The Dark Side

I'm a liar listening to liars.

I believe a number of things that honestly ought never to have entered my head.

At any give time, I adhere wholeheartedly to the Liar's Creedo:

At times, I believe:

• I'm no good
  
• And neither are you
  
• Things will only get worse
  
• And they were never really better
  
• But I'm okay
  
• In fact, I'm fine
  
• I know what's best
  
• Sometimes I'm the only one who does
  
• And if I don't look out for me, no one will
  
• This is the way things really are.
  

The Voice of Truth tells me a different story...

• His strength is made perfect in my weakness
  
• We are all his children
  
• There is victory
  
• The Lord reigns
  
• All have sinned
  
• But there is therefore now no condemnation
  
• His ways are not our ways
  
• The fool has said in [her]heart "there is no God"
  
• Love your neighbor as yourself
  
• This is the way things "really" are.
  

I have a very shiny, magnetic nametag. In about 22pt. type, someone has correctly spelled my name and stamped it deep in the metal faced, plastic backed thing that hovers just beneath my right shoulder, a weighted reminder of where I am.

I'm at HopeWorks, a "small" ministry of the churches of Christ. I say "small," because we're headquartered in the basement of another church right now. I say "small" because our staff consists of about 7 full-time people and one extremely full-time volunteer (about whom I'll have much more to say later). I say "small" because in tangible ways, this ministry doesn't make a huge geographic blip on anyone's corporate radar.

As I sit at my desk during a brief lull, watching an apple cinnamon tea bag bleed brightly into the once-clear water of my cup, I realize how "small" we are, but how God uses the small to accomplish the big.

We have opportunity to change lives - the lives of more than a dozen people at a time. For 13 weeks, we help bring them out of their day-to-day. I sometimes wish we could rapture them from their worlds, but instead we are given the ministry of sharpening the tools God has given them to change their worlds. It never ceases to amaze me the transformations that explode the fragile shells of prejudice, stereotype, and perceived potential.

Kip said last night that we're all jars of clay, all crumbling and some near-shattered. But it's in that brokenness, through those cracks and that absolute reliance on something other than our own internal fortitude to sustain us, and through those imperfections that the Glory of God shines through. Because his strength is indeed made perfect in our weakness.

Working here is a constant blessing to a humble, crumbling vessle.

By the way (part 2):

That photo should not be taken as any sort of proof that I actually exist. Ask Matt: I am bigfoot.

By the way....

By the way, this has a lot to do with where I've been...




Ain't he cute?

Georgia On My Mind and Drool On My Pillow

I kinda disappeared again. My bad.

Honestly, I disappeared for a good reason this time: life changing stuff, just for kicks.

This past weekend, though, I got to traipse off to the wide world of HotLanta to see ... pretty much everything. And also Matt.

Matt is a darn good guy with a wonderful wife and a passle of (read: "three")adorable kids. Just all around good stuff there in Atlanta.

Met people, did stuff.smelled the fish tacos. Was good.

Now I'm back. More updates about my fascinating life to follow.... stay tuned!

Just Curious. Really...

So...

What's great about Atlanta?

Today has been a shade of incredible. Actually, "incredible" is a poor word when it's broken down to its literal bits, but that's far beside the point. Take the word at face value and it fits the situation nicely.

Today has been good because God was most certainly present at our worship today. He is active in the hearts of so many and it's good to see it in ways I can't deny. I supposed today was breathed of God and therefore inspired. Enthusiastically (lit. possed of God), we praised - without our hearts, minds and spirits.

Tonight we are called to remember. Daily we are called to remember; tonight we were reminded to do so. Remember not only the times God has graced, blessed and saved us, but also those times in which he has chastised, corrected and led us to a better place through ways one might (indeed will) deem unpleasant.

Even in those times when we believe God is the thorn in our sides, he's our healer, comfort and Lord.

No real point here, either. Just rambling on the greatness of God.

Another Sheepish Reappearance of Q

Wednesday night Bible study always gets me thinking.

I'm in a group in which we are "studying" Hebrews. I say "studying" because we're really "progressing through blocks outlined by NIV Study Bible section headings" -- and we're expected to do so on a schedule, apparently.

I don't object, actually, to keeping a particular pace in a study, but discouraging conversation and discussion on a topic of interest to the class seems detrimental to the assumed aim -- which, I thought, was to study the word of God and apply it to our lives.

I don't know. It just bothers me that a discussion is truncated because the topic has veered from the inner titling of the NIV text.

However, we did get off into another realm, so to speak. We began discussing communion and the question of singing during communion came up. (I guess I should note that I am the youngest in the class by about 25 - 30 years. I guess I should note it, at least; everyone else seems to. Often. I should also note that I love these people.)

Singing during communion.

The leader of the Bible study said it takes the mind off of Christ and his sacrifice. This confuses me since the songs we sing tend to be about Christ and his sacrifice. And how we come to the throne of God in grace and humility. I pointed out that singing and communion are both acts of worship -- and acts of worship are, by nature, to be focused on God. He called this "multi-tasking."

Is it multi-tasking? I mentioned that I pray during communion, too, which is also an act of worship and wondered how that differed. He corrected me: "We pray before the Lord's supper."

We pray corporately before the Lord's supper. I continue to pray throughout. Am I multi-tasking? If singing bothers him, he shouldn't sing. If it, like praying, helps one to focus, shouldn't that one sing? Singing is not, last I checked, compulsory in most services -- a sacrifice rendered to God out of the overflow of oru hearts, sure, but not something to be checked off a list -- or marked off completely.

This is a rant and a ramble and insomnia-induced, no less. Therefore it has no flow and, likely, no point as well. I hope to clean it up at some point, but chances are I won't.

But I DID put something here!

Wake up, Pygmalion...

Better brace yourselves...

Of course, you know, an article like that is such a nice, reliable way to pad the statistics for next year's analysis as well. Self-fulfilling prophecy and all that. "The 24th is the worst day of the year? And it's on a Monday this year? Dangit." We should all give up now before the day arrives.

Or, you know, we could quit borrowing trouble and all that...

Psalm 22

Studying Psalm 22 always makes me think.

Psalm 22 is the Psalm that Jesus quoted from the cross and in a class Curt was teaching a couple weeks ago, this thought struck me: whoever penned that psalm knew nothing about Jesus, didn't have a clue about the christology of the coming church and had no way of knowing what would be done with his words. But what hit me for the first time was this: somebody thousands of years ago sat down and wrote words that not only comforted Israel for thousands of years, but were the words that came to the mind of Christ in arguably the worst moments of his life.

The words of the lament of a man of flesh to his God came as comfort to the mouth and mind of the Word of God made flesh. It's an interesting chiasm.