Listening

I’m preaching in church this weekend. I always love this opportunity. To paraphrase Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire, ‘when I preach I feel His pleasure. ‘

As often is the case, I have little advance warning of this opportunity. Officially, I have 7 days to put it all together, which is certainly less than I’d like. I’m not really complaining, but at this point my brain is a jumble of thoughts. I’m going to use my little blog this week to highlight the process that goes on inside of me as I prepare… [Click on the title above to continue reading]

Grinchoversy

5 Keys to Reading the Bible

Here is a list (by no means exhaustive) of a few guidelines to help in reading and applying the Bible to your life… To continue reading, click on the title above.

Critic

Remember the old show At the Movies with Siskel and Ebert? It was a TV show with two movie critics who were about as opposite as they could be. One was fat, the other thin. One was hairy, one bald. They even had completely different tastes in movies. They would sit each week and review the movies that they’d watched. They’d argue a lot, but if a movie got “two thumbs up,” you knew it would be good… (Click the title above to read the full article)

Back to My Nets

I have always felt a strong bond with the biblical character of Peter, one of Jesus followers in the New Testament. The first time we meet Peter is in Matthew chapter 4. Peter is a fisherman, the family business. Like all Hebrew boys, he had done his time in religious school as a small child. During that time, he learned large sections of the Torah (the Old Testament)… (Click title to continue)

Indoctrination – part 2

This is part 2 in a 2 part series. If you missed it, you can read part 1 here

What frustrates me about the indoctrinational aspect of Sunday morning worship is that so much of it is often so half-hearted. This seems most clear to me whenever I’ve sung the song, I Could Sing of Your Love Forever. I have to note that I have no theological, or artistic problem with the song. I enjoy the work of Delirious? very much. My problem is with the way we sing it (and yes, I realize that fortunately the era of singing this one to death is long past)… Click the title above to continue reading.

Indoctrination – part 1

It must be strange for someone who isn’t a Christian to go to a Protestant church service. There is row after row of nicely dressed, well mannered people, standing and staring at projection screens. We seem to be singing the words written there mindlessly. “I could sing of your love forever…”

We even make motions the songs tell us to. “Oh, I feel like dancing,” they sing, and do some half-hearted side-to-side-step. It all must seem to the uninitiated like some Orwellian indoctrination, and I’m not sure in some sense that it isn’t… Click the title above to continue reading.

Darkness and Butterflies

“…All of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory.  And I realize just how beautiful You are, and how great Your affections are for me.  Oh how He loves.” –John Mark McMillan

The other day I got into a fight with a butterfly.  No, it isn’t as silly a sight as it sounds…well not quite.  I was doing some evening gardening and had the garage door open.  When I went in to get a rake I noticed a beautiful butterfly fluttering around, trapped inside the garage.

Normally I wouldn’t think too much of this, and have from time to time even pinned butterflies. I am not some overly-indulgent animal lover.  But this time I felt a little bit of sadness for the poor creature.  To her, she was trapped in some inescapable cave.  I took pity on her.  I decided it was female, not because of some butterfly expertise, but because I simply cannot imagine a male butterfly, though I know they must actually exist.  So with the creature properly personified, I was committed to action.

I grabbed the ladder with the intent of reaching up to the ceiling and gently cupping her in my hand, then releasing her outside.  But just at the instant my plan was about to work, she deftly avoided my grasp in the way that only bugs and small children can.  This set off a several minute period of me moving the ladder and repeating the procedure repeatedly with utter futility.  The butterfly did not appreciate any of my efforts.

As I was pondering the absurdity of the situation and how terrifying this must be to the butterfly, I watched the butterfly frantically moving from ceiling to wall to ceiling and narrowly escaping multiple spider webs.  Convinced that I was beaten in the summer butterfly campaign of 2010, I surrendered and retreated to my house in defeat.

In the morning, the butterfly was far from the front of my mind as I opened the door to get in my car, and was surprised to see the butterfly sweep out of the door into the open air.  She fluttered about low to the ground above my flower bed, and then climbed into the sky with the semi-inebriated flight style that butterflies seem to enjoy.  I smiled.  She was free.

So many times, I feel like that butterfly.  I sit in situations, toxic and painful, sometimes afraid to move, and bumping around my panic, avoiding traps both real and imagined.  I desperately want to find the light, to feel free and supported by fresh air and freedom.  I long for hands, caring and immense, to carry me to such a place.

I believe in those hands.  I believe that God frantically climbs ladders and reaches for me, but it is often difficult to tell those loving hands from giants bent on my destruction.  I know he loves me.  I pray for the doors to open so I can sweep into the sky with a clumsy sense of freedom. But right now, I just feel small.  And maybe if I quiet myself enough and don’t focus on the walls, I can just feel His hands envelop me.

Hold me and carry me.  I long for your immense gentleness to surround me and take me where you will.  I miss those hands, and I fear you will give up and let me bump around my prison in the dark.  You promise to strengthen your people and give them peace (Psalm 29).  Carry me.  Let me fly again in your light.  -Ryan

Ahmed and God

I met Ahmed at the mall. I wasn’t looking to talk to him, but I was asking God that I be aware of anything He was doing around me. This isn’t something I do regularly. Its partly because I am often turned in to myself, only thinking and doing what relates to my little slice of the world. But, it is also due to the fact that God usually answers that prayer by showing me something He is doing. He interjects me into someone else’s little world, and a lot of times in my selfishness I don’t want to deal with that…(click the header to read the full article)

Small Miracles

One of my favorite quotes comes from G.K. Chesterton. I won’t quote the whole thing verbatim here (although I can from memory). But basically it says that God has the eternal appetite of youth, and makes every single sunset and daisy separately, but has never gotten tired of making them. “For we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is far younger than we.”… (Click the header to read the full article)