I think that Clarence Fountain (the guy with the sunglasses) is one of the coolest singers ever.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
From Musts to Trust
I love this article from http://gracewalkministries.blogspot.com/
Aspects of Spirit filled living which flow naturally from the lifestyle of one walking in grace become a millstone around the neck of one ensnared by legalism. I have often used Bible study and prayer as examples because they tend to be primary targets of legalism. It takes what God intended to bring us real pleasure and turns it into nothing more than a religious performance.
We aren’t doing God any favors by reading the Bible, praying, or anything else we may do in an effort to please Him. It goes without saying that each are an integral part of authentic faith, but once these grace gifts have been baptized into the stagnant waters of dead religion, they lose all life. They no longer have legitimate meaning, neither to the believer nor God.
Bible study no longer is a joy, it’s a job. Prayer is no longer a romantic conversation. It becomes a “quiet time” which we must observe like the misbehaving child who is sent to his room for a “time out.”
Driven religious fervor becomes a one night stand repeated over and over and over again. There may be a shallow gratification in one night stands, but nobody would ever mistake it for genuine intimacy. God offers us much more than that. He wants us to experience Him and all of His gifts as a natural part of the soothing rhythms of grace. However, to know that kind of intimacy, we must stop our religious hyperventilating, calm down, stop and smell the roses. God doesn’t need for you to break the three minute mile for Him. He just wants you to enjoy Him, knowing that everything else in your life will flow out of that.
Jesus didn’t come to help us be religious superstars. Far from it, He came to deliver us from empty religion, even orthodox, time honored religion. Jesus came to bring us into intimacy with God through Himself. In His earthly days, as in our day, those most offended by Him have been the religionists who have built their reputation around keeping their golden idols polished to a brighter shine than anybody else in town.
The idols are their own particular rules of the road that must be observed as we speed down the highway they call “Christian living.” Their display case is filled with the specific idols which most easily fit their own personality and temperament and they judge everybody else by whether or not they live up to their own personal standards. People are incidental. What matters is how you are behaving.
Even Jesus wasn’t a good churchman by the standards of the religionists of His day. He didn’t live up to what they thought He ought to be. To them, He had no convictions. He appeared to compromise the purity and integrity of their values by doing things like healing people on the Sabbath, by eating with the crooks (Publicans) and party-animals (sinners) of His day. He was a friend of the hookers and homeless. He didn’t separate Himself far enough from the riffraff, as every good churchman knew one should do. Consequently, He lost His testimony with the Pharisees, an incidental matter which didn’t seem to bother him at all. Jesus cared more about relationships than reputation. He still does.
A legitimate Christian lifestyle gently flows like water along a riverbank, refreshing all who happen to stumble upon our banks. It isn’t a flash flood of activity that honors God. He doesn’t lead us that way, but instead He has chosen to make “[us] lie down in green pastures. He leads [us] beside the still waters [where] He restores [our] soul” (Psalm 23).
God loves you so much that He wants to deliver you from the misery of the musts into the triumph of trust. You have nothing to prove by a frantic pace. It isn’t possible to hear the still, small voice whisper when you are running at breakneck speed. God invites you to stop and rest.
(This article is an excerpt from my book, A Divine Invitation
Aspects of Spirit filled living which flow naturally from the lifestyle of one walking in grace become a millstone around the neck of one ensnared by legalism. I have often used Bible study and prayer as examples because they tend to be primary targets of legalism. It takes what God intended to bring us real pleasure and turns it into nothing more than a religious performance.
We aren’t doing God any favors by reading the Bible, praying, or anything else we may do in an effort to please Him. It goes without saying that each are an integral part of authentic faith, but once these grace gifts have been baptized into the stagnant waters of dead religion, they lose all life. They no longer have legitimate meaning, neither to the believer nor God.
Bible study no longer is a joy, it’s a job. Prayer is no longer a romantic conversation. It becomes a “quiet time” which we must observe like the misbehaving child who is sent to his room for a “time out.”
Driven religious fervor becomes a one night stand repeated over and over and over again. There may be a shallow gratification in one night stands, but nobody would ever mistake it for genuine intimacy. God offers us much more than that. He wants us to experience Him and all of His gifts as a natural part of the soothing rhythms of grace. However, to know that kind of intimacy, we must stop our religious hyperventilating, calm down, stop and smell the roses. God doesn’t need for you to break the three minute mile for Him. He just wants you to enjoy Him, knowing that everything else in your life will flow out of that.
Jesus didn’t come to help us be religious superstars. Far from it, He came to deliver us from empty religion, even orthodox, time honored religion. Jesus came to bring us into intimacy with God through Himself. In His earthly days, as in our day, those most offended by Him have been the religionists who have built their reputation around keeping their golden idols polished to a brighter shine than anybody else in town.
The idols are their own particular rules of the road that must be observed as we speed down the highway they call “Christian living.” Their display case is filled with the specific idols which most easily fit their own personality and temperament and they judge everybody else by whether or not they live up to their own personal standards. People are incidental. What matters is how you are behaving.
Even Jesus wasn’t a good churchman by the standards of the religionists of His day. He didn’t live up to what they thought He ought to be. To them, He had no convictions. He appeared to compromise the purity and integrity of their values by doing things like healing people on the Sabbath, by eating with the crooks (Publicans) and party-animals (sinners) of His day. He was a friend of the hookers and homeless. He didn’t separate Himself far enough from the riffraff, as every good churchman knew one should do. Consequently, He lost His testimony with the Pharisees, an incidental matter which didn’t seem to bother him at all. Jesus cared more about relationships than reputation. He still does.
A legitimate Christian lifestyle gently flows like water along a riverbank, refreshing all who happen to stumble upon our banks. It isn’t a flash flood of activity that honors God. He doesn’t lead us that way, but instead He has chosen to make “[us] lie down in green pastures. He leads [us] beside the still waters [where] He restores [our] soul” (Psalm 23).
God loves you so much that He wants to deliver you from the misery of the musts into the triumph of trust. You have nothing to prove by a frantic pace. It isn’t possible to hear the still, small voice whisper when you are running at breakneck speed. God invites you to stop and rest.
(This article is an excerpt from my book, A Divine Invitation
Thursday, January 21, 2010
New Group
We just started a new Addict to Disciple Group in downtown Lancaster on Wednesday afternoons at 3:15pm. It is being held a City Gate Lancaster on 218 N. Duke St. The first week five guys came, the second week ten guys and yesterday there were 13 guys. Its a blessing to hang out with men who are honestly struggling with issues in their life. Please keep us in your prayers.http://citygatelancaster.com/
http://www.etsahministries.org/
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The above picture on the right graphically illustrates the poem in my previous post. Thanks Norm for pointing out this picture. You can check out the website at http://www.gazatoday.blogspot.com/Monday, January 11, 2010
Not Everyone HAs A Happy New Year to Look Forward To
Poem written by Samah Sabawai. She is a writer, playwright and poet from Gaza. I hope you are moved by it and feel compelled to pray for peace in Gaza and around the globe.
Blessings…
Gaza, Where Time Stood Still
By Samah Sabawi
Don’t tell us a year has passed…
We don’t measure our lives by this calendar
Time has stood still for us so long ago
Punctuated only by loss and grief
And the in between moments of quite reprieve
We don’t count on Christmas, nor Eid for cheer
We don’t fool ourselves with “happy new year”
No occasion is ever taken for granted,
When it comes to tomorrow, there are no certainties
Our yesterday is our today
Time is frozen here
And one calendar year
Will never contain our lives,
Our collective misery,
Our yearning for humanity
Don’t tell us a year has passed
Our clock stopped ticking when justice collapsed
Eclipsed by decades of repression
Hush… don’t speak of time
We have endured the absence of time
We don’t measure our lives by days like you
We measure our lives by the number of embraces
Our worth by a lover’s heartbeat
Our existence by our persistence
So, don’t tell us a year has passed….
I found this poem so heart rending. I find it so easy to be caught up with things in my life that seem difficult and start complaining. But I had a great Christmas, with family and good cheer and promise of a Happy New Year. I am so blessed!
Blessings…
Gaza, Where Time Stood Still
By Samah Sabawi
Don’t tell us a year has passed…
We don’t measure our lives by this calendar
Time has stood still for us so long ago
Punctuated only by loss and grief
And the in between moments of quite reprieve
We don’t count on Christmas, nor Eid for cheer
We don’t fool ourselves with “happy new year”
No occasion is ever taken for granted,
When it comes to tomorrow, there are no certainties
Our yesterday is our today
Time is frozen here
And one calendar year
Will never contain our lives,
Our collective misery,
Our yearning for humanity
Don’t tell us a year has passed
Our clock stopped ticking when justice collapsed
Eclipsed by decades of repression
Hush… don’t speak of time
We have endured the absence of time
We don’t measure our lives by days like you
We measure our lives by the number of embraces
Our worth by a lover’s heartbeat
Our existence by our persistence
So, don’t tell us a year has passed….
I found this poem so heart rending. I find it so easy to be caught up with things in my life that seem difficult and start complaining. But I had a great Christmas, with family and good cheer and promise of a Happy New Year. I am so blessed!
God is Cool With Me
Jesus is saying to us:
I am rejoicing over you with joy; I am resting in silent satisfaction and in My love I am silent and will make no mention of your sins, or even recall them; I am exulting over you with singing.
Zepaniah 3:17b, The Amplified Bible, Personalized
I am rejoicing over you with joy; I am resting in silent satisfaction and in My love I am silent and will make no mention of your sins, or even recall them; I am exulting over you with singing.
Zepaniah 3:17b, The Amplified Bible, Personalized
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Changing Priorities
During a recent group meeting, we were discussing how surrendering our will to God can make a dramatic change in how we live our lives. I got to sharing about how God has changed some of my priorities, including the desire I use to have for a Jaguier Convertible. My friend Norm sent me the following picture. I guess he was checking to see how I would respond to such stimulus. It is a very sharp looking car, I must say.
Well, I didn't get the Jag, but I was blessed with a Sebring.
Ella Mae and I have had just as much fun at about 1/20th of the cost.Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Treasures
I was recently introduced to the poetry of Martha Snell Nicholson by my friend Norm. Very powerful stuff. You can check out more of it at http://www.mercydrops.com/Snell.htm
Treasures
One by one He took them from me,
All the things I valued most,
Until I was empty-handed;
Every glittering toy was lost.
And I walked earth's highways, grieving.
In my rags and poverty.
Till I heard His voice inviting,
"Lift your empty hands to Me!"
So I held my hands toward heaven,
And He filled them with a store
Of His own transcendent riches,
Till they could contain no more.
And at last I comprehended
With my stupid mind and dull,
That God COULD not pour His riches
Into hands already full!
-Martha Snell Nicholson
Treasures
One by one He took them from me,
All the things I valued most,
Until I was empty-handed;
Every glittering toy was lost.
And I walked earth's highways, grieving.
In my rags and poverty.
Till I heard His voice inviting,
"Lift your empty hands to Me!"
So I held my hands toward heaven,
And He filled them with a store
Of His own transcendent riches,
Till they could contain no more.
And at last I comprehended
With my stupid mind and dull,
That God COULD not pour His riches
Into hands already full!
-Martha Snell Nicholson
Friday, January 1, 2010
My Theme Song For 2010
Happy New Year. I have chosen this song as my theme for 2010. Our worries obviously do not just magically disappear, but Jesus asks us to give him our worries and let him handle it. Look at Matthew 11:28-30 from The Message:
"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me--watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
I really like the part about learning the unforced rhythms of grace. I can picture Jesus and the desciples dancing with this song along the Sea of Galilee, their hearts fill of love and trust.
Dance with grace in 2010.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)