I was looking through my old notes that I have and I had been studying 2 Thessalonians some. There is a verse in chapter one that makes me stand still.
"We always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and my fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power." 2 Thes. 1.11
I want you to know that this is my prayer for my friends and family. That we would be made worthy of His calling. For me, I don't care what it takes to make this true, whether difficult conversations, circumstances, or beautiful moments of peace and joy. As He makes us worthy of his calling, may He also give us strong resolve, a bent towards doing good even in moments of distraction. His grace covers all of this and leads us to Himself. May His glory and power be made known by our lives. Enjoy today friends.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Repenting for Neglect
I got a chance to speak to a community here in Louisville last weekend. As I prepared, there was one thing that stood out to me. We were talking about reconciliation and I had been praying on this for several weeks. As I walked through the city during that time I heard stories and spent time with people who looked and talked like me. We drink the same coffee at the same shops. We cheer for the same sports and often even dress alike. Truthfully, it is a poor picture of the Kingdom of God.
When you go through Scriptures you see God align Himself with the widows, orphans, sojourners, and those who can't speak for themselves. The church is invited to look like Him, yet these people are rarely within the doors. It isn't that anyone is being outright cruel. It is a case of looking away. The church has a serious problem with neglect. We neglect those who don't look like us and pretend we don't know any better. You can see it nearly any Sunday morning.
I dream of being in a church or church movement that intentionally went against this. I've seen glimpses, the beginnings of this great shade tree growing, but I cannot wait until the church reflecting the King is seen by all the world. At that point all will be gathered and the words of Colossians 3:11 will be known in practice instead of just theory.
Best I can tell, the Kingdom doesn't require others to resemble us before they walk in the doors to the church. The Kingdom requires us to go out the doors and see how others resemble our Father. As this happens the world will see and know that God is good. Let this begin in me.
When you go through Scriptures you see God align Himself with the widows, orphans, sojourners, and those who can't speak for themselves. The church is invited to look like Him, yet these people are rarely within the doors. It isn't that anyone is being outright cruel. It is a case of looking away. The church has a serious problem with neglect. We neglect those who don't look like us and pretend we don't know any better. You can see it nearly any Sunday morning.
I dream of being in a church or church movement that intentionally went against this. I've seen glimpses, the beginnings of this great shade tree growing, but I cannot wait until the church reflecting the King is seen by all the world. At that point all will be gathered and the words of Colossians 3:11 will be known in practice instead of just theory.
Best I can tell, the Kingdom doesn't require others to resemble us before they walk in the doors to the church. The Kingdom requires us to go out the doors and see how others resemble our Father. As this happens the world will see and know that God is good. Let this begin in me.
Friday, January 14, 2011
World's Ugliest Team
I know some of you like the Oregon Ducks. All of you still have 4" black and white tvs. Their college athletic uniforms look like my kids all got to eat sixteen pixie sticks and then went nuts with every shade of yellow, green, gray and silver paint on a set of uniforms.
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| http://uvtblog.com/2008/11/oregon-ducks-football-uniforms-have-officially-gone-too-far/ |
Now I saw the new basketball court. I'm glad I went to a university with a Blugold as a mascot. I'm sure it could beat up a Duck!
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| http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=yhoo-ept_sports_ncaab_experts-307433 |
Thursday, January 13, 2011
January's Quote
I am always very challenged by CS Lewis. He was a phenomenal writer and I find myself coming back to his books over and over again. I have been thinking a lot about how we are new and how we are to look like our Creator. The implications of this go into every area of our lives. This morning I was reading "The Weight of Glory" and read these words from CS Lewis about how we relate to one another.
"You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit-immortal horrors or everlasting splendours."
I't's not our job to choose faith for someone else, but it is blind to ignore the reality of that choice. We are made in His image and by faith we are invited to return to it.
"You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit-immortal horrors or everlasting splendours."
I't's not our job to choose faith for someone else, but it is blind to ignore the reality of that choice. We are made in His image and by faith we are invited to return to it.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Getting Dressed
There is something special about new clothes. I think my daughter Ana finds more pure joy in new clothing than anyone I know. She will walk in her room and light up if there is a shirt she hasn't worn. She will tear her old one off and put the new one on in a heart beat. She loves changing shoes, boots, socks, tights or whatever should be covering her toes. She loves putting on a hat, laughing, and then putting on another. Her school calls her Punky Brewster because she comes in such bright, new colors seemingly every day.
One of the funniest things about kids is having to continually teach them what clothes to put on. You would think after years of living they would know to put pajamas on at bed time, but every night is eight reminders for our five kids. Today I almost laughed when I heard Nikki say about six times that the kids needed hats and gloves. (It is freezing here right now!) Durant looked at her like she was speaking Spanish and nearly forgot how to put them on. We are working on tying shoes with him too, which is a brand new lesson in getting yourself ready for what the day holds.
I have been reading Colossians a lot lately. In chapter 3 Paul writes about us being new again, and this time he writes about us needing to "put on the new self." He writes that this self is being renewed as we grow "in knowledge after the image of its (the new self's) creator." Then he goes on and writes how it is that we are to put it on. We are to put on kindness, humility, meekness and patience. He even goes all parental on us. Like when we instruct our kids to dress for winter, Paul shows us what to put on when someone has a complaint against another. He shows us what to put on in community. He shows us that we are to bind it all up with love, like a giant zipper that holds it all in.
I want to have joy as I continue to learn how to "put on the new self." I want to be like Ana, so quick to tear off the old self and excited to show off the new. Not that I have anything to boast of on my own, but my God is good and I can talk Him up all day.
I think we get discouraged that we don't already know how to fully "put on the new self." We would rather have it be like a download that already happened. If God wanted it that way, He would have made it happen. Instead we get to learn to "put on the new self" in every situation since every situation is different. Along the way we will notice that the side effect is that we have grown in dependence on Him and that we have begun to dress like our Father.
One of the funniest things about kids is having to continually teach them what clothes to put on. You would think after years of living they would know to put pajamas on at bed time, but every night is eight reminders for our five kids. Today I almost laughed when I heard Nikki say about six times that the kids needed hats and gloves. (It is freezing here right now!) Durant looked at her like she was speaking Spanish and nearly forgot how to put them on. We are working on tying shoes with him too, which is a brand new lesson in getting yourself ready for what the day holds.
I have been reading Colossians a lot lately. In chapter 3 Paul writes about us being new again, and this time he writes about us needing to "put on the new self." He writes that this self is being renewed as we grow "in knowledge after the image of its (the new self's) creator." Then he goes on and writes how it is that we are to put it on. We are to put on kindness, humility, meekness and patience. He even goes all parental on us. Like when we instruct our kids to dress for winter, Paul shows us what to put on when someone has a complaint against another. He shows us what to put on in community. He shows us that we are to bind it all up with love, like a giant zipper that holds it all in.
I want to have joy as I continue to learn how to "put on the new self." I want to be like Ana, so quick to tear off the old self and excited to show off the new. Not that I have anything to boast of on my own, but my God is good and I can talk Him up all day.
I think we get discouraged that we don't already know how to fully "put on the new self." We would rather have it be like a download that already happened. If God wanted it that way, He would have made it happen. Instead we get to learn to "put on the new self" in every situation since every situation is different. Along the way we will notice that the side effect is that we have grown in dependence on Him and that we have begun to dress like our Father.
Monday, January 10, 2011
January's Gadget
I am a spoiled little boy. For Christmas Nikki bought me a Kindle. For the past few months I have realized that some day I would want one of these guys for several reasons:
1. When we moved my books weighed what would be equivalent to an elephant. (I don't even mean the hairy, small Asian elephants. I'm talking about the big mama African elephants!)
2. I feel guilty not having room for donations when I go to Ethiopia because I have to bring my 27 books per trip.
3. When you look at the pages turn you think they must be magic.
Even with this awesome reasoning, I thought it wouldn't make sense to spend money for the right to buy books. It all seemed a little backwards, but I still wanted to have one of those buggers. On Christmas at the Ness house (which was December 18th) I got to open up the Kindle and if I was sitting on a chair I would have fallen out of it. Then, my mom gave me a gift card for Amazon where you can buy millions of ebooks for super cheap. It is an awesome little toy. I don't need it, but I have to admit that I absolutely love it.
Now, I have heard a few complaints about the idea of a Kindle instead of a book. They have this special section on it where they test experimental programs. I recommend that Amazon experiment with these ideas to take away the complaints.
-You are not actually holding a book. Well, they should make a case that feels like a book. That way anyone who looks will see you are reading a book, you get to feel like it, and yet you still have an entire library at your fingertips. They should make the book something impressive, like "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" or "East of Eden." That way no one will know that you are actually just checking blogs on your magic piece of paper.
-It doesn't smell like a book. This is disturbing to me, but both my wife and closest friend like to sniff the pages of a book. I don't like reminding them that they sometimes go to Half Priced Books and you don't know where the book has been. Still, Amazon could put a little stink on the Kindle. Maybe one of those little Glade smell release machines that shoot out the book smell every few minutes. If that doesn't work they could always have a scratch and sniff screen protector. I'm okay with the neutral smelling electronics, but for those book sniffers it may help them out a little.
All of this is to say that I like books, and my new toy.
1. When we moved my books weighed what would be equivalent to an elephant. (I don't even mean the hairy, small Asian elephants. I'm talking about the big mama African elephants!)
2. I feel guilty not having room for donations when I go to Ethiopia because I have to bring my 27 books per trip.
3. When you look at the pages turn you think they must be magic.
Even with this awesome reasoning, I thought it wouldn't make sense to spend money for the right to buy books. It all seemed a little backwards, but I still wanted to have one of those buggers. On Christmas at the Ness house (which was December 18th) I got to open up the Kindle and if I was sitting on a chair I would have fallen out of it. Then, my mom gave me a gift card for Amazon where you can buy millions of ebooks for super cheap. It is an awesome little toy. I don't need it, but I have to admit that I absolutely love it.
Now, I have heard a few complaints about the idea of a Kindle instead of a book. They have this special section on it where they test experimental programs. I recommend that Amazon experiment with these ideas to take away the complaints.
-You are not actually holding a book. Well, they should make a case that feels like a book. That way anyone who looks will see you are reading a book, you get to feel like it, and yet you still have an entire library at your fingertips. They should make the book something impressive, like "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" or "East of Eden." That way no one will know that you are actually just checking blogs on your magic piece of paper.
-It doesn't smell like a book. This is disturbing to me, but both my wife and closest friend like to sniff the pages of a book. I don't like reminding them that they sometimes go to Half Priced Books and you don't know where the book has been. Still, Amazon could put a little stink on the Kindle. Maybe one of those little Glade smell release machines that shoot out the book smell every few minutes. If that doesn't work they could always have a scratch and sniff screen protector. I'm okay with the neutral smelling electronics, but for those book sniffers it may help them out a little.
All of this is to say that I like books, and my new toy.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Most Influential Books read in 2010
I'm just one guy who definitely has a preference in the style of books that I read. With that said, I just finished my notebook where I took notes on all the books I read this last year. There were a lot of different books, but here are the few that were most helpful to me.
"Free of Charge" by Miroslav Volf: This is a great book about the practice of forgiveness in a culture that isn't all that excited about it. It is a challenging book that is very relevant to any of us.
"Walking with the Poor" by Bryant Myers. The cover is horrible. The book is old. The truths and experience in it are worth fifty times what you pay for the book
"Stuff Christians Like" by Jonathan Acuff. The guys funny. Most days I need to laugh and laugh hard.
"Linchpin" by Seth Godin. It's hard to describe this book, but I would say in a way that it is courage on a page. I don't agree with everything, but the idea is whatever is in front of you, go do it and be irreplaceable. It helped me to think of what I am called to and what I am not and finally be okay with that.
There are about twenty others I would recommend, but I need to get some stuff done. I hope you check out one of these if it would help.
"Free of Charge" by Miroslav Volf: This is a great book about the practice of forgiveness in a culture that isn't all that excited about it. It is a challenging book that is very relevant to any of us.
"Walking with the Poor" by Bryant Myers. The cover is horrible. The book is old. The truths and experience in it are worth fifty times what you pay for the book
"Stuff Christians Like" by Jonathan Acuff. The guys funny. Most days I need to laugh and laugh hard.
"Linchpin" by Seth Godin. It's hard to describe this book, but I would say in a way that it is courage on a page. I don't agree with everything, but the idea is whatever is in front of you, go do it and be irreplaceable. It helped me to think of what I am called to and what I am not and finally be okay with that.
There are about twenty others I would recommend, but I need to get some stuff done. I hope you check out one of these if it would help.
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