January 27, 2010
I wonder what would happen if I “Love Dare-ed” my kids…
The book, The Love Dare, is targeted at marital relationships, but the concepts seem to be fairly universal to relationships in general. I wonder what it would do to improve and strengthen my relationship with my 3 children. More to come…
Eric
January 16, 2010
When my 12-year-old son gets in trouble, he sinks into himself, closing off all attempts to understand his decisions or his heart. He can’t stand to be hugged at that point (well, he struggles to be hugged most any time, but especially when he is in trouble). He can almost get violent in his reaction to being held or forced to stay in the discussion — it’s like his shame is so overwhelming his emotions that he feels totally trapped. Sometimes I have to let him run away; sometimes I have to squeeze him into me and force him to open up his emotions.
I realized reading this passage that I do that with my heavenly Father. In my shame, I quit coming to Him. I want to run into the darkness of my own room and hide away. In turn though, He hems me in. He lays His hand on me. Or worse, there are times when He lets me go away into my darkness, knowing that I am rejecting Him. But He always waits. He always knows. He knows that I have no where else to go, and that deep down, I truly love Him, and desire to be in His Presence more than in the darkness.
I know, deep down, that my son loves me, and he desires that my love will never end, even in those moments where he feels he has let me down. I wish that I could help him understand that I know what it is like to do wrong, to feel shame, but to also know that my Father is always there for me, just as He is there for him, and me as well.
The song I’ve added, called Honestly, includes the following lyrics:
Honestly can I tell you where I’m at
Honestly can I pull the curtain back
Will you run if you see how weak I am
If you don’t see the real me you won’t see what mercy’s done
If you don’t see my weakness you won’t see what love has won
If you don’t wee the distance from the darkness to the sun
You won’t see
Honestly
Honestly I’m growing sick and tired
Honestly it hurts too much to hide
Brokeness that’s killing us inside
Let the light escape
From these holes inside my soul
When I start to break
THen grace begins to flow
Let the light escape
From this wounded place inside my soul
Honestly
January 16, 2010
Shoal Creek Community Church is preparing for a historic 7 week spiritual adventure as we unpack the 7 Journeys of a spiritual pilgrimage. An all-encompassing effort, covering Sunday morning services, KidZones, and small groups, this effort will help us understand the components of becoming fully devoted to Jesus Christ. There are plenty of online expressions of this as well.
1) Join the group at YouVersion.com and search for the Shoal Creek Community Church group to go through the biblical foundation for each Journey. I have copied the informal reading plan below (in other words, it isn’t an official reading plan available on the YouVersion website).
2) Attend Shoal Creek — especially this Sunday when we discuss the first Journey. Information can be found at www.shoalcreek.org. If you can’t come (or live around the world), then watch it live at www.live.meaningfulchurch.com, or later that week recorded at www.meaningfulchurch.com.
3) Catch the Tweets as they happen live on Sunday at ShoalCreek.
Below is the Reading Plan, already in progress:
| 7 Journeys Bible Reading Guide | |
| Week One-Introduction | |
| 1/11 | Romans 12 |
| 1/12 | Psalm 8 |
| 1/13 | II Timothy 3 |
| 1/14 | Psalms 23 |
| 1/15 | II Peter 1 |
| 1/16 | Psalms 139 |
| 1/17 | Matthew 5 |
| Weel Two-J1 from earner to heir | |
| 1/18 | Luke 15 |
| 1/19 | II Samuel 9 |
| 1/20 | Titus 3 |
| 1/21 | Ephesians 1 |
| 1/22 | John 3 |
| 1/23 | Ephesians 2 |
| 1/24 | Romans 4 |
| Week Three-J2 from self hearted to soft hearted | |
| 1/25 | Genesis 3 |
| 1/26 | I Kings 11 |
| 1/27 | Luke 9 |
| 1/28 | Jeremiah 2 |
| 1/29 | Romans 3 |
| 1/30 | Isaiah 50 |
| 1/31 | Psalm 51 |
| Week Four-J3 from receiver to giver | |
| 2/1 | Matthew 28 |
| 2/2 | James 1 |
| 2/3 | Psalm 10 |
| 2/4 | Luke 19 |
| 2/5 | I Peter 3 |
| 2/6 | Micah 6 |
| 2/7 | Acts 1 |
| Week Five-J4 from isolation to community | |
| 2/8 | Hebrews 10 |
| 2/9 | Ecclesiastes. 4 |
| 2/10 | Philippians. 2 |
| 2/11 | Zechariah 8 |
| 2/12 | Romans 12 |
| 2/13 | Psalm 121 |
| 2/14 | 1 Peter 1 |
| Week Six-J5 from consumer to producer | |
| 2/15 | I Peter 4 |
| 2/16 | Ephesians 4 |
| 2/17 | Romans 12 |
| 2/18 | Jeremiah 33 |
| 2/19 | Philippians 2 |
| 2/20 | Matthew 25 |
| 2/21 | Joshua 24 |
| Week Seven-J6 from charitable to extravagant | |
| 2/22 | Malachi 3 |
| 2/23 | II Corinthians 8 |
| 2/24 | Lamentations 3 |
| 2/25 | I Timothy 6 |
| 2/26 | Proverbs 3 |
| 2/27 | Jeremiah 9 |
| 2/28 | Matthew 6 |
| Week Eight-J7 from traveler to guide | |
| 3/1 | II Timothy 2 |
| 3/2 | I Kings 19 |
| 3/3 | Matthew 28 |
| 3/4 | Exodus 18 |
| 3/5 | Acts 1 |
| 3/6 | I Timothy 3 |
| 3/7 | I Peter 5 |
January 16, 2010
As part of a reading group online, I have start reading The Elements of Story, by Francis Flaherty. After reading the first section, I realized that I am a writer. Not because I write — because I really don’t very much — but because I reside amidst humans. The story is there, being revealed. The question is whether I am a deep writer or a shallow writer. Too often, I am satisfied with the shallow end — just knowing some facts of a person, or a situation, or an event. I really don’t want to know any more than that. I lack curiosity. The story going on around me is written only from my perspective and I really don’t care whether I uncover the story from the perspective of those around me within the story. I am a salmon swimming upstream who only cares about my destination and nothing about those swimming alongside me.
At times I dabble at writing the perspective of others, of listening and writing onto my heart the story they would tell. But it is hard. It takes time. If requires me to give and not take emotion. It requires that I risk getting sucked into their world, their heartache and their emotions. As I read these chapters, I felt the joy of getting deeper into the stories; could tell that this was the way of the true writer/storyteller. But on my own, I fear to lift the rock and see what is underneath; to dive beneath the messy surface of other people. There are monsters in the closets and demons that will demand my soul if I am not careful, guarded, safe.
I have been going to a little group that meets to learn and practice storytelling. I told my first story a couple of months ago and I learned a valuable lesson — I have to dive into the characters in the story; I have to know them and empathize with them and experience what they are experiencing if I am going to pull the audience into the story too. If there is a character that I don’t like, it comes out in the storytelling. That character was underdeveloped and emotionless.
As a coach, a mentor, a spiritual parent — I wonder if the same danger exists. If I don’t enter into the life of the person I am coaching/mentoring/parenting, will the lack of love/care/vision become evident? If I don’t enter their deeper story, what impact can I possibly have? Won’t the story then really be only about me being a coach/mentor/parent, instead of them becoming who God desires for THEM to be?
January 13, 2010
I am baffled by the events of Jacob’s life. He’s such a stinkin’ liar and cheat; and he gets lied to and cheated. And yet he wrestles with God and doesn’t lose! He demands and receives a blessing! I keep living my life as if the goal is to do nothing wrong, play it safe, and God will bless that. But how often do the people who “deserve” to be blessed the least get blessed! They stumble, they trip, the cheat, they steal, they lust…but God blesses them. Jacob has the gall to fight back. What am I missing here? So maybe what God prefers is that I engage Him, instead of sitting back, waiting for Him to dictate the action steps in my life, quietly and calmly praying and safely traversing the narrow path. Instead, maybe He prefers I charge straight ahead, knowing I’m going to make mistakes, knowing I’m going to stumble and hurt myself and hurt others at times. Maybe He prefers that I get down on my hands and knees ready to wrestle more than He wants me to just submit quietly and passionate-less. What would look different in my life if I wrestled more with God? And am I ready to receive not only the blessing, but also the limp that reminds me of His sovereignty?
