Holy Ground Reprise ~ Closing Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

I am at a loss.  This song will not let go of me.  Even weeks of thinking through it have not let go of it.  It is spinning in my head when I awaken.  It haunts my dreams.  I find myself humming it when I am not focused on other things.  Even when I am focused on the task of the moment it plays in the background like the hum in a wire.

Perhaps it is that I have not found the lesson in it yet even though I have found many.  Perhaps I am just obsessed.  Whatever the case this particular song worm is still gnawing away at me.  I must move on to other writing.

Still I have learned more about holy ground Dear Reader.  The most important is that I can become holy ground for others.  If I treat them with the love of Christ then I can create holy moments where they have the opportunity to see Christ more clearly.  This brings me some comfort.

I have also learned that the things for which I feel the deepest need are still eluding me.  All of them are shadows of what lies ahead and the need for them is intended to draw me homeward.  I still deeply feel the absence of a fellow traveler.  I still feel the strong desire to follow Christ as closely as I can.  I also feel se very damaged and broken.

Things about which I must write in the coming days are heavy but I must be true to the focus of my heart and mind in follow Christ.  So, Dear Reader, as we move further down the path together I leave with thought from Waterdeep.  It is all holy ground.  Jesus is in the midst of us.  I follow him and cherish the holy ground that is created when you walk with me.

If You Want to Get Free – Waterdeep

In the gas station bathroom by the condom machine

I heard the word of the Lord

He said "Take off your shoes,

this is holy ground too

you know I came for the sick and the bored."

Beneath the selling of beers

And the welling up of tears

Out beyond the beam of the remote control

There's a whispering voice

That the humble ear ears

that says "I am still waiting

for you to ask just to be made whole."

And the bush it was burning on the mountain top

and though the leaves never blackened, the fire didn't stop

That's the way that it works in this old life of sin

You gotta let the fire burn you just to get clean within

I am so often deterred from my actual intent

by distractions in a cellophane wrap

And the cruel voice that taunts me when I open them up

to find just one more box full of crap

It's where you're mocked while you abstain

and then cursed when you give in

It's all a game that's impossible to beat

But there's a peaceful refrain God'll sing in your brain

when you put the nails to your hands and your feet

And the smell of our sacrifices

still fills up my head

There's just a few left at the altar, Lord

all the rest of them fled

And we've cried and we've tried

We've sweat and we've bled

But we don't just need atonement

We need to be raised from the dead

When they took down the cross from that dark hillside

The blood on their hands was the blood from his side

That's the way that it works, That's the way it must be.

You gotta let His blood stain you of you want to get free

If you want to get free

Don't you want to get free?

I think you want to be free.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Ground Reprise ~ Home

Greetings Dear Reader,

I am aware that most of our speculation about what comes at the end of the journey is based on very little hard evidence.  Most of what is written outside of the Word is culturally defined.  Most of what we discuss has to do with circumstance over location.

Defining what home is seems difficult for me always.  I know it is not what I have currently.  I know that it is not what I had growing up.  If home is holy ground for us then I am sure I am unsure what it is.  I know it when I feel it.  I know it when I experience it.

Perhaps we create home here because of our imbued longing for the home of that undiscovered country.  Perhaps any home is intended to be a shadow of what is to come.  It is promised that what is to come is beyond our imagination.  It is assured that there is room for us all. 

I am sure that the depths of my imagination cannot touch the creativity of the Father.  I am also sure that this is part of the contract of faith.  We are not supposed to concern ourselves with the material but rather the quality of what comes next.  We will be free from the presence of all wrong.  We will be loved and able to fully love.  We will be without apprehension and hindrance. 

Our faith will be fulfilled.  Our hope will be realized.  That undiscovered country is home.  Everything else would be shadow of that.  I long for that feeling of home.  I long for that desire to be fulfilled.  I long for the loneliness to end.  For now I must keep walking by faith.

Pilgrims to the City of God – Michael Card

Pilgrims of passion we follow the One

Who holds out a cross and a crown

We travel a dark road that has but one Light

For we have here no lasting town

Sometimes we run by the power of His might

On our own at the best we can plod

What we hopefully look for is just beyond sight

We are pilgrims to the city of God

The stigma of strangers lost in a strange land

In a fallen world that's not our home

But we are not homeless prodigals here

Because we have someplace to go

Sometimes we run by the power of His might

On our own at the best we can plod

What we hopefully look for is just beyond sight

We are pilgrims to the city of God

Behold you have come to Mount Zion

The the City of Great King

To thousands and thousands of angels who've come

Assembled to joyfully sing, they sing

Sometimes we run by the power of His might

On our own at the best we can plod

What we hopefully look for is just beyond sight

We are pilgrims to the city of God

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Ground Reprise ~ Fellow Travelers

Greetings Dear Reader,

I have driven the route to and from my residence in the northern Mid-West to various family dwellings around Atlanta for seventeen years now.  The drive takes fourteen hours give or take.  I always observe if there are cars or trucks common to the route I am driving.  On one voyage I leapfrogged with a green GMS Palm Beach the entire journey.  It was from Wisconsin and I can only surmise that it was headed to Florida.

Even though the journey is solitary for each of it requires that we journey together.  It is necessary for us to care for each other.  It is even required.  The analogy of the long drive is so apropos.  We encounter others whether long term or briefly.  Those we encounter see us from their perspective; their journey.

We are told how we should see all fellow travelers.  We must see them as Christ sees them.  We must love them as he loves them.  Some will hurt us.  Some will benefit our lives briefly or in the long term.  Some will promise to journey with us the entire way and then abandon us.  All are worthy or our love. 

These fellow travelers are not so different from me.  They are flawed and in need of all that Christ offers.  They are obligated to love me just as I am obligated.   They are under the requirements from God that I am under.  Not one of them will reach the end of the path without at some point needing that love.

No matter how briefly someone journey’s next to me it is my obligation and honor to be loving and king to him or her.  Just yesterday I encountered a friend I have not seen in a couple of years.  Our encounter was brief but it filled me with genuine joy to travel together for a moment.  I want to become holy ground for those whom I encounter.  I want to be an oasis on the journey.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Ground Reprise ~ 1000 Memories

Greetings Dear Reader,

I have so many memories.  Conversations with others resurface.  Events experienced cause videos to play themselves in my head.   For good or ill I cherish the memories that the journey has afforded me.

Sometimes the painful memories surface unbidden when I am alone.  They attempt to divert me to things unhealthy and unbearable.  It is simple enough to pray my way through them.   Sometimes, however, I must entertain them briefly to see what they have to teach.  

This practice does not make things easier.  It is necessary for the journey.  Then there are the memories that a beautiful and pure.  Memories flecked with light the bring me back “to Friendship and Pleasure and Work and Fight.”  The companions of recalling time with my children and others that I love dearly ease the pains and sorrows of life.

It is in the memories that I carry the lessons of life that urge me to be a better man, father, and friend.  It is these good memories that are holy ground to me.  It is in them that I see the moments where Christ carried and comforted me.  It is in the holy ground of memories that put me in the proper place to find deeper faith; to follow more closely.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Ground Reprise ~ Cracked Rear Vision

Greetings Dear Reader,

I know what the road is.  I know what comprises the journey.  As I look in the rear vision mirror I cannot help but see some of the pieces of me scattered along the way.  As each moment slips into my cracked rear vision I see things given, discarded, and lost.

The things lost are beyond my control but some of them are things I would not have done.  I would not have lost my Grandfather when I did.  I still believe that family politics hastened his demise.  His passing was the zenith of a dark age for me and some of that darkness still marks me.  Still his departure was allowed and so part of the journey set before me. 

A sister, a daughter, and some few friends completed their journey ahead of me as well.  All of these moments leave me carrying less than I would.  There are not even enough memories.  Each step closer to home makes me yearn for that reunion.  There are a few material things I would like to hold again but they are temporal and not significant to the journey.

There are things that I discarded for good reason and when their memory returns I review the lessons learned from leaving them behind.  There are also things discarded that I would have again.  None of them are possessions.  They all involve people and situations.  They are all too painful to illuminate.

I do not regret the things given.  All of them will have their own part in bringing things back to good.  Whether material, monetary, or time the investment in others is never wasted.  From time to time I hear from former students of the way in which their time under my tutelage has aided them.  This is so joyful.  Nothing about having given to others is wasted or lost.

The primary thing about that rear vision mirror is that I must never look into it for too long a space.  One cannot move forward accurately if his focus is on what is behind.  Time spent on holy ground in the past should be remembered. I must, however, keep moving to the next bit of respite along the way.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Ground Reprise ~ The Road

Greetings Dear Reader,

Since my faith informs me that my life is a journey back to God then anything in this life is part of the road home.  I long for the holy ground of home so deeply.  When, however, I try to make it here it never seems to materialize. 

I know that any home I have here is a shadow of things to come.  The places where I grew up were never really a home.  As a boy the only place that felt like home was my Grandfather’s place.  There I was always loved and always taught to do right.  It was taken from me abruptly.

I had a home as an adult for a brief space.  I was so entrenched in my own pain and dealing with it improperly that failed to cherish what I had and lost it.  Now it seems that I will not have a home again.  Instead I have the road.

If I am to follow Christ fully then I should realize that even what I think of as home is a small thing to sacrifice.  It is also a shadow of what lies ahead at the end of the path.  I do not long for a mansion or some great reward.  I long for a place where the love and peace of Christ fills every thing and every moment. 

Until then I have the road.  I must follow.  I must leave behind the things that hinder me.  I must carry the things that aid the journey.  The nights in the wilderness are those of a homeless man with shelter but no permanence.  There is solace for this as well.  Christ has promised to be my home. 

He has promised to be with me in every moment; every step.  He has assured me that I am never alone, even when I feel so alone that I could die from it.  He has given his word that every moment of pain will be worth it.  I always believe it even when I do not feel it.

I Will Bring You Home – Michael Card

Though you are homeless

Though you're alone

I will be your home

Whatever's the matter

Whatever's been done

I will be your home

I will be your home

I will be your home

In this fearful fallen place

I will be your home

When time reaches fullness

When I move my hand

I will bring you home

Home to your own place

In a beautiful land

I will bring you home

I will bring you home

I will bring you home

From this fearful fallen place

I will bring you home

I will bring you home

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Ground Reprise ~ Identifying It

Greetings Dear Reader,

Before I can assess what I need in light of what is going on I must first define what holy ground is for me.  The definitions are both obvious and not so obvious. 

The obvious is church for me.  I drink deeply from that well and it sustains me often.  It is, however, not the holy ground that is most precious to me.  Some of the ground that is holy to me is simple.  Anywhere that my children are present becomes holy ground to me.  I only ever feel at home around them.

Home is holy ground to me though I currently do not have one.  I have a place where I lay my head and scratch out my writing but it is solitary and so not a home.  This is one of those longings that haunts me daily.  Home is holy ground upon which I need to be but fear it is lost for me for the foreseeable future.  I will get back to this later.

My favorite diner is holy ground.  My Friday breakfast ritual is precious to me.  When others choose to join me it is even richer.  I take comfort in being kind to those who are always there.  I would spend more time there were I free to do so.

This writing desk is holy ground.  For years now this chair and desk have been the primary place from which I spin my yarns and think my thoughts.  It is where I ask the questions and search for answer.  It is where I read and pray.  It is my small sanctuary from the general loneliness of the room. 

There is a town in Georgia that is holy ground to me.  It is like Rivendell in my mind with less magic and more mystery.  I will journey there later this year and hope to find a bit of peace to last for a space.  There is family in Georgia that is precious to me as well.  Some time with them brings me better focus and perspective.

I need consistent contact with holy ground to get by.  The most precious to me is denied me at this point.  So I feel like a vagabond most of the time lacking home and a fellow traveler.  Some of that is my fault and some was forced upon me.  Still I follow the one who is ultimately my home.  It is in Christ that I find rest when I can.  It is in him that all the treasures of home endure.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Ground Reprise ~ Opening Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

I have mentioned song worms and their impact on me.  I have had one working its way through my brain for almost two weeks now.  Having to pay attention to Holy Week I needed to let it have its way with me without much work on it.  Am I at last free to address the worm and all it is saying to me.

It is not small thing that the worm also involves Christmas.  I take anything that forces me to think of Christmas very seriously.  As I take a little time to unearth the worm and his lessons I get to enjoy thoughts of Christmas. 

I will of course share the song and the lyrics bellows.  The link is to a very beautiful driving video.  I have listened to the song on repeat at work for all of the last two weeks.  It is obvious that there are messages of Christmas and family.  There is, however more.  Please, Dear Reader join me as I journey on pondering and positing holy ground, road trips, and a thousand memories.

Driving Home for Christmas – Chris Rea

I'm driving home for Christmas,

Oh, I can't wait to see those faces.

I'm driving home for Christmas, yeah,

Well I'm moving down that line.

And it's been so long, but I will be there;

I sing this song to pass the time away

Driving in my car

Driving home for Christmas

Its gonna take some time

But I’ll get there

Top to toe in tailbacks.

Oh, I got red lights all around,

But soon there’ll be a freeway, yeah,

Get my feet on holy ground.

So I sing for you,

Though you can’t hear me

When I get through

And feel you near me.

Driving in my car

I’m driving home for Christmas

Driving home for Christmas

With a thousand memories.

I take a look at the driver next to me;

He's just the same.

Just the same…

Top to toe in tailbacks.

Oh, I got red lights all around,

I’m driving home for Christmas, yeah,

Get my feet on holy ground.

So I sing for you,

Though you can hear me

When I get through

And feel you near me.

Driving in my car

I’m driving home for Christmas

Driving home for Christmas

With a thousand memories.

I take a look at the driver next to me;

He's just the same.

He’s driving home, driving home

Driving home for Christmas

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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