Challenge

Few phrases make a pastor cringe and fight the urge to cup their hands over their ears in a childish I-can't-hear-you motion. Some of these include:
"I'm not being fed here."
"Where is MY tithe being used?"
"We've never done it that way before."
"How far is 'too far'?"
"Was that you at the pub Friday night?"

One statement which has not particularly made me cringe but has had me really searching and thinking lately is the idea of "being challenged".

We like to say there are churches we don't go to because we aren't challenged.

We go to churches because we are challenged.

We want to listen to podcasts from speakers who challenge us and avoid books by authors who don't challenge us.

We say that we want to be challenged, but that is not true.

We say we want to go to places and people who can challenge us, but we lie.

Granted, we lie because we have re-defined (falsely) what "challenge" actually means. When we say want to be challenged, we mean we want someone to blow our minds. We want someone to communicate something in a way we have never thought about it before. We want to think of things moreloftily than we had before.

We want to read books that really make us think, and in so doing, make us learn a lot.

We want these things, and we call it challenge, but we have misunderstood and forgotten the primary element to challenge.

Action!
Movement!
Application!

Challenge is a call to engage and change.

We do not want to be challenged. We want to learn more, maybe. We want to know more information, perhaps. We want to answer more questions correctly than someone else, probably.

But very few really want to be challenged, because being challenged means being called to engage and change. Very few of us want to change anything as most of us are too comfortable to engage.

Challenge has to do with whether or not you want to engage something enough to enact change in the way you live, act, or do. Challenge has to do with whether or not what you are reading, hearing, studying, or interacting with engages you to act.

Will my life be different? Will I live differently or am I just waiting for you to blow my mind?

Do I really want to be challenged, or do I really want to know more information than you?

I think of books we commonly call 'challenging' by guys like C.S. Lewis, NT Wright, Bonhoeffer, and I wonder if any of them, as brilliant as they may be, actually engaged me enough to change, act, and live differently.

I think of books by people like Shane Claiborne, SD Gordon, and Francis Chan; books I could read in a day or two but I was engaged to see choices I needed to make to really be more like Jesus.

I think of podcasts I've listened to that I once thought were great challenging sermons, but I cannot remember many that really rocked my life in a way which made me say, "I need to change some things."

The most challenging speakers, writers, and pastors are not necessarily the most profound.

This is because it is not their role to be challenging. It is not up to THEM for YOU to be challenged.

Being challenged is up to YOU! When presented with something, no matter how simple the presentation, its up to YOU to determine whether you will engage and change.

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READING: "The Search for God and Guinness" by Stephen Mansfield
LISTENING TO: "No One's First and You're Next" by Modest Mouse

A Pastor's Prayer

As a pastor, my prayer today (and should be each day) is from Psalm 69:6

May those who hope in you
not be disgraced because of me,
O Lord, the LORD Almighty;
May those who seek you
not be put to shame because of me,
O God of Israel.

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READING: "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" by Don Miller
LISTENING TO: "Oh My God, Charlie Darwin" by Low Anthem

Simple Collision

[journal entry from 9.14.00]

My God, My Inspiration, My Artist and Creator:

On the deck of this cruise ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean I am present only to think of you and KNOW you in this moment. Though I cannot see you, I can KNOW you. Like John writes in the first chapter (1:18), no one has ever SEEN you, but because of Jesus you can be KNOWN. Because of your Spirit and mine, you can be KNOWN.

I am here at this moment, looking out at an endless horizon where two expansive worlds (water and sky) collide in a simple straight line and I am amazed at how two expansive opposing worlds of my natural, tangible life and your Spirit can collide in such a simple connection of the heart.

I am here at this moment, and it is intended for nothing else but to know you. There is nothing in the way. There is nothing to interrupt the connection of my heart to yours. This moment is only for this. I want to know though I cannot see you.

I am here at this moment just to know you.

Proverbs 2

IF you indeed cry out for insight
IF you raise your voice for understanding
IF you seek it like silver

THEN you will understand the fear of the LORD
THEN you will find the knowledge of God
THEN you will understand righteousness and justice
THEN wisdom will come to your heart
THEN prudence will watch over you
THEN understanding will come to you
THEN it will save you from the way of evil
THEN you will be saved from those who speak evil against you
THEN you will be saved from the smooth words that tempt you away

How many THENS await just a few IFS!!!

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LISTENING TO: Asa [Self-titled]

Heaven without Jesus?

How many of us wish we could actually be with God each day? How many of us would like to be with Jesus each day? We all try to have quiet times to do just that, but I wonder how many of us would have a sense that we really met with God in those moments we spend during a "quiet time". I have had that sense before, but it is hardly every day when I sit down for those moments.

It has me curious as to whether there are other significant ways to meet with Jesus each day. The easy answer is "yes", but the more difficult answers are to the question of, "How then?" What are those OTHER ways I can truly be with Jesus; a way that I can sense his love, person, and heart?

The first prerequisite question is, "Is Jesus himself the gift I am looking for?" What I am I hoping for when I come to meet with Jesus? Is it simply Jesus I desire, or is it his answer to my questions? Is it his provision for my needs? Is the gift I seek his heart salve for the places I hurt, or is it simply JESUS I crave? If I got to heaven, with all the great things like more suffering, no more weeping, total healing, eternal reconnection with all the loved ones I could imagine, but Jesus was not there, would my heart break? Would I still want heaven? Is Jesus what I desire each day when I come to meet with him, or am I really looking for some byproduct of the relationship with him?

So assuming I want to be with Jesus, what ways can I do that?

Well I know Jesus told us, "Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me." He told us that when we serve other people, we were doing those things for him. In order to do something for someone, it is to say that person is there. It is to say that when I listen to someone, serve someone, help someone, Jesus is there. I meet him there.

When we serve, we are given the greatest gift possible at that exact moment. We are given Jesus. He is there. He is present. We can be with Jesus, and if THAT is my greatest gift, I would serve more people.

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READING: "The Great Good Place" by Ray Oldenburg

Fight?

Few things anger me. I am annoyed intensely by a lot of things; things such as the Lakers, bad beer or coffee, Terrel Owens, Mary Murphy, use of the NON-word "irregardless", and USC; just to name a few from my very long list of intensely annoying things.

I am not an angry person as there really are only a few things which anger me. I can only think of a few right now. Poverty, oppression, unloving Christians and their 'evangelism', and maybe the Lakers!

Poverty and oppression are growing more and more rampant in our world and country, especially in a world with things like dying economies, human trafficking, and a cultural battle between the church and LGBT communities in which each side sees the other as sub-human, or at least treats each other as such.

I see these very few things becoming more and more prevalent in our world and our country, and I wonder what I am to do.

Psalm 82:3-4 says, "Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

I read those things and I prayed this morning, (in a fashion I do most mornings, afternoons, and evenings), "God, show me how to love you and love people." I am learning to trust that God will show me how to love more if I desire it from him.

To serve the poor, I am trying to sacrifice all I have. I am beginning the 7th month of a commitment not to purchase any of my clothes first hand unless I KNOW where and how those clothes were made. I make those sorts of decisions and then read 1 Cor. 13:3.

"If I give all I possess to the poor...but have not love, I gain nothing."

I make as many decisions as I can to be one who serves and fights for what is right, but then I read that and wonder if all is for not if I have not truly done it with great love. Do I do these things for the fight or for the love?

An old grandmother once said, "No one ever wins a fight." I think that is what Jesus meant when he said in Matthew 5, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute." This is not pacifism! Just before he said that, Jesus said, "Do not resist an evil person."

When we are angered by things, we want to fight. Jesus tells us to love and pray and be moved with compassion to act, but he never told us to fight.

We fight for things like "honor", but sometimes I wonder if our "honor" is sometimes really pride, fear, or hate that we have called honor.

No one ever wins a fight; but love conquers all.

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LISTENING TO: "9" by Damien Rice and "Sounds Like This" by Eric Hutchinson

The only people for me...

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars."

- Jack Kerouac

Answers to Questions Nobody's Asking

A podcast I listen to regularly (This American Life) recently told the story of a Texas football coach who encouraged all the parents and fans of his team to cheer for the other team. I originally thought it was going to be some monumental coaching move that would eventually amp up his own players to play harder in order to spite the sudden loss of support from their own family and friends.

But I was mistaken. This team was a Christian high school in Texas, an the other team was a local delinquent school of boys with no family life, let alone fans. So this coach asked all the parents, fans, and cheerleaders to learn the names of the opposing players and cheer them on to victory; something those boys had never known the feeling of.

This coach would quickly know national recognition. All over ESPN! The NFL Commissioner made the coach his personal guest at the Super Bowl. In all the recognition came 100's of emails and letters to the coach, but he would admit only one of them would grab his attention. A lady who is on the radio show tells her own story of seeing all the recognition of this coach and she had to email him.

She writes to him of how she is an agnostic and has rarely seen true examples of Christian love and message, but his example gives her hope that it exists. She was also very glad to see such a great model of God's love for young people.

They began a correspondence through email which shortly leads to a phone conversation that gets recorded for the radio show.

One thing to know is that a very close friend of hers had died of cancer, and she had a lot of hurt to work through. Her main concern was why God would allow this to happen, and she felt like perhaps this compassionate coach might have something to speak to her pain and hurt.

Only seconds into the phone conversation, the coach dives into a very familiar diatribe of theology and apologetics. He took next to no time to listen to her pain and hurt. He was more concerned with getting all his conversion points out there. It had completely shut her down.

She would tell the radio show host that she was basically irritated. She had not wanted to get into the details of God's existence. She wanted to really come to understand what God might have to say to her in her situation. For an entire conversation, the coach had gone into a stream of monologues about Darwin, Hitler, logic, the Big Bang and creation. He never once took a moment to listen to what she might have had to ask. He never once took a moment to listen to her pain and her hurt.

Should would tell the radio host that it was her chance to talk to a man who believes in God and get some answers to burning questions she had been struggling with, but those questions were never heard. They were questions of grief and not of God's existence vs Big Bang.

The host tries to clarify. "So he was trying to argue with you about the existence of God instead of comforting you?"

There had been times when she said she had just about to warm up to him, and that she had some part of her that HOPED he would have been able to put the 'religious message' to her in a way that made sense to her; that "deep down I really wanted to believe again."

The host wondered whether it might have just been the WAY he went about it that he'd turned her away...

She mentions that if someone could have told her why her friend died and then relate it back to God, "I probably would have responded to that better." But they never even got to that point.

The Host says, "What if its as simple as: God takes people at different times, and that doesn't mean that God doesn't have some plan for you?"

She responds, "See! That makes more sense to me than ANYTHING he ever said."

Then the radio host said, "Well that's very sad, cuz I actually don't even believe in God.


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LISTENING TO: "The Long Fall Back To Earth" by Jars of Clay

A Perversion of Justice

The Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53) faces me in a strong way today. Today I am face-to-face with Jesus, and I am not comfortable. I am not okay.

I am offended and ashamed. Today I am face-to-face with Jesus the Christ who saves me through a vicarious suffering that I continue to hate. He did not suffer in anticipation of my suffering; He suffered INSTEAD OF...

That frustrates my mind and heart for different reasons; it always has.

I am frustrated with God that sins must be paid for; let alone that the payment must be death and suffering. I hate that we are made whole through pain, suffering, and death. I realize there is nothing I can do to change this reality, and that God is sovereign. I realize God's will, plan, and wisdom is far beyond me, but I simply hate it in my mind, heart, and soul.

The second reason I am frustrated by my face-to-face with Jesus today is the realization of how undeserving He was for what was done to Him. In a world and time when I realize my call to stand for the orphaned, widowed, and oppressed, I am faced with a Jesus who was oppressed, afflicted, rejected, despised, wounded, and unduly punished.

My heart has been sliced with anger at reading in Isaiah 53:8,

"By a PERVERSION OF JUSTICE he was taken away."

As Christians we have been and are being called to fight for people who are marginalized. We are to be going places our governments have not. We are to fight for justice for those who cannot fight for themselves; the afflicted, oppressed, wounded, rejected, and despised.

Today I am face-to-face with Jesus, who was made an effect of a "perversion of justice". I am angry and uncomfortable.

I am ashamed that this perversion of justice was enacted on Jesus instead of me.

ME who deserves punishment INSTEAD OF a man who had committed no violence or deceit.

ME who has been guilty of numerous things INSTEAD OF one who even people of no faith recognize as wonderful, respectful, and beautiful.

My faith and righteousness is a perversion of justice, and I am angrily grateful to Jesus for it.

* May 1 marks the beginning of "30 Days w/Jesus"; a 30-day reading plan Tonya and I are embarking on with a few other people. If you are interested and would like to embark on this journey with us, let me know or go to http://www.tniv.com/Experience%20it/docs/plan_jesus_30.pdf

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LISTENING TO: Common Market (self-titled)

A Perversion of Justice

The Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53) faces me in a strong way today. Today I am face-to-face with Jesus, and I am not comfortable. I am not okay.

I am offended and ashamed. Today I am face-to-face with Jesus the Christ who saves me through a vicarious suffering that I continue to hate. He did not suffer in anticipation of my suffering; He suffered INSTEAD OF...

That frustrates my mind and heart for different reasons; it always has.

I am frustrated with God that sins must be paid for; let alone that the payment must be death and suffering. I hate that we are made whole through pain, suffering, and death. I realize there is nothing I can do to change this reality, and that God is sovereign. I realize God's will, plan, and wisdom is far beyond me, but I simply hate it in my mind, heart, and soul.

The second reason I am frustrated by my face-to-face with Jesus today is the realization of how undeserving He was for what was done to Him. In a world and time when I realize my call to stand for the orphaned, widowed, and oppressed, I am faced with a Jesus who was oppressed, afflicted, rejected, despised, wounded, and unduly punished.

My heart has been sliced with anger at reading in Isaiah 53:8,

"By a PERVERSION OF JUSTICE he was taken away."

As Christians we have been and are being called to fight for people who are marginalized. We are to be going places our governments have not. We are to fight for justice for those who cannot fight for themselves; the afflicted, oppressed, wounded, rejected, and despised.

Today I am face-to-face with Jesus, who was made an effect of a "perversion of justice". I am angry and uncomfortable.

I am ashamed that this perversion of justice was enacted on Jesus instead of me.

ME who deserves punishment INSTEAD OF a man who had committed no violence or deceit.

ME who has been guilty of numerous things INSTEAD OF one who even people of no faith recognize as wonderful, respectful, and beautiful.

My faith and righteousness is a perversion of justice, and I am angrily grateful to Jesus for it.

* May 1 marks the beginning of "30 Days w/Jesus"; a 30-day reading plan Tonya and I are embarking on with a few other people. If you are interested and would like to embark on this journey with us, let me know or go to http://www.tniv.com/Experience%20it/docs/plan_jesus_30.pdf

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LISTENING TO: Common Market (self-titled)

Too Much Too Little

My time in Scripture this morning has been quite rich and yet poor. It has been quite telling of my heart and a challenge, once again, to my way of living. Here are a few notes from my time.

EXODOUS 35:4-29
Everyone's heart who was willing, gave. There is a question of my heart and my WILLINGNESS to give of my plenty and my skills and talents. The question is less about whether I will DO it and more about whether my HEART actually desires to.

2 CORINTHIANS 8:1-15
This may be the strongest point at which my heart was truly stricken. There is a great focus on generosity, but I cannot get past verses 13-15:

"but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be fair balance. As it is written, 'The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little."

I cannot argue with the bluntness of scripture here as it relates to my considerable plenty compared to the poverty of the world. It is also a personal affront to how I spend my money. What am I wearing, and where does it come from? Is it made and traded in fair ways or in ways which more than demean but actually oppress the poor? What about the coffee I drink? The money I spend reflects my value or devalue of the poor and of God's command on my heart.

"The one with much did not have too much, and the one with little did not have too little."

PHILIPPIANS 4:10-23
vs 11-12: "Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little and I know what it is to have plenty."

As a child of single mom who had to live and raise her boys for a portion of life with food stamps and welfare, I also know what it is to have little, and I know what it is now to have plenty, but the question really is, "Have I LEARNED to be content in WHATEVER I have?"



LISTENING TO: "Hold Time" by M. Ward

The only privilege is no privilege: why young adults are losing faith

Francis of Assisi was called to a few specific things, with one of which is something I have felt the touch of God on my life. It is recorded that Francis had heard God speak to him the words: "Francis, do you not see that my house is falling down? Repair it!" Upon that call, Francis began a lifestyle of poverty, charity, and acceptance. He had seen the house of God being torn down by its becoming rich and thus complacent. I found myself strongly connected with this part of Francis' life and calling. Granted, I still have a lot to learn from his lifestyle of poverty and relentless charity, but his specific call toward the church resonates within me. There is a similar moment in my life when God spoke into my life through another person at a moment, which would truly change my life from that moment forward. I had grown frustrated with the American Church for a slew of reasons. As I studied the gospels more, I saw less and less reflection of them in the realities of the Church today. Like many young adults today, I walked away from it. I had not lost my faith in Jesus Christ or my God. I had lost faith in his bride, the Church. I watched as the American Church became more complacent, incredibly unloving, disrespectful, and disgustingly rich. So with draining faith in the church, I left. I left for 4 and a half years of college while I was pursuing my ministry degree. I had not really figured out what I was doing getting a degree for a career in a place I had disowned. Regardless of having given up, God grabbed hold of me my 5th year of college through a statement from one person. "PC, don't you think if you are this passionate about these things, you are one who most needs to be a part of it?" There is a generation of people, many I speak with daily, who are losing faith in droves. A large majority of those are not losing faith in Jesus or their God of childhood. At the root of it is a loss of faith in the American Church, which has grown increasingly rich and privileged. Francis of Assisi once said that privilege implies power and powerlessness, haves and have nots, nobility and commoners, and that the only privilege was in in having no privileges. The Church has grown richer, more complacent, and entitled. They grow more indignant, disrespectful and horribly unloving. In that loss of faith, countless young adults are walking away. Here is my charge to all those who are walking away and giving up: Yes! The American Church is falling down. The bride of Jesus in America is dirty and broken... but is still his bride...worthy of love and it is a house in need of repair. Will you become a part of change or will you sit idly by as it continues to be torn down?

Creativity

Creativity is not inspired by new ideas it is obsessively frustrated with the idea that already exists.

Jesus Prayer

The last week has brought me each day to take a look at what is known as the "Jesus Prayer". It is one very simple prayer, in one thought, which communicates and professes a myriad of things. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. The prayer was formed by the early Desert Fathers, and it eventually became a classic and common form of prayer. You see a similar statement in Luke 18:35-43 with the blind beggar, and you commonly see historic uses of it in rhythm with your breathing. (Inhale "Lord Jesus Christ....Exhale "have mercy on me...") I have been reading and praying the Jesus Prayer this week with refreshing realizations. In one simple prayer, you profess adoration and attrition. You profess the glory of God and the sinfulness of man. It is penitential while also being joyful and confident. It is fundamentally Christilogical. It is simple enough to begin as we realize the most common block to prayer is the act of simply beginning. The prayer is discursive: it does not move from one thought to another. Yet, some have said, it sums up the whole Gospel. It professes the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the reality of the Incarnation by addressing Jesus. It is a profession of what Jesus is; Son of God, which opens a profession of the Trinity (SON to the FATHER; something we'd only believe with the help of the SPIRIT). It also professes and confesses our dire need for mercy and grace, which theologians stuffily refer to as "depravity". The prayer leads our thoughts to the life of Christ while facing us with the story of our helplessness. It is a petition of a poor, humble, and recognizably sinful soul. It is a CRY for mercy. In most cases, it is intended to be repeated frequently throughout the day to help accomplish what Paul challenged us to do; PRAY CONSTANTLY (1 Thess. 5:17). When repeated frequently, it can lead to a real life change. It reorders our priorities. It can be practiced and prayed anywhere at any moment. It does not have to be vocalized, and at different times, can find its deeps soul-connection in the silent meeting of the heart. C.S. Lewis wrote, "I still think the prayer without words is the best--if one can really achieve it." I have found that to be quite true of the Jesus Prayer. I may not find my soul to meet in that silent prayer each day at all times. It would be the Stoic Error of "thinking we can do always what we can do sometimes." But I continue to remember the Jesus Prayer this week. I intend to write it out, to vocalize it, and to silently drive my soul to pray it as constantly as I can muster. LORD JESUS CHRIST, SON OF GOD, HAVE MERCY ON ME, A SINNER

The Startled Poor

How startling would it have been to be poor and hear Jesus say, "Blessed are you"? What if you were mourning? Something that brings such hardship and is seen as a curse in some (most) cultures is now being told to you is really a blessing. It is really an interesting question because I have never really read that blessing from the standpoint of the poor or the mourning, or for that matter, from the standpoint of the humble or meek. I have generally always read it from the standpoint of the comparatively rich and the non-mourning. I typically read the blessings from the standpoint of the selfish and prideful. Of course I typically read those beatitudes and blessings and speak of "God's upside down kingdom" and the direct challenge for me to realize the life changes it would mean for me. So I stay rich, selfish, and prideful because those changes seem so hard to make. But what of the poor hearing that they are blessed? What of the humble, meek, and mourning? Would it be freeing? Would it be confusing as it doesn't FEEL like a blessing? How would that have felt to be told that? I honestly cannot imagine because I am rarely ever an of those things.

Jealous

I can still remember the first time I saw a Nooma video by Rob Bell. It was in a church service, and the video was "Trees". I cannot even tell you what the video was about because all I could think was something along the lines of, "Ahhhhh crap! I could have done that!" All I could think of for the entirety of the video was that it really is a great idea, and it is TOTALLY something I could have done. I really liked seeing Bradley Hathaway do what he does as a traveling poet. I would mention him to my brother a few winters ago and my brother acted unimpressed and nearly cynical at Bradley Hathaway's art. I listened to my brother rant for a short time before I said, "Wait! Do you not like Bradley Hathaway because he's doing something you could have done, but he thought of it before you?" He thought for a second and humbly surrendered, "Yeah....I think that may be it." Unless a speaker or writer really says something to make me be impressed or think differently than I had before I heard them, I am generally dismissive of them as a speaker and author. Now granted, I HAVE heard them speak somewhere before a group I was a member of. I HAVE purchased their book that at least they wrote and published. Two things I have not pursued or gone after! But something in me is dismissive and unimpressed. This thing within is jealousy. Jealousy is basically a part of you that is convinced there can only be one of something, and you are not that one. The problem lies in that most things can have more than one of them. It is possible for there to be more than one artist within whatever artistry you pursue. But that part of you that gets FRUSTRATED when someone else accomplishes something you know you can do is jealousy. Jealousy is the belief that there is only room for one. As I reflected on that today, I get frustrated with the jealousy within me because it has debilitated me from moving toward the things I know I can do. But the other reality that struck me is that I serve a jealous God. We fight the jealousy within ourselves because WE should not be a jealous people. There is room for other artists, other friends, other... But we know, as Christians, there is no room for other gods. We serve a jealous God, and that means we serve a God who believes and authoritatively states that there is only room for one of himself. There is only room for one master (because you cannot serve more than one). There is only room for one God (we cannot simply "coexist" with our many gods...though we can coexist as people). There is room for other people and all the diversity they bring, but there is room for only one God, and our God realizes that. Our God is a jealous God. ---------------- Reading: "Disciplines for the Inner Life" by Bob Benson; "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron Listening to: "Dark Dark Woods" by Husband & Wife; "Give Yourself Away" by Robbie Seay Band

prayer 101

When you remember that nobody addressed God as Father in that time, Jesus' instruction to us to begin prayer by saying, "Our Father..." takes on a new light. We remember that there is a great connection to God that was opened at that moment to all of us. We are now able to come to God as those loves by a perfect Father, and loved perfectly as a Father loves His children. Our identity was changed at that moment when Jesus said, "you should pray like this..." We were now to know ourselves as children, and that identity was to drive our prayer. We do not pray as slaves or mindless drones who have drunk the religious kool-aid. We pray as children of a personal and loving Father. But this does imply an understanding at a core place within ourselves that begins our prayer. Prayer begins with a fundamental, core understanding that we are children under a Father-love. Our prayer begins in that personal relation, and without that relation, our prayers are words spoken blankly. Granted, that relation may be weak. It may be broken and distant, but it must be...it must be present. Without it, we do not relate; we do not pray--our prayers begin with that relational connection. Not only does it begin there; it is also the purpose behind the prayer. Prayer serves to help us know God more. To pray is to communicate, and communication leads to further knowing...further intimacy. As long as prayer begins properly (by a relational connection) it only serves to grow and develop that connection further. But it must continue forward. Jesus told his disciples (which most of us strive to be) to always pray...God answers those who keep on praying. Prayer begins with a relation, and that relation should go on and on. It should be endless and without ceasing.

you HAD logs???

Check this out! Next time you read Matthew 7:1-6 about "Judging Others" look at this. Verse 5 has been grabbing my attention the last couple days. We always read about the plank and the speck as telling us not to judge people. This is true, but I am not too sure we have read verse 5 for all it's worth. "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." This says something very influential to me. This is saying more than just "Don't judge people! Cuz you ain't perfect!" But that is what we have always read this to mean. There is more! The whole thing is Jesus' challenge to work on your own ish SO THAT you may be able to see your brother's speck, his ish, more clearly. This is not telling us to leave our brother's alone because "Hey, you ain't perfect." The direct challenge is to remove your own plank so you may see clearly to remove your brother's speck. This means I have to realize what my plank is. My plank could be a sin I am struggling with, but it may also be an issue I have; a wound, a hurt, an issue to be healed or repaired. Once I do the work of finding healing or repair for the ish in my life, I become able to see more clearly the people around me. I become capable of compassion because now I can see them more clearly. I can actually help remove their speck; walk along in their wounds, and hurt, and ish. But I can only do that if I have removed the plank that hinders my ability to truly see. Christians commonly do whatever they can to "help" others with their brother's and sister's ish, but only because if I'm helping someone else with their ish I don't have to pay any attention to my own. If I am looking at other people's issues and trying to help heal them I can do so without doing the work of finding healing and help for my own issues, wounds, hurt, and sin. We call this 'compassion' or 'benevolence' or various other Christianese terms, but if I am not or have not done the work to pursue healing and repair for my own ish, its really just what we call ENABLING......or even......wait for it..... CO-DEPENDANT. -------------- READING: "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron LISTENING TO: "Adapt" by Trace Bundy, "A Fire So Big The Heavens Can See It" by Search the City