Dear all churches that adorn your men's ministry with a military motif,
The two essential ingredients in your military metaphor are 1) hardship 2) intensive training
Your ministry neither offers nor addresses either.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Friday, July 27, 2012
Football Season
I've written posts about football before, but every year when training camp starts I watch this video. It's by far my favorite sports-related poem. Casey At The Bat is also good.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
From Swamp to Desert
Wandering is the romantic metaphor of my generation, and for me, a personal connection as well. All of my favorite movies feature people who go on journeys with uncertain destinations, and are wanderers. But if there's one thing that the old testament teaches us it's that wandering, waiting on God, these things are not romantic or ideal. The Israelites essentially walked around and had funerals for 40 years. A quick reading of the book of Lamentations (ironically my favorite old testament book) reveals a dark and awful picture of what one may dwell in whilst waiting for God.
I used to live in a swamp. Now I live in a desert. I am wandering and wondering. I have no idea what God will do in my life. I forget easily the many things He has done, and promised. Even some of the things I have tattooed on my own body, and I ignore the messages my flesh proclaims in favor of the lies that I have believed.
Wandering is not fun if you are stuck in the same place while you're doing it. And in the desert, the barrenness of the landscape can drive one further into hopelessness than probably any other landscape is capable of. One of the allures of wandering is the cross country journey. I have bucket list items that include making the trek along the PCT as well as the Camino de Santiago.
I was just reading about the southern California portion of the PCT: "...from a hiker's point of view, one thing is true of almost all of Southern California: For 700 miles, there is too much sun and too little water." - Karen Berger. This is an apt metaphor for my life now.
There is a scarcity and desperation I feel, and the anxiety of it can be crippling if I give into it. "When you spend enough time around the chemistry of desperation, you come to recognize the smell. One desperate element is combustible. More than one desperate element is lethal." - Daryl Zero
Psalm 1:1-3
Oh, for a season to pass. This summer in the desert is not what I hoped or expected, but it is good to wait on the Lord, to turn inward and reveal the many wrongs in my own heart, and offer those up to Christ to be made right, To learn again at Christ's feet what it means to Do Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with God. In the moment I write this, I can be thankful. It's an important moment to remember in the desert.
I used to live in a swamp. Now I live in a desert. I am wandering and wondering. I have no idea what God will do in my life. I forget easily the many things He has done, and promised. Even some of the things I have tattooed on my own body, and I ignore the messages my flesh proclaims in favor of the lies that I have believed.
Wandering is not fun if you are stuck in the same place while you're doing it. And in the desert, the barrenness of the landscape can drive one further into hopelessness than probably any other landscape is capable of. One of the allures of wandering is the cross country journey. I have bucket list items that include making the trek along the PCT as well as the Camino de Santiago.
I was just reading about the southern California portion of the PCT: "...from a hiker's point of view, one thing is true of almost all of Southern California: For 700 miles, there is too much sun and too little water." - Karen Berger. This is an apt metaphor for my life now.
There is a scarcity and desperation I feel, and the anxiety of it can be crippling if I give into it. "When you spend enough time around the chemistry of desperation, you come to recognize the smell. One desperate element is combustible. More than one desperate element is lethal." - Daryl Zero
Psalm 1:1-3
1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
Oh, for a season to pass. This summer in the desert is not what I hoped or expected, but it is good to wait on the Lord, to turn inward and reveal the many wrongs in my own heart, and offer those up to Christ to be made right, To learn again at Christ's feet what it means to Do Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with God. In the moment I write this, I can be thankful. It's an important moment to remember in the desert.
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