Modern Day Mystic....

Once again, I am going to write this on the fly. Not sure why other than the duties, chores and responsibilities of life seemed to get in the way yesterday and rather than spending hours "writing" as I planned....I spent hours running errands; picking up a prescription, messing around with a badly stained pool (all the more perplexing because we are not sure where the stain came from)....and just the chores that seem to multiply (like rabbits) during the day.

I did manage to do quite a bit of research last night on one of the other guys Boyd recommended.  I was up to page forty on the search results from google when I was just to sleepy to do anymore clicking.  I have often found the most delightful quotes, info, links when I persevere through page after page after page of results.  I love google....

But I digress....
The next author I checked out (per Boyd's recommendation) was Frank Laubach.  Very, very interesting guy.  He is known as the Apostle to the Illiterates.  He worked many years in order to end illiteracy in other countries.  He is well known for his Each One Teach One method. (and has a book with that title)  The tribes of the Belgian Congo called him Okombekombe, which means "mender of old baskets," because he taught adults to read and write. Much like mending an old leaky basket, he renewed old leaky minds by teaching them to read. 

But he was a mystic as well...a modern day mystic...and wrote several books about his pursuit of keeping his mind fixed on God throughout the day.  He claimed we could learn to think of two things at once (perhaps more) and that we needed to always have an awareness of Christ as we go about our daily business.  A quote from Mr Laubach:

We make Him our inseparable chum. We try to call Him to mind at least one second of each minute. We do not need to forget other things nor stop our work, but we invite Him to share everything we do or say or think. Hundreds of people have experimented until they
have found ways to let Him share every minute that they are awake. In fact, it is no harder to learn this new habit than to learn the touch system in typing, and in time one can win a high percentage of his minutes with as little effort as an expert needs to write a letter. While these two practices take all our time, yet they do not take it away from any good enterprise.

They take Christ into that enterprise and make more result full. They also keep a man’s religion steady. If
the temperature of a sick man rises and falls daily the doctor regards him as seriously ill. This is the case
with religion. Not spiritual chills and fevers, but an abiding faith which gently presses the will toward
Christ all day, is a sign of a healthy religion.

Now I know that sounds a bit hokey....but his short devotional (written in 1953) called the Game of Minutes offers practical solutions and suggestions about how to keep Christ in the forefront of our minds throughout the day.  Throughout our busy days...not just the ones where we kick back in the lounge chair gazing out at the pool, sipping a glass of ice tea (or a cold beer) 

I am going to write at least one more post about him.  I found some really good quotes as I googled last night.  Inspiring quotes from a guy whose life was full of more than airy fairy spiritual pursuits.  He (and Christ) made a real life difference in the world while he practiced what Paul directed us to do....pray without ceasing. 

More tomorrow....