Friday, September 30, 2005
Almost boy
So I just opened my back door to let my dog out. As he goes out he sees a squirrel who wasn’t paying too much attention to anything sitting on our back patio. So Hank, my dog, proceeds to chasing the squirrel. The squirrel jumps on to our chain link fence and runs along the top of it as Hank chases along side of it trying to grab him as they both run. The squirrel fell to Hanks side of the fence though not falling off the fence and Hank nearly got him, but then the squirrel got to the top again and kept running. As the squirrel ran along the top again it fell to the other side of the fence, but instead of just jumping to the ground and safety it jumps to the top of the fence and then verily jumps over Hank, who was jumping as well, to a large tree. It then went high into the tree to safety. Better luck next time Hank, it was a valiant effort!
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Good Stuff
Jen Leonard wrote this on her blog:
God’s love is a mystery. It is spoken of in scripture as unfathomable, too wide and deep for us to understand. In Sunday School and Sunday Sermons, I was taught all about the richness of the love of God. About a creator God who made a covenant with His people, about a man named Jesus, the Son of God, who died on the cross for the sins of the world, the sins of His people. I was taught that His love was all I ever would need. That His love would change my life. It all seemed very cut and dry to me. God loved me so much and unconditionally that He sent His only Son to die for me. And that was the ultimate definition of love. But it does not seem all that simple to me anymore. Not so cut and dry. God’s love has become this unfathomable mystery to me.
But as of late this mystery has been being revealed to me in the beauty of community. A covenant love expressed in togetherness. In the last year of life I have experienced the love God expressed . . .
In the beauty of community.In following Jesus together in this life.In the acceptance of who we are as individuals.In the encouragement to be who we are in the body.In the freedom to broken . . . to be vulnerable . . . to simply be.In the knowledge that we create a safe place for each other.In the faith found in the hopelessness.In the perseverance in the midst of doubt and confusion and hurt.In the prayers we offer on each others behalf.In the laying of hands and the faith behind it.In the breaking of bread and passing of the cup.In the shared meals and laughter.In simply being present with each other.In the building of a history together.In the conversations and discussions that move us forward.In the moments where truth is spoken.In the family that has been formed by the blood.
Community has become one of God’s greatest expressions of His love to me. God’s love is present to me in the midst of my life because His community is present to me. God’s love is present and real to us, because we are real and present to each other.
A covenant love expressed in togetherness.
God’s love is a mystery. It is spoken of in scripture as unfathomable, too wide and deep for us to understand. In Sunday School and Sunday Sermons, I was taught all about the richness of the love of God. About a creator God who made a covenant with His people, about a man named Jesus, the Son of God, who died on the cross for the sins of the world, the sins of His people. I was taught that His love was all I ever would need. That His love would change my life. It all seemed very cut and dry to me. God loved me so much and unconditionally that He sent His only Son to die for me. And that was the ultimate definition of love. But it does not seem all that simple to me anymore. Not so cut and dry. God’s love has become this unfathomable mystery to me.
But as of late this mystery has been being revealed to me in the beauty of community. A covenant love expressed in togetherness. In the last year of life I have experienced the love God expressed . . .
In the beauty of community.In following Jesus together in this life.In the acceptance of who we are as individuals.In the encouragement to be who we are in the body.In the freedom to broken . . . to be vulnerable . . . to simply be.In the knowledge that we create a safe place for each other.In the faith found in the hopelessness.In the perseverance in the midst of doubt and confusion and hurt.In the prayers we offer on each others behalf.In the laying of hands and the faith behind it.In the breaking of bread and passing of the cup.In the shared meals and laughter.In simply being present with each other.In the building of a history together.In the conversations and discussions that move us forward.In the moments where truth is spoken.In the family that has been formed by the blood.
Community has become one of God’s greatest expressions of His love to me. God’s love is present to me in the midst of my life because His community is present to me. God’s love is present and real to us, because we are real and present to each other.
A covenant love expressed in togetherness.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
...in bed.
Me and Johnny Bravo went out to lunch today. We went to Hunan Garden and it was a most wonderful time, I think John's the best. Well when the fortune cookies came we said we'd say "in bed" directly after the end of the fortune. Here were the fortune's and you can add "in bed" for yourself at the end of each one.
-There are 365 days in a year, may all 365 of your dreams come true...
-To love what you do and feel that it matters, how could anything be more fun...
-There are 365 days in a year, may all 365 of your dreams come true...
-To love what you do and feel that it matters, how could anything be more fun...
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Good day...
-Ran in a 5k and did it under my goal. I ran it in about 31:20 (set your goals low enough...)
-Rode an escalator with a 13 year old boy today who had never ridden an escalator before.
-Ate lunch with that same boy at the Hard Rock Cafe in Cleveland and had a wonderful experience. While we were sitting waiting for our food the manager brought out someone else's food, but I thought it was ours and told the boy that so we both turned to look. The manager saw us look and she acted like it was ours and basically said just kidding and walked on by. When she came back again the boy I was with, in a joking manner, said "where's our food?" I was suprised he said it cause he is shy, but I think the managers good attitude opened him up to it. She looked at him and said, "come on" and took him back to the kitchen where she told him to tell the chef "to hurry up with my food or your fired!" He ended up being able to see the whole kitchen and help finish our meals. He then got to help bring them out to the table. What an unexpected joy he got today and what a one did I get watching him get it. The blessings of life!!!
-Rode an escalator with a 13 year old boy today who had never ridden an escalator before.
-Ate lunch with that same boy at the Hard Rock Cafe in Cleveland and had a wonderful experience. While we were sitting waiting for our food the manager brought out someone else's food, but I thought it was ours and told the boy that so we both turned to look. The manager saw us look and she acted like it was ours and basically said just kidding and walked on by. When she came back again the boy I was with, in a joking manner, said "where's our food?" I was suprised he said it cause he is shy, but I think the managers good attitude opened him up to it. She looked at him and said, "come on" and took him back to the kitchen where she told him to tell the chef "to hurry up with my food or your fired!" He ended up being able to see the whole kitchen and help finish our meals. He then got to help bring them out to the table. What an unexpected joy he got today and what a one did I get watching him get it. The blessings of life!!!
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Two Good Movies...
Mandy went out and rented us some movies to watch this weekend and I wasn't impressed with the titles she brought home: Because of Winn Dixie and Finding Neverland. I thought couldn't she get an action flick or possibly a commedy, but no, she brings home those two. But they turned out to be wonderful movies with beautiful stories that just warm your heart and make you want to dream and then live out your dreams.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
The Kingdom of God
Is it now? Is it not yet? Is it both? This Kingdom of God thing intrigues me and leaves me hungering for what it may be both in the future, but also now in my present and in the world all around me.
In what is now my favorite blog, Chris Marshall talks an awful lot about it in ways that make me hunger to see it now, to participate in it now, and to invite others to join me in it.
I think in my preaching I'll be focusing on the Kingdom for a while, who knows? Two passages that have been on my mind this last day our Luke 10:8-9 ("When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'") and Luke 17:20-21 (Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Her it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you.")
Any thoughts on the Kingdom of God in general or as found in those passages in specific?
In what is now my favorite blog, Chris Marshall talks an awful lot about it in ways that make me hunger to see it now, to participate in it now, and to invite others to join me in it.
I think in my preaching I'll be focusing on the Kingdom for a while, who knows? Two passages that have been on my mind this last day our Luke 10:8-9 ("When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'") and Luke 17:20-21 (Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Her it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you.")
Any thoughts on the Kingdom of God in general or as found in those passages in specific?
Friday, September 02, 2005
The hurricane
Just a guess, but I think what we are seeing in New Orleans right now might change the way America sees and treats our inner cities for years to come. On one hand we might see what is going on and build the wall between suburbia and inner city even higher. On the other hand we might realize that we need to do something about the conditions of our inner cities that breed things like we see on CNN. I don't expect the later to take place, but we're Kingdom people who live with hope and pray "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, in our inner cities as it is in Heaven."
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