How do you have spiritual intimacy with God? An undivided, available heart starts with transparency, honesty and physically showing up .

Peter lived in a world that was utterly violent, excessively pagan and thoroughly un-Christlike…yet had a faith that flourished and helped lead a church that grew in that setting.

Spiritual warfare happens in the battle over thinking we control spiritual realities through our own abilities v. submitting to the new reality of Christ, his kingdom of power and grace

6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. 8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.

10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. 11 All power to him forever! Amen. - 1 Peter 5:6-11

i am loosing my teeth

i have chomped all these days

looking for self-sufficiency

food i needed

food i didn’t

to fill a void and to help grow me

driven to eat and eat and eat

i ate the food of idleness

i ate the food of work

i ate the food of consequences

i ate the food of grace

i ate many things

and many people

ingested them all

grew from them all

shudder, shudder

past went my skin

writhing and wringing

disoriented from shirking

so much of what i once knew

what i once thought i knew

alive

i’m still alive

with old skin gone, i’m still here

i still eat

i eat memories

i eat joy

i eat sadness

i eat confusion

i eat love

i eat life

i eat battles

i eat peace

i grow

i shudder

i disjoint, i remove my head

i cast aside old ways of thinking

i begin anew again

i see with sharpened gaze

i return to eat

though my tooth is less sharp

i don’t eat so many people

i don’t eat so much out of selfish inclinations

but now i eat pain

i eat hopes lost

i eat death

and sadness and expectations

i eat disappoint and failure

i eat age

shudder

rid this hopeless skin i’m in

rid these voices in my head

renewed

once more

i eat again

but my stomach craves what is pure this time

it longs to feast on goodness

i find my new head thinks now of heavenly things

i eat grace

i eat truth

i eat justice and mercy

i eat forgiveness

i eat faithfulness and hope and purity

i eat everything He gives me

and i long for more

i shudder. again?

i find myself upside down yet again

i call out for Him

to help me

i arc myself in an effort for Him

to see me

i find myself suffering once more

curved and bent and upside down

into the symbol that bears His name

i am dormant, but not really

look closely

see the quivering

that. that is new life.

beginning again.

not left, not forsaken

this time, i have lost my teeth.

i have lost my head.

but i still remember what i was and what i came from

but that is no longer me.

for now, i soar.

bound not to the earthly driven chomping of my youth

no longer driven by selfish need or desire

but driven to seek him to find Him to follow Him

i am a new creation.

i can travel far further then before.

i can go for thousands of miles.

it is by his strength. by his love. by His design

i am free.

i am created for this purpose

the shuddering mattered

the shuddering transformed me

but now, free of what bound me,

i fly

1 Peter challenges our ideas of power and leadership in the Church…everything the church does and every way a leader leads should resemble Jesus, not a CEO

Our reactions to the pain around us should reflect Jesus and be a "megaphone to rouse a deaf world"

How do you prepare for the end of the world? Use what God has given you to express love to everyone through hospitality and service

Is there the possibility of salvation after death? The Book of 1st Peter says yes...but to what end? 1 Peter calls Christians to "live into your baptism" as the beginning of a new life.

JR Woodward shares with us on the Early Church and the expansive mission of the church. We are not called to be an institution, but a movement.

In a world filled with antagonism, competition & fear, Jesus offers us & calls his Church to be a center for peace, equality & hope

"I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; for by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned" - Matthew 12:37