Dear Daniel,
Thank you for taking the time to share your heart and concerns with me last week. I respect your honesty, and am frustrated that you have experienced so many disappointments and hurts in your church relationships. While I can relate to many of them, only you know how savagely this has impacted your life and the life of your family members.
I know it has to be a bit surreal to always feel as though, in your words, “you kept missing the memo” about what was expected beyond a simple faith in Christ. And to be caught in between two conflicting women “leaders” had to have felt like a no-win situation.
I still don’t understand what the whole turf war stuff was all about. But I do understand the tension between trying to show grace and love to someone in deliberate sin and yet not approving the lifestyle. I guess until Jesus comes, we’ll still be arguing about that one. [click to continue…]
Took a trip past Oprah a couple of years ago. She was interviewing Russian figure skater Tatiana Totmianina and her partner, Maxim Marinin. Oprah showed a tape of the world-renowned skating champions in which Maxim, as he lifted Tatiana into the air, lost his grip. Tatiana crashed face-first on the ice. It was horrific – all three times I saw it.
In case you missed it, here’s a video montage of her career, including the face plant in Pittsburgh:
Tatiana suffered a concussion but amazingly was back on the ice 12 days later.
“How hard was it for you to get back on the ice just 12 days after that?” Oprah asked her.
“Well, it was very hard,” Tatiana replied. “In the hospital when I woke up, I just realized how serious it was because all my life and career could be over… I wanted to get back on the ice right away because I have been skating since 4 years old. It’s my life.”
Amazing story, but when I heard that last statement, I must confess, I kicked into “preacher mode.” [click to continue…]
Scattershooting, and wondering whatever happened to Blackie Sherrod…
Rip van Computer
I feel like Rip van Computer. Last weekend I finished the book I’ve been writing with Kaye, the latest Regent class, and Carrie and Kyle’s move. I found my email inbox with a record 761 messages in them (sorry if yours was one of them – I promise I wasn’t trying to diss you.) My Google Reader had nearly 900 entries. But this goes much deeper and further. For seven months I’ve been in “hunker down” mode, time- and responsibility-wise. The clouds have parted, and the time-sun is starting to shine. But I feel like I’ve been asleep at the keyboard.
Catch-up Stains
Right after that, prophetically, I read this story from John Fischer, reportedly from the writings of Rabbi Kushner, about a group of tourists who went on a safari in Africa and hired several native porters to carry their supplies for them. After three days, the porters announced they would have to stop and rest for a day. When the tourists asked why, the porters said they weren’t tired, “…but we have walked too far too fast and now we must wait for our souls to catch up to us.” John talked about the need to let our souls catch up, and I can relate. It’s time for some soul work.
Resumes and Cover Letters
My son sent me his resume with a cover letter this morning for me to review. It reminded me of the massive staff search process we have just been through. I absolutely know how the American Idol judges feel when they do their nationwide search. Sometime soon I’ll share with you some of the good, the bad, and the you-gotta-be-kidding-me stuff we received (with names changed to protect the laughing).
Handling Fees?
Jackie Huba just shared an experience in which she was purchasing a $50 gift certificate from her favorite day spa. (I can relate – I just did that for my wife). As the clerk filled out the certificate, she said the total would be $51.50. “Handling fee,” she said. When asked what kind of handling was involved, she said (with a straight face, I suppose), “Writing out the certificate,” she said. “It’s labor-intensive.”
I’m not sure whether to laugh, cry, get mad, or get inspired. We all know about the airlines introducing fees for different things we all sort of took for granted. Before long, I suppose, we’ll see all kind of new fees for “labor-intensive” or “optional” services: [click to continue…]
In my previous post, I told the story of a rainy head-on collision between a bicycle and a car – and I was on the bicycle. Here are some lessons I have learned or been reminded of since.
The Christian life isn’t a joyride in the rain, but a war. If that analogy offends you, or if you’ve never experienced life on the battlefield, chances are you have never taken your relationship with Christ very seriously. This war we are engaged in is one we’re destined to win. The Lord Jesus has conquered sin, death, and the devil, and those of us who belong to Him are heirs of that purchased victory. But until He comes again, you face the realities of spiritual warfare on a daily basis. In your struggle against the forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil, you will find no peace talks, no negotiations, no cease-fire orders. You’re in it for the duration.
[click to continue…]
(A Turning Point Story)
What do you do when you encounter somebody who’s made a wreck of his or her life? What do you do when that that wreck of a life shows up in your place of worship? What do you do when YOU are the wreck?
The closest I ever came to having a horse was a 1964 Ford Tractor at my granddaddy’s, and a ten-speed bicycle I got for Christmas my ninth grade year in school. I put miles – miles – on that bike.
Now, years later, it leaned against the wall in my dad’s workshop in disrepair. But for some strange reason, Daddy and I were inspired, and decided to get it going again. A brand new front tire, new tubes, adjustments to the brakes, handlebars and seat – only one thing was missing. Our hand pump wasn’t strong enough to inflate the tires completely. So we pumped them up as much as possible, and decided to take the bike to a nearby service station to finish the job. We had to hurry, though, to outrun one of those afternoon thundershowers so common in Mobile during the summer. We took the short cut through the woods behind the house – I on my old trusty-rusty steed and my dad on my sister’s three-speed. We emerged behind a shopping center near the service station, only to be greeted by a sudden downpour.
So we waited.
It was frustrating to sit there, pinned in by the rain with our destination in sight. So when the shower let up a little, we decided to make a mad dash for it. We had a plan, sort of. We’d go across the parking lot, behind the Seven-Eleven store, through the little alley, to the Texaco station. Once we go the tires pumped up, we’d figure it out from there.
Off we flew! Across the parking lot. Around the back corner of the Seven-Eleven.
Just one problem.
[click to continue…]
How do you learn best? Mark Meadows used to amaze me in third grade. He’d just sit there. Never write. Never raise his hand to answer a question. Just sit and listen. And make “A’s.”
Cameron Walker? Never stopped moving.
Me? I don’t think I ever stopped running my mouth. (Hey! I heard that!)
We all learned. We just did it in different ways.
The same is true of people in the Bible. Guys like Paul could go off into the desert for three years and think about stuff. Analyze things. With the Holy Spirit’s help, rehash everything he’d ever believed (incorrectly) about the Law.
Our buddy Peter was different. From the day He met Peter, Jesus began transforming him from a “man of fish” to a man of God. Like Moses before him, Peter learned with pictures and visual objects. Things like coins and nets and fish and swords. I’d like to show you a few objects Jesus used to teach Peter to hear God’s voice. I think you can learn, too. Even if you learn best by talking or sitting there listening, I’ll bet you can pick up a few important lessons from Peter’s experience.
[click to continue…]
