So the question is, do you need to have your issue resolved before you can minister in that area? Like a drunk still drinking, can he be an AA sponsor? Or, a sex addict still indulging but guiding others away from porn?
The answer seems obvious, you say, "of course not!" So do I.
But is it really that simple?
What about the mother whose own mother's atrocities keep her from repeating the error? Or, the woman who uses the lessons from her abusive ex to forge a good marriage?
What if these people still harbor hatred and venom and use that to make goodness? Does it taint the good being done? Is it vinegar instead of wine?
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Fog
"Visions are born in the soul of a man or woman who is consumed with the tension between what is and what could be.”--Andy Stanley, Visioneering
Call it mid-life crisis, or Spring Fever, or what-have-you, I have tension and no vision. Hubby and I are going through a period together of figuring out what our world needs to look like. And, it's not easy.
Where do we live, what do we do, how do we live, what is our lifestyle, what does God want us to do, how can we give...the possibilities for us are mind-boggling, yet there are only a few right answers. We just can't see them in the myriad of choices.
Today was a pea soup foggy day, the kind I used to love in San Francisco, as the fog bank would roll in off the ocean and down the Bay in the late afternoons. And that's how my mind felt this morning. Thick with droplets as many as the stars in the sky, it was like walking through an airborne sea, and I was unable to contemplate the drops individually. I saw only the mass, the huge rolls of white clouds blanketing the trees and the ground equally, but I could not rest my eyes on a single drop.
What is that drop, God, that is Cat and Hubby's perfect drop? What is it you want us to do?
Call it mid-life crisis, or Spring Fever, or what-have-you, I have tension and no vision. Hubby and I are going through a period together of figuring out what our world needs to look like. And, it's not easy.
Where do we live, what do we do, how do we live, what is our lifestyle, what does God want us to do, how can we give...the possibilities for us are mind-boggling, yet there are only a few right answers. We just can't see them in the myriad of choices.
Today was a pea soup foggy day, the kind I used to love in San Francisco, as the fog bank would roll in off the ocean and down the Bay in the late afternoons. And that's how my mind felt this morning. Thick with droplets as many as the stars in the sky, it was like walking through an airborne sea, and I was unable to contemplate the drops individually. I saw only the mass, the huge rolls of white clouds blanketing the trees and the ground equally, but I could not rest my eyes on a single drop.
What is that drop, God, that is Cat and Hubby's perfect drop? What is it you want us to do?
Monday, December 22, 2008
Christmas Challenge
It's easy to be cavalier about money when you have it.
It's easy to give love when you are filled with it.
It's easy to help others when you have time.
It's easy to give generously when you're overflowing.
Easy stuff is, well, easy.
The challenge is to do something difficult. The challenge in life is to give, help, offer and love when you don't feel like it, when you're sure you can't do it, when you're positive it will zap you dry.
The widow who gave her few coins epitomizes our directive to give and trust whether or not we have some to spare.
I am going to challenge myself to follow her example.
It's easy to give love when you are filled with it.
It's easy to help others when you have time.
It's easy to give generously when you're overflowing.
Easy stuff is, well, easy.
The challenge is to do something difficult. The challenge in life is to give, help, offer and love when you don't feel like it, when you're sure you can't do it, when you're positive it will zap you dry.
The widow who gave her few coins epitomizes our directive to give and trust whether or not we have some to spare.
I am going to challenge myself to follow her example.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
thankful
I'm thankful for...
my family
my friends
my community
the love I have from those around me
our home
my life
God's love
Hubby's meat cooking skills
my job
my coworkers
saving lives everyday
making a difference where I can
reading
listening to audiobooks
listening to my kids play, laugh, ANYTHING they do
talking and laughing with Hubby and drinking coffee
eating, cooking, drinking, tasting, spending time in the kitchen with Hubby
baking with the kids
our health
our church
our Life Group
freedom
living in the USA
our skills and talents to share
my truck
the kids' school
playing Wii with the fam
writing
Heroes, 24, football, Netflix
being able to be thankful
Happy Thanksgiving!
my family
my friends
my community
the love I have from those around me
our home
my life
God's love
Hubby's meat cooking skills
my job
my coworkers
saving lives everyday
making a difference where I can
reading
listening to audiobooks
listening to my kids play, laugh, ANYTHING they do
talking and laughing with Hubby and drinking coffee
eating, cooking, drinking, tasting, spending time in the kitchen with Hubby
baking with the kids
our health
our church
our Life Group
freedom
living in the USA
our skills and talents to share
my truck
the kids' school
playing Wii with the fam
writing
Heroes, 24, football, Netflix
being able to be thankful
Happy Thanksgiving!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
romans 12:2
So, Romans 12:2 came up again. It was in large print on two of the three screens at church today.
It says...Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
"Renewing of your mind" is the part that captivates me. Or, better put, God is laying out for me to chew on.
So, pastor uno was talking about the only real change happening when we change how we think, our paradigms, because that affects how we act and the results with which we end up. Our hearts dictate our mouths.
As John Eldredge puts it--in a good book I'm reading (Walking With God)--he found himself at a point in his twenties (or thirties?) where a 17 year old was giving him advice. He had to reexamine a belief about God he'd formed at 17. He need to reanalyze it as an adult. How many times do we do that? Come up with a philosophy at a point in our lives where we're ill prepared to make it, and yet then still have it dictate our lives?
I need to work on renewing my mind. There are concrete philosophies I hold as truth, yet I know I've come to those conclusions at times in my life when I wasn't on point. What beliefs do you hold true that were formed when you were less apt to make good decisions? Or, have you always been perfect?
It says...Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
"Renewing of your mind" is the part that captivates me. Or, better put, God is laying out for me to chew on.
So, pastor uno was talking about the only real change happening when we change how we think, our paradigms, because that affects how we act and the results with which we end up. Our hearts dictate our mouths.
As John Eldredge puts it--in a good book I'm reading (Walking With God)--he found himself at a point in his twenties (or thirties?) where a 17 year old was giving him advice. He had to reexamine a belief about God he'd formed at 17. He need to reanalyze it as an adult. How many times do we do that? Come up with a philosophy at a point in our lives where we're ill prepared to make it, and yet then still have it dictate our lives?
I need to work on renewing my mind. There are concrete philosophies I hold as truth, yet I know I've come to those conclusions at times in my life when I wasn't on point. What beliefs do you hold true that were formed when you were less apt to make good decisions? Or, have you always been perfect?
Sunday, November 9, 2008
to succeed you must first fail
We watched "Meet the Robinsons" and one scene really stuck out. The main character, a boy inventor, tried to fix one of his inventions and failed. The group of people around him cheered, "You failed!" as if he'd won the pennant.
Their thinking: failure is a step toward success.
We can't be so afraid of failing that we don't try lest we fail. If we fail to fail we fail to learn, grow and finally, succeed.
How many times did Lance Armstrong finish last? How many intercepted passes did Brett Farve throw? How many goals did Wayne Gretzky miss? How many elections did Abraham Lincoln lose? We don't remember the failures, we remember the successes. But there is never success without failure.
One character in the movie said, "You learn from failure, from success, not so much."
How true.
Their thinking: failure is a step toward success.
We can't be so afraid of failing that we don't try lest we fail. If we fail to fail we fail to learn, grow and finally, succeed.
How many times did Lance Armstrong finish last? How many intercepted passes did Brett Farve throw? How many goals did Wayne Gretzky miss? How many elections did Abraham Lincoln lose? We don't remember the failures, we remember the successes. But there is never success without failure.
One character in the movie said, "You learn from failure, from success, not so much."
How true.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Boo!
Halloween is here. And it's time for the "question." It pops up as frequently as pumpkin "farms" on every vacant lot between Apex and North Raleigh. The perennial Christian query, "Do you celebrate Halloween?"
As if true Christians would actually partake in pagan rituals.
"Why, yes," I answer, "we do. Tomorrow we're dancing naked in the backyard and drinking the blood of a stray cat."
C'mon people. We celebrate Halloween like we celebrate Valentine's Day. It's not about worshipping the devil. It's a day for the kids to dress up as their favorite princess or superhero and have a little fun. Lighten up.
We take our kids trick-or-treating. (I know: GASP!) It's a social time for our neighborhood. We've done it every year since we moved here, my son's whole life. The two cul-de-sacs get together and walk our kids around our neck of the woods. We adults have time to talk and catch up. The kids have fun. The older kids watch out for the younger ones. There's plenty of laughter to share.
It's Norman Rockwell. It's harmless. It's communion with our community. Trick-or-treating can be a mission in itself when you reach out to your neighbors with different backgrounds and different beliefs.
And, isn't that what we're supposed to do as Christians? Share the faith by showing how we live and commune with others?
As if true Christians would actually partake in pagan rituals.
"Why, yes," I answer, "we do. Tomorrow we're dancing naked in the backyard and drinking the blood of a stray cat."
C'mon people. We celebrate Halloween like we celebrate Valentine's Day. It's not about worshipping the devil. It's a day for the kids to dress up as their favorite princess or superhero and have a little fun. Lighten up.
We take our kids trick-or-treating. (I know: GASP!) It's a social time for our neighborhood. We've done it every year since we moved here, my son's whole life. The two cul-de-sacs get together and walk our kids around our neck of the woods. We adults have time to talk and catch up. The kids have fun. The older kids watch out for the younger ones. There's plenty of laughter to share.
It's Norman Rockwell. It's harmless. It's communion with our community. Trick-or-treating can be a mission in itself when you reach out to your neighbors with different backgrounds and different beliefs.
And, isn't that what we're supposed to do as Christians? Share the faith by showing how we live and commune with others?
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