Intention

August 8, 2022 / Jeff Hora / Leave a comment

Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my little boy dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.” The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he himself believed, along with his whole household. – John 4: 46b – 53 NRSV

There are a number of different contexts into which we are placed to be witnesses. One that I’ve noticed is what I’m going to call “intentional witness.”

What do I mean by intentional? Well, I look to the story in John 4 as an example. This royal official set out specifically to encounter Jesus….in this case, “he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.” This was no chance encounter…..he knew what Jesus might do, as he had undoubtedly heard about this amazing man. How else would he have known to go? And how might he have heard that Jesus had come back to Galilee from Judea? In hope and purpose, he set out to find him, meet him and beg him for his son’s life.

There appeared to be a ‘pause’ in Jesus’ response. His initial reply, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe”, didn’t even slow the father down! He reiterated his plea on behalf of his son. Jesus spoke the healing to him (notice that he had come for Jesus to accompany him back to his son…this spoken healing was NOT what he had expected…). He believed him and headed home. On his way, others came to him and told him what had happened…HIS SON LIVED! How mind-boggling that might have seemed….so much so that he even time-checked the healing. He was expecting that the word of healing to have been the fact but asked for just that last little bit of faith-building verification. And it was so….

It was so….

It was so…

He son was alive…

It was so…

Nothing else is written about this man and his family, but one can well imagine his responses to anyone who asked, “So, how’s your boy?”

He had set out to find and meet Jesus.

He did, and he made his heart-filled plea to him about his son.

Jesus healed this man’s son. No doubt about it. Even checked the time, just to be sure…

He became an intentional witness to the power of God and his mercy.

So, as you consider your life and those things through which you’ve lived, can you identify those times when you specifically set out to meet God with an urgent plea? In His response, you experienced God in a way that was real…maybe not quite what you expected, but totally real. This has become part of your story and has further established you as a witness. Consider this witness as you approach God in trust for other requests and as you are given the opportunity to companion others in their journey to find and meet God in ways that are life changing.

Witness As Being

July 25, 2022 / Jeff Hora / Leave a comment

While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. – Acts 1: 4-9 NRSV

When I carry forward what I wrote about earlier on what “witness” means in various contexts into this text, something jumps out at me: the phrase that I used to hear when I was much younger, “Let’s go out witnessing!” seems misplaced…

Being a witness isn’t an activity I set out to do or accomplish. I am a witness by virtue of experiencing God’s Spirit and power in my life. Jesus didn’t say “y’all go out witnessing to the world!” He said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (emphasis is mine)

The text above mentions receiving power in the Holy Spirit twice before then telling the disciples that they will be witnesses. Certainly this doesn’t mean that NOW God will start to work in their lives, NOW God will start to demonstrate His power……God’s been working in their lives for quite awhile! The Holy Spirit living in Love and Power through and from them into the world around them heightens their awareness of what they have experienced. The Spirit gives them the loving insight into what that might mean to those around them, and the wisdom to recognize the dire need for God’s Grace in each and every one about them. They each learn how to express their experience, both in love and in restorative justice, that allows their witness to show, not themselves, but our loving and graceful God to that person.

Being a witness isn’t something we train up to do. We are witnesses. There are things we can learn from our community, from spiritual friends and others that can lead us to be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s work, and perhaps, more wisdom about being the witness that God has placed us in this life to be, right now, with this person……but the central experience is your experience with God in your life.

Prayerfully consider your rich relationship with God, and present that as an open book through which the Spirit breathes grace for others.

Witness Existence

July 11, 2022 / Jeff Hora / Leave a comment

I have spent a lot of time lately studying and pondering the role of a witness in our world. I watch a lot of police procedural shows on TV (think “Law and Order” for example…) and so I thought I’d develop my own definition first before heading over to Dictionary.com. Here’s what I came up with:

A witness is an individual who has seen and/or experienced something about which someone else wants information. Despite the differences any number of witnesses might have in individual perceptions, strength and reliability of memory, and the ability to clearly express themselves, it is expected that, from “honest” answers, a clearer picture of what really happened develops. The picture builds greater certainty in what this “something” is/was.

So then, if only out of curiosity, I went over to Dictionary.com and compared what was there with mine:

verb (used with object)

to see, hear, or know by personal presence and perception – e.g. to witness an accident
1. to be present at (an occurrence) as a formal witness, spectator, bystander, etc. – e.g. she witnessed our wedding

verb (to be used without object)

to bear witness; testify; give or afford evidence

noun

an individual who, being present, personally sees or perceives a thing; a beholder, spectator, or eyewitness
1. a person or thing that affords evidence
1. a person who gives testimony, as in a court of law

…and so on. You get the idea.

The first thing I noticed is that, generally, a witness is first and foremost, someone who actually experienced something and then can share that experience. The witness’s story is what gives the event credibility in the eyes of others. As others (the “cloud of witnesses”) tell their stories and these stories lend further credibility to an event, the more likely those who are trying to find out what really happened (the event….) find the event believable for themselves.

So the idea I arrived at is that you don’t set out to become a witness.

You are a witness, by virtue of the experiences you have. Others are more interested in your story than in a lecture, especially in these days when “words are cheap” but living experiences are real.

Consider your experiences of God, what that relationship does in your world, and how God’s love is lived from you into this world. Witness.

Being: Salt

September 14, 2020 / Jeff Hora / Leave a comment

“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.” – Matthew 5: 13 (NRSV)

For quite some time now I have been fascinated with incorporating “being” in my life and awareness. This hasn’t been easy, nor is it ever “done.” (I know I’m using quotation marks a lot here, but bear with me…)

A term and concept that has gained a lot of attention is mindfulness. This is an aspect of being that I include in my dialogues, but my growing understanding and experience of being (I’m dropping the quotation marks for that word at this point…) is only part of it.

Mindfulness, to me, is being fully aware of the moment in which I reside, at any given moment. It implies a certain kind of attention that is neither cast backward nor forward. One way of looking at how I apprehend being at this time is kind of mindfulness without the attention. Let me explain further….

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Maybe a Start

September 12, 2020 / Jeff Hora / Leave a comment

A recent conversation with myself:

ME: I know that I want to write more, but my mind and attention are pudding, frankly….

ME2: Well, you know the power of stories. Tell a story of some kind…

ME: About what?

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Not Sure

August 25, 2020August 25, 2020 / Jeff Hora / Leave a comment

Listening…

I’ve put off writing for so long because there seems to be, at the same time, so much to say and yet I feel that my voice is too general, small and frankly generic to say it. I need to get over that. My voice is the voice God gives me, and is utterly unique as a result, despite the various “samenesses” of my circumstances: older white guy, middle class, white-bread-and-mayo Midwestern upbringing, etc. etc. etc…..

So many things I read and am exposed to everyday (or avoid, if the newscycle is particularly rabid that day…) allow for a cogent thought or Point Of View to arise, but my inherent lethargy and laziness keep me from putting “pen to paper”, so to speak.

Hence this page/post…

Continue reading →

Embracing and Being Transformed by the Storm

June 14, 2020 / Jeff Hora / Leave a comment

Embracing the Storm

As I sat at my PC this morning attending virtual church, some of the dialogue focused on the fact that this is “Graduation Weekend” for most of the schools in our area. The pastor spoke of the different kinds of ceremonies taking place, given our isolated and socially distanced frameworks today. One thing he mentioned that stuck with me was that the student speakers used the themes of “Embracing the Storm” and “Transformed by the Storm” as their context for these significant times. These struck me in ways I didn’t really expect.

First, a bit of context (those of you who know me well know that I’m big on context and am a storyteller….). I was born and raised in Iowa, and grew up with the regular late spring and summer dangers of tornadoes. Since then I’ve lived in places where I’ve gone through super-typhoons, volcanoes and earthquakes. Still, there’s nothing like a tornado to make you feel like Mother Nature has drawn a bull’s eye on you (if you’ve ever seen the movie “Twister” you can get an idea of how personalized it can feel…). I’ve seen the inside of some pretty nasty storms, seen the destruction and felt the fear.

The big difference between any of those kinds of storms and what we are living through together now, in my observation, is that they had pretty distinct beginnings and endings (and then the clean-up could begin…). Nowadays, not so much. While we think we have an idea of where and when (and even a bit of how…) the whole COVID-19 pandemic began, we literally have no idea when, or even if, it will end (is ti going to be something that we just get a shot for every year like the flu, for instance? I don’t know…).

And, as if that didn’t throw the world into enough of a whirl, we have all the political and socio-cultural upheavals that have been boiling along for 40-60 years (and actually longer……) and have come to a head in the past 4 or 5. To lift out an obvious example, as a global concern, and especially here in America, the baked-in, systemic racism for which the death of George Floyd has served as a tipping point of awareness and anger for a significant portion of our world. These, and other, storms take our preconceptions and societal blind-spots and either blow them completely away or, at least, grind away at them to show us glimpses of Reality. Generally, it’s not pretty…

I return to my analogous experiences of embracing the storm:

I didn’t want to be there when the storm took place, but there I was.
The view of the storm I had was Real, and not removed by a TV screen or a news report. I was IN IT…..and I was scared.
My first prayer was one of survival for myself, and then for the others who were going through it with me. Regardless of whether you had a shelter (such as it might be…) or not, the storm did not care.
My next thought was one of fearful/hopeful wondering when it would be over and what things would be like afterwards.
During the long periods of clean-up and restoration, the community became more visible and provided hope, strength and the kind of caring that did the heavy-lifting of healing and repair, at all levels (that is, from literally picking stuff up to taking the data and event info and figuring out how to better protect life and limb in the future…).

That last point is the “Transformed by the Storm” bit.

Disasters have a way of breaking the points in a structure that are weak to begin with, as well as helping us to discover the unsung and previously unsuspected strengths of our communities. Transformation takes place when we as individuals, communities and societies honestly take those learned and painful bits and actually work to change and improve.

No recriminations (excepting criminality, which needs to be addressed and dealt with in a just fashion [“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”]). If institutions need to be created, destroyed or adjusted, do it. If ways of doing business work really well, keep and enhance them; if not, chuck them. If people and roles are “essential”, they need to treated as such all the time, not just when things go south and we need them.

We do not have the luxury of choosing when the next catastrophe will take place, or its nature.

The sooner we face the facts of our individual and collective complicity in our own inadequate and frankly disastrous existing paths of response (or lack thereof…), the better chance we have of still being on this lovely world of ours in a hundred years.

Get Facebook Ads Right, Engage, and Stretch Those ‘Little Grey Cells’!! – Best of November

December 3, 2018 / Jeff Hora / Leave a comment

jill111 / Pixabay

November allowed us all a chance to be Thankful, and then take a deep breath as we dive into the pre-Christmas / New Year period. Depending on your business, this may be the best and most hectic time of year, or things may cool down a bit while your customers work out their plans for 2019. This months’ “Best Of…” articles cover some important pieces to get right when using ads on Facebook, honing your LinkedIn presence, some recommendations for video-editing apps (since video is on your content list for 2019, right?), and several other goodies for you!

Facebook Ads Checklist: 5 Quick Questions to Ask Before You Hit “Go”

Of course, you don’t just slap something together, point it at your credit card and hit PUBLISH, right? Pause for a moment and go down this handy checklist, and your success rate is likely to improve….

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Music is the River, but the Shore Keeps Moving…..

November 26, 2018February 18, 2019 / Jeff Hora / Leave a comment

jeffjuit / Pixabay

I have been casting about for a long time for someplace to focus my creative energies away from day-to-day and toward an endeavor that feeds my soul. I have tried a few different ones over the years, including some obvious ones, like:

reading
writing
movies
creating jewelry
drawing

What I found out about each of these is:

I love reading, but it’s not really creative on my part, and I don’t have the visual stamina (my eyes tire easily…) to crank into the volume of reading I aspire to.
While I like writing well enough, it isn’t enough of a compulsion for me to call it a true creative outlet.
Movies are fun, but, again, not really creative on my part.
Creating jewelry has been pretty fun for over 20 years now, but I do it only a couple of times a year. Again, the drive / compulsion to create in that medium isn’t there to enough of a degree for me.
Drawing….kind of fun, but basically I really suck, so not so much fun as it should be…

This leaves what should have been an obvious choice for me: music.

Although my parents didn’t play instruments, I grew up in a household that had music playing nearly all the time, and in which I was encouraged to play and explore. I started baritone horn lessons in fifth grade (our school district had the band directors giving weekly private lessons to every band student throughout the school year, which was a HUGE advantage…) and had decided that I wanted to be a musician by the time I was high school junior. I composed my first piece of music for a small jazz group at that time (it is entitled “Clams“, a nickname for a missed note when you play….seemed appropriate!), and haven’t really stopped composing in one form or another, ever since.

…However, the technology, broadly defined, has rocketed along. My early days as a composer / keyboardist had me using a Wurlitzer electric piano enhanced with a phase shifter, ring modulator and wah-wah pedal, recording to cassette recorder via a single microphone. Today’s default for a lot of composing is a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) of some kind, a controller (maybe…) and a lot of computer-focused work. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the shift from analog to digital changes a lot of concepts in approaching composition, and I have other ‘legacy’ equipment (synthesizers, sound modules, sequencers and the like) that I hate to leave in the box, as I feel there is a lot to be gained by incorporating them all into the compositional mix, and the sounds are more authentic to what I hear in my head than many of the virtual sound modules I hear….also, the sounds that I hear reflect the talents of the numerous monster players I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of playing with over the years, and no virtual module can model them. It is a dilemma….

Nonetheless, I am excited to dig into the new stuff, incorporate the older stuff, and see what I can come up with. It is nice not to have a driving timeline to be pushed by, other than my internal desire to get what I hear in my head out into the world in a way that sounds more and more like what I’m hearing. As I remarked to someone yesterday, I was able to create a short tune last week that that sounded only moderately spastic instead of remarkably bad, which is progress!

This part of the journey is proving to be more fun and a bigger challenge than I was expecting, which calls me further into the journey.

Yeah, this is what I have been looking for…

Authentic Voice

Credibility in a Digital World

Intention

Witness As Being

Witness Existence

Being: Salt

Maybe a Start

Not Sure

Embracing and Being Transformed by the Storm

Music is the River, but the Shore Keeps Moving…..

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