One More Thing
Hi Five Oakers, The weekend is here and I have a few things I want to share with you:
The Weekend
I can't say I've ever experienced true terror. I've never received that phone call asking me to sit down before the caller will go on. I've never heard a doctor say, "It doesn't look good, but we'll have to do more tests." I've never been commanded to join a convoy down a road where my friends were recently maimed or killed. I know some of you who have faced these and other terrifying experiences.
The disciples face two terrifying experiences in this weekend's sermon text. In the first, they are certain they will die. Then, after that situation passes, they find themselves facing a terror worse than death.
There is profound help in this weekend's passage for us as we face our anxieties, worries, fears and even terrifying circumstances. You will not want to miss it.
FYI
Seth Godin on "You are what you share"
It takes guts to say, "I read this and you should too." The guts to care enough about our culture (and your friends) to move it forward and to stand for something. We'll judge you most on whether you care enough to change things.
Jeni Carlson on "The Flaw in Always Trying to Fix Things"
How often do we as Christ followers, as leaders, as parents rush in to fix things? I think there is a flaw in this idea of always trying to fix things.
One More Thing
I'm reading the novel Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. It's filled with deep insights on life, including faith. Actually, I'm listening to it. The combination of beautiful prose and the soothing voice of the reader slows my mind down and fills my heart with longing for deeper relationships and simpler living. Here are a few quotes to reflect on.
“To love anything good, at any cost, is a bargain.”
“I have always loved a window, especially an open one.”
“As I have read the Gospels over the years, the belief has grown in me that Christ did not come to found an organized religion but came instead to found an unorganized one. He seems to have come to carry religion out of the temples into the fields and sheep pastures, onto the roadsides and the banks of the rivers, into the houses of sinners and publicans, into the town and the wilderness, toward the membership of all that is here. Well, you can read and see what you think.”