the little cow that could…

i came across this blog today and i want you to read the bio with me and try and conjure up in your mind an image of the person who might possibly be writing it:

“A few years ago, I stumbled upon the Vaquita, a tiny endangered porpoise. I was heartbroken when I read about its story, so I decided to start this blog, along with many other efforts to help this species. I post poems, facts, and updates about the Vaquita weekly, and have other pages to help inform you about the Vaquita and its helpers. I hope this blog will help save a species in need.”

if this is all the info you have, [and take another minute and read it once more to really try and figure this out], what picture comes to your mind? is it a male or a female? someone with many years of life experience to draw upon, or a young child? someone who speaks with an English accent? or are we talking European? Australian or New Zealand perhaps? or is it someone from my continent of Africa or my present home of Americaland?

who do you picture writing this?

but wait, here is one more set of clues as to the authorship of said blog:

“I love playing tennis, birdwatching, hiking, even school, but my main focus is animal conservation through writing.”

for me, ‘animal conservation through writing,’ and i instantly have a woman in mind… ‘playing tennis’ and ‘birdwatching’ makes her fifty plus years of age… hiking throws a potential hint of a curveball… but it’s the word ‘school’ that seems out of place…?

it is in fact the line i omitted, that starts off this blog bio, which fills in a lot more of the gaps:

“I am an 11-year-old boy living in Bethlehem, PA.”

well slap-my-face-to-the-side-of-a-pig-and-roll-me-in-the-mud. It’s called V-Log and it is largely about the saving of a species of porpoise called the Vaquita [of which there are only about 250 left in the world] and you can check it out here, and it does contain poetry like this, and it really just moved and excited me to see an 11 year old confident young man with poetic gifts and more really being passionate about something and then actively living out/chasing his passion in the best way he knows how… [where is Oprah or Ellen when you need them?]

his blog profile name is goldenliontamarin and it describes him well. we can learn a lot from him and i hope we do.

if you don’t have a passion and a purpose or aren’t pursuing it, then there is a really strong chance that you aren’t living, you are just existing. let’s learn from this young 11 year old guy [who seems a lot older than a lot of older people i know] and really start sucking the marrow out of life. in a good way.

choose living.

far from God but God from far

so i have been feeling quite far or distant from God for quite a while – for the second half of last year it was cos i was caught up in sin and most particularly time wastage but i sorted that out – confessed and made right with God, and people – just before Summer Camp – and have been trying to get into a place of spending more time seeking God and resting in Him and listening to Him (altho to be fair, i think i still have a long way to go there) and so in one sense it feels like i’ve put everything in place or gotten to the optimal place (ish, comparatively speaking at least) so that i should be hearing from Him and seeing Him, but still the sense of distance prevaileth.

however, last week when i was doing the talk at the school event and the kids were being horrible in terms of focus and attention and just general rudeness (before my talk began) and one of the young guys came and prayed for me a sense of peace came over me and God pitched up and the talk happened but just completely God…

then this Sunday i preached at both services and was uncharacteristically nervous at the start of both for different reasons but also no real reason, and was calling out to God to show up or i would be in trouble and both times He really really did (the evening one started a bit shaky but definitely a sense of God really being in it and bringing it together)…

and so yes i am in a space of being or feeling at least far from God and yet regularly there are these interventions and visitations from this God from far…

i’m guessing there’s a chance He is not as far away as i might like to think at the moment and is simply teaching me an essential lesson of trusting Him and relying on Him and not doing stuff in my own strength (an easy lesson to ‘know’ in your head but how to live?) and that is not a  bad thing – even about next year and the future, there needs to be a complete relying on Him as i don’t have a clue what the next step is.

but i think that’s ok. i know He’s got that one. and me.