Thursday, February 5, 2026

HOW - PART TWO

 

  Friends,

 Part One

  of this 

three part

  series

is available

     by 

 scrolling 

well down 

 beneath 

this posting.

We are deep

 in hearing 

 and living

   Jesus' 

Life Secret,

   Love 

   God 

Neighbor 

   Self.

 ******

        




Dear All of Us,

We're all trying 

to navigate 

punishing, perilous,

rough, rutted, roads

these days that are

more like doomy, 

darkest night.

We sense that 

what's up ahead 

is even worse.

The rulers of Empire

are on a tare,

tyrannical, delusional,

destructive of 

avenue after avenue 

of civility, justice, 

principle, truth,

care for the earth 

and its peoples,

The Common Good.

They do this

in their wild 

ride for profit

pleasure and power. 

They are hellbent 

on a way to just that -

         HELL

           a

      Living Hell

for more and more

       people 

     and all of 

God's good Creation.



  
  We don't have 

  to go with them.
  
 There is another 

    way to go,

  Kingdom Way,

       BUT

   we have to 

    actually 

      go it.



God so wants us.

Our part is 

to let God 

have us.

It means 

deepest

relationship, 

not casual, 

comfortable, 

religion.

It's passionate 

      Love

Profound intimacy

    

    That's 

who and how 

    God is
  
      LOVE (1)

We're wanted

as God's lovers

every minute 

of every day

in everything 

in every way

we are and do.

God will get us 

through the toughest 

of times and over 

the worst of roads.


Jesus says it 

simple and

simply divine:

With all you've got 

        Love 

        God
 
      neighbor

        self (2)




    LOVE GOD


God is Love itself 

       and 

God wants to love 

the socks off us.(3)

We do well to

fully awaken 

to that.

We do well 

to center still 

to let it surface 

       and 

flood us strong.


We remember,

and most of all we

TAKE TO HEART,

that Jesus bids us 

     have the 

trusting abandon

       and 

  joyous romp 

of a little child 

with its wondrous 

      Dad.(4)

That opens to us being 

wrapped tight together

in prayer, trust and care.



We in turn 

love the socks off 

our Dad God.

We banish restraint,

and burrow in 

with every energy 

and power we have.

We don't soft peddle it.

We push it through

the floorboards.

We go passionate, 

      fired up.


We not only love 

    God Dad

    in prayer.

We are awash in him,

plunged to oneness 

in every moment, 

in every instance,

in every person,

in every speck of 

his gifting Creation

that comes our way.

We're a twosome

        ONE

and all of us together 

are a manysome

        ONE


We're closer than 

any lovers.

We're 24/7.

Sleep, work, 

agonizing, rejoicing,

cooking supper,

suffering loss 

for living as a

counter cultural 

Christian,

changing a tire,

having a beer 

with a friend,

lost in 

intimate prayer,

taking a hit 

for justice,

hearty, giving, 

stretching

participation 

in a for real

  spiritual 

community.



BEING/DOING

 TOGETHER



In that loving 

togetherness 

we are graced, 

empowered,

strengthened

      for

Kingdom Living

     on the 

menacing road

     of our 

 not at all right 

     now.

         

          There 

      One in God,

   energizes by God,

we love neighbor and self.

    It will take a lot of 

    grit and mean pain

            but
 
        we will be 

    stabled standing

   in today's spinning 

   out of control world.

   
    "I live now, not I, 

     but Christ lives 

     in me."(5)


   "Abide in me as 

    I abide in you." (6)


As we hit the road 

we are powered 

        by 

   ONENESS

        in

  God's Love.

  That's our

     HOW

    ******




HOW - PART THREE

  Love of neighbor 

     and of self

   is in the shop

   almost ready

     ******


(1) 1 John 4:8

(2) Luke 10:25-28

(3) 1 John 3:1

      "...love the Father 

        has lavished on us..."

       1 John 4:16

      "... the love God has for us..."
 
(4) The Message
    
      translation
   
      is particularly helpful 

      for both of the following:

      Mark 10:13-16
     
      Matthew 6:9-13

      The Hebrew

        "Abba"

      is most purely 

       translated

       "Daddy"

(5) Galatians 2:20

(6)  John 15:4

        ******



    WELCOME ALL

        ******


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  East Coast USA time 

      ******


LAST FIVE POSTINGS

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Please Continue To Share

these postings with others.
  
           Thanks!

           ******


         All the best.

     See you next week.

          Love to all.

          God Bless

          John Frank
      
            ******



              frankly speaking
         spirituality for the street
      johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

                  ******

Thursday, January 29, 2026

BE

Dear All of Us,

My four-year-old

   Grand Son 

      Ollie 

and his mother 

cohabited for 

nine progressive, 

pregnant months.

Like so many

young people today,

Ollie is reluctant 

to move out.

Ollie is bright, 

happy, active,

normal, sociable

      and 

 Mom is still

    home.


The other day, 

all snuggled up

with my daughter,

he said:

   "Mommy,

    I want you to be 

    where I be."


     WOW!!


Shared Being!

    Divine

My daughter is

God Goodness 

incarnate 

for Ollie.

Ollie is right 

at home, 

based secure, 

sharing in 

her being.


I pray that one day 

Ollie will realize 

in thought 

and way more 

in all of life

that his being 

is not only 

in his mother,

but together 

both he and she

       BE

  in the very 

     BEING

       of 

     God.


Paul pointed this out 

        to the

     Brow Bros

      in Athens

"For in him we live

     and move 

   and have our 

      being." 

   Acts 17:28


May such be 

the story of 

our lives.


   We don't

       Be

         or

    BE-long

     alone 

       or 

 to ourselves.

      We 

    and all 

   Creation 

   are God 

    being

   present

wondrous varied.


"Do you not know 

 that your body is 

 a temple of 

 the Holy Spirit, 

 who is in you, 

 whom you 

 have received 

 from God. 

 You are not 

 your own..." 

1 Corinthians 6:19 


WOW SOME MORE!!


We're not 

a bunch of 

loner losers

left swinging  

in the breeze of 

cutthroat competition.

We're propertied people, 

property of 

Sheer Goodness

incorporated, 

social and creative.


    Together

      we all 

   Be in Being.

 

God is our base, 

source and energy.

God wants 

to emanate,

to animate, 

  through us.

God wants to speak 

  through us,

love 

  through us,

help 

  through us, 

build 

  through us,

have kids 

  through us, 

share earth's bounty 

  through us,

straighten the crooked 

  through us,

pick up 

the knocked down 

  through us,

make vibrant community 

  through us,

nurture Nature 

  through us,

advance research, 

learning and culture 

  through us,

be the Body of Christ 

  through us,

drive carefully 

  through us,

cook great meals 

  through us,

invent helpful things 

and ways for others

  through us,

do a smack up job 

at work 

  through us,

tickle tease and 

tell jokes 

  through us,

go poetic, 

paint, sing, 

throw pottery 

  though us,

make sure 

we don't keep

excess and that 

others have enough 

  through us,

celebrate diversity 

  through us,

warmly welcome and 

weave social 

all kinds and colors 

of people

  through us

by our aliveness

to welcome others 

to discipleship

and Kingdom Life

   through us.


God invites us 

to be together

in Him,

to give him 

openings 

    for 

goodness

    for

Godness

    to

flow share.



There is so much 

      to do 

      and 

      BE


Our lived prayer is:

"God, I want you to be 

 where I BE."

    ******


          For

Prayer and Reflection

              from

    the medieval 

  scholar and mystic,

    Meister Eckhart


  "All God asks of us 

   is to get out of the way 

   so He can be God 

   through us."


  "What is life?

   God's being 

   is my life."


What does this

   Soul Say

 deep inside

 on how we

      BE

   ******


WELCOME ALL

It's so good to

      BE

  together.

   ******


ONLINE POSTINGS

     Thursday 

     mornings

    East Coast 

    USA time.

     ******


LAST FIVE POSTINGS

      AVAILABLE

Just scroll well down

        beneath

     this posting

       ******


All the best.

Love to all.

God Bless,

John Frank

  ******


        frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

             ******


   


















  





 



 


 



 





Wednesday, January 21, 2026

HOW - PART ONE


Dear All of Us,

For starters this week

please allow me

to share,

of all things, 

a tiny bit about 

soccer and me.


When I went to 

the minor seminary

as a teenage boy

back in 1955,

oh yes, there were 

adolescent hominids

moving and active

on this earth 

that far back

and this one 

didn't have 

a clue on

how to do that 

on a soccer field.

I knew zip, zero

about soccer.


For such as us 

new at the

minor seminary,

it was announced

on day one that

there would be

mandatory soccer

every Monday, 

Wednesday, and Friday

after classes,

September to Christmas.

The prospect was daunting.

Soccer for me was a great big

               HOW

         do you do this

                and  
  
        not get mauled?

        


In a little way 

it was like our

ominous right now.

We face a world-wide

field of play

new, strange 

and menacing.

The old order 

is gone and 

a new one 

hasn't even

heard of horizons.

Our world is torn 

in aggressive turmoil. (1)

So many seem 

to know zip, zero 

about how 

to take that field

and stay upright.

It's all so dire,

different, difficult, 

dangerous.

It's just 

getting started,

not at all 

familiar, 

predictable, 

neat nor tidy. 

Daunting indeed, 

even denting!



I eventually learned

       HOW

to stay upright 

on the soccer field.

        

      HOW

do we all do so 

  on today's 

  plain of peril?



The best I know is to hear 

       Really, Really 

            Hear

           Jesus

     at our center self

  hear like never before

    receive from Him

    what it will take 
 
    to live in our new

    not at all nice now.


In doing that 

we need to know 

we'll have to do so 

on a far from level 

playing field.

Empire is vast 

and crazy chaotic.



Jesus sums up 

for us the

Judeo-Christian 

Life Wisdom

that is our 

answer and way:


   Just then a 

   religion scholar 

   stood up 

   with a question 

   to test Jesus. 

  "Teacher, what do 

   I need to do 

   to get eternal life? 

   He answered, 

  "What is written 

    in God's Law? 

    How do you 

    interpret it? 

    He answered, 

   "You shall love 

    the Lord your God 

    with all your 

    passion and prayer and

    muscle and intelligence - 

    and that you 

    love your neighbor 

    as well as 

    you do yourself." 

    Good answer!" 

       said Jesus. 

 "Do it and you'll live." (2)

       Luke 10:25-28

        The Message

        
             Love

  God    Neighbor   Self

         
             But
         
         what's the


         NOW HOW


          of that?




Nothing shy of a 

MAJOR SPIRITUAL 

       RESET



It is the only way 

to take to this new, 

frightening,  

Field of Way Less

Than Dreams

and stay standing.


Pleasant church going,

cultural religiosity,

won't go the distance.

It would mean 

being mowed down

less than a foot in 

on the field before us.

We will need immense

strength and stamina,

wisdom and courage.

  

God will give it

         IF

  we let God get 

  close enough 

   to do that.



What's at issue here

is deep, solid, constant

intimacy with God,

not piety,

intimacy.


God so desires 

that intimacy with us.


God is Love Itself.

God is passionately 

in love with us.

God wants us so close 

that there is just 

The One Of Us -

God-Neighbor-Self,

The powerful paradox 

      of union.

In that union 

we will have an

  immediacy 

     and 
 
  fullness 

   of the 

 strength 

 stamina

 wisdom 

 needed. 

It's a tryptic 

      of 

    Love



We're talking here of

red hot love,

unequivocal,

undiluted,

passionate, 

all pervasive,

   LOVE



What will that be like?

Here's three little pieces 

in a sampler.

Let's each

add to it 

multiple many 

particulars more.


       
   LOVE OF GOD    

At least half an hour

   every day of

   one on one 

      to be 

      ONE 

     soulful 

  love making.

   Not piety,

   intimacy.



LOVE OF NEIGHBOR

Loving the people 

   devastating 

The Common Good 

        and 

 The Good Earth.


   LOVE OF SELF

forgiving our flaws 

living our uniqueness.


"I can do all things 

 through Him 

 who strengths me." (3)



      That's

   our surety

as we take the field,

our steady footing.

That's 

       HOW

     ******



**************

HOW - PART TWO

is in the works.

**************




(1) The World Is In Chaos.

      What Comes Next?

      New York Times

      January 11, 2026

      It will take some time

      and it will be time 

      well spent,

      especially Part Five,

      Expect Continued Chaos,

      Margaret Macmillan


(3) Philippians 4:13

         ******


      We have been blessed 

      in the past few weeks

      with many new friends

              from 

      a rich plenitude of

      lands and peoples.
 

     A WARM WELCOME

            ******


      ONLINE POSTINGS

      Thursday Afternoon

    (frequently mornings)

      East Coast USA time.

              ******


      LAST FIVE POSTINGS

        Scroll well down 
    
             beneath
  
      beneath this posting.
            
                  ******


         Thanks to all 

         who share 

         these postings 

         with others.

            ******


      See you next week.

      Every goodness 

      and blessing.

      may we all get

      the hang of the

           HOW 

        Love to all.

        God Bless,
 
       John Frank

         ******


        frankly speaking
  spirituality for the street
johnfrankshare.blogspot.com

             ******