brennan manning

Blow Up Your TV

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“Blow up your TV, throw away your paper
Go to the country, build you a home
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
Try and find Jesus on your own” (John Prine)

Sometimes, I think that’d be the best way to live. I’ve come to the place where I can’t trust the news I read anymore. I can’t trust the social media posts I see when it comes to political issues.

It seems that everything is biased and everything is filtered through an agenda. As I’ve said before, I refuse to drink either the blue or red kool-aid and buy into either the Democrat or Republican deception. The older I get, the more independent my political views become.

Maybe I should just move to the country and plant a little garden, eat more peaches and read more books. You know, the real kind with actual pages that you turn.

In the mean time, perhaps I’ll read my Bible more and social media less. I’ll play with my kitten more.

Definitely, I want to get out more while the weather’s nice. There is no better antidote to the culturally programmed anxiety than a hike through the woods or even simply stepping outside and breathing in some fresh air.

I definitely pray more. I’m remembering what Ann Lamott said about how you know you’ve created God in your own image when He hates all the same people you do. I believe Jesus taught us to hate no one and pray for our enemies. That runs completely counter-cultural to the current trend of demonizing your political opponents and mocking those with different beliefs and ideologies.

Anyway, my cat is sitting on my laptop and purring, so I’d better wrap this thing up. Good night, everyone, and pleasant dreams to you all.

 

 

Happy Labor (Free) Day

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Every now and then, it’s nice to have a holiday on a Monday. I wouldn’t want it all the time, seeing as how it makes Tuesday feel like Monday on steroids with all the playing catch-up.

Still, it was great being able to turn off the alarm and sleep in today. My cat Peanut was probably in favor of me not having to get up and be somewhere else at an ungodly hour. She was all for snuggling with me after I finally got out of bed and made it to the couch.

I made progress in a biography about President Harry S. Truman (a bit of light reading), watched a couple episodes of the first season of Beverly Hills 90210 (definitely bringing back some memories), made a Starbucks run (a horchata almond milk frappachino), went to see my grandmother at her nursing home, hiked at Radnor Lake State Park, and vegged (not in that order).

Labor Day means the beginning of the end for summer. I realize the actual end isn’t for 17 more days, but after today, you can’t wear your Hawaiian shirts anymore (unless you’re a rebel like me who likes to defy social conventions and live dangerously).

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that it’s September and we’re already 3/4 of the way through 2017. Whoa.

At least the best parts of the year are still yet to come. Not to mention pumpkin spice everything.

 

 

 

Cheekwood in September

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On this unseasonably fall-ish day, I went to Cheekwood Estate and Gardens for the first time ever. Mainly, it was for the Downton Abbey exhibit in the Museum of Art, but they also had gardens. Hence the name.

I confess that I am nowhere near an expert on fashion or design. I appreciate that the costumes had a lot of detail and that a lot of thought and care went into recreating the look from the upper class England just after World War I.

I was reminded that what I love more than just about anything is watching someone craft or paint or sing or play at something that they obviously love. When I see craftsmanship at its finest, I usually also see someone who does it for the sheer joy of it and not for monetary gain.

And then there were the gardens. Again, I’m no expert, but I do love seeing the riot of colors and patterns in the flowers. I could tell it was way more than someone throwing seeds randomly into the air and hoping some would stick. It took someone who loved what they did and who was a master at it.

Side note: don’t work to pay bills and make money, but work at something you love. Then it’s not a chore that you endure for 8 hours a day, always counting down the minutes to Friday at 5 pm.

My life and your life is the canvas and God is the artist. Nothing happens by chance and nothing catches the Artist off guard. He knows exactly what He’s doing at every single moment and has an end design in mind the whole time. Remember that when you’re in a dark place.

I’ll definitely be going back to Cheekwood, hopefully on a day as perfect as today. Maybe I’ll even take pictures the next time.

 

 

My Mushy Brain Post

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Somewhere between the long work week, the rain, and me getting up at 5 am every morning, my lil’ brain became mush. So don’t expect anything profound or deep from this post. I even made the mental faux pas of saying that Monday was Memorial Day (instead of Labor Day, which is the correct upcoming holiday).

After work, I met up with some fellow Kairos greeters for dinner at McAllister’s Deli. It felt a little surreal, as I used to work at a McAllister’s in Germantown (the one just outside of Memphis, not the one close to downtown Nashville). The food was good (one Spud Max), the conversation was good, the half tea/half lemonade was decent but not great.

Carried away by all the good feelings, I went next door to Golf Galaxy and bought a Yeti tumbler. Yeah, I know. I said I’d rather have a less expensive knockoff. And I don’t even play golf. Chalk it up to the mushy brain syndrome. Plus, I really like the retro green color.

My little kitten continues to be a sweet, affectionate little thing. I believe she’s as grateful today as she was on the day I rescued her and brought her home from the shelter just over two months ago. She likes to cuddle and purr at least once a day, and she seems to like just about everybody.

Right now, I’m content. The only improvement I might make is if I could somehow sleep under a tin roof in the rain. I think that’d definitely help me drift off to sleep faster.

As always, I’m thankful for another day to be alive with my five senses to take it all in. Truly, at the end of the day, it’s all grace and anything good that came my way today is all God.

 

Thinking of Texas Tonight

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 “Do not be afraid—I will save you.
    I have called you by name—you are mine.
When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you;
    your troubles will not overwhelm you.
When you pass through fire, you will not be burned;
    the hard trials that come will not hurt you.
For I am the Lord your God,
    the holy God of Israel, who saves you” (Isaiah 43:1-3, GNT).

I’m seeing pictures and hearing stories out of Texas about the complete devastation from the hurricane and flooding. So many people have lost everything. Some have even lost their lives. I know that the waters are rising and the rain never seems to stop.

It seems that natural disasters and tragedies like this have a way of snapping your priorities back into place. All those trinkets you chase after don’t seem nearly as important as before.

It brings back memories of when Nashville had its own flooding back in 2010. I can’t imagine watching helplessly as all your possessions and heirlooms are lost forever in the waters.

I do know that God Almighty has promised to be present with those in the midst of deep waters. No amount of storms or floods can ever separate any of us from the unfathomable love of Christ.

Lord, be with those who are wading through the deep waters tonight in Texas. Let Your peace that passes all understanding guard their hearts and minds tonight. May Your grace be sufficient for them and Your comforting presence be near to all whose hearts are heavy.

May all find that you are a Shelter in the midst of the storm, and a Strong Tower and Refuge to those in time of need. May all find that underneath are the Everlasting Arms that won’t ever let go.

May Your people be Your tangible presence as they go to where the need is keenest to be with the people who have lost everything. More than any money or material goods we can give, may we be the face of Christ to all those we serve.

Amen.

 

A Bigger Bravery

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“…[It’s been a ] long day & you’ve had big, hard things coming at you. You may not even be saying it out loud — but really? It’s hard to keep showing up when it’d be easier to give up.
But can you hear Him this evening?
‘Just Call to Me. I guarantee I will answer you.
*I will make you strong & brave.*’ (Ps.138:3MSG)
Ask Him — He will come & make you strong & brave for the Hard Things.
So that’s the plan as we look to the weekend: Be Brave.
And do not pray for the hard thing to go away.
But pray for a Bravery to come that’s *bigger than the Hard Thing.*” #JesusMakesMeBrave (Ann Voskamp)

Why is it that 4-day work weeks always seem longer and harder than the regular 5-day versions? Maybe it’s because you feel like you’re expending all your energy in a futile quest to catch up from what you missed on that one day off.

Honestly, it wasn’t a hard week for me. It just felt looooong. And there’s one more day to go.

The flip side is that I received the incredible gift of a day off so I could witness a solar eclipse that I probably won’t see the likes of again in my life time. I still have a job for the 4 days, and the tired I’m feeling is the good, productive kind of tired.

The hard things generally don’t tend to go away. They seem to always morph into some other shape, but the difficulties remain. The good news of the Gospel isn’t that you can have your best life now, free from any trials or hardships, but that while you endure much in this life, the best is still yet to come (in the words of ol’ Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra).

So hold on. Friday’s almost here. The best is still yet to come.

 

 

More Lucy Memories

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Lost in all the hoopla about the solar eclipse, Monday, August 21, marked two months since my Lucy crossed the rainbow bridge. While I have Peanut, my lovable and playful kitten to heal my heart, I still find myself at times missing the old gal fiercely.

Tonight, I stood at the railing overlooking the stairs. I remembered how Lucy used to look up from the bottom, see me, and come running up the stairs to me. Every single time. Even when she was older and couldn’t run as well, she still willed herself to run to me, greeting me with her friendly chatter.

I remember how when I got home and found her in one of her usual napping spots, the first thing she did when she saw me was let out the hugest yawn ever. I believe it wasn’t because she found me incredibly boring but rather because she was completely relaxed and at ease with me.

I’m finding out these days that it’s possible to carry around two conflicting and completely opposite emotions at the same time. For me, it’s joy and grief, peace and longing. Sometimes, it’s hard to know where the one ends and the other begins.

It’s another reminder of the “now and not yet.” Sure, there’s good to be found here and we can have the peace of Christ, but we wait the perfect consummation of all our hopes and joys. We know that we were made for another and better world — heaven– and we have a longing and a desire that nothing earthly can satisfy.

I do wish that rainbow bridge had visiting hours. I’d go see my Lucy every chance I got. I bet she’d come running up to me and greet me with that ginormous yawn of hers. I would expect nothing less.

Gracefully Broken

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“Here I am, God
Arms wide open
Pouring out my life
Gracefully broken” (Matt Redman).

The prayer from tonight’s Kairos went something like this: Lord, into your hands I commit my brokenness.

That’s a good prayer for those of us who know that we are broken. After all, all of us are broken, but it’s more apparent in some. Not all of us are quite ready to admit it.

Some hide it and pretend it isn’t there.

Some make light of it and pretend that it doesn’t matter.

Some will act as if there’s nothing wrong with it the way it is.

The best way is to acknowledge it and give the pieces to Jesus.

There’s a kind of Japanese pottery called Kintsugi that takes broken vessels and mends them, using lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold. That way the cracks and imperfections aren’t hidden, but rather enhanced.

Rather than seeing beauty as flawless perfection, they see it as something that emerges out of a long history of suffering and survival.

Scars are what happens when the wounds of our broken places heal. Again, some will try to hide their scars and pretend they don’t exist.

My favorite writer, the one these blog posts are named after, one said, “On the last day, Jesus will look us over not for medals, diplomas, or honors, but for scars” (Brennan Manning).

Jesus chose to keep His scars in His resurrected body. He ascended into heaven with them. That says something about the honor and beauty of scars.

One quote from Kairos that stood out to me also came from an unlikely (at least to me) source, Ernest Hemingway. He said, “The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”

I like that.

Brokenness and scars not only can become beautiful, but in the nail-scarred hands of Jesus, they are beautiful.

PS Much of the credit for this blog post goes to Chris Brooks, Kairos pastor, and to the good folks at Google for providing the information on Kintsugi that I “borrowed.” It’s a good thing this isn’t a term paper, or I’d be in serious trouble.

 

The Apoc-eclipse Has Come!

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Today, August 21, 2017, will be known as the day that I officially saw a solar eclipse. With my solar eclipse glasses firmly in place, of course. Going blind from retina damage is definitely not on my bucket list.

It started around 11:58 with the total eclipse part coming in at 1:30. It was amazing. It helped that my viewing location was at my sister’s neighborhood pool.

The verse in the Psalms comes to mind about the heavens declaring the glory of God and the skies proclaiming the work of His hands, and I can’t think of any other time when that was more evident than today. Truly, it was as much a work of art as it was a natural phenomenon.

I’m not sure I can fully explain all that goes into an eclipse, or what it happens. I can say that I’m thankful to have seen it at least once in my life time.

One element that will stick with me is the phenomenon known as shadow snakes. Just before and just after the moon covers the surface of the sun, apparitions can sometimes appear on the ground that look to the casual observer like snakes crawling away. To me, they looked more like reflections of rippling water in a pond.

I’m sure my new kitten Peanut was confused by it getting dark in the middle of the day. Or possibly she used it as a good excuse for taking a nap– the Johnson tradition.

I’m also thankful that my boss decided to give us all the day off to experience this phenomenon with our friends, family, and other loved ones.

PS On a sad side note, I realized today that it’s been exactly two months since my beloved Lucy crossed the rainbow bridge. I still miss her and think about her at some point every day. I still wish that rainbow bridge had visiting hours.

I will always love and miss you, Lucy.

 

 

Everybody Can Serve

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“Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Today at The Church at Avenue South, Pastor Aaron referenced the old 20/80 rule. Basically, 20% of any given local church will end up doing 80% of the ministry.

He said that in sports, not everyone is allowed on the field. In football, only 11 people can be on the field for any one team. The rest must sit on the sidelines or in the stands and spectate.

Not so in the kingdom of God. There shouldn’t be anyone spectating when it comes to service and ministry. We’re all called to engage and to serve. In the Book of Revelation, we are called a kingdom and priests. That means that we don’t pay someone else to do the work of God on earth. We’re the ones who do the work.

There’s a word for those who sit on the sidelines and watch– disobedience.

It’s interesting that the ones who do most of the complaining and gossiping and divisive talk in churches are usually the ones who are sitting on the sidelines and not engaged in active ministry.

I also think it’s important to not get so caught up in doing for God to where your faith becomes a performance-based religion instead of a relationship. There’s always a balance. To me, that happy medium is where you serve out of a love-filled heart from spending time with God.

The happy medium is where we serve and are served, where we minister to each other and with each other to others.

Each of us has gifts and unique talents. Each of us has been called to serve in a way that no one else on the planet can serve.

Let’s get off the sidelines and into the work of the ministry.