Christmas light

Cartoon from NakedPastor.com



"It really sank in with the Christmas story. The idea that God, if there is a force of Love and Logic in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is amazing enough. That it would seek to explain itself and describe itself by becoming a child born in straw poverty, in shit and straw... a child ... I just thought: 'Wow!' Just the poetry... Unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable. I was just sitting there, and it's not that it hadn't struck me before, but tears came down my face, and I saw the genius of this, utter genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this."
Bono

Tonight... Heroes

Even this week we've seen "heroes" fall. What REALLY is a hero? How do we become one? Should we even try to become one? Who are your heroes and why?

All I'm Thinkin About Is You

Spent my day writing inane ads and listening to Springsteen music that I'd never heard before. I'll let you guess which part I liked the best



The man's the boss.

Turning thinking into doing

Donald Miller's new book "A Million Miles in a thousand years" is really making me stop and think about the functional life of a person of consequence. He reiterates a number of times "A character is what a character does" ... a book about his learning process editing his real life into a character in a story.

It's a real confronting challenge to "thinkers" when you realize that the world doesn't hear your thoughts. Ha. Sounds strange but we quite often wrongly THINK that we really ARE the person we think we are in our own brains. As gross miscalculation in actuality. A character is what a character does. And I'm feeling the pressing of the Holy Spirit more and more these days that we were designed to be anything but average. And good thinkers who don't do anything... are not heroes. It's just not good enough.

I preached 3x this weekend about heroes. I walked a number of groups through Miller's process of using their own life to tell a story in a defined time. It's not an easy task, but trying it very quickly makes you realize that WANT your life to say something.

"I've wondered if one of the reasons we fail to acknowledge the brilliance of life is because we don't want the responsibility inherent in the acknowledgment. We don't want to be characters in a story because characters have to move and breathe and face conflict with courage. And if life isn't remarkable, then we don't have to do any of that... we can be unwilling victims rather than grateful participants"
Don Miller

And this is not some goofy corporate motivational thing. Because Biblical heroism means having a passion for others and a spirit of sacrifice that would lay down their own lives for their brother. Great part about that... is that it's the only way actually LIVE!

^{Matthew 10: 38-39}"If you don't go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don't deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and me.

Living life like this both inspires others to do likewise... and lets us act like Matt Chandler when what the world mislabels "tragedy" happens to us. You HAVE to see this.




Imagine that... understanding we're made to honor and testify to God with our lives in EVERY season. Good and Bad. We can choose not to turn our thoughts into actions... for a time. But whether you like it or not... you are a character in the grandest of theaters... and the playwright died so that you, in turn, can play an important, heroic role.

All the world's a stage

At home tonight getting ready to speak twice tomorrow for our Freedom House youth retreat weekend. I'm chatting about our stories. We all know the beginning of this quote... but the whole thing is amazing

William Shakespeare - All the world's a stage (from As You Like It 2/7)

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Thursday Night at Home

Tonight after work, I'll pick up my son's first real guitar that we're giddy about giving him for Christmas. After the kids eat, I'll wrestle with Jared, snuggle with Aislin, talk about how pretty the Christmas tree is with Brianna, and flirt a little too much with the girl who has loved me since high school. Then I'll make this amazing Cajun Shrimp Pasta. It's super spicy with extra Tabasco (that's the secret).

After the kids go to bed, we'll sit on the living room floor, eat it quickly like it's going out of style, and talk about how much we like spicy food. We'll lounge on the couch and watch the only four actually funny shows on TV today. We're very happy for Jim and Pam. When 30 Rock finishes, in half a doze, we'll talk about how cool it is that we're about to buy a house that is already our home. We'll admit to each other that world is colder than we wish it was and pull each other closer.

Then we'll thank God... because He's worthy of it.