this week in liberty

ten minutes to post… go!

early this week, finished one larger project at work and rolled onto the next one w/little to no fan fare… note to self, get used to it… perspective here makes all the difference – work is one aspect of life.

god's will seems less about struggling to find it and more about paying attention to what's in front of me

DC is on a straightaway, we've turned a few corners and are bearing down on the future — plans to focus on effectiveness and empowering leaders

"Many come short, being satisfied with the works of God rather than hungering for and reaching on to God Himself." AW Tozer

good read from pastor man:http://michaelsponderings.blogspot.com/2011/06/birthday-treasure.html

getting back into riding (mtbs — currently training for a july adventure race) is harder than keeping it up — riding horses may be a better idea than riding motorcycles

luke 7 

³³ For John the Baptist didn’t spend his time eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon.’ ³⁴ The Son of Man,^[f] on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ ³⁵ But wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of those who follow it.^[g]”

i'm 5-minutes over

peace

this week in liberty

we celebrated jessica’s __th birthday

this week also includes the anniversary of her brother’s passing

it’s a full week

there is tension in this week, tension, emotion, and reminiscence

for me, the highlight of the week was easily our birthday dinner date saturday night and conversation

this week jess also shared an email from my mom, whom i haven’t spoken to in a few months, w/me — she asked how i was doing

i facilitated a 3-day course at work, attended meetings at 3 diff campuses on thursday, and was in an all-day orientation session friday  – had little time to work, to produce

this week i’ll be in oceanside, ca to facilitate a learning plan development session for clients

this will be a full week

today i spent time with my church family and with my family family

and tonight i took time out to read

here some excerpts that have stood out to me recently . . .

from joan ball’s, i don’t care about heaven or hell

I cannot change the realities of life after death. There is a Heaven and hell or there isn’t. What I need to focus on is what I can change: myself by being willing and allowing myself to be transformed (by one I first understood as “higher power” and now call Jesus Christ) and the world around me by doing my best to love God and others as Jesus asked.

guest post on joan’s blog from becky garrison entitled, coming out of the christian closet

brian mclaren’s post, will “love wins” win? we’re early in the first inning

here’s a video i watched tonite: martha depp on art and cancer

good pairing

read this excerpt from dawn’s blog post, “The Idea Camp that Dared . . .” dawn carter blogs here: chroniclesofdawnia.com

We are not alone. No matter how isolated we feel, enveloped in shame or broken we feel, God sees us. He has healing for us and uses community to do it.

We need grace and truth. We are all jacked up and the sooner we all admit it, we can start cooperating with God on the restoring of our souls. I am not talking about moping around in housecoats of familiar dysfunction but creating places where grace (I accept you) coexists with tough truth and love (do what it takes to get healing, damn it).
We heal as we obey. Getting healing needs to move out from something drastic that really broken people do to something normal that people do on their way to looking like Jesus. We need to normalize brokenness in our churches and reframe it into the context of spiritual formation. I need to get healing for my broken heart because to do so is obedience. Jesus accepts me, but He loves me too much to leave me broken. His love must transform and restore.
We serve a holy and powerful God, able to break any chain forged by any hand. When my theology is anemic my hope remains small. Right thinking about God, his character, his tremendous love for me, his declarations of who I am…these are lifelines to a disoriented soul.

and listen to this:

words to build a life on by mike crawford and his secret siblings
mikecrawfordmusic.bandcamp.com/track/words-to-build-a-life-on

enjoy!

out in liberty

I spend A LOT of time online . . . here are three people and places on the web that stood out to me this week. As my mom writes at the end of recipes, Enjoy!

3.  Cathleen Falsani: http://www.godgrrl.com/, specifically Obama on Faith 

2.  Charles Lee: http://www.charlestlee.com/, and his latest project !CSEX

1.  Andrew Marin, gayest straight guy in America: http://www.loveisanorientation.com/

redeem this

this is not
what i had in mind
this doesn’t make sense
this is too hard
this sucks

redeem this because
this hurts
this is awkward
this is ugly,
and this isn’t going to work

redeem this
i don’t deserve this
i hate this
i can’t do this

redeem this because
i didn’t ask for this
i can’t handle this,
and i’m done with this

but your message is:
GREATER LOVE HAS NO ONE THAN THIS

so i will marry myself to this
eat this
drink this
become one with this

i will be identified with this
mesh with this
befriend this
find fulfillment in this

i will leave everything for this
risk this
trust this
suffer for this

i will grow in this
follow this
believe this
hope for this

for this
is
redemption.

a joyful mind

(Reposted from www.iamscotthodge.com)

In The Naked Now, Richard Rohr asks, “What might a joyful mind be?” A few of his answers:

When your mind does not need to be right.

When you no longer need to compare yourself with others.

When your mind can be creative, but without needing anyone to know.

When you can live in contentment with whatever the moment offers.

When your mind does not need to be in charge, but can serve the moment with gracious and affirming information.

When your mind follows the intelligent lead of your heart.

When your mind is curious and interested, not suspicious and interrogating.

When you do not need to humiliate, critique, or defeat those who have hurt you – not even in your mind.

When your mind can think well of itself, but without needing to.

When your mind can accept yourself as you are, warts and all.

When your mind can find truth on both sides.

When your mind fills the gaps with “the benefit of the doubt” for both friend and enemy.

When your mind can critique and also detach from that critique.

When your mind can wait, listen, and learn.

When your mind can admit it was wrong and change.

When your mind can stop judging and critiquing itself.

When your mind can find God in all things.

dog days

but it’s not summer yet.

get smart

jess bought me a smart phone for my birthday.

it’s awesome (er Incredible) and has basically become another appendage.

anybody else experienced nausea from a little too much time in front of a slick UI?

seriously, what can you NOT do with a smart phone?

there is a ridiculous (and perpetually growing) number of applications at your finger tips, not to mention the amount of information and the speed at which it is available.

last week jess was reading from a list she had written on her hand.

holding up my phone, i interrupted her, “with this, you’ll never have to write on your hand again.” and before i finished, i was typing the second item from her list into Evernote.

“i like writing on my hand,” jess confessed. “it makes me feel connected to my grandma Donna.  she always used to have reminders written on her hands.”

earlier i asked what can’t you do with technology, stuff you can’t do #1: you can’t make a human connection/you can’t substitute technology for relationship.

friday, i had a candid conversation with a good friend about how technology is shaping the ways people experience church.  one thought he shared was that the more people become familiar with engaging the internet, the more technology will influence church practices and experiences. for example, why would someone living in the midwest drive to hear a lame message in a lame environment, when you can hop online and listen to/watch a superior communicator (located anywhere in the world) from the comfort of your own home . . . with an in-person, second row-type of quality?  certain churches and personalities have provided this option for years through TV, but the internet is making it possible for a wider variety of churches to expand their audience.

also, he said, the internet makes information available like never before.

i know this is true because i’m confident that with one minute and google, i can find just about any answer to any question.  b/c of these advances, my friend predicts many pastors will grow discouraged and drop out.

stuff you can’t do with technology #2: you can’t substitute technology for wisdom. just because i have unlimited access to information or speakers, or experiences, doesn’t mean i will know what to do with it all.  i still need guides.  i still need community and people whom i can trust to model the best way to do stuff.  i hope instead of dropping out, leaders will make the most of their opportunities to keep doing the stuff my smart phone can’t.

note to self-type deal

The Man in the Yard

by Howard Nelson

My father told me once
that when he was about twenty
he had a new girlfriend, and once
they stopped by the house on the way
to somewhere, just a quick stop
to pick something up,
and my grandfather, who wasn’t well—
it turned out he had TB and would die
at fifty-two—was sitting in a chair
in the small back yard, my father
knew he was out there, and it crossed
his mind that he should take his girlfriend
out back to meet him, but he
didn’t, whether for embarrassment
at the sick, fading man
or just because he was in a hurry
to be off on his date, he didn’t
say, but he told the little,
uneventful story anyway, and said
that he had always regretted
not doing that simple, courteous
thing, the sick man sitting in
the sun in the back yard would
have enjoyed meeting her, but
instead he sat out there alone
as they came and left, young
lovers going on a date. He
always regretted it, he said.

“The Man in the Yard” by Howard Nelson, from The Nap by the Waterfall. © Timberline Press, 2009.

Don’t Like Your Story? Rewrite it.

Growing up, I hated reading.  One of my parents’ preferred methods of punishment was to send me to my room to read.  For a long time I chose sports magazines with plenty of pictures and occasionally mixed in a choose-your-own-adventure.  A few years into this torture by reading, a teacher began to cultivate within me a love for story.  My attitude toward stories was reinvented when I began putting their words together.  I became an author, and I made a connection to writing that I had found in few other places.  I could do more than choose my own adventure, I could create it.

Years later I began to notice the beauty of the written word.  I developed an appreciation for the recorded thoughts of others and for the artistry with which they shared their stories.  It was around this time that I also began to feel empathy.  I learned to relish the discipline of reading, and the more I was exposed to the stories of others, the more I wanted to know them and experience them.

Here are a few things I’ve learned about stories:

Stories are common ground.
Regardless of your culture, physical attributes, your intellect, or your station in life, each person has a story. Other than our humanity, what shared trait commands the unity evoked by story?
Even the human spirit can be pictured in story.
From the author’s perspective a story may end, but it’s never complete.
Like our lives, stories lend themselves to being rewritten.
Just as stories can change, they also have the power to change.  They’ve changed people and circumstances.
Story offers hope.

For more on the importance of story check out: Chris Brogan’s blog