Tall Monastic Guy

Random fact...

...but far from irrelevant... In the Bible, the word, "heart" is mentioned 570 times. The plural is used 207 times.

To Own A Dragon

I'm about to wrap up To Own a Dragon: Reflections on Growing up Without a Father by Don Miller. Excellent stuff for men, especially men around my age (21-35). It pertains more to men in general rather than specifically men without fathers as the title might suggest. I will say, Angie read it first, liked it, and was my strongest influence to read it.

It's typical D-Mill, very honest, only this one seems a little more refined, funnier, and sagier. It's got me thinking and processing through some things this morning.

Here's some samples out of chapter 8 in which he's talking about chess...

The most difficult temptation, in chess and in life, is the temptation to react. Reacting without thinking never, ever works. ...I realized I spent much of my time reacting. (p.122)

You get to thinking about the girl who rejected you, the job you got fired from, the test you failed, and you lose sight of the big picture---the fact that life has a beautiful way of remaking itself every few weeks. The things that matter right now aren't going to matter a month from now, a year from now. (p.127)

Good stuff.

One more plug this morning...My friend Mike Scheid, who is going through the same apprenticeship process I am has a blog. Read his thoughts Here as he explores leading a missional community.

Inspired by the trees...

This morning I had a free hour in between meetings with friends. In that hour I stopped at a park and just sat quietly at a picnic table with a couple books and a journal. The books, however, didn't grab my attention near as much as the environement around me. The birds were singing loudly, squirrels were busy and making lots of noise, but for whatever reason I took particular attention to a couple of trees. In the distance from where I was sitting stood a long row of huge character-filled trees probably 100 years in age which lined the creek bank. The one particular tree that caught my eye was massive. It had two trunks that shot out from its foundation and near the tops of those trunks the smaller branches shot out wildly in all different directions. This particular tree was a hub for all kinds of life. It was the meeting place for at least 40-50 birds as well as a couple squirells. It was a scene of character and of life.

In my immediate foreground about 15 feet away was a small sapling that still had the man made wrap around it to keep it bug free and healthy. It was very unimpressive just a little bigger than the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Nobody walking by would stop and notice this small scrawny little sapling. But at closer inspection it did have the traits of it's larger relative in the background, it just didn't have the strength or capacity to house the birds and squirrels yet. It's branches at the top were already sprawling out every which way like a child's outstreched fingers reaching for their parents. And biology would say that the sapling was growing but I couldn't see any progress or motion. It's growth is in quiet miniscule movements.

Man, by the sounds of it I should be living out of my VW van somewhere in Boulder! Please don't believe that thoughts like these occur to me everyday, but for some reason God spoke to me this quiet morning through these trees... The trees aren't calculating, not trying to figure all the details out. They just rely on the provisions of their faithful maker. Like the lillies and birds they get dressed and fed adaquately and they serve their purpose just fine. If they had thoughts I don't think they'd be comparing themselves with each other trying to see who could grow the tallest or how they could house more birds than their neighbor. This morning the trees reminded me to just be still and trust. Abandon ego and big ideas and the hunger for the things of this world and just be. And I'm reminded of this little prayer offered by Richard Rohr in Everything Belongs (and of which comes from Psalm 46:10),

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know that I am.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.

Perhaps we were made for something much bigger and broader than we could ever imagine.

A March Madness Hodgepodge

Yesterday, Jason sent me a link to an article that his wife, Emily Smith, recently wrote for her high school alumni newsletter. Jason slyly sent the letter to an e-magazine to see if they'd publish it and I'm sure glad they did. I read her article this morning and found myself a blubbering mess. Congrats on being published Emily and I'll encourage your crazy husband to keep sending your writings off.

Click HERE to read Emily's article.

Speaking of recently published articles... Just this morning, The OOZE.com just published one I sent to them last August. It's an article I wrote after having taken the entire summer away from attending a Sunday morning church meeting. It would sound a bit different now because of what God did and is doing. Read my article here.

Lastly, this is a picture of some Adullam folk, some from our village and some from another, as we moved our friends, Tim & Alyssa into their new home last Saturday. Congratulations again on your new home, Tim and Alyssa!

Oh, and one more thing of highest importance for today. Don't forget to Wish Angela Michelle Taylor a happy 29th birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND GO HOOSIERS! BEAT GONZAGA!

Response to "Questions to Consider..."

I've noticed no one besides Trevor responded, which is cool. I honestly don't think I would have desired to comment on those questions myself if given the choice. But since I did create the post and posed the questions, i 'll attempt a response...

Since I posted those questions a week ago a couple things have influenced the way I'll respond. The first involves an interaction I had with a Mormon friend. Last week, me and my big mouth asked my Mormon friend, "So what is the standard response when someone says your faith was started by one man's word who claimed to find some stone tablets barely one hundred years ago?" Maybe that wasn't the best way to start the conversation out but she attempted a response anyway. We went on in this conversation for 20 minutes or so. In the midst of the conversation I wanted to scoff and ask crafty apologetic questions to put her on her heels. I was frustrated by her answers and my mind began dreaming of all the comebacks I could have used to "prove" my faith against hers and i may have even verbalized a few of those. An hour later I felt foolish. To a degree, i went back to the old "stand up and fight for what is true" Christianity. That attitude did nothing for our relationship. In fact, I felt like I needed to go back and patch some things up and make sure I didn't damage it. That conversation with her seemed to affirm, at least for me and my personality, that debate and argument is not the most effective means for communicating what I believe to be true.

I'll act real postmodern here...What should be valued more? Words/knowledge? Or deeds/actions? Most of us grew up and still read Bibles in which Jesus' words are in red colored font. Why are only his spoken words in red? Are his words more important than his actions? In this season of Lent, I've been reading out of the gospel of Mark. In my Bible, the gospel of Mark is full of the red letter print of Christ's words until you come to the story of the crucifixion. Mark uses the last three chapters to tell of the crucifixion and resurrection which is the very epicenter of our faith. The weird thing is when I read of the account of the crucifixion there are very few red letters. Is that part of the story less important than the red letter portions? Would St. Mark have appreciated red letter Bibles? He decided to devote three whole chapters to tell about Jesus' crucifixion. It seems that to Mark (as well as to Paul and others) what Jesus did, not what he said, is what really changed the world.

One of the first things I learned in my seminary training was how to craft an argument for the sake of "winning" someone to Christ. And in the church i grew up in there seemed to be this close association in sharing Christ with someone and the idea of competition. I can remember getting big trophies and Snicker bars for learning the most Bible verses or bringing the most friends to church. From an early age, many of us experienced living the life of Jesus as a competitive sport against someone or something else. And in no way am i negating the power of Jesus' or any of our words. I'm simply saying that communcating knowledge through speech is no more and maybe even less valuable than the deeds we display. And not just our deeds but the posture and countenance we display as we carry out those deeds. I wonder how many times Jesus bent down to speak with children. Or how many times Jesus extended his hand to lovingly touch a stranger when speaking with them. I've always thought it facinating that when he healed people, he usually touched them. The maker of the moon and stars could simply speak the words if he so chose. But he seems to communicate that posture and countenance was just as highly valued if not more than what was actually being spoken.

Anyone still reading?

As we approach St. Patty's Day, I highly recommend checking out the history of St. Patrick, the man who brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to Ireland. In St. Patrick's missionary journey, he, like Christ, also was known more for his deeds. He's known for chasing the snakes out of Ireland, which meant he lived in such a way that the pagan druids who ruled the land were changed by the powerful way St. Pat lived his life and shared Christ. He was said to be a man of humble-mind, not one who could over power the druid dudes with his supreme knowledge and debate skills.

And finally (and it's about time, eh?) as i've thought through this idea of truth, debate, argument, etc. i'll close with the words of 2 saints which I believe sum up this conversation better than I ever could.

"Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage---with great patience and careful instruction."     -St. Paul

"Preach the gospel always, if necessary use words."                                     -St. Francis of Assisi

Happy St. Patty's Day

Even further disruption...

The sacrifice and suffering of Christ has impacted me lately in some big ways. Yesterday evening before spending time with the guys at the Lazy Dog, I walked the stations of the cross at the Catholic seminary as the sun was going down over the front range and it was powerful. Even though it is the very epicenter of our faith and hopefully our life, it's easy to forget the actuality and implications of God becoming a man and submitting to death, even death on a cross...for me. For me. And for you. My friend Wes had some thoughts and challenges based on how this has recently struck him. Please check out Wes's blog for further thoughts.

Questions to consider...

I'm adding a new category today called "curiosities..." Within this category I'm going to list a few questions and I encourage anyone who scans this post to respond. The questions for this particular post are in regard to how followers of Christ arrive at what we consider "the truth". These are based on the nature of the dialogue yesterday morning at the Adullam gathering as well as my own curiosity.

I'll wait a week to allow for responses, then I'll try and give one of my own. No right or wrong answers here just honest feedback.

1) In 2007, is there a place for debate and argument when it comes to what is truth?

2) Are followers of Christ responsible for "defending the faith"? How so?

3) Is debate and argument the best reflection of Jesus in a post-Christian culture?

4) Is this discussion different today than it would be 15-20 years ago? Why should it be?

You don't have to answer all or any of these. If you want to respond with your own questions that would be cool too.

Grace & Peace to you

 

Woohoo!!!!!

Last night was one of the best trips to the mailbox I've ever made. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal to finally have this document in my hands but last night I had this uncontrollable grin from ear to ear. That difficult chapter of life finally feels behind me now. Wow.