I realize that new posts on my blog have been fairly non-existent for the past few months. Church-planting has kept me fairly busy and therefore I have decided to revamp this blog. In the coming days/weeks this blog will be relaunched with a more focused emphasis on the gospel, our culture and the church. I think I'll start a separate blog for my photography.
(a closeup)
I received this email from my friend Erik a few weeks back, and it has stuck with me since then. I didn't get his permission (sorry Erik!) but I don't think he'll mind...
The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-Personal life is to be played out in each one of us: or (putting it the other way round) each one of us has got to enter that pattern, take his place in that dance. There is no other way to the happiness for which we were made. Good things as well as bad, you know, are caught by a kind of infection. If you want to get warm you must stand by the fire: if you want to get wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if He chose, just hand out to anyone. They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very center of reality. If you are close to it, the spray will wet you: if you are not, you will remain dry. Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever? Once a man is separated from God, what can he do but wither and die? - C.S. Lewis
I have several friends who I consider to be spiritual giants. Of course they know God's word, but they really know Him. They don't just know stuff about Him. Sort of like when someone asks what you & your spouse think about a certain issue. You immediately smile because you can imagine your spouse's reaction to the conversation. Then, when you finally talk to your spouse, they react to the issue and you laugh aloud because you knew exactly what they would think and say. I'll bet you also know someone who has this kind of friendship with God. What does it take to have this intimate knowledge of our Maker's heart? I'll gamble that you know as well as I do. The answer is simple. The "secret" is not based on intellect or vocation, social status or the field to which he calls us. We must simply choose to be with Him, earnestly, often, continually. We must abide in Him. Like a branch abides in the vine. John 15 has such a clear message that we have all experienced. I think we all know this in our heart of hearts. Perhaps we're even offended by the simplicity of true spirituality. Intimacy=time spent. I think back to the last time I felt really close to Him. It aligns with a season when I was preoccupied with Jesus all day. I was skipping entertainment to be absorbed with the Lord. I was listening to worship CDs or sermons in the car instead of commercials. Instead of pouring over the newest Christian book, I was pouring over the oldest Christian Book. I came before Him to listen, not to read requests to Him. We all kinda know this don't we? Yet we choose tv every night. I know he waits for me in the morning, yet I hit the snooze bar knowing I can sleep a little longer. Funny that appointments that unexpectedly get cancelled reveal what we value. Cancelled appointments for me open up time for my favorite thing: I frantically scratch a couple more piddly things off the to-do list.
I can verbalize these things well but struggle to live them. The giants I know don't merely go thru good spurts with God. They are consistent. Like serious distance runners. No serious marathon runner runs a lot one week and none the next. The giants I know have carefully built margin into their lives. They guard that margin with bared teeth. They say no a lot. I don't do that. I don't think I love email or my phone or meetings more than Jesus, but my habits say otherwise. I need God to intervene. Join me in praying for revival. Revival for me, revival for you if dare. If we STAY in Lewis' fountain/fire, I suggest that we will not need to explain much to those we hope to influence for Jesus. A coworker who doubts the fire of God will smell the smoke in our clothing. The high school kid who doubts the refreshing spring of God will notice that we're soaked to the bone. But aside from impacting others, I just want more of Him. Just for me. I know the cost. Oh, for the self-control to pay it.
After a very long hiatus, Fridays are for Photos is back. I have finally replaced the camera that was stolen in Spain.
Here are a few shots I took yesterday.
I bought the Punch Brothers' debut album, "Punch" about three weeks ago. Since that time I have probably listened through the album over 30 times. This has the potential of being one of the best albums I have heard in the last few years. It is very different from almost anything you've ever heard. The sound goes from quite simple to very complex - from extremely intricate at one moment, to completely stripped down at the next. The musicianship is phenomenal. Chris Thile is so good on the mandolin that it is unhealthy.
The really surprising aspect of the album for me was the lyrical content. It seems that almost the entire album was written in regards to Thile's divorce, his depression that ensued and his searching for faith in the midst of it all. I don't know where Thile stands in regards to Jesus, but some of his lyrics really hit home for me.
If you're not sold by now, there's not much more that I can say other than expand your horizons!
From "The Blind Leaving the Blind - Movement 4"
I'm coming back my friends
from the deep and bitter end
where i was so concerned
that we would be the ones who burned
the more scared, the safer,
the more grateful for the grape juice and the wafer
mmm…i sound done
and i feel done
but i’m not done
unless he'd give up on a lost son
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