A River Flows From Within

Heavenly Question Marks

It was only a little over six weeks ago when the first major Atlantic Hurricane of the season hammered the coast of Texas and wreaked havoc in the Houston area. The wettest tropical cyclone on record in the US dropped over 40 inches of rain in a four-day period. Massive flooding caused death, destruction and heartbreak for thousands of people. Harvey, as the storm was named, started a pattern where over the next few weeks three additional Hurricanes would form and either threaten the United States or make direct contact on Florida and Puerto Rico.

Houston Flooded

As we approach the second half of October, the colorful peace of autumn has settled in as a welcome contrast to the fear filled chaotic atmosphere of early September. The mood in this flood ravaged city is rising due to recovery and the march of their beloved baseball Astros toward a World Series birth. I am reminded of a providential day at the end of August.

It was 6:30am on Wednesday, August 30. I was one of five men sitting around a table at our local Chic Fil A. For about seven years now we have been getting together every other early Wednesday morning. We talk about what is going on in our lives, we read scripture, study devotionals and pray. We call ourselves BIC (Brothers in Christ) Reunion Group. On this particular morning, brother Monte suggested that we engage in some serious servants’ work pertaining to the crises in Houston from Hurricane Harvey. Local broadcasting powerhouse WSB was conducting a -water drive- to collect donations of bottled drinking water for the Houston populace which was suffering for vital clean uncontaminated water.

WSB donation center

Being recently retired, I had time and a pick-up truck available. Brother Monte being his own boss had time. Our BIC brothers ponied up some financing. So we collected enough to stock up my small bed Ford Ranger.  Monte and I surmised we could meet in an hour, stop at the local Costco, deliver to the TV station and be free for the afternoon. But, we learned again the best laid plans of mice and men according to the great poet Robert Burns, "Gang aft a-gley."

Monte decided to post on our Smyrna First UMC and Smyrna Walk to Emmaus Facebook pages what we were doing and invited folks to participate.  By the time I got to Monte’s house he had received notification of support for a second truckload of water! At this point our effort began to take on another feel.  All of a sudden the divine intervention of amazing grace began to rain down and flow through the relief effort. At the TV Station the organizers were overwhelmed by the response. They had to summon additional tractor trailer transport. By the time we had finished delivery of the first load, we had social media commitments for two more loads. Have you ever heard of “Fishes and Loaves?” I now know firsthand the meaning of that story.

Water for life.

Our Creator continued to place little miracles in our path. A couple from our Church called to say they had a bigger pick-up available and we could consolidate the final two of four loads into one. This gift allowed Monte and I to complete our work before the crush of Atlanta rush hour. We delivered enough bottled water to place one each in the hands of 4,000 residents! Perhaps the most gracious moment of the day was during the assembling of our final load outside Costco. As I was handing cases to Monte standing in the truck bed, a kind gentleman approached.

Father Tannous

He asked, “Is this water going to Houston? I have relatives there."

We replied, “Yessir.”

He then began picking up cases to help us. Over the next few minutes this meek man dressed in black showed us another example of the body of Christ. When we asked his name, he told us that he was Father Tannous and invited us to: Father Tannous' Church

I constantly marvel at how God places juxtaposition, contradiction and divine paradox in our lives. Sometimes these are front page news stories, situations, people, places and happenings that dangle a heavenly question mark in front of our eyes. Here was a city, Houston, overrun with water, people flood forced from their homes. But they were desperate for good water, the water that quenches a thirst, water to cleanse the heart. And so it is with all of us. We, the world, desperately thirst for the true Living Water.

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.

John 7:38

Bradford Bosworth

October, 2017

Sisters, Drivers and Teddy Bears

(Final in a series) 

Angel Guides

Romans 12:2 (NIV)

John Fleming & John McCorkle

Our mission team has arrived back in the USA. For me it happened in earnest this morning waking up in my own bed. Starting with emotional goodbyes to the young men guides we have grown to love, to proceeding through the Haitian side of an endless maze of airport check ins and customs inspections, the journey road felt full of pot holes and speed bumps much like the streets of Port-au-Prince. Then a somewhat bumpy flight followed by the Atlanta side customs process and we were back on familiar soil with traffic lights, paved roads and, most of the time, a right of way. I thought of the atmospheric reentry that astronauts experience when they return to our planet. The pattern of the world we experienced in Haiti does not conform to the pattern of the world we live in here in Georgia.

Our mission to Haiti was about healing. Yes, it was medical in substance with the subscribing of fungal cream and blood pressure pills all of which provide corrective physical healing over time. This is the healing of our worlds whether Port-au-Prince or Atlanta. The true healing that took place on this trip was expressed in a young sister, another of Abba’s daughters, who could not hear or speak, teaching us to sign “I love you”. It was healing played out watching our adept driver learn to swim in the Caribbean and opening his eyes under salt water for the first time. For this writer, it was a big hug from a three-hundred-pound misty eyed teddy bear who would be a security guard.

This week was about the healing that is born of the Holy Spirit. It is a healing that cannot help but to travel both ways. It is the healing that transforms the giver into the recipient and the student into the teacher. It is the renewing of our minds. It is the testing and approving of God’s will for us. And we know for certain we are abiding in His good, pleasing and perfect will.  Se’ yon bil bagay!

Father thank you for always being present and ready to heal us when we conform to the pattern of the world. Amen

Bradford Bosworth

Have No Fear

(eighth in a series)

1 John 4:18-19

Patti Cox & Brad Bosworth

Yesterday for the first time in seven days our Haiti Mission Team took a day of rest and relaxation. We traveled to a distant beach where we lounged, frolicked in the salt water of the Caribbean Sea. Our Haitian guides, the translators, security guards and driver came with us. Gel, Achka, Jhon, Benson, Blanc, Eric and Patrice had the day off in a place they would not normally visit. Today our team ministered to them and thus ourselves and it was glorious.

There is a bond between the team and these Haitians. It is a connection through our Maker. God is Love and we speak to each other in the language of God without fear. On this day with no duties or responsibilities to distract us with doubt and petty fear, we come closer to perfection in love.

I have witnessed extreme conditions of poverty this week. Our medical mission team has attended to about three hundred patients who otherwise most certainly would not have had access to any kind of treatment. In many a religious circle, there is some belief that God punishes for the sins of humankind. But God is Love! Therefore, being perfect His love is infinitely certain. There is no doubt here that God loves his children who are, in total, humankind. Since Abba’s love is perfect, there is no fear for God does not punish His children.

Since arriving last week we have had two sizable gentlemen displaying badges and wearing “Security” splashed across their backs. They possess a solemn demeaner and holstered firearms. Their presence is to first give the team distance from danger and threat. In truth, they are here to help assuage any fears we have in this very foreign, but not hostile environment. At first they remained distant, in the shadows, almost out of sight. As they witnessed the Grace of God raining on their fellow Haitians, Patrice and Eric came gradually closer, smiling more and more until it was the perfect Love of Christ moving between them and us allaying all of our fears. We have loved each other because He first Loved us.

Father, we long for the certainty of Immanuel filling us with His perfect Love that drives out all our fears, Amen

Bradford Bosworth

Find Your Gifts

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

(7th in a series)

Haiti Missionaries

1^st Peter 4:10

Jeannette and Ryan Karstensen

It is a monumental responsibility to lead a mission trip to a foreign land. The people who will be the recipients of your charitable efforts will most likely gain a lifelong impression from the team’s comportment. If there is a language barrier, then our demeanor and body language speaks for our faith. On this Haiti Mission trip, there are eight folks from three different Churches with two on their very first excursion. The bottom line is “God has given us some special abilities,” and it is up to us to make them blend and become faithful stewards of God’s Grace in all its forms.

Our repasts together, breaking bread, are always a time to coalesce once again. Tuesday our team was having lunch together and I presented them with Jeanette and Ryan’s scripture passage from 1 Peter. We went around the table and each member of the body reflected on how the Word spoke to them. I took notes as they shared. The Holy Spirit translated as follows:

The mission becomes our great commission when the true goal is “to make disciples of all nations,” (Matt. 28:19).  As the “Body of Christ,” each one of us is a single chapter in Yahweh’s epic novel of grace titled “Humankind.” The mission now becomes a gifted quilt made of individual scraps, throwaway fabric that now stitched together warms each soul it comforts. Our unique gifts manifested become a tapestry of colors woven into Abba’s glorious creation of Love in His Son Christ Jesus.

Often it is through our willingness to serve and at the point of our Christian action where we begin to discern what are the gifts we have received from our heavenly Father. Surely for us to keep and maintain those gifts we must give them away.

Father, may we always remember your precious gift of grace can never be earned and we will always be engulfed by it as we give it away. Amen

Bradford Bosworth

Bougainvillea Beautiful

Tuesday, September 26, 2017                                                                                                                                                 (6^th in a series)

Better Bougainvillea

Isaiah 55:12-13

Ed Hogg

Over the past week I have asked myself, “If this is what Haiti looks like now, what must it have looked like after the 2010 earthquake?” The answer begging for acceptance is, “Not much different.” There is no apparent infrastructure in and around the huge steaming municipality that is Port-Au-Prince. Basic amenities like bathrooms, plumbing and consistent electrical wiring exist in a dark ages time warp. It is a city of razor wire and rebar, cinder block and barred windows. Around every corner I expect we will be entering a “nicer” neighborhood. That district never appears.  There is no apparent sanitation initiative. The only word that appears an appropriate descriptor is desolation.

Today’s scripture is speaking to me here this way: Instead of a prickly thornbush, look for the juniper tree, and instead of briars find myrtle.  Old Testament Profit Isaiah, ever the eternal optimist, is showing me how to make chicken salad out of, oh well, I better not go there. You get the drift. Seriously though, you and I will find what we look for. It has happened that way for our mission team here in Haiti. In spite of the oppressive heat and spartan surroundings where we set up our clinics, we experience almighty grace and beauty because of the presence of the Lord in the humble nature of these remarkable people.

When we have stopped to catch our breath and look around, in the midst of the ruts and rubble, there on top of a razor wire covered cinder block wall is a beautiful bougainvillea bush with vibrant red and white blooms! Surely, we know this allure is for the Lord’s renown.

Sunday, we worshipped with the locals. The experience was a piece of heaven on Earth. Then we set our clinic up on a second floor overlooking a small valley that held another large open-air house of worship. The land burst into song before us and we were reminded that His Love endures forever!

Abba, may we go out in joy and be led forth in the peace of your precious Son. Amen.

Bradford Bosworth

A Universal Language

(5^th in a series)

The Language of Love

John 15:1-7

Randy Pettit 

Even with a cursory glimpse or review of Haiti’s history one can glean that there has been and still is a continuous thread of corruption and greed in the upper echelons of the political power base. Slavery has been ever present on this tropical island since Columbus literally stumbled upon it in Christmas of 1492. Thusly he named the place he found “La Navidad” and then his settlers turned around and forced the native Taino people into slavery. Today almost 600 years later the Haitian people are still enslaved, now by poverty.

How do we apply today’s scripture to these people? To the untrained eye there is little or no fruit here. To eyes of the world the deforested infertile land here is not suitable for growing ragweed! I want to ask Abba, the vinedresser, “Why these people”? I find myself searching for branches that bear fruit. Now I am in the vineyard closer to the Vine. On the third day I saw four young men already clean because of the Word spoken to them. These members of the “priesthood of all believers” have been our interpreters. On a Saturday morning upon arrival at the Haiti Deaf Academy their role changed.

We saw them bear a glorious fully ripe and sweet fruit with the young children who, without words, spoke the universal language of Christ, a quiet language of Love. As all who were present joyfully remained in him and he in us, the young men, who at first thought they could do nothing, suddenly were able to do everything in service to these beautiful ones. It was a miracle, a beautiful thing. The teachers became the students as the youngsters gleefully taught us all about sign language. If the children could have spoken they might have said, “Se’ yon bil bagay!”

Father may we be ever mindful that none of us can bear fruit by ourselves. May we desire always to abide in your precious Son. Amen

Bradford Bosworth

Not Forgotten nor Forsaken.

Sunday, September 24, 2017 (fourth in a series)

Haiti Deaf Academy

Deuteronomy 31:6 and Hebrews 13-5

Joyce and Michael Newsom

I often subscribe to the belief that we, the American people, are the same as the Israelites, God’s chosen people. Our ancestral pilgrims settled in a promised land, a land flowing of milk and honey. Oh how evident it is that we have forgotten from whence we came. But, you know what? These Haitian people, they too are God’s chosen people. Maybe they have just not found their Moses yet nor crossed through their Red Sea. Do you want to know something? These people are strong and courageous!

A few days ago our team arrived here on the heels of four ferocious hurricanes that passed by this island also known as Hispaniola. It is as if God has said to these people, I will not forsake you, my children, you have enough on your hands now and I have some of my other children who need a wake-up call! I’m not sure if Joyce and Mike intended it? A link exists that ties these two pieces of scripture together across a millennium or more. Moses’ exhortation, “Be strong and courageous.” is repeated by his successor (Joshua 1:9). In Hebrews, the writer is reminding his audience - Jewish Christians- that the covenant of Moses, carried forward by Joshua, has been superseded by the new covenant of Christ Jesus. Our presence here is now about the Love of Christ.

Our mission team’s humbly joyful interpreter/guides are mere boys content with what they have. Gel, Achka, Benson and Jhon are the vines bearing fruit that brings daily the new covenant Love of Christ to the poor. The chosen people of Haiti know the Lord has said to them, “Never will I leave you.”

Yahweh, through all the storms of our lives may we remember that nothing can separate us from your Love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen

Bradford Bosworth

Tenderly Teachable

Saturday, September 23. 2017

(3rd in a series)

Psalms 25:4-5

Chuck Whiteside

One week ago, I was serving on a men’s Walk to Emmaus retreat and just as this weekend, that effort started in earnest on a Thursday evening. A dozen times I have made that Emmaus journey and it always happens. After about forty-eight hours or sometime Saturday afternoon or evening I reach acquiescence, lose the world’s ties that bind. A similar surrender is happening on this mission to Haiti. Initially my search for truth in the suffering here led me to label impoverished Haitians as victims and look for villains to blame. That type of thinking - akin to fantasy – resides either in the past or in the future. It is of the world, time bound. If I am absorbed in the time bound thinking of the world, then I most certainly will miss Truth in the circumstances here now.  The Truth in Port-au-Prince here and now is that the people are not stuck trying to find someone to blame for their living conditions. During the Delmas rush hour on Friday they were busy living their lives. Most, are certainly not even aware of an adjective, “third world” used elsewhere around the world to describe Haiti as a country.

Today’s scripture “Show me your ways Lord” reminds us to let go and let God. As we gain our measure of humility from serving these humble people, do we also receive teach ability, a most critical characteristic of a humble nature. We are all in our right mind when we are teachable.

My divine image of this day was the earnestness and purpose in all the mothers’ eyes guiding their nattily dressed little ones to school. My dream for them? That these women would have faith and hope all day long knowing the children will be guided in His Truth.

Abba, may we be so fortunate to receive one nugget, one morsel of wisdom from our experience today, so we might carry that message back to from whence we came. Amen

Bradford Bosworth

Palms and Patterns

Friday, September 22, 2017
(2nd in a series)

  Romans 12:2 (NIV)

John McCorkle & John Fleming

In the recovery fellowship to which I belong, one will often hear something like, “I will be in trouble if I stay in the world and visit the program. But, if I stay in the program and visit the world, then I’ll be fine.” I believe this idea, in part, is what Paul is writing about in his letter to the earliest Roman Christians. It begs us to ask ourselves, “Am I in the world or of the world?”  It is why I like the NIV translation of this scripture: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world…” Pattern invokes the idea of a template or format; a preset guide (see conventional wisdom) that we can view when confused or uncertain. Conforming to the pattern of this world is being of the world.

Delmas, Port-Au-Prince

On this first full day of apostolic mission work in this place called Haiti, I am literally full-fledged emotional that God has placed me here now. The team is so blessed; and guess what? We will be in this world certainly because we have no real basis to be of this world here. I suspect it is why missionaries love what they do, eager to return to their mission fields because it is as close as one can get to being completely in the world.

Another way I am blessed today is that I can look back at yesterday’s devotion and draw on Paul’s urging, “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus,” and marvel at the wonder of how the Word can weave for us a pattern of truth that is eternal and all encompassing. Our activity here in this little struggling part of God’s unbridled creation demands we adopt the same mindset as Christ as much as we are humanly able. Then, most likely, without even being aware of it, we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds. God is good!

Abba, may we more and more conform to the model you sent for us, your Precious Son, that we might be more in the world than of the world. Amen

Bradford Bosworth

Humbled in Haiti

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Haiti

Matthew 20:25-28 & Philippians 2:5-8

Brenda and Warren Taylor

In preparing for this reflection, the (NKJV) phrase, “But Jesus called them to himself” (v25), struck me.  This calling is not the type that screams, “Hey y’all, get over here.” No, it is the Way of Christ, a drawing to, a charismatic attraction, the magnetism same as the humble carpenter walking along the sea of Galilee beckoning to a few fishermen, “Come follow me.” Paul describes it this way in his letter to the church at Philippi, “Who being in very nature God” (V6, NIV). When we are called this way, we stop what we are doing. We “drop our nets.”

Our team left today for Haiti on a medical mission. Being the first time for me, I can only go by what I have heard from those who have gone before and before me. Do we already have the same mindset as Christ? Well, for me, I believe it is a lifelong quest.  When I listen to how our servant team describes their experience of past Haiti mission trips, I can imagine they came by their “same mindset as Christ” or a glimpse of that same mindset as a byproduct of the willingness of their servant’s heart. Does our humility come before the act of service? More, I believe, it comes from the very humble nature of those served: God’s children who inhabit this devastatingly poor and destitute area; a people hungering for the breath of the Holy Spirit to whisk them away if not just for a few affectionate, attention filled moments.  Indeed, it is these moments that humble our servant team and allow us to adopt, if only for an instant, the same mindset of Christ.

By the way, today’s gospel scripture repeats in Mark 10:42-44, which gives this truth lesson in humility a double shot of importance.  We have it on good accord that Mark was basing this journal of Jesus’s teachings on Peter’s own eyewitness account.

Yahweh, soften our hearts today, opening the windows of our soul and let the Holy Spirit whisk in a bit of Lord Jesus’ humility. Amen

Bradford Bosworth

Haiti Devotional Series

Sixes UMC Haiti Mission 2017

Beginning tomorrow, Thursday, September 21, 2017, 'The Standard Chronicles" will begin a weeklong series, uh, well, chronicling the experience of  a group of Christian Missionaries in Haiti. The daily posts will be in the form of a Devotion. Each Devotion will be based on a submitted Holy Bible scripture reference. The submitters are folks who have sponsored myself and my dear friend Patti in our participation with the Sixes team. Patti, a Nurse, has been doing this medical mission trip for five years and encouraged me to join in.

Port -au- Prince, Haiti

In gratitude for their support, I will write for these friends a daily devotion from their submitted scripture. I trust that, as is already the case, the Holy Spirit will be active in my inspiration to relate the Word to what is happening on the ground, so to speak.

If the reader desires to incorporate the devotions into their daily practice of prayer and meditation here are a few suggestions: Have a Holy Bible or Bible app (i.e.: "Bible Gateway") available for you to research, for the Devotion reference will be book/chapter/verse only. The devotion will be missing context without the reader absorbing the written Word. Carve out of your day some quiet time listening to what our Creator speaks that only You can hear!

If you are inspired to see what each day has to offer, here is a brief description of our loving support group:

Five Finger Friends Reprised


Over the course of a lifetime one learns that true friends do not pepper life’s path nor can they be plucked from trees and vines as if low hanging fruit. Instead we often discover them when we stray from the well-worn path or in climbing to great heights. My faith has convinced me that these friends are indeed Angels that our heavenly Father has placed along our path at just the right time with the right lesson to teach us, just when we are most teachable. I also am certain teach ability is a required characteristic of humility. For most of my life I have believed that if one could count these true friends with one hand they would be considered highly blessed. I am here today to say my true friend philosophy is changing and it looks like I need two hands now, particularly with beautiful Patti in my life! These Haiti Mission Sponsors are considered five finger friends of Patti and I:

John McCorkle, Ed Hogg, Brenda and Warren Taylor, John Fleming, Joyce and Michael Newsom, Randy Pettit, Jeanette and Ryan Karstensen, Chuck Whiteside

Here is a story that when I stop and consider it, I stand amazed. My first job out of college in Daytona Beach was in 1975. There at the local NBC TV affiliate a seasoned photographer and Viet Nam Vet took interest in me and showed me “the ropes”.  He and his marvelous wife welcomed me in their home. They have witnessed with me weddings, funerals and graduations over the years. Then there are two men who I worked together with in the financial services industry and as three recently divorced bachelors in 1982 became roommates.  We would reunite after 30 years in large part through Walk to Emmaus. There is a man who I first met at the 1984 Great Miller High Life Chili Cook Off. Five years later he would hire me and become my boss at a major Alcohol Beverage Wholesaler. Two decades later I would sponsor him on Walk to Emmaus. Then there is the man, a licensed Pastor in the Christian Church Disciples of Christ and certified addiction counselor who helped me get sober in 2008. He and his wife are wonderful friends. There are also two men who have graced my life since 2010 in the important recovery fellowship to which we belong and are also my Emmaus Brothers.  Then there is a couple who have been in Patti’s life for years and are her closest friends now becoming mine. A little over a year ago and through Walk to Emmaus, they played a big part in the coming together of Patti and me.  Can anyone say Angels in our path? How marvelous, how wonderful is my savior’s love for me. *       Amen

* Lyrics from:"I Stand Amazed" Chris Tomlin. Music and worship is one way to get one in a prayerfully meditative mood. Check it out.

I hope to see you here again soon.

Love Always and In All Ways,

Bradford Bosworth
September, 2017

Recently Published

"Disciplines"

A Book of Daily Devotions 2018

A little over three years ago I began submitting poem prayers to "Alive Now" magazine a periodical published by the Upper Room. Over a two year period they published my work in five different issues. During that same time I struck up a conversation with Rita the Editor of their "Disciplines" 365 daily devotional. I wrote some sample devotions for her and she consequently invited me to write for this 2018 issue.  Since they had already issued invitations for the 2017 edition and were in the middle of compilation and editing for same, I did not expect to hear from her again for almost a year. I guess God had other plans. One of Rita's 2017 writers had to drop and she was left with a week to fill. She contacted me with a very short notice deadline and not wanting to miss the wonderful opportunity, I agreed to submit.

"Disciplines" 2017

It was a very daunting task at first, as I considered the company of writers I was joining. This neighborhood was comprised mostly of Clergy, Doctors of Divinity, Professors of Theology and the like. When at first I began corresponding with Rita, I had very little knowledge and understanding of the Revised Common Lectionary. With support from my Smyrna First UMC Pastors Joey and Barbara and inspiration from the Holy Spirit, my "Who Are Those Guys" devotions filled the week of May 8-14 including Mothers Day, a great blessing and dedication for my mom Jeanne.

"Disciplines" 2018

Even though Rita had previously offered an invitation for 2018, when the official call came with scripture attached it was a giant validation for me as a writer. She had thought enough of my writing to include me a second time. For me that is no small achievement. God is Good! I will be forever grateful to our Smyrna First UMC Associate Pastor Whit, a young'un on fire with the Holy Spirit. He gave me immeasurable advice and encouragement for this effort.

My contribution to the 2018 edition of "Disciplines" scheduled for the week of June 18-24 is titled: "The Best and Worst in Us." I have been using this devotional for three year now. I have heard say that the three year cycle of scripture comprising the Revised Common Lectionary, if read, will- in many ways- take one through the entire Holy Bible. One thing I can attest to is that you will often hear from the pulpit Sunday, a message corresponding to the Lectionary scripture of same week.

If you would like to order the 2018 "Disciplines click here: Get your 2018 Devotional

Eternally grateful,

Bradford Bosworth
September 2017

Seeking Our Connection Point

    Yearning to be Yoked

The story of mankind has been one of emigrational search and discovery. Columbus sailed to find new lands not certain that a fall over the horizon was imminent. The Oklahoma land rush of 1889 was a chance for one's own little plot of land. John Glenn showed the masses we might even be able to escape our own inhabitable planet. Many of us individually have  longed to find our somewhere, a place where we belong. We long to become whole, complete, One. This quest becomes so self centered that it sometimes boils down to a simple effort to be comfortable in our own skin.

Christmas tree and Syzygy?

No doubt we were meant to be in fellowship, joined together in common purpose, linked to one another, connected to something greater and more meaningful than our unsettled selves. What I experienced a week ago today was the most extreme example of this seeking I have witnessed in my sober lifetime. I would like to share with the special audience that reads this blog what the 2017 Solar Eclipse meant to me through the signs our creator placed before all for personal discovery.

In preparing myself for the mystery of this celestial wonder, I learned a new word: Syzygy. It is an amazingly spiritual yet scientific word. My understanding in relation to the 2017 Solar Eclipse is it represents a celestial phenomena where three bodies: sun, moon and earth reach perfect alignment.  (See:Syzygy) Wow, alignment, is not that something we hope for with the wheels on our car? We strive to keep ourselves on the right road smoothly in a straight line, correct? Sounds a bit synonymous with belonging and becoming whole, no? This past week's heavenly alignment does not occur often. In fact, where the path of totality crosses the entire continental United Sates- one coast to the other- well, it had not happened for ninety nine years, more than a lifetime!

Oh the richness of the symbolism in this gift of the Universe! It was estimated that about 20 million people could or would be in the American path of totality. This is where the moon blots out the whole sun. Totality, wholeness, completeness, peace, all of same import. Isn't this what we are searching for? Well, at least it is for me. So off I went -as I guess I do everyday- seeking the "Path of Totality."

I found myself in Andrews, North Carolina on Monday, August 21, 2017 amidst a festival day atmosphere with many a pilgrim young and old gazing upward in awestruck worship. Andrews is located in the exact center of this path of totality, point zero.  I discovered Syzygy is not complete, not whole. It does not reach it's fullness without us as receiving witnesses becoming one as our Creator's masterpiece. Our Father desires us to be part of His alignment. We will be at peace when we are aligned with His will. Right at the point of total eclipse it became very quiet and still, very peaceful.  On the exterior of the Andrews United Methodist Church there was a large sign. It spoke of the day. It yelled to me. It pointed to the path of wholeness, completeness, oneness, totality, if you will. It was a suggestion for a Way to peace from words of Christ to us:

Jesus's words on the sign from Matthew 11:28 were not the words that rung out to me that day. If you clicked the Syzygy link a few paragraphs before this one, you might have noticed the Greek origins of the word mean to "yoke together." Hear His words from verse 29-30

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Based on the experiences in Andrew's NC last Monday- now more than ever- I believe Abba's gift of Syzygy needed US to complete it just as He needs US now to complete the gift of His Son and Holy Spirit to carryout His will in the world.

Father may we make ourselves available to you as willing witnesses. May you guide each of us to our own path of totality that we may know your good and pleasing will for us.

Amen 

***********

Bradford Bosworth

August, 2017

In or Of the World?

Grace in Small Things

Costa Rica's Blue Morpho Butterfly

This past week I found myself moving through a tropical rain forest in various modes of transportation. The diverse media included: zip line, horseback, two feet and four wheels. The most pulsating was hanging over majestic gorges through rain clouds in the soft falling rain with the Pacific ocean looming in the distance. 

"Look at eleven o'clock" suggested our guide Donald, who also pointed out his last name was not Trump!

My friend Patti and Donald

In his book "The Ragamuffin Gospel" Brennan Manning quotes a Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel from his death bed, "Never once in my life did I ever ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder and He gave it to me."

I am grateful that I often experience wonder in my everyday comings and goings. The screech of a red tail hawk flying overhead, a fleeting appearance of a dragonfly with no water near by, a night owl lighting under a street lamp or the sweet sound of "good night" over the phone from my girlfriend Patti.

The freshness that comes with travel to a new locale always heightens one's sense of wonder. Although, being raised in tropical Miami, Florida, some things in Costa Rica were not so new for me. I have lived in and among palm trees, seagulls, hibiscus plants, orange trees, waves breaking on the beach and of course the swim up pool bar. I quit that pool bar activity a few years back.

The Park

What was most wonderful to this man was watching the little creatures. On our first day Patti and I decided to count butterflies and dragonflies. Within hours we abandoned this effort. There were too many to count even on the grounds of our resort. When we traveled to the Rincon del a Vieja park and in the rain forest our sense of wonder bordered on infinite.

The rain forest is a busy place! There is much coming and going, God's grand central station if you will. The most notable traveler had to be the ever present and largest of the prolific butterflies. It's name is the Blue Morpho. One of our guides pointed out that it's likeness is on their currency. Either I or this beautiful creature were never still long enough for me to get a picture. The ones in my memory will suffice.

While on this vacation, a friend and I were engaged in a deep spiritual conversation over a game of chess. We were talking of being in the world  as opposed to being of the world.  The name morpho brings with it meaning changed or modified. When we are in the world, we have the opportunity to change the world. We can ask for and receive the wonder of God's creation; His Grace in the littlest things. When we are of the world, we are subject to the world changing us. We often miss His little details and the wonders of Creation.

"He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much."

Luke 16:10 (NKJV)

This Gospel scripture has always spoken to me: Unless you can see and appreciate His Grace in the smallest things you will never truly appreciate the wonder of it on the grander scale.

Father may I be more in the world than of the world so I might receive the wonder of your Grace. Amen.

Bradford Bosworth

August 8, 2017

Falling into Enmity

Forego Foraging Forbidden Fruit

I know a guy who found himself in a financial morass a few years back; a foreclosure and a subsequent divorce and his living conditions changed dramatically. He lost most all of his material possessions. It happen so quick that he did not have the option of obsessing over what turned out to be only dispensable stuff that we can't take with us when we leave this life anyway. In a matter of a couple years he went from being the association president in an upscale neighborhood to a resident in a high turnover community he refers to as "the hood." The transition landed him into a small low rent house in a neighborhood where he could not distinguish between fireworks and gunshots, especially on the 4th of July! He speaks of hearing regularly all kinds of new sounds from disturbingly loud expletive laden domestic arguments and the whine of police sirens, to the more pleasing sound of children's music broadcasting through the loudspeakers on an ice cream truck.

My friend often speaks of the humbling effect of his relocation experience. He has come to believe our Creator prunes us back from time to time so we might bear richer fruit in His Kingdom. Were my friend to have viewed his current abode and neighborhood from the lofty illusion of his former home, he would have judged them homely. Now he can sit on his back porch and see a bit of heaven on earth.

The Garden

It is amazing what we observe when we open our eyes and see from a humbled point of perspective. One day a year ago what typically he would characterize as the mundane or maybe even drab view of the neighborhood from the back deck changed dramatically See: The Split in the Garden.  His view  has never been the same.

********

Recently while he was washing dishes, the man now retired, was peering out the window above the kitchen sink into the back yard. He noticed that where the big oak had split from the powerful lighting strike, a strange but familiar branch was protruding from another tree behind and it looked like a giant snake.

Sink Window

One of the effects of this man's humbling is a faith that instructs "Take nothing for granted!"  Our Creator speaks to us in so many ways and expressions, at all times.  If we are seeking His presence, we will be amazed at our enlightenment. From every angle my friend watches out for the serpent in his garden daily.

Our faith requires a diligent practice of obedience to our Creator so we might grow continually in our relationship with Him. For this friend of mine, it is a daily back yard reminder to forego the foraging of forbidden fruit. Be in the world not of the world.

The Fall, Genesis 3:1(NIV)

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals

the Lord God had made..........."

Amen Brother

Bradford Bosworth

July, 2017

The View from Prodigal Point

Which Brother am I?

(Writer's Note: The final -6th- in a Series)

"But he was angry and he  would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him."

Luke 15:28 (NKJV)

This writer is compelled to complete this series of personal family reflections in a bow to Father's Day. It all begins with our Father. It all ends with our Father.  Our recent journey of two brothers which included visiting the graves of fathers, mothers and aunts who would be sisters, also involved stories of  "Dads" who stood in for and in place of fallen and passed fathers. And a brother who filled in as father from time to time.

I believe we all have afflictions in one form or another. We are all in recovery from a tendency to turn in on ourselves. The reader might recognize the response, "No thanks, I got this."  We are either the prodigal son or his brother; either Mary or sister Martha (Luke 10:38-42). We all need release. I pray daily, "Release me Father".

On this trip we visited the home of a close relative.  We were not sure that she would receive us. For she had spent her life trying to put distance between herself and her birth father. It had been around fifty years since I had seen her last as an infant. Perhaps the depth and  pervasiveness of a pain born of abandonment would dissipate.  Thankfully this accomplished business woman opened up and we got to visit with her! She showed us two distinct keepsakes which spoke of her life. giving me a special insight: my view from the Prodigal Point:

My new friend then proceeded to describe the first item, "This is my baby chair. I sat in this chair waiting for my father to come home! For years I sat in this chair and looked out the window for my father. He never came home."

Hal and I had been in conversation with her mother the evening before our visit. We learned that a step father, the man who would marry her mother, was a prince of a man. This step father would become "Dad" and a rich, deep and everlasting love would blossom between "Dad" and daughter.  And then the wounded lady told us about her "Dad" in a glowing dissertation of adoration. This man who would be "Dad" passed in 2015. He also left behind for family a vast and panoramic legacy. And then the lady took us to see the second item, explaining that "Dad" was an artist. We stood in awe gazing at the mural hanging above the stairway landing.

A gift from our Father

My brothers' and my father Harold died in 1964. As baby of the family, I was twelve and did not really get to know him well. Through others' eyes I know he was revered and respected.  Our mom Jeanne, over a decade later, would marry a man named Alfred. (See: Requiem Letters: 11/18/16)  We knew him as  "Papa Al" and he was, as well, a prince of a man!

Jeanne and Harold meet Leonard Bernstein

Jeanne and Papa Al

Here is what I believe:  We are all in recovery from our afflictions and need release from them. Our Creator- Father God- places people in our path of life. They are our angels along the Way. Some fallen or falling serve to bring us pain. Some risen or rising serve to lift us up.  Some are the prodigal son, some the brother; some Martha, some Mary.  All serve to bring us to the Father's purpose.  As well, so are we here to serve our Father's purpose!

"for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you."

Matthew 10:20

Amen Dad and Papa Al

Bradford Bosworth

June, 2017

Reflections on the Portage Path

A Vast and Panoramic Legacy

(Writer's note: fifth in a series)

"Nothing is hidden that won't be exposed. Nor is anything concealed that won't be made known and brought to the light." 

 Luke 8:17 (CEB)

Etna was a small turn of the century Steel Mill Town across the river from Pittsburgh. It contained a sizable and proud German population in which Grand Pa Martin Metzger was a town elder, an alderman type leader in the community.  When he and his wife Catherine learned that unwed daughter Henrietta had become pregnant, the pressures of their standing in the community led them to conceal the fact.  You see, they found themselves in a off-kilter culture that would despicably label a child of an unwed mother "illegitimate".  So Martin and Catherine did what they had to and created a story line that it was Catherine who was in a bedridden pregnancy and Henrietta who would stay at home to attend to her. The child who would be born behind this veil of secrecy was our Mom Jeanne.

Small Street of Secrets

The first time  I remember my mother breaking down in sobs was the day she told me of how she learned the truth.  She had spent her first ten or so years viewing Martin and Catherine as her parents and her mom Henrietta, aunts Betty and Tirzah as her sisters. The one lesson my mother preached and taught to me was: "Tell the truth!"  She first heard the truth from some mean spirited kids on the play ground.

Precious Jeanne

Here is the truth I have discerned as a result of this past week's travels with my brother. The cruel depression era vestiges of the small blue collar town that is Etna, Pa. remain today like in a time warp,  The miracle is that Jeanne strove to escape the confines of that little town and put herself into position to meet a man: Harold B Bosworth. A man who would love her away from the past that society would shame her and the family for.  Oh how far her odyssey took her away from her beginnings.  The distance between that small town Pennsylvania playground and the places where her grand children and great grandchildren play is a vast an panoramic legacy!

The Metzger/Bosworth Clan

Post Script: My first introduction to the Broadway musical genre was as a pre-teen. West Side Story blew me away, still does. The following pictures: the first (album soundtrack autographed to me by Mr. Bernstein) of which hangs in my home and second (hangs in Hal's home) with Leonard Bernstein himself, show glimpses of the distance Mom put in her life from where it all began.

"Every Good Wish to Brad Bosworth"

Leonard Bernstein

Jeanne, Harold, Leonard Bernstein

Amen Mom and Dad

Bradford Bosworth

June, 2017