Truth is Relational

Truth is Relational.
There is no truth outside of relationship.
God exists in relationship.
All things exist in God.
All things exist in relationship.
Truth is known and experienced and developed within relationship.
To know truth is be in relationship.
Deception is the evidence and casuse of broken relationship
One's ability to be in relationship with others determines one's ability to know/experience truth.
Everyone relates differently.
Everyone experiences relationships differently.
Everyone knows and experiences truth differently.

Absolute truth is being in relationship with all things.
God exists in relationship with all things.
For everything that exists, exists in God.

In our context truth is a word that conjures up ideas of boundaries, exclusion, friend and foe.
What if truth inspired possibility, creativity, relationality, unity expressed in diversity?
What if to be true, was to be open, to be inviting, to be humble?

Relationships are a context in which our deceptions are laid bare: hatred, mistrust, envy, lust, power, greed.
All of these deceptions are defined by how one relates to something.

Relationships are a context in which truth can be experienced: love, acceptance, patience, trust, humility, service.

A true person is one who can relate to all things with love, for that is how God relates to all things.

Only in Seattle

If you ever visit Seattle you quickly realize it has quite the thriving homeless population. It is a sad situation, and it break's your heart as you encounter these people and realize the amount of pain they have suffered in thier lives. But the unique thing about the people who have come upon hard times in Seattle is that they often have quite the sense of humor. This is seen in their creative signs they hold expressing their need for money. I thought I would share this one with you. It definately made me laugh.

Pike Place Market

Reds, yellows, greens, violets, blues fill the air. Faces of people unknown pass by. Fresh. Clouds clearing, sun peering. Fruit divine, flowers sublime. Wife smiling. Stop and look. Reach and taste. Wait and savor. Soup and bread. Coffee and chocolate. Sabbath rest. Life is good. Joy is real.

Sneak Attack thwarts Summit Attempt

This past weekend my mom, Linda was in town from Chicago. She of course was fleeing the torrential downpours of the soggy Midwest (I just don't know how people put up with the weather out there). It was a wonderful weekend of good meals and catching up. Sunday though we attempted to venture out into the wild, touch nature, commune with mother earth, see the world from the vantage point of the sleeping giants we call mountains (analogy stolen from Kate Rickard).

Our destination: Granite Mountain, 5629 ft above sea level. It was to be an eight mile round trip trek through the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Old Mr. Granite was to afford us views of Rainier, Baker, Glacier, and Stuart. Our challenge was 3800 ft of incline.

May not be accurate representation of Granite Mountain.

We awoke early to beat the crowds, knowing Old Big Rock is shy in a crowd. The initial ascent reminded our legs of their days of slumber and relaxation. They soon relented though, and the blood of life began to flow ever so passionately through our veins. We soon came upon a fellow journeyer. She was on her descent. Inquisitive that I am, I questioned if she had seen El Granito's top so soon today. There was fear in her eyes as she quickly relayed the horrors that accompanied her isolated expedition on this day. Her words were fast and mumbled, almost incoherent. "Bees!!!" she finally screamed. Immediately she bolted from our presence, leaving us only with wonder and confusion at what might possibly lay ahead for us on our journey today.

I decided to take to the lead. The stench brewing that often accompanies my body would surelyrepel would be attackers looking for a sweet taste of goodness, possibly in the flavor of Peppermint Pear (or whatever concoction my feminine companions had applied to their bodies this morning).

Time passed on as our steps became many. We soon left the company of the pines and enter the higher land of brush and other brush like plants (possibly shrubs, I don't quite remember I might have been lost in the euphoric wonder of the terrain that was so quickly and seductively enveloping me). Had I so quickly forgotten? Or had I simply ignored the words of warning that had been sent to us?

It was then that I heard the most horrific, gut wrenching, cry of agony that I have ever beheld. It was as if the world at that moment stop moving. I turned round, and watched helplessly as the woman I love was brutally marred by nothing other than a Bee itself. "My eye!" Is all I could hear coming from her sweet tender lips, now tainted by the tortourus words of anguish.

Still unknown if Bee actually carries a sword

I looked for the perpetrator. I tore at the ground, revenge dripping from my pours. As quickly as he performed his haneous crime of injustice he was gone. Suddenly the clouds seemed darker, and the path seemed overrun with those damn shrubs! So we ran. We ran with all of our might down old Stony never to return.

We drove away, Granite peering over our shoulders, his eyes visible in the rearview. My wife, no longer coherent just mumbled "Bees, bees, bees, bees, bees.................................."

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