Jesus

The Allman Brothers Band for the Road

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One of the joys of having over 100 people a day move to Nashville is the most enjoyable and fun commutes I’ve been having [said with copious amounts of sarcasm].

I really enjoy creeping along I-40, then for a brief moment to speed up, only to run into more traffic and slow down again. I really have nothing better to do than idle in traffic for an eternity. [sarcasm continued].

The one glimmer of goodness in all the gridlock is that I have ample time to listen to quality music. It’s not like I have anywhere else I can go during that time, so I might as well put it to good use.

Today, I spent a lot of time with The Allman Brothers Band, specifically the deluxe edition of their second album, Idlewild South. There’s a 45-minute version of the song Mountain Jam that’s not for the musically faint of heart.

Their music is ideal for cruising down the highway with the windows rolled down and the summer breezes blowing in. It still works for windows rolled up and inching along the interstate, but really it makes me want to find a deserted two-lane road, throw the map out the window, and just drive wherever the road takes me. One day I just might do that very thing.

I do think good music is good for the soul. There’s something healing about hearing the right song at the right time that goes along way toward detoxing from the stresses of the work week. I recommend old-school country, southern rock, jazz, blues, or just about anything from the 70’s.

PS It helps a lot if you crank up the volume and roll down the windows (but not so much when it’s sweltering and humid outside). Then maybe just crank up the A/C.

 

 

A Little Note About Humility

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“Humility is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing done to us, to feel nothing against us. It is to be at rest when nobody praises us and when we are blamed and despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord where we can go in and shut the door and kneel to our Father in secret, and be at peace when all around is trouble” (Andrew Murray).

I still think the best definition of humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. It’s about getting out of your narrow little world into a world where you can encourage and bless others through service and sacrificial giving.

The best example of this kind of humility was Jesus. He did nothing of His own accord but only what He saw His Father doing. His only purpose was to serve and to lay down His life for the many.

Take note that even though Jesus had more rights that anybody to defend Himself against the accusations and slander, He kept silent. I’d never tell you to let people walk all over you, but I wonder sometimes if we (me included) aren’t overly concerned about defending ourselves and our preferences?

Humility is definitely not a popular characteristic these days. Everything is about promoting yourself and your brand. While that’s all good and well, I still think being others-centered is the best way to live.

I confess that I’m a little scared to pray for humility. I suppose it’s like the fear of praying for patience because you know the day you do your patience will be tested in all kinds of ways and shown to be severely lacking.

Perhaps the best way to attain humility is to keep our eyes on Jesus as often as possible, as opposed to focusing on me and my circumstances. I’ve found that’s a much better (and way less stressful) way to live.

 

Voices

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I probably sat and stared at the screen on my lap top for a good 45 minutes before I gave in and finally decided to go with a quote from one of my favorite authors, Henri Nouwen.

I think this one will speak to a lot of you who struggle with several different voices telling you all sorts of contradicting things, most of them not true.

As you read these words, let them sink in deep and remember that the still, small voice is still speaking:

“Many voices ask for our attention. There is a voice that says, “Prove that you are a good person.” Another voice says, ‘You’d better be ashamed of yourself.’ There also is a voice that says, ‘Nobody really cares about you,’ and one that says, ‘Be sure to become successful, popular, and powerful.’ But underneath all these often very noisy voices is a still, small voice that says, ‘You are my Beloved, my favor rests on you.’ That’s the voice we need most of all to hear. To hear that voice, however, requires special effort; it requires solitude, silence, and a strong determination to listen” (Henri Nouwen).

 

Monday, Monday

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It’s another Monday.

You could look at it with dread as an awful end to the weekend and a terrible way to start the week, or you could choose to see it as just another day in the week.

Or you could view it as one more day you get to celebrate the absolute miracle of being alive.

It’s your choice. You always have a choice.

You can look for the negative or the positive in people and situations. You can dwell in bitterness about how others mistreated you and how you screwed up royally time after time, or you can choose to see these events as opportunities to learn and grow and become a better person.

Maybe you can even choose to forgive others and yourself.

You don’t naturally drift into joy and contentment. You choose it daily in a thousand different ways in a thousand different places.

Even Mondays can be good if you choose to see it that way.

That, and lots of coffee. Coffee always helps.

 

The Key to Life

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“Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, MSG).

That’s it.

Rejoice. Pray Always. Give Thanks.

That is God’s will for you.

Do these three things repeatedly until they each become a habit and you will be better off for it.

I didn’t say that you will come into untold riches and fame.

I didn’t say that everything in your life will automatically go smoothly from here on out.

I did say that you will find joy and fulfillment in living out of the center of God’s will for you.

Rejoice. Pray Always. Give thanks.

Nothing to Report Here

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I’m enjoying a very low-key Saturday night. I’m hanging out with three very sleepy dogs in the Bellevue area of West Nashville. I’m actually having a little trouble keeping my eyes open. Such the party scene this is.

I love dog-sitting. I love dogs, too, even though I am a self-professed cat person. I don’t believe you should have to choose one or the other. Both cats and dogs can be very loving and affectionate in their own ways.

The best part of all is that moment when you win an animal’s trust and a bond is formed. I tend to think that goes for people as well.

All it takes is patience and kindness. Both of those go a long way in just about every situation you find yourself in. Just patience and kindness.

I think social media could stand a little more patience and kindness, but that’s a topic that will have to wait for another day.

The Gospel as Fairy Tale: An Excerpt from One of My Favorite Books Ever

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This excerpt is from Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale by Frederick Buechner. It remains one of my top ten favorite books of all time.

“LIKE THE FAIRY-TALE world, the world of the Gospel is a world of darkness, and many of the great scenes take place at night. The child is born at night. He had his first meal in the dark at his mother’s breast, and he had his last meal in the dark too, the blinds drawn and everybody straining to catch the first sound of heavy footsteps on the stair, the first glint of steel in the shadowy doorway. In the garden he could hardly see the face that leaned forward to kiss him, and from the sixth hour to the ninth hour the sun went out like a match so he died in the same darkness that he was born in and rose in it, too, or almost dark, the sun just barely up as it was just barely up again when only a few feet offshore, as they were hauling their empty nets in over the gunnels, they saw him once more standing there barefoot in the sand near the flickering garnets of a charcoal fire.

In the world of the fairy tale, the wicked sisters are dressed as if for a Palm Beach wedding, and in the world of the Gospel it is the killjoys, the phonies, the nitpickers, the holier-than-thous, the loveless and cheerless and irrelevant who more often than not wear the fancy clothes and go riding around in sleek little European jobs marked Pharisee, Corps Diplomatique, Legislature, Clergy. It is the ravening wolves who wear sheep’s clothing. And the good ones, the potentially good anyway, the ones who stand a chance of being saved by God because they know they don’t stand a chance of being saved by anybody else? They go around looking like the town whore, the village drunk, the crook from the IRS, because that is who they are. When Jesus is asked who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, he reaches into the crowd and pulls out a child with a cheek full of bubble gum and eyes full of whatever a child’s eyes are full of and says unless you can become like that, don’t bother to ask” (Frederick Buechner).

Those May-tober Days

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Tennessee weather is weird. I get that. Like weird as in they should probably make pills for this.

The saying goes that if you don’t like the current weather, stick around a little while and it will likely change.

You get all four seasons here, sometimes in one week.

Today was one of those quirky weather days we get from time to time, a day that doesn’t in the least match what the weather is supposed to be for the time of the year.

It’s May and the temperature barely got above 50. It was a grey, rainy day that felt and looked a lot like a typical fall day. Oh, and it’s May. I did mention that, right?

It’s funny how 50 degrees can feel so good after a cold spell in winter, but the same 50 degrees feels chilly after a few days of weather in the 80’s.

Sometimes, the best thing to do is to enjoy what comes, even if it’s not what you expected or even wanted. Faith trusts that God is up to something good and that His promises are more true than your circumstances or feelings. Joy is what happens when you keep trusting in the midst of fear and doubt and don’t give up.

I for one am a fan of fall weather, so I was in heaven. I’m not eagerly anticipating those super hot and humid days that Tennessee is famous for in July and August. I already sweat profusely, so it won’t be pretty.

So I enjoyed this sneak preview of fall about five months early. Hopefully when the true summer weather comes, I’ll be able to find the good then and keep the joy alive.

Maybe that gratitude thing works even in the midst of a summer heatwave?

I’m certainly counting on it.

 

 

 

Another Rare Political Post

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I can’t tell you how tired I am over political posts on social media, specifically the ones that are always bashing a particular person or party and come across as very self-righteous and holier-than-thou.

More specifically, I mean all the anti-Trump posts.

First of all, let me state in no uncertain terms that I am not a fan of President Trump. I think he definitely needs to govern more and tweet less. He comes across as a bit cartoony and ridiculous on more than a few occasions.

That said, I don’t like how people who profess faith in Jesus can turn around and post how much they hate him and wish him harm. That has no place coming from the mouth of one of Abba’s children.

I do believe that Jesus told us to love and pray for our enemies. I also believe He didn’t qualify that statement. We don’t get to pick and choose which enemies we want to love. Jesus doesn’t give us the option for disobedience simply because it makes us uncomfortable or we don’t like it.

This is my suggestion. Perhaps instead of bashing the current President, try praying for him instead. Try remembering that you were once an enemy of God, yet God in Jesus sought you out and redeemed you.

I don’t mean that you have to love everything Trump does. Far from it. You can speak your mind. But maybe do twice as much praying as you do speaking out.

I also wish that all the people who were so adamantly opposed to President Obama would have spent a lot more time praying for him and a lot less time posting criticisms.

Again, in case you missed the point of all this. Pray. Pray all the time. Pray for the people you like AND the people you don’t. Pray for those in leadership, EVEN if they are with that dreaded evil political party that you despise.

That loving and praying for your enemies thing? Yeah, it’s not optional.