every two months, we take a gaggle of downtown eastside women on a car ride, a ferry ride, and another car ride until we reach the sunshine coast. even if you've never heard of the sunshine coast, doesn't it sound idyllic? well, it is-- it's perfection.
we take the whole band to a little slice of paradise called "linwood house."
this is the most exquisite home i have ever been in.
first of all-- it's massive.
second of all-- every little detail is amazing:
i took great delight in the doilies, the english country rose teacups, the pinstriped upholstery, the embossed wallpaper, the hardwood floors, the wraparound porch, the baby grand piano the paintings, the blue hydrangeas...absolutely stunning.
BLOG WHIPLASH COMING UP:
i wrote that 1 week ago, and never got around to finishing it. it now seems like lifetimes ago-- i'm far away from the sunshine coast, in every sense. to write any more about the experience would be looking into the distant past, and that is not something i'm inclined to do.
still, i enjoyed that handful of sentences i wrote, so i'm keeping them up.
onto the present.
we (and by we, i mean humanity, not just you and i) are always so stinkin busy.
i can't even tell you how many emails i have composed to long lost friends that began with, "sorry i haven't written you in a while, i've just been so busy!" \
614 Vancouver is, perhaps, particularly hustling. i know of individuals who, and i have experienced times when i, don't have time to buy groceries or do laundry because of working so tirelessly. ridiculous.
thus-- if one of us has a few hours off, all we want to do is rest.
i often hear, "i want to go visit people on the streets in my free time, i want to pray more, but i just can't fit it in!"
this chaos has a few different results:
--a chore mindset. a troupe of people who only do good for others when it is programed in for them to do so. visitation during League of Mercy, prayer during Air Force, preaching during Open Air, but never ministering out of the spontaneous overflow of the heart.
--lack of intimacy with the Lord. time with Him is rushed and scheduled down to the minute, full of requests and study but minimal amounts of listening and waiting.
--and at worst: burnout. total loss of passion and desire. quitting the field.
i think that many people these days look at business as a sign of importance. if you're not tiring yourself out with duty, then you must not be working hard enough for the Lord. i confess that sometimes i see my comrades running around like maniacs, and i feel that maybe i should be doing the same.
but the Lord keeps telling me "no"! in fact, He is telling me to cut back my schedule. this way, i'll have time off, and i'll have no excuse for not praying, for not taking one of our friends out for dinner, for neglecting a comrade who needs me to minister to them. i'll have the time to do what i WANT to do, and hopefully it will come more out of the abundance of my heart, and less out of prosperity of my schedule.
the Lord has also been teaching me about the importance of having a "secret place" with Him. going to my room, closing the door, and talking to Him with no one else around. this is also something that i can only do well if i haven't packed my day as much as is humanly possible. solitude is a basic lesson, but i'm relearning it, and it's transforming me. praise the Lord.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
the blog file
i've been quite slack on the ole blog front these days-- whoops.
it's just because my life is so rich, so full, so abundant...i find it hard to place blogging at the top of my priorities list. not that i have a list.
but i do love lists. hat tip dad (*tick tick tick*)
i've been rereading "Helps to Holiness," by Samuel Logan Brengle. absolute classic-- i'm getting more out of it this time then ever before.
here's a few things in the book that i've been loving (again), and a few of my own thoughts:
(heh, a list.)
1.)
"watch your life and doctrine closely. persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers."
(1 Timothy 4:16)
personal holiness is absolutely vital-- for our own salvation, and that of those who hear the message through us.
p.s. on this one: who are your hearers?
"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"
(Romans 10:14)
preach it to 'em. AND-- watch your life and doctrine closely. you cannot to take too much care of your own soul.
2.)
chapter 12-- Gideon's Band-- absolutely brilliant.
he interprets that the crazy water-lapping-elimination that God does is not random-- but it was the Lord weeding out the self-indulgent soldiers. they took their eyes off the enemy to stick their faces in the river and quench their thirst. but the soldiers that God wanted, the remnant of 300 who defeated the 32,000 Midianites, drank with their eyes alert, their hands on their weapons, even though they were just as thirsty as the others.
we don't want no self-indulgent soldiers. we'd do better without them. i'd rather have an Army of sacrificial, fearless, disciplined soldiers that is dwarfed in number by the enemy, then a large Army of gluttons and sloths.
3.)
Stephen Court promotes that carnal Christianity is the worst possible lifestyle. and i testify-- amen. if your a sinner, full-on, at least you can "enjoy" the sin, relish in it, soak up all you can from it. and if you're sanctified, you can experience the highest possible levels of joy because of shame-free, ecstatic intimacy with God.
but: if your a Christian, AND you continue in sin-- relationship with God is lacking because of shame and the knowledge in the back of your mind that you are disobeying the One you claim to love. not only is relationship with God lacking, but sin isn't even enjoyable, because you're constantly being convicted by the Holy Spirit. both the sin and the relationship are unsatisfying.
i recommend to either be hot or cold. oh-- and please be hot. :o)
4.)
a few times recently i've spoken with some friends, and this question has come up:
"what do you really want?"
sounds like a simple question-- but it searches deeply. what do you REALLY want?
what i want is to be intimate with Him. honestly, it's the one thing i desire. if i'm happy, sad, abused, mistreated, rich, poor, abandoned, popular-- whatever-- i just want to experience it in true relationship with Him.
i'm sure that's what you want too.
but it's easy to think that we want one thing or another-- marriage, friends, food, sleep, family, a job, and effectiveness in ministry. i'm not talking about sin here. i'm talking about good things-- but they really fade in light of knowing Christ. i count them as garbage, for the sake of knowing Him.
i hate the world.
what do you really want?
5.)
now that i've opened the proverbial "file" (hat tip dad AGAIN!), there's no going back! i could type forever! :o)
Doctrine #10, back in the day:
"We believe that after conversion there remains in the heart of the believer inclinations to evil, or roots of bitterness, which, unless overpowered by Divine Grace, produce actual sin; but that these evil tendancies can be entirely taken away by the Spirit of God, and the whole heart thus cleansed from everything contrary to the will of God or entirely sanctified will then produce the fruit of the Spirit only. and we believe that persons thus entirely sanctified may, by the power of God, be kept unreprovable before Him"
BOLD STATEMENT!
i agree with it.
aiight, that's a lot to read. sorry.
it's just because my life is so rich, so full, so abundant...i find it hard to place blogging at the top of my priorities list. not that i have a list.
but i do love lists. hat tip dad (*tick tick tick*)
i've been rereading "Helps to Holiness," by Samuel Logan Brengle. absolute classic-- i'm getting more out of it this time then ever before.
here's a few things in the book that i've been loving (again), and a few of my own thoughts:
(heh, a list.)
1.)
"watch your life and doctrine closely. persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers."
(1 Timothy 4:16)
personal holiness is absolutely vital-- for our own salvation, and that of those who hear the message through us.
p.s. on this one: who are your hearers?
"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"
(Romans 10:14)
preach it to 'em. AND-- watch your life and doctrine closely. you cannot to take too much care of your own soul.
2.)
chapter 12-- Gideon's Band-- absolutely brilliant.
he interprets that the crazy water-lapping-elimination that God does is not random-- but it was the Lord weeding out the self-indulgent soldiers. they took their eyes off the enemy to stick their faces in the river and quench their thirst. but the soldiers that God wanted, the remnant of 300 who defeated the 32,000 Midianites, drank with their eyes alert, their hands on their weapons, even though they were just as thirsty as the others.
we don't want no self-indulgent soldiers. we'd do better without them. i'd rather have an Army of sacrificial, fearless, disciplined soldiers that is dwarfed in number by the enemy, then a large Army of gluttons and sloths.
3.)
Stephen Court promotes that carnal Christianity is the worst possible lifestyle. and i testify-- amen. if your a sinner, full-on, at least you can "enjoy" the sin, relish in it, soak up all you can from it. and if you're sanctified, you can experience the highest possible levels of joy because of shame-free, ecstatic intimacy with God.
but: if your a Christian, AND you continue in sin-- relationship with God is lacking because of shame and the knowledge in the back of your mind that you are disobeying the One you claim to love. not only is relationship with God lacking, but sin isn't even enjoyable, because you're constantly being convicted by the Holy Spirit. both the sin and the relationship are unsatisfying.
i recommend to either be hot or cold. oh-- and please be hot. :o)
4.)
a few times recently i've spoken with some friends, and this question has come up:
"what do you really want?"
sounds like a simple question-- but it searches deeply. what do you REALLY want?
what i want is to be intimate with Him. honestly, it's the one thing i desire. if i'm happy, sad, abused, mistreated, rich, poor, abandoned, popular-- whatever-- i just want to experience it in true relationship with Him.
i'm sure that's what you want too.
but it's easy to think that we want one thing or another-- marriage, friends, food, sleep, family, a job, and effectiveness in ministry. i'm not talking about sin here. i'm talking about good things-- but they really fade in light of knowing Christ. i count them as garbage, for the sake of knowing Him.
i hate the world.
what do you really want?
5.)
now that i've opened the proverbial "file" (hat tip dad AGAIN!), there's no going back! i could type forever! :o)
Doctrine #10, back in the day:
"We believe that after conversion there remains in the heart of the believer inclinations to evil, or roots of bitterness, which, unless overpowered by Divine Grace, produce actual sin; but that these evil tendancies can be entirely taken away by the Spirit of God, and the whole heart thus cleansed from everything contrary to the will of God or entirely sanctified will then produce the fruit of the Spirit only. and we believe that persons thus entirely sanctified may, by the power of God, be kept unreprovable before Him"
BOLD STATEMENT!
i agree with it.
aiight, that's a lot to read. sorry.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Crucified Man
I have placed all my hope in a crucified man
In the wounds in his side, his feet and his hands
I have traded my pride for a share in his shame
And the glory that one-day will burst from his pain
I’ve abandoned my trust in the wise and the proud
For this fragile, mysterious weakness of God
And I dare to believe in his scandalous claim
That his blood cleanses sin for who ever
Will call on his name
Live or die here I stand
I’ve placed my hope in a crucified man
I believe as they beat on his beautiful face
He turned a torturer’s chair to an altar of grace
Where the worst we can do met the best that God does
Where unspeakable hate met the gaze
Of unstoppable love
At the crux of it all there he hangs
I’ve placed my hope in a crucified….
Man of sorrows man of grief
Will he stay beyond belief?
When the purest and best took the force of our curse
Death’s victory armada juddered into reverse…
And either we bow or we stumble and fall
For the wisdom of a suffering God
Has made fools of us all
I gladly admit that I am
But I’ve placed my hope in a crucified …
Man of sorrows man of grief
Will he stay beyond belief?
I have buried my life in the cold earth with him
Like a seed in the winter, I wait for the spring
From that garden of tombs Eden rises again
And Paradise blooms from his body
And never will end
He’ll finish all he began
Creation hopes in a crucified man
When I stand at the judgement
I have no other plan
I’ve placed my hope in a crucified man
Like the thief nailed beside him
I have no other plan
I’ve placed my hope in a crucified man
Graham Kendrick
Thursday, April 05, 2007
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