You entered our world on a bright, beautiful summer day today, June 18, 2019. I appreciate you being born – now we can officially know what your name is. Picking that has been quite an adventure. Finally, your mom and dad decided they’d know your name when they saw you. Now we all know! And I must add, one look at you and as far as I’m concerned, they could name you anything and it wouldn’t measure up to how beautiful you are.
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It’s one thing to envision something from a distance; it’s another to lay eyes on the problem.
It’s one thing to imagine something in the abstract. It’s another to see it in the concrete.
Anybody who ever solved a problem or reached a goal started with an idea or a vision.
But nobody ever solved a problem or reached a goal just by romancing it.
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That was fast! But today, May 10, 2019, we welcomed you into our world. And I’m sure your parents and some new friends are happy you gave them a few days to arrive in Colorado (8 to be exact) before you decided to make an early entrance!
But enter you did! All 5-14 feisty little pounds of you.
This is the tenth such letter I have written, but only the second I’ve ever written to a granddaughter. In between you and Queen Laura Kate is a merry band of boys, three of whom lay claim to being your brother. Every one of your cousins and siblings is remarkable in his or her own right, but I have no doubt that you’ll take your own place in the grand design of things.
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This is embarrassing.
No precedent for this.
The late George Carlin once said that the funniest things happen at the times you’re supposed to be the most serious. He was prophetic.
No class in seminary, no 32 years of church leadership ever prepared me for this dilemma.
I know it’ll bring theologians out of their ivory towers and critics far and wide. But someone (a fool probably) once said that confession is good for the soul. So here goes.
It was an unholy beginning to Holy Week.
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Your confusion doesn’t confuse God.
Your weakness doesn’t separate you from His hand of power.
Your wandering doesn’t isolate you from His leading.
Your loneliness doesn’t deny His steadfast presence.
Even your death is no barrier to His manifest care.
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You awake?
That’s what the text read at 11:00 one night last week. My son-in-law, Curtis.
Yes, I replied, and soon the phone was vibrating.
What do your kids or in-laws or whoever call you about at 11:00 pm? This one got interesting very quickly.
“Hey man, I was sharing this with Cassie about this and she said I should call you.”
Cassie also said later I should blog about it. So there. You’re welcome.
“This” was an insight into something that dates all the way back to Eden. It’s been rocking my world ever since. The implications of this idea are poignant and tragic, yet dripping with possibilities. [click to continue…]
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I was talking to a friend recently. He’s at something of a crossroads. Ready to move forward, but stuck where he is. Wanting something different, but not sure how to define it. Caught somewhere between disappointment and desire, he hears the lament of the Grouse.
That’s a voice I’m all-too-familiar with. And I suspect you’d say the same thing. When I hear the Grouse speaking, the voice sounds exactly like mine. And when you hear its moody whine, it sounds like yours.
The Grouse often sounds logical. Sometimes fearful. Sometimes it takes on a protective, caring tone; at other times it mocks you. Sometimes it whispers, sometimes it sings. And sometimes it screams like a spoiled child.
Crazy thing is, nobody can hear the Grouse but you. But it’s as real as Minnesota snow in January.
The Grouse is an internal voice that stays quiet so long as we play it “safe,” and never attempt to change anything. But let a man dare to dream in the wake of big disappointments, and out comes the Grouse. Let a woman turn her wishful thinking into bold action, and the Grouse will start sounding the alarm.
The goal of the Grouse is to get you to do nothing. Stay comfortable. Don’t offend anybody. Avoid disappointment at all cost. Don’t embarrass yourself or make anybody else uncomfortable either.
Just. Don’t. Change. [click to continue…]
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As the stillness of a silent night gives way to the glory of Christmas dawn, I pray for you this year that the message of the coming of Jesus into this world would speak peace and delight to your longing for life.
I pray that the Birth that continues to bring joy to the world would give birth to new joys and gratitude in your own life and your family.
I pray that you would find in a little town of Bethlehem the heart of a Heavenly Father who was willing to find an answer for your sin and sorrow because of His yearning for you. [click to continue…]
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The only time anybody ever accepted responsibility for their lives and future is NOW.
Responsibility isn’t planned; no one ever scheduled responsibility or added it to their to-do list.
Nor is it calculated. You don’t sequence responsibility with a series of other steps.
Responsibility doesn’t look backwards. [click to continue…]
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Can you tell me, What is Pride?
A setup for falling if your only view’s the mirror…
Theater of division if you focus on race or ethnicity.
Create “we” out of “I” however, and when “we” charge the world together,
Heart-borne pride becomes the wonder we share
In serving something bigger, uniting us together.
Now pride happy-dances with humility and
Glories in ways we resemble and differ.
Furthermore, when new generations
Own and advance your legacy…
Xenophiles, teachers, Kingdom builders, preachers…
Everlasting pride is the gratitude you feel that
Somehow God would give you an earthbound witness to His glory.
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