Quotes from Books: Which do you like best?

From Eat this book by Eugene Peterson

To know much and taste nothing---of what use is that?
Bonaventure

You can't hear God speak to someone else, you can only hear him if you are being addressed
Wittgenstein

From Beyond Foundationalism by Grenz and Fackre

Most human beings, of course, are not able to stand the message of the shaking of the foundations. The reject and attack the prophetic minds, not because they really disagree with them, but because they sense the truth of their words and cannot recieve it.
Tillich

From first to last, and not merely in the epilogue, Christianity is eschatology, is hope, forward looking and forward moving, and therefore also revolutionizing and transforming the present. The eschatological is not one element of Christianity, but it is the medium of Christian faith as such, the key in which everything in it is set, the glow that suffuses everything here in the dawn of an expected new day.
Moltmann

From a Hidden Wholeness by Parker Palmer

Do not speak unless you can improve upon the silence
Quaker saying

I pin my hopes to quiet processes and small circles, in which vital and transforming events take place
Rufus Jones

From Transforming Leadership by Leighton Ford

He was made like we are, that He might make us what He is Himself.
Iraneus

Managers want to do things right, and leaders want to do the right thing
Warren Bennis

My greatest fear for you is not that you will fail, but that you will succeed in doing the wrong thing
Howard Hendricks

Visions are the shapers of our thoughts
Thomas Sowell

Charism without character leads to catastrophe,
Peter Kuzmic

As weather shapes mountains, so problems make leaders
Warren Bennis

From Desiring God by John Piper

There is a kind of happiness that makes you serious
CS Lewis--The Last Battle

In some sense the most benevolent, generous person in the world seeks his own happiness in doing good to others, because he places his own happiness in their good
Jonathan Edwards

I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord. I saw that the mosti imporatnt thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and meditation on it.
George Mueller

From Wild at Heart Field Manual by John Eldridge

The place that God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.
Fredrick Buechner

Beauty is not only a terrible thing, it is also a mysterious thing. There God and the Devil strive for mastery, and that battleground is the hearts of men.
Dostovestky

Yet we must be watchful, especially in the beginning of temptation; for the enemy is more easily overcome if he is not sufferend to enter the door of our hearts, but is resisted with the gate at his first knock.
Thomas a Kempis

If we would endeavor, like men of courage, to stand in the battle, surely we would feel the favourable assistance of God from heaven.
Thomas a Kempis

Inspirational Quotes: Which do you like BEST and LEAST????

from Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster

We do not want to be beginners. But let us be convinced that we will never be anything but beginners all our life--Thomas Merton

True contemplation is not a psychological trick but a theological grace.
Merton

Settle yourself in solitude and you will come upon him in yourself--
Teresa of Avila

Learn the lesson that if you are to do the work of a prophet, what you need is not a scepter but a hoe.
Bernard of Clairveux

True confession of evil works is the beginning of good works--
Augustine

The Christian should be alleluia from head to foot.
Augustine

From traditions of the ancients by Marcia Ford (a must buy for me sometime soon)

The Lord be with you always, and you be with him always and everyplace.--Claire of Assisi

Test all things; hold fast to what is good.

Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees
Victor Hugo

He who does not bow before God will not be able to bear the burden of himself--
Dostoyvesky

The deisre is your prayers; and if your desire is without ceasing, your prayer is without ceasing. the continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer
Augustine

To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting--
Edmund Burke

Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest
Book of Common Prayer

Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance--
Carl Sandburg

We all write poems. It is simply the poets that write in words.
John Fowles

When the clock strikes, it is a good time to say a prayer--
Jeremy Taylor

Endeavor seven times a day to withdraw from business and company and lift up thy soul to God in private retirement
Adonirum Judson

What soap is for the body, tears are for the soul
Jewish proverb

What a man takes in in comtemplation, he pours out in love
Eckhart

Death practices have a transformative value. People in both the world of the Bible and in the modern world have used death to transform themselves or others.--
Rachel Hallote

Our language rightly sensed the two sides of being alone. It has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the world solitude to express the glory of being alone--
Tillich

Secret Thoughts

I recently finished the book The Secret Message of Jesus. It was a fun read, and was more brilliant as it went along. Especially thought provoking was the subversive motif of hiddenness and secrecy. In the acknowledgements he acknowledged Dallas Willard and NT Wright as inspirations for the book. And then I remembered Dallas Willard discussed "hiddenness" and "conspiracy" in his book THE DIVINE CONSPIRACY. Which is something I am hoping to read sometime soon.

There were several other thoughts that McLaren had in his book, or inspired in me. Here are some things that made me think.

Where is our energy going in the church?
Miroslav Volf's book on Christian community talked about the themes of exclusion and embrace. McLaren touches on this a little bit in his book as well. Many churches today work hard at trying to defend their boundaries. When they do this their energy is expended toward EXCLUSION.

It is very difficult to push out and pull in at the same time. Your momentum either moves out or moves you and others in. Often times the evangelical church relates to the world around it like an inexperienced sumo wrestler. We wrestle around thinking we are trying to keep ourselves and our churches centered. To do this, we think it best to try and push the opposition out. And soon we find that we have spent so much time at the periphery of what our faith is about that we are stumbling just to stand still and keep grounded.

Instead, in churches, we need to keep returning to the center of our faith. The most important and central things in following Jesus. What would happen if we spent more time focusing on sharing God's grace, living in love with our neighbor, passionately apprenticing ourselves to Jesus? What if our energy was spent pulling people into the family of God, instead of defining who is in and who is out by theological tidbits?

Narrow exclusion and naive inclusion

McLaren uses these two terms to discuss how people misunderstand the way of Jesus. More conservative folks want to draw boundaries tighter and tigher especially when it comes to who is a part of the family of God. This is part of the reason I am not a part of the churches of my upbringing. I had no room to think or grow and learn.

But liberal churches err on the other side with naive inclusionism. Assuming that everyone is on the Way, that everyone is ready and willing to get on the path to God at one point or another. This is also not consistent with Scripture or love. Some people want to get as far away from doing what is right, from truly loving, from being connected to God as they possibly can. And there comes a point when God's love and God's grace means nothing if we are not free to reject it.

Promises and Prognostications

In speaking of eternity, end times, and salvation and the like, McLaren finds it helpful to distinguish between promises and prognostications. Promises are about God being faithful in a relationship with us, and vise versa. God keeps his promises to us--especially the promises which are clearly stated in Scripture. But often we try to make God's promises prognostications, especially in regards to the end times stuff. We do this by making the Word of God into an instruction manual, or make the book of Revelation a book of history in fast forward. God's word is about his love and faithfulness, but that doesnt mean we need to turn the raw, poetic, untamable Word into a farmers almanac.

As you can tell from my writing, I am still thinking on some of the things in the book. David Cho, does this help answer some of your questions?

What thoughts do you have?

ee cummings quotes

Unbeing dead isn't being alive. e. e. cummings

America makes prodigious mistakes, America has colossal faults, but one thing cannot be denied: America is always on the move. She may be going to Hell, of course, but at least she isn't standing still. e. e. cummings

Be of love a little more careful than of anything. e. e. cummings

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes. e. e. cummings

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. e. e. cummings

The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful. e. e. cummings

Lyrics to DMXs new release LORD SEND ME A SIGN

In the name of Jesus
no weapon formed against me shall prosper (preach)
and every tongue that rises against me in judgment thou shall condemn (preach)
Lord give me a sign
For this is the heritage of the servant of the lord (preach)
And that righteousness is of me says the lord (preach)
Amen
Lord give me a sign

Verse 1 I really need to talk to you lord since the last time we talked the walk has been hard now I know you haven't left me but I feel like I'm alone I'm a big boy now but I'm still not grown and Im still goin thru it the pain and the hurt soaking up trouble like rain and the dirt and I know only I could stop the rain with just the mention of my saviors name in the name of Jesus devil I rebuke you for what I go through and trying to make me do what I used to but all that stops right here as long as the lord's in my life I will have no fearI will know no pain from the light to the dark Imma show no shame spit it right from the heart This is life from the start cause you held me down and ain't nothing they can tell me know Lord give me a sign

Hook (x1) let me know what's on your mind let me know what I'm gonna find it's all in time show me how to teach the mind show me how to reach the blind lord give me a sign show me what I gots to do to bring me closer to you cause Imma go through whatever you want me to just let me know what to do lord give me a sign

Verse 2 Please show me something I'm tired of talking to him knowing he frontin Crying bout life ain't nothing Cause you either be the one mad cause you trapped or the one huntin Trapped in your own mind waiting on the lord Or huntin with the word that cuts like a sawthe spoken word is stronger than the strongest man carries the whole world like the strongest hand with the trial and tribulations you never let us down Jesus I know you here with us now Jesus I know you still with us now keep it real with us now I wanna feel show me how please let me take your hand guide me or walk slow but stay right beside me devils tryin to find me hide me hold up I take that back protect me and give me the strength to fight back Lord give me a sign

Hook (x2) let me know what's on your mind let me know what I'm gonna find it's all in time show me how to teach the mind show me how to reach the blind lord give me a sign show me what I gots to do to bring me closer to you cause Imma go through whatever you want me to just let me know what to do lord give me a sign Lord give me sign (3x)

A tidbit from Leadership Magazine

Since 1970, the percentage of people who live with their parents increased 48 percent, from 12.5 million to 18.6 million, accourding to the US Census Bureau.

(Note from the Friar: this is even more significant since 1970 was the baby boom generation, where as most of the 25-35 crowd is the baby bust population...thus there are less people in that age demographic than there were in 1970...which makes the percentage of the population that is doing this even higher than the insight that statistics give us.)

Half-Content

Contentedness is a fickle thing with me. Sometimes I am very comfortable in my little job in my little place. Other times I struggle because I am antsy for something different, but I do not know what that is.

I admire stable people. People who are deeply rooted in their community, and who have lived in or near the same place most of their lives. I admire people who work in the same line of work doing admirable work for a humble salary their whole life. I envy people who have had the same friends since they were children or teenagers. Those folks that worry when they buy a new house after their kids leave home. The problem is, I am not sure I am one of those people.

I am not sure most people see this. I am the goofy, overweight youth pastor who has a mean Chris Farley impression. I am the bookworm who has always read something insightful or interesting. I am the storyteller whose eyes light up when I share something that happened to me, or a theory that I have about something I have observed. I am Friar Tuck, the minister with a little bit of an ornery streak.

But I doubt I have ever been content. The thing is, I am just beginning to own this truth. I have always thought I was meant for more than where I am and what I am doing. That their is something huge and powerful just beyond the horizon. That someday I was going to have the white picket fence with a wife and several children. That I was going to write a book that changed the world. When I was in 5th and 6th grade, people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said I wanted to be the President of the United States. And to tell the truth, I meant it. I thought it was possible. And I had this plan that I was going to go home and be a Congressman until I was 35, and then around my 40th birthday I would run for President.

I guess part of what I am saying as well is that I have a hard time living up to my own dreams and my own expectations. And I expect to get to these exalted places by doing everything right. And I expect that by doing all of the things that I was supposed to do or told to do that I would have somehow found success and high achievement by this point in my life. Instead I am a nearly 33 bachelor living in a one bedroom apartment, and struggling to keep a youth ministry afloat and my job in good standing.

And in those moments of discontent, I pray and I wonder, when is MY moment going to come? When am I going to find the love of my life, have the growing church, have lots of supportive friends that I can count on, and write that great work of writing that will change the course of history? When will I live up to my standards? When will I be able to hold up my head high and be proud, and know that my family and friends are proud of me? When will I emerge from being on the perpetual brink of failure to a rousing success as a human being?

It is really those things I am most concerned about. Most days I am happy living in a small place, having a decent car that runs, and being able to pay the bills. Deep down, though, there is this lurking feeling at the pit of my stomach that I am meant for something more, this hunger that my life has a lot of potential for a greater impact, and that I am failing. I tell myself (and others)--John Calvin wrote the Institutes at 26, Martin Luther King Jr. had already delivered the I HAVE A DREAM speech by the time he was my age, and the list goes on, and what have I accomplished? Nothing. No big splash. Just plodding along griding out ministry in struggling and/or dying churches.

And I wonder....am I alone in feeling this way? Am I being selfish? Am I setting myself up for failure?

Thursday I had a conversation with a former boss of mine. He was asking about my future. And I was telling him my dreams about the hope I had of leaving here at some point, and finding a church that would not require me to work at Walmart on the side to support myself. I went on that my coming here I feared had been this huge dowturn in my career that I might never recover from. He agreed that this might be possible from my perspective, and that he might feel the same way, and then he said, "Of course, when you think like this you are forgetting the Holy Spirit and how God can lead and what God can do."

Of course I tried to explain how I did include the Holy Spirit in my plans, until I got the realization that my life is not to be as much about including God in my plans as much as it is God including my life in his plans. And my job is to be the faithful servant of the King, the good soldier of the Lord of Hosts, the plodding farmer in the field. That the Holy Spirit is like a wind that blows where it pleases (John 3), and that my job is to hoist my sail to wherever that wind may drive me.

And I remembered what I tell people so often but forget for myself. That no failure is beyond redemption. That no dream is beyond fulfillment. That today has enough to be worried about. And that I can trust God with my todays and tomorrows, even when I cannot figure it out.

NT Wright Quotes from "The Lord and His Prayer"

That is why calling God 'Father' is the great act of faith, of holy boldness, of risk. Saying 'our father' isnt just the boldness, the sheer cheek, of walking into the living presence of the living and almighty God and saying "Hi Dad'. It is the boldness, the sheer total risk, of saying quietly 'Please, may I too, be considered an apprentice son.' It means signing on to the Kingdom of God. (pp. 19-20)

When we call God father, we are called to step out, as apprentice children, into a world of pain and darkness. And we will find darkness all around us; it will terrify us; precisely because it will remind us of the darkness in our very own selves....the temptation then is to switch off the news, to shut out the world, to create a painless world for ourselves...But if, as people of the living creator God, we respond to the call to be sons and daughters...then we are called to be the people through whom the pain of the world is held in the healing light of the love of God. (p.21)

This, then, I dare say, is the pattern of Christian spirituality...it is the rhythym of standing in the presence of the pain of the world, and kneeling in the presence of the creator of this world; of bringing those two things together in the name of Jesus and by the victory of the cross...and of calling God "Father". (p. 22)

Mission Trip Rankings

One of the kids in my youth group asked me how I would rank certain mission trips and conferences I have led youth on after just finishing my 10th big event in the last 8 years. Neither of the conferences were bad, but I am not big on conferences and both conferences I had other things on my mind that I was struggling with. Here is how I would rank them:

Professionally

#10 1999 trip to Kansas City
#9 American Baptist Youth Gathering at Estes Park (2004)
#8 DCLA (2003)
#6 San Diego (2004)
#6 Martin, SD (2005)
#5 Kansas City (2006)
#4 Fort Apache (2000)
#3 San Francisco (2001)
#2 Gulfport (2006)
#1 Tijuana (2002)


Personally

#10 1999 trip to KC--logistically, planning wise, and help wise this was a nightmare
#8 DCLA--great conference...but dont like youth conferences
#8 ABY Gathering---same as DCLA
#6 San Diego---great time with kids....site not put together ideally, and adult ldr problems
#6 Martin--ok. First trip with all middle school girls and one boy. Lots of drama
#5 Kansas City 06--Flowed well. Good leadership. Some kid attitude issues.
#4 Tijuana--This trip has grown on me through the years. Saw a whole new world.
#3 Fort Apache--My mistakes and vulnerability taught me and helped others know and trust me.
#2 Gulfport--A very affirming time for me in my ministry gifts and such.
#1 San Francisco--Doors to growth in compassion openned wide for me on this trip.

Meadowlark Lane

Moist tears
escape
fickle eyes
and
one almost trickles
down
his
black
face
as
he
looks
down
at his
shoes

Up
in the
sky
he looks
thankful
for
shelter
friends
blessings
given
and
recieved

Calling

No fireworks
No waters
parting
to point
to
what's next

No voice
from heaven
giving direction
like a
divine
traffic light
telling me
when to
turn
and
where

Just a
hunch
a
sense
that keeps
me
stepping
and
hoping
for
sunlight

Tessa's Choice or Half-Hearted Discipline

I take
a breathe
and hide
beneath
a
book
as
infatuated teens
try to
steal kisses
adults
unaware

They take
a
breathe
and try
to hide
behind
magazines
thinking
I
won't
see
them peck
and
giggle

I scold,
wag my finger,
smile,
and laugh

Trying to hide behind a book on the plane

 

East side of Ship Island--our saturday outing

East side of Ship Island....looks like a postcard doesn't it?





 

At least the sign made it

A picture of the golden arches and what was left of the restaurant...about 100-200 yards inland from the beach 

Still Standing

A picture of the devastation in one house that survived the storm along the beach 

Sheila on Tuesday with Miss Helen...the woman we were working with to fix her home

 

The group I worked with on Tuesday

Mike, Ian, Emily Craig, Kayleigh, Emily Chapman, and Zach 

I've got a great pair of legs and it shows

 

Colorado Springs Pics

This is a pic of the two churches from Colorado Springs on the mission trip to Mississippi.
On the left is Shelia and her daugher Paris. Then there is me in the middle. On the other side is Bill and Ben in back. Then Emily and Regi in front. Regi is the youth pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church. Kayleigh missed this picture.