Freefall – A Research Methodology

It's freefall into giver-land, that's what I do each day;
My larger task, what I'm about, as I go on my way;
It's not I think that much of it, more that I'm tuned in there,
As I do things which matter most, take notes, and then compare.

I'm like a crash-test dummy; or a space-probe beeping back;
Or pill that is a camera which one swallows, checking track;
It doesn't matter all that much what other stuff goes on,
For it's just life I am living, on a mission with the Son.

I notice  aberrations which emerge in giver-land;
I hear the sounds of silence, making sense as best I can;
I have a research question which is guiding piece for me –
“What is the gap in giver-land where healing needs to be?”

When crunch was on, three made the cut, the first my family:
As I fix up our house and go on trip across the sea;
Take mom to church, and outings take in our ramshackle van;
And figure out home-finance here, and do the best I can.

The second is my writing down of what I see and feel:
I leave a paper trail behind and try to keep it real;
I edit up my fiction books – which I already wrote;
The photographs support this work, that's why they missed the boat.

The third task is my mentoring: discipling of some guys
Or gals depending who shows up in this or that disguise;
It's been that way since at the first when I was just nineteen –
I somehow come in contact, help them see what life can mean.

For somehow we get stuck in life for lack of central fact;
We thrash around and lose our way yet want to get on track;
Sometimes it takes a gentle push, to move out from the ditch;
Not just the poor or middle class, sometimes folks are quite rich.

What matters most is their desire to live a life that's real,
A life with deep significance, a fullness they can feel;.
Where deep desires within their hearts can find expressive ways
To be addressed in living-space before they end their days.

Just what that means each person needs to figure out themselves,
Once ‘gifts’ and ‘work conditions’, mix with ‘wish-list’ which they delve;
I show them how to flip it into ‘task-list’ for their lives,
As they do what they wish had been – for others – sight arrives.

It's like a power-pellet – they take off, get high on life;
No more bogged down and stopped by fog, or loss, or fear, or strife;
They're good for just a year or two as they pick up their speed,
So when they hit the wall (they will) then start to feel their need.

Of course there's little issues in that two-year living space –
New problems come when they're not stuck, with movement at their base;
But these resolve, they gathers speed with nothing in their way
To slow them down, divert their course, or cause them to delay.

Then, wham! They hit the wall that has no openings in front,
Beside, or over, under, as this blockage they confront.
It's hard to say just what will be that stops them in their tracks;
But it will come, despairing, for it’s ways-and-means they lack.

In letting go and letting God fulfill their Golden rule,
They find release and newness as God takes them back to school;
He shows them He's the gas that makes their car surge on its way
And handle hills impossible when pushing it each day.

That works a while, frustrating though – take hold, let go, take hold;
Until they're opened to a thought which really makes them bold:
God wants an interaction twixt the energy we've got
And power He supplies to us – more, dance of life's the thought.

Two minds as one, with one the lead, ‘do this or that wee task,
Not sometime in the future, but just do it when I ask’;
When they respond, as best they can, then wham! There are results –
One-thousand-million ways it seems, removing all their doubts.

For power they bring to their task is wimpy to the core,
But locked into His power-grid, it's infinite in store;
They do their little “this and that” which opens up the way
For Him to pour His power through – take ‘wish’ to light of day.

And after that they enter life, a new world in their old;
On doing life with God, His way, they are forever sold;
For who'd. go back to pushing cars, once they discovered gas?
And who would strive and thrust in life instead of “this and that”?

Some find it's power in words they say, the wisdom of the wise;
For some a word of knowledge helps another to survive;
Some find a little gesture hardly worthy in our sight
Sets free a healing torrent, setting broken bodies right;

For some they walk into a room where things have bogged right down,
And when they leave folks look around, new freedom they have found;
From lips of some flows out the sounds of angst, or joy, or thought;
While others help appreciate such blessings that we've got.

Some folks give guidance in the fog, help us to see our way;
Some walk beside us, reassure that we will see our day
As love matures through hope, then faith, till plain for all to see,
Thus carried by their walk of faith, our deep desires now be.

Some folks can sense the ambience in time, or place, or way,
And guide us through deceitful webs to see a better day;
And so on – just so many ways the Spirit helps us live,
So we can all mature in life, and aid to others give.

It's in that larger scene I do my small discipling task;
I help out when and where I can, whenever people ask
How they can also do their life in ways of victory,
When all around the sticky mud of the ditch is what they see.

It's mostly leader-types who hear the shepherd's voice in me;
Not leaders now, but down the road, before they leaders be;
The clay unformed, unseen to be of value in this world –
Encourager and giver – working well ahead – in swirl.

So, freefall into giver-land, with paper-trail and kin
Discipling one or two who come to know the space I'm in;
That's how I do my life right now and what it means to me;
Much more than that is way too much for me to even see.

navigation