Latest@theeffect

Does your faith make you feel like this?

Hi everyone,

My son just came in the door from trying to fly a new kite, but there wasn't really enough wind to launch properly. There's something about wind, breath, moving air that evokes life and freedom and exhilaration--it blows new vitality into our faces and threatens to lift us right off our feet. In Jesus' language there was just one word for wind, breath, and spirit--ruha. Wherever you find those words in the Gospels, they mean all three at the same time. So when we breathe the wind, we are breathing God's dynamic spirit that is always in motion--and through that motion, though it can't be seen, its effect is as visible and stirring as the wind on a flag or a beach towel.

I remember a fitness expert once saying that in aerobic exercises, you don't have to worry about inhaling--that will take care of itself; the body does that on its own. All you have to think about is exhaling fully, and inhaling will happen all by itself. Most of us don't exhale completely, allow the lungs to really empty out so we can take a deep new breath that will give us the oxygen and life we need to carry on. We are very concerned about breathing in God's spirit, filling ourselves with knowledge and right action and attitude, but if we could stop worrying so much about the breathing in--if we just focus on breathing out fully, emptying ourselves of everything we've accumulated: unlearning, letting go, clearing space within--our very next breath will automatically occur...bringing God's life and love into the deepest places that were simply never uncovered before.

moving pictures

I get lots of interesting emails full of words and pictures and motion pictures. And when the pictures are especially moving, I pass them on here. You may have already seen some of them, but if they made me smile or laugh or think or cry, then there's something really human and spiritual about them--even if they only have to do with a dancing dog named Gin. It's the bond between the dog and the girl and the bond between them and everyone in the room that is worth the price of admission on this one. When you have a moment, take a look at this short video that our friend George Jenkins sent along.

-Dave