become a human catalyst creating a divine impact.
- To relive the past is to relinquish the future.
- Living in the past is an enemy of the future.
- Moments carry the momentum of the past and fuel the momentum for the future.
- While moments are the context within which we live, choices chart the course and determine the destination.
[Deuteronomy 30:11-14]
- At our worst, good is only one decision away.
[Joshua 6:25]
[Numbers 13:26-33]
Epicenter
Do not stand in the center if you do not wish to be shaken.
There is always danger when the movement comes.
Its force is most powerful underneath the surface,
then breaks through the hardest of ground.
Epic change moves from the inside out.
-----Ayden, The Perils of Ayden
Ayden waited as Maven sat patiently by the fire. His silence only made the time pass more slowly.
What was he listening for? Only the wind dared speak. Would his commission come from the mountain's breath? Would the north or the east call his name?
How would he know when to leave and begin his pilgrimage? How would he know which way to go?
When he could bear it no longer, he chanced to interrupt his mentor and blurted, "When will I begin?"
"Now," Maven replied.
"Then which way do I go?" Ayden could not hide his frustration in his asking.
Maven instructed, "Anywhere there's not a path."
Suddenly Ayden realized that all through the night it was Maven who waited on him.
-----Entry 392/The Perils of Ayden
What was he listening for? Only the wind dared speak. Would his commission come from the mountain's breath? Would the north or the east call his name?
How would he know when to leave and begin his pilgrimage? How would he know which way to go?
When he could bear it no longer, he chanced to interrupt his mentor and blurted, "When will I begin?"
"Now," Maven replied.
"Then which way do I go?" Ayden could not hide his frustration in his asking.
Maven instructed, "Anywhere there's not a path."
Suddenly Ayden realized that all through the night it was Maven who waited on him.
-----Entry 392/The Perils of Ayden
IniTiAtivE
just do something
just do something
- The great tragedy is not the sins that we commit, but the life that we fail to live.
- We have put so much emphasis on avoiding evil that we have become virtually blind to the endless opportunities for doing good.
- We act when we refuse to stay there.
- In the same way, where there is freedom, we must initiate, and where there are boundaries, we must honor them.
- The greatest danger that success brings, aside from arrogance, is the fear to lose what has been gained.
- We must ensure that while we celebrate the goodness of God, we do not neglect the purpose of God.
- Seizing your divine moment is not simply about opportunity; at the core it is about essence. It's about the kind of life you live as a result of the person you are becoming.
- When you draw near to God, God infuses passion. God works through human desires.
- Do what you know you should do, and you will know what to do. God clarifies in the midst of obedience, not beforehand.
- Even if everyone around you chooses to sleep, you must resist the temptation to join their slumber. Wake up! Get out of bed.
"I'm afraid," he confessed as Maven stood with him in the place where his quest would begin.
"Of what?" Maven asked in his calming voice.
"For this journey. Have I learned all I need to know?" Ayden queried.
"Ayden," he replied, "you know all you need to learn."
"What should I take with me?" Ayden continued.
"Leave all you have and take all you are."
Ayden persisted, "And the path, is it safe to travel?"
Maven looked at him sternly for the first time he could remember and scolded him, "It is not safe to remain! It is not the place but the Presence that upholds you! This is your only certainty. Go! Walk where no man has walked, yet you find footprints."
-----Entry 709/ The Perils of Ayden
"Of what?" Maven asked in his calming voice.
"For this journey. Have I learned all I need to know?" Ayden queried.
"Ayden," he replied, "you know all you need to learn."
"What should I take with me?" Ayden continued.
"Leave all you have and take all you are."
Ayden persisted, "And the path, is it safe to travel?"
Maven looked at him sternly for the first time he could remember and scolded him, "It is not safe to remain! It is not the place but the Presence that upholds you! This is your only certainty. Go! Walk where no man has walked, yet you find footprints."
-----Entry 709/ The Perils of Ayden
UnceRtaINty
know you don't know
"If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."
[1 Samuel 7:3]
know you don't know
"If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."
[1 Samuel 7:3]
- If we are going to seize our divine moments, we must accept the reality that we have no control over many things.
- One of the wonderful things about living in the realm of uncertainty is that you find the journey with God is full of surprises.
- You cannot speak about faith without talking about obedience.
- Faith is all about character, trusting in the character of God, being certain in who God is and following Him into the unknown.
- When we play is safe, we squeeze God out of the formula.
- Whenever we take on a God-sized challenge, self-sufficiency is no longer an option.
- To follow Jesus is to enter the unknown, to relinquish security, and to exchange certainty for confidence in Him.
- The door we fear going through the most may be the very one where we will meet God most profoundly.
- Yes, the new way out is full of uncertainty, but with that uncertainty come mystery, adventure, and wonder. The Jonathan Factor moves you confidently forward into the future when you know that you don't know.
Their sleep was deep but not restful. "Take the flower. With your breath it holds enough for one life. You must decide who among the sleeping will awake."
A fragrance emanated from the earth beneath them, making the air sweet and intoxicating. Its effect was not slumber, but surrender. Most would rather sleep through life than live their dreams.
One would respond to Ayden's breath. To choose wrongly was to waste the healing essence of the iris. If he could only know what dreams helf them to their sleep. Maven, if he knew, would offer no clue. Not once did he flinch or change his expression as Ayden moved toward Kembr - face to face, mouth to mouth, then breath to breath.
Her eyes opened and she spoke as if she had known this moment a thousand times before.
"Is this yet another dream?"
Ayden questioned her as if she had said nothing:
"What dream held you?"
"Only that I had been awakened."
------Entry 828/ The Perils of Ayden
A fragrance emanated from the earth beneath them, making the air sweet and intoxicating. Its effect was not slumber, but surrender. Most would rather sleep through life than live their dreams.
One would respond to Ayden's breath. To choose wrongly was to waste the healing essence of the iris. If he could only know what dreams helf them to their sleep. Maven, if he knew, would offer no clue. Not once did he flinch or change his expression as Ayden moved toward Kembr - face to face, mouth to mouth, then breath to breath.
Her eyes opened and she spoke as if she had known this moment a thousand times before.
"Is this yet another dream?"
Ayden questioned her as if she had said nothing:
"What dream held you?"
"Only that I had been awakened."
------Entry 828/ The Perils of Ayden
InFluEnce
breathe in, breathe out
breathe in, breathe out
- A life touched by God always ends in touching others.
- Title position, and authority may hold power, but influence travels through relationships. And in the end, influence is the foundationhead of power.
- This is the essence of influence, to win the heart and soul of another person through the strength of your own character and soul.
- Influence is born out of trust and finds its strength in the connection of heart and soul.
- All of us pass a bit of ourselves onto others. You better like who you are and make what you give to others from yourself a gift and not a curse.
- Often divine moments look like inconveniences on the front end.
- Divine opportunities are sometimes like windows, but other times they are like corridors.
- Never underestimate how far God can take the momentum of what you feel is your nominal influence.
- Our influence is not limited to our present condition. It is expanded by our intended destination when we are committed to the journey.
- A significant part of seizing a divine moment is recognizing that God's intention is to use us as vessels for good. Not simply to do good, but to generate good, to lead others toward good.
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