Wednesday, January 21, 2009
just started writing... more to do before posting
There are some bandwagons in our culture that border on being overcrowded... and I jump on some of them. I'm not ashamed to admit that I love U2 and The Office, to name two.
But sometimes I dig my heels in and refuse to participate in the "herd mentality". That's what I call it when I'm not in it. I have never seen that Christmas movie called, "A Christmas Story". The one with a Macauley Culkin look-a-like... the one that TBS shows for 24 hours on Dec 25. That's one I've tenaciously avoided.
I had also extended some vigor saying no to being the 4,000,001st person to read "The Shack". Dozens has asked me about it. Finally the kicker came and I had to read it: My mother, the woman who brought me into this world, gave it to me for Christmas. There you go.
What did I think of it?
Random thoughts:
1.) The writing was not engaging... to me. So that was a struggle. But it could be that I've been reading alot of Flannery O'Connor and EVERYBODY's writing pales to her.
2.) The main character entered the book struggling with what many people struggle with... a view of an unhappy God who is an angry taskmaster. I, like the author, grieve when I see this... in my heart or in others.
3.) The whole embodied God the Father and God the Holy Spirit simply seemed unbiblical to me, not to mention cheesy. Some might say I just didn't like that they were both female. Maybe. But I didn't like God the Father any more when He morphed from Big African American Lady to Cool White Guy with Ponytail. Some may say I'm just simple-minded and the Scriptures say that only one member of the Trinity is embodied, yet the Father and Spirit are knowable... and I know them and have experienced them.
If you have not read
Desiring God
The Pleasures of God
Knowing God
The Holiness of God
read those first... they show you a happy and holy Triune God who reveals Himself to us with a depth & strength that leads to intimacy that--forgive me--cheesy stuff cannot.
More on The Shack some pro some con:
1. abbreviated Review by
2. LONG review
3. Reading the Shack in Good Faith
seems like helpful balance..
But sometimes I dig my heels in and refuse to participate in the "herd mentality". That's what I call it when I'm not in it. I have never seen that Christmas movie called, "A Christmas Story". The one with a Macauley Culkin look-a-like... the one that TBS shows for 24 hours on Dec 25. That's one I've tenaciously avoided.
I had also extended some vigor saying no to being the 4,000,001st person to read "The Shack". Dozens has asked me about it. Finally the kicker came and I had to read it: My mother, the woman who brought me into this world, gave it to me for Christmas. There you go.
What did I think of it?
Random thoughts:
1.) The writing was not engaging... to me. So that was a struggle. But it could be that I've been reading alot of Flannery O'Connor and EVERYBODY's writing pales to her.
2.) The main character entered the book struggling with what many people struggle with... a view of an unhappy God who is an angry taskmaster. I, like the author, grieve when I see this... in my heart or in others.
3.) The whole embodied God the Father and God the Holy Spirit simply seemed unbiblical to me, not to mention cheesy. Some might say I just didn't like that they were both female. Maybe. But I didn't like God the Father any more when He morphed from Big African American Lady to Cool White Guy with Ponytail. Some may say I'm just simple-minded and the Scriptures say that only one member of the Trinity is embodied, yet the Father and Spirit are knowable... and I know them and have experienced them.
If you have not read
Desiring God
The Pleasures of God
Knowing God
The Holiness of God
read those first... they show you a happy and holy Triune God who reveals Himself to us with a depth & strength that leads to intimacy that--forgive me--cheesy stuff cannot.
More on The Shack some pro some con:
1. abbreviated Review by
2. LONG review
3. Reading the Shack in Good Faith
seems like helpful balance..
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
First Coming
by Madeleine L’Engle
He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.
He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine. He did not wait
till hearts were pure. In joy he came
to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
he came, and his Light would not go out.
He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.
We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!
by Madeleine L’Engle
He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.
He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine. He did not wait
till hearts were pure. In joy he came
to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
he came, and his Light would not go out.
He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.
We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Chesterton Quote
In that place they dined and slept, both very thoroughly. The beans and bacon, which these unaccountable people cooked well, the astonishing emergence of Burgundy from their cellars, crowned Syme’s sense of a new comradeship and comfort. Through all this ordeal his root horror had been isolation, and there are no words to express the abyss between isolation and having one ally. It may be conceded to the mathematicians that four is twice two. But two is not twice one; two is two thousand times one.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
I hadn't previously noticed that he ends the album with an echo of track 2 "hosanna"...
like this:
Hosanna! O Hosanna! Hail the long awaited king, come to set his people free. We cry O Hosanna! Won’t you tear this temple down, raise it up on holy ground. O Hosanna! I will lift my voice and sing: you have come and washed me clean. Hosanna.
All I know is that I was blind but now I see that though I kick and scream,
Love is leading me.
And every step of the way
his
grace
is
making
me;
with every breath I breathe,
he
is
saving
me.
And I believe.
So when my body’s weak and the day is long, when I feel my faith is all but gone, I’ll remember when I sing this song that I believe. I believe he is the Christ, Son of the living God, my Lord, my Savior. Oh, hosanna, I believe.
He has come! He is coming! He will come again!!
like this:
Hosanna! O Hosanna! Hail the long awaited king, come to set his people free. We cry O Hosanna! Won’t you tear this temple down, raise it up on holy ground. O Hosanna! I will lift my voice and sing: you have come and washed me clean. Hosanna.
All I know is that I was blind but now I see that though I kick and scream,
Love is leading me.
And every step of the way
his
grace
is
making
me;
with every breath I breathe,
he
is
saving
me.
And I believe.
So when my body’s weak and the day is long, when I feel my faith is all but gone, I’ll remember when I sing this song that I believe. I believe he is the Christ, Son of the living God, my Lord, my Savior. Oh, hosanna, I believe.
He has come! He is coming! He will come again!!
Monday, November 03, 2008
The physical heart must be exercised to grow stronger, and that discipline requires some sweat & pain. So does the growth of our emotional heart. Our love grows to the degree that we suffer & refuse to turn cold & hard.
In a world like ours, suffering is not a choice, but misery is. If in the face of suffering we say, "Enough, no more. I quit," we are choosing misery, not growth.
--dan allender, How Children Raise Parents, page 134
In a world like ours, suffering is not a choice, but misery is. If in the face of suffering we say, "Enough, no more. I quit," we are choosing misery, not growth.
--dan allender, How Children Raise Parents, page 134
.... Still developing....
Bebe, you turn 70 tomorrow!!
mr. Smarty Pants finds himself wth an xtra hour this morning. I forgot to move clocks last nite!!
But I'm glad... Bcauuse it has given me a chance to seriously, sincerely, and happily say THANKS to God... For you!
Bebe, I have 4 other people asleep right now who sadly have learned what you know... That Rob can hurt you like few others. I look back, on my growing up AND on yday, and see how my words and gestures and actions hurt those I claim to love. I am not despairing... I know Jesus has borne my sin and "my chains are off my heart is free". And I also know that I'm realizing more what exactly He paid, in terms of my hurting people.
Bebe, you were a great mother to me in childhood....
Going to my All-Star games, you always helped me "get into" what we we were doing. Buying 25 Summit candy bars is my biggest memory.
I remember the tenderness you showed to me when I finally got up the courage to ask if you could take me to a dermatologist for my acne. You taking me and terry and clint (and letting us each bring a friend!) to grandma's each summer. Looking back on you doing that by yourself floors me. Thank you!
Parenting is so hard! I am seeing for myself right now. I have zero memories of you ever communicating that I was a bother to you or that you were ashamed of me. When I look at my own silent communications to my children I cannot say the same thing. And when I think of how I treated Terry & Clint--my brothers & your sons--oh, how my heart breaks for what that must've been like for you. I am so sorry and still count my self-righteous/mean attitude toward them as one of my biggest regrets in life.
Random:
--I love my Methodist roots
--- the freedom you gave me at 22 to move 10 hrs away from home with no guilt... And you have never wavered in that, neither Calfornia nor Gainesville have you tried to keep us from.
----I am proud to be from stk
---I fondly remember being puiblic skool teacher's son (what a servant's podition)
....Unfinished...
Bebe, you turn 70 tomorrow!!
mr. Smarty Pants finds himself wth an xtra hour this morning. I forgot to move clocks last nite!!
But I'm glad... Bcauuse it has given me a chance to seriously, sincerely, and happily say THANKS to God... For you!
Bebe, I have 4 other people asleep right now who sadly have learned what you know... That Rob can hurt you like few others. I look back, on my growing up AND on yday, and see how my words and gestures and actions hurt those I claim to love. I am not despairing... I know Jesus has borne my sin and "my chains are off my heart is free". And I also know that I'm realizing more what exactly He paid, in terms of my hurting people.
Bebe, you were a great mother to me in childhood....
Going to my All-Star games, you always helped me "get into" what we we were doing. Buying 25 Summit candy bars is my biggest memory.
I remember the tenderness you showed to me when I finally got up the courage to ask if you could take me to a dermatologist for my acne. You taking me and terry and clint (and letting us each bring a friend!) to grandma's each summer. Looking back on you doing that by yourself floors me. Thank you!
Parenting is so hard! I am seeing for myself right now. I have zero memories of you ever communicating that I was a bother to you or that you were ashamed of me. When I look at my own silent communications to my children I cannot say the same thing. And when I think of how I treated Terry & Clint--my brothers & your sons--oh, how my heart breaks for what that must've been like for you. I am so sorry and still count my self-righteous/mean attitude toward them as one of my biggest regrets in life.
Random:
--I love my Methodist roots
--- the freedom you gave me at 22 to move 10 hrs away from home with no guilt... And you have never wavered in that, neither Calfornia nor Gainesville have you tried to keep us from.
----I am proud to be from stk
---I fondly remember being puiblic skool teacher's son (what a servant's podition)
....Unfinished...
Sunday, November 02, 2008
amazing... still haven't found what i'm looking for
yesterday on my jog i did the last mile in the fastest i've done in a while (8:18) listening to this song and remembering that i used to criticize U2 for not being "happy in Jesus" in this song...
i now know that knowing Jesus holds the hope and promise of finding what i'm looking for... but not in this world
....today i see that this song is the #1 most played song on this ipod
yesterday on my jog i did the last mile in the fastest i've done in a while (8:18) listening to this song and remembering that i used to criticize U2 for not being "happy in Jesus" in this song...
i now know that knowing Jesus holds the hope and promise of finding what i'm looking for... but not in this world
....today i see that this song is the #1 most played song on this ipod
The delight which the mariner feels, when, after having been tossed about
for many a day, he steps again upon the solid shore, is the satisfaction
of a Christian when, amidst all the changes of this troublous life, he
rests the foot of his faith upon this truth-"I am the Lord, I change not.
"
The stability which the anchor gives the ship when it has at last obtained
a hold-fast, is like that which the Christian's hope affords him when it
fixes itself upon this glorious truth. With God "is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning." What ever his attributes were of old, they are
now; his power, his wisdom, his justice, his truth, are alike unchanged.
He has ever been the refuge of his people, their stronghold in the day of
trouble, and he is their sure Helper still. He is unchanged in his love.
He has loved his people with "an everlasting love"; he loves them now as
much as ever he did, and when all earthly things shall have melted in the
last conflagration, his love will still wear the dew of its youth.
Precious is the assurance that he changes not! The wheel of providence
revolves, but its axle is eternal love.
---- Spurgeon, morning
And Stott today on Ronans twelve... His mercies are our motivation!
Hosanna!
...
for many a day, he steps again upon the solid shore, is the satisfaction
of a Christian when, amidst all the changes of this troublous life, he
rests the foot of his faith upon this truth-"I am the Lord, I change not.
"
The stability which the anchor gives the ship when it has at last obtained
a hold-fast, is like that which the Christian's hope affords him when it
fixes itself upon this glorious truth. With God "is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning." What ever his attributes were of old, they are
now; his power, his wisdom, his justice, his truth, are alike unchanged.
He has ever been the refuge of his people, their stronghold in the day of
trouble, and he is their sure Helper still. He is unchanged in his love.
He has loved his people with "an everlasting love"; he loves them now as
much as ever he did, and when all earthly things shall have melted in the
last conflagration, his love will still wear the dew of its youth.
Precious is the assurance that he changes not! The wheel of providence
revolves, but its axle is eternal love.
---- Spurgeon, morning
And Stott today on Ronans twelve... His mercies are our motivation!
Hosanna!
...
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
So you say there is no hope
Maybe God is dead and gone
So you think that He can't break a heart that's harder than a stone
So you feel so wrecked and dirty He could never make you new
Well man, have I got news for you!
I'm so compelled to tell you that it's true.... SO TRUE!
Listen, i've got news for you!
I've got good news for you
--AP
Maybe God is dead and gone
So you think that He can't break a heart that's harder than a stone
So you feel so wrecked and dirty He could never make you new
Well man, have I got news for you!
I'm so compelled to tell you that it's true.... SO TRUE!
Listen, i've got news for you!
I've got good news for you
--AP
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
1. Preach Gospel to Self
--I am a sinner
Rom7! my sin has not shocked God or caught Him unawares... He elected me, atoned for me and sent His Spirit KNOWING that I would fail and wander... Jesus came for the sick.... ps 40... "as for me I am poor and needy"
-- I am a son
my status is certain... romans 8! I received the spirit of adoption as sons... the Spirit Himself bears witness! all rights & privileges are mine
2. Rest in His Goodness and sovereignty
All that I call good is from You and is good
All that I call bad is from You and shall be used for good
You control every word I've spoken, every coincidence that got me to this moment... your plan is working, grant me faith to rest in it, not fight it
"Jesus, I am resting... slowly finding out the greatness of your loving heart."
3. Offer self as lving sacrifice
Jesus, I'm yours. You are all i got. Manifest your glory in and through me today. May I enter every conversation filled with hope in You and your gospel... and pass that hope on thru my tone of voice, words, and actions and facial expressions and reactions.
--I am a sinner
Rom7! my sin has not shocked God or caught Him unawares... He elected me, atoned for me and sent His Spirit KNOWING that I would fail and wander... Jesus came for the sick.... ps 40... "as for me I am poor and needy"
-- I am a son
my status is certain... romans 8! I received the spirit of adoption as sons... the Spirit Himself bears witness! all rights & privileges are mine
2. Rest in His Goodness and sovereignty
All that I call good is from You and is good
All that I call bad is from You and shall be used for good
You control every word I've spoken, every coincidence that got me to this moment... your plan is working, grant me faith to rest in it, not fight it
"Jesus, I am resting... slowly finding out the greatness of your loving heart."
3. Offer self as lving sacrifice
Jesus, I'm yours. You are all i got. Manifest your glory in and through me today. May I enter every conversation filled with hope in You and your gospel... and pass that hope on thru my tone of voice, words, and actions and facial expressions and reactions.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)