"Bothered by the Lost," Kellie Gamble; Praxis series (Acts 17:16-34)

In Athens then
and here and now,
the spiritual world
seethes
and
titillates -
the curious
taste-test
at a buffet of options.
Intellectual debates
champion
various ideas.
Some earnestly seek truth
and others joust
and spar
with words to simply
show off their
academic status.

"The called"
are bothered
by the lost,
groping in the dark.
Each idol
falsely chosen
burdens the heart.
One who is called
steps into the
river of culture,
polluted though it may be,
speaks to the
misplaced desires
and
affirms the intent.

Knowing the culture,
reading their books,
listening to their questions -
those spoken
and tacit -
must come first.

Look for connections
and intersections -
touch points
that can lead to
the sharing of Truth
in big
and little
doses.

Some truth is hard to swallow
and to speak,
but must be spoken.
Words are seeds to sow,
some will shrivel
and some
take root.

Essential as Air; Praxis series - Tim Knipp (Acts 16)

Truth -
essential
as air.

It resonates with
the successful,
upright Lydia
who needs freedom
from the illusion
of self-sufficiency.
Her open heart recieves.
She breathes.

It obsesses the slave girl
possessed by a spirit,
coiled like a snake
around her heart.
She needs freedom
inside and out -
a breaking of locks.
Imperfect Peter
unleashes power
that shatters
her shackles
in the name of Christ.

It touched the stolid jailer,
over-muscled,
disciplined,
with a heart of stained
steel.
The jailer needs his
expectations 
overturned,
his charred past
washed clean.
 He reaches hands,
fingernails gummed with
his victim's blood,
to grasp salvation,
then tenderly nurses
wounds
with those same
hands.

Truth.
Essental as air
to each
and
all.

Tim Knipp - PRAXIS

Lydia, high end successful fashionista. Self-made and self sufficient meets her sufficiency.