Truth has a quiet breast...

If I held truth captive in my hand, I should open my hand and let it fly,
in order that I might again pursue and capture it.
-Malebranche.

Truth hath a quiet breast.

-Shakespeare

Last night at youth church we had an evening centered on communion. It involved worship, prayer, video scenes from the Gospel of John movie and a contemplative communion table. It was soaking time at New Generation. I love when the Lord just rains...not pours but gentle showers. Misty moments of spiritual refreshment, soft tears flowing...quiet tears. Lot's longing going on. It was holy.

I think Alexander (a young man with Down Syndrome) said it best...I feel it in here as he patted his chest...yah, me too Alex, me too.

Another old school pic of my mom, dad and her brother. 

Gloria,the first horse I learned to ride. 

Here is my family when I was a kid. 

Here is a old pic of my grandparents house up on Robie Creek. They built most of this house and land with their bare hands.  

Here is an old school pic of my mother, my great grandmother, and my grandmother. I love this photo...thanks Betsy!  

Great bookstore finds...

I found some great books in a couple fantastic old book stores while I was in Boise. I found a copy of the Hobbit with the illustrations from the movie, which I love. I also found another book by Elbert Hubbard simply called The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard. I also received a book called The Sisters that was written by my great grandmother, Margaret H. Wright. It is a book about her life. These were major scores!

Here is Danielle and Dawn, Betsys daughters...Hey, Danielle...next time let's both hang out at the end of the street. Dawn, sorry I missed your game but hey, my clothes still match. Loved hanging with you all...love your Mom, she is an awesome woman. 

Here is my Aunt Betsy and her husband Tom. Betsy is another priceless piece of my Robie Creek memory. Thanks to her, I love to ride horses, eat Nobake cookies and know that girls can kick ass! Your the best Bets...and thanks for the pictures.  

Here is Nick's wife Natasha and their daughter Sinead, the ballerina. Thanks for the Rock Star Tasha...  

OK...those mountains in the background are the hills Nick and I emerged at the top of on our little road trip described below. Robie Creek is on the other side of the mountains. There was a little sticker inside the ford explorer that said non pavement travel was strictly forbidden...I must confess...we came down those hills and you needed a 4x4 to do it. Ahhh the wildness of it all!
 

Here is a view from up in the mountains near Boise, ID. Nick and I were retracing an infamous road trip we took on an old Vespa motor scooter through the mountains to Boise at 2AM, back when we were both a little crazy. This time we were in a Ford Explorer, it handled the trail a lot better...
 

here is my uncle Nick and his daughter Sinead at my grandparent's old house on Robie Creek, ID. It means nothing much to most of you but to me...it was heaven on earth for many summers as a child. My uncle Nick and this house are two of the things I treasure most from my childhood. I was so glad to be able to spend time with both this last weekend. Memory lane was worth the trip.
 

On the road again...

I'm off to Boise, Idaho today, I will return Saturday night.

I will be attending a class on Internet technologies for Business. I am working on developing a homebased source of income using the Internet for businesses web maintenance.

 

While I am there I am going to visit my Uncle and Aunt (Nick & Betsy) and revisit my childhood stomping ground...Robie Creek, ID.

Time to look at childhood through adulthood...should be fun.

I'll take lots of pictures to share. I'm really looking forward to this trip.

Talk soon...

When revelation and application kissed...

I was preaching a message on love and the two trees in the garden this morning.

As I was speaking in the flow of the Spirit, these words came out...

 

Who are you to judge a man before he is dead? Not even God does that.

 

It was a word of wisdom that struck me as it was said. I had not thought of the phrase during preparations or pondered such conclusions, it just emerged in the flow. Such moments happen often in my preaching life...stones get lunched in the fray that have been discovered in a creek hours, weeks or years before. It reminds me of when David ran to meet Goliath and he stopped at a small stream and removed from the flowing waters, 5 smooth stones for his sling.

 

Reading, study, prayer, worship, living, loving, writing, conversation and listening are all part of filling the stream with stones. Those stones come handy when you need a rock to fell a giant. This morning I marveled at the moment when revelation and application kissed.

 

So much of the stuff I read on preaching, teaching and ministering the word seems so sterile to me, I don't relate. I have never seemed to fit into the pastoral/teacher mold..I often feel like David trying to wear Saul's armor. I can't do battle in it. Just give me a stream, a stone and a Divine moment to sling it and with a little luck, it seems to hit the target once in a while. It real amazes me.

Happy Birthday Dan...a big 32! Glad to callyou friend. 

Take the plunge folks...don't be afraid to dive in the discussion. I want to hear your feedback, thoughts, ideas and comments.
 

Balloon Missles...LOL! This cracks me up...could you imagine seeing those on the highway! (lifted from http://www.engadget.com)
 

Hey You Hottie! Go over and post your place of orgin on my new guest map. It's easy don't be shy. 

The way of Love...

The way of love...

"We have failed to understand and internalize the biblical teaching that our fundamental sin is not our evil as though the solution for sin was to become good, but our getting life from what we believe is our knowledge of good and evil. Our fundamental sin is that we place ourselves in the position of God and divide the world between what we judge to be good and what we judge to be evil. And this judgment is the primary thing that keeps us from doing the central thing God created and saved us to do, namely, love like he loves.

Because we do not usually understand and internalize the nature of our foundational sin, we usually think our job as Christians is to embrace a moral system, live by it, and thus to be good people in contrast to all those who are evil. In fact, I shall argue, God's goal for us is much more profound and much more beautiful than merely being good..." (excerpt from the article)

This article made me weep in a fresh breeze of revelation.
The whole imagery of which tree are you eating from, hit me like a quiet voice on a fiery mountain side.
Don't be spooked at the first picture you will see, the article is not focused on that issue or a defense for legitimizing it...simply read. If your heart has grown calloused by living under law and seeking to be good enough, this article may be a drink of cool water. -Eric

Pray for Micah.
This boy is a little slice of thunder and lightning sent from heaven to fry my nerves to a crisp! Yesterday I had to remove him from church for punching a boy in the mouth during Sunday school. Poor kid was bleeding when I dragged my kid off with my belt coming undone.
I took him home and administered swift justice and imprisoned him in his room to ponder his sins. Later he came up to the kitchen and said this to me in a soft little contrite voice...
Dad, those spankings didn't hurt.
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! I'm a failure...
 

Our gay friends...

There was a boy in my high school, named Roger. It's not really his name. I'm just giving him the name Roger. We knew he was gay and the day he was most at pain was the day of gym because after we played some games we had to go into the shower and he would never go into the shower with us.

When we left the shower, we took our wet towels and would sting his body by whipping the towels at him. As we walked past Roger we would whip the towels at Roger and sting him and we thought it was great fun to see this queer dance under our taunts. We thought it was fun to work on him.

I wasn't there the day they shoved him into the corner of the shower and 5 guys urinated all over him. But that night Roger went home and went into his garage and he hung himself.
-Tony Campolo

For more on the subject you can read his article here.

I remember...

He is not worthy of honeycomb that shuns the hive because the bees have stings.
-Shakespeare

"Our enemies are before us," exclaimed the Spartans at Thermopylae.
"And we are before them." was the cool reply of Leonidas.
"Deliver your arms," came the message from Xerxes.
"Come and take them," was the answer Leonidas sent back.
A persian soldier said: "You will not be able to see the sun for flying javelins and arrows."
"Then we will fight in the shade," replied a Lacedemonian.
(From "Pushing to the Front" by Orison Sweet Marden)

My prayers and thoughts are towards those that have lost loved ones;
and those who are still fighting to keep America and other's safe from terrorists.
All I can really say is that I remember and won't forget.

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love. -Helps
 

Jesus’ Barbarian Call...

God never intended churches to be places of safety and predictability.
We’ve taken Jesus’ barbarian call and have sanitized it into a religion we call Christianity;
a far cry from the movement we see in the apostolic church...
Jesus wants to pull us out of the doldrums of this civilized and tamed religion of mediocrity.
He wants to release us to become an uncivilized, untamed incitement of faith, love and hope
and reclaim that primal passion to serve a lost and broken humanity...
designed to unleash the barbaric faith within the hearts of leaders
and cultivate the dreams lying latent in their souls.
(from: Mosaic)

I want to attend this conference really bad.
I've enjoyed Erwin Mcmanus as an author, his book Seizing Your Divine Moment is one of my favorite books.
This conference sounds juicy and potent!

All right here is the lounge I have been working on in my garage. It needs a name...so help me out.
 

The ticket prices for concerts are a nail in Jesus hand. Unbelievers aren't going to pay to hear about Jesus because deep in their hearts they know they shouldn't have to. The gospel is free! -Keith Green
Then Keith quoted from Paul out of First Corinthians:
What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my rigth in the gospel.

That night Keith had around 8000 of his records ready to give away for free.
Oh...those days are so long gone... go to www.lastdaysministries.org for more radical stuff.

Why I passed on the PASSION

Here is an article that finally sums up why I have not paid money to see the Passion of the Christ movie.

All of this isn't a reflection at all on the movie but on the machine that is grinding up the beauty of artistic expression and sincere faith. I admire Mel Gibson and his achievement as a filmmaker...I abhor the moneychangers that are pressing their filthy lucre stained, high pressured sales boot on religious consumers necks.

I refuse to exploit the most holy event in the history of eternity to make some bucks.

It's worst than making money of the deaths of the 9-11 victims. Imagine if there were t-shirts, cards, mugs, books, photos, bookmarks, software, mousepads, pins, bumperstickers, church signs, posters all using that tragedy to make a dollar. It sickens me. Am I overracting? Maybe but it sure seems there isn't many that are even looking at what is going on as the dogs take another buck out of your religious wallet.

Shame on us for using the blood to make a buck.

Double shame on us for allowing others to manipulate our religious emotions to put the pearl of great price in their bank.

I have been working on creating a space in my garage for hanging out in peace. It's been a lot of work but it's coming together. Now of course the kids have claimed it as their spot... 

A rose from my backyard. 

I think we found the den of destruction...a big bee's nest located in the crack in part of our fence. I think this is where Kona got stung real bad a few weeks ago.  

This is Kona, our dog.