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Bold act of humility

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Proverbs 25:21-22 demands that we serve our enemy when he is hungry or thirsty, and in so doing, we heap burning coals on his head. It is a reminder that our actions communicate and accomplish much more than our words alone. We can be great at lip service to an apology and attempts to make things right.

When I serve my enemy, I place them in a position where any further attack on me would be crazy, because what kind of person attacks someone who cares for you?

I can also defuse a situation that is only a situation and allows you to see a person. People deserve respect, and when our frustrations are out of the way, we may actually find someone we like a bit. We often dislike in people the characteristics we dislike most about ourselves.

Reconciliation requires a bold act of humility and is not concerned with payback. It is not concerned with selfish demands. It is not concerned with whether the response will be your view of "equal".

Who are you in an argument with right now? What is some way you could enact a bold act of humility and completely disarm the argument and the person to find reconciliation?

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My daughter's gift from dad: circa 2028

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Today I ordered my NASB Wide Margin Leather Bible. I should say I ordered Bryleigh's Bible. Per the example of a couple father friends of mine, I am embarking on a story between father and daughter. I will be walking slowly through this Bible writing out my brief commentary  in conversation tone. Each writing is to address Bryleigh with God's story and my hopes for her.

Once she turns 18, the Bible will be my gift for her.

My depraved little daughter and the creation of the world

I remember the days and months leading up to the birth of our daughter. At some point, my wife and I wanted to share our life with another human being. We would share our life with a human being we would create together. As the day approached we got more and more anxious for her to be here...with us. We had already made all the preparations we were going to make, and now we wanted her to be with us.

When she was born, I looked at Tonya and said, "She's perfect!"

I imagine God has an incredible plan to always be with us. That seems to be the real point of creation. God wanted to be with us. He wanted to share life with us. He, together with Spirit and Son, created us.

After all the preparations he had made, He just wanted us here. Once human life was created, he said, "This is very good!"

Tonya and I have huge hopes for Bryleigh; hopes of a bright and incredible future.

God intended for not only a bright future, but a perfect one. He for us, like Tonya and I for Bryleigh, wants the best. But life does not play out in perfection.

Bryleigh will make bad decisions I only hope she learns from instead of getting stuck in. My hope is for her to have a perfect and harmless life, but that is not the world we live in.

God intended for us to never suffer, and that did not happen. He intended for us to live in perfect harmony with one another; I don't even know my next-door neighbor's name, and I called the cops on the neighbors across the street.

Immediately when we were given choices to make we were introduced to our innate selfishness; our depravity if you will.

We are bent toward selfishness. Randy Frazee writes, "Good looks for out for others; evil looks out for self."

But though Bryleigh will make poor choices, and it will break my heart to watch, I will still walk with her. I will still be WITH her, which is what Tonya and I wanted all along.

Though Adam and Eve were banished from the perfect garden, God would meet with them outside the garden.

Still today, God meets us outside his perfect plan for us and walks with us through every experience, no matter how broken, hurtful, or torn-up those experiences might be. No matter how selfish I am, he wants to be with me.

This is the outrageous loving heart of a Father who could not wait for you to be here.

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Where were you

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I had run out of my student apartment like I did every morning; quickly and without regard to anything but making it to class on time. As I walked to the other end of the South Campus parking lot, my friend Justin came out on to his balcony and asked if I had heard.

After a briefing left me stunned, I sulked my way to class. My mind was clouded with disbelief and some confusion.

I came to the one of the common areas of campus where they had wheeled in some televisions for coverage. I arrived just in time to watch the second plane hit. Screw class!

Chapel was strange that morning. It was indicated that classes would resume that day. I had no idea how that was a good option.

Later that evening, there was a large group of students gathered to pray. In my smaller cluster of students, I remember praying, "God, we have no idea why things like this happen. We simply have no idea, but help us trust you."

They were only words I could hope came from a deeper place of truth inside me, because even today I have no idea what I would have prayed.

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My Top 10 Posts of All Time

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All is Grace by Brennan Manning [a review]

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This was the most difficult book I could not put down. This book was discovering that his or her alter ego anchors every soaring super hero. It was finding out Santa Claus pees and poops just like I do. Brennan Manning used to be my hero.

You are going to hate this book if you are looking for an account of the profound things done by one man in God’s name. You will not find here the account of a faith powerhouse who, with shear grit and discipline, followed God flawlessly.

You are going to love this book if can accept that God’s love for you is ridiculous and entirely impossible to comprehend or define. You will find here a beautifully broken picture of this love we all want to taste, but it is not an orthodox portrayal for you to study.

The writings and teaching of Brennan Manning have been a slow IV drip when my reliance and trust in Abba’s love have dehydrated. They have also been shock paddles to my heart in emergency moments when I am flat lining under the weight of shame, temptation, and failure.

I first heard the word ‘ragamuffin’ in 1999 in Brennan’s book The Ragamuffin Gospel. It ravished my aching heart. I came to understand God’s grace and furious love in a way I had never taken hold of in my life.

The ragamuffin is one with a singular prayer: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Brennan explains further in All is Grace: “any additional flourishes to make that cry more palatable are pharisaical leaven.”

The ragamuffin is one who understands that he, along with every other person, is a beggar at the door of God’s mercy. She is the one who is bedraggled and beat up in life and faith, but have learned to take the hand out of grace without regret or allowing shame to hold them back.

Revealed in this book are all the brokenness and pride, the shame and the wounds, the arrogance and failures that lie behind all the books and accolades. Brennan takes large risks in a tell all memoir, but he would clarify in other books that trust is no trust at all without risk. The amount of risk taken in this book reveals with just how much trust Brennan has fallen on the love his Abba.

One of my favorite poets, Buddy Wakefield defines forgiveness as “the release of hope for a better past.” This book reveals the hope of forgiveness. You see a hero forgive the unforgivable others in his life, namely the unforgivable within himself.

Your heroes will do all they can to keep you from seeing the sad and broken realities behind the capes. Brennan Manning used to be my hero, but this book has made him far more of a hero than he ever was.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j73mYgpxhTY&w=560&h=345]

My 51st Psalm

God, Have mercy on me, a sinner.  I was born a sinner and continue to return to my nature.  My sins are before me all the time, and they trap me with enticing power.  I know my sins and they have wedged themselves between you and I.  You have the right, the power, and ability to leave me behind because I have hurt you too many times.  I have driven disgusting wedges between us with my sin, and I deserve for you to leave me behind in my sinner’s silt.

Please do not leave me behind.  Please show me mercy and grace because of the love you have been known for.  Please do not remove yourself from me.  Please do not turn your back to me as I deserve.

You desire right living, wisdom, and holy living from me, and I often fall short of your desires for me.  Please forgive me and forget those disgusting things I have put between us.  I cannot separate myself from your LOVE, but I can separate myself from YOU.  Please remember your love for me and help me close the distance my sin has created between us.  Reunite us by erasing and deleting the sin I have placed between us.  If you forgive me, I will be truly forgiven.  I will be free to live in love with you.  If you close the sin-gap I’ve created, I will be reunited with you; the greatest lover of my soul.

My heart is clogged with sin, and it has affected my ability to relate with you clearly and unrestricted.  Please remove the restriction between the two of us, which keeps our hearts disconnected.  My guilt and shame remain; even after the sin is removed and forgotten.  So restore my heart to joy.  Restore my heart to its fullest ability to love you back without shame and guilt.  Help me sustain that clearance of heart.  Help me keep my heart clear of sin, shame, and guilt so that I can love and live for you fully and freely.

Only you can do these things in my heart.  I am nothing, and only you can repair my spirit.  Only you can repair my heart to its fullest potential to love and live and relate to you (and others through you).

I stand before you now…broken down…and fully dependant upon you.  Sacrifice is just a way of showing and proving my commitment to you, and my brokenness is the only sacrifice you will accept and respond to.  Please hear my cry!

- St. PC of the Broken and Repentant

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Entangle: Re-write a psalm in your own words.

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What do Willie Nelson, Chipotle, and Coldplay have in common

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I came across this video today, and I really like it. Willie Nelson covering a Coldplay song is reason enough to love this video, but the concept of the video (sustainable farming) is fantastic as well. Enjoy! (I did) [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMfSGt6rHos&w=560&h=345]