Hello! If this is one of your first times on my blog, then first off, I want to say thanks for the interest. =)
Also, thanks for coming last Friday night to large group to hear me speak... and if you couldn't make it, Jeff recorded it for one of my friends, so just let me or him know if you'd like to listen to it.
Soon, I'll probably be posting my talk, or at least the parts of it that I didn't say... and hopefully a reflection post about the whole thing when I can.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Milk for Thought #2
"The fear is that you'll run out of ideas if you share too many of them. But the truth is that you won't have space for any new ones if you hold on to the old ones too long."
~ Jonathan Acuff -- May 7th 2009, 11:58 a.m.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Milk for Thought #1
Here commences an official list of random quotes that I've cherished over the years.
"I really love the way God reveals Himself to us only when we are ready. Not a moment too soon. He knows when we are only prepared to drink milk and when we are ready for some meat, as Paul put it. How many times, looking back on your life, have you realized that only God could have known when you were ready to learn certain things? Even in listening back to previous records, I am struck by God’s timing. There are many songs I never could have written 8 years ago, not because I am a better songwriter today, but because I just wasn’t ready for those particular lessons, yet.
I guess I had never considered that scripture would be a part of that very gradual revelation. I've always thought of the Bible as a rather static account of stories, truth, lessons and life that God gave and protected for us. You either "got it" or you didn't. But now I am starting to understand that it lives and breathes between the bound leather and that certain things might actually leap off the page only when we are ready…and you might be three or ninety three when that happens. I could read the same passage hundreds of times, but it won't matter unless the seed is finally falling on fertile soil. Perhaps this might help to explain the countless interpretations of scripture. After all, what man is immune to his own perspective and prejudice?"
~Nichole Nordeman
http://nicholenordeman.com/article.aspx?id=486638 (hilarious article, btw)
Also, I sometimes view this as even more support for reading your Bible constantly. There could be so many specific lessons that God wants you to get from the Bible that only you could learn in your unique perspective at this particular stage in your life. So get reading!
"I really love the way God reveals Himself to us only when we are ready. Not a moment too soon. He knows when we are only prepared to drink milk and when we are ready for some meat, as Paul put it. How many times, looking back on your life, have you realized that only God could have known when you were ready to learn certain things? Even in listening back to previous records, I am struck by God’s timing. There are many songs I never could have written 8 years ago, not because I am a better songwriter today, but because I just wasn’t ready for those particular lessons, yet.
I guess I had never considered that scripture would be a part of that very gradual revelation. I've always thought of the Bible as a rather static account of stories, truth, lessons and life that God gave and protected for us. You either "got it" or you didn't. But now I am starting to understand that it lives and breathes between the bound leather and that certain things might actually leap off the page only when we are ready…and you might be three or ninety three when that happens. I could read the same passage hundreds of times, but it won't matter unless the seed is finally falling on fertile soil. Perhaps this might help to explain the countless interpretations of scripture. After all, what man is immune to his own perspective and prejudice?"
~Nichole Nordeman
http://nicholenordeman.com/article.aspx?id=486638 (hilarious article, btw)
Also, I sometimes view this as even more support for reading your Bible constantly. There could be so many specific lessons that God wants you to get from the Bible that only you could learn in your unique perspective at this particular stage in your life. So get reading!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
I guess I don't need him.
The only person I really need is You.
And while sure, I feel like I really could use him in my life; in the end, I don't need it. Likewise, he doesn't need me. As much as I might want to be an important part of his life, there's nothing I can do about how he feels. Plus, I shouldn't be getting into this simply because I want to mean something to him. That's dumb.
Our friendship has to be God-centered... otherwise it's baseless.
Funny, reminds me of what he had told me years ago... "...you need Jesus." He was right, after all. At the time, however, it sounded like pretty impractical advice. Even when I acknowledge that I do need Him, what do I do then? How do I even start receiving Him? Surely there is something more than the Christianese cauldron brew of prayer, the Bible, going to church, etc., right? Because if not, then where does that leave me?
That's a lifelong journey right there: learning to depend on God. Being open to Him, being vulnerable, being broken. That sounds like a good vague start.
Accepting His love, His forgiveness, His grace. Some more good vague points.
I suppose one has to make each of those steps a reality to him or herself. With each of our different experiences, everyone has to learn at their own pace, with their own unique tribulations...
"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." ~Plato
What do all those points mean to me? Well, we'll see in this blog how they play out. =)
And while sure, I feel like I really could use him in my life; in the end, I don't need it. Likewise, he doesn't need me. As much as I might want to be an important part of his life, there's nothing I can do about how he feels. Plus, I shouldn't be getting into this simply because I want to mean something to him. That's dumb.
Our friendship has to be God-centered... otherwise it's baseless.
Funny, reminds me of what he had told me years ago... "...you need Jesus." He was right, after all. At the time, however, it sounded like pretty impractical advice. Even when I acknowledge that I do need Him, what do I do then? How do I even start receiving Him? Surely there is something more than the Christianese cauldron brew of prayer, the Bible, going to church, etc., right? Because if not, then where does that leave me?
That's a lifelong journey right there: learning to depend on God. Being open to Him, being vulnerable, being broken. That sounds like a good vague start.
Accepting His love, His forgiveness, His grace. Some more good vague points.
I suppose one has to make each of those steps a reality to him or herself. With each of our different experiences, everyone has to learn at their own pace, with their own unique tribulations...
"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." ~Plato
What do all those points mean to me? Well, we'll see in this blog how they play out. =)
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
In the Library
This guy noticed me staring so he left, thinking he was talking too loudly.
I just stared because I thought he was cute. But inevitably, that drove him away, huh?
I just stared because I thought he was cute. But inevitably, that drove him away, huh?
Friday, October 1, 2010
"I know now that was the day I was picked and being picked is a beautiful thing. But I also know beautiful things are frightening. When something beautiful happens it’s sometimes like an amputation, like your heart is being cut out with a knife. You don’t ever think when you are in extreme pain that you are being saved, chosen, picked for relationship, set aside to be loved. You can never really believe pain. It’s almost always something beautiful transitioning to something better, the whole time masquerading as a tragedy."
~Don Miller (bold-ing mine)
http://donmilleris.com/2010/07/09/hello-my-name-is-lucy/
~Don Miller (bold-ing mine)
http://donmilleris.com/2010/07/09/hello-my-name-is-lucy/
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