A Pilgrim’s Odyssey

Personal Freedom and The Elite Evil of Einsatzgruppen Death Squads

I’ve been watching Netflix documentary, Einsatzgruppen – The Nazi Death Squads. It investigates the units created by Hitler to exterminate Jews, Romanians, and Soviet prisoners in Eastern Europe.

It is a stark reminder to never be afraid to ask questions of the elite and those who lead us. When we wait, it’s often too late and we are complicit.

It also shows the power of the mob. Righteous anger can be turned into unrighteous killing in a blink of the eye.

Beware The Triple Mask

I saw a couple in the airport triple-masked, literally two cloth masks worn simultaneously with a plastic shield. Of course, it couldn't stifle their phone addiction and they began to look like laboratory experimental rats as they constantly lifted up the shield with one hand and manipulated their phone with other.

This is what we are becoming. However we got here, there is no turning back and there will be consequences.

Into Our Souls at Riverwalk, Reno, NV

The Truckee river winds its way through the middle of Reno, NV. It’s a bolder lined freeway of gurgling water made for fun.

Here I found incredible beauty, yet, incredible sadness. Tragedy even, sleeping next to a true work of nature.

Small things we do everyday to live fully human and spirit filled can seem insignificant. But they are not. I truly believe these are victories in some kind of cosmic war for the soul of mankind. Will we sleep in the grass like animals, take drugs to cloud our minds, or will we enter the water to find something wonderful, to find grace.

Managing The Time to Pray - Beginning to Pray series

Modern life is always about going somewhere, what is next, where do I have to be? That is a horrible mindset for prayer. We must learn to let prayer establish itself in the present. It is not necessarily where we are going, it is where we are right now. It’s like a walk on a beach while on vacation. We aren't as worried about where we are going, as we are focused on the walk itself. We are in the present moment. That is where we want our prayer to be.

In a way, mastering time is mastering prayer. If we can center our day around even 5 minutes of prayer, all the rest falls into order. Temporal and worldly things become less stressful and less overwhelming.

You see, prayer isn’t really about us knocking. It’s about our Lord who is knocking on our door all the time and we just don’t listen. We don’t make time, and we don’t create the space for real prayer in our lives.

 

Going Inward, Giving Your Blood - Beginning to Pray

There are spontaneous prayers that gush from our soul, short intense prayers like the Jesus prayer, and what we may call "ready-made prayers", those from a prayer book, for instance. They all have their place. We use them to create soil ready for God’s Holy Spirit to grow within us.

The Ancient writers said, “Give your blood and God will give you the spirit.”

That is the price, everything. Use every prayer tool in your arsenal to bleed. Let your soul bleed and God will give you the spirit.

Knocking On The Door - Beginning to Pray

Today, we are going deeper. Like any good relationship, prayer should become deeper and more substantive as we progress. We should be ready to keep knocking, so to speak.

Prayer is an increasing progression, from depth to depth, from height to height. What primarily keeps us from this? Well, our possessions. All those things that distract us from God. Including our imagination, the distractions of our mind. How do overcome them, and focus on God?

Understanding The Absence of God - Beginning to Pray

My ego destroys me. Humility grounds me and lets me grow.

You see, there is a turning to God, and then there is a submitting to God. The 1^st gives us the opportunity to do the 2^nd.

“Learn to be like this before God; abandoned, surrendered, ready to receive anything from people and anything from God.” Bishop Anthony Bloom

Are You Willing To Despair - Beginning To Pray

We work so hard to avoid despair. Most of our prayers are to avoid despair. We build lives of comfort to keep us from despair. In doing so, we never allow ourselves to fully lean on him.

Sometimes though, I just give up. My despair crushes me and takes the wind out of my soul. In these moments if I allow myself to pray, to read scripture, my emptiness allows something in that was shut out by my relentless drive for control, to do things myself. I discover that I’m not alone.

As Anthony Bloom said, "

“God Helps us when there is no one else to help. God is there at the point of greatest tension, at the breaking point, at the center of the storm. In a way despair is at the center of things – if only we are prepared to go through it.” 

“The day when God is absent, when He is silent – that is the beginning of prayer. Not when we have a lot to say. ”

A Sacrifice of Faith - Beginning to Pray

How deep is our faith, and how does that impact our prayer? How would we live differently, what would we be willing to sacrifice, if we truly lived each moment as if our savior had overcome death?

Anthony Bloom was impacted by the example of a woman who took the place of a young mother and her two children when communists came for them. She was able endure her own Garden of Gethsemane because she believed that whatever the outcome, life was assured.

Rude People, and Beginning to Pray

As we continue into the unknown, people are getting more afraid, more distrustful, and in many cases, just plain rude.

I was just in Kroger's and paranoia has reached epic proportions. People looking at you like are a threat, someone cutting in front of you has committed assault, a person without a mask is a murderer. You can see it in people's eyes. What are we living for?

What do you about it? Well, it doesn't start with anger and outrage. It begins with us, with you. And the best way to start, prayer. Prayer can be become a powerless routine, a check in the box. Before dinner, before bed, we say a short prayer and move on. But real prayer is deeper, real prayer sustains and clarifies. Real prayer taps into things that are eternal.

We being our study on prayer with a great book, Anthony Bloom's, Beginning to Pray.