May « 2009 « Journeyman Journal

Gentle Change

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

I had a great time with God this morning. The hotel room is quiet; I have a diet Pepsi at my side…and God was speaking (and perhaps more importantly…I was listening). I am currently walking through the book of Jeremiah and reading Abba’s Child by Brennan Manning. This morning they came together.

Manning was talking about how often we treat “life like as a series of disconnected episodes” with no meaning or value to them. But nothing could be further from the truth. We are just looking in the wrong place for the meaning and value (or ignoring it altogether after a lifetime of disappointment):

The dark riddle of life is illuminated in Jesus; the meaning, purpose, and goal of everything that happens to us, and the way to make it all count can be learned only from the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

All day and every day we are being reshaped into the image of Christ. Everything that happens to us is designed to this end. (Abba’s Child, page 108).

Life is about being transformed into the image of Christ. Life is not a mistake of circumstances. Life doesn’t just happen. It is designed and used by God with our best interests at heart. And Jeremiah understood this. In the midst of God railing about the destructive influence of idols, Jeremiah prays this prayer:

I know, LORD, that our lives are not our own.
We are not able to plan our own course.
So correct me, LORD, but please be gentle.
Jeremiah 10:23-24a, NLT

That is my prayer this morning. I know God is at work changing me into His image. And it’s hard work…I’m stubborn and thick-headed. I want Him to correct, change, and transform me. I just pray that He will be gentle in doing it and that I will be more aware of the intentionality of His purpose in my life. Life is NOT haphazard. God is using my life to change me…gently.

31.05.2009 Devotional, Spiritual Development, Spiritual Musings No Comments

Happy Birthday Baby!

Friday, May 29th, 2009

My precious wife (see Proverbs 31) is 29 years old again today!! And we are off to spend a quiet weekend together (sans children) to celebrate and just get away. She has earned it more than anyone…putting up with me, three kids, and school over the past 18+ months.

19 years ago she actually said “yes” to a crazy kids who got up the nerve to ask her to marry him. Sometimes you just get lucky!!

I love you Anita…I couldn’t imagine a better wife or mother! Happy Birthday!

My Love!
My Favorite Picture!

29.05.2009 Family 2 Comments

Beloved of God

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

As part of my time alone with God in the morning I have been reading the book Abba’s Child by Brennan Manning (thanks to a recommendation by Natalie Witcher—read her blog). A few weeks ago one of the chapters in the book hit me pretty hard…God used it (and is still using it) to shift some of my old paradigms about how I look at God’s love for me. He asks this great question that I am still wrestling with:

How would you respond if I asked you this question: Do you honestly believe that God likes you, not just loves you because theologically God has to love you? (Abba’s Child, page 64)

That’s a great question…do I really believe God loves me…or that He even likes me? Not because He has to…but because He just does? I have difficulty answering this question; I don’t like my answer. But the truth is, God does love us. Period. End of story…

God loves who we really are—whether we like it or not. (page 22)

Thank God for that one…but I wonder how many of us actually believe it. I wonder how much I actually believe it.

Re-entry

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

School is over. Homework is done. Graduation is complete.

It’s hard to believe. I am still in “re-entry” mode to a large degree…even blogging again is a little therapeutic. The past month has been so full…so busy…that blogging has taken a backseat. But I’m back now. And I need a place to work through my thoughts and feelings…and God’s workings. And He has been working, I just haven’t been writing about it.

Now that school is over there is The Big Question: What’s next?

I started reading Jeremiah this week and came across this passage:

This is what the Lord says:
“Stop at the crossroads and look around.
Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it.
Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.”
(Jeremiah 6:16, NLT)

That’s how I feel right now..like I am standing at the crossroads looking around. And I want to take the “godly way” and walk in it and find rest for my soul. So I have been praying for God’s leading and direction for the “What’s Next?” question.

Here’s what’s clear: My education may be done, but He’s not done working on me yet. There is more internal work left to be done. I may have some book knowledge but God wants my heart…He wants me. And He has more to do within me. As His child. As a father. As a husband. I need to take some time to be sure my heart and soul are ready for whatever is next.

And I am ready for this part of the journey as well. I get the sense that it will be this way for a couple of months. I submit to this process. I need this. So I stop and look down the crossroads. I ask for the Godly way. I will walk in it. I will travel its path. I will find rest for my soul.

27.05.2009 Misc Ramblings, School, Spiritual Musings No Comments

Friday Fodder 05-15-09

Friday, May 15th, 2009

This past week has been insanely busy with the final weeks of school (I graduate on the 24th!), but there’s always some time for a little humor. I should be back at it in full force in June. Until then, here’s little something to keep you smiling:

This pretty much describes my golf game…

Happy Friday!

15.05.2009 Friday Fodder, Humor No Comments

Friday Fodder 05-08-09

Friday, May 8th, 2009

I love watching people get scared…and this is no exception…

Scared by a What?

Happy Friday!

08.05.2009 Friday Fodder, Humor, Video No Comments

The End of Civilization…

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

I have been thinking about this particular issue for a few months now but am only just now getting around to blogging about it. Do you see that dispenser in the picture to the left? It is the end of our civilization!

I mean…come on…just how lazy have we become that we need pre-foamed soap? Isn’t the act of rubbing our hands together to create lather part of the cleansing process? Has it become too much work for us to perform this simple task? We just had to come up with a more efficient way to create soap lather?

It makes me wonder what’s next…but I can’t come up with anything more lazy than this (except perhaps a way to make sleep more efficient?). I know it’s petty and you probably think I’m a little weird (which is true by the way)…but every time I have to use one of these stupid devices it just irritates me.

So, now I am opening up the floor…what irritates you…what device, or action, etc. do you think is going to be the cause of our eventual downfall? Perhaps it’s the burr-grinder or the Pez dispenser? Let’s here it…I can’t be the only one (and I feel better now)…

07.05.2009 Misc Ramblings, Soap Box 1 Comment

The Power of Brevity

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

I read an interesting and powerful story today about Ernest Hemingway. Yes, I checked it out on scopes.com and it is unverified…could be true, might not be. True or not, the point still remains.

The story goes something like this: Hemingway bets a group of fellow writers—while sitting in a bar—that he can write a great short story in six words or less. They all pony up $10 and Hemingway writes this story:

For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.

He won the pot. Not only is this technically a story (with a beginning, middle, and end) but it tells a powerful story because we fill in the sad details.

It’s powerful because it’s brief and makes us think. We process the story…we fill in the blanks (sometimes with our own life experiences). This is a lesson I am trying to learn and put into practice in my own life. Too often I prattle on beyond what’s necessary.

I will take this lesson from one of our modern-day masters…there is power in brevity…I don’t have to say it all.

06.05.2009 Misc Ramblings No Comments

My Father’s Arms

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

I just started reading a book by Brennan Manning called Abba’s Child. It was recommended by one of my favorite bloggers, Natalie Witcher (if you haven’t…please check out her site). And I have not been the slightest disappointed (and I am only into the second chapter so far). In the very first chapter, Manning makes a statement that has stuck with me all week…it is still working on me:

“God’s sorrow lies in our refusal to approach Him when we have sinned and failed. A “slip” for an alcoholic is a terrifying experience. The obsession of the mind and body with booze returns with the wild furry of a sudden storm in springtime. When the person sobers up, he or she is devastated. I had two options: yield once again to guilt, fear, and depression; or rush into the arms of my heavenly Father—choose to live as victim of my disease; or choose to trust in Abba’s immutable love.” (page 20, emphasis added).

Alcoholism isn’t my particular “demon” but I understand the choice Manning is illustrating here. And I too seldom run into the arms of my heavenly Father. I turn to the wrong stuff instead of turning to God. I’m not sure I even know how to run into His arms…but it’s my heart’s desire and something I am asking Him to teach me. It isn’t natural…it isn’t my first instinct. But it’s what I need.

So God and I are working on it. I am learning to trust in His “immutable love”; I am learning to run into His arms; I am learning to be His child. I just wish I wasn’t always such a slow learner!