This is what everybody else sees.
This is what he sees.
It’s not just a difference of perspective… [click to continue…]
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Love
There are over 3,000 words in the English language to describe some kind of feeling. According to design student Pei-Ying Lin that’s about 21 words short. Lin, in working with colleagues from London’s Royal College of Art, identified 21 words from other languages for which there is no English word. Example: The Russian word, Tocka, which means “Great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause…ache of soul, a longing with nothing to long for.”
You can find out more, and see Lin’s infographic, by clicking here.
Of course, what Lin has accomplished, while significant, is no real surprise – especially for anybody who’s ever found themselves not knowing how to express exactly how they felt.
Sometimes the gratitude is too great. [click to continue…]
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(A Truth Story…)
“Why won’t God just let me die!?” she asked in pained exasperation.
“Because He’s still waiting for you to get saved!” I retorted.
There you have it. Now you know the kind of stuff Aunt Ruth and I used to talk about.
Aunt Ruth was neither my aunt, nor was she named “Ruth.” I named her that, and was the only person to ever use it. But she seemed to love it. And beneath her crusty exterior and sharp tongue she loved me. Except, of course, for the times she was laughing hysterically at me. Or trying to teach me one of her “mysteries,” as she called them. Then she was just being cruel.
Aunt Ruth was wise. I’ve never had a relationship with anybody quite like her. We could talk about just about anything; that was rare for me in those days. I was a young pastor with an image to create and maintain. Aunt Ruth cut through all that like Sherman through Georgia. [click to continue…]
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Standing in the gap for you, as expectantly as I can, I am praying that on this day like no other, you know the extraordinary comfort of ordinary faithfulness. I pray that you would experience:
Times of “dull” rest, where both your body and your mind can enjoy the stillness of a peaceful heart after a productive day… [click to continue…]
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Psssssst.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Helloooooo.
Sorry to interrupt you in the World of Slumbering Hearts, but we should talk. You’re probably reading this in the middle of the day, but I’m writing it in the middle of the night.
Sometimes I get to thinking when I probably should be sleeping. It works out OK, I suppose. Sometimes I get to sleeping when I should be thinking.
Anyway…
It seems as though more and more we live in a world of sleeping hearts. Cold. Unresponsive. Lifeless.
Our eyes are open. Apparently our thumbs still work. We still go through our routines. But we seem oblivious to a quieter, more powerful, more eternal world.
Our generation is by no means the first. The Apostle John was asked to deliver a wake-up call to some churches in what we call the Book of Revelation. Three, in fact.
One of them, in Ephesus, was deliriously busy doing religious things. Campaigning for spiritual orthodoxy. Working tirelessly for The Cause. God had obviously blessed them with hard workers and boundless energy.
Wake up call: You’ve left your first love.
The second, in Sardis, was living on their reputation. God had obviously blessed them with amazing experiences.
Wake up call: You have a name for being alive, but you’re dead.
The third, in Laodicea, was living in the lap of luxury. They had the best of everything… the latest technology, the coolest gadgets, the nicest stuff. God had obviously blessed them with material prosperity.
Wake up call: Lukewarm Christians nauseate God.
So… how awake is your heart? I know you’re probably really busy. I know you can probably point to past experiences where your heart is alive. I know you can find many blessings in your life for which you are grateful. But it’s possible to have all that and still have a sleepy, lethargic heart to what God is doing here, now.
Here are some signs of life to look for in hearts that are alive and awake: [click to continue…]
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Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, acknowledging his name (Hebrews 13:15 NET).
I.
So much you’ve wanted to write or to say,
To sing from the heart
Or create magic with words
And rhythm and feeling…
Art from the heart
To show the supreme worth
Of your Dearest Friend,
Your Immortal Beloved,
Or your Infinite Redeemer.
Yet the words don’t say it all,
Do it all,
Or show it all.
The Dearest, Immortal and Infinite
Are worthy of so much more.
So there you are…
Yearning to capture the perfect refrain
For the One who has taught you to dance in the rain. [click to continue…]
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Jordan’s heart is still awake, even though his body surrendered to sleep an hour ago. He’s restless. Anticipating. Watching and listening for that heart connection he once knew. In the psalmist’s language, Jordan is thirsty like a deer panting for streams of water. He knows what he’s thirsty for, and He knows that God is faithful. And yet in this dry season, He feels so far away.
Caitlyn waits all the time, but the nighttime seems the rudest. She waits for a change in her mother’s prognosis, even though no change is coming. She waits for that dreaded decline in respiration, though it seems her Mama is too tough and too stubborn to die. The days keep her busy, but the nights at the bedside turn up the volume on Caitlyn’s grieving heart. She knows that ultimately what she’s waiting for is the Lord. And He feels so far away.
Brody is exhausted. It’s been the longest night of his professional life, but the rookie firefighter forges ahead through the rubble of what once was a safe place for kids; a cruel tornado had other ideas. Keeping his own two children, ages 4 and 2, close in his heart, Brody alternately prays he will find survivors and rages that a just, loving God lets innocent children die. His faith is as weary as his body and mind. He wants to believe God. But He feels so far away.
Cindy sorts through photos and memories of what sometimes looks like someone else’s life. She called it her “days of awakening,” and so they were. Though she had been a believer since she was 11 years old, amazing things began to happen in Cindy’s life when she was a student in college. Unusual, near-instant answers to prayer. Life-changing mission trips where once she even witnessed a miraculous healing. Extraordinary spiritual growth. Now ten years later, Cindy is hungry to see those days of awakening again. But it’s been a long time, and He feels so far away. [click to continue…]
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(If you never read another thing I write, before going any further, please read this short piece my daughter wrote to her children, ages 5, 2, and ten months. Click here, if you dare, and brace for impact.)
Okay. Back? Let’s get to it.
You don’t have the luxury of praying for people you love – especially your children or grandchildren – like a sissy.
The time is too short…
The enemy is too cruel…
The church is too powerless…
The Lord is too near His return…
…for you and me to sit on an arsenal mightier than a nuclear weapon and ask God to make their lives more comfortable…
easier…
safer.
Safer to whom, for God’s sake? The devil? The world? The ACLU? The media?
Stop asking God to make your little angels little angels. Or mild-mannered weenies. In the name of all that is holy, I dare you to ask God to make them dangerous. Call on Him, in the heavenly realm, to put a sword in their teeth and courage in their hearts to blast a hole in the kingdom of darkness. [click to continue…]
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Okay, let’s start an argument. What would you say are the two most important words in the Bible?
You’re wrong.
I know because my two words are (probably) different, and I know I’m right.
Yeah, yeah, I know, they’re all important. But the way I figure it, if the Lord took the time to repeat something over and over and over, He must be getting at something.
Now I have to admit, it took me about 40 years to realize this. Which is about how long it took Moses to figure some things out, too, but I digress. The reason I took so long is because I let my brain check out when it should have been sitting up and taking notice. [click to continue…]
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CNN had an interesting story yesterday. The headline: “When Christians Become a Hated Minority.” Like so many other current cultural debates, it assumes that Christ followers are camped out on one issue. Maybe that’s because that issue is the one place, seemingly, where the world has managed to join forces with the tide of popular opinion. Now anybody who speaks out against homosexual behavior or gay marriage is a hate-filled bigot.
The article fairly raises the question of whether Christian-haters are the new bigots. It points out that many believers avoid saying anything about, well, anything for fear of the backlash.
This raises a painful question for Christians: Why are we being trampled on? It sure seems that anywhere you turn anybody and everybody has the right to say whatever they want, do whatever pleases them, and demand to be accepted. But let somebody mention Jesus or the word “Christian” and the arrows fly from all sides.
Here’s the problem: We’re asking the wrong people. [click to continue…]
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