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Still Yet Another Good Reminder

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“Sorrow cannot steal our faith or even cause it to be lost; betrayal and loss steal our faith only when we refuse to remember, tell our stories, listen even as we tell them, and explore the meaning that God has woven into every one. If we want to grow in faith we must be open to listening to our own stories, perhaps familiar or forgotten, where we have not mined the rich deposit of God’s presence. With better eyes and ears we will sense how God has worked to redeem even our most tragic experiences” (Dan Allender, The Healing Path).

I don’t know why I gravitated to this quote. I’m not dealing with any kind of loss or grief or even sadness, yet these words spoke deeply to me.

Maybe because I realize lately how fragile life is and how easily those we love can slip away from us, how quickly those little babies grow up and leave home, how fleeting are the days.

The most tragic remembrance in the end will be how we took so many people for granted and left words of love and gratitude unspoken. In the end we will not treasure our trophies or promotions or rewards, but the relationships that made us come alive and be better people.

So all that from a quote I stole from someone on Facebook.

Revisiting the Shire

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I’m re-reading The Lord of the Rings. I’ve actually lost count of how many times I’ve read this book (side note: there are not three books, but one book in three parts).

It’s like going back to a familiar vacation spot. I get to revisit places like Bag End, where Bilbo Baggins lives, and The Shire. I can go back to the Prancing Pony or even climb Weathertop again. I wish there really was a Rivendell or Lothlorien to visit for an extended period of time.

If you don’t know what any of these places are, I recommend reading Lord of the Rings. Start with The Hobbit. If you’re feeling really brave, pick up The Silmarillion.

I have so many books on my to-read list that I’ll have to live to be 200 to get them all read. And I keep adding more books to that list. I read one and buy three, which even according to my own math skills doesn’t add up. So why do I keep reading the same books over and over?

Because some are just that good. I get my Narnia fix and go back to Middle Earth to check out those wacky hobbits because those books stir up feelings and desires in me that make me want to be a better person.

Plus, every time I read them, I pick up something new that I’ve missed before. Plus, I get the thrill of anticipating what I know is about to happen next.

They do make pills for this.

If you re-read certain books every year, I’d like to know. It would be nice knowing I’m not the only one who does this.

Plus, I can add even MORE books to my to-read list. Yay.

PS I’ve seen the movies and it helps me visualize the characters and places in the book. Just thought I’d thrown that one in for free.

I like the movies, but I much prefer the books. You can’t really do justice to this book unless you make ridiculously long movies that almost no one would go see. Plus, who would they get to play the part of Tom Bombadil?

Slouching Toward 50,000

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In case you’re wondering what the 50,000 refers to, I’ll tell you. It refers to how many views this little site of mine will have had one day. I’m slowly but surely closing in on it. It also may refer to all those typos I’ve had to go back and correct after I’ve posted my blogs.

The next milestone will probably be my 1,500th blog, which will be soon. I will most likely celebrate by waiting until the last possible moment to write i and by making it up as I write, per usual.

I’d also like to have written 1 million words. I estimate that I’m almost halfway there, if you figure 1,455 blogs each with an average of 300 words. Maybe they’ll turn them into a movie starring Greg Kinnear. Or Tom Hanks.

As many times as I’ve said it, it’s still true: I’d write these even if I was the only one who ever saw them. At times, they’ve been very therapeutic. At times, very random. Mostly, I’ve tried to keep them as authentic to my true self as possible. And I’ve tried always to use good grammar (Mrs. Wyatt would be so proud).

I’m still a big fan of grace and those who write about it well, like Brennan Manning, Henri Nouwen, and Fredrick Buechner (which incidentally is pronounced “BEEK-ner” not “BEUCH-ner”. Something else I’ve been doing wrong for decades.

I still love old movies and good music, which can still transport me to the first time I saw or heard them. And I love food, cats, dogs, naps, nature, friends and family. Not in that order, of course.

The rest of this is just filler so I can get my 300 words for the day in. Yada, yada, yada, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Quests

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When I was in high school, I went on a quest to find music by a band called The MC5 (which is short for The Music City Five). If you haven’t heard of them, don’t worry. Most people haven’t. I remember whenever I asked record store employees about them, they’d look at me like I had an extra eye growing smack dab in the middle of my forehead.

I remember when I found a cassette of their music. It was like finding my own holy grail. I treasured that thing and listened to it repeatedly.

Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God like that. It’s like a man finding a priceless pearl in a field. He goes and sells everything just so he can buy that field and possess that pearl.

The Kingdom of God is worth everything you have and more. What is the Kingdom of God? It is wherever God is working in His people. It’s whenever people choose life over death, hope over despair, righteousness over sin. It’s the rule and reign of God in the people of God breaking through.

Nothing is quite the way it should be. But the Kingdom of God means that one day all will be put right. As I heard it put once, Jesus will take this upside-down world and turn it right-side up again.

Recently, I found a CD of that same rock group. The sound quality is a thousand times better, but I didn’t quite have that thrill of discovery of finding that cassette. Oh well.

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Set Free VBS 2014 Day Three

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I think ministry is like photography in some ways. In photography (at least the way I do it), I’ve learned that the biggest part of getting good shots is being there and being prepared. In my experience, the great pictures pretty much take themselves. You’re just there to capture the moments.

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Ministry is like that. You show up prepared and great things happen. Not because of any special gifts or talents you bring or because of your charismatic personality. Simply because you stayed up, prayed up, and showed up.

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Face it. God’s the One who’s doing the real work. He doesn’t ask for your ability; He asks for your availability.

Sometimes in working with people from different backgrounds, it can get discouraging. You might wonder if anything you say is getting through. Sometimes, I wondered if these kids were even listening. But I believe that if we got through to only one child, it would be worth it.

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You can’t take pictures with a dead camera battery. In the same way, you can’t serve out of emptiness. You have to have something to give away. That’s where spending time with God in His word comes in.

We saw lots of kids show up. They sang the songs and did the hand motions. They recited the memory verse. They saw what real love looks like when it takes on hands and feet.  I can’t honestly say that I saw anyone praying the sinner’s prayer, but I do know that the Word of God never returns void. That I can be sure of.

I hope to be back serving for 2015. I had a lot of fun taking pictures and seeing God work. I’m not being falsely modest when I say that there were several volunteers who did way more than I did and deserve a lot more credit than I. But in the end, God gets all the credit.

I once heard someone pray that God would get us out of the way so that He could get in the way.  That’s what I truly believe happened this week.

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Love on a Perfect Tuesday Evening

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I sat outside Chick-fil-A with my chocolate cookie and sweet tea and enjoyed me some night air. It was as perfect a night as you will find on a mid-July Tuesday evening in Nashville. Normally during this point of the year I’m sweating like a chicken that’s about to be Sunday dinner.

Kairos was great as usual. Mike Glenn spoke from 1 John 3 about love being more than kind words. I’m convinced more than ever that love is a CHOICE. Feelings come and go, but you can still choose to love. You can choose to serve in love and give in love.

The best definition of true love is seeking the best for the beloved. Even if the best isn’t the easy choice. Or what the beloved prefers.

Love is a three nails and a cross. Love is sacrifice. Love isn’t about getting your own way but giving up your rights.

If I’m honest, I don’t love well. Very few of us do. Apart from God, no one can truly love at all. We love because God loved us first and showed us how.

That’s where I am on this Monday, July 15, at 9:55 pm. Learning to love by learning to be loved by the Maker of all loves.

The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is still just to love and be loved in return.

Observations on a Sunday in July

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As you may or may not be aware, I’ve joined a new church plant/regional campus of Brentwood Baptist Church. We’ve leased the old Acuff-Rose Publishing building on 2510 Franklin Pike and have been renovating it.

The pastor talked about how the room that will be used as the sanctuary/worship center once had a very different use. It was filled floor to ceiling, front to back, with shelves. These shelves were used to store boxes and boxes containing criminal records of inmates. Pages and pages of proof of mistakes and failures and crimes these people were now paying for.

He went on to talk about how amazing that this room would now be used for worship. For celebrating those who’ve been set free from their shameful pasts and forgiven for their failures and mistakes.

How cool is that?

There’s nothing and no one that God can’t repurpose for His glory. Just ask Joseph. Or Saul a.k.a. Paul.

I love what my pastor once said about how the worst moment of your life that you swore you’d never tell to a living soul can now become the very first line of your testimony. How you, the chief of sinners, are now the beloved of God.

God’s good like that.

A Puritan Prayer on Contentment

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I have a book called The Valley of Vision. It’s essentially a collection of really old, i.e. 1600’s Puritan prayers. I chose one of them at random to share with you (and because it’s just so freakin’ awesome).

“Heavenly Father, if I should suffer need, and go unclothed, and be in poverty, make my heart prize Your love, know it, be constrained by it, though I be denied all blessings. It is Your mercy to afflict and try me with wants, for by these trials I see my sins, and desire severance from them. Let me willingly accept misery, sorrows, temptations, if I can thereby feel sin as the greatest evil, and be delivered from it with gratitude to You, acknowledging this as the highest testimony of Your love.

When Your Son, Jesus, came into my soul instead of sin He became more dear to me than sin had formerly been; His kindly rule replaced sin’s tyranny. Teach me to believe that if ever I would have any sin subdued I must not only labour to overcome it, but must invite Christ to abide in the place of it, and He must become to me more than vile lust had been; that His sweetness, power, life may be there. Thus I must seek a grace from Him contrary to sin, but must not claim it apart from Himself.

When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me by showing me that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch, but in Christ I am reconciled and live; that in myself I find insufficiency and no rest, but in Christ there is satisfaction and peace; that in myself I am feeble and unable to do good, but in Christ I have ability to do all things. Though now I have His graces in part, I shall shortly have them perfectly in that state where You will show Yourself fully reconciled, and alone sufficient, efficient, loving me completely, with sin abolished. O Lord, hasten that day.”

Those Puritans sure knew how to pray.

What I Had For Lunch

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I see all these posts about food on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter, so I thought I’d share what I had for lunch today. It was rather yummy.

My workday ended at noon so I made an impromptu decision to try out a new place that a friend of mine recommended. I went to Taqueria del Sol on 12th Ave South. I had a Memphis BBQ Taco with spicy jalapeno coleslaw that was delish (as all the hip kids nowadays say it). I also had a Peruvian Steak Taco, which was as divine as a taco gets this side of heaven.

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After, I walked over to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream for some — wait for it– splendid ice cream. I had something called The Buckeye State, which consisted of salted peanut butter (in honor of Lebron James going back to Cleveland) and a flavor called goat cheese with red cherries (which tasted uncannily like cheesecake).

I forgot to mention I had to walk a country mile to get to these places because parking is horrendous in that part of Nashville. It was also hot and I sweated profusely.

But it was worth it. The only thing to make it better would have been friends to share the experience with [cue sad trombone sound]. But maybe next time one or more of you can come with me.

Life is too short not to be spontaneous and try new things. Sure, some of those will not turn out great, but the ones that do will more than make up for the ones that do.

Now, what ever will I do for an encore on Saturday?