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Notes from the dogeared pages of #32

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Today I retired journal #32. It is always good to look back on the thoughts and reflections. The quotes and jots. The drawings and scribbles. So here are a few random notes from the dogeared pages of #32.

- A love letter from a stranger means nothing to us…but even a tiny note from my wife means the world…most of our not liking scripture is just not understanding or being in relationship with the one from who the letters were written

- Discipleship: action needs to be important, not just a Bible study…Application is a must throughout, but doctrine has to be important or at least clarifying of the essentials…contracts is necessary; this is a commitment you will only get what you put in…

-[vision casting] ENVISION a new culture SHARE vision with everyone GET ALIGNMENT with leadership MODEL the culture you want to create FORM URGENCY sense

- “Boredom is the natural byproduct of redundancy…and church ministry is redundant by nature.” … create new and fresh experiences with God instead of repeating the same stories over and over and over again..we tell the same old stories about God because we are having no new experiences with him…the pastor needs to teach and lead in a way that creates new opportunities and new experiences for the church family…but my teaching and leadership cannot be new, fresh, and alive if my personal experience of God is not new, fresh, and alive

- Pull away…look within…look around…Fill up…change it up

- “Greed is a sign of slavery; you have to hold on to something because you NEED it”
- “Generosity is a sign of freedom.” – Cody Cannon

- “People who don’t know Christ do not get to OUT-SERVE Christians.” -Cody Cannon

Unsafe Christianity

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What do we hope to get out of religion?  Why are we often so disappointed by religion?

One main reason lies in our expectations of religion and the fact that they do not meet each other very well.

So many of us do an excellent job at confirming Nietzsche and his view of religion as an opiate for the people.  We have turned religion and especially Christianity into an opiate, a strong pain reliever, an ultimate high to calm us beyond anything we have ever known.  We have come to a point where we hate religion because it does not give us calm clear life. We get frustrated when Christianity does not offer us the clear cut answers and life we thought Christianity would be.  We soon come to realize that Christianity is NOT always clear and easy.  We come to realize that Christianity shakes us to the core.  WE realize that Christianity is not as SAFE as we had hoped and thought.

Christianity was and is never intended to be safe, and we cannot depend on it to be so.  In fact, Christianity is not safe and will always be uncomfortable, and if it is comfortable we are not experiencing true Christianity as it is intended to be.  We need to be shaken continually.  That is what Christianity does; it shakes us up.  It moves us to responsive action.

This is the reason so many Christians today are frustrated and close-minded.  They are closed to challenge and questioning because they want their faith, their religion, their Christianity to be clear, stable, and safe.

The [dis]ease of trust

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One friend of mine asked the question, “Why is it so hard to trust God,” and I spontaneously responded with…

Because its risky! Trusting anything or anyone, especially God, is incredibly risky. In fact, if there is no risk then its not really trusting is it? I mean think about it; if I am not risking anything…if it were really really easy, then there would be absolutely no need to trust. Its hard to trust God because he’s risky. You pay the risk that he’s not real…since he IS real, you pay the risk of him not hearing you, you pay the risk of him saying “no” to any or all of your deepest questions, you pay the risk of him not feeling close, you pay the risk of his discipline (whatever that looks like), you pay the risk of him not meeting whatever expectations you may have (because he hardly ever does)…..

But it is all of these risks that actually make TRUSTING possible…not easy, but utterly POSSIBLE. If you had none of these risks, you would not be able to trust God at all. The very fact that you are still pursuing is, in fact, trusting God. Trust is not feeling at ease…trust is taking the risks.

 

Bullet pointed update

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* Back from Mexico where God did some incredible work in mine and others hearts. Broken chains! Serving the poor and deported! Watching my students present and BE the gospel in a dark, dank basement.
* Still pursuing and learning about restoration in many parts of my life
* Got the flu a few days ago. First time in years!
* Change is imminent and on the rapidly closing horizon.
* Listening to: Ascend the Hill, new Counting Crows album, and Oddisee
* Reading: The Hunger Games, Simple Church, Growing Disciples, and Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl
* Discouraged by: turn out of our taxes, the weight of change not exactly “resting” on your shoulders
* Encouraged by: amazing wife, beautiful daughters, stronger relationships with students, hope for futur
* Right NOW I miss: football, Anderson University, my nieces, and SYTYCD
* Watching a lot of: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Fresh Beat Band, Whitney, and SNL

Permission Granted [video]

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This last Saturday I was given the opportunity to emcee The Worship Conference. It was an incredible opportunity to watch 600+ worship leaders come together to worship God without anything holding them back. I was asked to write and perform a spoken word piece as part of the opening song for the conference. This is a piece I wrote called, Permission Granted. (You can also find an audio track of this song on my EP here.)

3 Easy Steps to My Give-away!!!

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A couple weeks ago, I released my 4 track spoken word EP at my bandcamp page. Even though $4 does not seem like much to pay, I would like to give away a couple free downloads of my EP. Here are the rules to be entered for a chance to win one of those downloads.

1. Go to my bandcamp page and listen to each track. 
2. Write a blog post about the EP. Talk about what you like or dislike about it. Talk about your favorite track from the EP and why it is your favorite. Encourage your readers to check it out. (be sure to include a link to ragamuffinpc.bandcamp.com)
3. Tweet me, Email Me, or post to my facebook wall a link to your post.

And thats it! I will randomly choose 2 winners Thursday (3/22) and contact the winners with their free download instructions.

Quick letter to my male students

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It takes courage to stand out as a man in a culture of guys. But why would you want to do that? How would you do that? How to move from simply finishing to actually winning.

Reality check: Women have given up on ‘guys’. That should bother you deeply. They are searching for men to be men, but have absolutely no interest in guys who want to stay guys.

DISCIPLINE: Men understand that risk is essential for victory. On the battle front you’re thankful for hellish bootcamp. Women are looking for men who are prepared to BE men (goodnews: men will stick out in a guy culture).

SERVICE: Guys live for themselves. Our culture of ‘guys’ fights against the entire purpose for creation. Guys are selfish and have no purpose to shoot for in life. At some point, you have to ask yourself if YOU would ever want to date someone who is all about themselves (why would you become someone YOU don’t even desire?)

Men live for others. Your purpose is much deeper when living for others. Men WANT to make an impact, and impact only happens outside of self. A man is not focused on what HE gets out of a relationship but on what THE RELATIONSHIP gets out of him. 

Being ‘one of the guys’ is not being a man. If iron sharpens iron, a guy does not sharpen a man. (Prov.27:17)

You are not intended to do this alone; so quit trying to. (Hebrews 10:24-25). Failure is less likely when other men sharpen you.

* Quick letter to my female students

3 reasons your pastor’s sermons stink

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Does it seem your pastor has been going downhill in his preaching? Does it seem when he brings the Word, you aren’t feelin’ it anymore? Is your pastor not preaching up to par for what you expected or as he used to?

We all have! I hear you! Here are 3 possible reasons your pastors sermons suck:

1. You have not prayed for him
Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 3:1, “Brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly.” Successful preaching of the word has everything to do with prayer. E.M. Bounds wrote, “Prayer opens the way for the word of God to run without hindrance.” How often have those who complain actually prayed for the pastor they complain about?

2. You have not prepared your heart
In the Parable of the Sower Jesus questions what sort of soil your heart would be when the seed of the Word is sown. Many more sermons could be fruitful if we would prepare the ground of our hearts ahead of time through prayer and meditation.

3. You have forgotten everything
There is a story of Martin Luther preaching the gospel of Jesus each and every week for months and years at a time. His congregation began coming to him saying, “Surely we have this down by now. Week after week you preach the gospel message; why can’t we move on?” To which he replied: “Because week after week you forget it.

We resist application of things we study. The good ground in the parable are those who hear the word and make intentional efforts to cultivate the planted seed sown.

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.