“The outer distractions of our interests reflect an inner lack of integration of our own lives. we are trying to be several selves at once, without all our selves being organized by a single, mastering Life within us. Each of us tends to be, not a single self, but a whole committee of selves.” — Thomas Kelly, A Testament of Devotion
Walking with joy into the dark
“But there is a deeper, an internal simplification of the whole of one’s personality, stilled, tranquil, in childlike trust listening ever to Eternity’s whisper, walking with a smile into the dark.” — Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion
Lord, let me move from the age of busyness in my life… the internal struggles and turmoils… into this journey. A journey of deep trust. A journey of peace in your presence. A journey where I have a smile even as I plunge into a part of the trail bathed in darkness. You are there. This I trust.
This I want to trust.
A treasured journey
I have come to Exodus 19 in my walk through the Pentateuch. Every step of the way in this journey has been a sacred walk. A holy walk. Every stop along the way is like I am coming to sacred ground. Exodus 19 is certainly one of those spots.
Read moreAmerican Christianity and the crash and burn style of exalting youthful leaders far too early
The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast series took a week away from the Mars Hill story and focused on another aspect of what has happened in the last few decades in white American evangelicalism through the story of Joshua Harris. If you are not familiar with I Kissed Dating Goodbye and that saga, it gets explained in the podcast.
The host also has an interview on the podcast with Joshua Harris and it is a good interaction.
Read moreThe way of nonviolence is through prayer
I am finishing my reading of The Jesus Way by Eugene Peterson. In the end, he wraps up his thoughts by helping us understand prayer all over again. It is the language of the Kingdom. It is THE way to follow the WAY.
Read moreThe way of servanthood
We need to see a HOLY vision
“All of us, if we only knew it, are on a hunt for the holy, for a life that cannot be reduced to the way we look or what we do or what others think of us.”
— The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the Ways That Jesus Is the Way by Eugene H. Peterson
https://a.co/3YDbolv
We are called to humility
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Phil. 2:1-4)
Culturalized Christianity is in a deep struggle trying to grasp the power they thought they had and hold on for dear life. It raises the ugliness of systemic racism and misogyny again and again in our current time.
Read moreFinding childLIKE faith and resisting childISH faith
I have worked my way through Mandy Smith’s excellent book, Unfettered, and come away with so much to process. This comes at the same time I finished a book by Bob Goff called Love Does, and I’m examining my heart and longing to cultivate more trust in God.
Read moreChoosing real rest
I’m choosing to ask, “If I really believed the Spirit of the living God is at home in me, making me a child of God right now, how would I live?” Can we handle the kind of intimacy described in Scripture? Our Western preference for safe distance and individual freedom keeps us from receiving what Jesus is actually offering us, an interdependence that may feel a little too close for comfort. — Mandy Smith, Unfettered
