L E S S - P A U L

The human thirst provokes a craving for satiation that is almost always derived externally from. It is quite unnatural to dig from within ourselves to satisfy our itch. It is almost my birthday and once more I catch myself scanning my external wish list: a traditional Les Paul guitar might fix me, I think. But it won’t.

History already reveals the vacuum of such investment. Jesus speaks about the internal well that is within that needs to be tap.

It is not tap water. It is alive. Not inanimate but the Creator of Life Himself.

B A S K E T

I was persistently reminding you of my craving for a basketball. It was quite a wait. I had a fever when the yellow Pointer ball arrived.

But it was the various pieces of lumber that eventually stood up to serve as goal that remained etched deep in my cortex.

You are not about things bought. You showed me how being there and doing stuff together provides the nuts and bolts of this brief life.

Thank you Papa.

J I M M Y N O R M A N D Y

He drives a VW station wagon.

He was stationed to the beaches of Normandy on that crimson day. A hundred of his buddies dead and decapitated.

He went home different. Hating Germans and most people.

And then the Massachusetts coffee house happened. Vitriol succumbed to unconscious kindness.

An 18 year old’s affection dislodged the bullets in his soul.,

U N L O C K E D

Speech is derived from a source. Unless God unlocks the streaming words, all remains babble from quagmire that poses alkalinity.

5 I V E

A good time to reboot my time tunnel.

My real five ushered me to a confusing first grade classroom.

My second-chance five, a decade hence takes me to the egress of complacency and into the threshold of fluency.

I enter in. At 65.

L A N D C R U I S I N ‘

I have made up my mind. I shall follow the grain that subversively guides my path.

All my vehicles lead to the find of a still Toyota Land Cruiser.

Why? It is significantly my life badge and it breathes my telos.

The issue is waiting for this gift which no human will ever give.

But my Father.

Yukon

Once in one’s lifetime a great river surfaces from a long drought.

Imperfect but perfect in a mysterious way.

A decision beckons the sojourner when such spectacle looms.

Ignore or Implore.

H U R T S U R G E O N

Peter was full of bravado.

He considered his affiliation with Jesus one that merits his credentials.

He both privately and publicly declared his self-actualized identity as the most faithful follower of the Messiah.

But loyalty is not measured by advertising. It comes from pure metrics of unbridled obedience.

Three times he denied Christ in public.

It required three public resections of his restorative recommissioning.

“Do you love me?”

“Do you love me?”

“Do you love me?”

“Don’t be a pastor.”

“Begin pastoring My own. And be sure, to touch them gently with your acquired embrace.”

Yes, Lord … you know my bankruptcy.

Enable me O Lord, henceforth.

Three Times

Jesus asked Simon Peter if he loved Him. Not once. Not twice. Three times.

There is something both hidden and obvious within this redundancy. Such deep inquiry are not intrusions but vehicles to help us process honest truth.

Love is not a language. Love is a person.

God is that Person.

If we do not know Jesus, we are kidding others and more cruelly, ourselves.

And three times over, this is thrice the truth.

Speed

We crave for a hasty existence only to rediscover that hurriedness is not from the devil. It is him, himself riding a Lamborghini.

Grant

A Christmas 🏋🏼 Toy

(Reflections of a 63 year old boy)

It is almost Christmas and the crisp tearing of colorful wrappers once again unravel the worth of yearly affection.

I grew up always wishing to get the best toys but for some hidden reasons, I always felt that I did not deserve receiving such.

At best, I got plastic toy soldiers in a flimsy bag while my sister got the state of the art pinball machine.

“Ho-hum, Fi-fi-fo-fum.”

I’d always walk to the marketplace and peer with bridled excitement into the stateside steel toy cars (Matchbox©️) that were only available at the Good Luck bazaar. There was obviously, no luck for me every single Christmas.

This narrative somehow drove into my psyche an inferior image that I was always meant to be marginal.

On  the fence, barely inside.

And then, one day … my mother gifted me with what was during my time “the mother of all exercise gadgets” … the BullWorker©️.

I was reed thin. But daily submission to isometrics changed my physique. Somehow, I had hope of crossing the fence.

To this day, I exercise daily. As I reflect, one does religious obsessions to be reminded that one somehow matters.

It is always a good day, when Good Luck brings me a good gift.

But

There always is the better largesse. It is when the Good Provider leads me to the best option: the simple discovery that I do not need toys to validate my worth nor core six packs to regulate my esteem.

Contentment is the ironic best gift that only comes through the Person who authored the first and only Christmas©️.

I have been given all things in Christ.

Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? [Romans 8:32 NLT]

(Russell Diwa: Aboard Southwest Airlines flight to Birmingham, Alabama on November 23, 2024)

Internos

The incarnation of Christ required the actual indwelling of His Person with the persons He sought to redeem. This congruent relationship leads us to the practical expressions of genuine relationships with the persons we live in Christ with. There cannot be any degree of detachment.

Bingo

Luck is never trustworthy. God’s word is. But why do we marginalize truth and make sublime our deception? This is the reason why God had to interrupt our insanity by entering our silly games to introduce the gravitas of his Being.

{🔍lens capture: Marcus Tortorici | locus: Palawan, Philippines June 2024}

Convictions

1. I will insist in honor more than acclaim.

2. I will not speak lies.

3. I will be clear and not duplicitous.

4. I will not live in the image of creatures.

5. I will steward money accordingly.

6. I will love my wife more than the day before.

7. I will love God above All.

Lukewarm

We gravitate towards superstition and ignore supernatural grace and refer to it as faith. Our creative machinations are mere psychological doctrines cloak in scriptural gibberish. We drift away from the Redeemer and race slowly towards destruction.

Gas Lit

The insidious nature of gaslighting presents a masquerade that is obviously untrustworthy. Pseudo-friends remain detached but with a feigned appearance of unity. The Psalmist speaks of this duplicity by citing the citizens of Meshak & Kedar. How long O Lord must I bear this allergen?

Drought Arrest

Hydration happens when the mouth opens wide to receive that which is purest. Only the Waterman distills without plastics. He walks atop it. He rises from it so the Dove hovers and lands.

And he calls dehydrated men to taste and see what Living enzymes can only do.

Sacred Work

Manual work converts us to see labor through the hard life of the solitary Carpenter whose ripped muscles dripped obedient acids to finish the hidden work that solely matters: the Glory of the only One who completes every Work.

Suddenly, a dead man working gains life and begins to work for the first time towards Eternal Applause.

True North

Darkness showed up strong today. Solar Eclipse creeped in as predicted. Birds flew confused. K9s barked. Yet, the Light never flickered. I was safe. Adonai kept me lit.

Girl Dad

Being a father to my two daughters equates to my undeserved favor from a Perfect God to a broken urn. I have become healthy pink from the glorious ruins of Christ’s risen identity.