In other words, you need both. That’s why the Bible tells us to speak the truth in love.
With love and no truth, you get enabling. With truth and no love, you get legalism.
Truth + love = transformation.
Brennan Manning
Why I Love Coffee
I’m a big fan of coffee for several reasons. A few of these are:
- It helps me do the walking and talking and forming coherent sentences thing.
- It’s a good source of warmth on a frigid winter’s day.
- Coffee is a bean, and beans go in salads, so it’s kinda like drinking a salad every day.
- I feel more adult when I drink coffee.
- There’s almost nothing like the feeling you get when that first gulp of coffee hits your soul.
- Coffee = not sleeping on the job = not getting fired for sleeping on the job = more money to buy more coffee.
I’m not a coffee purist, one of those people who drink their coffee black as midnight with only the teensiest bit of sugar. I often say that I like my coffee well-disguised with lots of creamer and sugar. In other words, I like it a latte.
I’ve discovered that if I’m forced to drink coffee as is, I do better with a light roast– along the lines of Starbucks’ vanilla blonde roast.
I like the saying that goes something like this: I think 75% of my personality was just coffee. All it takes is that one cup, and all your problems seem a whole lot more solve-able.
I also like tea, but that’s probably best left for another day when I’m less sleepy.
Blowing Up Your Prayer Meeting
“Imagine that Jesus is calling you today. He extends a second invitation to accept His Father’s love. And maybe you answer, ‘Oh, I know that. It’s old hat.’
And God answers, ‘No, that’s what you don’t know. You don’t know how much I love you. The moment you think you understand is the moment you do not understand. I am God, not man. You tell others about Me – your words are glib. My words are written in the blood of My only Son. The next time you preach about My love with such obnoxious familiarity, I may come and blow your whole prayer meeting apart.
Did you know that every time you tell Me you love Me, I say thank you?’” (Brennan Manning)
If you’ve been around the church long enough and you’ve heard the hymns, choruses, and Bible verses enough, you might just stop really listening to them. You might just stop paying attention to what you’re singing and speaking. It’s all become rote and ritualistic.
From there, it’s not so far to the place where you’re taking God and faith for granted. You quit being amazed by the love of God and come to expect it. Entitlement replaces gratitude, and duty replaces grace.
Maybe God needs to blow up some church services. Maybe God needs to blow up your theology if what you believe becomes more important than how you live it out. Maybe you and I need to go back to when our faith was new and find that love for Jesus that we had at the first.
That’s my prayer for all of us– to be captivated all over again by that relentless tenderness of Jesus and the reckless raging fury that they call the love of God. That’s what will captivate others to know Jesus.
Exhale Relief
This little reminder showed up on my Facebook memories from 3 years ago. It’s funny how these things remain very much appropriate and needed, no matter how much time goes by or how circumstances change.
Whatever mess I’m in, Jesus will carry me through it. He won’t, as a pastor once said, pick me up and toss me over to the other side of it. He will go through it with me. He will carry me through it.
Some of you needed this. I pray you feel the strong and everlasting arms of Jesus underneath you when you have no more strength to stand. When your faith is weakest, Jesus is still strong enough for the both of you.
Even at 11:04 pm on a Monday night with a full week ahead of you, you really can exhale relief knowing that the God who never slumbers nor sleeps is watching over you.
Camping Out in the Gospels
After several years of reading through the Bible in different translations, I decided to swerve off the well-trodden path and do something a little different. I’m reading through the Gospels in 2018.
I’m using the NIV Harmony of the Gospels, which instead of presenting each Gospel separately, puts parallel passages side by side and puts the story in narrative order. For example, the birth narrative starts with Luke’s introduction, John’s description of Jesus as the eternal Word of God, the genealogies of Jesus, the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth and the conception of John the Baptist, and so forth.
I’m looking forward to rediscovering Jesus, free of all the political baggage that has been placed on Him from both the right and the left, conservatives and liberals alike. I have a feeling that Jesus said something at some point that both sides would deem offensive.
I want to fully embrace Jesus as both 100% man and 100% God (and not 50-50). I want to know Emmanuel, God with us. My plan is to read through the Gospels as many times as I can this year and let Scripture speak for itself.
If you’re interested in the book I’m using, you can pick up a copy here:
The Kind of Life I Want
“The great mark of a Christian is what no other characteristic can replace, namely the example of a life which can only be explained in terms of God” (Cardinal Emmanuel Suhard).
That’s the kind of life I want, where people see me and look at my life and can’t explain it in any other way than to say, “Look at what God did.”
That’s the kind where I get out of the way and let God get in the way and take over.
My prayer is that this is your life, too, so that others are drawn to God through your lifestyle that can be explained in no other way than the supernatural.
That’s all. Good night.
Another Exciting Friday Adventure
One of my new favorite events is the Friends of the Library sale at the Brentwood Library that occurs every 4 months or so. Usually, I come away with some incredible finds at bargain prices, all while helping out a worthy cause.
This time, I found the entire series of the BBC classic sitcom Are You Being Served? for $35. I remember it being one of my favorites growing up. It was always on PBS around 10 pm on Saturdays, I think.
That was the highlight of my exciting Friday evening. How crazy can you get, starting off your weekend at the library?
I’ll probably check back on Sunday when everything is 50% off. Do I know how to live or what?
Ragamuffin Thoughts
“When all Christians surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns within; when we submit to the saving truth that we reach life only through death, that we come to light only through darkness; when we acknowledge that the grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die, that Jonah must be buried in the whale’s belly, that the alabaster jar of self must be broken if others are to perceive the sweet fragrance of Christ; when we respond to Jesus’s call of ‘Come to me,’ then the limitless power of the Holy Spirit will be unleashed with astonishing force upon the church and the world” (Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus).
I think what we need is more Christians who are Christlike.
It sounds like a Captain Obvious statement, but so many Christians profess faith and live in such a way that denies that very faith. Your words are meaningless unless you back them up with actions. In other words, faith without good works is dead and useless.
I can say that because too often I’m one of those who say one thing and act another way. Unfortunately, the world is no longer buying our “Do as we say, not as we do” routine any longer.
It isn’t about trying harder or doing better. It’s about surrender. Raising the white flag of “I can’t but You can” and letting that flag fly free.
It’s about dying to your own desires and wishes and ways of doing things so that a new and better life takes root and takes over. That’s nothing less than the power of the resurrected Jesus in you.
That’s my prayer for me and for all of you, that we make a declaration of dependence and bow the knee in surrender once and for all.
How to Survive the Snow-pocalypse if You’re a Cat
If you’re a cat, comfort is everything. Especially during wintery weather.
The best possible way to deal with the ice and snow is to avoid it all together by sleeping through as much of it as possible.
It’s like hibernation, only you take the occasional break or two to interact with your human. You want him or her to still feed you and clean out your litter-box, so play nice with your person.
First of all, and most important, is to find the comfiest spot possible. Ideally, you want a soft blanket (with your human underneath if at all possible) or a cushy piece of furniture. Fleece or wool blankets are best, but polyester will do in a pinch.
If worse comes to worse, you can always use your own furry body as your own blanket, but that’s really the last option.
Step two is to begin napping and dream of things like spring and mounds of tuna cans and slow, boneless chicken.
Enjoy!
Snow-pocalypse Part II
Life in Middle Tennessee has ground to a halt. It snowed.
I know I already wrote about Snow-pocalypse 2018, which ended up being more hype than actual snow or ice.
This time it actually snowed. Like maybe a whole inch and a half. Time to buy up all the break, milk, and eggs you can lay your hands on.
Normally, I’m all for building snowmen (or attempting to), gathering snow for snow-cream, and enjoying the wintery scenery.
Today, I lasted 15 minutes. That also happened to be the temperature at the time.
I’m just about convinced that the temperature needs to be above my age for me to go outside and enjoy it. I had plenty of warm clothing on but nothing I’ve found prevents my face from feeling like it’s going to freeze off. Guess I’d better not make any ugly faces while I’m outside.
I’m thankful for snow. I’m thankful for cold weather that makes me appreciate warmer weather. I’m thankful for gloves and wool hats and flannel and coats that make the cold bearable.
It’s likely that tomorrow will be day two of Snow-pocalypse Part II, so stay tuned.
