Archive for the ‘Formation’ Category

Good Work

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

Three years ago, Kay and I planted (with the help of many friends) rows and rows of tiny lavender ‘plugs’ in hopes of one day seeing a harvest.  This hobby on the sidelines of our lives has at times hijacked us and become our life.  It has been hard work.  But the work of planting, weeding, fertilizing (non-chemically, of course), and watering paid off this summer with an acre of eye-pleasing, luscious-smelling lavender blooms.  And once blooms appear comes the equally hard work of harvesting!

I suspect our friends and family are secretly asking (and some not so secretly), Why are you doing this?  Are you out of your minds?  Don’t you have better things to do with your time? (more…)

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Posted in Formation | 4 Comments »

Clinging with Both Hands

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Life can turn dark and ugly because of things that I do, or things people do to me, or just because life becomes undone. These shake the foundation and stability of the world as I know it and my dream of what I want it to be. No matter that it is my own neglect, ignorance or sin, or that people of ill intent accuse or lay in wait for me, or that life-threatening disease or natural calamity invade my world, the result is the same – a nightmarish existence that creates darkness and anguish. What control and power I think I have evaporate and life makes little sense. (more…)

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Posted in Change, Formation, Hope | 2 Comments »

Saved for Life

Saturday, August 7th, 2010

Given a chance religion will squeeze desire and love from life.  It tends to destroy our deepest feelings and hopes.  By necessity, it requires uniformity and compliance, and therefore, uniqueness and diversity, appetites and passions must yield to a sameness of mind and heart that blunt and numb our spirit and being.  Religion can kill. (more…)

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Posted in Formation, World | 2 Comments »

Don’t Judge Me!

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

Judge you?  Of course not!  You and I are brothers, sisters – we are community. (more…)

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Posted in Church, Formation | 5 Comments »

Faith or Fear

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

“Fear can hamstring the soul.” -Amy Carmichael

If we fear, we live in the gray areas of pause and regret.  Fear keeps us from attempting the impossible, stepping beyond what is comfortable, choosing difficult paths, and loving in a costly manner.  The opposite of fear is faith.  To walk by faith means to believe the impossible can be reality, to live without what we think we must have, and to love without the prospect of returned love.  While fear paralyzes and debilitates, faith liberates us to believe in and hope for what might be.

Fear comes naturally for us, and thus is not a conscious choice but our gut reaction to difficulties, disappointments and rejection.  Faith, on the other hand, must be an intentional decision.  To choose faith instead of  fear is to live toward the hope of a better world, personal transformation, justice, love, etc.   While fear destroys our hope, faith is the beginning of hope.

Because I desire to live in hope, I choose faith over my fears.

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Posted in Formation, Hope | 1 Comment »

Wonder-working words

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Words work wonders.  Or do they?

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Reward in the Journey

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

While I must strive toward a destination and goals, I, at the same time, need to live as though the journey is its own reward. To journey today means I live the next step, lean into the upcoming turn, and love those in front of me. My greatest temptation is to live too far in the past or to look too far into the future.

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Memory as Tether

Monday, February 8th, 2010

I am making an effort to read Scripture daily so that I might remember. It is so easy to forget the content of faith, commitments I have made, experiences that have shaped me, and the places where hope can be found. It is easy to forget Jesus. Reading Scripture jolts me back to ultimate realities, moves me beyond the numbing effects of daily work and activities, and reconnects me to Jesus.

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Renovate – Educate

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

For the majority of Christians, church and missions operate in separate and distinct realms. The church nurtures and instructs the ’saved’, and missionaries cross cultures and evangelize the ‘heathen’. Church is here and familiar, missions is over there and foreign. The points at which church and missions usually connect are money and recruitment. Because the work of missions requires money and fresh recruits and since the church is where both can be found, mission organizations and agencies find it necessary to relate to the church. Likewise, since people within the church have full-time, secular jobs, they ‘do missions’ by providing finances for those who do the work of ‘fulltime’ missions.

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Buffered Self

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Everyday, in large and small ways, each of us are making decisions – real decisions with real consequences. No matter how hard we might try to rationalize choices, blame others, see ourselves as victim, or fain ignorance, we make these decisions ourselves and our choices impact the lives of people around us in either cruel or kind ways.

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