Getting in Shape

Writing on my blog seems almost foreign to me at the moment. After all, the last time I posted anything was back in April....I think? But in the midst of change and transition I am climbing back in the saddle again. Here goes.......................

Something I enjoy doing at any opportunity is walking barefoot down any stretch of beach. Over the years those strolls have often been beside the nearby Atlantic. Yet, there have been opportunities to walk by the Agean Sea, the Mediterranean, and by the Pacific waters lapping at the shoreline in Manly Beach (Sydney, Australia) In each instance there has been a profound sense of my smallness and God's greatness. Each shell investigated carries with it an untold story of change and transition. And so today, I am reminded of the words from Terry Talbot's song, "Potter's Clay".

I'm like a stone thrown through the waves,

I'm falling......And the waves all mold me

as they may.....To be unborn, and then to

hear the callin', that I'm still....still the

Potter's clay.

Following just such a stroll yesterday morning, I was nourished in spirit by the words of Reuben Job. Perhaps these words will speak to someone else as well.

Conversion is a partnership project. We cannot transform ourselves, and God does not transform us against our wishes. However, once we invite God's transforming presence into our lives, the necessary power to change comes with the transforming presence.....We cannot know what God has in store for us until we begin to live in harmony and companionship with God.....The important thing is inviting God to be the master potter in our lives. We may not know what the end product will be, but we do know that it will be good when we permit God to be the potter and we agree to be the malleable clay.

Here's to LIFE shaped by the Hands of the Master Potter......and to willing clay.

Still In ONE Peace,

Jon(the methodist)