Weather and Foundation

IF the living, risen Jesus is our foundation, the “rock” He spoke of Himself, no weather incident, cyclone, tornado, flood or other can shake -HIM-.

Therefore we are beginning to experience something in the here-and-now we will experience in the hereafter: firm, sound and solid ground that won’t go away or ever end.

Building one’s house on sand regardless of how the scenery around it looks isn’t taking weather into consideration. What lasts and actually holds up in storms is The Issue dear reader!

Doubt? There is no doubt storms will come. Jesus Himself said so.

Have you ever looked at the tragic pile of rubble after a tornado has swept through a place? A common comment is “It looks like a bomb went off!” and indeed it does.

But if you look (or dig down) you’ll find there is just slightly above and even more below ground a foundation that withstood the terror when the rest of the building was fully wrecked and destroyed.

When such weather hits us in whatever form no amount of money, material stuff, pleasures, adulation or rejection of others toward us saves us. Never could!!

The unchanging, unchangeable Savior is none other than Jesus Himself.

May you recognize and surrender to Him before the weather you cannot control arrives.

As always, thanks for stopping by. -Glenn

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Last Facebook Update Info. Here

OK- UPDATE as of March 30, 2023 First, sorry for the bad link to my WordPress site I had posted earlier! Though you may get “warnings” from within Facebook the following is a safe and real link -and the correct one to head to http://www.gkaiser.wordpress.com which I’ve used as my main site for years. You can find a load of my links to 2 podcast sites and other WordPress sites I run and admin., also links to some e-books and more of mine in WordPress.

ALSO- I believe I’ve now properly shut down my old -personal- Glenn Kaiser page in Facebook, but https://www.facebook.com/glennkaisersolo is my main FB spot and I’ll post more often in it but *cannot* reply to all, just plz be aware of that. There is also a second FB site which GrrrRecords largely administers: https://www.facebook.com/glennkaiserband/

I’m trying to cut down on all the FB time and chatter so must be more selective. Family, recording, shows, writingS and more are priorities! Thx for your understanding. Love and cyberhugs!!

And as always, thanks for stopping by! -Glenn

Facebook Site Change Update

Yow! In seeking to end my -personal- Facebook page I realized my Glenn Kaiser (Solo) musician page is fully linked. Therefore to end the first I have to also end my GK Solo site! It may take me a day to get the NEW GK SOLO site in Facebook up and running. If you like, stay tuned via https://gkaiser.wordpress.com for the new link to Glenn Kaiser (Solo) site in Facebook. Thanks for your patience!! For details on my decision please read the earlier post where I explained about this here below.

As always, thanks for stopping by! -Glenn

Bye-Bye Facebook -Personal- Site

Or… Meta as they call it these days. NOT entirely gone but I’m talking about my personal FB account.

I have thought and prayed about this since leaving Twitter quite some time ago.

My time interacting with/running errands for my immediate family has become far more intense over the past year. That’s excellent and prioritizes much for me.

I’ve quit building cigarbox guitars but on very, very rare occasions just for myself to work out an idea and then to give many of those away. No pressure, a bit of therapy 🙂

Between family, personal study which I do a LOT of daily, song writing, recording and concerts, my focus of chaplaincy and concert visits to Cook County Jail and various prisons in Illinois and far beyond as well as bikers and other mostly blues-based music and/or speaking events my calendar is pretty full indeed!

Past and present online interviews, Zoom gatherings are stacked rather high.

Then there are writing projects I’ve slooooowly been working on and would like to finish… and several are of the sort that a not-the-greatest writer like me will require a huge portion of time and effort.

You can still connect via Glenn Kaiser Solo and Glenn Kaiser Band Facebook. From time to time I pop in to GK Solo and rarely also into the GKB site both of which Grrr Records help admin..

So- imagine if you have literally thousands of followers, gracious good-hearted folks many of whom contact you plus via Messenger – and this is only one of more than a handful of social media sites you’re on.

Add to that the intense polarization in so many areas -for me as expected as it is wearing and largely a massive consumption of time. I have so many positive things to do and people to serve in other ways.

Four very different people who I don’t think even know each other and whom I very much respect recently jump-started my thinking on all this. More on that further down the page…

Stewardship of my time and life (which I’ve written about here in my blogS) plus all the many OTHER social media and online sites I continue to work in including mainly the one you’re now reading keep me quite busy. One guy can only do so much!

Their use of algorithms along w. increasing spam, adds and a zillion folks wanting “befriending” when I have no idea who they are have soured the experience. The way FB does/doesn’t send our posts up where it seems rather unclear who sees and/or does not see what I publish. But no kidding- literally thousands of folks asking to be my friend on the platform, then I feel rather beholden to give and take in discussions. I mean, I get loads of spam and nonsense even via dm’s! It’s just too much to admin..

I quit Twitter many months ago though I frankly loved the platform/format more than others and used it happily for years. I found myself being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people, work, having to decide who to reply to and the time it takes to do so adequately. My online presence is so wide and broad I find myself overloaded which of course is on me- so time to make a change.

Weeks, then months after leaving Twitter I realized how freeing it was and that I didn’t miss it at all. Hmmmm?

True friends already know how to reach me.

Via http://www.gkaiser.wordpress.com anyone can find a load of my other WP sites one which focuses on the wider arts, another on worship and other WP based sites I also have up including e-books and more. I add to these off and on.

On this (my main site you’re viewing this on) it’s simple enough to use the search bar for years of my thoughts on a wide range of topics, God help you! I add three or four pieces per week on average not counting all the other sites, two podcast sites and more. Another social media spot I use is Instagram.

About two of the folks who prompted this:

One is dealing with cancer, up in years and expects to be in the literal presence of Jesus soon. I want to use whatever time I have wisely.

The other I admit surprised me in that they decided to close out their personal Facebook account for some of the reasons I’ve listed here, but in their case “mental and emotional well-being” was highlighted. So they decided to not merely take a break from the platform but considering the sheer burden and time consumption of it decided to stop entirely.

Those two folks caused me to take stock of all I’ve just said here. So…

It’s quite simple if you want to keep up with my shows/speaking, writing and all, it’s here at http://www.gkaiser.wordpress.com. Shows are also posted at GrrrRecords.Com

Further, anyone can write me via this site which for years has served as my main personal website as any public event -online or in person- which I do is always listed here. I cannot promise to reply to each person but try to keep up as I’m able.

Same is largely true of all the other social media and online links to them which you can find if you scroll down and look to the right side of the screen here.

Thanks for listening 🙂 I wish you the love and grace of Jesus in your choices and pursuits!

As always, thanks for stopping by. -Glenn

Celts of Cornwall and We, Here and Now

I’ve long loved aspects of Celtic Christianity and have studied and in various ways interacted with such for many years.

Recently discovering The Celtic Christianity of Cornwall by Thomas Taylor (1916) I’ve been enjoying a deep dive into the wide issues he raises in the book.

Today I only wish to offer two takeaways that say SO much in my humble opinion, and which have always had as they do as I write in March 2023, deep ramifications which fully relate to our time as well as those many hundreds of years ago in the county/country of Cornwall, England, the people and their churches.

“The Roman and, consequently, the Saxon conception of episcopal government was territorial and diocesan; the Celtic conception was tribal and monastic.”

AND-

“During the last quarter of a century a remarkable change has passed over the face of Cornish nonconformity. Revivals have almost become things of the past. Conversion, theoretically the starting-point of Methodist religion, is no longer required to be sudden. The class meeting has lost much of its attractiveness. There is less reverence for the Holy Scriptures. Many of the old doctrines are being recast. Methodism is in a state of transition. The drift is towards rationalism, but the end is not yet in sight. Under these circumstances it is not easy to form a right judgment or to forecast the future of Cornish Methodism, but to one who has spent twenty-five years in its midst and who knows how deeply and instinctively religious is the character of the people it would seem that at a no distant date there will be a volte-face, in other words, that the essentially religious instinct will reassert itself. Two alternatives may supervene. There may be a return to the Catholic faith, Anglican or Roman, of which there are already signs or there may be recourse to Christian Science, Spiritualism or some occult system which attracts by its novelty and promises to satisfy religious craving. Rationalism, which may suit the Teutonic race and be a substitute for religion, is impossible to the emotional God-fearing temper of the Celt.”

I think the reader may well connect a number of the “dots” from Taylor’s commentary of his day and ours.

As always, thanks for stopping by. -Glenn

-Read online or download the book free via: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53985

The True Church

The true church has always been a gathering of stumbling Christ-followers within or outside of families, homes, institutions and wherever and however they assemble. The only healthy ones have always been laced with broken people who with various levels and horrors of success and failure served in Jesus’ interest and call to to help other broken people.

If this does not sound like something one wishes to be part of, consider how many flawless, perfect gatherings of people doing such work exist in the world. The historical human/inhuman race is loaded with mistakes and faulty judgments- and what the Bible calls sin.

The real world is far more than a hard, absolute binary narrative or perspective of either sterling holiness or demonic activities worthy of disgust.

This, in part, is why many withdraw as much as possible from engaging.

Loving neighbor as self has and will continue to be messy, needed, sacrificial, -and the call.

As always, thanks for stopping by. -Glenn

Simple, Profound

A. W. Tozer offered a most basic bit of advice that I began to try and apply decades ago.

“Cultivate simplicity”.

He did NOT mean “stay dumb, stupid, quit learning, toss knowledge and/or wisdom, quit growing spiritually and in every other way” of course!

The forecast today is cloudy with rain. I learned to love rain many years ago, often considering it God’s tears. Emmanuel- “God WITH us”.

Relationship with my Father via His Son Jesus Christ, wrapped in the Holy Spirit.

And yep, a good cup (or pot) of coffee, tea. A warm fire, better still, campfire and time in the woods.

A few close friends who are truly friends. Family.

A good night’s sleep.

But of course clean water, basic healthy food, adequate climate-sensible clothing, a roof overhead, at least needed healthcare. The grace of any of these for incarcerated people is usually not lost because IF they receive most and sometimes all of them, well, just read Jesus’ comments toward the end of Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 25.

So very many in the wide world do not have the things I mention here.

Life became confusing, complex. Self-medicating began to further unravel threads they’d become accustomed to. The “Where is/was God in all this?!!” became a deep and continual question.

Simplicity?! HOW in light of deep need, tragedies, perhaps betrayal, health issues and “acts of nature”?

Over and over I come back to a few “ballpark” realities regardless of circumstance:

Psalm 1, Romans chapter 8 and Matthew 28.20

I am DEEPLY grateful to the righteous God for His grace and provision right through this earthly journey –regardless. Faithful and True. My Provider.

He wants to be yours also. In fact He is in so many ways -whether you know it or not. Love is like that.

As always, thanks for stopping by. -Glenn

In The Long Run

Been thinking about commitment, renewal, revitalization.

Truth is, I’ve been thinking about these and associated issues off and on for most of my lifetime as a follower of Jesus.

See, just as it’s surely a deep need for the people of Israel (and Judah) to turn back, to turn again, to consider the memorials/standing stones, to REMEMBER Who it was, is and will be by whom they are fed, sustained, protected and nurtured both spiritually and in the practical, so it is with each of us professing Christ followers individually. Why?

We age. People, jobs, churches, small groups, local and larger neighborhoods all change over time. Sometimes it’s just “same-old, same-old” and we need something fresh, new, different.

There are a stack of reasons why but here I simply wish to convey the obvious… renewal costs but so does camping out in cement -demanding all things never change… because they do and even each of us do!

So it seems to me it’s in the details, the way we do X, Y or Z be it it daily work, exercise, rest and recreation, various spiritual practices and more are elements of which a changing landscape (literally or metaphorically) happens and often whereby we genuinely cannot control it.

Then there are our own desires to step out of ruts, habits we used to find life-giving which now seem thin and sometimes even useless. Off we go to search for ideas and reach for possibilities, creatively considering “what might this or that bring my way?”

In the long run we may discover our original place, point of reference and sense of solid, genuine nurture was what we left behind. Conversely, we might find authentic growth, life and fruitfulness by the new things we try. Often we won’t know which is which until we move down the road a bit.

I’ve lived long enough to experience all of these and both basic outcomes over and over. I’ve also seen and heard others all over the world who have much the same life experience.

It seems a deep and core issue in it all is not making a change we cannot reverse. Some bridges (what God’s Word the Bible refers to as “sin”) are best burned and discarded while other bridges must be built over time. It is often the lack of patience, humility and willingness to consider a different path that sticks us tightly to destructive forces where on the other hand it is also quite possible to leap in a river, quickly get over our heads as we weren’t willing to consider the current, undertow or listen to the wisdom of those who barely escaped without drowning.

I’m convinced we must live as students of God, His Word and this life, church and world history, willing to navigate admitting our own failings and dependence on the Lord. Renewal may be exactly what we need. Without each of and the effort involved we may come to a bitter end by our own slack.

People who got tired of solid ground got creative. It lead some to discover flight. Flight of course, can also lead to a fatal crash.

Where we are in relationship with or without the true God is both ground and sky.

As always, thanks for stopping by! -Glenn

I Believe Because?

Or for that matter, disbelieve because?

Why??

Well there’s a can of worms impossible to really suss out in a short blog post.

This one is an attempt to lay out only a small set of pieces I’ve thought important to consider for decades. The FACT is nobody is 100 percent correct all the time, fully certain -so faith comes into play whether or not the argument is “Yes, faith indeed but MINE is based on KNOWLEDGE, TRUTH, DEEP STUDY and EXPERIENCE!” Ha… yeah well so is mine. So… what?!

Most of us love to be “our own authority” or rest our positions on those people we trust -whether our faith in them and their knowledge and wisdom is warranted or thin. As if none of them are flawed just as we are -as are our friends and most trusted people? See, there is an unraveling easy to point out even re. the most wise persons.

I think often the atheist’s “Jesus” looks back at them in the mirror. I also think such is sometimes true of professing followers of Christ. History reveals pagan and so-called spiritual giants equally abusive of others and often especially so of those they disagreed with.

Then there is the flip side: kindness can be and has been a hallmark of people who do not believe in what believers would call “spirituality” just as it can those naming Jesus as their Savior.

Then there are people through flawed reasoning or merely a vague perspective take a stand against the authority of what Christians call scripture (Old and New Testaments). To be sure, the same is much like that of one follower of His vs. another in church history to this very day.

Where provable scientific and archaeological findings confirm what The Bible says is often dismissed and not given credibility and this often on the basis of an individual’s or group’s personal interpretation.

If the exegesis vs. eisegesis issue looms large between believers -and it does, when people who have pre-decided there is zero reason to believe in spiritual matters such as the Bible is laced with cover to cover, that it’s authors and others have taken such as reality and not mere mythology or personal desire means it’s all a wash, fables, not worth believing. Imagine the absurdity (and it has been done, of this I’m well aware) of believers doing likewise with scientific proof. “Flat earth” anyone?!!

As Charlie Peacock sang “We’re a whole lot different we’re a whole lot the same.”

Interesting how believers and unbelievers share in concepts of right and wrong, faith and faithlessness, kindness and compassion, harshness and brutality. How we each, then both general groups interpret all these often varies widely, no?

Am I saying it often gets down to interpretation as to whom we consider allies or adversaries, friends or enemies? Yes, precisely.

While a personal faith, trust, actual walk in following Jesus Christ is essential what follows for followers is not only knowledge of but application of… His WORD. To blow that off essentially means you think your own thoughts as scripture/cannon. Seems to me both world and church history reveal this is nothing new at all!

For me, it was indeed a new life, one I could never imagine nor create by myself nor via the most trusted people in my life. It was all too easy to recognize my own flaws and self-destruction as it also was the imperfections and false “knowledge” of believers and non-believers all around me.

In the end, when I wanted to be free of addiction none of them and certainly not myself could cure the poisoning of my own life.

As I have long heard arguments of people throughout my now 70 years, what keeps coming back to me is the solid truth and sense of things such as this:

I am convinced the true and very much alive God knows precisely how to reveal Himself to each person, a genuine epiphany.

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
-Hebrews 11.6

“When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart…” -Jeremiah 29.13

As always, thanks for stopping by. -Glenn

Definition

I’ve often written about this issue as I do several matters I believe need to be considered regarding faith and the human condition -so I repeat myself a great deal. Our heavenly Father does as do many if not most Old and New Testament human authors in Book after Book.

Several nights ago I shared with a large group a key element I’m mentioning here.

My Redeemer is also my Creator and my Definer and Refiner. He alone holds these positions and alone IS these in my life. Of this I am fully convinced, that is, by Him persuaded.

He most certainly refines me through events, various circumstances, even suffering and via people as well as His Word again and again.

Someone asked me if I had a senses of a particular word to share with the crowd on the evening and I said I did, and this issue of definition was it.

It has not been unusual for me to ask “Who has the ultimate right to define concepts, words, even our own lives?” I am convinced it boils down to God Himself, not any group, crowd, others, not even we ourselves though of course we may choose, like, feel good or horrible about any/all of these giving us clues and ideas about defining who we really are, should become, were “meant” to be. By whom I ask?

I think “whose” we are comes first, and indeed the One and Only “Alpha and Omega”. After that it’s a moment-to-moment relationship and together a walk. “My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me.”

Oh there are many options and we each and all have a great deal of ability to shapeshift -yet and still…

Is the biblical “potter” constructing and shaping the clay or are we seeking to do it ourselves?

Who is my/your creator, redeemer? Who’s your refiner? Definer? There is your actual, ultimate god.

Identity is a deep thing and naturally not all will agree with either myself or you dear reader, but in the end the One we’d best agree with is…

Sad fact- sometimes we find Him, His Word, His people quite disagreeable. My experience is when we do we may fall into the easy and common temptation to take our own direction as though we are our own divinity, master of our fate here and hereafter. We become our own director, script-writer and such.

How our story unfolds and will one day end is of great and essential importance.

These are things I believe worth considering along the path.

As always, thanks for stopping by. -Glenn