Proverbs 26:20
Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
hmmm
Something strange happens every time i get upset at someone at church... I quit praying or reading my Bible. i was just thinking about this. how silly.
I'm not mad at Jesus! I'm mad at a human. but still... My relationship with Him always suffers. besides- there's no better way to fix a problem then to look to God's living Word or to get down on your knees and pray.
From now on, when i get in a push-and-shove with someone, i'm running straight to Jesus.
I'm not mad at Jesus! I'm mad at a human. but still... My relationship with Him always suffers. besides- there's no better way to fix a problem then to look to God's living Word or to get down on your knees and pray.
From now on, when i get in a push-and-shove with someone, i'm running straight to Jesus.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
A tether, a light, an antedote
Listen...
Before you, I was lost and adrift at sea. I was swallowed whole and sinking fast. I was left to my own devices and out-of-control.
Doom, doom...
But then I found you, in the ashes, the dark, the swelling tide. I saw you coming my way and couldn't believe my eyes. Nor comprehend my luck.
A rescue. A rescue.
Before you I was lost. I could not see. I was tumbling, tumbling down, down, spiraling out of sight.
alone. alone.
But then you... then you. A tether, a light, an antidote-
from the fall
from the darkened pit
from the poison of my own despair
You saved me.
I reached out and grabbed a hold of you, another soul on the surf. I clung to you, a tether in the abyss- suddenly not fall. I came up for air.
alive. alive
Do you know that joy of breaking the surface? of making it through the dark? Of living once near death? Do you know the rush of fresh oxygen in your tired lungs? The sweet sting of light to your darkened eye? Do you know what it means to be saved?
Saved? Saved?
Others. The ones who knew me before, they question this love. They scoff. They judge. They shake their heads in shame. But I know what it means to be saved. To receive a sweet, rich gift from GOD.
Grace. Grace.
Nothing can take that away. I am now different. There is no me without you. I am now tethered, alight, cured.
Cured. Cured.
Before you, I was lost and adrift at sea. I was swallowed whole and sinking fast. I was left to my own devices and out-of-control.
Doom, doom...
But then I found you, in the ashes, the dark, the swelling tide. I saw you coming my way and couldn't believe my eyes. Nor comprehend my luck.
A rescue. A rescue.
Before you I was lost. I could not see. I was tumbling, tumbling down, down, spiraling out of sight.
alone. alone.
But then you... then you. A tether, a light, an antidote-
from the fall
from the darkened pit
from the poison of my own despair
You saved me.
I reached out and grabbed a hold of you, another soul on the surf. I clung to you, a tether in the abyss- suddenly not fall. I came up for air.
alive. alive
Do you know that joy of breaking the surface? of making it through the dark? Of living once near death? Do you know the rush of fresh oxygen in your tired lungs? The sweet sting of light to your darkened eye? Do you know what it means to be saved?
Saved? Saved?
Others. The ones who knew me before, they question this love. They scoff. They judge. They shake their heads in shame. But I know what it means to be saved. To receive a sweet, rich gift from GOD.
Grace. Grace.
Nothing can take that away. I am now different. There is no me without you. I am now tethered, alight, cured.
Cured. Cured.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Kindness
I'm teaching a lesson tonight on kindness at Kids Club. It was a rather hard lesson to write. The story and the lesson came easy enough. Kids need to understand that sharing is a vital part of being Christ-like. But what activity can you do to show kindness?
If we could, I would drag the little buggers down to the nursing home or to the apartments and have them share their time or their little hands. But I can't. We are pretty much stuck there at the church.
So instead I decided to teach them the story of Elijah and the woman who shared the last of her flour and oil to make him bread. She shared what little she had out of kindness. And God rewarded her. I bought some flatbread. The kids can break bread and share it at the end.
I hope they learn something real and tangible about sharing. It's what God wants us to do.
If we could, I would drag the little buggers down to the nursing home or to the apartments and have them share their time or their little hands. But I can't. We are pretty much stuck there at the church.
So instead I decided to teach them the story of Elijah and the woman who shared the last of her flour and oil to make him bread. She shared what little she had out of kindness. And God rewarded her. I bought some flatbread. The kids can break bread and share it at the end.
I hope they learn something real and tangible about sharing. It's what God wants us to do.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
TEN LESSONS THE ARTS TEACH
From a staff newsletter... I thought is was good. Fine Arts=Living Praise
1. The arts teaches children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships. Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment rather than rules that prevail.
2. The arts teaches children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer.
3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.
4. The arts teaches children that in complex forms of problem solving, purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.
5. The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form or number exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.
6. The arts teach students that small difference can have large effects. The arts traffic in subtleties.
7. The arts teach students to think through and within a material. All art forms employ some means through which images become real.
8. The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said. When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.
9. The arts helps us to have experiences we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.
10. The arts' position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young what adults believe is important.
1. The arts teaches children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships. Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment rather than rules that prevail.
2. The arts teaches children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer.
3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.
4. The arts teaches children that in complex forms of problem solving, purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.
5. The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form or number exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.
6. The arts teach students that small difference can have large effects. The arts traffic in subtleties.
7. The arts teach students to think through and within a material. All art forms employ some means through which images become real.
8. The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said. When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.
9. The arts helps us to have experiences we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.
10. The arts' position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young what adults believe is important.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
worship because a chore
Its terrible when we become so focused on the nuts and bolts of worship that it becomes a job. Lately I have been so busy sorting music, trying to deal with changing schedules and roster changes that I haven't really had the time to take a deep breath and just worship the Living Lord.
This morning, driving to a doctor's appointment, I drove into the Skunk River bottom with the low lying fog and the early morning sun blazing an orange Mark Rothko in the eastern sky. I saw it and I was awe struck by the beauty in that valley and I began worshiping God and praising His Holy name. It was real worship. There was no band, no instruments, no music at all but my own voice... and I was taken to another place.
If only I could capture that feeling when leading worship. Then there would be no feelings of obligation or duty, ritual or roteness. It would just be worship.
This morning, driving to a doctor's appointment, I drove into the Skunk River bottom with the low lying fog and the early morning sun blazing an orange Mark Rothko in the eastern sky. I saw it and I was awe struck by the beauty in that valley and I began worshiping God and praising His Holy name. It was real worship. There was no band, no instruments, no music at all but my own voice... and I was taken to another place.
If only I could capture that feeling when leading worship. Then there would be no feelings of obligation or duty, ritual or roteness. It would just be worship.
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