An Empty Trap

Our spiritual life is not one that can be measured, calculated or predicted. The only certainty we have is our uncertainty. But that is not a bad thing. It is indeed quite exciting, spontaneous and full of expectation! So we should not be floundering around, waiting, looking even longing for a certain (steady & predictable) route.

To be certain of God means we are uncertain in oursleves. We are uncertain what each day will bring, but certain in God. We are uncertain of what will happen to us, but certain in God. We are uncertain of where we are going and where life will take us, but we are certain in God.

We are not uncertain of God, just uncertain of what he will do next.

Unfortunately, many 'churched' people-- dare I say 'Christians', lead empty, lifeless and unexciting lives. Why? Because often as churched people, we have become advocates of our creed. Our doctrines, our traditions, and our rules. We are not certain in God, we are only certain in our belief about him.

It is time to put down the stale meaningless life and begin to enjoy the freshness of the abundant life.

Revolutionary Parenting

In Revolutionary Parenting, Barna notes that there are three dominant approaches to parenting currently operative in the United States.

Parenting by default is what Barna termed "the path of least resistance." In this approach, parents do whatever comes naturally to the parent, as influenced by cultural norms and traditions. The objective is to keep everyone - parent, child, and others - as happy as possible, without having the process of parenting dominate other important or prioritized aspects of the parent’s life.

Trial-and-error parenting is a common alternative. This approach is based on the notion that every parent is an amateur at raising children, there are no absolute guidelines to follow, and that the best that parents can do is to experiment, observe outcomes, and improve based upon their successes and failures in child rearing. In this incremental approach, the goals of parenting are to continually improve and to perform better than most other parents.

Barna found that revolutionary parenting was the least common approach. Such nurturing requires the parent to take God’s words on life and family at face value, and to apply those words faithfully and consistently.

Perhaps the most startling difference in these approaches has to do with the desired outcomes. "Parenting by default and trial-and-error parenting are both approaches that enable parents to raise their children without the effort of defining their life," Barna explained. "Revolutionary parenting, which is based on one’s faith in God, makes parenting a life priority. Those who engage in revolutionary parenting define success as intentionally facilitating faith-based transformation in the lives of their children, rather than simply accepting the aging and survival of the child as a satisfactory result."

For the complete article go here.

Least & Lowest

One Ring to Rule them All

Focusing on Jesus' crown of thorns:

“What did the great Romancer do when he wanted to present us with a token of his love and commitment? He made a sacrifice beyond comprehension. A sacrifice so great, so grand, so unfathomable, so ‘other than’ anything you and I could possibly imagine that it left an indelible mark in eternity. He gave us a ring of thorns, a crown of ultimate pain and surrender, a token of unarguable love. He presented us with a symbol bathed in blood and born in sacrifice.”

~Furious Pursuit p. 154

On Bended Knee

LISTENING

John 13:1-5, 23 It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.... One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.

MEDITATION

Imagine you're present at the Last Supper. The meal is over, and Jesus leans back to recline near the table, as was the custom of that time. He's among his disciples, people with whom he's shared three powerful, challenging years. They've all been through much together. Yet Jesus knows much is still yet to come. Imagine what the scene must have looked like.

Now imagine Jesus asks you to join him. What are you feeling as he calls you to him? Are you thrilled? Nervous? Fearful? Contented? Do you feel safe or vulnerable--or perhaps a combination of both? Pay attention to your response and your emotions. Take a moment to figure them out. Then imagine Jesus invites you to lay your head on his chest. He's inviting you to listen to the very heartbeat of God. What's your response? As you listen, what do you hear?[Spend about 15-20 minutes in silence.]

**Taken from "Enjoy the Silence" by Maggie and Duffy Robbins, copyright 2005, Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission. Order the book here: http://www.youthspecialties.com/product/259916

The Shot Heard 'round the Stadium!

We were in Edmonton last weekend for Joel's final hockey tournament of the season.

On Friday morning, Joel's team, Shaw Meadows Ironheads, won their first game 3-1 against an equally matched team from Edmonton.

On Saturday morning, the Ironheads won their second game 3-1 against another equally matched team from Edmonton. In fact, this one went down to the wire with the score being 2-1 Ironheads with 2 minutes left. The other team pulled their goalie and we got an empty netter. (We would meet this team in the final!)

Following this game was a skills competition and then the kids went to West Edmonton Mall for the afternoon.

In the evening, the Ironheads played another Calgary team. There wasn't a heck of a lot of gas left in the tank. Despite this team not having won a game to that point and we not having lost a game to that point - we lost 4-2. Good for those guys. As a parent it stinks to watch your kids work so hard yet come out on the winless end of a tournament - NOT THAT I CAN RELATE, BOOYA!!

Sunday morning, the Ironheads played the Edmonton team from Saturday morning. Both teams had 2 wins & 1 lose. It was a well fought game. Tied at 1 all for the first 2 1/2 periods when the other team scored with 4 minutes left in the third period. With 29 seconds left in the third one of our guys (an unlikely hero who stayed up until 1:30 a.m. that morning) took a one time slap shot from 6 feet out and beat their goalie tying the game. No overtime. Straight to a 4 man shoot out.

First shooters for each team didn't score.
Second shooters for each team scored 1-1.
Third shooters for each team scored 2-2.
Fourth shooters for each team didn't score....
We go through 4 more shooters from each team without scoring.
Shooter #9 from Edmonton - saved by our goalie.

I look at the bench and see Joel with his stick up motioning to the coach to put him in. The coach does!

Shooter #9 from our team is Joel. I yell out "shoot it hard Joel!" He gets the whistle and makes his way down the ice toward the goalie. Back and forth, back and forth he stick handles the puck until reaching the hash marks. He keeps skating as he spots the opening between the goalies legs. He shoots hard...the puck goes five hole & hits the back of the net! The ref points to the back of the net! Joel's arms and stick goes into the air as his teammates pour off the bench and mob him! His coach makes his way to the center of little bodies where he picks Joel up and carries him on his shoulders back to the gathering crowd around our other hero, our goalie!

What a great game! I'm biased but seriously one of the best games and best finishes I've witnessed in any hockey game, even professional.

Hip Hip Hooray Ironheads!

Sanders on Big Decisions & Guidance

• Be unconditionally willing to do it, whatever it is. It may be that your will needs to be redirected. Be willing to be made willing.
• Be obedient to any light the Lord has already given. If you are not obeying that, why expect more?
• Be patient. The road ahead may not be revealed all at once; it seldom is. But God will show you each step as you need to take it.
• Remember the intellectual component in this exercise. John Wesley maintained, “God generally guides me by presenting reasons to my mind for acting in a certain way”—not feelings to my heart.
• Gather all the information you can about the options that are open to you.
• Seek advice from your Christian parents, your pastor, or a trusted Christian counsellor. However, don’t allow them to make the decision for you. It is your life that is at stake, and you will have to live with the consequences of that decision.
• Ensure that the course you propose to pursue is biblically legitimate. Submit it to the test of Scripture.
• List the pros and cons of the course you propose, and as you weigh them, ask the Holy Spirit to sway your mind in the direction of His will, believing that HE does it in keeping with James 1:5.
• Don’t ask for extraordinary guidance, for that is the exception and not the rule, especially as you mature spiritually. Spectacular signs are given only by he sovereign choice of God. Faith is content with quiet guidance.
• Make the best decision you can in the light of the facts, believing God has answered your prayer for wisdom.
• Expect the witness of the Spirit in a deepening conviction that this is the will of God for you. Circumstances may confirm your guidance.
• Be prepared for Satan to challenge your decisions. He did that with the Master.
• Unless action is urgent, allow a little time to elapse, and if the conviction remains and the peace of God guards your heart, act with confidence.
• Don’t dig up in unbelief what you have sown in faith.

~J. Oswald Sanders "Every Life is a Plan of God"

Furious Pursuit II

I've been going through Tim King & Frank Martin's book Furious Pursuit. It is an unbelievable book.

Brian McLaren says this about the book, "If you're sick and tired of spiritual to-do lists, religious shoulds and oughts, and the self-hatred that comes from feeling unacceptable, you'll find in Furious Pursuit better news of a better story. Tim King and Frank Martin have given us powerful truth, well-told."

The Bible talks about personal transformation in the context of thought patterns & ruts (Romans 12:2). How many of us need a change of thinking as it relates to God? How many of us need to hear His story retold? I do & this book is doing it for me.

Here's a lengthy quote worth thinking on:

If you and I are hard-wired to be in relationship with God, created by Love and for Love, then doesn't that relationship need nurturing? If our identity is wrapped up in God, then how do we open ourselves to the identity that God wrote for us? How do we allow it to transform us?

This is not your ordinary shift in relational dynamics. It's an about-face, a 180-degree turn, a reversal of everything we've been taught about our responsibility toward God. His Story not only compels us to see God in a different light; it exhorts us to live in a different state of mind, to relate to God differently, love him differently, and allow him to love us differently.

And that demands a life dedicated to drawing near to God, but not in order to get him to draw near to us--he has already done that. And not in an effort to please him--he's already pleased with us. And definitely not as a means of activating his love toward us--he already loves us. We draw near to God in order to allow his love to transform us and compel us to cast our eyes higher. He wants to engage us in the divine Courtship that is already underway. (From Furious Pursuit, page 72)

Imagine living life confident that God is near you, God is pleased with you, and God loves you no matter what. How would that thinking change your living?

It's a rut worth getting stuck in!

Furious Pursuit

Whether or not we ever choose to accept it, God loves us wholl and unconditionally in spite of our penchant for sin and rebellion and in spite of our faithless tendencies. His love is unlike anything we could possibly fathom on our own.

The great Baptist minister Will Campbell summed it up succinctly: "We're all bastards, but God loves us anyway."

One of the hardest truths any of us will ever grasp is that God is completely enamored with us, absolutely smitten, in love with us unconditionally with all his heart and soul! He loves us regardless of anything we've done, thought, said, or felt. It is possible to convince ourselves that the God who knows our every flaw could love us still?

~Tim King

Prodigal's Brother

Why do I feel so bad, heavy hearted, sad inside?
Why at a time of celebration am I bitter - unable to join in?
Why do I feel neglected, unwanted, unloved, uncelebrated?

I'm supposed to open my arms too, without judging
I'm supposed to forgive, without entertaining thoughts of punishment or justice
I'm not sure I'm ready for this - it will take time
I'm not sure I'm big enough for this - it will take more love than I feel

"He was lost and has been found" I'm told
"Come celebrate and rejoice" I'm invited
"All that I have is yours" I'm promised
"He's your brother" I'm reminded.

~Adrian Riley

Prodigal Returns

It was while we were yet far off

Before we had hatched a plan

or mapped a route back to your heart.

Before we had sent a postcard

to warn you of our imminent return.

While we were yet far off

you could see our footprints

turning in the opposite direction.

You knew that our hearts were entirely captured

before ever we recognized

a chink in our self-centered armor.

While we were yet far off

You had sent out the invitation

and blown up the balloons.

The presents were wrapped

and the chairs pushed back

to make room for the dancing.

As we rounded the corner

we could dimly see you,

craning your neck and leaping for joy.

We thought then

that a reconciliation might be possible.

While we were yet far off

you popped the cork

and added the final touches

to the party tea.

~Tracy Wheeler

Tempted

The Temptation of Jesus

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil.

Lenten Meditations

Help us grow in our desire for you.
We are learning the intimate connection
between the "discipline" we choose these days,
and the growth of our desire.
If our desire for our Lord is weak,
if it has to compete with so many other desires that choke it out,
then we need to re-form our desiring.
We want to be disciples -
those who love Jesus, are with Jesus in our desires,
and choose to follow Jesus.
Amen.

More Meditations, Readings & Prayers here.

Begotten

O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

~The Book of Common Prayer

The Desert Files

I hope you find this Lenten excercise helpful.

Lent & YouTube

There is no sound on this video as it has been designed for silent meditation.

Lent & Presence

Today the heart of God is an open wound of love. He aches over our distance and preoccupation.... He weeps over our obsession with muchness and manyness. He longs for our presence. ~Richard Foster

24

I went on a personal retreat this past week.

My intention was for 48 hours of silence, solitude & fasting. However, I considered not going at all as I battled the flu, but still I went. When I woke up on the first morning there was 4 inches of snow on the ground. I was a 20 minute walk down a hill, over a river and up another hill to my car with bad tires. I chose to split having been satisfied that I had met with God.

I'll spare you all the details (you can drop me a line if you want to hear more).

What did God say to me over that period of time?

There is a common theme running through my life right now: living my spiritual life from my heart.

Nouwen was my spiritual director for the day - these are the things God spoke to me through his words:

By being awake to God in us we can increasingly see God in the world around us.
Meditation is the discipline by which we let the word of God become a word for us and anchor itself in the center of our being, as well as the wellspring of our actions.
The more we let the events of Christ's life inform and form us, the more we will be able to connect our own daily stories with the great story of God's presence in our lives.

Again, I won't go into details just to say that I've been looking at life as a puzzle to be solved and getting frustrated in the meantime. I've neglected to see life as a quest with Jesus as my friend & guide.

Nouwen kicked me in the pants:

A spiritual life doesn't necessarily lead to tranquillity, to peace, or to a beautiful feeling about ourselves or about how nice it is to be together with others. The chipping-away process can hurt. It might mean being lonely in a place where you never wanted to go. It might lead you to a vocation you never sought. It might ask you to do uncomfortable things. Or it might ask you to obediently and routinely do comfortable things that are not very dramatic when you prefer adventure. The spiritual truth is that God is at work in each of us and in our communities and families. Often, the companionship of trusted friends allows us to see how God is at work. We can't always see God's activity by ourselves.

My goals have been out of whack.

"Jesus doesn't call you to be successful, but to be faithful." ~Mother Teresa

What I needed to hear most was:

I am God's beloved, with me He is well pleased.

Nouwen says:

God's words "You are my Beloved" reveal the most intimate truth about all human beings, whether they belong to any particular tradition or not. The ultimate spiritual temptation is to doubt this fundamental truth about ourselves and trust in alternative identities.

Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that declares we are loved.

From the moment we claim the truth of being the Beloved, we are faced with the call to become who we are.

Becoming the Beloved means letting the truth of our Belovedness become enfleshed in everything we think, say or do.

It was a good 24 hours, one that will be repeated again!

Lent & Love

(God) will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in his love than in your own weakness. ~Mother Teresa

Lent - A journey to the Cross

Lent begins today, Ash Wednesday, & will continue until Good Friday.

Lent is a time set aside to reflect on Jesus' suffering and death. As we do so, it is an opportunity for us to take an inventory of our spiritual life & relationship with God as we meditate, confess & renew our lives in Him.

Each day you are invited back here for a guided meditation on this year's journey to the cross.

*** *** *** *** ***

Pilgrimage to Calvary

We keep our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. ~Hebrews 12:2

A man standing on the deck of a ship suddenly heard a deafening rumble as a volcano on the shore burst into flame. The whole countryside was lit up, and then the flame died. In those moments, he said, was revealed the fire that is ever burning in the heart of that mountain.

As we contemplate the Passion of our Lord, His suffering on Calvary, we have a glimpse of the love that is forever in the heart of God for each of us. Calvary is the supreme articulation of God's love for the world.

Taken from 40 Days with the Savior

I’m forgiven

because You were forsaken,

I’m accepted,

You were condemned.

I'm alive and well,

Your sprit is within me,

Because You died and rose again.

Amazing love,

How can it be?

That You, my King would die for me?

Amazing love,

I know it’s true.

It’s my joy to honour You,

In all I do, I honour You.