I wish I could say that I've felt really supported and cared for by my friends through the recent loss of my grandmother who I was quite close with. But the truth is, aside from one or two close friends, most of the care and support I've received has come from people who are not the closest to me. At times like this, for me, it's really important just to be able to talk... not even about how I'm feeling... but just to talk, in general. I'm very thankful for a good chat with my best friend just about life, for dinner invitations and general conversation, for parents with whom I can talk for ages, and for those people who have expressed sympathy and who have shown that they care by asking questions and listening. People surprise me.

Love.

A Donald Miller excerpt again... And on a side note, he has a girlfriend now. Sad. Missed out there. Haha.

"The need that we call love is not a perfect metaphor for God. It’s a drawing of a tree to describe a tree. That said, though, I think God more than likes us, I think he created us in such a way that he needed us to fulfill him, and I refuse to see this as weakness. Interdependence is strength, as is the insatiable desire to connect, to listen, to exchange and even to touch. There is a growing part of me that believes when we get to heaven, we will be reunited with the one we need, and the one who needs us in return. And this will be by design."

My verse of the day.

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
 I Timothy 1:5 ESV  

The fear of being ordinary and life happens while you're doing something else

In case you hadn't noticed, I like to share things I've read that I think others might like to read. So here are 2 such things...

The Fear of Being Ordinary

By Andrew Schwab

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The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
   1 Samuel 16:7 NIV

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WHY DO WE all want to be such a big deal? Because there is nothing worse than being ordinary, right? But you had better believe this is a lie, and a big one.

Because there are more than a few holes in this philosophy. The recognition we seek will only lead to our destruction when we make it our treasure. Fame leads to pride. Success leads to more temptation. Glory leads to corruption. It seems to me like we weren't made for these things, that we were constructed to find peace in something else.

Didn't someone we know tell us that meaning is found in exactly the opposite approach? Doesn't the Bible tell us that God chose the things that are not to shame the things that are? Doesn't it say that God is with the lowly things, the have-nots? Doesn't it say over and over again that meaning is found in service, and that true peace is found in taking a backseat to those you love?

Consider this: Meaning is not found in the acceptance of other people. Your value is not based on opinion. You have value, really and truly, because of who you are in God, not because of who knows you. 

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Even in your most "humble" and "good" intentions, you can have motivations for fame. Closely examine your career, activities and relationships for signs of self-glorification. How can you correct this mindset? 








Life happens while you're doing something else.
By Don Miller

Just yesterday my girl Paige and I were doing some grocery shopping and started talking about how much of life is lived to maintain life itself, that is we farm (or shop) to eat, we make (or buy) clothes, we monitor our bodies and employ them to rest and to exercise, all to farm and make clothes.

After thinking about this idea more, I meshed it in my mind to the story of the Tower of Babel and how God destroyed a cultures attempts to reach God, a luxurious and ridiculous effort born from the modernization of the culture, the existence of a slave culture, no doubt, and a lot of free time.

The narrative of that account combined with the amount of time it takes our God-designed bodies and minds to simply sustain our temporary existence leads me to some comforting facts:

1. God is not interested in using you to build anything that might be used to replace him or give you the false sense you can interact with him without giving him all agency.

2. What God wants us to do here on earth is something we can do while doing something else.

And so I’m learning that the stuff that God wants us to do happens while we are shopping for food and making clothes and walking the dog and clearing the table to do the dishes.

In my opinion, the stuff of life is about this, then:

1. Loving each other, and learning to do so as unconditionally as possible, which will also require a leaning on God.

2. Forgiving each other, and leaning on God to do so.

3. Providing for each other and working together for the good of those we love.

4. Giving our lives to God in the sense we must learn not to grapple for control.

I don’t believe God is helping you build a Tower of Babel, be that your career or your church or your perfect family. But I do believe God wants to help you love, forgive, be patient, provide for those you love and give him control of your life.

What gets built with God’s help, then, is less tangible. The Kingdom of God, at least on earth in our time, is perhaps a relational construct.

What do you think God is helping you do? And what do you think people believe God is doing that you aren’t so sure he’s involved?

We are relational beings

Just borrowed the excerpt below from Donald Miller. I'm sure he won't mind. The ideas of being a relational being have been on my mind a lot lately, both when experiencing loneliness and all the negative feelings that come with that, and when experiencing the joys of relationship.
It may not make much sense out of context, but oh well...

1. That we are relational, that we have no identity outside relationships. This is why a sunset is more beautiful when it’s shared.

2. That we are designed to be in relationship with each other, but that we are also to be in relationship with God. And we have a promise we will be at some point in the future.

3. That propositional theology reducing the relational dynamics of the gospel are hogwash. They are born out of a desire to control and understand rather than a desire to relate.

4. That God has all the agency with which to complete us, and we have none.

5. That our faith should not be lived or understood in independence.

Distraction

People are too easily distracted. With all this modern technology or whatever you might choose to blame, we find it hard to give something our full attention. Often times that's ok: we're a multi-tasking generation. But when it comes to people, make sure they feel like you're paying attention to them.

Hawaii

When people, from outside the USA, are going to Hawaii, they never say, "I'm going to America," but always "I'm going to Hawaii." Sometimes I wonder if they know it's one of the 50 states (and yes, there are 50 states. I was right on that quiz night when people tried to argue with me. Shame. Haha.).