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The Soul and Pain
“Because the soul is the deepest expression of the person, the soul is the place of greatest pain. We do not speak of the dark night of the mind, or the will, or even the spirit. Only the soul. The dark night of the soul.” — John Ortberg, Soul Keeping. Just as I thought I was regaining control of my emotions…
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Addiction and worship
Addiction… is a kind of worship, a kind of counterfeit worship. For the soul was created to worship… There is no such thing as an uncommitted person. An addict is the supreme example of trying to satisfy the soul with all the wrong things. The more it’s fed, the more it craves. — John Ortberg, Soul Keeping
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Soul Satisfaction
In a very self-driven world, looking out for the true betterment of others seems… odd. I actually got into taking a few selfies this past weekend while we were out, so I’ll be showing those later… So… “YAY ME!” We really are into celebrating ourselves. Oddly enough, living for that self satisfaction is actually soul destroying. Jesus said if you devote…
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Being busy is not being hurried
In Soul Keeping, Ortberg points out what we already know: we’re busy. Being busy is not the same as being hurried. Being hurried is much more harmful. You don’t always want to be busy, but you really don’t want to be hurried. Busy We have a full schedule There are many activities It’s an outward condition It’s physically demanding It reminds…
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The rush of the Spirit
Yesterday our family was in Duluth and we took a trip to Gooseberry Falls. It’s a state park and the river at that point is magnificent, pouring over a series of falls as it makes its final journey Lake Superior. The falls were immense and strong. Several years ago, we had visited there in August and the falls were so…
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“Saving” Souls
It’s not about the destination that “save” a soul. It’s about the condition of the soul. “If a car no longer works, it doesn’t matter much whether it ends up in a junkyard or the valet parking section of the Ritz-Carlton. we are not lost because we are going to wind up in the wrong place. We are going to wind up…
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Eye has not seen
“Your eternal destiny is not cosmic retirement; it is to e part of a tremendously creative project, under unimaginable splendid leadership. on an inconceivably vast scale, with ever increasing cycle of fruitfulness and enjoyment — that is the prophetic vision which ‘eye has not seen and ear has not heard.’” — Dallas Willard It is one of those Dallas statements…
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Maturing in Prayer… a Basketball Analogy
I love NCAA basketball. I live and die with the Kansas Jayhawks. I died early this year. There is a marker I use in watching games (if I can) early in the NCAA tournament: If a high seed team rolls through their first two games, taking care of business and not letting a much lower ranked team hang around in…
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Understanding the power of the Kingdom right here and right now
One of the things I love about NT Wright’s writing is he uses phrases that scare the living daylights out of people like me who are used to the abuse of those words. When Wright dares to move into territory that sounds a lot like the old “Kingdom Now” theology I studied in college, I get nervous. Yet, he refuses to surrender…
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Donald Sterling and Racism
The story that erupted this weekend regarding LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling has been brought to a head this afternoon by the NBA issuing a lifetime ban on Sterling and making sure he sells his portion of the team so he has nothing to do with the NBA ever again. The audio tape that was leaked over the weekend was…
