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Jesus arrested by saints?

tom — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:04:40 +0000

“Having spent time around ’sinners’ and also around purported saints, I have a hunch why Jesus spent so much time with the former group: I think he preferred their company. Because the sinners were honest about themselves and had no pretense, Jesus could deal with them. In contrast, the saints put on airs, judged him, and sought to catch him in a moral trap. In the end it was the saints, not the sinners, who arrested Jesus.”

-Philip Yancey

TODAY

tom — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 03:54:54 +0000

“In the entire history of the universe, let alone in your own history, there has never been another day just like today, and there will never be another just like it again. Today is the point to which all your yesterdays have been leading since the hour of your birth. It is the point from which all your tomorrows will proceed until the hour of your death. If you were aware of how precious today is, you could hardly live through it. Unless you are aware of how precious it is, you can hardly be said to be living at all.”–Frederick Buechner

Let something essential happen to me

tom — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:41:44 +0000

Let Something Essential Happen to Me by Ted Loder

O God,

Let something essential happen to me,

Something more than interesting or

Entertaining, or thoughtful.

O God,

Let something essential happen to me,

Something awesome, something real.

Speak to my condition, Lord,

And change me somewhere inside

Where it matters, a change that will

Burn and tremble and heal and explode

Me into tears or laughter or love that

Throbs or screams or keeps a terrible,

Cleansing silence and dares the dangerous deeds.

Let something happen in me which is my real self, O God.

Amen

Ted lays out some interesting thoughts and a primal urge to experience God. This ‘essential something’ he is talking about is none other than the essential Son of God Jesus Christ.

May Jesus happen to me!

The economy

tom — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:22:02 +0000

So much of our concern today revolves around the state of our economy. How distressed are the banks? How poor is the American working class really? How helpless would we be if the market tanked? However, the real economy is a spiritual one, measured not by the riches of the 30 blue chip companies that compromise the Dow Jones Industrial Average, but measured in the poverty of our heart. When it comes to our heart and God, it pays to be poor, it pays to be helpless, it pays to be distressed, it pays handsomely with incredible dividends. Few realize the riches that come from this kind of poverty. Check out this swath from a Thomas Merton devotion on spiritual life.

“If we know how great is the love of Jesus for us we will never be afraid to go to Him in all our poverty, all our weakness, all our spiritual wretchedness and infirmity. Indeed, when we understand the true nature of His love for us, we will prefer to come to Him poor and helpless. We will never be ashamed of our distress. Distress is to our advantage when we have nothing to seek but mercy. We can be glad of our helplessness when we really believe that His power is made perfect in our infirmity. The surest sign that we have received a spiritual understanding of God’s love for us is the appreciation of our own poverty in the light of His infinite mercy.” –Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

I find it no accident that the people who nourish my soul the most are those who understand and appreciate their poverty. These people are not ashamed to receive the lavish grace provided by God the Father, through God the Son, by God the Holy Spirit. When it comes to matters of the heart they prefer poverty.

Things I don’t understand

tom — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:01:05 +0000

A four year old boy was at a church Friday night celebrating the New Year with his momma and his church family. They were bringing in the New Year with prayer and worship of the the great and wonderful God we adore. They were not ringing in the New Year with booze, drugs, and mindless revelry. Outside the church, people in the neighborhood are ringing in the New Year as well, celebrating by firing a few pistols up in the air. A shell from one of the guns flies up into space, loses its steam and then descends back to earth. On its way back, it pierces the roof of the church goes through the ceiling and lodges in the skull of a 4 year old. The mother hears a ‘plink’ and a little cry, hands her son his game assuming that is why he yelped, and moments later he dies in a pool of blood. I cannot help but think of the incredible random ‘chance’ that this could happen. I mean, of all the places for the bullet to fall. Why couldn’t it fall unnoticed into a wooden beam in the roof? Yet it finds a home in the brain of a child at church. I know that I do not worship a God who is surprised, nor do I believe in accidents (things that happen without cause). But I am challenged to think of how one could comfort this woman, I mean a church of all places! How will she make sense of all of this? Will she fall victim into thinking this is punishment for her sin? WIll she fall victim into thinking this is punishment for the boy’s sin? Will others assume there is some terrible secret issue in her life and God is getting her attention? Will she fall victim to a view of God where He was standing by with His hands tied unable to do anything?

I cannot help but to think of that bullet shooting upwards into space and that brief moment in time when it stopped ascending and stood still overlooking the neigborhood right before it began its descent. Right before the 4 year old and the mother’s lives were to be permanently altered. That small still moment before everything was shattered. The only person who knew what was about to occur was the great God of the universe foreknowing exactly where the bullet would land. The great God of the universe who could but chose not to alter the course of the bullet, allowing it to fall into the child. I cannot help but to think of Jesus after Lazarus died and the shortest memory verse I know of John 11:35 “Jesus wept”. I cannot help but to think that these are things I don’t understand. I cannot help but to think of the cross where God as a Father lost a Son also, on the earth that He created of all places, at the hands of humans his most treasured creation.

Failing to notice

tom — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:26:35 +0000

I just finished a book about self deception and the Christian life entitled ”I told me so” by Gregg A. Ten Elshof. The book discusses how we as sinful humans are prone to deceive ourselves and insulate our vain imaginations from reality and truth. One of the chapters deals with attention management and procrastination. It seems as though one of the most common strategies for self deception over the long haul is to control what comes into our minds (i.e. focus our attention on what we want to agree with or disagree with). This kind of attention management is a two sided coin, on the one side we can deceive ourselves by avoiding attention to evidence against any belief that our well being is propped up on (example: avoiding all evidence suggesting that I am a terrible singer). On the other hand, we can direct too much critical attention to such evidence that opposes our cherished belief (example: focusing all my attention critically on all such evidence suggesting that I am a terrible singer so that I can prove otherwise). Either way we are deceived. Consider the following words.

“The range of what we think and do

Is limited by what we fail to notice

And because we fail to notice

THAT we fail to notice

There is little we can do

To change

Until we notice

How failing to notice

Shapes our thoughts and deeds.”

-Daniel Goleman, Vital Lies, Simple Truths: The Psychology of Self-Deception

What are you failing to notice in your life?

Maria’s Thoughts

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:09:20 +0000

Here are some awesome thoughts from Maria Grogan (courtesy of her blog teachable little moments).

‘He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.’

Matthew 14:23

I was reminded in my bible study time this morning of the importance of withdrawing and spending time with the Lord alone. I was reminded of how tiring and draining it can be if we are constantly interacting and spending time with others. We cannot hear the Lord if we do not spend time quietly seeking out what he is saying. This does not happen naturally. We have to be ever intentional about spending uninterrupted time before Him. While community with others is extremely important, it should not be of utmost importance. We must be careful to put our time with our Father first and then all other things will flow out of this relationship. I constantly have to be on guard against ‘good’ things in my life that can rob me of the time I need to spend with my Father. ‘Good’ things such as sleeping longer, serving others, spending time with friends, or homeschooling can replace my time in God’s Word, if I am not careful. Even things I feel I need to do to be a good mom have to be monitored. I have to be ever mindful that I am to ’seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be given to me as well’ (Matthew 6:33).

Not only do I need to guard my alone time with God, I also need to prioritize that that the Lord has entrusted me with–my husband and my children. This, too, is difficult in a world that is constantly pulling and pushing me in so many different directions. Too often, I put my own needs or the needs of others before these priorities. I am learning that I must pray and ask God about outside commitments and look to His will in how to spend my days. I’ll admit, I have a hard time with this because I am a people pleaser. I don’t like to say no to others. But I need to remember to fear God and not men and look to Him to schedule my days. He only gives me tasks to do that my days have room to fulfill. If I am trying to do more than He has called me to than I am full of pride and unbelief–prideful that I think it has to be ‘me’ to accomplish such and such, ‘unbelief’ because I am failing to trust that God’s way is better.

Today I will focus on today, praying that He will give me His wisdom to do that which He has called me to. I will walk in the promise that His grace is sufficient when I fall down or get off the path I am to be on. I will stand on the the promise to ‘not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself . Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:34).

Fear and love

tom — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:44:01 +0000

I have been chewing on this quote a friend emailed me awhile back.

“It all comes down to you and Jesus. You are more evil than you have ever feared, and more loved than you have ever hoped.”

Driscoll “Death by Love” pg 68.

Frightening. On one hand, if we are generous and kind but have no idea of the depth of our sin, we will not appreciate the gospel. On the other hand, if all we are aware of is the sinfulness of our heart, we will not appreciate the gospel. Why is it so difficult to hold these two truths together?

How to quit smoking responsibly

tom — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:58:37 +0000

While reading Jonathan Franzen’s How To Be Alone: Essays, I was struck by a particular quote in an essay involving the cigarette industry and Franzen’s own smoking habit. Franzen comments on what is really going on when he as a smoker says he wants to quit but can’t. ”I want to quit but I want even more not to suffer the agony of withdrawal. To argue otherwise is to jettison any lingering notion of personal responsibility.” I think Franzen just nailed some truth, the kind of truth we don’t want to see in our own lives when it comes to anything we “want” to do but don’t. Cost vs benefit, pleasure vs pain, the scales weigh the options according to our perspective. Truth be told it is not that I don’t want to quit, it is just that I don’t want to pay the price. I don’t want to accept responsibility. Refreshingly honest. In the end we are all responsible in God’s eyes. We just don’t want to go through the agony of sin withdrawal. The best answer for not coming to Jesus for forgiveness is that I don’t want to change my life. Funny thing is we don’t have to change anything when coming to Jesus for forgiveness, its just that after we do, we end up wanting to. Our agonies have a different object. Same responsibility, different wants.

Alive

tom — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:10:59 +0000

I recently received an email from an information specialist at the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy in Texas asking the following questions.

How have you been feeling lately?
Have you developed any other major illnesses or secondary cancers?
Has your disease relapsed? If not, are you currently in complete remission? If you have relapsed, what was the date of your relapse and have you had any additional treatment?
When was the last time you were assessed by a physician?
What is the name of your current physician and the hospital/clinic that you go to?
Have you had any additional children?
Are you currently employed? Full-time or Part-time?
If you are unemployed, are you retired with a source of income, retired without a source of income, on medical disability or a homemaker?
Would you say that you are at a normal level activity with no complaints?
What medications are you currently taking?

I get these emails each year marking the anniversary of my bone marrow transplant for the cancer I had nine years ago. They send the emails on a yearly basis to check in with me (translation: to see if I am still alive). Lives are translated into numbers which translate into statistics which translate into data that tells a story about who lives and who dies. I’m still alive. ”But do I deserve to be? Is that the question? And if so, who answers?”

Sometimes life ain’t always easy when you are still alive. The song “Alive” by Pearl Jam has been cued as background music in my brain as I wonder why I’m blogging and the kid from Louisiana who was also getting a stem cell transplant across the hall from me nine years ago isn’t breathing anymore, he is not alive. The song ”Alive” tells a story of a boy who receives shocking news that the man he thought was his father wasn’t and that his real daddy was dead. Vedder stated at Pearl Jam’s 2006 VH1 Storytellers appearance that over the years the meaning has changed for him. He said, “In the original story, a teenager is being made aware of a shocking truth that leaves him plenty confused…It was a curse—’I'm still alive.’” The audience’s response to the song is what has brought about the change in meaning for Vedder. He added, “They lifted the curse. The audience changed the meaning for me.”

Sometimes living through something is not just a blessing but a shocking experience that leaves you plenty confused, a curse. Surviving in a sin cursed world can bring these feelings about especially if you’ve lived through some nasty stuff. But God’s response changed all of that when He lifted the curse by becoming one on our behalf (2 Corinthians 5:21). He lifted the curse when on the third day Jesus rose from the dead and His followers were willing to die because Jesus was “alive”. He lifted the curse of countless sin soaked stories that involve cancer and other tragedies as told through songs such as “Alive”. Through Jesus we taste spiritual life and look forward to the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come. The song plays on.

“Is somethin’ wrong?” she said

Well, of course there is
“You’re still alive,” she said
Oh and do I deserve to be?
Is that the question?
And if so, if so
Who answers?

You’re still alive if you are reading this. Do you deserve to be? Is that the question? If so, who answers? God answers, and not random chance mutated through circumstance. God answers. You are not deserving but He loves you anyway, so get over the wretch that you are and get busy living. This is his furious love alive with grace. Jesus is alive (another song submission: Jesus is alive’ by Shai Linne)

This is love: not what we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.-1 John 4:10