On Wednesday morning, August 26th, Alison Parker and Adam Ward, members of the television news team of WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia were shot and killed while on the air doing a live interview by a very disturbed man.  Once again, misdirected anger has boiled over leaving sorrow in its wake.

Yet another act of violence confronts us. Yet more lives are lost in a hail of bullets. Yet more hearts are shattered. Yet more dreams will go unfulfilled, more potential unrealized, more promise unmet.

Join me this day in prayers for the family and friends of the victims and the shooter.  And join me in asking for the Peace of Christ to wash over us, giving us the courage to be blessed peacemakers who – through an act of Christ-like service we offer daily – love and serve all those whom Jesus loves.
Peace,
Ram

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. – Colossians 3:15

This broken heart will not ever mend.

The unbearable, excruciating pain left
in the wake of violent acts becomes
the only physical reminder of beautiful
loved ones whose lives will be unable
to embody the fullness prepared
for them by their Creator.

Brass, lead, powder and an inexhaustible
supply of resentment combine in the
crucible of anger becoming a deadly,
destructive force unleashed on innocents,
ending, changing untold numbers of lives.

The presence of violence is the absence
of hope. The absence of hope can only
be reversed by the presence of Love.

The presence of Love is
the presence of God
made real by the love
we share with one another.

How shall I share God’s Love today?
Whose life can I touch today with
the Peace of Christ? What kindness
can I cast into the pond of despair
creating ripples of hope to clear away
the tears, to make way
for new, hopeful lives to emerge?

Show me today, Deep Love, with whom
I am to share your Life.  Bless those
whose lives won’t suffer because

of one simple act of imitating your Love.
27 August 2015

There are a few places and moments where the veil between the Divine and Human, between Heaven and Earth, are very thin. I have visited a few – all surprising at that moment!
-Ram

“Thin Places”
It’s hard to hold in the emotions
in that moment. Deep within the
soul stirs life, animated by the
very Presence of the One who

created life.  Amazing, too, is the
moment of awareness, the moment
where the very ground upon which
one stands is recognized as holy,

sacred, blessed to impart blessing
upon the weary traveler.  What is left
at that point but to be in awe, to fall
in love, to surrender, to release all

that has become burden, to utter an
incomprehensible word of thanks
for another day to un-become and
find our true self reflecting God.

7 August 2015

Transfigured

(Based on Luke 9.28-36)

In milliseconds, an eye blink,

all is changed, transfigured.

No longer draped in the dull

clothing of yesterday’s life,

rather, beautifully clothed in

tomorrow’s hope, today is

shining brightly, bathed in a

new lightness, pulsing with a

vibrancy that comes only after

an encounter with the Divine.

Revealed atop this mountain

is living – not mere existence –

but full, true living, minus fear,

filled with hope, radiating love.
6 August 2015

The Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ

August in Texas means back to school, start of football (and other athletic) practices and a general upswing in getting going.  The hottest time of the year – is that really the time to get revved up? Personally, I’d rather nap in a hammock by a cool river. -Ram

It’s hot.

I can smell the grass burning,

then crunching under my feet.

It’s August.

And even as rainless nature works

to live, our life is beginning anew.

It’s Texas.

Which creates a toughness,

strength to live through struggle.

It’s time.

To seek and drink cool water,

to be refreshed, to begin again.

5 August 2015

Some of my best ideas are God-knows-where….

Somewhere hidden deeply, far away

from my eyes, run and play my best

thoughts. All my fanciful ideas and

dreams which escaped in a moment

of trivial distraction live now joyfully

with runaway inventions not invented,

stories never written, songs yet unsung.

It must be a spectacular place! A great

destination to visit, to rest and dream

great dreams, to glimpse a vision of love.

25 July 2015

A haiku inspired by the scene on Times Square in New York City. Surrounded by huge screens, we just couldn’t resist the allure of our small screens….

Big, bright screens a-fire,

but our small screens numb our hearts

from the world around.

(12 July 2015)