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Blessings

April 25, 2011 in Christian Life with 0 Comments

On certain days I feel like blessings are most difficult to ascertain. The tendency is to believe blessings are only positive- a raise, a newborn child, an answered prayer. And while these, indeed, are blessings, you can’t help but think that there are some blessings or “mercies in disguise.” This is Laura Story’s suggestion, and I think she’s right.

How was Joseph purged of conceit? He spent significant time in an Egyptian dungeon.

How did the apostle Paul learn to appreciate grace? He possessed a physical ailment that taught him God’s grace was sufficient.

How do you rejoice in salvation when you know the greatest man ever to live had to die so agonizingly to make it possible? The blessings of God often come through unconventional, and often painful, experiences.

Take a moment and listen to the powerful words “Blessing” by Laura Story. Think…What if?

2010 Lessons…Faithful Husbands

February 11, 2011 in Christian Life with 6 Comments

Another lesson from 2010 I’d like to discuss is one that’s been brewing inside me for quite a while. In fact, I’m fairly confident that it started long before 2010, but some events in 2010 further solidified my growing conviction. The lesson is simply this… A husband isn’t faithful simply because he hasn’t cheated on his wife. Continue Reading…

You just never know who you’re dealing with…

January 31, 2011 in Christian Life, Uncategorized with 7 Comments

I’ve grown up in and believe in a movement that is all about commands. Let me rephrase that…I’ve grown up in a movement, and still believe in a movement, that is all about some commands.  Unfortunately, the passion had for some passages is missing when it comes to others.

Hebrews 13:2 for instance. It packs considerable command force linguistically, but I’ve never heard someone suggest that to not invite someone into their home when they had the opportunity was a sin. Something here has to give. If we looked at Hebrews 13:2 like other passages, nobody would get to heaven. Or, maybe just maybe, grace would actually mean something significant to those who did. But I digress.

Until the last several years, I never put much into Hebrews 13:2. I rationalized it away like I did so many other things. But that changed in one night. Hebrews 13:2 became real to me and I will go to my grave believing that the last half of the passage is, indeed, a real possibility. But that’s another story for another time.

Would we look at people any differently if we believed that maybe, just maybe, those people were more than who we thought they were? What if the panhandler at the exit of the local WalMart was something more? What if the girl with piercings in her nose, eyebrows, tongue and maybe even those some snake bites below her bottom lip was more than the outward would indicate? Is it even possible? If not, what are we to think of Hebrews 1:14?

Any thoughts?

2010 Lessons

January 5, 2011 in Christian Life with 2 Comments

Life is all about learning. Until we breathe our last breaths, we will be engaged in various processes of learning. So it goes without saying that in 2010 I learned some lessons. But last year, for some reason, I sense I came to an understanding of some things that, at least to me, are fairly profound.

I’d like to take some time and unpack some of those things over the next few weeks. Right now my list is at five. More might come but here’s what I have so far.

1. A minister’s job isn’t to grow or save a church.

2. God, not human ingenuity, grows a church numerically and spiritually after Jesus.

3. A husband isn’t faithful just because he doesn’t cheat on his spouse.

4. It’s much easier to talk about wanting to be a peacemaker than it is to actually live like one.

5. The future is bright!

What did 2010 teach you?

Hubris Revived…

December 19, 2010 in Christian Life with 2 Comments

Over the years I’ve struggled to capture the words and sentences required to posit a description/explanation for some of the most significant changes that have occurred in my life. I have tried and tried and tried, yet repeatedly failed. Those who know me best have come to see that I am much different than I used to be. Naturally, I get asked…

Why? How? What caused it?

If that’s you, then I direct you here. If it’s not you, then I still encourage you to click on that link. It just might save you from making a fatal mistake. Take a second, though, and follow my directions below.

First, read Hubris Defined. Then jump to Descending Hubris. Like nothing else, this author captures what has most made the difference, insofar as my personal contributions are concerned.

Keep in mind, God has actually been at the root of it all, slowly and often painfully working his work (Philippians 2:12-13). But life’s experiences have done their part to shake the old me to the core, leaving something significantly different than before.

I feel it imperative to admit…I know the author and he knows me. In fact, we know each other well enough that, at times, it’s been unsettling for each of us.  We’ve actually been closer than blood brothers, so it seems. At other times, we’ve fought as much as blood brothers fight.

I can’t, nor would he want me to, take credit for it all, but given how we functioned together for a five year period of time, I am confident that some of the blame for his “hubris” should be laid at my feet. We’ve actually discussed it. Nevertheless, at that time, I gave no indication that his ascent up the mountain of hubris, a mountain I too was climbing, was a mistake. In fact, I am confident that in numerous ways I encouraged him to make the lofty climb. In fact, that too he was willing to affirm. At my request, he also outlined some particulars that help me to ascertain the nuances to Descending Hubris. For that I am thankful.

Now if you have the courage and stamina to read Descending Hubris in its entirety, you’ll find what exists as the impetus for all that is different, for all that has changed, in me. Do with it what you will.

If you are one who is making the arduous ascent up a mountain of misery, the mountain of hubris, think carefully about what the author suggests. If you are one who’s found that the air is too think to sustain life at the top, then you might be on your way down yourself. In my estimation, that’s great. Don’t worry about those with whom you cross paths on your descent. Let’s hope they find out what it’s like for themselves. In the end, they’ll either jump or wisely descend. I chose the latter. So did the author. You might should too.
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