Wednesday, October 20, 2010

So what's the bad news?

I just found out that I have been accepted into Denver Seminary's Doctor of Ministry program.

First thought: Whew.
Second thought: $$
Next thought: Wow, that was fast....wonder what's wrong with them....

I clearly have a way to go on this self-esteem thing. 

Monday, October 18, 2010

The song in my mind

Give thanks to the Lord, our God and King, his love endures forever! 
Sing praise! Forever God is faithful, forever God is strong!
Forever God is with us, forever and ever.


God is so faithful that he even woke up when I did this morning.  That's even better than my dog.
Thank you, Lord.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Consolation

Saying goodbye to Dallas Willard is always hard, and I miss him immediately.  The consolation is knowing that I will live with him forever and ever in God's kingdom.

And, with God's grace, will see him in March.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Renovare Institute, evening one

It's 7:30 at home and just 8:30 here (outside Colorado Springs, CO) and I'm beat.  Sleepy, dry-weather congested, but mostly just awed and humbled by the graciousness of God and the majesty of individuals' stories.

It is easy for me to forget that everyone's story has tragedy, comedy, dark, light, and searing boredom.  But tonight we laid our altar for the week. Each person brought an object that symbolized his or her current relationship with God.  They didn't all actually symbolize that but that was okay. We each rose, gave our name and city, and told why we had brought what we'd brought.

The tenderness and determination flowed:
the woman with stage-4 cancer whose body will die soon but who describes herself as fully recovered;
the man whose wife's death forced him to choose a soul-strengthening viewpoint;
the woman whose daughter fought a terrible blood disease (which bankrupt them), only to be killed in an auto accident;
the man who has decided to stop being hard, dark and broody and become a teddy bear.

And:
the young woman trying to get published;
the young lawyer learning truth isn't found in books;
the man learning delight from his kid;
the woman whose garden this summer swarmed with Monarch butterflies.

After the hour talking with the young man on the plane about life, relationships, and God, it was quite a lot.  But awe-some. I couldn't help but pray after almost every one, thanking God for hope in the kingdom and for the glory of lives worth saving.

To bed at 7:42 pm. It might be a awe-full day tomorrow too.  DW, after all.

I brought a bungee cord, because after all these years I'm finally really accepting that no matter how stretched my relationship with God gets, if I let it it bounces right back where it should be.

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

for all the broken souls yearning for God


Self-denial is self-centred; denial of self is Christ-centred.

Gospel of the Kingdom: Scriptural Studies in the Kingdom of GodGeorge Eldon Ladd,  Gospel of the Kingdom, p. 104