Catapulted by Faith!

19 May 2012 1 Comment

by Rod & Rose in Holy Libido by Rod Tags: , , , ,


We can never be whole, or holy, as long as we are controlled by fear. And we will be manipulated by fear as long as we rely on our own resources. At times, we have all recognized the folly within for relying on our own resources, so we laid them aside and trusted God. But then we circled back and picked up what we had once laid down. Little by little, without even realizing it, we are once again disrupted by the entanglements of our second nature.

The disruption in our lives sometimes serves to remind us we’re back to operating on our own steam, under the influence of our own understanding of things. Disruption rouses us from our senseless stupor, and once again we renew our focus on God. When we are filled with our dependency on God, we are filled with courage to face the fearful things in life. It’s not that we will never fear again—we will not be controlled by our fear.

Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is charging through the fear, catapulted by our faith and empowered by God’s Spirit. Our faith must find its Source in God—not in ourselves. Since He is our Source, He must be flowing through our spiritual veins if we are to experience a spirit of power and of love and of composure (2 Timothy 1:7). According to Jesus, who is the Source of Truth, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). The truth is… God’s got it. God’s Way is the way of freedom from the entanglement of fear.

(Excerpt from Holy Libido by Rod Smith, 2012)

A Fleeting Kind of Splendor…

18 May 2012 Leave a comment

by Rod & Rose in Holy Libido by Rod Tags: , , , , , ,


Life is meant to be a fantastic heart pounding adventure. At least that’s the way it seemed to me one day when I was in my early teens. It was a picture-perfect morning in Michigan and I was riding Cheetah, my Quarter Horse, at a reckless gallop across a field of alfalfa. With the spring-fresh wind in my face the exhilaration of the moment filled my entire body with delight. It seemed natural to release my grip on the reins and lean back in the saddle, with my hands stretched high into the air. It was something I had seen in a movie and I was living it—the unrestrained freedom of such a breathtaking adventure. At that moment I determined to live my life at a wild speed with the wind in my face.

The next moment I was tumbling through the alfalfa like Raggedy Rod. I my fleeting thought it would have been better if I was holding onto something when the ring-necked pheasant flew up directly in front of Cheetah. I’m sure she was as surprised as I was when it happened. She veered to the left and I didn’t. I went straight. I think that’s called inertia—one of Newton’s laws of motion.

Cheetah circled back around to pick me up. As I was climbing back on the saddle I felt a little dejected. The reality of how fleeting these moments of elation are came crashing down on me—literally. As I rode back toward the barn with a firm grip on the reins I remember the distinct realization that the thrill of life could be easily tripped up; taken off course. The sensation of tumbling through the alfalfa has come to my mind several times throughout my wild, crazy ride through life.

But I’ve never given up on the idea we are created for something more profound than the lives we live. Knowing we are the brainchild of the One who spoke the magnificence of all creation into being, somewhere deep within me I believe we are created for something much greater than ordinary life. Possibly just knowing we were created for something more than the life we’re living today, even if our knowing is nothing more than a faint sense that something is missing, may be all we need to get on with allowing our original splendor—the splendor of God—to flow in our lives.

(Excerpt from Holy Libido by Rod Smith, 2012)

Cut it loose!

16 May 2012 Leave a comment

by Rod & Rose in Holy Libido by Rod Tags: , , , , , , ,


It’s a grueling scene of a man tortured by his own guilt—beyond what he could bear. He had stabbed his brother to death in a fit of rage when he found him in bed with his fiancée. The inner agony of his soul cried out for relief, but there was no relief from the pain. He would have welcomed death, even by his own hand, but he was condemned to live with the agonizing sentence of his tormented mind.

It’s a scene in The Mission. Rodrigo Mendoza, played by Robert de Niro, is a mercenary and slave trader. Its the18th century in the South American jungle, home to the Guarani Indians. Father Gabriel, played by Jeremy Irons, is a Spanish Jesuit priest who built a mission there so he could introduce the Indians to Christianity. After Mendoza killed his brother he begged Father Gabriel to impose a heavy penance for his sin, so the priest gathered all of Mendoza’s weapons and armor together in a net and tied the burden to the grief-stricken man’s waist with a heavy rope.

For what seems like an eternity, Mendoza attempts to claw his way up the Iguaza Falls, stumbling under the weight of his guilt-laden burden. But nothing will stop him. Time after time he yanks the net past the roots and branches that impede his punishing progress. Dogged determination paralyzes his face of steel as he grinds on.

John Fielding, a Jesuit priest serving under Father Gabriel could no longer stand to watch the agonizing scene so he viciously hacks at the rope with his machete. He set Mendoza free. The cumbersome net rolled back down the slope into the river. Exhausted, Mendoza goes after it, retying the penance to his waist, and sets out once again to scale the falls. It’s excruciating to watch. We want him to let it go.

If only we could see our own burden-laden net so clearly. Most of the time we forget it’s even there. The way we navigate our way through life has become awkward, but it’s a familiar kind of awkwardness. Our spirit is battered and worn out, but we’ve become accustomed to it. The limp we’ve developed in our gait is obvious to others. They see the burden of our accumulated debris. Sometimes we see it too, but we’re inclined to pretend we don’t. Otherwise, we might have to take responsibility and cut it loose. But why on earth wouldn’t we want to?

(Excerpt from Holy Libido, Chapter 13, by Rod Smith, 2012)

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