Category: Brother Al (Page 71 of 71)

As I blog this evening, Judy and I are preparing to go with our daughter and our three grandsons to my 50th class reunion in Negaunee, Michigan.  Our son-in-law Leif is unable to be with us because of his work as an Air Force chaplain in Texas.  As I anticipate my interaction with my former classmates, I sincerely have little desire to talk about my life.  Rather I would rather tell “my story” of God’s work in my life.  I see this work as transformation.  Transformation has become an important word for me in these later years.  Transformation is the work of God in the soul, changing us from the inside out.  It is his hidden work, by which he changes us to become more like Jesus.  I am far from who I should be, but praise God I am not who I used to be back in 1959.     –  This is the story of God’s work in my life.  I have come to appreciate the thought of Richard Rohr who says that “everything belongs.”  What does he mean?  I understand this phrase to mean, that everything that has happened in my life, the good, the bad and the ugly, have a place.  It all belong to the story of God in my life.  It is his work of transformation in the soul.  There is no way that I can take what has happened in my life and weave it into a story of grace and mercy.  Only God can do that.  As I go to my reunion this year, I am so grateful for his mercy and grace to see that everything belongs.  I am sure that there are to discover in my story, but for now I live with what I know.     –    I would say that my being able to come to know all about myself has been greatly enhanced by the inner awareness – a heart experience beyond knowing, that God truly loves me.  Brennan Manning calls it “the abba experience.”  Henri Nouwen call it “knowing our belovedness.”  I know I am “God’s beloved”  It is not dependent on doing or thinking.  God simply is a God of love.  Knowing this has helped me greatly to know that everything belongs    –   I am not sure who is reading this blog.  But I will continue to write out of obedience.  I will make improvement as time and help allows.   I guess I feel some relief in the sense that I am now doing what I have know I should be doing for sometime.     –    I will not be posting for the next four or five days, since I will be at my 50th class reunion.  If you read this blog and it is helpful, let me know.  But more important pray for the “voice” that is being spoken through this blog

Again as I attempt to begin writing this blog site, I am very aware of my insecurity.  But I do sense a call to make the attempt to communicate.  Today I met with a friend, whose discernment I trust.  His advice was to get with the writing, especially to men.  He confirmed in my heart the idea of having much of the content in this blog a story of what God has done in my heart and of the desire I have in my heart to reach the pain found in the heart of so many men.  His word to me was for me to be assured that what I had to say could be liberating and healing for many men who might visit this site.     –   So I write as a work in progress.  I hope to make improvement to this blog site as time goes on.  (At present I have three grandsons visiting for three weeks.  This certainly has gotten me out of rythmn)  I also want to be able to connect with those who care to make comment at this blog site .  If you would like to become a user,  just e-mail Judy and I at canann@tds.net.  We will set you up so that you can become a useer     –  I believe that men need to begin a conversion with other men regarding their souls.  Richard Rohr in his retreat work with men all over the world, has made it abundantly clear that men have to do their ”soul work” with other men.  To many of us men, learned about our masculine feeling and how to relate from our mothers.  Instead of absorbing a male mode of feeling for our souls, many of us absorbed a female mode of feeling for our souls.  As a result men are not able to express nor access their true emotions.  Thus the emotional life of many men is stunted.  You could say that many of us men are “emotionally challenged” when it comes to a intimate relationship with God and with our wives.  As men, we can together learn the language of the masculine soul.  I hope this blog will in some small way contribute to this dialogue.  I envision this blog to be primarily a dialogue with other men hungry for “soul talk.  That all for this post.  There will be more.

In Isaiah 42:7 we read that God’s message to his people is meant, “to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”  In order for the blind to see, captive to see, and those in dungeons to be released, the Word of God needs to be heard.  For the power is in the creating, healing Word that comes from God. Jesus tells us, “The very words I have spoken  to you are spirit and life.  The Word will often be the voice that speaks to the human heart through one believer, speaking into the life of a fellow believer.  The one receiving the Word comes to a place of trust not only in the Word of God, but also in the one who is speaking the Word (the voice).  Obviously the blindness, the need for being freed and release is not only a mental awareness, but more importantly an inner realization that one lives in a spiritual prison, needing life and freedom.  The one who is the voice, is simply the one who speaks into the soul of another, the healing Word of God.  This aspect of soul care is deeply needed in our day.  Many are looking for release and freedom from their inner prisons.  I sense from my experience, especially in being blessed to be “a voice” speaking into the souls of men, that this blog site might be a voice that might speak to the souls of men, helping them to be freed from their enclosed prisons.  Again I ask for pray is this venture.  I am only writing out of obedience.  My prayer is that this “voice” will reach some who are still in inner darkness.

Judy and I both feel that we live in a special place.  Years ago God gave us a verse from Psalms that became important in our spiritual journey.  “He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me” (18:19).  We believe Canaan’s Rest is such a place.  We praise God for his wonderful provision in providing this “spiritual space” in the northwoods.  We both sense that at this stage in our journey, that there is a voice to be heard from this place in the woods.  That is why we have started this blog-site.  It is definitely a work in progress.  Neither of us are very comfortable with the web.  But we are going to keep at it, hoping that the voice will be heard through this site.  As we move along, we will get the hang of blogging.  We hope to communicate what is in our hearts, hoping to connect with fellow pilgrims seeking a deeper relationship with Jesus.  All you who are our friends, please pray for us.  It is not something that we have choosen to do on our own.  It is out of obedience to the Lord.  We want to be a voice out of the wilderness

This is my first post. Judy and I have felt for some time that we should be doing a better job of communicating what the Lord has been doing in our lives and the message that he has formed in our hearts. We are calling our blog, “A voice from the Wilderness” for at least two good reasons. First, we live in the northwoods of northern Minnesota, where we run a small retreat prayer house. The second reason is the sense that we live on “the edge” of the culture and the church, for the sake of both. Our prayer is tha what is shared on these posts can be of help for those “pilgrims” our there who know there is more to their walk with Jesus, then just having more teaching or doing more things. Many of the pilgrims have become discouraged with the church, but are still seeking more intimacy with the Lord. It is to these folks, that we most seem to identify with in our ministry. We have met and know many such pilgrims. If you are one of these piligrims, we would like to get to know you through this blog.