It has become increasingly easy to stop thoughtfully writing and just throw a few words together on a Facebook status. Some might call this efficiency because who really has the time to sit and write a blog post? Others may call this just being straight up lazy. I fall in the second category because I am straight up lazy! However, I am fighting the temptation to quit thinking.
I have been inspired by the work of some friends who are keeping the blogs alive with thoughtful and lengthy posts. Most impressive: Brian McCormack’s 40 days of blogs during Lent and Ben Wyman’s epic lists and rankings at TenFourFilms. Ben has taken over the place of the late, great Laugharn.Info as my one stop site for popular cultural references. Comparing my lack of production with the volume of posting on those blogs I can’t help but feel a little like a slacker.
Of course I have my excuses like, “I have to many children to blog”, “I have books to read”, or my favorite, “Isn’t there an episode of CSI on somewhere?” These are somewhat valid… sort of. But what they really say is I would rather do anything else than sit and think. All of this has started to become more apparent the longer I have been studying something I thought I knew about. It turns out there is a lot going on in the Bible that I had no idea about. What does this have to do with not blogging? I have been coasting by on knowledge that I acquired about the Bible instead of getting in there and really putting in the effort to keep learning and growing; to think and commit time to contemplation. I hope a renewed effort to think will lead to some inspiring posts and devotional time that is life changing!
Filed under: Personal
It has become apparent to me that Seminary is as much about survival as it is good theology. This week I was feeling the pressure; trying to get my reading and assignments done, figuring out how we are going to pay for all of this, and oh yeah the new baby is almost here… It felt a lot like learning how to swim by being thrown into the water. Either you will learn to swim or die trying. Seminary isn’t that dramatic, but it got me thinking about how much more we see, hear and remember when we are in a crisis situation. Our senses are heightened and our focus is clear. As crazy as things are right now I feel like I am learning to swim by jumping in and flailing to keep my head above water. It is a good way to learn.
I haven’t written since we moved to Kentucky?… Imagine that. Well I have had a few decent ideas worth posting but haven’t made the time to get it done. Like all things that we do not act on, those ideas have faded away. But this is one idea that I didn’t forget, mainly because I am still driving around KY illegally because I have yet to replace my lost (stolen?) license. (more…)
This picture doesn’t look very profound. Cute? Yes, but profound not really. However it did get me thinking and you are going to have to follow me on this one.
Last year my grandfather died and the last time I saw him he was in a nursing home unable to recognize his family or communicate with us. We brought him some brownies and I ended up feeding them to him. It was a strange experience to feed someone that had always taken care of me. There were a lot of things swimming around in my head that day:
1. Sadness over the lose of my grandfather’s stories
2. Fear for the day we would be without him
3. Realization of the short time we have in life
4. Questions of who would be feeding me someday when I was unable to eat my own brownies
The last thought has come back to me lately as my son continues to grow and pick up some strange habits. In the past week he has decided that it isn’t fair that Mommy and Daddy always spoon food into his mouth so he has started returning the favor. Whatever he is eating he puts in his own mouth and then pulls it out and with his arm extended toward us, grunts in a way that signifies it is our turn to taste his food. We want to promote his sharing attitude so of course we eat what we are offered and make the obligatory ‘mmmmm’ sound.
This is a cute mealtime game but it hit me that someday I might be relying on my son to feed me every meal. A friend once told me that there are things in life that we can’t sacrifice on the alter of ministry. One of them was our children. That means we can not neglect our families in the name of doing good things for Jesus. I am starting to realize just how wise these words are. Saving the world is great but we can’t neglect our greatest duty to love our family with the same Love that Jesus has demonstrated to us.
Every year during Lent I decide to deny myself one of my favorite things in this world… sugar. My usual diet consists of four things: protein, fat, carbohydrates and refined sugar (not in that order). Cutting out one of these entirely is no easy task. This is in fact my Atkins diet. The idea behind giving things up during the 40 days of Lent is to prepare us for the Holy Week and the death and resurrection of Jesus. It has worked for me in this way: each time I reach for a Dr. Pepper I am reminded that I am making a sacrifice in preparation of the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection which, in turn reminds me of the ultimate sacrifice that was made for me on the cross and my response is to thank God for His grace.
I have found that this works for me until right around day 30. At that point my sugar-free lifestyle turns from focusing me on Jesus’ life, death and resurrection to focusing on the fact that I can’t eat jelly beans anytime I want. (more…)
This is a picture of Willie Nelson’s 30 year old Martin guitar. It has a hole the size of a dollar bill in it and names carved all over what is left of the top. You can tell by looking at this guitar that it is well used. It stands in stark contrast to my guitar which sits in my closet and looks as new and un-played as the day I bought it aside from the corroded strings. After several half-hearted attempts to learn to play I have not even picked up my guitar in six months. So what deep Truth can be learned from this look at two very different guitars? My wife put it this way, “the guitar isn’t doing anyone any good sitting in the closet”…
When last I posted it was only hours before the Houston Coldplay concert and I was wondering if my prayers for a great concert were more than slightly selfish. As it turns out God sometimes blesses us in ways that exceed our wildest hopes. (more…)
