I watched the Robin Hood movie again last night.
Kevin Costner?
No, seriously? Russell Crowe.
OK.
I love the quote from there…
About rising and rising again?
Yeah… “Rise and rise again, until lambs become lions.” That really resonates with me.
I can see why. So are you rising and rising again?
Hardly. More like “fall and fall again.”
Why is that? [click to continue…]
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Welcome back to my front-row seat. In my work I have the privilege of reading a lot of stuff. Some of it is forgettable. Some of it is way-past-profound, either because of the quality of writing or because of the truth it conveys, and I keep a collection of the ones that bowl me over. You can see previous collections here and here. Both are quick reads, but profound in what they speak.
Now this collection of seven happens to have a leadership theme, but they also speak to your spiritual life, your courage, and you humility (or lack thereof).
Now… slow down… breathe deeply… and take these in. You’ll be glad you did. Click here – you’ll be glad you did…
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Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces.” -Matthew Henry
You’re thinking you must have done something terrible. Or maybe that God’s been playing favorites, and you’re not one of them.
Have you ever noticed that when you’re going through adversity, you seem to be surrounded by people whose lives seem so easy? So effortless?
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to feel offended – actually offended – when you’re plowing through the tough stuff? As if God or life or the world owed you something and hasn’t paid up?
Let’s face it – nobody gets up in the morning yearning for a hard day. Nobody prays for more pain. And yet go to any source of earthly or heavenly wisdom, and you’ll see somebody talking about the pure value of adversity. Let’s just start at the top:
It is good for me that I was afflicted,
That I may learn Your statutes (Psalm 119:71).
Speak for yourself, holy man! This is twenty-first century America, where God owes us an easy life. We’re on his winning team and all that.
Right?
Think again.
Some of the most profound wisdom you can ever attain will come at the other end of affliction, which is a general word for whatever crap you’re going through. If it hurts, it’s affliction. I know, yours is unique and your situation is different. I know – believe me, I know – that your pain is real and you’d do just about anything for some relief.
I also know that if you’re right in the middle of the affliction right now, you may probably want to save this for future reference. Sometimes it’s hard to see the abundant treasure when all you can do is feel the fire of the furnace. But I want to tell you that there truly is beauty, even in your moments of deep pain. Learning from the experience of the psalmist, you can find ways that what looks bad today can lead to extraordinary goodness tomorrow.
What’s so good about affliction? [click to continue…]
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There’s no arguing that you’re busy. No question that whatever you do or don’t get done today, plenty will be waiting for you tomorrow. Yet somehow you can’t help but feel a little like Rip Van Winkle. At least a part of your life has been asleep at the wheel, and you’re wondering how you got left behind.
Maybe it was your finances. Maybe your relationships. Maybe it was your professional life, or your grasp on what’s cool in the culture. Regardless, you can’t help but feel alone, isolated from the pulse and vibrant sensations of a life of awareness and relevance.
You’re busy, but suddenly awakened to the fact that you’re living in obscurity.
+++++++
You have the restless sense that something is broken, and you’re called to fix it. Something’s missing in the church and/or the world. The church and its message seem choked of life and the world and its values are increasingly hostile. And there you stand, somewhere in the middle. You have a sense of calling; a fire of truth burns in your belly and you’ll die if you don’t get it out there.
And yet, despite the confidence you have in your place in God’s plans, nobody’s giving you a chance to actually live it. Nobody’s interested in what you have to say; nobody’s taking what you’re offering. You’re reaching out in love to anybody who will listen, and they’re responding like birds to a scarecrow.
So there you stand, heart and arms outstretched in desperate obscurity.
+++++++ [click to continue…]
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Dani has her days and nights mixed up. She’s driven to finish her degree and excited about the possibilities of life after school, but her brain and body are also fatigued. She feels like sleeping when she’s awake, but can’t quite shut it all off mentally when she’s supposed to be sleeping. Dani has a weary soul. And her weary soul is receiving the call to Wait in the Stillness.
Allen is on the verge of something great. His ministry organization has experienced a funding breakthrough, which has made it possible to launch an entire new division overseas. He’s doing Kingdom work, and for months he has lived at the glorious intersection of waiting and working – where anticipating collides with diligence. So why does this mid-40s man, who is otherwise in such good health, find it so easy to well up with tears for no apparent reason? Allen has a weary soul. And his weary soul is receiving the call to Wait in the Stillness.
Teresa is grateful for the progress. Day in and day out, working with little Pauley, she has seen such growth in her little son with special needs. Compared to this time last year, both of their worlds have dramatically changed for the better. But driving home from the latest meeting with Pauley’s case worker, Teresa catches a heart-glimpse of how far – how very far – her boy and she have to go. And something inside her screams, “Give it up! You’ll never get there.” Teresa has a weary soul. And her weary soul is receiving the call to Wait in the Stillness.
To live in a broken world, teeming with peril and possibilities, is to shoulder a load that defies your own strength. You may look at somebody else’s yoke and feel sorry for them, or feel sorry for yourself. Either way, your own life challenges are enough. And at some point, assuming you care at all, you will find yourself pushing against your own weariness of soul. [click to continue…]
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In a world that’s fall-down-drunk on the idea of self-everything I have some good news that may not come across as good news.
You have a keeper.
Not like keep-you-in-a-cage, though I’m quite sure that’s how some people would interpret it.
More like faithful protector, watcher, provider, attender. And keeping for your Keeper is as natural as being human is for you.
The Lord keeps all who love Him…( Ps 145:20a).
I love Psalm 145 because it contains a long list of the practical attributes of God, as His followers experience Him. Things like gracious and merciful and righteous and sustaining, to name a few. But here’s one I’ve never paid much attention to before now. It is the Lord’s nature and faithful character to keep those who love Him. [click to continue…]
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I’m going to ty to kp this brrif, bcaus it isn’t my intntion to annoy o torrtu you. It’s just to mak a point.
A littl parrabl, if you will.
Somtims ou finst lssons can com frrom thos littl annoyancs o rrally big nuisancs, o somwhrr in-btwn.
In my cas, sinc I liv lif ptty much vrry day smi-pmanntly attachd to a kyboarrd, it’s ptty imporrtant that th kys actually wok.
All of thm. [click to continue…]
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Today my mother would have turned 76 years old. She passed away suddenly four years ago – a reminder to anybody who’s paying attention that there are no guarantees in this life.
Like anybody whose life has touched another for that long, I have lived long enough myself to see Mama’s mental, emotional, and moral DNA flowing throughout my own and my sister’s life, as well as through the lives of her grandchildren and now seven (soon to be 9) great-grandchildren.
We had our points of disagreement, some of them quite loud. We also had hours of conversation – some of them way past bedtime. And like Abel in the Bible, I love the fact that long after her life here was over, she still speaks to me today.
Give her a chance, she’ll speak to you, too. Here, in no certain order, are the life lessons I learned from her. [click to continue…]
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Made an amazing discovery the other day.
Did you know that not everybody is filled with joy when you decide to step out in faith, or take your relationship with God seriously?
Did you notice that the whole world seems to push back when you decide to make a major change for the good in your life?
That spiritual excellence irritates religious people?
That our slip-ups, foul-ups, and whassups are nothing new – we’re even creatures of habit with the devil?
That your biggest enemy is often yourself?
Opposition (pause here to sigh). Come on, Lord! Why can’t something be easy?
Truth is, some things are. [click to continue…]
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(Photo by Michelle Newell Photography, Lynnwood and Seattle, WA)
In a world where fame is measured in 15-minute increments, life declarations come in 140 characters or less, and you literally have nine seconds to capture somebody’s attention, it’s easy to assume you’re nothing special.
When it feels as though you’re in a rat race and the rats are winning, where your value is measured by your performance or the approval of others and neither is all that remarkable, it’s easy to get lost in the ordinariness of just blending in.
When life sometimes feels like that whac-a-mole game, where those who dare to appear above ground get pounded back to their place, it’s tempting just to hide what light you may have so nobody else will see it.
But those are the times – when life is a liar – those are the times to stand on the truth and receive again the message of grace. Those are the times to believe again that you are the object of God’s delight. [click to continue…]
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