I stand at the edge of the cliff and watch the sea blowing wild around me.  This place, this ancient place of Wales with wildness, metaphor and song in the depths of its very land, has rapidly become embedded in my heart in a way I never expected.  My friends point out a little dot of an island jutting out past the edge of the shoreline and explain that it is a tidal island, cut off from the world when the tide comes in but able to be reached over land when the tide goes out.  I am transfixed.  Might there be something we can learn in the rhythm of these wild tides, something of eternity in their comings and goings?

The ancient Celtic saints sure thought so.  They would find or in some cases build their sacred spaces on tidal islands, like Lindasfarne. One thing I love about the Celtic understanding of our faith is how they allowed their natural surroundings and the elements of their everyday lives to become metaphors that shaped and informed their life journey with Jesus.  Aidan and Cuthbert of Lindasfarne lived in the rhythm of the wild tides of God’s grace.

When the tides came in they were hemmed in, surrounded by the ocean, into a secret thin place of meeting with God.  When the tides went out, they too could spill out from the secret places into a world thirsty for the bit of heaven they carried.  This pattern of rest and run, hiding in Him and then seeking the ones He is seeking, is really built into the core of our faith.  Whether we live land locked in Africa or have the grace to be near the literal tides that became the metaphor of a live lived in balance with the tides of eternity.

My path in this season is leading me down some ancient unpaved roads as I take time to remind myself and travel a bit deeper with the Celtic saints of old whose understanding really gave me my first language to describe my own journey.  I want to walk with Aidan, Cuthbert and their contemporaries and learn more of what they knew that so quietly and profoundly wrote history.  As I am leaning into the echoes of eternity from the past, I also want to lean forward into new sounds of heaven being unlocked in the shifts that are happening all around us and dare I even say within us. For they are ever so connected.

As one of my friends, Justin, from Wales shared in his post on all this a while back:  I heard an audible voice speak in the night from heaven. It said “The answer to the mysteries of the future is in the past.” Ancient tides. Ancient cries. Ancient rhythms. We are listening. We are slowly awakening. There is another way emerging, a wildfire generation rising to the unstoppable rhythm of the tides.

Selah.  After all, so often the journeys that matter most and some of the roads most unpaved are found inside our own hearts.  May you, sweet friend, rise to embrace the unstoppable rhythm of the tides of His grace.

But then those are the days I need reminding of what Jesus said: “Nor will they say, “See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Lk 17:21)

So if God’s Kingdom is within then maybe we {you and I} are called to be His signposts pointing lower, deeper, wilder, quieter, bolder, simpler to the breath-taking beauty beyond of His grace and His astounding mercy that still kisses a broken world in love.  Today may you know His kiss deeper than ever before.

In case you haven’t seen this video that has gone viral in the last week or so, here it is.  (If you are viewing this in a reader or email, click here to see the phenomenon on youtube.)  It blessed me so much tonight, I wanted to share it with you.  All I have to say in response is: WORD.

Also I am thrilled to share with you a series of podcast conversations recorded while in Spain with Martin Scott.  Session 1 , Session 2 and a straight-shooting finale in Session 3.

Amidst the ruins of bygone eras, on the well worn ancient paths I hear a whisper echo.  A dare to embrace a different journey on a trail leading reverently, boldly, even absurdly into the wild unknown places of grace.  Truly we have not been this way before (not in this generation at least.)

Where are the brave pioneers that will look at the so-called “edge of the world” as an invitation to explore uncharted depths?  Dangerous, fearless love drawing us farther out beyond the safe confines of buildings and programs and systems and circuits.

What if the next 3 years brought a shift so dramatic it could only be described as tectonic in nature?  And what if that shift started in us?  What if this revolution was silent in its fury and Jesus comes once more riding on a borrowed donkey to wash fishermen’s feet and the empires of men cannot comprehend this kind of royalty and miss the One they seek all over again?

Beloved, we have not been this way before.  True success is being redefined and the choices before us are not first decided in ballot boxes.  What if we are looking for a king who rules and shapes world political systems while Jesus is offering us a King who comes to serve and defy any system that would try to contain… or commodify Him?  What if Jesus is coming as a King with an upside-down, inside-out, high-is-low-and-low-is-high reality that cannot come through politics or policy?  What if His platform is still a cross and ours an altar?

A company saturated in the supernatural, living loved and loving without expectation’s tangled strings, drawn again to the untamed spaces where reformers are shaped; a people who could care less for fame or popularity or success or stages or spotlights.  Content with waste places and seeing heaven come to those desperate enough to put their need on display, instead of their accomplishments.  What if the measures are changing and all we thought we knew with them?  Will we be willing to let it all go?  Will I be willing to let go of the known ways to choose a road less traveled and embrace His invitation to explore the edge of the earth?

Faith lies beyond what we can see with our eyes.  So which path will you choose, my sweet friend?  No choice is indeed a choice in days such as these.  May you embrace the wild untamed reaches of His heart moment by moment every day.

You are loved, so very loved.  May His love define your world as never before and lead you far out beyond the edges of its safe, known horizons.

Loving Him and you-Michele

Time to eat fresh Spanish olives from the market and drink espresso brewed on the stove top, watch good movies and wander through the streets and squares of history that surround me, even as I ponder my own.

I pause, words echoing in my mind from last night’s movie: Downward is the only way forward.  I am drawn to the hidden paths, the unknown ways, the wild places out of which reformers are birthed from the heart of God. There is a longing too profound for words stirring inside of me.  And I am struck by the irony of how often the best things in life must be crushed to be enjoyed.

Again, I am reminded: the most important journeys always start deep inside of us. In this new year, may you embrace the beauty only found in crushed places and on secret, silent paths.

From this unpaved road-Michele

These days I am reminded that the little baby born to homeless parents then toddled in foreign lands as a refugee and grew up the son of a common laborer.  He spent his teens and twenties in utter obscurity and emerged on the scene only to collect a handful of misfits and less than ordinary types no one else wanted.  He traveled for three years raising controversy and then being falsely accused was executed as a criminal.  He knew dirt and pain and longing.  He also knew divinity.  And He laid it all down to wrap His divinity in our dust.  I marvel.  Again.  At what dust-covered love looks like.

I am reminded the only platform Jesus embraced was a cross. I long for an unknown path that leads past the platforms of men and finds rest hidden in the embrace of God.  I am grateful for the dusty, stormy seasons that remind me how much I need Him.  Blessed are those who know their need, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.  Jesus, this new year let me be one of those. Again. Not in theory but in truth.

I am typing this post with South Sudan’s dirt ground into my hands from grimy hugs of my little ones.  It is covering my computer screen and the ash from the burn fires settling around me on everything it touches.  Ash covered in need of a manicure.  Ahhhh.  Here am I.    There is only One famous One and I assure you it is not me.  I am face to face with my dust these days.  The dust that gets tired and longs for lattes.  The dust that wants to hide from stages and expectations of men.  The dust that swirls in winds of change and gets stuck in ruts along life’s way.

I am so glad there is grace for dusty days and smoky nights.  He laid down His glory for grime so He could embrace my dust and make it His own.   I pray this new year my wonderful friends is filled days of fame, of Him being made famous in and through our lives as we choose to explore the unknown paths and roads less-traveled in our pursuit of knowing Him.

January I am taking a much needed month off to explore some of those unknown paths myself and embrace a season of hiddenness.  So I may not be around here much unless I get a sudden burst of inspiration.  And after that well, we shall see… our internet in South Sudan has been almost nonexistent of late.  Hopefully we will soon be looking into longer term solutions for our connectivity issues, but it may take a little doing and time to see them materialize.  Nothing comes quickly here.  In all I cherish your prayers.

And as always, thank you for grace.

Much love from this unpaved road-
Michele

We are five years old here in Yei, having opened our doors officially on Christmas Day 2006 that no child would ever be without a home… Songs and laughter echoed throughout the compound on our first Christmas Eve candle light service tonight celebrating our first Christmas as a new nation.  We have so many gifts to be thankful for.

Thank YOU for being one His gifts of grace to us all year long. We cherish your love and prayers, your generosity and kindness.

May His light shine in and through your life everyday and may He cause your night to be as noonday before His coming.  We send our love with His on Christmas and always! ~Michele

We are so grateful to all of you who have made this Christmas possible with your generosity and your love all year long.  We are so very blessed and pray His richest blessings back to you and your family this season and always.

~With love, Michele

Christmas greetings to you this holiday season.  I am safely back enveloped by my beautiful Sudanese family, spending Christmas with them and our visitors.  What a joy we have to be family together!  Due to internet cafes being closed for the holidays and an extremely poor connection via our normal set up here on base, you will not be seeing me here much (if at all) until the new year.

We hope and pray to be able to put in satellite connection early next year, pending the provision to do so.  (Pray with us for this please so we can better keep in touch with you!)

Until then, please check in with me over on twitter (which I can update on my phone).  http:/twitter.com/micheleperry  You do not need to sign up to view this page, simply bookmark it.  But if you are a twitter user and want to join the conversation, please follow me @micheleperry for updates from our world here.

From this unpaved road,
Michele