Taking Time to Slow Down

I read an old Bill Hybels chapter the other day from "Too Busy Not To Pray." He emphasizes the importance of slowing down in our fast-paced culture in order to connect with God more intimately. One recommendation he makes is to journal every day, even for a short bit, because it causes us to stop, reflect, and connect with our souls and with God. Blogging may not be the same as journaling, but since I hate having half-completed journals collect in our small home (sorry hon'), I'm going to take to blogging again. Spend some time breathing deeply, putting a few thoughts down online. Obviously some of what I write can't be as personal, but perhaps sometimes I will write an entry and just not post it. The point is to slow down - take time out to reflect. I'm grateful that even though we are moving towards a technological overhaul of everything that we know, there are still forms of reflection - for good and for bad - like blogging, that provide the necessary space to just "be." Peace to you this day.

Yesterday was a tough day - early with the kids, baby still sick, C and I SO tired. We're tired so much of the time these days. But it was so good to be in the word - to prep for camp and see such depth and power in the scripture. I pray that as I am changed by it, so would my students. I also pray for healing for our family - so that we could have some normalcy. Yet even as I pray this I recognize that I am learning long-suffering in a very gentle way, and I am grateful. Deepen in me your character, Jesus, that others would see you more clearly and be amazed.

News that is Really Good

I am a professional Christian. My work is my faith and my faith is my work. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. Imagine getting paid to focus on the thing you love the most, while at the same time being evaluated on that thing to such an extent that it drains the love out of it. I'm sure many artists could identify with this same struggle. Right now I am definitely experiencing the upswing of this pendulum, and I'm enjoying a renaissance of faith associated with my enrollment in a graduate school of ministry.

Recently I've been trying to wrap my mind about what it really means to be "Saved." If you've ever seen the movie by the same name, you know that often how Christians are viewed in America is the stuff of comedy. Particularly the proselytizing of a message that is completely irrelevant to the average human being's daily existence. I find this message myself quite dissastifying and I get tired of the oversimplification of Christianity I so often encounter around me. The gospel (or "good news") preached by a majority of American churches tends more towards humanism these days with a subtly unitarian approach. What I mean by this is that going to church is often equated with hearing a message about what you need to do in order to get your life back together. Words like repentance and sin are thrown about as if they hold the power to make or break your life. Unfortunately, these words have lost their original meaning, and instead of communicating the hope of another's success becoming your own, they communicate a message of guilt and conditional love.

The reason I'm in the Christian biz to begin with is that I want to share news that is actually good - the news that there is a God who has done it all and does not need me to do anything, but out of love for me invites me to participate in the work that God is doing in the world. The spirtual truth of the matter is that I am an orphan adopted by the best family in the world, and now I'm caught up in the most exciting adventure story the world has ever known. That is some good news. I don't want to be part of a story of sin-management and behavior modification, or of a church trying to be the moral compass for the world when the church itself is daily being "saved." I admit, even as I write this I am simplifying the issues and the issues are certainly not simple. Neither is the story of Christianity, but it is really, really good.

Three words for thought in closing: enacted inaugural eschatology. Those are some tag words that I hope grab some people's interest. I know they've grabbed mine, and The Story just seems to be getting better and better the more I get into it.

Welcome to Blogger Central

I went online looking for a friend's blog and found myself creating my own. Now that I've joined the ranks of millions, I thought I should explain the name of my blog. The name works for at least three reasons (perhaps more, who knows?). It comes from the parable Jesus tells about a man who stumbles upon treasure in a field. He doesn't know what he's looking for, but once he finds it, he goes and sells everything to buy the field. I want my life to be like that - full of surprises and full of sacrifice for the things of Jesus. My wife's blog is called "Pearl Seeker" taken from the same parable - I thought it only fitting to connect the two. And lastly, God provided a house for us two years ago with a half acre of property - a field in and of itself.

And so begins my writing - a man in a field, in a house.