Thread by @ThyConsigliori

14 August 2022 - #KennysPrayer

You’re about to hear a new prayer, composed by my client, friend, and spiritual compatriot, @k_frey7 and myself last week. I’ll explain more following the recording. This is also dedicated to another Ken, @SandhillsKen.

3) It is an extraordinary new feature that Twitter has added. Once you hit the waveform icon - found only on iOS devices for now - you may just record what you wish. Twitter automatically breaks whatever you record into a thread and there you go.

4) If you'd like to read the prayer for yourself, here it is in four images. This is not a final edit, but it's drawing closer, I believe. By all means, suggestions are greatly welcomed.

5) Now let's discuss the process of this prayer, as well as a bit of its story. The most important thing to understand is that this prayer, as closely as we were able, reflects Kenny's true faith. In this, I am his faithful servant.

6) We won't linger, but if you know me well, it really is important that you try, if you can, to allow me to work with @k_frey7 by his beliefs, not my own. It's a bit topic, but not one for parsing and debating here, at least not right now. More in future conversation, for sure.

7) The prayer itself has deep roots in both Old and New Testament scripture, and also embodies a doctrine near and dear to Judaism called Tikun Olam. Sadly, this ancient belief has been recently scrubbed and weaponized by the left. That I have to explain...

8) Tikun Olam is the belief that, as co-creators of the world with God, it is our job to heal the world, as well as to perfect and beautify it. This is one of the greatest doctrines in all religion, I believe, and may be found in many versions throughout.

9) As such, it is a natural belief for all, but perhaps a bit more so for conservatives who take responsibility for themselves and the world. Social Justice warriors of the left saw this, and decided to coopt the doctrine, turning it into a socialist mandate.

10) I first noticed this some years ago, when wonderful articles I used to share with my clients started disappearing from their online sites. Then, as I saw the political weaponization of the doctrine, it broke my heart. That happens to me a great deal.

11) To any Christian hearing this prayer, its direct reference to the Lord's Prayer should be quite obvious. It will help, however, to also study 1 Kings 19, the story of Elijah fleeing from Jezebel's wrath. You should really read bothy chapters 18 & 19.

12) Getting back to the Lord's Prayer - the Pater Noster - a tremendous if difficult source is from this book. It's author tackles the challenge of prayer as a daily practice quite unlike any other I've ever encountered.

thriftbooks.com/w/trilogy-on-p…

13) We could keep going on sources, deeper and deeper, but let's look at what praying this prayer allows. First, please note the zero-resistance, complete confessional and subservient nature of the prayer. Submission is, perhaps, its most stringent demand upon the soul.

14) As @k_frey7 will at some point explain, it is his MASSIVELY rebellious nature that inspired its counter-balance in our work. I've know Kenny for many, many years. I can personally attest to the cycle of apparent agreement followed by rebellious rejection of counsel.

15) I've also followed Kenny's spiritual journey. What's the verse about the Lord chastening those He loves? I can see Kenny's wry smile and softened ego gleaming at me right now. Age doesn't always mellow, and he's a feisty one to be sure. But age does teach. That's for sure.

16) We have to somehow include the Book of Genesis, and especially the Garden of Eden, and the following commands to work for one's living, toiling upon the land. Kanny has his own Eve. Her name is Debie, and Kenny loves her fiercely, with his entire being more than he can say.

17) He always sees me coming whenever I bring Debie up, ruthlessly, and with happy consultant joy. Yeah, seeing me coming, he still can't defend against it. He adores her to the point of actually executing change for progress. I love that about him.

18) What's even more difficult is that Debie sees Kenny with God's eyes. Yet, Kenny still forgets and strays from the path. Hey, didn't Paul have something to say about the spirit being willing but the body weak? What was that one?

19) Last inside scoop. I've yelled at Kenny loudly enough and often enough in the frequently futile mission of getting a message through the clogged up ears - and unlike God, I do NOT have a still small voice. That part was mine, but it was obviously about Kenny, directly.

20) Now let's talk protocol. Just about all the sources above - oh, I should add The Imitation Of Christ, every Christian should read it! - call for more than just daily prayer, study, and devotions, they call for it in the morning.

d2y1pz2y630308.cloudfront.net/15471/document…

21) Humans require direction. A day starts and it has all the power. We just react and react. No control, no direction. No strategy and concomitantly weak to terrible tactics. We suck. We need...a Compass Rose for our day!

22) As a Christian, how can you argue that you don't need God's guidance for the day? How do refute that? But, most Christians have no idea how to seek it, how to listen for it. Like Elijah feeling Jezabel, they can hear thunder and wind, but not God's still small voice.

23) So going into action, print out the prayer and start reading it in the morning BEFORE you do pretty much anything. Maybe shower, coffee, exercize, but NO reading the paper or watching TV, and by all means ABSOLUTELY NO WORK!

24) Then, be sure to have a timer of some sort and set it for 15 minutes in which you do...POSITIVELY NOTHING. You just sit there. You can read the Bible, that's okay, but not the same. We'll talk about that more in more advanced studies. Just sit. Do nothing else.

25) Oh, I confess. There is an entire school of Zen Buddhism, called Soto Zen, that has the command, "just sit, do nothing else," as its entire doctrinal basis. So, I cheated there. Confession finished. I learned that lesson here...

amazon.com/Zen-Mind-Begin…

26) The strange thing is that, as you just sit, maybe thinking about your breath and breathing, you find your heart and breathing slows down, and if you force the discipline, your thoughts slow down too. As you quiet your shouting mind, you begin to feel God's love.

27) God's love is the wavelength, the carrier signal if you will, upon which His still small voice comes to you, usually being forced out by too much other noise. All it takes to hear it, really, is the combination of desire, time, quiet/listening, and focus. Ah, but you must...

28) You must repeat, repeat, repeat. That is, this is a 7 days per week practice. But of course at first you'll massively fail. 2, maybe 3 days in, you'll forget. That's okay. Just start over again the next day. In fact, that is always the answer. You missed? Start over again.

29) That's enough instruction for today. I still have to bring in my other Ken, @SandhillsKen. Our Kenny is a veteran Marine. Ken Benway is veteran infantry. I'll let both of them tell what of those stories they will. Infantry Ken is Christian Warrior. And he is mighty.

30) @SandhillsKen, a trained leader, has created something called Muster-to-Election. He does this as a child of God, on the mission to save America. I wasn't thinking about him while Kenny and I worked on the prayer. I couldn't help BUT think of in immediately after.

31) Having listened and sung this great hymn since my childhood, it still gives me shivers running up and down my arms to this very day. When I spoke with @SandhillsKen this morning, I told him, he reminds me of this...

32) I know @k_frey7 from my practice as a business coach. I met @SandhillsKen in the 2016 fight to get Trump elected. They don't know each other. But I know them both, and they both inspire me on similar lines, buts nowhere more so than by faith, and its daily struggle.

33) Do check out Infantry Ken's @SpecOpsSpeaks work, and his Muster there. We will surely discuss more about that mission again. And, if you're a believer, maybe take a copy of #KennysPrayer with you to church and get some input from your friends and fellows in Christ.