brennan manning

A Celtic Prayer

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“O God
In my deeds,
In my words,
In my wishes,
In my reason,
And in the fulfilling of my desires,
In my sleep,
In my dreams,
In my repose,
In my thoughts,
In my heart and soul always

A Dhia, ann mo ghniamh
Ann mo ghniamh,
Ann mo bhriathar,
Ann mo mhiann,
Ann mo chiall,
Ann an riarachd mo chail,
Ann mo shuain,
Ann mo bhruail,
Ann mo chluain,
Ann mo smuain,
Ann mo chridh agus m’anam a ghnath”

I think this prayer captures the heart of the Apostle Paul’s injunction that we “pray without ceasing.” I also can’t help but think of an Alison Krauss song that speaks of making my life a living prayer to God.

I want this to be my prayer in 2018, to live in an ever mindful awareness of God’s nearness in all my waking moments. To have every single thought, word, and act be an offering of worship and a declaration of thanksgiving.

I realize that I’m very much human and I have distracting thoughts and desires all through the day. I’m sure that I will have to remind myself of this prayer at least once a day to recenter my attention away from everything else back to God.

I’m very much with the Apostle Paul in that I very often do what I know is wrong and don’t do what I know is right. I very often stray and take my eyes of Jesus. Maybe this little prayer will help get my eyes back to where they belong.

May this also be your prayer in 2018.

 

My Brilliant Idea

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I had the most brilliant idea recently. Or at least it seemed brilliant to me.

You know how all these classic gaming consoles have been hitting the market lately? The most popular example is the Nintendo Classic and the Super Nintendo Classic, but I’ve also seen editions for Atari and Sega Genesis.

How about one for all the Commodore 64 games? I had quite a few back in the day, and I can’t tell you how many hours I spent in front of my computer back in the day.

I think the console could look like a C64 keyboard, but be much smaller, kind of like the NES and SNES classics. Or maybe it could look like the old floppy disk drives that took up half my desk and weighed a ton.

Of course, I have nowhere close to the tech savvy to pull this off myself, but I thought since I came up with the idea that I could get some of the riches that will inevitably roll in once this gem of an idea is realized.

Whoever finally makes this happen, I want first dibs on the final product. And I should get a discount for having the idea in the first place. Just sayin’.

 

 

Words of Wisdom from the Late Steve Jobs

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Steve Jobs passed away in 2011 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 56. At the time, he was one of the most powerful and well-known CEOs. He reportedly had some parting words as he was dying of lessons learned too late that would serve all of us well to heed. Whether or not he actually said them, they still ring true.

Here they are, stated better than I have heard them put in a long time:

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world.  In others. eyes, my life is an epitome of success.
However, aside from work, I have little joy. In the end, wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to.
At this moment, lying on the sick bed and recalling my whole life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in, have paled and become meaningless in the face of impending death.
You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear the sickness for you.  Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – health and life itself.

When a person goes into the operating room, he will realize that there is one book that he has yet to finish reading – “Book of Healthy Life”.

Whichever stage in life we are at right now, with time, we will face the day when the curtain comes down.
Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends…
Treat yourself well. Cherish others.
As we grow older, and hence wiser, we slowly realize that wearing a $300. or $30.00 watch – – –  – – – – they both tell the same time…
Whether we carry a $300 or $30.00 wallet/handbag the amount of money inside is the same;
Whether we drink a bottle of $300 or $10 wine the hangover is the same;
Whether the house we live in is 300 or 3000 sq. ft loneliness is the same.

You will realize, your true inner happiness does not come from the material things of this world.
Whether you fly first or economy class, if the plane goes down you go down with it.
Therefore,I hope you realize, when you have mates, buddies and old friends, brothers and sisters, who you chat with, laugh with, talk with, have sing songs with, talk about north-south-east-west or heaven & earth, ….
That is true happiness!!
Five Undeniable Facts of Life :
1. Don’t educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be Happy.
So when they grow up they will know the value of things not the price.
2. Best awarded words in London … “Eat your food as your medicines.
Otherwise you have to eat medicines as your food.”
3. The One who loves you will never leave you for another because even if there are 100 reasons to give up he or she will find one reason to hold on.
4. There is a big difference between a human being and being human.
Only a few really understand it.
5. You are loved when you are born. You will be loved when you die.
In between, You have to manage!
NOTE: If you just want to Walk Fast, Walk Alone! But if you want to Walk Far, Walk Together!
Six Best Doctors in the World.
1. Sunlight
2. Rest
3. Exercise
4. Diet
5. Self Confidence and
6. Friends
Maintain them in all stages of Life and enjoy healthy life.
Sent with Smiles, Affection and Love !! “

Keeping the Faith

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I recently heard a quote that fits the majority of what passes for Christianity in American. Too many preach that “[a] God without wrath brought men without sin into a Kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross.” (H. Richard Niebuhr), The Kingdom of God in America).

Those who hold to the orthodox faith of the early church as proclaimed by the apostles are getting fewer and fewer these days.

But those early apostles held to the conviction that they would rather please God than people, as stated by one of their most outspoken members, Paul.

They knew that the world would hate them just as it hated Jesus.  They knew the world they lived in would never tolerate their message of repentance and faith in the Messiah Jesus.

Repentance is almost a taboo word, yet it’s one of the most freeing. To turn away from sin is to walk out of a lifestyle of bondage into wide open freedom. But it’s not just turning away. It’s turning to the true and living God who has revealed Himself in Jesus.

Grace is such a beautiful thing because none of us deserves it. All of us really have sinned and fallen short on a daily basis of the glory of God. All of us have a deep need for salvation in Jesus. All of us are loved deeply and unconditionally by a God whose love refuses to leave us the way it found us. Sometimes it’s a tough love, but it’s always a love that seeks the very best for the beloved — that’s us.

It’s not about making America great again. It’s really about getting back to the whole gospel that can save the whole person. It’s about the good news that is still there for the taking for anyone who truly seeks it.

Being a Hero

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“Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, –and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of –Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air…
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew —
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God” (John Gillespie Magee, Jr).

Recently, I stumbled across the NASA channel, almost completely by accident. I’ve been watching it on and off since.

A few days ago, they paid tribute to a long-serving astronaut, John Young, who passed away at the age of 87 on Friday. I confess that before then, I had no idea who he was.

It turns out he was the only astronaut to fly on the Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle missions. He flew the first manned Gemini mission and was the commander of the inaugural Space Shuttle voyage. He served in NASA for 42 years, giving him the longest career of any astronaut.

You can read more about him here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Young_(astronaut)

And yet I had never heard of him before. I knew John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, and Buzz Aldrin, but for some reason I had gone through my entire life not knowing about this fascinating American.

I can’t help thinking about the chapter in Hebrews about the Faith Hall of Fame that talks about Noah, Abraham, and Sarah. It also mentions that many others were just as faithful, though less well known. Many of them died without ever seeing the fruition of their hopes, yet they never wavered in their faith.

There may be some heroes that you might run across and never know it. Maybe, one day, you will be considered a hero to some because you persevered and kept believing in times when it would have been much easier to give up. They will see your life and say, “He never gave up. He kept on showing up every day, no matter what. If he could do it, then maybe so can I.”

Taking the Next Step

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“Often we want to be able to see into the future. We say, ‘How will next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?’ There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go. Let’s rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all shadows away” (Henri Nouwen).

There are times when the best you can do is focus on the day at hand. You think, “If I can just make it through the next 24 hours.”

Then sometimes, 24 hours is too much. You feel overwhelmed by life. At that point, your focus becomes more narrow. “Can I make it through the next hour? The next minute?”

I’m as guilty as anyone of always looking ahead– to the evening, to Friday, to the next holiday. That’s all well and good until it takes away from living fully in the present and being fully engaged with the people around you.

To live in the moment isn’t always easy, especially when that moment turns out to be stressful and unpleasant. Still, even in those times you can still find hidden nuggets of joy.

Giving thanks and living gratefully is still the best way to live in the present as completely as possible. It’s still the best antidote to the cynicism and entitlement that seems to dominate much of the culture.

Keep keeping your eyes on Jesus and His kingdom and the rest will fall into place.

 

 

Hot Chicken Update

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I went for a second time to Hattie B’s, reportedly one of the premier places to get hot chicken in Nashville. For the uninformed, hot chicken is fried chicken that has spices on it that range from mild to rectally scarring (or at least that’s the way I understand it).

I started my hot chicken journey a couple of years back with a trip to Big Shakes, where I ordered the cry-baby version. No, I did not make that up. Yes, it was still hot enough to make me sweat.

This time, I upgraded from mild to medium.

I don’t foresee myself ever going any higher.

That’s about my limit for spiciness where you can still taste what you’re eating. And yes, it was goooooooood.

My next quest for hot chicken to complete the trifecta is Prince’s Hot Chicken on Nolensville Rd.

If you decided to try hot chicken for the first time, I recommend starting off on the low-end, unless you already know you’re a fan of the spicy. I also suggest making sure you have plenty of beverage handy. And napkins. And bread, if you can get it.

I give Hattie B’s two hot thumbs way up. Now all I need is the t-shirt that says, “I ate hot chicken at Hattie B’s and all I got was this lousy t-shirt (and a good meal).”

Random Frozen Thoughts in January

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When I say frozen thoughts, I do not mean thoughts about the Disney movie Frozen, which had the annoyingly popular song Let It Go. I mean how it’s so frickin’ cold outside that all the thoughts in my head are now frozen.

I’m all for winter, but when it gets below freezing, it needs to snow. Right now, the air is so dry that I shocked myself twice simply getting out of my car. At least I had some classic Otis Redding music to keep my thoughts from the cold.

Otis’ version of “Rock Me Baby” might just be one of the most authentic blues songs to come out of Stax records. I definitely didn’t fall asleep in the car while listening to that one.

I’m a little behind on my quest to read the Bible through in 2017. I’m just about to start 1 Peter. Hopefully, I’ll be done at the very least by the end of January. To be fair, I read through the New Jerusalem Bible, a Roman Catholic translation with a few extra books than the standard Protestant version.

It’s 11:05 and I’m ready to call it a night. All that cold weather with no snow is really tiring, so I’ll enjoy the comfort of my flannel sheets and once again count my many blessings after another good day without that dreaded toe tag.

 

Today’s Word is . . .

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Grace.

“After centuries of handling and mishandling, most religious words have become so shopworn nobody’s much interested anymore. Not so withgrace, for some reason. Mysteriously, even derivatives like gracious and graceful still have some of the bloom left.

Grace is something you can never get but can only be given. There’s no way to earn it or deserve it or bring it about any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks or bring about your own birth.

A good sleep is grace and so are good dreams. Most tears are grace. The smell of rain is grace. Somebody loving you is grace. Loving somebody is grace. Have you ever tried to love somebody?

A crucial eccentricity of the Christian faith is the assertion that people are saved by grace. There’s nothing YOU have to do. There’s nothing you HAVE to do. There’s nothing you have to DO.

The grace of God means something like: “Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are, because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It’s for you I created the universe. I love you.”

There’s only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you’ll reach out and take it.

Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too” (Wishful Thinking and later in Beyond Words” (Frederick Buechner).

We sure could use a lot more grace, especially in the social media arena. Most especially when it comes to Presidents and politics (for both sides).

I still prefer grace to the concept of karma. Deep down, I know that karma giving me what I deserve is not what I want, because I know what I truly deserve. That’s why I love grace so much.

 

Choosing Fruitfulness

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“There is a great difference between successfulness and fruitfulness. Success comes from strength, control, and respectability. A successful person has the energy to create something, to keep control over its development, and to make it available in large quantities. Success brings many rewards and often fame. Fruits, however, come from weakness and vulnerability. And fruits are unique. A child is the fruit conceived in vulnerability, community is the fruit born through shared brokenness, and intimacy is the fruit that grows through touching one another’s wounds. Let’s remind one another that what brings us true joy is not successfulness but fruitfulness” (Henri Nouwen).

I’m not anti-success. I love it when I try something new or take on a difficult task and succeed at it. Success is a great feeling.

But it should not be the final aim of the believer. Fruitfulness should.

To be fruitful is to pass along a legacy of faith first handed down to you.

To be fruitful is simply to abide in Jesus and let His work take root and grow in you, to let His words sink deep into the soil of your heart, and to let His love germinate inside you until it encompasses your whole being.

Let us choose success, but let us choose foremost to be fruitful.