Compositions

A few months ago I was sitting in my church’s business class. The teacher had asked us a question – “What verse might best describe your purpose for starting a business?” As we went around the room, the answers ranged from verses on prosperity to verses on ministry to John 3:16 to the great commission. Since I was sitting near the back of the room I had a moment to think about my answer. The verse that kept coming to me was different than everyone else’s verse. I kept thinking of “Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men.” (which turns out to be Proverbs 22:29). In a way, that surprised me. My purpose for starting my business was because I wanted to stand before Kings and priests?

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Read the rest of the article here at Tastyfresh : Excellence and Influence

z.

A Savior and
A sinner saved
Walking hand in hand
How lovely

A Creator
Who called my name
Now I bask
In His glory

Be still and know
That He is God
Fall down upon your knees
And bask within
His awesome glory

He reigns with
The mountains as his footstools
Men and angels
Falling prostrate
Eternally we’ll celebrate
Our King

I used to chuckle at a Calvin & Hobbes comic that my mom kept on our refrigerator when I was a child. It had a picture of Calvin making a grumpy face with a caption that read, “God put us on earth to accomplish a certain number of things. At this point I am so far behind I will never die.” But somewhere along the line, one of my parents had crossed off “number of” so it read; “God put us on earth to accomplish certain things…” It was a silly little comic, but I never really forgot the concept behind it. As I began to get to know and love God on a personal level, I always kind of wondered how much truth was behind that. Did God really put us on earth to accomplish specific things? Did He really give each person only a part of the puzzle?

I began to figure out what I am best at. I figured that would be my strong point — my combo move so to speak – for me to accomplish the most for the Kingdom. Is it music? What about art? What about writing? And are there things I am specifically not good at? Sports for sure. Math and science probably a close second. So, those talents can be left up to someone else. They can be the puzzle piece that fits where I fall short.

It is interesting to think of the huge plan God has laid out. It includes all of us, and all of our talents. To think that He would fit all of us carefully into a place in history, with specific talents, to accomplish certain things so that it all lines up for His glory. And not only does He do that but He ups the ante with the Holy Spirit empowering our talents.

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Read this article in its entirety at Tastyfresh : Putting your gifts to use where God wants them.

z.

It was dark and raining harder by the minute. I was in the center lane of the freeway in a car that wasn’t mine. Usually I don’t mind freeway driving, but on this particular night the rain, the mist from a hundred tires and the glare from the street lights were making it nearly impossible to see the lines on the road. This may not have been a big deal if the highway was a straight shot, but this road was curving around the edge of the city and had numerous sweeping turns to navigate. In short, driving conditions were dangerous and I was driving an unfamiliar vehicle.

So, I did the only thing I really could do. I turned up my drum&bass CD, clamped my hands on the wheel, squinted through the rain and drove like a warrior. For the next twenty minutes I braved lane-drifting SUVs, road hogging semi trucks and the occasional slow driver who insisted on traveling in the fast lane. And since I couldn’t see the lines I had to navigate according to the brake lights of the car in front of me. It was crazy. I don’t know what was racing faster, my heart or my mind. When I finally pulled into the driveway and turned off the car I was feeling amazing. I was wide awake, hyped on adrenaline and in a completely different mood. I think I may have been glowing. I felt alive.

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Read the rest of this article at Tastyfresh : http://www.tastyfresh.com/articles/faith-a-ministry/387-life.html“>Life

z.

When you are crouching for too long your legs go all tingly because the blood gets trapped at the back of the kneecaps. Currently this was the state of Spencer Daniels’ legs. He had been successfully crouching undiscovered behind a rock for close to an hour. It was beginning to get painful but Spencer knew that if he moved the two guards on the other side of the rock would alert the rest of the camp and this mission would be undoubtedly over, not to mention Spencer’s career in do-gooding. So he sat and winced.

Spencer could hear the guards talking not more than four feet from him. He wished he had brought his recording device but it couldn’t be helped now. He simply would have to remember what they said.

“I hope that little spy is caught. He frustrates me!” one guard said.

“Yeah, every time we build a new secret base some random wanna-be-hero is popping up and infiltrating our defenses.” The other guard agreed.

“To be honest, I thought this time would be different because we built this base up here on top of Ice Mountain. I thought the cold would be too much for someone to be sneaking around and spying. I mean if this guard job didn’t have such great pay and benefits I wouldn’t want to stand out here!” The guard commented. “My hands and feet would turn blue and fall off.”

Spencer felt like that might be the case if he didn’t do something soon. The cold was creeping through his boots and into his toes. It began to numb his feet, which in a way was good because it slowly overpowered the tingling feeling. Still he listened.

“Well, once they find him I am sure the boss will be inclined to torture a little information out of him. I bet he won’t last ten minutes once the boss starts in on him.” The guard said.

Spencer hoped they would say the boss’s name. He knew most of the villains in the area and would know how best to deal with one or the other depending on whom it was. He suspected that it might be Aram Sebastian Hunter because of the elaborate base on top of Ice Mountain. It seemed a little bit out of any other villain’s league but you could never tell.

“I know I could think of a bunch of ways to get him to talk,” the other guard said, “I would freeze him and then thaw him and then freeze him again and then…um… then microwave him and then feed him to…uh, the abdominal snowman.”

“Don’t you mean the abominable snowman?” the guard laughed. Spencer almost did too.

“Yeah, that guy. Does he eat people?”

“I don’t think he even exists. Hey, speaking of eating lets do a little sneaking of our own and see if the vending machines have any candy bars.”

“Ok,” the second guard said enthusiastically. “All this guarding makes me hungry!”

Finally after far too long Spencer heard the two guards voices drift off towards the main building. He waited thirty more seconds just to be safe and then slowly poked his head up over the rock. There was no one around. The thirty or so yards from the rock to the main entrance were empty. With a moan and a gasp Spencer rolled onto his back and stretched his legs to their full length. Blood rushed to his half-frozen feet.

Suddenly Spencer’s eyes grew wide with pain. His legs felt like they would come apart in a million places. (If you have sat on your leg too long or slept cockeyed and then tried walking or moving you know the horrible sensation that is felt in a minute or so.) Spencer desperately wanted to jump up and shake off the feeling in his legs but knew he couldn’t without risking discovery. So for another ten minutes or so he wooed his legs back into fully functional appendages. Slowly he rubbed the pain and tingles out of them and the uncomfortable sensation faded. Ok, now on with the mission.

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To read the entire short story (16 pages) grab it from this link :

http://scottzeilenga.com/projects/SpDnIM.doc

z.

Fantasy holds little power
It is lost to my mind
Fiction rests far from my soul
In a dark drawer of odds and ends
I no longer long for things imagined
Which cannot be real
Cannot be breathed
Or seen, or felt
Having discovered something else
Hidden all along
In front of my eyes
~
Here I find real dragons & warriors
Kings, princesses & castles
Uncharted lands & epic journeys
For reality has, nestled deep within itself
A tall-tale of storybook proportions
Here, in reality’s truth, lies the source
Of fantasy and fiction
Yet tangible and alive
Truth that frees the heart
Awakens the soul
Stirs the spirit
~
This reality has no equal
There exist no purer forms
Of beauty & mystery
No story so alive
So vibrant, so wonderful
No Author so good