Do it Again Daddy!

It was a living room circus and my boys were in the center stage.

My back was flat on the carpet and the sheer delight was evident from the peals of laughter.

One at a time, they leaned forward on my legs, and with a kick upward, I would vault them into a mini-backwards summersault, only to catch them with my hands and give them a soft landing above my head.

They circled around, again and again, to perform the same trick.

“Do it again, Daddy!.”

It went on for what seemed to be a half an hour. Their faces were flushed. Their equilibrium was off and they wobbled back to the kick zone. They were out of breath from laughing, sides aching. And still they wanted more.

Soon, my hamstrings collapsed from exertion and I just couldn’t muster even one more kick.

“Do it again,” was the rallying cry of those two little guys for years. . It was the mark that I was doing something right. They delighted in the monotony, in repetition, in continued attention.

And I catch myself, now full engaged in the middle years, doing the same thing.

I gaze expectantly at the evening sky, hoping for clouds on the horizon. Last night was amazing with sunset’s brilliance – pastels and dark clouds outlining the brilliance piercing through. Inside, I am shouting, “Do it Again,” God.

I heard about my friend Mary’s pain. She lost a son and is facing another day on the calendar – a birthday remembered without him. I think of Brain, who lost a child and God eased him through the pain with strength, rebuilding his character. And I pray, “Do it Again, God, for Mary.”

John lost his job. And he is struggling with the sad depletion of his life savings, his skills, and his dignity after 24 months. And then I think of Steve, who after struggling for so long finally found employment in his career field, with benefits and security. “Do it Again, God, for Tim.”

And then there’s my life. I remember those years. They seemed long ago, when the harvest was great. And then I lost it all. And gained it all back again, and then some. “Do it Again, God."

Care to comment?

Linking up with Bonnie, who wants to know when we felt close to God. Read her 6 Keys to Overcome Dead Ends and Disappointments.

Thanks to Pastor Chad for the inspiration, "Rejoice!"

There's no word for that

Despite the fact that there are more than a million English words, sometimes you are left wordless.

Mental Floss has assembled a few foreign words that simply have no English equivalent.

In Yiddish, a Luftmensch is someone who is a dreamer, with no practical business sense. In Turkish, the word Gumusservi is used to describe moonlight glimmering off water. In German, Kummerspeck is the word to describe excess weight gained from emotional overeating. It literally translates "grief bacon."

In Japanese, there's a word to describe gazing off into the distance - Boketto. And my favorite, Pana Po’o,  is a Hawaiin word that describes scratching your head to help you remember something. "Hmmm. Where did I put my glasses?"

There are others. And I think about all the experiences and feelings in life for which there are no words.

Like that breathless moment when you are touched affectionately by another human.
...Or the gleam in someone's eye of delight
...Or the high wind that blows the treetops in Fall
...Or the smell of a newborn's skin pressed against your cheek 
...Or the grace of God, who knows all my faults and still believes in me -- and His people who do the same

And I'm fine with that.
There doesnt have to be a word for everything.
Some things are better left unsaid.

I'm curious. What things can you add to the list? Comment here.


Mental Floss attributes their source to BBC researcher Adam Jacot de Boinod’s book ‘The Meaning of Tingo and Other Extraordinary Words from Around the World.’

Summertime Jobs - Starting at the bottom

Nancy Franson, who blogs at the delightful  Out of My Alleged Mind, recently reflected on a job she had as a teenager.

It was at a pizza joint and it was definitely without glamor. The back room was kept at such a high heat that the employees baked, along with the pies. The owner mainly sat in a corner and chain-smoked, glowering at his employees and barking out orders in Greek. It wasn’t fun. She had poor training, zero prospects and harsh expectations.

Later Nancy trained her replacement and made sure that this girl had better preparation and information. And I’m sure that included the “surprise in the freezer.” The owner of the resturant kept the goat head in the deep freeze, always on ready for the big feast.

Most of us who started at the bottom of the rung realized why it’s called that. My first job was cleaning outdoor toilets at a youth camp. I wasn’t enamored with work, especially when young campers were frolicking at the lake, swimming at the beach and laughing while I stood with a wire brush, rubber gloves, and a sack full of pine needles I had just fished out of the drain.

What was you worst summertime job? Comment here.

(And don't forget to read Summertime Living for all the details.)

We served, He saved

Throughout the history of mankind, there has never been a period of genuine peace. If swords were not drawn or if gun powder wasn’t wafting in the air, then certainly angry words were being flung back and forth between nations, tribes and peoples. Wars and rumors of wars reverberate across shaky borders, separated by the barbed wire that defines temporal lines on the map.

The ancients fought wars with crude weapons – spears, arrows, boiling oil and rocks flung on catapults. With the advent of gunpowder, some military genius lined everyone up on each side and had them fire away until no one was left standing.

Wars have been launched over an insult, a choice piece of land, or even a woman. For some at war, they have forgotten why the enemy deserves the hated status. They fight, but they do not know why.

Today, we are sophisticated with satellite imagery, drones, and tanks that can chew through the opposition. Supersonic airplanes and seaborne ships launch missiles from miles away with pinpoint accuracy.

No matter how advanced our wars become, they still remain an awful part of our fallen world. We fight because we can-not agree. We cannot agree because we are given to the fleshly pursuit of power, pleasure and profit.

Wars almost always start with angry words, threats and escalations – not by the military man, but by the politician. When they are done posturing, they then turn to the military to make good on their word.

And then, our family and friends button their uniforms, tighten their boots and take up arms. We send our sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, aunts and uncles to lands near and far away to try to right the tyrant, to sway the unre-pentant, to thwart the oppressor. In a strange way, we pur-sue peace through war.

I don’t pretend to understand all the theology of how God chooses sides in conflict. I don’t know who to root for in many battles. It’s difficult to separate all the hidden agendas and personalities. Often, it’s difficult to know the good guy from the bad.

Yet, I believe in justice and I believe that God often uses man to execute it. That’s why heaven is so appealing to us. Besides the streets of gold, the perfect weather, the all you can eat buffet tables, we are drawn by the notion of peace. No more war.

I volunteered to go into the Air Force after a year of college. I wasn’t motivated out of any kind of holy unction, nor was I overly patriotic in my right-handed oath. I was lured by the promise of educational benefits, a steady paycheck and travel. No one told me about gas masks, all night guard duty, dried rations and the fact that my life might be taken away at any moment. That wasn’t in any recruiting material.

I stood side by side with true warriors, who as children ran in the fields with mud on their faces shooting at unseen enemies with nothing more than a stick. Many friendships made then have endured the test of time.

I learned much about cooperation, diversity and unity – lessons I carry with me to this day. I learned about myself – that I could do amazing things with the gifts God has given me. I learned about God – that he speaks in the dirty foxhole, on the noisy flight line, and on the dark sea just as he speaks from a million pulpits every Sunday.

I heard the call of military duty, but I heard God. Eventually my military service was more than just a duty; more than a job. Veterans do not shirk. They do not run. They do their duty for country, for God, for all of us. We served, but He saved.

Care to comment?

Surfing through life - The Isolation of Technology, P. 3

The discussion this week on technology has launched a whole string of thoughts, angles and impacts on how it is impacting our culture, our spiritual lives and our children.

Photo via Flikr by Delta Whiskey

For me, it started on Wednesday with my comment, "We don't need technology. We need each other."  Yesterday, there was quite a bit of discussion about How Smart Phones Make Us Dumb.

Michelle DeRusha over at Graceful thinks that technology "is changing the way my brain processes information. Perhaps permanently." She admits that she's on the computer 15 or more hours each week, commenting, reading and surfing content. 

Michelle is reading read The Shallows, by Nicholas Carr. He writes, "the more time we spend online, the less time we spend simply thinking, simply being. We fill our minutes and hours and days with mental detritus, leaving no room or time for the creativity, fulfillment and rejuvenation that comes with open space."

The idea of sitting on the front porch, just observing the world around us is lost without a radio, a smartphone, or an iPod to accompany us. And Michelle is afraid that all of this is having an affect on her memory, as she' s unable to retain information beyond a few hours -- or minutes.

Kara Chupp reviewed the book, and concluded that her life is far too much about "Skimming." She says that she doesn't "want to write, or read, or relate, or live in a place of superficiality."  
Laura Lee Groves sees the impact on her four children. The Internet "isn't really suited for deep reading and concentration -- two elements often associated with acquiring wisdom." She too read The Shallows and quoted this. "As our ability to multitask improves, we may “become less creative in our thinking.”

Do we have a place for creativity? For careful thought and reasoning? For deep sea diving?
Care to comment?

NPR interview, review and discussion of The Shallows.

Smart phones make us dumb -- The Isolation of Technology, Part 2

Interesting that there is a whole buzz right now about technology, and the fear that it is ruining us.

Yesterday, I wrote about the four girls in Wendy's who were sitting at a table together, so entrenched in music and texting that they ignored each other. The social implications of all our "devices" is untold, yet frightening.


Glenn Young, over at Faith Fiction and Friends wrote about a similiar incident, while he stood in line with six other people who were all talking on their phones on the same time.


He says that his wife calls his Blackberry, "My Precious," acknowledging his dependence on the device. "What is it that so mesmerizes us?" he asks. "What is it that makes us ignore our kids and spouses, ignore where we're driving, and turns our attention?"


It isn't just grandpas like Glynn. Even the young are questioning it all. My son, who works in the high tech industry wrote this on his Facebook page. "I'm thinking of doing the opposite as everyone else and downgrading my phone, if not get rid of altogether. You got my email, work cell or you can message me here right?"

If own a smartphone, does it make you dumb? Comment here.

Does our technology isolate us?

Four girls, sitting in a booth in Wendy's. Biggie Size drinks dominating the tables, wrappers in a pile, the meal was done. But they weren't talking about boys, fashion or school. It was... silent.

They all wore earbuds plugged into iPods, while they were tapping text messages into their cell phones. Zero interaction. It was quite a sight. Four girls together -- and so far apart from each other.


I remember my brother and I camped out in front of the television, watching Gilligan's Island for the 440th time watching the same drama of rescue so close, and yet so far away. Mom would turn off the television and march us outside to the sunshine. There, we would play, and imagine and create. We built things out of mud and threw baseballs. We burned ants with magnifying glasses and read Bazooka Joe cartoons. We rode bikes until the darkness chased us in and played tackle football with the neighborhood boys -- and girls.

We didn't need technology. We had each other.

Photo by Vladimir Nikulin via Flikr

My phone contract expires in October. I have an old flip phone that takes and makes calls. It used to take photos until I scratched the lens. It has an alarm, a calendar and can send text messages. Would a smart phone be a good move? I am jealous of my friends with their cool devices in the palms of their hands. Should I join them?

While I love technology,  I wonder about the affect it has on our society. I wonder what it is doing to me, my friends and family. I think about the simple life and long for those days.



Care to comment?

Bonnie, over at Faith Barisa asks, "How can we keep it fresh?"  I'm thinking for me, the answer is stay simple in my faith and my life. Read other posts here.

(If you like this post, please tweet it, share it on Facebook and e-mail it to all your friends. Uh...never mind.) 

I'm an unreasonable man

The trends in society are staggering. My,  how far we've fallen since I've first been cognizant of the world around me. 

Here in the Denver area, there are more medical marijuana dispensaries than there are Starbucks. And we have a lot of Starbucks. 

I read about the military gay pride parade in San Diego that drew more than 200 members of our military who  proudly wear the uniform and yet are now open in their homosexuality.

We have amazing  connectedness with smart phones, Facebook, Twitter and other technology, yet we are forced to bowl alone, with little more than distant "friends" sending us "likes" or "status updates" and somehow that is supposed to fill the holes in our souls.

Despite our advances in science, medicine, and technology, it seems as a culture, we've slipped -- and fallen.

I swallow hard when I realize that gay marriage will be the norm in my children's lifetime. Their generation have abandoned the church in droves. The vows between husband and wife are increasingly rare -- and then easily dismissed. Marijuana and other casual drugs are seeing increased acceptance

What in the world is going on? 

I read this quote from George Bernard Shaw. "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world," he said. "The unreasonable man persists in adapting the world to himself."

I'm not sure I fit in either of Shaw's absolutes. At first blush, I think I'm reasonable, but I'm uncomfortable simply adapting to the world. After all, this world is not my home. 

Gumby was likeable, but he
was a  pushover. People could
make him out to be anything.

Actually, I'm probably unreasonable, but not for Shaw's reason. There's no way I want the world to adapt to me. I've been around those kind of people and the universe circles around them in a dizzying display of selfishness. Shamelessly, they expect everyone to see their point of view and serve their needs. 

But I am unreasonable, because I clutch to absolutes like God, love, and faith and never abandoning them no matter what the consequences. I won't go with the flow if it violates what has been planted in me, the Holy Seed that cannot be uprooted.

What's the world coming to? No good. We're told that things will continue to regress until we implode.

And I will stubbornly refuse to just be reasonable for all the wrong reasons.

What do you think? Are you considered unreasonable? Care to comment?

Maybe He Didn't Hear My Prayer

There was one thing I wanted from God. It was virtuous. It was honorable. It was good.

So I prayed. And I asked. And I exhorted.

And nothing happened.

Maybe He didn’t hear my prayer.

Image via Wikipedia

Maybe He didn’t care.

The prayer was for a miracle, for a change of heart and direction. We're told that with "the faith of a mustard seed," we can move mountains. I believed. But it didn’t happen. The Prodigal's path continued and I there I stood at the door, hat in hand, the hollow knock still ringing in the air.

And then I began to examine myself. Was it because I was flawed? Was it because I didn’t have enough faith, or understanding? Was it because I had been disobedient? Was I selfish in my request? Maybe it was me?

At first, I was angry. I was angry at others, because they didn’t help. I was angry at the counsel of fools. I was angry at God, feeling ripped off. After all, I had been taught that “prayers offered in faith” will result in miracles.  Finally, I was angry at myself. What a fool I had been to even bother to ask.

Then, as the soothing waters cooled the situation, I began to breathe, think, and remember. He has answered my prayers in the past. He’s been faithful. Through the unanswered prayer for a miracle, I learned about what made me tick, my weakness and strength. I grew. Eventually I learned that in this case, my prayer was all wrong. Instead of praying for others to change,  I was the one who needed a miraculous change.

Maybe He heard me after all.

Care to comment?

Linking up with Faith Barista in conversations in faith. See the other posts here. 

Talk about it

For most of us, there is a real reluctance to verbally share our faith in the workplace, in our neighborhoods or with friends. Political correctness, workplace rules, and just plain fear often hold back our tongues on even the most simple of faith expressions.

Andre Yee, who blogs at Every Square Inch, says that Christians are often hesitant to share their faith because of the presumed negative reaction from others.

“Yet, God has called all Christians to the holy task of gospel proclamation,” he writes. “Ordinary Christians sharing the good news in both word and deed in every sphere of life is God’s appointed means to spread the good news.”

I believe in living out your faith and applying the red letters of the Bible (along with the black ones, too)  in every day life. Everyone knows people who are all talk and little walk. But at some point, you have to open up about our faith.

Yee suggests, “A great starting point for many of us is to simply stop censoring ourselves.”

Andre Yee has keen analysis and some practical advice about The Forgotten Call of Gospel Proclamation.

 
I'm curious about the readers. Do you share your faith verbally? If you don't why not? Comment here.

I give up

If I had one, I’d hoist a white flag. Because, I give up. I surrender.

There are those all around -- competitors, coworkers, “friends” and family – who stand ready to attack my reputation, credibility and honor. Some of it is justified, Some of it is not.

I look at all the energy I’ve expended, trying to keep the mockers at bay. The mental and physical things I’ve had to do to defend my ground has been more than what it took to gain it. It's exhausting.

So, in this battle, I’ve decided on a new plan. Surrender to Jesus.

This strategy puts all of the confrontations, all of the jockeying for attention and all of the pressure on His back. Suddenly, all of my problems become His.

A surrendered life may not bring me fame or fortune, but it will bring me peace and freedom.

The irony is that if I don’t surrender now, I’ll eventually surrender to someone or something else and that battle ends in defeat.

Care to Comment?

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matt. 11.29

I want to change the world, but I've got all these excuses

I have a dream of changing the world, but there are so many reasons why I can't -- or won't.

You see, I have a past, littered with selfishness and broken relationships. I have inadequacies, personal chinks in my armor that I know leave me vulnerable. I have doubts and uncertainties about my abilities. "Pick someone else," I pray.

Indeed, if you are like me, we are all beset by sins and failures, fears and temptations. We keep hoping to get a grip on this thing, but it slips out of our grasp.



Photo by Kevin Mulrooney



Paul had a similar conversation with some first-century believers. He acknowledged all the excuses in 1 Cor 1:26-29. “Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many of you were influential. Not many were of noble birth”



Well, that sums up most of the Christians I know. We are a ragtag group of nobodies.

“But God chose the foolish things of the world…He chose the weak things of the world...He chose the lowly and despised things of the world…”

Basically, we are without excuse, because we didn’t choose God. He chose us.



Being a Red Letter Believer means that you take on the words of Christ and you begin to not just believe in them, but you begin to live them out. When we begin to embrace them and flesh them out, we will see the world around you change. Those precious Words can redeem our schools, our workplaces, our governments and our planet.

Things are pretty bleak out there. Wars. Weather. Terrorism. Anger. Despair. It’s all around us and there is urgency for God’s elect to redeem the culture – to change the world.

So what's my excuse?
Care to comment?

This week at Faith Barista, Bonnie Gray is talking about whitespace – and what you learn when you find yourself in life’s whitespace.  My whitespace is to start filling my excuse time with God time! To see more posts, please visit Faith Barista.

Laura, over at Beholding Glory, is having a "Brag on God Friday" celebration. I"m bragging that God can use fools like me!   Read the other entries here

Does compassion have its limits?

You’ve seen the signs:

• “Veteran. Anything helps”
• “Out of work. God Bless”
• “Hungry and cold. Thank you.

You know the people. Friends, family, neighbors or coworkers, who have had a bad run of luck. Medical bills. Cars that never run. Jobs that never seem to last. Nothing goes their way …ever.

You also know the Scriptures, Jesus was moved by the poor, by the defenseless, the hopeless.

by jptshawn

They are everywhere. They aren’t just sleeping in the parks or panhandling on the overpass. They might just be in the cubicle next to you – a person so racked by the challenges of the day that they are just one day from giving up.

You may have given of yourself in the past, and then pulled back, frustrated by the lack of initiative or progress or gratefulness. You may be convinced that care is for the government or the state or the church. Maybe there is someone else you hope will step in.

Does compassion have limits? You may be the one who needs a touch. You may be burned out. Is it okay to quit caring?

Click here to share your thoughts.

Subscribe to this blog here.
"When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things". -- Mark 6:34

Forsaken

It’s happened to all of us.

It might have been a simple schoolyard experience, with kids unleashing cruelty as any only they can. It might have been a friend, who lost their tolerance for your company. It might have been a love, who found another. It might have been a family member who turned and walked away. In any case, to be forsaken hurts as deep as any insult.

To be admired and liked, accepted and trusted, embraced and loved, and then to be turned away is a  gut-wrenching experience.

Mother Teresa said there is no worse disease in all this world than being unwanted.

Humans will be selfish. We can be cruel and self-possessed. We will follow our base nature, blowing past whoever gets in the way. And often others will pay the price.

If you are one of those who has been rejected in this life, God still wants you.

Photo by RupertGeneration

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you.”

He doesn’t want us to waste our lives. He has a plan for you and is ready to help you pick up the pieces and find it.

It's never to late to restore even a small measure of dignity. There may not be full restitution and things will never be the same, but a broken spirit never glorifies God.


Who are the forsaken that we can bind up?

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