October 2009
18 posts
The Only You There Is
When we think about diversity in the church, the body image is the one we most often point to. We ask, “Are you an ear or a toe?” Today I was thinking about how bodies are even more complicated than toes and ears. Just look at an anatomy textbook if you want proof. I see a thousand more options for myself than just the ones on the surface. Am I a tendon or a lung or a white blood...
Idealism and Marriage Counseling
I just finished premarital counseling (which sounds bad because it sounds like premarital sex but actually it’s good)—not getting counseled, of course, but counseling. I loved it. I’ve never “counseled” anyone before—not formally—so it was exciting and fun. I guess for Justin who does this all the time it wasn’t as exciting—still fun of course....
“As Harold took a bite of Bavarian sugar cookie, he finally felt as if everything...”
– Stranger than Fiction
I LOVE this quote because it illuminates the tangible pieces of God in our lives. God lives in and among us in small, life-saving anomalies. I see God in cookies and in a diet coke at just the right moment and in a green light.
The things we sometimes don’t even notice...
Submission is Empowering
Studying submission today for Bible class on Wednesday night. Every study starts for me with a cattle call of verses. Among the herd of “submit” verses I found this one in James chapter 3:
“… the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”
The wisdom from heaven is absolute. The wisdom...
Don't be a punk
I’m teaching a class at a family retreat this weekend in Alabama. I’ve been asked to talk about vision and mothering—which is pretty crazy because I’ll probably have the least experience mothering of anyone in the room. I’m thinking right now about how to demonstrate my humility.
Because I’m young, I’m often asked to speak on stuff that I have very little...
Are You For Us?
Heard someone recently talking about Joshua’s encounter with the commander of the Lord’s army in Joshua 5. I remembered the story from childhood but didn’t remember this simple (and kinda-confusing) conversation:
Joshua: “Are you for us or our adversaries?”
The Commander: “No.”
Joshua, certainly humbled by the glory of this being (probably Jesus in some...
An Apple
Today I started making London’s Halloween costume. I’m super-excited. To best understand my excitement you might benefit from some backstory.
Growing up, Halloween wasn’t really a big thing. We didn’t have a lot of money and so we didn’t have cool store-bought costumes. One year I remember Bobby and I dressing up like Batman. We wore trash bag capes and yellow...
Extra
We talked about sharing in Bible class last night. Seems like a word for preschoolers, but God talks to adults about it all over the Bible. Consider these verses:
* Luke 3:11 John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”
* Acts 4:32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his...
“God takes full responsibility for the life wholly devoted to Him.”
– Charles Stanley
I was talking to a friend yesterday and she was telling me about some big frustrations she’s having with her job: people going behind her back, her boss catering to the loud instead of the deserving, and (maybe worst) a general culture of mediocrity. When she took this job she...
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: My New...
I had planned to review Donald Miller’s newest book today, but Justin beat me to it. His review is so good that I’m having a hard time deciding what to say…
I can say this: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years is better than the last fifty books I’ve read. Better than Crazy Love. Better than Madame Bovary. Better than Bonhoeffer.
I am not a person who hands out compliments...
White Shoes
Watching London grab Eve’s baby food the moment she stepped out of the tub, poised to undo all the washing I had just tediously and thoroughly finished, jolted me into thinking about sin, about getting dirty.
I was thinking about how the longer we can go without sinning, the cleaner we’ll stay. The quicker we step into sin, the more likely we are to surrender to it. It’s like...
“Humility is the ability (or willingness) to listen to others.”
– Malcolm Gladwell
Seems simple, but it hit me hard today. I know I struggle with humility (I have since childhood) but without a clear definition of it, I’ve been able to deceive myself into thinking I’m getting pretty humble. When I heard this definition I realized that I’d just...
“When you meet God He’s not going to ask, “Why weren’t you more...”
– Rob Bell
Love this. I want, more than anything, to be who God wants me to be. I want to want exactly what God wants for me.
Bell talked about that tenth commandment—about how if we’re obeying God’s commands, the tenth won’t be a problem. When we’re obeying God we...
Seasons
I have a friend who’s on the front end of what promise to be two really tough years. She just started grad school and is feeling like all of the work is slowly—maybe even quickly—pushing the rest of her life aside, like she’s losing parts of herself as she devotes her attention to this one interest.
I know just how she feels. Not only because I crammed a master’s...
“It is good for you that I go away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come...”
– Jesus to the apostles in John 16:7
This verse always frustrated me. How could Jesus say that His going away was a good thing? I understand that it took His leaving for the Spirit to come, but how could a Spirit I can’t see be better than the God walking beside me.
Francis Chan talks about...
“With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?”
– I found this quote from Oscar Wilde on a card stuck between books on my library shelf. Justin gave it to me the day we left New York. Inside were two lists, one describing the things he’d miss about New York and one cataloging the things he looked forward to doing together in Henderson. The...
What won't you give up?
Last night I gave away an oreo pie, a jean jacket, ten bucks, and a blind date in girls’ class. All in the name of making a point.
The give-aways were actually a step toward learning about ourselves, determining what things are important to us, what our priorities and dreams and worries are. We did all of this in service to one question: What one thing would you be most unwilling to give...
