Just had to share this majestic, fly-over preview of “JERUSALEM” – a new IMAX film coming out. Worth your 7 minutes to watch. If you have ever been there you will no-doubt recognize places. If not, it will make you want to go.
Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=iPQI6Yupt48
Yesterday on her blog, Ann Voskamp shared five “spiritual diets” she and her family have lived together. I thought they were worth sharing to encourage you and your family as you live sent together. They are below…
REMEMBER – if you are married, do not live on mission thinking you cannot include your spouse and kids. Including them is crucial. The near love of Jesus is best seen in the loving dynamic of a people on mission together. That includes the family unit. You don’t want your kids going to college one day having never seen a disciple made and having never loved the least of these. They need to define “following Jesus” as more than a prayer prayed and “church attendance.”
These family times immersed in the Scriptures are the nourishment they need for growing up in Christ. And you and I need it, too.
Make it a priority. I know I need to. Cause this “eating” is to important to relegate to leftovers, so may we do more than leave it to the energy left over when all else is done in the day.
Thanks, Ann, for this encouragement.
May we eat well and have some quality family meals, too 
——————————————————————————
“5 Ways to Eat the Bible Together”
from Ann Voskamp
There are varied ways to eat healthy, and we often eat differently in different seasons… so it goes with Manna from heaven.
Here are some spiritual diets we’ve lived:
1. In Slow time…
Instead of swallowing large portions of scripture, certain seasons we eat very slowly, savoring only a few verses at a time by first listening to His Word, reading only a few verses…. then I linger, quietly meditating on those 2-3 verses, turning the words over and over…. then to lift voice in prayer, pray the Scriptures back to God… and then live the Words, contemplate on the verses long, and throughout the day, that hand and feet and tongue might do them.
For more: How to Savor the Bible
2. In Community…
In addition to meal-time meditations, there have been seasons where we’ve had personal quiet time together as a family, so children see parents savoring truth and parents can model how to eat.
For more: Communal Quiet Time
3. In Audio …
I’m making it a habit that when I clean, or run the morning routine, do domestic tasks, to always slip in another disk of the audio Bible: clean the heart while cleaning the house.
For More: Listen for free every day to the Daily Audio Bible and what I have in the stereo: Inspired By . . . The Bible Experience
4. In a Year …
There have been many seasons where I’ve read the Bible in a year. Perhaps my most favorite plan was with this plan on a bookmark, that has only 25 readings slotted a month, allowing for five catch-up days. And no flipping back and forth to find the plan…. Just tuck in the bookmarks. And begin whatever time of the year with whatever Bible you have.
Free Bookmarks for easy Bible-in-a-year Reading Plan — from John Piper’s Bethlehem Baptist
5. In Book Repeat …
This way of eating Scripture has yielded very toned, healthy souls and I highly recommend it to hungry hearts. I have found “the book repeat” way of Scripture reading truly lets a soul ruminate on Truth powerfully and effectively. Simply:
a. select a shorter book of the Bible (I’ve chosen Philippians once, Colossians another)
b. read it through
c. Then repeat, twenty times, reading at a your usual pace, considering the book as a whole meal.
I sent a note out to some dear friends with whom I lead a few months ago. In summary, I was basically asking them for prayer and wisdom as I was in a season of deep discouragement. The responses I got reminded me of how important having those people to whom we can say “I am discouraged” really is.
Being honest, I was disappointed with most of the responses I got at that time. One-liner cliches back from folks in essence telling me I have nothing to be discouraged about. “Suck it up” or “why would you be discouraged?” aren’t appropriate responses to someone who rarely says, “I am discouraged.” Maybe for someone who says it so often you wonder when they are ever encouraged would it be appropriate to challenge them to wake up to what they are missing. But for someone whose declarations are much more optimistic or realistic at worst, it’s not an appropriate response.
So how might we respond appropriately?
Paul gives us a hint in 1st Corinthians 12 in the context of challenging the Church of Corinth regarding their unity and mission and importance together.
The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.
(1 Corinthians 12:25 MSG)
It’s the same as in marriage. If a fellow follower of Jesus hurts and we know about it, it is no longer just “their problem.” Like the text declared, “every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing.” It is OUR problem now.
So how are we then praying about it together, seeking counsel and wisdom about it together, carrying it together, checking in on each other to encourage each other together, and taking next steps toward restoration and wholeness and abundant life together?
We cannot do this alone. Don’t just give cliches to brothers and sisters who are trying not to do it alone. Or else they might not come to you the next time. Or else they may isolate themselves so much that no one suspects any problem until the issue sinks them in self-destruction.
May we be a people to whom it can be said, “I am discouraged.” And may we have those people to whom we can say, “I am discouraged.”
Loving one another is essential to making disciples together. Navigating those seasons together of not even feeling like you can love well is so important.
I am thankful for my wife and my brother and my dad and those I call friend who are such HUGE supporters. I pray I will be the same to them. And I pray you will have that crew around you, too.
-Jason
I believe strongly in CHURCH SENDING. One result of church sending often can be a new expression of the church.
Church starters are faced with a unique set of challenges – mobile ministry, fundraising, creating ownership amongst their volunteers, creating momentum for survival, self-propelled leadership and building something from nothing. More than any of those, they are faced with the everyday insecurity of “what if this doesn’t work” type of thoughts. These can only be countered when our security as a leader is in Whose we are in Christ alone and when our focus in on His mission onto which He has invited us.
If you are interested in cultivating for a new local church expression, this ebook from Portable Church Industries is a valuable resource. They have asked learners and practitioners just like you to share thoughts and perspectives on “what every church planter should know” full of quick reads and provocative insights.
I am grateful to be one of the learners asked to share an article. You can read it along with all the essays by getting your own *free* copy here.
Hope it is helpful. Many thanks to Portable Church Industries for providing this awesome equipping tool!!!
-jason
Last Monday, I posted a heart-felt note to pastors. I am simply burdened that we are not actually equipping the church to be the church as Jesus intended. This is an excerpt from what I wrote:
And we certainly were not intended to just get folks in the door of “a church.” Rather, we were intended to equip folks to be sent out as the church. So how might we equip for that. Here are three pathways of equipping I would suggest are crucial if we will equip the church to be the church as Jesus intended:
- the pathway of personally relating with Jesus.
- the pathway of together walking with Jesus.
- the pathway of together going near with Jesus.
So, last Wednesday, I posted the first of three follow-up posts focused on actually equipping along the pathway of personally relating with Jesus. Then last Friday, I posted some thoughts on the second pathway. Finally, in today’s post, let’s focus on actually equipping along the pathway of together going near with Jesus.
I closed Friday’s post with this question:
>> could it be that only when that love for one another as His church is on display out in the midst of our communities and out engaging the various domains of our culture and out in the everyday rhythms that people will begin to consider the practice of Jesus’ teachings as more than just an equal religious alternative?
How would you answer that? Here are my suggestions.
First, it makes sense that only when the church’s love for one another is on display out IN THE MIDST of our communities engaging the various domains of culture living Christ’s ways in everyday rhythms that people will even have the chance to consider that God loves them and demonstrated His near love in Jesus.
14 But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things!
Romans 10:14-15, HCSB
Pastors – in your strategies and assertions of what the church family you get to lead should be up to, are you calling them to cluster up disengaged and clean and safe outside of our culture, or are you giving them what they need to live sent together in the midst of our culture? I want to ask this of our church family. Let’s all as pastors do just that. And be ready for the response.
Jesus was not sent and did not die that we might be clustered Christians.
Next, if we as followers of Jesus are not engaging the various domains or spheres of influence within our culture, then we are not living as Jesus lived. He lived out and proclaimed the ways of the Kingdom of God in all the fiefdoms of His region. He brought God’s love near both to high-brow Pharisee and cast-out leper, both to proud, educated doctor Nicodemus and the ashamed, searching-for-love woman at the well, both to tax-collector Matthew and we-hate-Rome zealots, both to governor Pilate and the thieves on the cross. Can this be said of the church families we lead? Or are we emphasizing the success of their church-going and the maturity of their spiritual ventures by activity on a centralized campus we unbiblically call “church.”
21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
John 20:21, HCSB
Finally, pastors, are you challenging followers of Jesus just to memorize and study the Bible, or to actually live it out? Because I would rebuke any pastor who is more passionate about teaching the Scriptures than seeing the church live them out. Two reasons why:
>> because Jesus actually intended that we live what we learn.
46 “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say?
Luke 6:46, HCSB
>> because people who feel lost and lonely, who perceive the activity of those who call themselves followers of Jesus, will most likely be gripped by the near love of Jesus when they see the teachings and life and love of Jesus lived out in the rhythms of our lives, when they see it as more than just something to be learned, as more than just a religious alternative.
10 A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
John 10:10, HCSB
We can only live in this abundant life, in these Kingdom rhythms, by His power in us (the Spirit) as we personally relate with Him and via the presence of a local church family that loves one another as they go together with Jesus among neighbors and nations. When we go near together, people see the love of the God who came near in Christ on display in the reality of our world. That is what makes it real enough to them to expose their own selfish living, to highlight their own deep desire for love and family and togetherness, and to invite them into a life with Jesus.
Are you actually equipping the church to be the church as Jesus intended? How are you equipping along these pathways?
Thoughts or comments?
Lord, please help me to actually be equipping Your church as You intended. This is not MY church. These people You have allowed me to pastor are Your church. May I live and lead as though they actually are.
-jason
On Monday, I posted a heart-felt note to pastors because I am simply burdened that we are not actually equipping. So, Wednesday, I posted the first of three follow-up posts focused on actually equipping along the pathway of personally relating with Jesus. In today’s post, as we continue to think on whether I am actually equipping our local church expression to be who Jesus intended together, the focus is on actually equipping along the pathway of together walking with Jesus.
Two thoughts.
1 _ Followers of Jesus committed to being the church as they walk closely TOGETHER in a specific context is absolutely crucial with regard to obedience to Jesus’ command in John 13:34-35.
I have been asked before how a church family can fully commit to living sent together and making new disciples and still care for the people of the church family. My response was simply this:
>> how can a church family fully commit to living sent together and making new disciples and NOT care for the people of the church family?
We can’t.
Jesus commanded it.
34 ”I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:34-35, HCSB
And He is speaking to His followers here. He is therefore intending that His church, His followers united around mission, love one another. We would be disobedient if we didn’t. We would not be demonstrating our love for Him. Which means, it would be questionable as to whether we were His friends together.
12 This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you.
John 15:12-14, HCSB
2 _ Followers of Jesus committed to being the church as they walk closely TOGETHER in a specific context is absolutely crucial with regard to putting the near love of Jesus on display among those who feel lost and lonely.
So how do you equip people who say they follow Jesus to actually love one another? Might I suggest two ways to equip for this that I have noticed actually work:
Read that new command from Jesus again if you don’t mind:
34 ”I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
People will know we are learners and livers of His ways, according to this new command He gave, by one thing and one thing only – our love for one another. Why?
Could it be because there is something very intriguing about seeing an otherwise self-absorbed group of people unconditionally, graciously, forgivingly, enduringly love one another? Could it be because the message of God’s near love is best seen than it is heard? Could it be because only when reconciliation is on display that the Gospel is really on display? Could it be that when this love for one another actually becomes a part of the daily rhythms of life that our beliefs becomes more than just intellectual presuppositions? Could it be that only the Holy Spirit could empower and enable us to love like Jesus loved us?
That last piece of rhetoric alone highlights how important this actually equipping along the pathway of walking together with Jesus really is. Because a lot of people can be generous and kind and compassionate and philanthropic. But only by the power of God can an entire group of people begin to faithfully and perseveringly through good and bad, through ease and conflict, through respect and disrespect keep loving each other.
Which leads to a segue for our next pathway. Consider this:
>> could it be that only when that love for one another as His church is on display out in the midst of our communities and out engaging the various domains of our culture and out in the everyday rhythms that people will begin to consider the practice of Jesus’ teachings as more than just an equal religious alternative?
We will tackle that one next time.
Thoughts or comments?
Lord, please help me to actually be equipping along the pathway of together walking with Jesus.
-jason
So, as a follow up to Monday’s post on actually equipping the church to be who Jesus intended, let’s consider what equipping along the pathway of personally relating with Jesus might include?
First, may I suggest the need to clearly and consistently communicate a tenant of the Gospel that is central to our “growing up in Christ:”
>> that God did not intend for us to live FOR Him but rather to live WITH Him.
Please understand that I am hesitant to assert any personal understanding of God’s intent, unless I have become confident that the whole of Scripture supports my hypothesis. I am very confident in this assertion. Simple rationale strengthens the thought.
Why on earth would God put on skin and come to earth declaring His unconditional love and sacrificial friendship if all He desired from us was robotic, ritualistic obedience?
Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13
Abraham was called a friend of God. Why? Because he walked with God, listened for God, responded to God. He obeyed because he related with God. He did not obey so God would relate with him. After all, God invited him on a road trip, not the other way around.
We need to realize that the Scriptures indicate that Jesus died not only for our sinful disobedience – for what we did. He also, and likely more significantly, died because of who He is. What He did as the death-taker demonstrates who He is as the life-giver. He chose to give His life. Grace was calculated, intentional, resolute, bloody, a temporary burial wrap.
This was not the stuff of Valentine’s Cards. It was and is the stuff of an enduring love. It is the stuff of “with” not “for.” This is the stuff that compels us to want to live in such a way, as Paul says, that is worthy of this “first loved us” Gospel.
May we equip the church to live loved, personally relating with the One who first loved us, secure in His goodness rather than weary trying to prove our own.
Next, as we equip the church to personally relate with Jesus, may we equip people to pray in the same way that we breathe.
To pray without ceasing, as Paul asserted we must, would imply prayer as more than just a periodic exercise. Rather, it is a constant interaction. Probably mostly listening. Often unbeknownst to us. Intentionally as intercession in those times when a deep breath is needed.
This kind of praying produces a Christ-connected kind of living. This kind of praying results in Spirit-prompted rhythms. This kind of praying is the earmark of a personally-relating-with-Jesus life.
This kind of praying indicates a personal belief that we actually can relate with Him.
Finally, as we equip the church to personally relate with Jesus, may we equip people to read the Bible as though nourishment.
Moses in Deuteronomy 32 declared that God’s words are not meaningless words; they are our life. Jesus told Satan in Matthew 4 that man cannot live on bread alone. Paul extended the metaphor of “growing up in Christ” as moving from bread milk to heartier food. Nourishment.
Has the Bible been preserved for the sake of our preservation? Has the Bible’s presence been sustained to be sustenance that energizes us toward greater awareness of His presence?
What if the Bible’s purpose is simply to tell us of God’s enduring love while it grows us in an enduring relationship with Him? Specially in this way:
>> the more I immerse myself in the Scriptures, the more recognizable God’s promptings and more noticeable God’s ways as I relate with Him daily.
Why? Because I recognize from what I have read about Him when He is about to invite me to participate with Him. Because I notice from what I have read of His story when I am getting to be in on a particular scene of His story continued today.
Reading the Bible, when thought of in this way, becomes more than a chore. And studying to learn how to better read and understand the Bible, when thought of in this way, becomes less of an academic activity and more of a real-life necessity.
Not just meaningless words, but essential to my life of personally relating with Jesus.
Thoughts / Comments???
Next up – what actually equipping for us to walk TOGETHER with Jesus might include…
Praying to be one who actually equips.
-jason
There is a question I have been asking for some time now, both of myself and of our leadership team with @WestpointChurch. It is a simple yet significant question with profound implications on the energy expenditures of our leadership efforts. Here it is:
am i actually equipping our local church expression to be who Jesus intended together?
In order to answer this question, I probably need to ask two others. What did Jesus intend and in what ways might I equip them for that?
May I suggest that Jesus intended that we believe that we are loved by the God who sent His one and only Son. May I suggest that Jesus intended that we respond to His loving us first by denying self and loving Him daily with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. May I suggest that Jesus intended that we love our neighbor, taking initiative to love them, just as He loves us. May I suggest that Jesus intended that we live open-handed and free, freely giving to the oppressed and poor and lonely and indulgent as we relate with them where they are, not out of guilt but from a free, loved, forgiven, grace-compelled heart. And may I suggest that Jesus intended that we learn and live His ways and then as we are going learn and live His ways out in the midst of culture among those who feel lost and lonely that they might believe that they are loved by the God who came near, too.
Am I equipping for this, or something else?
Being a pastor, or an equipper as the New Testament seems to most often describe it, is not a role that is superior to anyone else involved in the life of a local church. It is not a management role. It is not an executive position. It is not a place of declared authority.
Rather, being an equipper is simply the serving part that someone lives as a fellow follower of Jesus in order to resource and encourage every follower of Jesus as they live sent with Jesus into the daily rhythms of life. Rather than managing, equippers release. Rather than leading from a board room, equippers relate. And rather than declaring the authority of self, equippers resource the daily ministry of others.
And we certainly were not intended to just get folks in the door of “a church.” Rather, we were intended to equip folks to be sent out as the church.
So how might we equip for that. Here are three pathways of equipping I would suggest are crucial if we will equip the church to be the church as Jesus intended:
If we equip along these pathways, cultivate in these ways, I would suggest that we would be equipping the church to be who Jesus intends.
This week, I will unpack those three pathways one at a time and would really value any input and wisdom you would be wiling to share in the comments.
Grateful to be an equipper. Praying for wisdom on how to be one.
-jason
If you had the chance to sit and listen to an 80 year old former pastor share his reflections and wisdom from all those years of loving and leading and equipping people, you would jump at the chance, too, wouldn’t you? Especially if he happened also to be a personal hero, a compassionate and Scripture-driven author, and the translator of this bible version called the Message.
Back in February, I had the chance to sit and listen to Eugene Peterson do just that during a Q Practices conversation in Manhattan. Big thanks to Gabe Lyons and crew for the opportunity to be a part of this.
I understand that you don’t get the context of what Eugene and his wife shared here, but here a few notable quotes and a few of my own reflections (marked by “my thought”).
Hope you will enjoy them and be challenged by them and need two months to reflect on them before you blog about them, too
_____________
on SABBATH
:: a definition
shut up and show up.
:: don’t try to be like a god
It does not start with understanding sabbath but with looking at and understanding God from the beginning…when we don’t keep the sabbath, we are trying to be like gods.
:: when we started keeping a sabbath as a family
We didn’t start out doing sabbath in Maryland. However, I wasn’t working out of obedience but out of fear. Then, we would get away for a month as a family somewhere and just be together.
By the time I started working out of obedience rather than fear, we structured our sabbath for every Monday. I made lunch since Jan did the rest of the week. She prayed since I tended to the rest of the week. The kids would be in school. Jan would read a Psalm and we would be quiet and walk. Then we would come back and just debrief. Kids would come home from school and take part, too. First thing we noticed was the kids loved it because no one had to do work that day. We would do nothing we HAD to do.
I wrote our congregation a letter every year “why your pastor keeps a sabbath” in order to invite them to help us keep it. You can’t keep the sabbath alone. People took it seriously. And after 10 years or so, many of them began to keep one, too. And we helped each other. The most important thing we did was asking our congregation to help us keep it.
:: not just a cessation of work
Sabbath is not a cessation of work, but rather a contemplation of work. Non-sabbath keeping is a desecration of work, not honoring the real gift that our work is. When we do this, the work of man has inflated importance, rather than the work of God being honored most.
:: rest
Living in a rhythm of sabbath allows for restful living rather than guilty, busy, driven living.
:: evangelism may not be the primary work of the church…
I think evangelism may not be the primary work of the church, but rather sabbath-keeping. Because it puts us in the rhythm of stopping to listen to God and then responding and doing what he says. We try to do so much without being in this sabbath rhythm. Without it, how can we evangelize?
:: praying without ceasing
Praying – when I leave my study and close my Bible and go throughout my day, that is when I am especially praying. I do it when I don’t know I’m doing it, like breath.
on SIMPLICITY
:: ambition
Ambition is an enemy of simplicity. The need to acquire is an enemy of simplicity.
:: receptivity
Receptivity is a key to simplicity. Not citing what you need but receiving what is there. Stay where you are. Quit wanting to go more and get more and be more. Receive from those with whom you walk deeply. I was weened from emotional sensuality with God after a growing up in extreme emotional spiritual experiences. Learning the contemplative life is reducing expectations and receiving the gifts from the people that are there and the surroundings that are there and the needs that are there.
:: shalom
It is possible to live a life at peace. But u have to be content with who and where you are. And there has to be a constant purging. This is not just a “peace” word, though. It is a wholeness and connective word.
on PRAYER
:: the movement of God toward us
Prayer has its origin in the movement of God toward us.
:: the trinity
The trinity is not just some metaphysical, theological talk. It is God relational, personal, near. It is Father and Son and Spirit dancing a rhythm faster and faster until they are three a blur of one, and all of a sudden a hand stretches out from the circle and pulls us into it to now be a participant. Prayer is one of the rhythms with which we dance with God. It is breath, understood that we are doing it at times, not even realizing that we are doing it most of the time.
:: prayer together
We have typically emphasized the individuality of prayer, when we might consider how important it is to learn prayer in the context of the people of prayer, His church – people praying for and with you. Prioritizing prayer as an individual event only puts all of the burden on you.
:: prayer length
Prayers don’t need to be long.
:: helping people pray
We need to resist as pastors church as programs and worship as entertainment. We need to teach people how to pray and how to be a worshiper. Even provide them with prayers, like from the psalms, rewritten to be meaningful in their situation.
on EMBODIMENT
:: incarnation
The human incarnation of God must remain central to what we are doing. It is the devil’s work to distract us from the human (what God actually intended for the human).
:: technology – Gabe Lyons who interviewed Peterson spoke about this…
In the book Veneer, it says that because of technology today, we are no longer able to distinguish when we are alone or together because of social media. Kevin Kelly, the founder of Wired Magazine has a blog called “Cool Tools.” In his blog, he said we MUST learn how to limit technology.
:: the importance of a meal (from Eugene’s wife Jan)
The MEAL seems to me to be one of the most significant opportunities to embody so much of who God intended us to be and who we are together as humanity. Open up the table and be together much.
:: be relational
Pastors are to be local and personal and relational. Don’t get hijacked by the glamour and the power of being known and the intoxication of technology connecting us farther.
:: my thought on embodiment
Have we become so deceived that the “church” is to be grown and attractive and impressive that we have dismissed the significance of embodying “God with us” in the everyday relationships and rhythms of our lives? Could it be that walking in love and to give love with a few other families is what needs to be grown and is attractive and is actually impressive? Are we willing to let this be enough?
:: communicator or conversationalist???
Today, pastor seems to mean “communicator.” In my opinion, though, pastor needs to mean “conversationalist.” Pray. Relate. Discover. Live. Be transformed.
:: maybe the most significant statement of the two days came from Eugene’s wife as a compliment about his being relational, even to his own family…
Eugene is not known because of what he could have sold his soul to, but rather because he is true and real and cares about what matters. And through all of this he has been a good husband.
on SCRIPTURE
:: entering into it
I was reading Psalms and thinking I wasn’t getting it. As I processed it, I realized how significant metaphor was in all of Scripture. I had to enter into the world of the words.
:: speaking a foreign language?
I treated my congregation for the first three years like a classroom, applying all I had studied in graduate and doctoral work in languages. I finally realized that they did not understand Ugaritic and learned their language – American.
:: the art of translation
I studied Homer and the Iliad and how they were translated and realized they were not literal in their translation to English, but rather were moved and shaped to be understood by English speakers without changing the story of the book. Translation is an art in that way. It is true for any interpreter of languages.
:: meant to be
I felt everything in me had been put in me to do The Message, like I was born to do it. It was a twelve year process. The last thing I did was Judges.
:: imagine why…
The Bible is not intended to be a legislative fact book but a revelation. And we are free to imagine through it why God did actually reveal Himself.
:: on the criticism he has taken for the Message
A 19th Century archaeological discovery in Egypt of ancient texts brought to light that the New Testament was written in everyday street language. Moffitt from Scotland picked up on that but it wasn’t popular because of how Scotland is so conservative. Phillips from England then picked it up. I actually read his translation as a teen. He was so criticized that he struggled thru deep depression and never finished the entire Scriptures like he hoped. Even got death threats. So there has been much critique but those guys took the brunt of it.
:: on the Bible being literal
I am not discouraged by the words infallible and inerrant, as long as we understand language. No language can be translated literally from one to another. Things will always be lost unless nuances are translated as well. Every linguist understands that. Language can be translated truly, although not literally. It simply is not possible. Infallible and inerrant I am fine with. Fights over the Bible being literal is our bugaboo.
:: a question was asked – How did you discern when a text was cultural and when it was normative?
Well, it helped that I had spent much time in the culture of the Bible and was taught by a world-class teacher. And I was also by the time I did the message saturated in American culture. Prayer went into that discernment as I tried to get the world of the Bible into the world of America. Every preacher is a translator in that way. Every witness is a translator in that way.
:: helping a biblically illiterate culture
David Kinnaman with the Barna group says that less than 25% of 20 somethings say that they were ever taught well how the Bible even matters and applies in their daily lives.
The struggle in countering that is that we try to teach the Bible and the Gospel in such a black and white kind of way. But they are not black and white. This is a big story, and understanding one section of the Bible can only be possible by understanding the big story of the Bible, like a novel, and we have to help people see how their complex lives can mesh in with the complex but beautiful story of the Bible.
We must get the Biblical story into people’s stories and help people see their story in the Biblical story, as well.
:: the importance of reading the Bible together
We need to tell people that they cannot read the Bible by themselves. This is a conversation with God. With each other. It is a living Word to know and see alive, not words just to be dissected.
:: why he dislikes the chapters and verses
When that monk in the 600s or so added the verse and chapter numbers to the text, it made the living Word a reference book. People tell me that without those numbers and reference points they get lost and don’t know where they are. I tell them to stay there, they will become unlost. They are in the weeds but will find the trail again.
:: on the Bible to the individual as opposed to in community
Reading, literacy, has caused a huge cultural shift. When people began to carry their own copy of the Bible, community gathering began to diminish. When this happens the reading gets separated from the voice, from community where it is lived. We must not let reading destroy our lives and our community, although it certainly is a good thing and important.
:: MY THOUGHT _ isn’t the Internet and podcasting and accessibility of information doing the same thing to the beauty and nearness of the local church today?
:: on the word translated as “saved”
The Greek word for “saved” mostly is a healing word. Jesus saves. There are other synonyms. But “saves” is not just a word about our souls. That has become our cliche use. It is really a word about a healing and restoring of our lives, our imaginations, our everything.
:: on parables
Parables – “parabole” – a word that means to throw it down, like throw it down and look at it and wonder, “What is that doing there?” Jesus used it in that way – to throw something in the conversation to keep the conversation going. Parables are for participation. We only get them by participation. When we only ask, “What does that mean,” we destroy it. We must participate to see it.
:: what translation does Peterson read?
The RSV because it is what I grew up as a kid reading and memorizing. Occasionally I will pick up the Message, but I also read in Greek and Hebrew.
:: Peterson’s favorite book(s) of the Bible?
John’s writings.
:: on inviting people on a journey to learn the Bible
Like Zaccheus, there are those who are like outsiders but are simply up a tree, and with the proper invitation to dinner might come down and join us.
on COMMUNITY
:: can you create it?
I’m skeptical that you can create community. I think you can become community, but unsure you can create it. Community forms when we work together, serve together, sacrifice together.
:: us and them?
The lines between saved and unsaved began to blur as we were learning what real community was.
:: most impactful thing in your walk?
The 27 year journey of starting and walking with Christ Our King Church. They made a pastor out of me. Or God used them to make a pastor out of me.
:: on cultivating for community at home, too, as a husband and dad?
First three years of Christ the King, very bad. Entering the “badlands” (a dry season), I realized the importance of Jan and the kids. We changed our time and vacation and sabbath and dating and created new habits. We were poor, but we would go out and spend the money on dates because it was cheaper than a psychiatrist.
on CHURCH
:: a definition
a colony of resurrection in the country of death.
:: the Kingdom of God
The Kingdom of God is here. Jesus inaugurated this. The church is a colony of resurrection in this Kingdom of God to give witness to it and give reference to it. We must not be making walls between what we call “church” and the rest of the world when the world is the Kingdom of God.
:: the church is more about what God is doing…
I’ve tried to reinterpret the church ontologically. The church is what God does, not what we do. We didn’t create it nor do we sustain it. We are not in charge of renewing or forming the church but simply being the church. Church is not what we do. It is what God is doing with and for and through us.
:: learning church together
I have to know the congregation to be their pastor. And they had to know me. We knew what each other was doing and then learned together what it meant to be a congregation. I gave them the dignity that we could learn it together, and they gave me the respect and trust that we could learn it together.
:: sacred and secular?
I think the Kingdom of God is the activity of the trinity everywhere and in everyone. Some realize it. Others never realize it. Some are disobedient to it. We struggle with this concept because we want to label everything church or not church, Christian or not Christian. We have to believe that God is doing His work even when we don’t see it. People who are oblivious to God are important to His Kingdom, too. And we hope to help them become aware of it.
:: is denominationalism good or bad?
I think God uses whatever we give Him. We give Him a mess, He works with a mess. I need to develop a comprehensive understanding of how God works and with whom He works. I think schism is the worst thing the church can ever do. We need to take our issues to the John 17 prayer room and let Jesus pray over us through these issues. Schism is the devil’s work. We need to remember what the Bible says about what we should do to our supposed enemies.
:: is big church bad?
I don’t have any interest in giving grades to the church and the various operations of it. I do care much about the small church and the importance of it. And I don’t like the way people bully the pastors of small churches to try to be different because those people think bigger is better. In helping people, a pastor better serves people in the sanctity (details) of their lives by listening to them, praying with them, encouraging what they begin to think and dream about, not just preach to them.
:: what were your daily rhythms?
I didn’t work as hard as you might think I did. I am a very structured person. Pretty protective of solitude. Very deliberate about my time and spending time with people. I did a lot of leisure. And we have not had a TV for 50 years. We worked with what we had in a small place on a small scale.
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In closing, Gabe Lyons of Q asked Peterson to “encourage these folks as we close toward a ‘long obedience,’” referencing his classic book. Peterson replied:
A long obedience doesn’t just mean gutting it out. This is not discipline. Fall in love with Jesus. With His Scriptures. I did not stick with this congregation for 30 years out of determination. It took six or seven years, but I fell in love with them. Don’t respect me for something I didn’t do. Find some people to do this with and stick with it.
Wow.
Thoughts? Comments?
I was so grateful for the chance to hear from Peterson personally. I will treasure that memory and what I am still processing and learning from that time.
Lord, may I lead with the same relational intention and patient endurance that Eugene Peterson did. And more importantly, may my wife one day say of me what she said of him. And may we all follow You on this long obedience in the same direction.
-jason
Some people loved it. Some people told me they absolutely hated it. One even told me he didn’t even understand why anyone on earth would like it. Donald Miller’s very popular book, Blue Like Jazz, hits the big screen today across the country. I wonder what people will think.
I wonder what those who might be labeled “evangelical republican” will think of it. I wonder what those who might be labeled “evangelical democrat” will think of it. I wonder why we have so many labels, especially ones that define people on presumptuous religious notions and volatile political stances. We need fewer labels and more love.
Maybe the movie will address that issue.
I will say this. I liked the book. It was fresh. Well-written. A great story of a guy whose staunch religious upbringing was transformed into a growing relationship with the God who came near. I plan on seeing the movie.
Will you? I’d like to know if you are willing to share.
What did you think of the book? Will you see the movie?
If you got to see a preview of the movie, please give your thoughts of review.
Here is what Donald himself shared from his early conversations with director Steve Taylor when they were contemplating the transfer of biographical novel into screenplay:
“Let me put this another way,” Steve said. “While you’ve written a good book, thoughts don’t translate onto the screen very well. The audience can’t get inside your head like they can in a book. They will be restless. They won’t engage. Trying to be true to the book is like asking people to read your mind. A story has to move in real life and real time. It’s all about action.”
“You think they might be bored if we just show my life the way it is,” I clarified. I guess I was asking for reassurance that my life was okay.
“I think they’d stab each other in the necks with drinking straws,” Steve said.
(Excerpt from: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller)
That’s funny. I bet it had to be weird to be told your life was interesting enough to be a book but wasn’t interesting enough to be a movie. We shall see.
CLICK HERE to visit the movie’s website. And check out the trailer below. Looks kinda interesting
Hope this is a special Good Friday for you as you remember the cross today.
Here is an “imagine if” story for you this week. It has actually happened in various ways over the last eight years of @WestpointChurch, but let me frame it this way as an “imagine if” just to make it challenging and accessible for us.
Imagine the chance these next few days to dialogue with someone about Easter. Probably someone with whom you have been a friend for some time. They know you care about them. They know you celebrate for more than bunnies, chocolate, and eggs, but they know you aren’t some fanatic who doesn’t participate in a fun egg hunt and enjoy a Reese’s egg. However, they may not know exactly why Easter is meaningful to you. In other words, they may not know why resurrection really matters to you.
Imagine asking them this question:
>> have I ever told you why Easter means so much to me?
Maybe you have your own variation of that question. But the topic turns there. And the dialogue includes the significance of resurrection, the hope of life again, the lack of condemnation for the selfish choices that steal life because of the love of the One who gave His life yet is still alive.
These are more than religious concepts.
What would you share with someone if you had the chance to tell them the answer to that above question? Who might you ask that question to and have that dialogue with? Are you willing to pray for that chance to come in the next three days?
This could be the story of your weekend. And the story of a friend whom you have loved believing they are forever loved by the God who came near and died and rose again.
I pray it will be.
-jason
For the @WestpointChurch family, there are three specific chances to gather this Friday and Sunday I wanted to highlight. Below those three is a simple challenge for us as we are cultivating daily for Easter. Hope you will cultivate.
-jason
:: Good Friday at noon with the Church of West Orange at the Jesse Brock Community Center across from Dillard Elementary School.
:: Good Friday evening at 7:00 with Kensington Church at West Orange High School auditorium. This is going to be a very artistic and engaging expression of the story of the cross that we get to enjoy with a partnering church family.
:: Easter Sunday morning at 10:00 at Whispering Oak Elementary School (where we normally gather). Who will you invite to come with you to celebrate the resurrection on this special day?
Try to make it to two of these three if you can. And please pray about who God might want you to invite to come with you, someone with whom you have been walking and loving or someone who is a new friend or neighbor.
Don’t miss this chance to not just show the Gospel but share it, as well.
We know that Jesus said to make disciples. But are we, as His church, actually doing it?
This is a question our local church expression has been asking the last two years. And I have seen two major shifts occur for the folks who were doing it in theory only but are now actually doing it daily.
SHIFT ONE _ from discipleship to make disciples
The New Testament does not speak of “discipleship.” In the American church, we speak of it in terms of the thing that happens after evangelism efforts bring a convert. We think of it as a study for Christians in a classroom with fluorescent lights. On the other hand, the New Testament describes it in terms of “make disciples,” which is inclusive of evangelism. It is done out in the rhythms of the daily mainly, although a study can be involved at times. It is learning and living the ways of Jesus among the lost as we love them with a near love, like Jesus loves us, in hopes that those with whom we a walking will also believe they are loved by Jesus and begin to learn and live His ways among their friends rather than retreat to a classroom and church building.
SHIFT TWO _ from my family to being family
The church is not some program or event that serves the needs of my family once we follow Jesus. The church is people following Jesus together, learning and living His ways (especially His new command – John 13:34-35). I am not saying that the church doesn’t care for my family. I am just saying that the purpose of the church isn’t just about my family. Unfortunately, many of us treat the bride of Jesus in this way. However, what if the intent of Jesus was that we might be a family? More specifically, that we might be His family who lives as family with the people of our communities like He did with us. Read John 1:12-14. This is what He did. And the church must exist out among the lost and lonely that they might believe the God Who came near loves them and desires them in His family. But how will the know if all we do is think in terms of “my family?”
Francis Chan has shared for several years now a very simple teaching on HOW NOT TO MAKE DISCIPLES. It’s worth the watch for two minutes. Check it out below.
And may we not just memorize and study about making disciples. May we ACTUALLY make disciples.
-Jason
I have done it now for two years. One day in April, I go without shoes. It is in hopes of someone asking me why and thus the opportunity to encourage them to do something about people in other parts of our world who do not have shoes.
Grant it, this is one of the best marketing ideas a company could have. It is a viral, grass-roots-driven, don’t-wear-shoes-so-people-will-buy-our-shoes-and-we-will-also-give-a-pair-away genius of an idea. And I understand that it does encourage people to buy a product, but it is a product from a company that is not perfect but is at least serious about providing a pair of shoes (and now eyeglasses, too) for people around the world who don’t have one.
Will you join me this year?
April 10th. Don’t wear shoes.
Prepare your boss / teacher / place of business that you won’t be wearing shoes that day and tell them why. Encourage some other folks to do it with you. And don’t do it to get a pat on the back. Do it simply to encourage people to love the poor in a tangible way. It’s an easy thing to do that also raises our own awareness about how much we take for granted that we do have shoes.
Jesus mentioned something in Luke 3:11 I know is not easily lived and unfortunately is not often lived.
11 He replied to them, “The one who has two shirts must share with someone who has none, and the one who has food must do the same.”
May we think about how that might apply to what all is in our closet and pantry. In the meantime, may we go barefoot on for just on day.
And if you don’t own a pair of TOMS, I recommend them. I am wearing my fifth pair. But I won’t be on April 10th.
Will you join me?
CLICK HERE to read more about “One Day without Shoes.” And check out the trailer below for April 10th, 2012.
Looking forward to having to push the gas pedal in my car barefooted.
-jason
Good Thursday to you! I wanted to take the post today for cultivating daily unto the nations to ask for some feedback from you.
What is one organization that is loving the nations in some specific way that you have worked with or supported that you would heartily recommend to others? What did you do with them? Is it an ongoing relationship or a one-time opportunity?
If anyone anywhere happens to read this and wants to chime in, please do so! I for one would like to see what you say. Please leave the name of the organization and your comments in the comment section of this post.
My friends Jamie and Zack just returned from Zambia, and I can tell you they were thoroughly impressed with Lifesong for Orphans and their work there. If you know anything about them, let me know, too, if you don’t mind.
Grateful that Jesus loves us like He does and invites us to experience His love as we love the nations together!!!
-jason
Julie Young is one of the most forward-thinking, discerning, innovative, encouraging, thoughtful, team-building, and wise leaders I know. She leads the Florida Virtual School, an accredited, public, online, e-learning school serving students K-12 all over the world. Almost 15 years ago, FLVS was founded. It was the country’s first state-wide, internet-based, public high school and has grown now to over 122,000 students and 1400 staff members. FLVS is part of the Florida public education system and serves students in all 67 Florida districts, 49 states, and 57 countries.
I had the privilege of coaching her two sons, and I am blessed with a friendship with her husband. I have utmost respect for them, and that’s why I asked her to share with me four suggestions regarding how she is cultivating daily in the marketplace – loving the people she encounters and leads there in hopes that they will know that they are loved unconditionally and graciously by the God who came near in Christ.
So grateful for Julie. Hope these will encourage you, too! Here are her four suggestions:
1. Share God’s love for them.
Even if you do not put the “God” label on it, you can share God’s love with others in the workplace by letting them know how special and precious they are. Even a simple note of thanks or praise can brighten someone’s day and turn off the negative thoughts and feelings that the Devil has planted in their minds. People need to know that they have a purpose. Others can usually point out someone’s strengths a lot easier than they can, and this can be linked to God’s love for them when it encourages them with the simple message, “You are the only one that can do what you do!”
I constantly try and recognize others publically for the good work they do, both with staff and students. I relish sharing the notes that come from parents who are obviously believers. It often allows me to share God’s Word as many parents will quote the Bible or thank God for their experiences and FLVS. One of my goals is for all staff to feel that I love them regardless of our distance or lack of a face to face relationship. I try to make the environment fun and relaxed and playful.
2. Give the grace you have been given.
We all get frustrated and flustered with co-workers from time to time. But no one is perfect. God gives me grace when I don’t get it right, or when I am just plain wrong. May we not neglect to give others the same. Just like the slave whose debt was forgiven and then refused to forgive other’s debts to him, you can end up in a bad situation.
I try to continually emphasize the value of mistakes and only ask that people try and not make the same mistake twice. I also look closely at whether or not a “mistake” is negligence and intentional or an honest mistake. I take those mishaps and turn them into learning lessons for all. In addition, I believe in second chances for those who have a committed heart to the organization. A person who may be unsuccessful in their role but is clearly dedicated to the organization and its leadership will have an opportunity to take a mulligan and move to another position in the organization if available and start over.
3. Create an environment with your words.
The Bible tells us that life and death are in the power of the tongue. You are the only one who can control what comes out of your mouth. So choose to create a positive and uplifting environment by speaking positively even if you have to give someone a correction or discipline. You will be amazed at how people’s attitudes will change when the positive words you speak start to take life as they are planted in the hearts of those around you.
Using the words, “blessed, loved, give back, be an example” etc. in notes and verbal comments often let people know where your heart is. It also gives them permission to express themselves. Using quotes from John Maxwell (some of my favorite leadership books), Andy Andrews, and others who are Christ-followers often times sends folks to those books for a good read. They get a two-for.
4. Set an example with integrity.
Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking. Jesus was the greatest example that we will ever have of that. Even when tempted after fasting 40 days and nights, where no one could see him, He did not waiver in doing what he knew was right. Remember, even if no one else is looking, God is, and our Father lifts those up who listen to Him and put Him first. He gives them favor, not only with those around them but also with authority as well.
One of the greatest ways to cultivate the Gospel is to refuse to come down to the world’s standards by maintaining your integrity everyday. My goal has always been to operate with transparency. If I make a mistake or have a gap, I share it and take public responsibility for it. I work diligently to set the example for others rather than be the exception due to my title. It’s funny, my team is always trying to give me a reserved parking spot or an exemption from a rule that others are expected to follow. I make it known in a humble fashion that I am no different; I just have a different job. I hold myself to the highest standards when it comes to budget and people management.
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Great stuff, Julie!!! Thank you so very much for sharing these suggestions with us and for your leadership example.
Give Bruce a hug from me. And tell him I said I hope UK can win the 2012 Duke Invitational Tournament, I mean the 2012 NCAA Tournament. It is after all the 20th anniversary of “THE SHOT.”
Much love.
-Jason
Because we both have six kids, we get asked this one question a lot. It is always meant as a joke, and honestly I never get tired of being asked. Maybe it’s because I never get tired of the subject of the question, but that’s more of a Valentine’s post. Today’s post is for some breaking news celebrated from a grateful heart.
Oh yeah, the question we get asked because we both have six kids? Here you go – “You know how that happens right?”
And the antecedent of “both?” My brother Erik and I both have six kids, although my sixth isn’t due for face to face arrival until early August sometime.
And the exciting news?!? Erik and Erin’s sixth little gift arrived this morning!!!!!!!!!!
Emery Elaine Dukes comes into a family of five brothers. She will likely alternate thinking about them as a bunch of Knights in Shining Armor and a bunch over-protective, insensitive, annoyances. I am biased since they are my nephews, but I bet they will be the former much, much more than the latter. What is for sure is that the atmosphere of their home just got pinker and purpler and prettier.
And the picture that my wife sent me of Erik holding his brand new daughter was so breath-taking.
It was Erin’s sixth child born, and Jen got to be there this time for the first time. It was Erik’s sixth child born, but it was his first girl. And as a little brother, I don’t get to experience many things first before my wonderful big brother, but I have already held three daughters and look forward with excitement, Lord willing, to holding a fourth this summer. Erik got a whole new experience this morning holding a child that belonged to him that was not of the male persuasion. And it was breath-taking to behold knowing what was racing through his mind and heart.
It was exciting news! And we all are so grateful, celebrating each birth as though it actually is a gift from God that we in no way deserve.
Thank you Lord.
So cool that my dad has eleven grandchildren and one more on the way.
-jason
“Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift, the fruit of the womb his generous legacy?“
(Psalm 127:3 MSG)
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone!!! I saw these three videos and thought you might enjoy them, too. The first two are short stories on St. Patrick, one from Brown Bag Productions which is an award-winning film company out of Europe. The third video is an online commercial from the Guinness company that is pretty funny – a sheep dog gathering folks together for a St. Patrick’s Day celebration.
The fact that St. Patrick tends to be celebrated and highlighted more in the pubs than in church buildings possibly suggests two things – (1) that folks are quick to use a good excuse to party hard and (2) that the church should consider having more of a presence at Matthew’s house than at their own house (Matthew 9 and 10). Just thinking / typing out loud
Much love. Grateful for the story, although definitely debatable and not definitive, of a guy like Patrick who prayed a lot and talked about Shamrocks a lot and seemed to love people with the near love of Jesus.
Don’t forget to wear green!
-jason
Here are the videos:
“Round Up Your Mates” from Guinness
So, other than the really well-done cartoon Veggie Tales did regarding St. Patrick, I don’t really know much about him. After reading some history on Patrick, sounds like Phil Vischer and the gang did a great job accurately sharing his story.
One major highlight is that he highlighted the unity of the Trinity in his preaching. Catholic.org, in their section on saints, had this to share regarding Patrick. Hopefully it will equip you to do more than wear green tomorrow
Here’s hoping you don’t get pinched.
-jason
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St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world’s most popular saints.
Apostle of Ireland, born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, in the year 387; died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, 17 March, 461.
Along with St. Nicholas and St. Valentine, the secular world shares our love of these saints. This is also a day when everyone’s Irish.
There are many legends and stories of St. Patrick, but this is his story.
Patrick was born around 385 in Scotland, probably Kilpatrick. His parents were Calpurnius and Conchessa, who were Romans living in Britian in charge of the colonies.
As a boy of fourteen or so, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. Ireland at this time was a land of Druids and pagans. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him.
During his captivity, he turned to God in prayer. He wrote
“The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same.” “I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain.”
Patrick’s captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britian, where he reunited with his family.
He had another dream in which the people of Ireland were calling out to him “We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more.”
He began his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, whom he had studied under for years.
Later, Patrick was ordained a bishop, and was sent to take the Gospel to Ireland. He arrived in Ireland March 25, 433, at Slane. One legend says that he met a chieftain of one of the tribes, who tried to kill Patrick. Patrick converted Dichu (the chieftain) after he was unable to move his arm until he became friendly to Patrick.
Patrick began preaching the Gospel throughout Ireland, converting many. He and his disciples preached and converted thousands and began building churches all over the country. Kings, their families, and entire kingdoms converted to Christianity when hearing Patrick’s message.
Patrick by now had many disciples, among them Beningnus, Auxilius, Iserninus, and Fiaac, (all later canonized as well).
Patrick preached and converted all of Ireland for 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love for God in Confessions. After years of living in poverty, traveling and enduring much suffering he died March 17, 461.
He died at Saul, where he had built the first church.
Why a shamrock?
Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity, and has been associated with him and the Irish since that time.
In His Footsteps
Patrick was a humble, pious, gentle man, whose love and total devotion to and trust in God should be a shining example to each of us. He feared nothing, not even death, so complete was his trust in God, and of the importance of his mission.
Ann Voskamp, author of One Thousand Gifts and blogger extraordinaire on aHolyExperience.com, recently wrote her heart onto page regarding her oldest son’s first international mission service experience. He left. She prayed. Little bit of worry. He returned. She shared her reflections the whole way through.
In the context of cultivating daily unto the nations, I thought this was worth sharing. Worth sharing for anyone learning grace and love and service. Worth sharing for any mom and dad facing the notion now or later of “letting go and letting God” have your kids, and worth sharing for anyone encouraging those who serve internationally.
Hoping these three blog posts will encourage you as we cultivate the near love of Jesus by going near to the nations.
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Here is the post Ann wrote as she was preparing for her son to leave:
Here is the post Ann wrote as her son was gone:
When you’re worried while they’re gone: What to do in Hard Times
And here is an excerpt of her reflections upon his arrival home. She was reflecting upon the fact that he certainly was no prodigal for going away in this way, but her mind went to the heart and emotion of a parent eager for a child to return home. What if we parented like a “Prodigal Parent?”
Check this out:
I know there are no guarantees that anyone comes home again.
I know sometimes what messes our life up most — is the expectation of what our life is supposed to look like. Entitlement can leave you feeling entirely empty.
I know the He only means everything to reshape us and nothing to reduce us.
“Just…” I reach over to pick up his bag at the top of the escalator and I don’t know how to say this or why it even matters because he’s just come home from a mission’s trip and his eyes are all lit and he can’t stop smiling.
He’s hardly the prodigal but I want to kill the fattened calf and celebrate the miracle of return and how do I make sure he always knows?
“Just — no matter what story you’re carrying,” We pause at the top of the stairs and I reach over and grab his arm, the closest thing I’ve got to a bone marrow transplant. “Know you can always, always, always come home.”
Who, if you knew their whole story, wouldn’t you love?
He nods and forget wondering if maybe someday, some son will be a prodigal. Forget wondering if someday some prodigal son will come home again.
Forget that.
Because I”m the Prodigal.
I’ve been the Wayward Prodigal Parent. Prodigal in the negative sense. The wasteful one. Irresponsible in my spending.
The Prodigal Parent who’s extravagantly wasted too many gold moments, too much priceless time, too much of my spiritual inheritance on the blinking and the shiny and the fleeting. He takes his bag from my hand and I have no idea how his shoulders got so broad. We only inherit so much time.
How do you live so that when your kids think of the Grace of the Gospel, they think of you?
That’s the crux of the thing: By being the Wholehearted Prodigal Parent. Prodigal in the positive sense. The lavish one. Extravagantly, sacrificially abundant in my giving.
The Prodigal Parent who extravagantly loves, recklessly spending on sacrifice. The Prodigal Parent who wastes time waiting up, listening for, praying long.
The Prodigal Parent who lives this lavish mercy, this opulent, offensive grace.
I look over at my boy come home. Why hadn’t someone told me that parenting was less about avoiding prodigals but more about becoming a better Prodigal parent?
You can read Ann’s entire post by CLICKING HERE.
Thanks, Ann, for blessing us with your gracious heart and practical thoughts of living out a Father’s love as we cultivate daily.
-jason
