Sarcastic wednesday belongs to Hoops and YoYo, but Serious Wednesday - that's Jon Acuff's thing... His Serious Wednesday post today on Stuff Christians Like is well worth the repost and very applicable
Take a moment to read about worrying about trends
Happy Wednesday!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
A thousand roads to nowhere
Sometimes my kids surprise me ... not always in a good way, but this one was. My daughter is working on a project for school to make a "soundtrack" telling about her life. I expected some dorkiness and a lot of Japanese music (she LOVES it) but what I did not expect was a song she wrote herself. To add even further to the surprise it was deep and profound and I couldn't read the words without my eyes starting to well up.
Its called One Thousand Roads to Nowhere ... imagine in the background the sound of haunting Celtic pipe music ... here's the first bit ...
As the pale moon is rising
And the trail stretches on
You find yourself asking
"Will I ever see the sun?"
And what will you do
When the road splits in two?
You have to choose a side
For beyond this great divide...
Are one thousand roads to nowhere
None of them ring true
In the dark abyss of despair
You will tear your heart in two
Tears falling down like rain
The thunder rolls in pain
On one thousand roads to nowhere
Life sings its cold refrain
That had me worried. She has gone through bouts of depression before ....
the second verse is much the same ...
The dusty paths seem unending
But the crossroads are in sight
The moon is descending
And you think you see the light
So you keep on pushing on
Your hope is not yet gone
But it's just another path
For the fates will only laugh...
On one thousand roads to nowhere
None of them ring true
In the dark abyss of despair
You will tear your heart in two
Tears falling down like rain
The thunder rolls in pain
On one thousand roads to nowhere
Life sings its cold refrain
But she assured me ... "don't worry mom, its good."
Here's the part that made me teary-eyed:
You want to save your soul,
life, laughter, and love
As you fall onto your knees,
you scream to God above
And He takes you by the hand
Leads you to the Promised Land
And the thousand roads to nowhere
Are lost in time's black sand
On the only road to Heaven
The hardest path of all
It's a steep slope to climb but
He will never let you fall
Mercy comin' down like rain
Life sings its lost refrain
On the only road to Heaven
In the light you will remain
On the only road to Heaven..
In the light...you will...remain
Its hard to believe at 17 she has such a grasp on how the things of this world try and tear you down, how they "promise" happiness and satisfaction, but are just one more road to nowhere.
And best of all, she understands that true happiness and contentment are from God, through Jesus, and He is the only road to Heaven.
Its called One Thousand Roads to Nowhere ... imagine in the background the sound of haunting Celtic pipe music ... here's the first bit ...
As the pale moon is rising
And the trail stretches on
You find yourself asking
"Will I ever see the sun?"
And what will you do
When the road splits in two?
You have to choose a side
For beyond this great divide...
Are one thousand roads to nowhere
None of them ring true
In the dark abyss of despair
You will tear your heart in two
Tears falling down like rain
The thunder rolls in pain
On one thousand roads to nowhere
Life sings its cold refrain
That had me worried. She has gone through bouts of depression before ....
the second verse is much the same ...
The dusty paths seem unending
But the crossroads are in sight
The moon is descending
And you think you see the light
So you keep on pushing on
Your hope is not yet gone
But it's just another path
For the fates will only laugh...
On one thousand roads to nowhere
None of them ring true
In the dark abyss of despair
You will tear your heart in two
Tears falling down like rain
The thunder rolls in pain
On one thousand roads to nowhere
Life sings its cold refrain
But she assured me ... "don't worry mom, its good."
Here's the part that made me teary-eyed:
You want to save your soul,
life, laughter, and love
As you fall onto your knees,
you scream to God above
And He takes you by the hand
Leads you to the Promised Land
And the thousand roads to nowhere
Are lost in time's black sand
On the only road to Heaven
The hardest path of all
It's a steep slope to climb but
He will never let you fall
Mercy comin' down like rain
Life sings its lost refrain
On the only road to Heaven
In the light you will remain
On the only road to Heaven..
In the light...you will...remain
Its hard to believe at 17 she has such a grasp on how the things of this world try and tear you down, how they "promise" happiness and satisfaction, but are just one more road to nowhere.
And best of all, she understands that true happiness and contentment are from God, through Jesus, and He is the only road to Heaven.
Monday, April 5, 2010
God gave me you ....
You know the song ... God gave me you for the ups & downs .... for the days of doubt. I hear it in the first 5 songs just about every time I turn on the radio. Its a man singing to his wife - partner for life - and thanking God for her.
As a single you'd think I'd run screaming from the room every time it starts to play. It would be hard to do when I'm in the car, but I could find a way to do it if I set my mind to it. I don't have my "you", God has't given him, and a reminder of that (most often many times during the day) is not something I really want to hear.
But what I find myself thinking about is the "you"s I do have in my life.
While I may not have a husband, I do have 2 great kids. Those "you"s keep me going on days when I might not want to even get out of bed.
I think of some of my dearest girlfriends - the ones I run to when I have a "grown up" problem, when everything God has taught me and brought me through in the last 10 years threathens to jump out the window. When the evil twin that I once was rears her ugly head and tries to exert dominance over my actions.
I think of my church family. I know if there is a need that is beyond me someone from church would be there to help out - from moving furniture to fixing my lawn mower.
I may not have the "you" described in the song, but I have many "you"s who do the same thing ... even out the ups & downs, carry me through the days of doubt.
And when I think I've lost my way, they are there to guide me back.
Who are the "you"s in your life?
As a single you'd think I'd run screaming from the room every time it starts to play. It would be hard to do when I'm in the car, but I could find a way to do it if I set my mind to it. I don't have my "you", God has't given him, and a reminder of that (most often many times during the day) is not something I really want to hear.
But what I find myself thinking about is the "you"s I do have in my life.
While I may not have a husband, I do have 2 great kids. Those "you"s keep me going on days when I might not want to even get out of bed.
I think of some of my dearest girlfriends - the ones I run to when I have a "grown up" problem, when everything God has taught me and brought me through in the last 10 years threathens to jump out the window. When the evil twin that I once was rears her ugly head and tries to exert dominance over my actions.
I think of my church family. I know if there is a need that is beyond me someone from church would be there to help out - from moving furniture to fixing my lawn mower.
I may not have the "you" described in the song, but I have many "you"s who do the same thing ... even out the ups & downs, carry me through the days of doubt.
And when I think I've lost my way, they are there to guide me back.
Who are the "you"s in your life?
Monday, March 29, 2010
Thoughtful musings
I'm sitting here on a quiet afternoon. The dog is sitting by my side trying to coax one more walk out of me before the sun goes down. its sunshiny, still cool, but spring is here and the winter seems behind us, finally.
I spent a good chunk of time this weekend looking through old scripts and writing assignments I did 7 or so years ago. I took an online creative writing class and found some interesting things that I'd written way back when ... back when the divorce was fresh and raw and counselling was revealing a lot of hurts from my past that I thought were just parts of my personality.
It was interesting looking back because some of it I don't remember even writing (there was Buzz the bag boy - part of the bag boy underground - and Romp Grommet - inventor extraordinaire) and feelings I don't remember documenting (like levels of black hatred that I have not experienced since that time thanks to the aforementioned counselling).
I found a great piece that was about walking my dog on a crisp November morning after the first snowfall of 2003. I used to write a lot. I used to want to be a writer. Right now I miss it more than I thought possible.
A lot of things have changed in the last 7 years. My love of writing isn't one of them.
Neither is God. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He was there 7 years ago when I was coming to terms with parts of my past, and He is here now as the path to the future is forged. Its kinda cool to come back to such a basic truth and know that it IS true ...for always.
I spent a good chunk of time this weekend looking through old scripts and writing assignments I did 7 or so years ago. I took an online creative writing class and found some interesting things that I'd written way back when ... back when the divorce was fresh and raw and counselling was revealing a lot of hurts from my past that I thought were just parts of my personality.
It was interesting looking back because some of it I don't remember even writing (there was Buzz the bag boy - part of the bag boy underground - and Romp Grommet - inventor extraordinaire) and feelings I don't remember documenting (like levels of black hatred that I have not experienced since that time thanks to the aforementioned counselling).
I found a great piece that was about walking my dog on a crisp November morning after the first snowfall of 2003. I used to write a lot. I used to want to be a writer. Right now I miss it more than I thought possible.
A lot of things have changed in the last 7 years. My love of writing isn't one of them.
Neither is God. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He was there 7 years ago when I was coming to terms with parts of my past, and He is here now as the path to the future is forged. Its kinda cool to come back to such a basic truth and know that it IS true ...for always.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
A little about fear ....
Its been quite some time since I last wrote here on the Thrive blog. It seems once again life caught up with me - 2 teenagers in high school, one in sports, one with a job (and driving no less) and well all the other stuff that makes up life here. I was looking through some creative writing I did a few years ago and found this essay I wrote on Fear .... I think its just as applicable today as it was when I wrote it. Take from it what you will.
Have you ever been afraid? Paralyzed by an emotion that caused your heart to race, and your feet to freeze? Have you ever been so overwhelmed by fear that although you wanted to fight, you took flight instead?
Well, you’re not alone.
I remember when I was a kid – growing up, children have no fear. Well most kids, anyway. But not me. I was afraid of heights… deathly afraid of heights. Still am, although I’ve learned to cope with it.
I still vividly recall one day when I had to face that fear. We were at a softball game. I wasn’t playing, although I played extensively in my younger years. We were at one of the local junior high schools. The ball diamonds were out back, the school was near the street. The fire escape ran up the side of the school like a staircase.
I remember it like it was yesterday. My palms are sweaty just thinking about it … the fire escape. Other kids were playing on it, running up and down. It was built of the metal grid you can see through … strong and durable, but full of holes for the water to run through during storms.
Kids were scampering up and down the stairs, everyone except me. It was like a normal staircase, probably 5 feet wide, 8 or 10 risers between landings, 3 landings. It was the path to the treasure (or so we imagined). It was the hill for the king. It was a gold mine for the imagination of 8 year olds.
It was also really, really high.
After all the kids had left I decided I wasn’t staying down on the ground any more. I was going to climb to the top and touch the escape door. I could do it. It was only three stories. I’d run up stairs in buildings higher than that. The only difference was those were inside … and made of concrete … and you couldn’t see through them all the way to the bottom!
I stood at the lowest riser for what seemed like an eternity. I remember telling my feet to go. Up I went. That first flight wasn’t so bad. I made it to the landing … wiping my brow I turned to face the next set of risers.
It was then that my feet mutinied.
You know how they talk about the Body of Christ, and how all the parts need to work together? Well my feet weren’t having any of that! They decided all on their own to stop, and stay. It really was a nice view from that landing. Who wanted to go higher? Not the feet. And if the feet weren’t going, wasn’t anybody going.
I stood there and argued with my feet … one hand on the railing, one clenched at my side, holding tightly to all the emotions I wasn’t going to let loose.
Finally I forced my right foot up to the riser. The left slowly dragged its sorry self up to the same riser … it certainly wasn’t going to be leading anywhere.
And the scene repeated.
Holding on to the railing for dear life, and forcing my feet one riser at a time to go up to the 2nd landing. I was not going to be defeated by fear.
Or so I thought.
At the next landing, I faced still another set of risers, going even higher. My fatal mistake was when I paused to collect my thoughts, I looked down. I looked to where I’d come from instead of looking to where I was going. You see when I looked down, it seemed like I was pretty high up. And I could see the ground through the landing … remember all those holes in the metal? I know they were there intentionally, but to my 8-yr old mind, they were the stupidest idea since the dawn of time!
Ok so there I am on the landing … pleading with my feet to just go up one more step. We didn’t have to go all the way to the top. We could do that another time. My feet wouldn’t budge. I tried to make my legs just lift my feet. I could make my feet go where I wanted by brute force alone … I WAS MASTER OF MY LIMBS.
But it seemed that since we’d left the grass behind, my legs had joined the mutiny. They weren’t lifting feet anywhere. In fact they took control and walked me back down to the ground. If I had a tail, it would have been tucked neatly between my legs.
That day the fear had won.
That was a long time ago. I still feel fear, over different things now.
Meeting new people.
Paying my bills.
Surviving on my own in a world that sometimes seems heartless and cold.
That fear is there; sometimes it’s a constant companion.
Some days I even succumb. I hide out from the world. I throw a pity party that is a grand affair, and I am the guest of honor. I rarely decorate or dress up, but its all for me, just the same.
But you know most days it doesn’t win.
You see, I’ve got another companion, one who holds the fear at bay. My other companion is always available, whenever I need an ear to listen, or a shoulder to cry on. This other companion doesn’t mind if I call at 3 in the morning. This companion is a true friend in every sense of the word. This companion will listen with compassion, and correct with gentleness and kindness. This companion doesn’t want me to be a slave to fear. This other companion is bigger and stronger than the world.
This other companion, of course, is Jesus.
In the book of Joshua when the Israelites were going up against the great powers of the Promised Land, do you know what the Lord told Joshua? Joshua 8:1 says, "Do not be afraid." This wasn’t a statement or a suggestion. It was a COMMAND!
DO NOT BE AFRAID!!
And again in Joshua 10 the Lord tells Joshua “Fear them not”. Once again this is a command. This command appears 4 times in the book of Joshua.
Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid.
Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid.
I wanted to see if the book of Joshua was an isolated instance, a curious anomaly, as we like to call it in the engineering profession.
So, I did a quick search on the Internet. The word “afraid” was found 207 times in the NIV translation of the Bible. This doesn’t include forms of “afraid” like fear. Simply the word “afraid”. Of those 207 appearances, 90 of the occurrences I found are in the phrase “Do not be afraid”. Hmmm. There’s that command again.
Do Not Be Afraid. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. No I’m not going to write it 90 times.
67 of the 90 are in the Old Testament. 67.
Do Not Be Afraid. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. You seeing a pattern? I am.
Seems like something that is repeated that often might just be worth taking note of.
The remaining 23 occurrences of this command are in the New Testament.
Do Not Be Afraid. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. You get the picture.
Of the 23 NT occurrences, 8 are in the Gospel of Matthew, 1 is in Mark, 7 are in Luke, and 3 are in John. These instances were Jesus talking to his disciples and telling them not to be afraid.
Not to fear what they were currerntly experiencing. Not to fear what Jesus alone knew was coming next.
2 are in Acts and 2 are in Revelation. To me these seem like the apostles telling us from that long ago time to follow that same command.
God does not want us to live in fear.
2 Timothy 1:7 (Amplified) states “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.”
Craven … cringing … is that what fear does to us … to me. When I think of the phrase craven and cringing, I think of Igor ...the perpetual assistant in every B horror movie every made. He was fawning. He was cowardly. He was craven. Craven means contemptible, timid or cowardly.
I’m thinking I don’t like the sound of that, but when we are mastered by fear, that is how we appear. But when we master fear … well that’s another story entirely.
It seems pretty clear to me from scripture.
God does not want us to fear.
God does not want us timid.
God wants us BOLD.
God wants us to rely on His power.
God wants us to rely on Him.
There is no place for fear in the world where God rules.
That’s the kind of world I want to live in. Because I think in that world, fire escapes might be kind of fun to play on.
Have you ever been afraid? Paralyzed by an emotion that caused your heart to race, and your feet to freeze? Have you ever been so overwhelmed by fear that although you wanted to fight, you took flight instead?
Well, you’re not alone.
I remember when I was a kid – growing up, children have no fear. Well most kids, anyway. But not me. I was afraid of heights… deathly afraid of heights. Still am, although I’ve learned to cope with it.
I still vividly recall one day when I had to face that fear. We were at a softball game. I wasn’t playing, although I played extensively in my younger years. We were at one of the local junior high schools. The ball diamonds were out back, the school was near the street. The fire escape ran up the side of the school like a staircase.
I remember it like it was yesterday. My palms are sweaty just thinking about it … the fire escape. Other kids were playing on it, running up and down. It was built of the metal grid you can see through … strong and durable, but full of holes for the water to run through during storms.
Kids were scampering up and down the stairs, everyone except me. It was like a normal staircase, probably 5 feet wide, 8 or 10 risers between landings, 3 landings. It was the path to the treasure (or so we imagined). It was the hill for the king. It was a gold mine for the imagination of 8 year olds.
It was also really, really high.
After all the kids had left I decided I wasn’t staying down on the ground any more. I was going to climb to the top and touch the escape door. I could do it. It was only three stories. I’d run up stairs in buildings higher than that. The only difference was those were inside … and made of concrete … and you couldn’t see through them all the way to the bottom!
I stood at the lowest riser for what seemed like an eternity. I remember telling my feet to go. Up I went. That first flight wasn’t so bad. I made it to the landing … wiping my brow I turned to face the next set of risers.
It was then that my feet mutinied.
You know how they talk about the Body of Christ, and how all the parts need to work together? Well my feet weren’t having any of that! They decided all on their own to stop, and stay. It really was a nice view from that landing. Who wanted to go higher? Not the feet. And if the feet weren’t going, wasn’t anybody going.
I stood there and argued with my feet … one hand on the railing, one clenched at my side, holding tightly to all the emotions I wasn’t going to let loose.
Finally I forced my right foot up to the riser. The left slowly dragged its sorry self up to the same riser … it certainly wasn’t going to be leading anywhere.
And the scene repeated.
Holding on to the railing for dear life, and forcing my feet one riser at a time to go up to the 2nd landing. I was not going to be defeated by fear.
Or so I thought.
At the next landing, I faced still another set of risers, going even higher. My fatal mistake was when I paused to collect my thoughts, I looked down. I looked to where I’d come from instead of looking to where I was going. You see when I looked down, it seemed like I was pretty high up. And I could see the ground through the landing … remember all those holes in the metal? I know they were there intentionally, but to my 8-yr old mind, they were the stupidest idea since the dawn of time!
Ok so there I am on the landing … pleading with my feet to just go up one more step. We didn’t have to go all the way to the top. We could do that another time. My feet wouldn’t budge. I tried to make my legs just lift my feet. I could make my feet go where I wanted by brute force alone … I WAS MASTER OF MY LIMBS.
But it seemed that since we’d left the grass behind, my legs had joined the mutiny. They weren’t lifting feet anywhere. In fact they took control and walked me back down to the ground. If I had a tail, it would have been tucked neatly between my legs.
That day the fear had won.
That was a long time ago. I still feel fear, over different things now.
Meeting new people.
Paying my bills.
Surviving on my own in a world that sometimes seems heartless and cold.
That fear is there; sometimes it’s a constant companion.
Some days I even succumb. I hide out from the world. I throw a pity party that is a grand affair, and I am the guest of honor. I rarely decorate or dress up, but its all for me, just the same.
But you know most days it doesn’t win.
You see, I’ve got another companion, one who holds the fear at bay. My other companion is always available, whenever I need an ear to listen, or a shoulder to cry on. This other companion doesn’t mind if I call at 3 in the morning. This companion is a true friend in every sense of the word. This companion will listen with compassion, and correct with gentleness and kindness. This companion doesn’t want me to be a slave to fear. This other companion is bigger and stronger than the world.
This other companion, of course, is Jesus.
In the book of Joshua when the Israelites were going up against the great powers of the Promised Land, do you know what the Lord told Joshua? Joshua 8:1 says, "Do not be afraid." This wasn’t a statement or a suggestion. It was a COMMAND!
DO NOT BE AFRAID!!
And again in Joshua 10 the Lord tells Joshua “Fear them not”. Once again this is a command. This command appears 4 times in the book of Joshua.
Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid.
Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid.
I wanted to see if the book of Joshua was an isolated instance, a curious anomaly, as we like to call it in the engineering profession.
So, I did a quick search on the Internet. The word “afraid” was found 207 times in the NIV translation of the Bible. This doesn’t include forms of “afraid” like fear. Simply the word “afraid”. Of those 207 appearances, 90 of the occurrences I found are in the phrase “Do not be afraid”. Hmmm. There’s that command again.
Do Not Be Afraid. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. No I’m not going to write it 90 times.
67 of the 90 are in the Old Testament. 67.
Do Not Be Afraid. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. You seeing a pattern? I am.
Seems like something that is repeated that often might just be worth taking note of.
The remaining 23 occurrences of this command are in the New Testament.
Do Not Be Afraid. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. You get the picture.
Of the 23 NT occurrences, 8 are in the Gospel of Matthew, 1 is in Mark, 7 are in Luke, and 3 are in John. These instances were Jesus talking to his disciples and telling them not to be afraid.
Not to fear what they were currerntly experiencing. Not to fear what Jesus alone knew was coming next.
2 are in Acts and 2 are in Revelation. To me these seem like the apostles telling us from that long ago time to follow that same command.
God does not want us to live in fear.
2 Timothy 1:7 (Amplified) states “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.”
Craven … cringing … is that what fear does to us … to me. When I think of the phrase craven and cringing, I think of Igor ...the perpetual assistant in every B horror movie every made. He was fawning. He was cowardly. He was craven. Craven means contemptible, timid or cowardly.
I’m thinking I don’t like the sound of that, but when we are mastered by fear, that is how we appear. But when we master fear … well that’s another story entirely.
It seems pretty clear to me from scripture.
God does not want us to fear.
God does not want us timid.
God wants us BOLD.
God wants us to rely on His power.
God wants us to rely on Him.
There is no place for fear in the world where God rules.
That’s the kind of world I want to live in. Because I think in that world, fire escapes might be kind of fun to play on.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The hardest thing a parent has to do ...
I've had to do some hard things in my 16+ years as a parent ...
... I had to take my babies to daycare. That got easier as time went on but then ...
...I had to send them off to Kindergarten. It didn't seem as safe as the little day care they went to, but they did well. And then came ...
...middle school and the BUS and being home alone for a whole 30 minutes every day. This was extremely difficult for me because I had to trust that they learned all the stuff they were supposed to in the previous 12 years and would remember it (don't answer the door, don't answer the phone unless you know who it is etc etc). We made it through the middle school years and ...
...on to High School, where everything is so much bigger and (to the mom) so much scarier.
In between all of this, I had to take my daughter to the police department after she snuck out one night so she could learn "what might have happened". The "might have" was a lot harder to think about than what did happen which was just a phone call in the middle of the night. I was torn between being so thankful she was OK to being so angry at what she did.
But yesterday I had to do the hardest thing as parent that I have ever had to do ... I had to tell my 14 yr old that a class mate and friend had been killed in an accident over the weekend. At 14 you should not have to go to funerals for your friends. She is doing OK so far. I think I am having more trouble with it. My mother's heart breaks for his parents, and all the fears of "what if this happened to my baby" parade through my thoughts.
This seems to make no sense, but a lot of things that happen in life fall into this category. This is where trusting in God and who He is becomes the hardest.
By all accounts, Scottie was a fun loving, outgoing boy with lots of friends. He was also a believer . I pray that this sustains his family.
My prayers go out to the McCarthy & Mosinksi families for God's peace and comfort in this time of sorrow.
... I had to take my babies to daycare. That got easier as time went on but then ...
...I had to send them off to Kindergarten. It didn't seem as safe as the little day care they went to, but they did well. And then came ...
...middle school and the BUS and being home alone for a whole 30 minutes every day. This was extremely difficult for me because I had to trust that they learned all the stuff they were supposed to in the previous 12 years and would remember it (don't answer the door, don't answer the phone unless you know who it is etc etc). We made it through the middle school years and ...
...on to High School, where everything is so much bigger and (to the mom) so much scarier.
In between all of this, I had to take my daughter to the police department after she snuck out one night so she could learn "what might have happened". The "might have" was a lot harder to think about than what did happen which was just a phone call in the middle of the night. I was torn between being so thankful she was OK to being so angry at what she did.
But yesterday I had to do the hardest thing as parent that I have ever had to do ... I had to tell my 14 yr old that a class mate and friend had been killed in an accident over the weekend. At 14 you should not have to go to funerals for your friends. She is doing OK so far. I think I am having more trouble with it. My mother's heart breaks for his parents, and all the fears of "what if this happened to my baby" parade through my thoughts.
This seems to make no sense, but a lot of things that happen in life fall into this category. This is where trusting in God and who He is becomes the hardest.
By all accounts, Scottie was a fun loving, outgoing boy with lots of friends. He was also a believer . I pray that this sustains his family.
My prayers go out to the McCarthy & Mosinksi families for God's peace and comfort in this time of sorrow.
Friday, July 24, 2009
The Christian "F" Word
I was listening to Jon Acuff today - a talk he gave at a church conference. You can listen to the whole thing here - and don't laugh at booty, God, booty - its really serious stuff!
Anyway he talked about the Christian "F" word.
What is it you ask ... it's "Fine".
We use it alot don't we.
If God is doing great things , we're awesome, or we're great, or we're blessed ...
If we are at a cross roads, we're seeking counsel or we're praying ...
If there is a trial, we're persevering ....
But if we are painting a picture for others, or if we are avoiding an issue, or if we don't want to get too close or too deep - we're "fine".
That's it, just "fine".
Now sometimes it will be true - we will be fine - the "and dandy" kind of fine.
But if you listen closely, you can tell by how its said, how its clipped at the end, that things really aren't as the answer implies. This is the kind of "fine" that has implied quotes (every body hands up and make the double quote marks with your fingers!)
I'm not sure why we do it. I'm guilty of it quite often.
Maybe its because we know if we admit anything we'll have to take a closer look at ourselves - if we're "fine" then we're "fine" and we don't have to ...
Or maybe its because we don't think the other person really wants to hear all the gory details ... and that may be true too. But it seems a different answer, an honest answer, even if it is devoid of the details might be better then just being "fine", especially between brothers and sisters in Christ.
Let's not be "fine" any more.
Lets be honest.
Let's be sick.
Let's let the Great Physician heal every part of us - not just the parts we decide to let Him into.
Because if we're "fine" then we really don't need Him, do we?
Anyway he talked about the Christian "F" word.
What is it you ask ... it's "Fine".
We use it alot don't we.
If God is doing great things , we're awesome, or we're great, or we're blessed ...
If we are at a cross roads, we're seeking counsel or we're praying ...
If there is a trial, we're persevering ....
But if we are painting a picture for others, or if we are avoiding an issue, or if we don't want to get too close or too deep - we're "fine".
That's it, just "fine".
Now sometimes it will be true - we will be fine - the "and dandy" kind of fine.
But if you listen closely, you can tell by how its said, how its clipped at the end, that things really aren't as the answer implies. This is the kind of "fine" that has implied quotes (every body hands up and make the double quote marks with your fingers!)
I'm not sure why we do it. I'm guilty of it quite often.
Maybe its because we know if we admit anything we'll have to take a closer look at ourselves - if we're "fine" then we're "fine" and we don't have to ...
Or maybe its because we don't think the other person really wants to hear all the gory details ... and that may be true too. But it seems a different answer, an honest answer, even if it is devoid of the details might be better then just being "fine", especially between brothers and sisters in Christ.
Let's not be "fine" any more.
Lets be honest.
Let's be sick.
Let's let the Great Physician heal every part of us - not just the parts we decide to let Him into.
Because if we're "fine" then we really don't need Him, do we?
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